Spottedlaurel

I don't have the paperwork with me to check, but I don't think it has to be faulty for an exchange. I had to use it when I got an RX, in that case there was something I wasn't happy about but that the dealership wouldn't fix or acknowledge as a fault, and it wasn't apparently covered by the warranty, so to save it getting a debate about it we agreed to go the exchange route and I ended up with another one (which I still have). In my experience the firm ride is exaggerated by noise from the rear seats/loadbay. Difficult to pin down exactly what is making the noise, I'm hoping a new full set of tyres later this year will improve things. With nearly four times the mileage and all sorts of issues my aged LS is more hushed and refined.

That's a shame. Are you within the 30-day period where you can exchange it, even if they may not immediately have the right LS as an alternative?

I think the ride of my 2014 Luxury is one of its least good aspects. I suppose trying to get reasonable handling and body control out of a tall, heavy car means they had to go for fairly firm springs. My Mk1 LS400 is much better in that regard.

I'm sure it'll do very well for you. We've had three Accords (and a Triumph Acclaim!) and all were good, they had a well-engineered feel that was a step up from the equivalent NIssan or Toyota of the time. My sister's on her second Civic and father-in-law has a 2002 CR-V which he bought for under £500 and keeps going happily. And we have a Honda mower too...... Interesting that you you think it has a more useful boot than the RX - coming from a roomy Avensis estate to my RX that is something I was a bit disappointed by. There's a local 4x4/SUV dealer who always has a few CR-Vs for sale, he clearly does well with them. I'd certainly consider one in the future.

I'm contemplating having my front discs skimmed, I've got an annoying squeak at low speeds and the local Lexus dealership put it down to a lip of corrosion at the edge of the disc. They say there's plenty of the material on the discs and pads. When I've had discs skimmed previously they did it on the car, effectively clamping a mini lathe onto the hub which spun the disc - is that advsiable with a hybrid or should the discs be removed? Also, if the same pads are coming out and going back in again is there any need for bleeding and therefore Techstream?

Would love to know more please, what did you end up with?

If you're in Norfolk you could try Power & Performance at Honingham, just outside Norwich (assuming they're still going, I haven't been for several years now). I've had several full stainless systems from them on older Japanese cars, it was cheaper than obtaining and fitting an OE mild steel system. There also seems to be a place doing Powerflow in Norwich, at Aylsham Way.

I'm not sure, they didn't grumble about it being a difficult job.

Couldn't resist getting a shot under a blossom tree when collecting a rather appropriate Japanese takeaway last night, with the car vaguely clean for once after I treated it to a session at the jet wash. There's a little bit to report on the old thing after its straightforward MoT pass and celebratory oil change. On my first journey it suddenly slowed-up and didn't appear to be running on all its cylinders. I limped it home, with it sounding like a Corolla with a broken exhaust, generating a few clouds of steam and unpleasant smells from the underside as I splashed through puddles. The cat's and exhaust were glowing bright red. A quick Google suggested it was a failed coil pack, and that turned out to be the case. The heating and cooling of the exhaust hadn't done it any favours, so while it was in the garage they welded it up. Finally, when it was up in the air they found a coolant leak. I thought it would be the radiator, although a quick search showed them to be priced rather more reasonably than I'd feared. However, it just turned out to be a split hose less than 1" diameter, so they managed to sort that. Have since used it a few times, including the important birthday meal collection, and all appears to be well. As my Camry estate is out of use for the summer I'll swap its Lexus wheels and matching set of Dunlop tyres onto the LS, then just enjoy it.

I think all apart from the rare SE model use the same size 19" tyre, which is 235/55. That gives them quite a chunky sidewall depth, which is probably good for rural driving and speed bumps etc in town alike.

I don't know when it started or how long it will run for, but Black Circles are currently doing 15% off Michelin including CrossClimates. Doesn't appear to be dependent on buying a set of 4 either, so a pair of 19s for a gen 3 model is just over £280 fitted.

Of those two my choice would the Advance, despite the higher mileage. No air suspension to worry about for a start. It also gives you a little bit spare in case any work is required.

New car looks great, will be interested to hear your thoughts on comparing it with the previous one. I think they'll ask more for your old one, it is a great example. Steven Eagell in King's Lynn have got a maroon 63-reg Luxury with 58k up for £17,495.

I'm going to pick it up tomorrow morning. Will be great to be able to use it again once the current restrictions are lifted a little. Your advice on the insurance is noted (I need to revisit the values on my couple of Datsuns too). I had a bit of a job getting my current insurers to add it onto my classic policy. Hopefuly now it's there I won't have such a job this year, or I'll have to change to someone else.

