johnno

I have recently noticed a similar noise on my CT. The tyres are also Yokohama E70 17" which seemed to be extremely hard wearing but generally noisy. The car was due a service/MOT last week and so I asked the (Lexus) dealer to check for wheel bearing wear. The service manager said that it was almost certainly the tyres but would check bearings etc. Although the tyres have done 30,000 miles they had sufficient tread to not merit changing but an MOT advisory was issued for "perished" rear tyres. Wheel bearings were all OK. I had rears changed for new ones (Yokohama Advan Flevan) and the noise has vanished. The new tyres are definitely quieter and softer than the originals and are cheaper too!

Thanks for the information Shahpor, very useful.

Thanks Len

Then I guess you haven't been subjected to one of the high-minded essays dismantling the views of others as if they were back in primary school (myself unfortunately included). I am an engineer with 50+ years experience of car ownership and joined an owners club to learn more and to discuss common interests with others, not to be lectured to by bigots.

Didn’t know there is an ignore function or how it works?

Well said rayaans. I have withdrawn from contributing to these forums for a couple of years following a relentless, ignorant and know-it-all diatribe from this person.

I don't think you'll go wrong with a 300h. I traded mine in after 5.5 years and 50,000 miles and the depreciation was astonishing - I got £17,000 for a car that I paid £38,000 for new. The car was always a pleasure to drive and reliability was rock solid and - it only ever saw the garage for annual servicing. Mpg was an average of 45 over that time and the 12v battery was still the original when I sold it. Can't think of any significant drawbacks. I was originally concerned about traction in snowy conditions as we live at the bottom of a long slope, but it drove like a FWD car. Would have bought another but I needed a hatchback (bought a UX).

We have great memories of our 2010 SE-L model. I used to drive 20-30,000 miles each year and sold it after 3.5 years to avoid the mileage looking excessive, but to be honest it was as good as new. and is probably still racking up the miles. In all that time the only attention required, apart from servicing, was to the nav screen where the anti-glare coating wore where the touchscreen was frequently used. I reported this at 2.5 years and was visited by a Lexus UK engineer at my workplace. He took a brief look and said that of course they would replace the screen free of charge! We drove the car through France several times and were often stopped by locals who wanted to know more about the car. The roof mechanism is very sophisticated but in typical Toyota fashion, it just worked beautifully every time. I'm sure you will love it!

Well said Mike. I agree 100% and find it incredible that you should be warned when the troublemaker is still free to cause such disruption. If you are banned I’m leaving too, for good.

For God's sake Linas stop putting words into my mouth. And by the way I have read the Highway Code and don't need any lessons from yourself, thank you. As you always have to have the last word I will not be commenting any further, you ruin this Forum sometimes.

In real world driving it is fast, as most owners recognise. 0-60 and maximum bhp values are completely irrelevant to ordinary drivers.

I have posted about my previous F Sport before, but to reiterate, it felt luxurious, agile and fast (yes Linas!) enough to overtake swiftly when required. No, it isn't a racing car and I didn't want one! No, it might not be as fast as a BMW with a similar size engine, but unlike a BMW it's built to be trouble free for hundreds of thousand miles and I don't wish to be associated with the brainless BMW drivers who try and push everyone else out of the third lane so they can show off their gormless modified exhaust noise at every opportunity. I mostly used my F Sport in sport mode as it gave a better response without flooring the accelerator without really harming mpg (average 48 over 5.5 years according to the car computer. As for criticising the use of the 300H model name, its a 2.5 litre engine with a significant hybrid electric motor assist so its perfectly logical (except to our friend!)

That's a difficult question to answer as they are two very different cars. I loved just walking up to my IS in a car park and looking forward to just driving it anywhere. Whenever I had passengers they would always comment on how smooth and quiet and fast it was. I was always wary of the RWD whenever the weather got wintry but it actually drove really well in the snow. The lack of a 5th door eventually caused me to look for something else and I test drove an NX, but was not really impressed by the engine response unless you floored the pedal and then economy seemed to suffer. However the UX is dynamically superior,has a much better engine/transmission combination and is really great to drive. The suspension and steering are very good and the cabin is different but still as lovely as the IS. In truth there isn't any more room in the UX than there was in the IS but it is more flexible, which is what I was looking for. The UX is our 7th Lexus car, but my all time favourite is still an IS300 Sportcross (2004) which had a fabulous drivetrain, hatchback practicality, decent economy and looked as great as it drove.

Agreed! My wife is on her 2nd CT (2017) and the transmission is more refined than her previous 2013 model , with just as good economy (a minimum of 50mpg). 100% reliable and so civilised! Incidentally, yesterday we took a taxi ride in a new Toyota Prius which still has the same 1.8 engine etc. as the CT. Don't know about its performance but it was delightfully comfortable and quiet, you really can't beat the Toyota/Lexus hybrid system

They really are fabulous cars. I bought a new F Sport in 2013 and sold it 6 years later (for an incredibly good trade in price) only because I wanted a hatchback (UX). Never missed a beat in 6 years, zero costs apart from yearly service and £10 tax. Comfortable, economical ( not difficult to get over 50mpg in summer) and swift when you need to get a move on. Mine was a gorgeous electric blue but they look good in any colour IMHO. Enjoy, most people don't know what they are missing!

Not an expert, as I have only had CarPlay for a few weeks. However I have experienced the same thing and presume that the USB can only prioritise one or the other. If you have enough memory on your phone, copy all the music files to your phone. The car then automatically plays these whilst still using Google Maps etc. and the quality is just the same as when I previously played my iPod via the USB.

