katabrontes

Why not? Its part of the evaluation you need to do to make an informed decision.

I bought a 350 (56 plate) about 5 years ago and it has been trouble free apart form one spark plug coil failing and problems with the sunroof both fixed under the dealers (not Lexus) warranty. The coil was done by Lexus in Bordeaux and the garage paid the bill! (They underwrite their own warranty). I have had a small leak from one of the rear sunroof drains caused by a kink in the pipe inside the trim in the boot. Fixed by inserting a short length of 15mm copper pipe at the bottom (both sides done) which solved it. Also replaced the sensor for the headlight leveling system (bought from USA for about £80 delivered, took me about 20 minutes to fit it). Otherwise nothing apart from service items. I get about 24-28 mpg depending on whether local or motorway use. On the 400 if you are going to lay it up in the summer you will need to do something about the small battery as I understand that these run down over about 2-3 weeks if they are not used. I believe the handling of the 350 is better than the 400 as the suspension and geometry was revised. I am not convinced that the mpg on the hybrids is sufficiently better to justify the extra servicing costs as most seem to have them serviced by Lexus agents although I understand that little or nothing is done to the hybrid system in the services apart form changing the coolant on the inverter occasionally. If the inverter fails (some have been reported on the forum) it is expensive. Battery failures seem to be rare and usually confined to only one or two cells so replacement is not expensive (but potentially dangerous to do yourself). Running costs (fuel & road tax) are a bit more but I suspect that you would pay less for the 350 and you get quite a lot of petrol for the money. When I bought my 350 a 450 of the same age and spec would have cost about £6-8K more. I reckon it costs us about £6-700 a year more than running a hybrid excluding any higher service costs because of using a Lexus agent so over 10 years its on all fours. I haven't regretted my decision.

You may be right. However as moves to electric cars increase the yield from petrol and diesel tax will fall encouraging our new generation "pis squeak" chancellor ( who I hope won't be around for much longer) to plug the gap with a tax hike on LPG as well as a move to put a premium tax on electricity for charging cars. Alternatively fuel tax could be replaced by a mileage tax in which case the differential would all but disappear. All a bit speculative I agree.

Until HMG puts up the tax on LPG!

PS as I understand it the cost of a map upgrade for a Lexus is about the same, or more, than a new TomTom which has lifetime free upgrades and sits on the top of the fascia closer to your eyeline when driving.

I made this decision last year when I looked at a 2013 450H in a local Lexus dealer. I curently have a 2006 350 which I like very much and has been trouble free since I bought it in 2013. It has done about 60K miles. The swap would have cost about £16K. What would I get for the money ? I have a very nice car which I like a lot and does all that I require. The only significant difference, to me, was the redesign of the door cills which formed part of the door so that as you exit the car you do not scrape your calf on the cill. A small benefit for a substantial sum. True, there would be a small saving on petrol and car tax but you get a lot of petrol for £16K! I decided I could have more fun with the money or " give it to the kids". I doubt I will regret the decision. I will keep the 350 for another few years and then change it for a 2015 (last of the nicer looking front end) with nearly all the other useful upgrades of later versions. I made a similar decision when I bought the 350. A 450 of the same age and condition would have cost about £8K more. The same arguments persuaded me to buy the 350 in spite of the slightly higher running costs ( about £650 a year at my current annual mileage). I haven't regretted it. The recent hike in secondhand values of hybrids, and presumably a corresponding drop in petrol versions, doesn't bother me.

Understood. I wasn't " upset" - a hard thing to achieve. It just booked a bit like a promotional posting. Information is, however, always helpful and valued.

I agree the link is helpful but the general tone of the post is rather alarmist.

Happily my RX350 is ok! I think this post is fake news and should have been moderated.

Hi all Having review the videos posted by Michael (Connoisseur) I tackled this a few days ago once the set of plastic levers had arrived from eBay. A bit tricky to get the surround on the gear lever off but once done the rest was very easy. The upper panel (with cigar lighter) came out very easily after easing the top edge downwards as advised in the video. The bottom two bolts were easy to find and remove and, fortunately, on mine the top two had been replaced by clips so a sharp pull removed the radio. The aerials were both quite firmly in their sockets but I eased them out and twisted them back and forth after pushing them back home. The radio is working well now. It all went back very easily.

Bear in mind the potential increase in premium next year if you claim. There have been some horror stories of premiums increasing by more than 100% even in cases where there has been a " No fault" claim.

