chris_abr

Waze pre-catches your route when you search initially, but if you change later, you need internet connection to reroute. it's pretty similar to google maps, just a much better interface, and the live updates by people are there. What it lacked though, was the ability to block roads easily that have been closed. The Lexus nav seems to just 'know' these, google maps still asked me to drive through closed motorways regardless, waze had a fairly complex interface to mark roads as closed, and it would still reroute to the next exit, when a 15 mile stretch of the motorway was closed.. the lexus nav interface is prehistoric - but then it is from 2004 lol This is my opinion based on driving over 50k miles a year, mainly motorways, so might be different if you drive in the city.

I'd use Google Maps if anything. But the Lexus maps is just so convenient, no phones on the dashboard, the interior looks much better.

Potentially, but for this price you may as well pay the difference and buy a new one with 2016 maps direct from Lexus.

Each to their own, I felt CVT was like driving an electric car, you have very little control over what it is actually doing. I test drove the 450h, and just didnt feel comfortable with that box. But my main argument is about the lack of gear change noise - its fine if you leave it stock, but as soon as you extract a little noise from it, it sounds really bad. Just a constant whine. As to complexity, it is simpler, but how often do you do any work on gearboxes? You only change the oil at 80-100k, and leave it be for 200-300 k miles. Its the engine you need to work on, and the bay in 450h is just messy, really packed up full of stuff, quite difficult to access. its fine if you leave it to a mechanic, as you just don't care, but if you do your own repairs, accessibility and ease of troubleshooting is rather important.

I also fix my cars, and this was one of the main reasons for not going with the 450h for me - the whole CVT / two motors makes things much more complex, not as much space to work in on the engine, so many more parts, and unfamiliarity with the design makes troubleshooting much more difficult. Not to mention if you wanna modify the exhaust - 450h sounds awful due to the CVT. If you want the kit 450h has, go with 300-L, they have all the equipment of the 450h except the radar guides cruise control and a few small things, I think the nav is a little older too. But you get the same stuff - sunroof, rear blind (though I never use mine, don't see the point of it, I just tint the car), mark levinson, rain sensing wipers, 18' alloys, and all the other stuff. Check out the official promo leaflets, they say exactly what each comes with. I ended up going with the 300, as it's only 1.7s to 60 slower, yet sounds a hell of a lot better if you modify the exhaust, is a lot simpler to fix yourself, and requires less maintenance (less complexity). Alternatively, I'd look at GS430. You get the performance of a 450h, sweet sound of a V8, simplicity of repairs, and equipment level of the 450h. Not to mention if you remap it (which you can do now), you'll get good 10-15% more power. And 430 has very similar MPG to 450h.

unlocked nav makes sense, if you're stuck on traffic lights for 3-5 minutes, it's enough time to use it. Not to mention by the passenger. It's much safer than stopping in the middle of a country road to enter an address on the nav.

get the newer discs, whether genuine or not, it's likely them working so-so. What you have now are not genuine. Though the 'not genuine' makes no difference, as soon as you update the discs to 2015/16, it'll also update the firmware. If it's original, the firmware will re-lock the nav, so you can't enter the destination whilst out of park. if not, it'll just update the firmware (which will fix the stability).

By the way, I don't think yours are genuine. The genuine discs have maps for the whole of europe on one disc. Are you able to enter an address when driving? Because if so, then your discs are definitely not original, as the firmware on the nav was 'unlocked'.

Not sure about the 2007, but on my 2005 (MK3), the only check on the DVD is the 'DVD-ROM' book type, so as long as you use a recorder capable of recording the DVD as DVD-ROM (pretending to be the original), it'll work fine. (though majority of desktop recorders are not capable of this). You have to remove some of the maps, as the originals come in DVD DL (9 GB), and on DL discs, the recorder has an additional check, which cannot be worked around when recording with a desktop recorder. But single layer discs (4.7GB) work just fine. It should work fine regardless of the year, as the 2005/6 has Mark 3 Infotainment screen, 2007+ has Mark 5 - but it's mainly a screen update, the DVD-ROM reader, maps and its software checks are identical. Though this is just a presumption, I haven't tested it, so can't confirm. It'd be good to test the 'backup' DVDs on a newer car. But yeah, if you can't be bothered with the hassle, and don't mind having maps outdated by 2 or 3 years, just buy straight from the dealer, they're around £130. Annoying if you do it every year, not that bothering if you update once every decade.