Our UX250 is just over 2 years old and never experienced a single rattle/vibration or any other noise. We have the ML audio and I like to wind it up occasionally, sound is best at high volumes! I think that some of the materials might be cheaper than they used to be in old models but it's a lovely cabin and the build quality is still top drawer.

I live in North Wales but my wife wanted to buy a CT Sport Plus (because of the sunroof!) to replace her 2013 CT and we recently travelled all the way to Cheltenham to view/test drive one in the required colour (Red). I have to say that the dealership were exceptionally friendly, professional & accommodating and were prepared to negotiate on price. We bought the car and they subsequently agreed to drive it halfway to North Wales so that we wouldn't have to make another long journey to collect it. Vehicle preparation was truly outstanding - it was 3 years old but appearance was virtually as good as new. Our local dealer is Chester and other than a couple of issues, rapidly accepted and corrected, they have been unfailingly attentive and knowledgable over a period of nearly 15 years. Genuine people who make you feel part of the family. So there are still Lexus dealers with high standards as well as those who don't live up to the reputation. Before turning to Lexus we used to buy Honda cars and were never less than impressed by their dealer service, however my first visit to a BMW dealership turned out to be my last. I saw attractive, impressive but sparsely equipped cars and I was ready to buy, but the appallingly arrogant take-it-or-leave-it attitude ( we are doing you a favour selling you a car) convinced me never to go back again. So glad I found Lexus!

I hope you find a nice one. I owned a lovely black example for 3 years and only sold it when I needed more space with a growing family. The engine and gearbox were perfectly matched, it was smart, practical, luxurious and so nice to drive. A proper Lexus!

Just completed nav. software and map upgrades today, many thanks are due to Phil for sharing the detailed explanations. Took about 20 minutes to update the software and nearly 1 hour to carry install the map upgrade (and another 40 minutes to download the maps from website). The software is well worth the effort. I was seeing traffic queues indicated on the wrong side of the road - really frustrating- but this upgrade seems to have fixed this issue.

I had my UX serviced at Chester yesterday, I think I was the 1st or 2nd customer as they only re-opened that morning. I originally had a service booked for 3rd April and that got cancelled a couple of days earlier due to the lockdown, they phoned me last week to offer the new slot. They had taken great pains to reorganise the reception & waiting areas to ensure safe spacing and limited the number of customers, I only met one during my 2 hours there. Still managed to deliver the special Lexus treatment but without the free coffees!

I find it a difficult car to pigeonhole. It's smaller than than it looks, so boot space and rear legroom is somewhat restricted but this is not a disadvantage to me as its generally just myself, or wife and myself and/or grandchildren on board and I can still carry a Costco shop home with room to spare! It doesn't ride or drive like a small hatchback, it feels more like a luxury car several classes larger & has a beautiful fluidity and agility which you will find hard to match elsewhere. It is expensive but there again it is a hybrid. The interior (we bought the Takumi model) is exquisite and unique and is typically Lexus. I was fully intending to buy the F Sport but my wife found the seats a little too firm for comfort. Economy has varied between mid 40's on motorway trips, up to an average 55 on secondary road commuting and up to almost 60 during the summer months. There have been a couple of annoying niggles but being one of the first to buy a new model always runs this risk. Nothing serious has occurred in nearly 12 months, as usual for a Lexus. I suspect your sister will be very happy with one!

If the engine is running and the EV light isn't lit then it is charging the battery! (Unless you put gear selector into neutral)

I've had my UX for 4 months now. I do drive economically in general as it makes almost no difference to journey times but like to feel the acceleration/power at least once in every journey. All the mpg figures I quote are computed by the car so are probably optimistic by 5%?? and have been obtained in reasonably warm weather (seems to be significant factor for hybrid cars) The UX seems to be particularly tailored to driving at 30-50mph rather than motorway 70mph blasts or town stop/start journeys. I have a 25 mile commute each way but have the choice of continuous dual carriageway or continuous A road or a third route which is a mixture of both. The dual carriageway route is usually limited by traffic to an average of around 65 mph and this returns 50mpg each day. If I choose the A road route, average speed is around 40 mph and the car consistently returns 60mpg without any particular effort on my part and even gets close to 70 on odd days. The mixed route is somewhere in between these figures, but if I choose to divert through town centre, the consumption is counter-intuitively worse, more like 45mpg. We also have a CT200 and this also has the best economy on long runs (50+ mpg) rather than town driving as I had been led to expect. The UX replaced an IS300 F Sport which generally returned average figures around 40 mpg (winter) and 50mpg (warm weather) which I always considered exceptional for a fast, luxurious car. To sum up the UX so far, it is a lovely, satisfying car to own and drive. The fuel economy emphatically betters that of our CT and performance is markedly better. Ride/handling is nicely balanced and you feel like you are driving a top quality car. It's so alluring that I volunteer to drive whenever possible! As widely reported the sat nav interface doesn't make the most of the 10 inch screen and there is some annoying logic employed in the infotainment system but most cars have different compromises and these could be fixed with updated software if Lexus turned their mind to it.

Had the same problem with my wife's CT (2013) last month. Heard the rattle, self-diagnosed a heat shield problem, and drove to the nearest Kwik Fit. They initially said that heat shield was a dealer only part but put it on a ramp to have a look for me. The mechanic (female) said that it was corrosion around the bolt fixing so they just refitted it with a large washer and its as good as new plus I don't need to pay anything! I offered her £5 for her trouble and the insisted that I put it in the charity box instead. Now that is the customer service that I expect (and usually get) from Lexus.