Take care over sunroof. Mine didn't work when we bought it and it took the garage that supplied the car over 30 hours of labour plus a few hundred in parts to fix it. The problem was caused by a small plastic part jamming the runner on one side and burning out the motor. They had to remove most of the interior of the car and the whole sunroof and supporting frame to fix it. All covered by the garage. Estimated cost if a Lexus dealer had done it probably more than £3-4K! Make sure you really need a sunroof!

Check the sunroof drains (if you have one). Mine got kinked on one side and I fixed it by replacing a section with 15mm copperpipe just behind the panel at the side of the boot. No problem since.

I have a 350 (56 plate) which is a fantastic car. When I bought it in 2011 it would have cost about £8000 odd more to get a similar year 450. You get a lot of petrol for £8,000! All I have had to do is to upgrade the main beam headlights to HID (cost about £120), change the useless reversing lights to high output LED (about £15) and replace the rear level sensor (about £80). I get about 24 mpg ( same as any car I have had for the past 20+ years) and love it. I understand that the 400 has problems with the battery if it's not used regularly but this was solved on the 450. Good luck with your search.

Hi Michael many thanks for the two videos. I am sure I will be able to get it out and check the aerial connections. Mike

Thank you Michael. I will look at this. Do I just reach round the back of the radio or do I need to take some trim off first?

I have the same problem on my RX350 (2005). Very annoying.

I am sure he will be very happy with it. Our RX350 is now 13 years old (5 with us) and apart from replacing the rear levelling sensor ( cost £80) it has needed nothing apart from routine servicing. A joy to drive and very safe. It replaced an imported Toyota Surf which we had for 12 years and served us very well. The Lexus is a lot nicer!

I use a TomTom on the top of the fascia. Much easier to see, don't need to look down away from the road, cost less than an update disc for the Lexus satnav and has free updates for software and maps. It well past the time that " in car" satnave caught up with the dedicated stand alone devices.

Thank you Mark for your very helpful comments and advice and especially for the precise and detailed notes on the critical timings. I will print this out and work from it in the car. I will have another go when we get back to UK in March

Can you give me the link you used to program the key for central locking etc? I have tried several methods and could not get any to work. I have got the key to start the car using a plug in module to do this but the central locking has still defeated me. Regards Mike

I don't wonder. I disconnect the battery when we leave. I agree with you about petrol only.You can buy a lot of petrol for the difference between equivalent 350 & 450! Although I will have to change to a hybrid when I finally get rid of this one (about another 4-5years I reckon) as another 350 will impossible to find. Thanks for the information about the link between cruise and the abs sensors and the other possibilities. Maybe easiest to change the brake fluid and purge the system at the same time and then see what happens. The brake pedal is a little spongy but it always has been and the brakes work well so I didn't worry. I don't use the brakes very much anyway.

It doesn't affect the cruise control. As to the other question I don't know but I can check it when I return to UK in March

I have had a similar problem with my RX350 for some time now. Intermittently the VSC ABS and Brake warning light either don't go out after starting the engine or come on while driving. If I stop the engine and restart it they go out, sometimes they come on again quite soon but usually they don't. I thought it was more common if it was wet but this doesn't seem to be the case. I have checked the error codes both afterwards and when the lights were actually on and found nothing. My local garage also did a check with a laptop (not sure what program they use) and found no error codes. I have replaced the rear height sensor for the AFS some time ago as it was badly corroded and not working so that the lights did not reset to the correct level after their "dance and turn" on initial starting. The latest suggestion from my garage (independant but good and has serviced the Lexus since 2010) was that it might be a problem with the ABS sensor on one wheel or that it might be due to tyre pressure on one wheel being a bit low (one was) which would alter the effective diameter of the wheel and thus its rpm when driving which might mimic a faulty ABS sensor. Or it could be a bit of dirt on the sensor or maybe some rust on the disc surface. They are going to check all these when it is next in for service. I had a problem with one of the spark plug coils while I was in France and Lexus in Bordeaux ran a full diagnostic test on the car and found no error codes relating to anything apart from the ignition system. After all that said the car drives normally whether or not the lights are on. I haven't done an emergency stop while they are on to check the working of the ABS system but I suppose that might be worth trying especially on some slippery grass or snow. My car has passed its MOT several times since this problem started and my local garage thinks its just a glitch in the software and not a problem to worry about.

I have attached a copy of the advice from Lexus in French and English. I don't use anything on my 2006 RX350 with HID lights but I also don't alter the setting for turn linking (as advised in the handbook for continental driving) as it doesn't seem to cause a problem and it is convenient to keep it set even though it favours the LHS of the road Lexus advice re headlights in France - anonymised for distribution (French & English).26-7-2014.doc