Spottedlaurel

Was very surprised to see an LS400 Mk1/2 in France back in 2019: I certainly can't recall any 430s from my French holidays.

Or replace the ignition switch? I did it once on a Camry, wasn't complicated. If it happens at night then I think you may lose the lights, don't want it to happen at the wrong time....

I was going to suggest the same thing, reguarly happened on my Mk3. Usually about 14-15 miles into a journey, I presume something warmed-up just enough to break contact. I just flicked the key round and back again and everything came on again.

I drove an NX450h a while back, thinking that might be the way I would go when my Gen 3 RX eventually needs replacing. At the time the new RX hadn't come out, so that was the only PHEV Lexus option. My personal view was that it felt a bit too 'car-like', if that makes sense? Seemed like I was sitting lower, and it didn't have the solid feel of the older RX. I also felt the tech was a little overwhelming, but oddly I didn't think the same when I drove a 5th gen RX. Would be interesting now to drive current NX and RX back-to-back, I might reconsider and think the NX is the right car for me. To be honest, until the security/insurance issues work themselves out I'm not rushing to change.

Self-healing car, wonderful! On the exterior mirrors, have you recently played with the switches and left one of them pressed-in? That's what is required to make them auto-dip.

But even without hopefully it would be significantly better than 28mpg? Given I can get low-mid 30s out of 3rd gen RX with its V6 hopefully with newer tech and the 4-cyl engine they'd be 35-40mpg without charging?

Interesting to hear your thoughts after a decent run in each, and to compare it with your previous-gen model. The 500h does seem a bit of an odd thing, I wonder if it will remain on sale here? I enjoyed my drive in a 450+ earlier in the year, all being well then that's what I'd eventually like to replace my current 3rd gen model with in a few years.

Well done, loads of life in it still! My '93 LSS400 is on 165k, sadly not used as much as I'd like to. Highest mileage car we have in the family is a 1999 Avensis SR which recently turned over 280,000. 300k is the target! Still drives nicely too.

Do remember the theft/insurance issues with the 4th gen model, which could be bringing down prices a bit. If you can get a sensible quote and live in an area where that's less of a problem then it could be a tool for negotiation. If nothing else check it's had the security plate fitted, or get them to do it before you take delivery.

I drove a Premium Plus and overall I liked it, but then I have no experience of a 4th gen RX and I'm comparing it my 3rd gen version. I was mildly surprised to find there is no padding behind the inside door pulls, and the seat backs looked rather plain and simple. First world problems and all that.... If I can afford/justify it then I can see me going to one of the PHEV models in a few years. I'd be happy with a Premium as I'd prefer it to be on 19" wheels.

Things that are worth thinking about in winter that haven't been mentioned yet? Don't rely on auto lights (so many people seem to, no good when it's foggy but bright enough not to make the lights come on), and turn auto wipers off at the end of the day. Not ideal to have them try and work the next morning when they're frozen to the screen....

RX450h Premier should have air suspension, which can be problematic. The rest of the range have conventional springs, as I believe do all models of the NX.

Discussions about it here, it helps to slow down / prevent easy access to the wiring that makes the 2016-on model vulnerable to theft.

Some years before we knew what car that would be, or evenwhat a Lexus was 🙂 A couple of those cars do still exist I believe, but not as you see above. The Mini E450DWC is now orange and modified with the usual recipe of wide arches and fat alloys. The 924 has undergone a rather dramatic transformation. I saw it on eBay or somewhere a few years ago, when it was painted black. DVLA now lists it as white, I did a search and it now appears to have been the donor for a Lamborghini Countach replica!

I'm lucky in that photos of a fair few family cars have survived. Mostly everyday stuff, although one of my grandfathers had a tatty E-Type for many years which I recall being used to take hay down to the horses. Sadly no photos have turned up of that one, but for some of that time my grandmother had this MkII: I believe this is the car that my dad had when I was brought home from hospital, with perhaps a little less opposite lock: After an Escort Mk1 he had this Avenger 1500: Which is the first car I can remember. I have particularly strong memories of it because it was sold to someone in the village who kept it until the early '80s, then a young lad got hold of it and after being used and abused for a while it sat festering away in a ar park that I walked past every day on my paper round. Next came this '70s classic: With one of my first cars in the background! Mum had learned to drive when we still had it (the Allegro that is!), and she rolled it on a snowy day. It must have been repaired reasonably well as it survived until 1984. A Mk3 Cortina followed it, then this Capri 1600: My dad then got a job with a company car, and he went through a couple more Cortinas (I remember thinking a yellow 2000E seemed rather posh) before having two of the wedgy Alfa Romeo Giuliettas in succession. He never had anything Japanese. I recall a trip to the local Datsun dealership in the '70s, possibly because the farmer he worked for had bought a 1500 pickup, but nothing came of it. By this time my parents had split up, so I start picking up on my stepdad's cars as well as what mum had. After a couple of Minis, she had this: Followed by this Cherry, which became my first car and the beginning of 30+ years of Japanese car ownership After the Cherry she got another Mini, which my aunt had won in a Daily Mail competition: And a couple of stepdad's, which followed on from a series of Datsuns: As he ran a series of vans and trucks for his work as a builder they eventually they had just one car between them, which for some years was this XR4x4: I had the odd drive and remember it fondly, with a gruff, heavy feel to it. They bought it back some years after letting it go so they could have that registration plate, which they still have to this day. It's now on a new Corolla, his first non-Ford for many years.

Check you can insure it OK, and also whether the security plate has been fitted.

Ditto! I'm happy to be looking to keep my Mk3 for another 4-5 years, or longer. It feels like they are at the sweet spot between clever levels of technology in terms of how the hybrid system works, but with a simple user interface (and no Canbus theft issues as a bonus).

I had no issue omitting the spark plug change from my 6yr service, when I had only done 40k. Likewise when I got them done last year at the 8yr service they were able to add them (or say I was having a 6yr/60k service?). Regarding extra items, they had no problem adding an air-con regas onto the intermediate service I had done back in July.

Yup, mine has 205 on it, and the same size on all the spare wheels too. Even that seems a bit skinny to me, but I doubt you could fit anything wider on the 6.5" wide rim. In any case, I'm sure those clever engineers spent an awful long time working out the optimum size so I'm happy to accept their judgement. Dug out the spare wheels this morning: Didn't realise I had five, will have to check and see what spare I have. Not immediately sure if I have nuts, but it maybe that your wheels were fitted using the originals? The important thing is you can see there are the handed pairs and four caps.

Looks like it will be an impressively thorough job! I don't do too much domestic work nowadays, but this is the sort of thing I've been involved with the for the last 30+ years. It's too easy to over-extend an existing property, ending up with poor flow and dark rooms because the layout hasn't properly thought about. Sometimes the only way of achieving that is by something more radical, as you're doing here. If you're in an area you like, and the plot justifies it, then it's a good solution.

VAT exemption on new build work may be a factor?

Not elusive here, pretty sure I do. Will check in a bit....

I'll try and take some photos tomorrow. I don't recall them being too bad, they're what came on it but I had another set with better, matching Dunlops which I used to have on my Camry, and I swapped them across.

I have a spare set of 15" wheels....

Maybe just you and me then Malcolm? Now on around 165k miles, I've done around 4,000 since getting it three years ago. Realistically too much to do on it as a long-term project, but I'll try and keep it going for as long as I can. In a back-to-back drive with a Mk4 I reckoned it was smoother, although it isn't as fast nor economical. The magical smoothness of the engine and 'box are still a revelation, better in some regards than my hybrid, V6 RX. There's a purity to the look of the Mk1 on it's 15" wheels that is lost on the later models.