katabrontes

Hi John, I fitted HID bulbs to my RX. I think they cost about £120 with the conversion kit and the improvement was fantastic. They light up the road at least twice as far ahead almost like daylight. The only downside is that they take a few seconds to build up to full brightness the first time you switch them on. Dipping is fine and they come back at full brightness immediately. I suppose they have to heat up the first time you switch on from " cold". You do need to be a bit careful wiring in the electronic driver as they use a very high voltage so there is a real risk of a nasty shock but the instructions are very clear. It took me about 1/2 hour max to fit them. Keep the old bulbs so you can disconnect the power pack for the HID and use the old bulbs as an emergency if one blows. I have had mine since 2014 and they are still fine so unlikely to lose a bulb for a long time. Not sure what replacement bulbs cost, guess at £20. Mike PS I checked with my garage before fitting and they are OK and don't affect the MOT Mine was HB3 HIDS4U Ultimate 35W HIDConversion Kit from Autobulbs Direct and actually cost £95 . Not available now but others are at about £50. Replacement bulbs cost about £7.50

Good idea about the razor wire

Buy a new TT or Garmin with lifetime updates. Probably cheaper than updating the built in one.

I use a bean bag mount from TomTom which is excellent as it sits securely on top of the dash close to your line of sight and is easy to put onto the floor when you park the car so it is out of site. The suction mount fixes to a plate on top of the bean bag which has a flexible lead bottom which moulds to the shape of the top of the dash so,it doesn't slide around. I think it cost about £20 but I bought it a long time ago.

Buy a TomTom or Garmin (has HUD I think) which will cost considerably less than an upgrade disc for the Lexus and has lifetime free updates. Also placed on top of the dash is closer to your line of sight and this safer. Also include Bluetooth for hands free phone.

Understood Colin. This looks much more substantial than the CatLock I have seen which didn't have any underguard like this one.

As I understand it it's only a cable. The cut on the pipe just needs to be slightly further apart to clear the brackets fitted to the cat. A few more seconds shouldn't spook someone who is prepared to cut through two ends of an exhaust with an angle grinder!

Having looked at a few other posts on this topic since it appears that as cats are stolen by cutting them out with an angle grinder it is hard to see how any type of cat guard would prevent this. Looks to me like a solution to a problem that doesn't exist ( ie stopping removal of the cat with a spanner)

Hi Peter Having had the same problem myself just after we bought our 2006 RX300 I feel for you.I suggest you leave it as it is as long as it is closed securely. We had a similar problem and, fortunately, it was fixed by the seller under warranty. As I recall they told me it it took about 23 hours of labour plus the parts. Probably more than your car is worth. To remove the roof it is necessary to remove the linings (which means starting at the bottom!) and the side airbags as well as most of the inside of the car. I think the motor itself was about £350 but the runners etc probably a bit less. I wouldn't consider second hand items for this as if they broke again you would not be happy! I have attached a few depressing photos of the car halfway through. Mike

I would definitely choose a 350. Mine is the 2006 350SE with coil spring suspension and sunroof. It's a better spec and has better suspensions and handling. It's more thirsty, but not much, and the road fund licence is expensive but mine has been very reliable and apart from a failed spark plug coil soon after I bought it and a problem with the sun roof both of which were fixed under warranty ( by the dealer not Lexus). It has been serviced by my local garage ever since I bought it in 2013. I bought it at 28K and it has now done about 60K. We use it in France every summer, so quite a lot of motorway driving each way, and in UK otherwise. Best mpg we got was about 28 on the French motorways and about 24-25 otherwise. Nothing has broken which we have had it. Lovely car to drive and very comfy. Massive boot with the seats down and regular loaded to the gunwales when we go to France. I haven't driven a 400. I suspect a 350 will be cheaper than a hybrid of similar age ( about £8k less than a 450 of the same age when I bought this one). You get a lot of petrol for £8K! Also I think the 400 has a cam belt which needs changing ( expensive) whereas the 350 ( and 450) has a chain which doesn't need changing.

Unless the model,you imported has asymmetric headlights the MoT test station is ill informed. My UK RX350 has " straight ahead" dipping as the main beam and dipped beams are derived from different light sources. Thus when dipped the main beam is simply switched off temporarily. It is possible that the AFS on your car is biassed towards the right in which case it would fail. Solve this by turning off the AFS (hard to find button on the lover dash moulding - check handbook). Otherwise I fear it would be expensive as the whole AFS system might need to be changed to bias it to the left for UK driving. i don't use deflectors when in France and there is a posting about this on my posts including a letter form Lexus UK in both English and French which you can use if necessary. suggest you go back to the MoT test station and explain the situation to them with the assistance of the letter from Lexus.

