maneesh

Cool. Lexus also quoted me 140 just to change the lights behind the climate control panel. Yes, it is annoying they never put outside temp gauge in the Mk1 cars! Could get an aftermarket one, but it looks out of place on the dash!

Used to give all my servicing and warranty work to Lexus Edgware Road, plus my car is in their bodyshop right now. I'm still on their mailing list, as I got an invitation to attend a Lexus golf day on 23rd July at Hatfield London Country Club. All sounds very "posh", and I can just about make it round pitch and putt without injuring someone with my flying balls ;-) Anyone else got an invite, planning on going? What exactly happens? You play golf and mingle for afternoon tea? Or you opt out of the golf and get to go and drive off in a LS430 for a few hours ;-)

Interesting. That's only £40 less than the price Lexus quoted me to change my unit over a few years back. I would have expected it to be considerably lower. Here is a link that gives other LS400 owners tips on how to change the bulbs behind the A/C buttons if they are up to it. http://www.lexls.com/climatebacklighting.html

Greybeard, top info provided. Can you tell us how much you paid to get a new climate control screen fitted?

dude, you don't need to waste money at a lexus dealer over here. get the lower ball joints from the US, much cheaper. Try this site. http://www.olyonline.com/Lexus/lexus_catalog.htm They quote $44 for each lower ball joint. That's approx £25! They don't accept foreign credit cards, so probably send them a money order or similar and they'll happily do it. They are not lexus ball joints, but aftermarket parts made to exact spec by a company called beck &arnley. does the same job. ALternatively, try the link for Sewell Lexus in Dallas, in my suspension post. I think they do genuine Lexus ball joints for about $80 each. You should be able to get pads from them for about £20 a pair, and discs for about £70 each. Good luck!

What all of them, or just the yellow one?

dude, thats a sad story. I can sympathise, having been in contact with my supplying Lexus dealer and Lexus GB, and I only got resolution of my problem by being an annoying git and phoning, faxing, and writing letters virtually every day until they started the ball rolling. That was many, many years ago, I had hoped they would have changed by now. I don't know what it is with these big companies, but once they've got your cash, you have to persist and persist for them to sort out any after sales issues. BE PERSISTENT. CALL THEM UP EVERY HOUR UNTIL THEY GET THE MESSAGE! Lexus GB seem to have a policy of throwing everything back at the dealer, and are very reluctant to get involved with dealership issues, even when the dealer is being a :tsktsk: ! Don't know what it is about UKvsUS operations, but customer service seems to lag behind the standard set in the US. I know people in the US that take a 10 year old Ls400 into Lexus for a service and they still get a brand new RX300 courtesy car. You've never get that here..

Check out these LS400s, bling bling indeed! http://www.lextreme.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38

Good post, Martin. One tip for your future suspension work. See my posting under suspension section, since I ordered my control arms from the US and saved a fortune versus buying them in the UK.

It's a shame your car got hit. Hope it comes backs soon. There was an article last week about how the major cause of road accidents is inattention, not speed. That applies to any age. In fact, if it had been a young guy in a blacked out Fiesta who was listening to music so loudly or on the phone that he doesn't realise he's smacked into the back of you, he might have probably been driving faster! At the end of the day, consider yourself fortunate that 1.5 tons of steel was damaged and nobody got injured. There are a lot of bad accidents that happen out there. We all have to be careful.

See recent link below. Are these models confirmed for the UK then? LS500GT piccie looks tasty! http://www.wheels24.co.za/Wheels24/News/0,...1514345,00.html

You guys who have used Lexus bodyshops after accidents might be able to help me out. My car should be all repaired sometime this week. Before I go and pick it up, is there anything I should specifically look for on the repair before signing for it (apart from making sure it's the right colour)? I'm assuming it's just the door and wing they have replaced and sprayed. Thanks.

Maybe it's a misconception, but I thought Toyota is extremely highly regarded in Japan (much higher prestige than say UK or US gives Toyota)?

going by that theory, I should be driving an infiniti Have been in/driven any infinitis or acuras or going on reviews? Agreed Lexus is a pure luxury marque, but the IS and GS sports designs are very sporty looking cars, but I think its a shame that they dont come with serious power to match I've been in a friend's Infiniti last Nov. It was really really nice. Interior was not lounge lizard but was extremely cosy. Nice sounding exhaust, it had a deep growl when you wanted it. Suspension felt very tight indeed but not rock hard ride. A very nice compromise. It was the Q30 or Q35. I can't recall. It wasn't the V8 for sure. He has 95k on it in 3 years and still drove great. Yes, for some reason (does anyone know why?), Lexus are currently lagging way behind in the German horsepower race, audi rs6, m5, e55 amg etc. Think about M3s and how many 316is get sold due to the image of the M3? I suppose we wait for the IS430 to become a reality. There was a rumour of an LS600 one day, using the V12 from the Crown model.

