rayaans

US fuel is measured in a different way to the UK so you cannot directly compare.

Yes but generally, anything under 90 octane is worse than our standard unleaded.

Lol. I don't think these dealers understand how hard we work the money we spend at their showrooms. And they seem to have forgotten we are willing to pay that little extra for the service that comes with buying from the main dealer. Or am I wrong? Lol

Tell me about it - recent trip to Lexus Edgeware road was a pain - I spent £100 worth of petrol just getting down and back and they wouldnt even haggle on price - they were like "the price is what you pay". I was like "stick it up your backside then" - told the salesman straight to his face and walked out. Used car Manager wasn't pleased lol

Short and sweet review!

Id disagree with the diesel comments - Ive just been driving my father in law's BMW 520d while he's on holiday - told me to give it a good drive. Its a 2 year old car with 15k on the clock so id assume he drives 7.5k miles a year. Well, I decided to give it a good drive after 2 months sitting in the driveway and the DPF need cleaning on the Idrive. Took it out for a 40 min drive up and down the motorway and it was still on!

Not exactly refined - clatters too much IMO and runs out of puff over 3k rpm so sucks the joy out of driving on B roads. I prefer a good petrol engine which likes to rev high

Check your wheels to see if they are hot, the rears should be pretty much stone cold, if your caliper is stuck it can be very hot ... so watch you dont burn your fingers ...

Use the back of your hand mate,

Are the back of your hands fire retardant ? ... lol

Nope lol! But im assuming you wouldnt try and touch the wheels while the brakes are glowing red!

However, the back of your hand is less sensitive to heat compared to the fingers and palm. In other words, if you're in a house fire and want to check if the fire is behind your door, you'd use the back of your hand as your palm would stick to the door and remove the skin :O

Autosmart Mirror Image by hand would do

Definitely a result but its akin to the likes of Arnold Clark who have recently bought out most of the Mercedes dealerships in Scotland. They drag out delivery dents on the car for 6 months lol - on a £40k A45 AMG!!

Diesel 2p more expensive here. Obviously, more people are going to buy diesels so the difference will increase, especially after 2017 when the new VED doesnt take CO2 into account as much as it does now

On older cars it makes a big difference. modern cars really don't care at all. You'd get maybe 1-2mpg difference in MPG but the stuff costs more and pretty much cancels out. I only use it about once every 3 months for the additives.

I used Tesco Momentum 99 once and I dont know if its just low grade fuel or what but it feels no different to BP standard unleaded. BP Ultimate is distinctively better than the standard though. Tesco's diesel sucks, makes the Merc shiver at 2k rpm

You have to remember that Lexus are primarily for the US market who have worse fuel than us. They recommend 87 octane fuel or above which is worse than our standard unleaded

I'll reserve judgement until I've driven it myself.

I've driven the benchmark, which is the Cayenne. All the others are nowhere near imho.

The racing drivers you mention are Toyota employees.

Alex Wurz is one of them.

The Cayenne is stiff on steel springs. With PASM or Air or both , it blows anything out the weeds.

Alex Wurz has given his views on the IS300H and RCF. Both have been consistent with what I found when I drove them. Cayenne VS RX is almost like M4 VS RCF, both are quite different in how they get from A to B with RCF being superior on the road IMO because of the smoothness, drivability and balance between comfort and stiffness as well as styling. Id expect the RX vs Cayenne to be similiar to that comparison.

Lexus have shown what they can do with the IS and GS in terms of dynamics. Those are dynamic leaders in pretty much every country apart from this one. Im sure Lexus won't have bodged their bread and butter vehicle up like they did with the NX

Besides, Cayenne is VAG. Id rather not, had enough experience with VAG to decide it's not for me.

Check your wheels to see if they are hot, the rears should be pretty much stone cold, if your caliper is stuck it can be very hot ... so watch you dont burn your fingers ...

Use the back of your hand mate,

Lexus have been in touch re the Austria trip amongst other things. They MIGHT implement a 5 year warranty to ward off competition.

