Mikeyb999

Only 4.5 years so fairly young, but well used

My CT has 135K on it with no issues - my understanding is that the toyota system is very clever at maintaining the battery level between 20 and 80% which is key to the life of the battery

During the last week its become an intermittent fault. Booked in for a couple of weeks time (so I can try an IS for the day)

Problem is the screen is blank so how can I do this?

Ahhh, I have the extended warranty but wasn't sure if it covered the multimedia system. If thats the case I'll get it booked it!

Is that possible? I didn't know there was a way to turn it off?

This morning the screen on my Nav was just blank. Screen opened as usual, and radio / bluetooth all works, but just a blank screen. Anyone else had this, or any suggestions?

Clearly you have little / no experience of the lease market, for example, VW were offering Passat Alltrack 190 TDi's for £3156 over 2 years only this week Lease companies and manufacturers often push specific models at silly rates to introduce new models or shift unsold cars.

Toyotas move to 5 years was as a result of the recalls / US deaths- it was an attempt to re-build confidence in the brand, and I would imagine a large number of Toyota buyers are private so more sensitive to warranty length. In the case of Premium brands I think many are company / lease sales so the warranty length is pretty irrelevant, in fact if you look at some of the leasing rates being offered on some cars then it make more sense to lease as the depreciation is greater than the lease costs, for example, you can lease an Audi A4 1.4T Sport for around 6.5K over 2 years. That model lists at 27K but could probably be had for more like 24K. I'm pretty sure you would lose more than 6.5K over 2 years plus you would have your capital tied up in the car

If you have the Nav pop up screen from memory its under Menu > Setup > Vehicle Customisation. This menu is only accessible when the car is stationary, if you try to do this on the move then the options are shaded out. I cant remember all the choices, but you can have the doors set to unlock when the drivers door is opened, or when "P" is pressed, or not locked at all. I have mine set to when P is pressed

By " digital fuel gauge " do you mean the range on the trip computer? I've never noticed it do anything like that but I've always filled mine up as the tanks so small. Have to go every 3 or 4 days as it is!

The VAT situation does change. On a new car its a flat 20%, but for used cars most dealers use the Margin scheme where they just pay the VAT on the difference between what they buy the car at and the sale price, so if the profit on a 25K car is £3K then the VAT is £600, but if the car was sold new at £25K the VAT would have been over £4K

As your purchase was so close I don't know why they didn't just MOT it when you took delivery! Mine had its first MOT in December at 110K and passed with no issues or advisories

I bought my CT at 26 months old having just done 100K. My preference is to buy a higher mileage newer car. I'm 9 months and 15K in and so far the only requirement has been 2 new headlight bulbs and a service, including first MOT with no advisories To be honest I'm surprised how tight it still feels and how well its wearing its miles. My only regret is I'm finding it a bit to small so an IS or a mitsubishi outlander PHEV are possible replacements, but that's a little way off yet

Looks a bit sus to me - pictures look like they are in a public carpark, and you have to make an appointment to view. If you really are capped at about 6K then I would look for something other than Lexus - you can just scrape into a new shape focus with less miles

Yes they can achieve 50mpg - I've driven 1000's of miles in TSi VW's and Ecoboost Fords - driven sensibly high 40's / low 50's isn't difficult to achieve. To average 35 you would have to drive them pretty hard, in fact I don't think I've ever got the average that low

VW will come out of this OK in Europe. People have short memories, and the badge carries some cachet, although I think they may be too burned in North America. Its a different market and they are not so badge focused. If you look at Toyota a few years back the used car prices dipped and then came back up to pre bad publicity levels. Ref the engines I'm not suggesting Toyota adopt someone else's engine, but VW and Ford have developed very good low capacity units with low down torque. Fords Ecoboost engine is a tiny 1 litre capacity yet in 125 BHP form gives more power than the CT's 1.8 litre unit. Ford produces 170 Nm torque, CT 142 Nm. The VW Tsi units offer similar performance so I think that if Toyota had a similar unit they could integrate it into a hybrid and I'm sure it would produce a highly efficient system with better performance and lower fuel burn