My Mk1 went straight through an MoT this morning. A few advisories, but nothing too serious and it's a lot better than it could be seeing as I did no prep whatsoever. Its last test was in June 2019 and it got a 6-month extension last summer, then it's been out of use since late December - as I haven't been going anywhere much there was no point getting it tested back then. I only took it to the garage because I needed to pick my wife's car up and it was easier to do that then get a lift back! I've left it there for an oil change and quotes on the advisories.

Sorry, quoted instead of edited........

I rejected the first RX450 I purchased after I found damage to the underside trays and exhaust system, seemed like a previous owner had thought it was more of an off-roader than it is in reality. That was despite it being a Lexus approved car. Would be worth checking that. I'm happy with the one I have now and intend to keep it for a good few years yet, but I'm glad I got one without air suspension as I wouldn't have been so happy about it as a long-term proposition otherwise. The black leather seems to be holding up well with negligible car from me, admittedly it doesn't see much family use nowadays. The metallic black paintwork has picked up the odd scratch, but I live and work in the countryside and it still looks very presentable after a clean-up. The power tailgate failure seems to be a relatively recent issue, or perhaps it's just coincidence we've suddenly seen this problem occur a few times.

I'm down to around 32 at the moment, again too many short journeys in cold weather. I've managed some journeys in summer cruising at around 50 on flattish country roads and through 30-40mph towns/villages where I've got around 40mpg. It's not too hilly around these parts, but I still find a lot of occasions where I can lift my foot just enough to hold speed, that's what seems to make the biggest difference.

Thanks Piers. You've summed-up what I'll get to, if I sold it then someone else would still happily be using it still in 15+ years' time. It's as good a car as I'll ever need and I'll be absolutely confident in its history, so why shouldn't it be me?

I was going to post this in the RX section, but then I thought it applies equally to all models and other members on here might have an opinion and be considering or already doing the same thing. After a wobbly start when I initially got a 14-reg RX 450h Advance that I exchanged, I've had my 64-reg Luxury for nearly two years now. It was on just 23,000 miles or so and one former owner when I picked it up, so pretty much as good as a car only a year or two old. The overall condition and my subsequent experience have been commensurate with that, the previous owner looked after it well and it has continued to give me excellent service. It's taken me to France once, sadly 2020's visit there was cancelled but hopefully it will go there again. It's on a PCP which finishes in early-mid 2022. I had already made up my mind to purchase it outright at that time. Mileage is now around 42k, for obvious reasons I've done less in 2020 that I would normally have done, but even if my annual use goes up again I shall still be well under 70,000 at approaching eight years old. From memory the final figure is around £10,000, for that I'll be getting a quality car that I know and trust. At present independent dealers are asking around £15k for RXs with that sort of age and mileage, and it'll be more at a Lexus dealer (Cambridge have a 2012 Premier with 75,000 miles for just over £18k). As much as anything, I can't face handing mine back and letting them make that much out of it...... My original plan had then been to keep it for another couple of years, which would be long enough to pay off the £10,000 and make it completely mine. That would take it up to 10 years old and approaching 100k miles. My thinking was by that time the forthcoming NX would have been out for several years and available on the used market, or there'd be other alternatives, and I'd have the value in the RX to use as a deposit. Thing is, by 2024 I'll be only 5-6 years away from when I'd like to retire and do I really want to spend all that money again? Say £3-400/month, which would be better going into my pension pot, and/or the amount I save could see me retire maybe a year earlier. So, why not keep my current RX until retirement? By then it'd be 15-16 years old and have covered 150-200k miles - shouldn't be too difficult to achieve should it? I don't have air suspension to worry about, nor a sunroof/panoramic roof. If I keep using the main dealer for servicing then I can keep the hybrid health checks and extended warranty going for most of that time, so that pretty much fixes my costs. Whatever I drive would need tyres and other consumables, whatever its age, and the money I'll be saving will more than cover any additional costs. Economy won't be as good as a next-gen RX, Camry, RAV4 or the forthcoming NX, all of which were in my mind as potential replacements. However, some of the mileage will be business use and at 45p/mile that more than covers the 36-38mpg I usually get on work journeys. Hopefully for much of that time I will also have my older car(s) that I can use to keep the mileage down - even if it's just 5,000 a year that's 50k in 10 years that I can keep off the RX. One of those cars at present is a 1992 LS400 which has now done 162k miles, and in the past I ran a 1996 Camry that had done almost 200,000, so I have no qualms about that sort of mileage on a Lexus/Toyota. It's only in recent years that I've bought a relatively new car on finance. For most of my driving life I was happy to run around in whatever I could afford outright, whatever its age, but typically 10-15 years old Japanese cars (sometimes up to 30 years old). I'll be quite happy to break out of the PCP/deposit/PCP cycle, and running the other old cars means they give me some variety and the RX can just get on with doing its job. Also, if the current plans to phase out petrol/diesel car sales by 2030 are still in place then it feels like a lot is going to change and I'm better off sticking with what I have until a clear future path is more apparent. Sorry for the ramble, hope it makes sense. Just curious as whether anyone else is doing something similar?