Also, people who have placed deposits without knowing the actual price have been threatening to pull their deposits. Hence Lexus are arranging fully paid trips to Vienna to change their minds.

The Porsche Cayenne blows the socks off the RX at any price. If they insist on £70000+ for the Premier then Lexus are screwed.

Depends what you want. The cayenne is way too stiff. At 30-40mph any car is going to handle well anyway so the RXs shortcomings in the dynamics front doesn't surface.

From what I've heard, the 2016 RX is seriously competitive against the X5 in terms of driving dynamics, apparently leaving the RR Sport and XC90 for dust in the Austrian slalom. X5 was superior but it was very close and great for an FWD based vehicle. The ex race drivers commented that it was on par with the X5 and better than the XC90 and RR Sport mainly down to the suspension tuning. Ride comfort has been improved slightly on the F-Sport down to the AVS and the safety system + works very well and is integrated. Porsche can't compete with Lexus specification though, or the looks......

Tried the neutral test, no difference so still making noise ...

If it was wheel bearings, wouldn't I notice it at lower speeds to, as no noise at all up to about 30 mph ?

Cheers,

Col.

With wheel bearings the noise tends to change when turning so listen out for that.

Although tyres are all the same, best check all the tread depth to make sure they're similiar. Odd tread depths on one axle can give you humming noises as can odd wear of tyres.

Sticking caliper - look for excessive dust on one wheel and signs of heat ie glowing rotors after a long drive. Car would pull to one side when braking too.

Sonax BSD blows pretty much every other QD out of the water

Could it be a wheel bearing ?...

Yeah most likely it is.

Way to find out - stick the car on a jack, manually rotate the wheels yourself and you should be able to tell.

Maybe it might be something down the back seat ?

Plan is to check everything on the inside of the car first to see if it still comes and then proceed!

OK I've just been out in it, the noise is coming from the rear of the car, when running on electric only it's as quiet as anything, and accelerating is ok too to start with, but as you go quicker the humming noise gets louder, then as you decelerate the noise comes down with it. I'm assuming it is something with the rear electric motor as that's the only thing in the rear I can think of, but everything appears to be working ok and there are no error codes ... So stumped for now but will get it checked out, just thought I'd mention it on here in case anyone has been through a similar experience and can shed any light on it :)

Cheers,

Col.

What tyres are on the rear? Tyres can make a humming sound. My Wife got Sunny SN3800's fitted to her Merc on the front to my horror, I gave her a good ol' shout as they make whirring, washing machine sort of noises the faster you go.

Id expect the hybrid warning light to come up if it was to do with the hybrid system and the Check AWD light too if something was wrong.

I imagine its either the wheel hub or bearings. This is the most likeliest. Any change in noise when turning?

To check if its the transmission, accelerate until the noise gets really loud, stick it into Neutral and check if the noise is still coming.

There is probably a socket rolling around in the engine bay somewhere :D

When I picked mine up from a Lexus service I kept hearing a faint tinny rattling noise from the front drivers side wheel all the way home ... sounded like it was coming from the brake shield ... I found a 10" flathead screwdriver jammed in next to it ... lol ...

Holy moly lol. Would have been bad if it got lodged in the alloy wheel!

Hmm, really weird today. Took the whole family out to the Next Sale lol. With everyone in the car, it doesnt make the noise?

There is probably a socket rolling around in the engine bay somewhere :D

It's not that far forward though. Sound comes from left front footwell so Id bet it's something to do with the left front brakes. It didn't come before they serviced the car.........

Rayaan, pop in to Porsche Leeds. There is a cracking deal for a Turbo S going. I am very tempted. Since I only do about 5-6000 miles per year , the Turbo S seems great value.

I can see a few problems lol. One being that I'd be spending a fortune in fuel and tax, Id never utilise even 50% of the cars power 99% of the time and it's way too stiff for me. Ofc the wife won't approve either because it's time to change her car this year!