You simply have to show them your car has been serviced at a VAT registered garage, and the components used are OEM - Which mainly are simply rebranded Toyota bits. But what major 'repair' are you expecting?? Unlike new BMW/Mercs I've seen hardly any reports of a IS300H needing any major (£1k+) repair work?? I be very dissapointed if ours need any mechanicals repairs before it hits 100K. All of our previous Japanese cars have been 100% reliable regardless of age/price, though we've never owned a Toyota before. You also have to demonstrate that the garage followed the schedule. In reality I know that many if the items are just checks, but I'm pretty sure they would make you prove that the garage carried out each of these checks. The dealership get paid a minimal amount for warranty work so if they haven't seen any of the profitable servicing work then you can be sure they will "look" for a reason to not support you. It shouldn't be like that, and we all hope / expect to not need any warranty work, but the reality is your dealer is a business who needs to make money.

Not sure about "fair" its the maximum Lexus will allow to be charged for that service, but I get the impression they are all sticking to the menu pricing so unless you phone around you cant be sure if it will be cheaper elsewhere I haven't heard of servicestop before, so just looked at the website. I quite like the concept, but wonder where they take the car to have it serviced. I am assuming they have a tie up with someone like halfords or kwikfit, but I don't like the fact that they are not transparent about who performs the work on their site. Also quite a few negative comments plus the fact that Deborah Meaden of dragons den fame pulled her investment because of the number of complaints about the firm would lead me to avoid them. I guess if yours is a 2013 model its still under warranty - I know technically you can take it out of the dealer network but if I needed a major repair then I wouldn't really want to have that discussion and have the burden of proof placed on me.

Better engine. One of the biggest gripes is the CVT box and engine drone where it holds high revs, so I would like to see a new unit with lots of low down torque. This would prevent the need for such high revs giving a more refined experience. If you look at the VW's Tsi units they give really good low down torque and can still produce high 40's / low 50's mpg so combine that into toyotas hybrid system and I think you would have a better driver experience

I was wondering if it's possible to post the video files for others to see. I feel quite uncomfortable that may be some of the work wasn't done. You could upload it to youtube then link to it. I would be interested to see what they did. I wont name and shame, but I wasn't very impressed with the dealership I bough my (used) CT from, so decided to have it serviced at another dealership. It went in a couple of weeks back for interim service and first MOT. I had forgotten, but a rear number plate bulb was out. Check list still states all lights checked, and it passed its MOT. Makes me wonder if they actually did anything, and it makes a joke of the check list supplied

I don't really think the hybrid check is a "check" as such. They gave me a piece of paper saying it had passed various tests, but in essence its a way for Lexus to give you an extended warranty and build confidence in the longevity of the batteries. I would imagine that if you had it serviced at Toyota the hybrid check would be pretty worthless - cant see Toyota giving a warranty on a Lexus product, in fact you might even find that Toyota HQ may have mandated that Toyota dealers are prevented from servicing Lexus cars.

As Mike posted above £450ish at Lexus vs £270 at Toyota and about another £40 for the brake fluid so well over £100 cheaper. Has anyone tried haggling on the service cost at a Lexus dealer

A quick look at the toyota and lexus websites implies the services are almost identical, however, it looks like lexus include the brake fluid change. Also you need to factor in the hybrid check / warranty and decide if that has any value to you

Fair point regarding mileage - mine would be considered high by most people - it will be 3 years old in Feb and has 112K. I bought it from a dealer as a lexus approved vehicle,however, I see no limitations on mileage in the warranty other than exhaust, wipers and brakes. The only other limitation I see is that the history must be up to date and the warranty must be in force before the vehicle covers 140K. Think I'll give the warranty administrators a call and seek their feedback