Carl911

Nice car, I work just behind Cheltenham Lexus and I looked at this one on the forecourt a few weeks ago. My car was in having done service work done and I enquires about it myself only to be told it was sold. They said I wasn't ready to purchase yet but you don't see many on the forecourt so is always a temptation. Glad you are e joking, I may go this route myself in a year or two. Carl

May be I'm daft but after many months of using my VAIS setup I'm yet to find how you fast forward or rewind an MP3? Can anyone enlighten me, I know holding skip doesn't seem to work. Carl

Yep, my 07 plate averages between 29-32mpg around town depending how heavy my foot is and around 40's at motorway speeds. Point which has been made, you get the performance with these mpg'is and it's not just that you can drive it quickly, it's that all that power makes all driving effortless even on big hills. And I know people have said they are unsure about the cvt gearbox which essentially is one continual gear but to me it's the smoothest way to drive and once used to it even an auto seems choppy afterwards. I be.ive the new shape gs450 is even better economy so win, win.. Carl

Still for sale if anyone interested. Probably find it will fit other Lexus models as the threads are certainly the same fit for IS & GS MODELS. CARL

Think the facelift cars changed the colour from blue illuminated to white if I recall some posters comments from previous threads.

Strangely enough I fitted continentals to my wife's IS250 and she says they are quiet to. Maybe I will try these on my GS next change over.

Yeah, I think the Lexus Achilles heal is the wrong tyre choice. It can make such a huge difference. And seems to effect the whole range. Sometimes I think noise perception is misleading as the better sound proofed the car becomes the more you notice road noise, e.g bad road surface transmitted through the tyres which is probably the single hardest factor to resolve as there are so many tyre possibilities to fit. I have tried most brands and there performance seems to vary depending on the road surface type so in honesty I'm not sure what the best tyre is. I had several bmw's and although not noisy cars the general noises were higher which seemed to reduce one particular noise trait over another, so although if measured with a decibel meter would most likely be higher than the Lexus the perception of noise seemed often less. It's a difficult one to gauge. Catl

That is strange, I've driven every model in the Lexus range and the two noisiest models were the CT & RX in my opinion. Lord knows how they measure quiet then. Carl

My car definitely has SE stamped on the label in the driver door. Maybe my car is just special-lol

I agree about the optional extras although my SE also has the boot spoiler so I guess that was an option to.

Did you ever get the wheels refurbished and how did you refurbish the crime trims?

I have an SE and too be honest when I bought it I presumed it was an SE-L as it seemed to have everything my is250 SE-l had. Mine certainly has the mark Levinson which I believe is standard on these cars. From what I have read the noticeably different between SE & SE-l is SE-L has a sunroof, wood steering wheel and gear knob and as you mention the active cruise. I guess it depends whether you want these extras or not. Personally I do like a sunroof but it isn't a deal breaker. Thankyoufully all models in the GS range come well loaded so if your like me I attended to go for the best condition, fewest previous owners, full service history and lowest mileage for my budget. What ever you end up with I'm sure you will love. Carl

Sure the beep isn't a parking sensor. Sometimes they do get a bit sensitive and beep at you for what seems no apparent reason. On occasion mine has beeped at me and I've yet to understand why. That said, it's a rare occurrence so I attend to ignore it, but as you say it's better to know what it is otherwise it can take the focus of your enjoyment. Carl

Sold

I think it's still difficult to compare the Ls against the gs. I think the Ls is perhaps slightly more comfortable as in a softer ride but the gs gives a slightly more sporty feel being a little firmer and quicker in my experience.

A brand new own one. I'm fussy when they start to sho signs of wear

What tyres did you fit?

Your interior is the same colour as mine so it will be the correct one, it's probably just the picture I took making it look darker.

I live in Gloucester and yes I could post if you want to pay the additional postage. I have attached picture, this is the condition all round, no rips or tears, just a tiny bit of wear around the edge near the chrome. Carl

Glad you are enjoying your hybrid. I have owned mine for four months now and it is still very nice to drive. A lot of people mention that they don't like the revving sound of the cvt gearbox under hard acceleration but it's something you get used to and to be fair with all the power on tap you never need to floor it for long to get past things. In fact I recently drove a ls460 and found going back to a normal gearbox felt less refined in that I could feel gear changes. It's definitely a sheep in wolfs clothing. Carl

I have a gear knob taken from my Gs450h. It is grey/brown leather with chrome insert. slight wear but otherwise in great condition. Cost £115 new from Lexus, if someone wants it I'll take £10. Carl

I have a gear knob taken from my is250 SE-l. It is black leather with chrome insert. slight wear but otherwise in great condition. Cost near £100 new from Lexus, if someone wants it I'll take £10. Carl

What is this bumper protective strip because I keep finding my bumper corners scuffed from idiots who can't drive. Carl

Hayne is right and if it was my money then I'd be very angry at the misdiagnosis. I would have expected a higher standard of mechanical knowledge from a premium dealer like Lexus. Sadly, it's the same at most main dealers now a days. As connoisseur has mentioned, this sort of thing could put you off the car at such an early stage. In all honesty, the Heater was the unexpected one which from a reliability point of view I found concerning. The buzz is more a minor annoyance that potentially others may not even have worried about. The items noted in the service again would have been left and probably have been fine for many more miles had it been me paying. The warranty attends to just replace anything and everything which under normal ownership just wouldn't happen. It certainly exxagerates the cars wear and tear. All that aside, the car has not let me down, starts every time and drives beautifully. I am particular and once the buzz noise from the back box is done, I think I'll have pretty much a perfect gs. Yes, at one point in the back of my head I considered what I'd swap the car for should things not go accordingly and it always comes back to Lexus. Just nothing else out there comes close. I even looked at Jaguar XF and some how they just feel like a cheaper car even if I do like the discreet auto knob on the centre console. I'll be sticking with my Lexus for the foreseeable future unless I end up changing for another newer Lexus model at a later date. Carl

I'm not the expert on these cars but I have driven one. I guess it's always nice to have a car with as few miles as possible although it's often said a car with 80,000 motorway miles is much better than a car with 50,000 town miles. However, it's often difficult to know the driving history behind a car unless you know the owners. That said, I read the engines in these cars are pretty bomb proof and neither of those mileage is high so plenty of years worth to get from either car. I like the SE-l Because I'm partial to the wooden steering wheel. Not sure what extra gadgets you get between models as they are so highly specified anyway. If the SE-l isnt particularly important to you then you should probably look at both and look for the car with the best service history and general condition. Higher mileage does t necessarily mean poorer condition. Carl