£70k does seem way over the top, this gen maxed out with all options inc active suspension at £63k. There does seem to be a trend at Lexus for a stupid price hike for Premier spec, way over the value of the options it adds but the only way to get them.

Know it's a way off but suprised no one has mentioned the Tesla Model X, prob a year till available here but given the prices Lexus are talking a potential 3.3 second SUV with about 270 mile range that can be charged for free becomes very interesting :)

Personally think the RX450h price is going to be too high, they seem to have pushed it higher to give themselves more space for the NX and the RX200t. Just too many very nice cars you can get once it move to the £70k area.

The premier spec will max out at £71k apparently. With this gen pricing maxing out at £63k, £71k doesn't sound as bad as it did.

With all that said, I'm assuming the £71k comes with all the toys including the pan roof, 360 degree panoramic camera, safety system+ with BSM and lane keep assist which keep the car in lane, heated rear seats, electric rear seats etc

In comparison, the new Q7, XC90 and X5 all cost more to the same spec level anyway

Just to cover my bases... I have also placed an order with Porsche for a S E Hybrid.

Lexus have said the Premier will be £70k +. The Cayenne for that price is superior.

Fair enough. I'm going for the F sport anyway as long as it has the options I have already so it should be cheaper. No way am I spending £80k on a Cayenne. Id be going for RR sport autobiography for that

Hmm my cars only 3 years old lol. I'll see what they say and let you know. It's only come after the service. I'll blame it on them lmao

Hi all,

just got back from ATS and they havent done any of the work as they say all the tyres need changing, I am no tyre expert, far from it and while I agree that one wants doing I think they are taking the mickey with the others which has really annoyed me as we have used them for years and I certainly expect better. So will be taking it somewhere else next week for a second opinion.

All that said, they say that the rear nearside tyre is misshapen which would make sense as thats the corner I thought the noise was coming from. No arguement that that wants replacing. they are saying two others want replacing as they have cracks in them but I have looked when I got back here and cannot see any cracks, and the fourth they say wants replacing due to it running the tyre off on the inside although the rest of the tyre has 4-5mm however they wont say any of the tyres are illegal or that they wouldnt pass an MOT which they did 2k miles ago. The best bit, £739 for four Dunlops or £530 for four Michelin so really not impressed given the amount of business we have given them over the years.

So hopefully the issues really are just down to the tyres, so far I have found I can get 4 michelin latitude tour for £115.00 plus vat each and alignment front and rear for £40 + vat so if replacing all £500 should sort it and I am sure the selling dealer will help out with that given that he wasnt aware they were that bad but I think two tyres will do as the other two (if not severely cracked) have 4 and 5 mm on them so should at last till winter.

So thats where we are at, they say there is no play on the bearings so thats good, does the misshaped tyre sound plausible as the cause of the noise? it causing vibration would seem to be a no brainer but your opinions on noise generation from an out of shape tyre would be helpful.

Thanks for all the help so far, will definately go for the Michelins on replacement.

Im assuming ATS is including VAT? If so doesn't it work out cheaper? As £115 x 4 = 460 x 1.2 = £552?

I'd change all 4 and the only reason is that the Michelins are mud and snow marked. Eagle eyed insurance inspectors will pick up on it if you're in a crash

Have you managed to take your car to a dealer yet?

Going this Wednesday. Ill see what they say about the noise. Likeliest options are:

1) brake pads moving in the calipers

2) Loose chassis bolts - some owners in the US have reported a single tick upon acceleration/deceleration similiar to my experiences. It was fixed by tightening all the chassis bolts (something that is NOT listed in the service in the UK but it is in the US!!??)

Yeah I had the Dunlop Sp Sport 270 before the Michelin Latitudes. They got noisier as they got older but no inner wear on my 450h.

I doubt its tyres, unless they got a flat spot somewhere?

Id say - get a full alignment check done using the Hunter machine. If you get a vibration and washing machine noise when turning, its a bearing.