Try LV direct. I got my last renewal with them, half the cost of Aviva and includes 12 months European cover.

I had this problem with my RX350. It was caused by a kink in the tube inside the trim panel at the side of the boot. I fixed it by replacing the last 10cm or so with a piece of copper tubing and have had no more problems since. I think I posted some pictures of this previously which you can probably find in my earlier posts.

I have had Green Flag cover provided by my credit card for a long time and have only used it twice. The first time was when out exhaust blew in France and burned a hole in the carpet lining the back of the 4x4. Horrible smell. I phone the helpline who tried to find a nearby garage with the replacement rear exhaust but the nearest was in the South and it would have taken a week to get it sent to a local garage. They then found me a nearby garage who welded the pipe over lunchtime and we were back on the road after a couple of hours. The second was a blowout on a loan car in the New Forest which I didn't spot until we were on the M27 ( after about a mile of rather noisy driving). By the time the breakdown arrived the battery was flat due to the four way flashers being on the whole time. It was raining heavily and the wheel was changed ( skinny) our cases wedged into the back as there wasn't room in the boot for the wheel (MX5) and afternoon a jump start we were on our way again after about an hour. Lucky it wasn't a Smart Motorway. Overall pretty good service. I wouldn't hesitate to use Green Flag.

My 2005 RX 350 SE with60K is probably only worth about £3.5K so I would think you could do better than a 300. The 350 is a much better car than the 300.

I can echo this! I remember having a water pump fail on a Ford Transit based motor caravan in France in about 1978. After topping up a few times to keep going we found a Ford agent in Valence who had the part but could not fit it quickly. They lent me a few spanners and I fitted the new pump on the forecourt. it took about 45 minutes. I don't remember how much it cost but it didn't seem much at the time.Happy days.

Well done. It is worth keeping an eye on the sensor itself and if you find that the light don't move when you load the back of the car it will probably need replacing. It's not expensive to do it and shouldn't take as long as doing the linkage did. Worth filling the plug and socket with silicone grease or Vaseline to keep the contacts dry as a lot or water gets sprayed onto this assembly due to its position under the wheel arch.

If you check the length of the linkage before you remove it you will not need to any setup adjustments when you refit it as long as it's the same length. If it is too badly seized you can buy the linkage alone for about £10 ( there were several old posts about this) and if the sensor is damaged - common as they let in water- you can get a replacement from USA for about £80 including delivery. The replacements are better than the original as the water seals are better. It is a very easy job to do. Easier if you take off the NS rear wheel but remember to prop the car and don't rely on the jack. good luck

Buy a TomTom. Cheaper than the upgrade, sits on the top of the dash closer to your eyeliner and has " lifetime" free upgrades. Also has much better software with live traffic warnings.

How about getting the nuts spot welded to the bolt on the Cat connection. If it or the exhaust need changing it's only a minutes work with an angle grinder to cut the nut off but it would make it slow and noisy to steal it. Maybe a notice on a window alerting thieves or maybe one with "No cat on this car" might be a useful addition as well.

Is the parking brake jammed or did you forget to release it?

The connection to the TomTom sounds interesting. Was the "socket which is not visible" added by the techie or is it already under the dash panel?

We had a smaller tear in the front trim by the glove box when a piece of MDF slipped forward and dug into it. I got a repair kit from eBay for about £10 which had a backing sheet and a mixable filler/ adhesive which could be matched to the colour of the trim. My wife did the repair which, although not invisible is good enough for a 14 year old car which isn't worth a lot now. Until you repair it it is worth fixing it back as well as you can with the clear ( more expensive) sellotape which doesn't yellow or harden so it won't shrink back too much which would make repair difficult.

PS 400 has a timing belt 350 has a chain.

You might like to look at this link which has covered it pretty well. I bought a 350 (56 plate) about 5 years ago and haven't regretted it. Its a great car. A little more thirsty than the hybrids (I get about 24-28 depending on local or motorway use)(400 is not as good as 450 I think but the differences with the 350 are less than you might expect for a hybrid). Hybrids cost quite a bit more (in UK anyway) and the difference buys quite a lot of petrol. Car tax is higher in UK for the 350 but may not be in Spain which would be a plus in favour of the 350. The FWD is also completely different with the 350 being AWD and the hybrids being front wheel drive on petrol with the 4WD added by a rear wheel drive via the electric motor so it effectively alternates between front and 4WD rather like the Honda . I didn't notice the difference when I drove a 450 recently but others have said that the system isn't as good in snow or mud etc. There are differences in the geometry and suspension between the 350 and the 400H and some think the 350 is better to drive. I haven't driven a 400 so cannot comment on this. Nobody seems to worry much about mileage and many report no problems up to 200K miles. Good luck with your choice. I am sure you will like whichever you choose as they are both very goods cars.