Welcome, great to see another Norfolk-based LS400 owner on here. I don't know if I've seen yours around, did you buy it locally? I've got photos of one or two other L400.... registered cars, I suppose it's going to be popular on them. It probably wasn't intention here, but your plate looks like a Norfolk-issue 'EX' registration.

Indeed, it's a quality they all share. My Mk3 was probably slightly compromised in the ride department by running on 18" GS300 Sport wheels, although it still wasn't too bad as I recall: 1996 Lexus LS400 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Get you with your fancy steering wheel buttons and trip computer! Nothing like that in Mk1, or even Mk3 as I recall. Good to have that confirmed. I'll have to see if they replaced the pump when the belt was done.

That's interesting Malc, I assumed the engine continued pretty much unchanged from Mk1 to Mk2. Mine is certainly a Mk1, with the 15" wheels, analogue odometer etc, although admittedly a late example (first registered 30/09/1992). It would be nice not to have an imminent cam belt replacement to consider - as previously mentioned it's only done around 15k since it was changed in 2011, and it's been in a garage for much of the time when not in use, so not subject to significant temperature changes. Thanks Phil. By the time it was launched in 1989, the Japanese makers had shown they could make small/medium sized cars as well as/better than anyone else, but I think the Celsior/LS400, Nissan Skyline GT-R and Honda NSX in particular represent a massive step forwards and have every right to be regarded as classics. I'd happily have one of the other two, and I can only count myself lucky that I'm getting to enjoy a slice of that history. Beyond its various scratches, scrapes and dents I can't see significant rot in the outer panels, I suspect the sill ends might be a little tender and I await next month's verdict on the underside. Thank you Piers. I'm sure you're right. Until I got this one my wife thought I was stupid to have got shot of the Mk3, and usually she's not too interested in my rubbish. This is also why I have had a 1990s Camry of one sort or another on the road for most of the last 14 years, with my current 1993 estate having been with me since 2011 and staggering on despite being written-off by an Audi and spending periods of time out-of-use while I've concentrated on other cars. Toyota/Lexus products of that time are remarkable things, they work so well.

I've had this old thing for approaching six months now, time for a quick update before I have to make a decision on its future....... 1992 Lexus LS400 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1992 Lexus LS400 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr It gets used as a commuter and dad's taxi in the very rural area where I live, so it's ended up looking like this: 1992 Lexus LS400 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1992 Lexus LS400 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Other than fuel, screen wash and a bit of air in the tyres, I don't think i've put anything in or spent anything on it during the 1,000+ miles I've done since late June. That's not to say it doesn't need any work, quite the opposite I suspect, but its been wonderful to drive and perfectly reliable. Based on what it cost me that wasn't necessarily a given thing..... 1992 Lexus LS400 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1992 Lexus LS400 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1992 Lexus LS400 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr As it was looking a little disgusting, I thought I'd give it a quick clean. Came up OK, it'll be filthy again after a day or two. The extended MoT expires just after Christmas. Due to the usual financial pressures of the season, and the precautionary need to buy a new battery on the RX, that will have to wait until next month. If it fails drastically then I'll have to work out what to do with it, whether that's sell it for spares/repair or keep it myself as a spares donor for any future LS I end up buying. I've enjoyed the experience of this Mk1 as much, if not more, than the MK3 I had a few years ago. It has a certain purity and way of doing things that I really like, and it makes for an interesting comparison with my Camry of similar vintage and the newer RX. I think the LS does a better job of being a luxury car than the RX, it certainly has a more cosseting ride. The V8 is so smooth and quiet there are many times when it doesn't feel like it has engine providing motivation, so in that way it's much like the RX. Let it go beyond 3,000rpm and the smooth, rapid way it picks up speed and gets around to the redline is a great experience. I can't afford to spend ££££s on it, but I'd contemplate spending a reasonable bit to keep it going - looking at what they go for on the open market, and knowing that I have a reliable starting point I think it would be worthwhile, even if it will never be immaculate. Getting it through the MoT will only be the first thing, it'll then need a damn good service, cam belt change and various little things sorting - it'd be nice to have low and medium fan speeds for example, not just nothing or full speed. One nice thing is that all the HRW elements work, something I always look for, and the interior is pretty good. The bodywork will never be perfect without spending an eyewatering amount, but then if it was too good would I want to regularly use it? Fingers crossed when it goes in for a test this time next month........