Yes, infiniti are prob closer to bmw than Lexus. You see Lexus have always traditionally been pure luxury oriented, whereas infiniti are more luxo-sport orientied. The dash is arranged for the driver in the Infinitis, and the whole car feels less isolated from the road than the equivalent Lexus. In their own way, they are wonderful cars. Yes, Lexus dominates the luxury market in the US, but that's more down to the conservative US car buying public who lapped up the original LS400. It set a trend that Infiniti find hard to catch up on. Plus, constantly winning the J.D Power survey year after year in the US has really created a perception that these cars are more satisfying to OWN than any other car out there. Acura also exists in the US, but as story in link shows, a lot of folks buying big cars don't want front wheel drive, which Acura insist on doing. http://www.gminsidenews.com/forum/index.ph...topic=5058&st=0 Also, seeing as many people buying Lexus/Acura/Infiniti in the US upgrade from the everyday brands linked to them, such as Toyota/Honda/Nissan, that's why Lexus have gone way above the others. The two top selling vehicles for many, many years in the US (apart from pickup trucks), have been the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. And I guess when people trade up from an Accord to a big luxury car, they don't want all that power going through the back wheels, so they go to Lexus instead. Just my take on events so far...Personally, I think there wouldn't be a market for Infiniti and Acura to launch here, even though Lexus is doing strongly in terms of growth. The majority of folk still seem to view Lexus cars as the middle of the trio, i.e. in between BMWs and Mercs. It's going to take a LONG time to shift cultural perceptions, "that Jap cars are inferior to German products", particulary in the office car park (my office car park is 90% German). For some people, ignorance is bliss...

I'm convinced of this deal now. The website is not listing it as a special buy anymore. Does that mean it's finished? Also, what time to Aldi's close? The website doesn't tell you and Aldi deliberately avoid listing in the phonebook, since they want customers to turn up rather than talk to people on the phone! Cheers.

Mine is a 120 mile round trip. That's approx £20 quid of petrol to save a minimum of £100 for even the most basic of services. No brainer! At the end of the day it's a cost benefit analysis, do you save more than you spend on petrol/time etc?

Hear hear. HONEST pricing too. None of this extra 25 quid for sundries and consumables. What a fiver for a washer? Or a tenner for the remote control battery? They must think we are born yesterday!

Hmmm, Q45 is a supposed to be a beast. Can smoke the LS out... But at least I would get out on the pavement side ;-) Inconvienient for drive thru burger bars (or for paying tolls) in this country though..Would need a LHD with a front bench seat so you could slide across...unless you have a loud voice and very, very long arms!

The Chevys are very durable and lots of cheap parts for modding in the US. The LT1 engines are proven design. There is some Aussie Holden Monaro coming out here soon. It uses the same Chevy 5.7V8. Anyway, the gearing is so long (43.5mph/1000rpm), you will be doing less than 2,000 rpm at 80mph?

Don't know, but I went to BCA at Blackbushe last bank holiday Monday, and most of the cars were in a right old state. There was a V reg IS200 that sold there for about 8, but the alloys were scuffed and the bodywork had a few scratches in it.

:D Hey... join the grand n' half crew!!! I thought I was the only person being ripped off! I'm paying just over 2k with Dorset insurance group for my 12 year old LS400 with no mods and zero no claims bonus! Most quotes I got were in the region of £3 to £4k. Guess that's what happens when you give "wanna be gangster" as your occupation :D :D :D

Actually, get one of these. I'm saving up for one. http://www.cars-on-line.com/96impala15743.html This one is sweet! http://www.cars-on-line.com/96impala12191.html They are fitted with the Corvette engine with masses of torque, and are heavily tuned up in US. About a foot longer than the LS400 and LHD but it shifts and handles like a muscle car! Always featured in mid 90s pimpin movies.

Greybeard, Get your car supercharged (see link), I'm sure you've got the cash.... http://www.tdi-plc.com/ls400.html

Read start of 4th paragraph in auction news URL below. http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/index.htm?news_id=1429 Value for money???