You can either purchase the discs, or burn them yourself - but this requires a lot of patience and nerves! A lot easier to just buy on ebay (they're not originals either, most of the time). The latest available disc is from 2015/16. By far the best way to get AUX / Bluetooth is to purchase one of the xcarlink kits. http://www.xcarlink.co.uk/product.php?productid=318&cat=29&page=1 You can have it around £140 (you'll need an additional adapter cable, since you have the satnav). cable: http://www.xcarlink.co.uk/product.php?productid=67&cat=29&page=1 As to guides - none needed, really. but youtube has a full guide for it: This is a grom one, but the xcarkit works exactly the same. The difference is, xcarkit is a UK company based in London, whereas grom is US. So shipping takes a lot shorter, and you have a local phone number. EDIT: Sorry, the video I gave didn't have a guide, here is the guide for installation: Really simple stuff, remove the centre console, plug a cable at the back, route kit cables, put it back together - done.

I've just gone up from the IS220D (same car as IS250, except the engine), to the GS300 (2006), and they're just totally different class of a car. GS300 is much better in my opinion (but then it would be, I have, after all, just bought one!). It feels closer to something like a Bentley than a 5 series, whereas the IS has much more of a 3 Series feel - sporty chassis, quite underpowered (although the IS250/GS300 have almost the same power), good equipment level. If I was you, I'd try to hunt down a GS300-L, it has pretty much all of the optional equipment (incl. Satnav and Mark Levison sound system), and majority of them come with a sunroof. MPG wise, most I ever got was around 45 MPG, all motorway, 180 mile journey. But this was at 55 mph average. At around 75 mph, I get 40-42 MPG. This is cruise control all the way of course, and very little in terms of overtaking (no need to when you drive at 9pm!). City is much worse, having just modified the exhaust, I like it to grawl - resultant is 17-20 MPG tank average! haha. if you drive like a granny, you may get high 20s, low 30s. But you should expect around 20-25 city if you drive normally. I find Lexus are usually pretty realistically rated - what it is rated as, you will usually get (within +/- 5%) if you drive calm. The combined I never look at, as it is wildly dependent on your journey composition. Majority of people almost never do motorway journeys, so they shouldn't even look at mixed rating.

The ECU has been cracked around the end of last year. The IS, GS, and a few other models. I appreciate it'll only be 5-10%, but with a modified exhaust and intake, it should bring it up to 15% or so. At that point, you're talking about getting it up from 245 to 281, then make an allowance within the map for a more dense fuel (GS doesn't require, and make use of premium fuel as stock), and you'll be pushing it close to 300. Which is definitely not in-significant.

That's what I' expecting. Max bhp of + 10% is not likely to be that noticeable, but if the whole power graph went up by 10%, then that'd definitely be noticeable. Whenever I remapped the 220D, I got around +30/+40bhp at the top end, but the whole curve improved - turbo lag disappeared, and power started at around 2.3-2.4k rpm instead of 2.5-2.6 as previously. It just made the whole car a lot more powerful overall. Here's the graph from a 220D. It was a big improvement. The 0-60 jumped from around 9s to about 7.5s or so. If I can get the GS300 to 6s from 7, that'd be a massive improvement.

Hi everyone, So I just bought a GS300. Having owned an IS220D, and remaped it a few months ago, I asked 'my friendly tunner' whether he's able to do a GS300 - he says yes. Apparently the ECU hack they discovered back at the end of last year works for IS and the GS (possibly more models too). So my question is - has anybody done it yet? The guy says I'll only get around 20-30 bhp extra, but that the shape of the dyno curve should change considerably, making more power at the low end, which is the one you really feel. Just thought I'd ask someone who did it prior, before spending £250! Chris

I'd ask them to compensate you for it. Whether by a freebie (heat/cool seat control panel?), or financially. That shouldn't have happened. Did you get the rears too? I'm guessing these dont fit either?