PWJ Bishop

Front wheel bearing! Near side front wheel bearing is humming slightly, so booked in to have it replaced by Lexus Hatfield. Apparently there is a possibility that this may write-off the car since they cannot get a replacement hub which, they say, is sometimes needed. So far as I can tell from the workshop manual, the hub is not a service part, so I don't follow this point, though one does need a press and certain special service tools, which a long-established Lexus dealer must have (or can get). New tyres Finally got to the end of my stock of Dunlop D8z originals (with 125 mph rear blowout, just to keep life interesting). I chose Michelin 225/16 98V ENERGYsaver, which seem to ride well and quietly and might save some fuel too, but no chance to measure that yet. £125 each from myTyres, fitted by Hatfield for £72.

Malcolm On the strength of my experience, I persuaded two friends to get LS 400 Mk 3s, one of which I drove often. It is actually indistinguishable from a Mk 2, apart from being rather more accellerative, from the start in particular, owing to the shorter first gear. The Mk 3 is also a fair bit lighter than the Mk 1 or Mk2 , and the sequential fuel injection makes it about 5 mpg more economical on a run. Also, the front seats are certainly more comfortable too (I have made some small brackets to raise the front of mine, creating more tilt which helped a lot). But, the Mk 3 does not have quite the same little details, like carpeted covers for the ends of the seat runners and extra-flow for the rear air conditioning which is good if you have rear passengers. But, it does have OBD2, so one could use a Scangauge to monitor what is going on. The only gadget I regularly miss is a trip computer, but I believe this did not appear until the Mk 4, which also was the first car to have sat-nav as standard - and the best looking of all the LS models, in my view. But, i think I am going to have to look towards getting a second car, if delays to repairs are to feature from now on. One must have one car which can be relied upon. You probably think this is nuts, but I favour a Nissan Leaf, the only other car I have ever been in where you can hear the tyres of the other cars owing to the quietness of one's own.

I have just heard from Customer relations at Lexus. Apparently, they only undertake to maintain availablilty of parts for eight years after production of a particular model ceases after this it is simply a question as to how long the remaining stock of spare parts lasts. So, no point in buying, and properly maintaining, a Lexus - then?

One more thing, since the car sailed throught the MoT a couple of years ago, without even a lightbulb being needed, I thought I would treat myself, and I replaced all eight rubbers, at the top and bottom of each spring, and the anti-rolling bar bushes. The improvement in silent running was remarkable!

Yes, of course, it is always cheaper to mend a car, even at Lexus prices, than it is to change it. The motor trade make most of their profit from persuading customers to flip from one to another. Actually, it is a reflection of the fantastic constistancy of modern manufacturing that the problems, there are not many, seem to occur at about the same mileage or age, This seems true, certainly for the LS 400. It also means that it is not worth changing your individual car since the one you buy will surely produce the same faults you have already dealt with. And, there is, for me, the now apparently old fashioned, pastime of keping the car in good nick, looking after the leather (I use Gliptone) and attending to any paint blemishes. I have always done this, but the more I work on the Lexus, the more enthusiastic I become about the quality of, particularly, the unseen bits. It's just so well made, and so taking care of it is a pleasure with most discoveries being a delight rather than a dissapointment. This all goes back to Toyota having to make an outstanding statement, when they entered the luxury market, which they certainly achieved. Of course, it has fewer gadgets, but the quality is in no way inferior to anything Lexus make now, and this quality remains better than any other car made by others. Finally, which other car has such an attractive under bonnet appearance?

I want to thank you all for the tips! I have sent an email to Toyota/Lexus is Surrey and this has been passed to customer relations, which is not encouraging. Mercedes advertised that they keep parts avaialble for 30 years, so Lexus ought to at least match this. The other thing is that there are six planes coming from Japan every day, so it never ought to take more than a couple of days to obtain anything; it's not as if the prices are too low to pay for the occasional airfreighted example, should the warehouse in Belgium have run out. The one, so far sucessful repaired part has been the dashboard circuit board. The original failed at 120,000 miles, the next lasted only 40,000 and the third a mere 20,000 (and each replacement was about £1,000! Clearly Lexus are selling old parts with the faulty capacitors. I got the third board repaired in Essex and, so far, no problems. If the clock/air conditioning temp board goes again, I will take the same approach (that was £550!). But, you are all so right, the quaality of the car is so high that if only one can achieve the few repairs necessary, aven at 20 years old, there is no reason to change it. It is still superior to almost all the cars on the road, so one never longs for something else - except when filling up! Once, I did a trip from here, Watford, to Newcastle return. I kept strictly to an indicated 70mph both ways and achieved a measured 30.2mpg, which compares to the original official 75mph figure of 28.5mpg. So, this is as good, on a run, as the LS600h, though obviously not so in town. No oil consumption at all yet, but have been using 0w-30 grade since 1999 when I took over the car (62,000 miles) because it gets round quickly when cold and when 90% of wear occurs. 552 miles on one tank, by the way, on the Newcastle experiment, but 70mph constant is SO boring. I will let you all know how this goes, but the car is still in use and on the road for now. I recently had the use of a modern Mercedes S-class 3-litre diesel for 10 days (courtesy car from Lexus insurance!) and can sy it was not as quiet and did not ride as well as my 20 year old Lexus, so nothing to go for there.... However, it did return 42mpg whereas the LS600h I tried would only do just over 30mpg, driven similarly. So, diesels beat hybrids for efficiency, by a mile. The LS600h spent most of its time at about 1,000rpm, which is well under the sweet spot and thus bound to be innefficient.

I just remembered the name of the breaker was Swift Lexus Spares. They found there was not much demand, as you say. I suppose that, providing I can get the part number, I could search on the net and maybe get spares in America (I cannot speak Japanese!). The modern Dunlop tyres do not come out particularly well, except for external noise - but it is internal noise that matters. Goodyear Efficient Grip have the lowest rolling resistance (B), 70dB external noise, and middling wet grip - anybody tried those?

Malcolm Thank you, yes going to get things is more fun than having them delivered! But there are other things that are no longer available from the official Lexus source; I suppose my question boils down to "do Toyota cease support after 20 years from a model's introduction?" One point of buying a decent car is durability and, in spite of being in constant use for 20 years, with many short runs which are never good, the mechanics show no wear at all so far, which demonstrates the quality built into the car. 220,000 miles and still no oil consumption, for example - though I have always used 0w-30 so as to get around the engine quickly when cold, which is where 90% of wear occurs. It seems a great waste to have to discard a perfectly serviceable car owing to lack of parts. Mercedes used to advertise that everything would be avaialble for 30 yeras, and going by the number of old ones still in use this seems true. But in the Europe, the LS has always been a small volume player. Maybe parts are still freely avaialable in the US or in Japan serving the Celsiors? There used to be a Lexus specialist breaker near Shoreham by Sea but no longer - I am still, just, running on Dunlop D8z tyres which I got there!.

Twice during the last year brake work has been required on my '93 LS 400 Mk2; the car has during the 14 years I have run it been looked after on schedule by the local Lexus Hatfield dealer. Firstly, it turned out that front brake calipers are no longer avaialble and now the same situation is apparently true for the offside front brake backplate, though the left one can be had with a month's delay. Now, I realise that some uninportant trim parts cease being available after 10 years, but it looks now as if ordinary and vital mechanical components are to cesase availability after 20 years. So, the remaining life of the car becomes a matter of luck. Is this experiance unique to Lexus, to me or a common problem, please?