mrdoofa

I have a big soft spot for many British Leyland cars and in particular Rover and I always get defensive about them lol!!! 😂😂😂 I don’t want to fall out with anybody either. That Rover 800 is a gem and unbelievably well preserved, it’s only had 2 owners before me with the first owner having it from new until January this year, he then had to stop driving and sold it to the guy I bought it from. It’s only done 74k miles and has always been meticulously maintained and garaged from new, it still smells like new inside!!! One thing I wasn’t expecting from it is how good it is to drive, I expected it to pitch and wallow but it’s a surprisingly nimble drivers car. The guy I bought it from changed all the fluids twice to make sure it was well flushed out, put new Pirelli tyres on it and fitted a stainless steel exhaust which gives it a nice subtle sporty note. The Honda 2.7 V6 is a lovely motor with plenty grunt. We are going to continue preserving it and going to hopefully be entering it into some classic car shows. Hope there’s no hard feelings mate.

I don’t mind a bit of engine noise, of course this depends what kind of engine it is!!! The V6 in my Mondeo makes an absolutely lovely sound, I sometimes turn down the radio as I’d rather listen to the engine!!! The GS450h is one of the more vocal lexus’ when you put your foot down, again it’s a nice V6 growl. The Rover SD1 3.5 V8 isn’t a motor, it’s a musical instrument!!!

You can’t compare the Rover 800 to the LS either, the 800 competed with cars like the Granada and Carlton. The LS competed with cars like the XJ and S-Class. I never said british cars were perfect but they were certainly no worse than lots of other trash other manufacturers were churning out at the time. As an example only a complete dimwit could possibly argue that a mk4/5 Ford Escort is a better car than the Rover 200. The K series engines ran rings around the crud Ford CVH engines being offered at the time, the head gasket issues are hugely exaggerated. The Rover 75 outclassed everything in its class and most of the class above, the SD1 was just brilliant with arguably the best V8 engine known to man. It’s funny you should mention the quite brilliant Rover 800 as I own one and it’s pretty far from being dust!!! This is my 29 year old Rover 827Si in fantastic condition, show it a bendy stretch of road and it soon outperforms the LS400!!! You can trust me on that one, I’ve driven both. The Honda derived V6 is a gem and much better than the cologne V6 offered in the Granada, they are very well equipped and very comfortable, the steering is pinsharp and very precise. Like many british cars it was seriously underrated and treated unfairly at the time. Ive had 2 Lexus cars go catastrophically wrong on me, my LS430 suffered gearbox failure thanks to water getting in from the radiator (build quality there for you) and hybrid battery failure on my first GS450h. My last GS450h suffered a blown radiator, seized brakes, xenon headlight issues, rattling trim and dashboard squeaks. Here are a couple of pics of my 800:

I’ve found that the LS400 isn’t the roomiest of cars despite its sheer size and bulk, leg room can only be described at best as average (I actually had more legroom in my old ford escort). Headroom is tight if you are over 6ft tall. Both of these things were much improved with the LS430 although they have many other problems!!! My problems with the LS is whilst they managed to produce an astonishingly good engine they seriously overlooked things like styling and any kind of special feeling when you sat in and drove one, they produced a car which was extremely bland to say the least, the interior feels very plasticky and just feels like a big toyota, they just lack that special feeling you get from a jag or a merc. There’s no denying that the LS is a good car, brilliant in fact but like all Japanese cars they have a very mass produced feel, no heart and soul, no feeling that the car was made just for you by master craftsmen which cars at this level and price should have. People may argue saying “Yes, but the Lexus never breaks down”, well I’ve had several and none of them have been bulletproof or infallible as many would suggest.

I really must protest at the cheap shot you made at BL and it’s products. For a start, BL was defunct when the LS400 was introduced and BL never actually produced the Maestro/Montego. Austin Rover did. The Maestro and Montego may not be particularly exceptional cars to look at but were dynamically and mechanically better than the crap Ford produced at the time, and no worse than Vauxhall was churning out. They were even fairly durable old cars! Comparing either car to an LS400 is just ludicrous, of course they’re not as sophisticated or as refined otherwise they’d of charged LS400 money for them.

My right foot is too heavy to record any decent fuel figures!!! I really don’t see the point in running a V8 if you aren’t going to utilise it. If fuel economy is a concern then you don’t buy a car like an LS.

2001 GS430, Heater stopped working, exhaust fell off, various creaks from dashboard and roof lining. 2002 LS430, Transmission completely failed without warning resulted in car being scrapped, blown speakers, electric mirrors stopped working, heated and cooled seats not working, rear climate pipes rusted. 2006 GS450H, Hybrid battery failed, various creaks and rattles, brake callipers seized 2006 GS450H, Shock absorbers failed, radiator failed, TPMS issues, creaks from dashboard, xenon headlight issues, juddering brakes. These are the main issues I’ve had, there are various other minor issues and niggles I haven’t listed. The worst was the transmission on the LS430 and the hybrid battery on the GS450H, both of which failed without warning and left me completely stranded with repair bills costing £thousands. Many other problems are what you might call minor but from a prestige manufacturer that prides itself on build quality and reliability is unacceptable. May be I’ve been exceptionally unlucky but it certainly puts you off, especially when the repair bills for Lexus are so high. I’ve owned jags and mercs with no issues, I currently own a mk3 Mondeo 2.5 V6 Ghia X which I’m really happy with and has made me realise that in my experience Lexus are overrated. At least if something does go wrong with the mondeo I won’t have to remortgage the house to fix it.

I’ve had more problems with Lexus than any Jaguar or Mercedes I’ve had (I’ve never owned a BMW). Even Ford, Vauxhall and Rover have given me fewer problems over the years than the Lexus cars I’ve had.

Hi, These cars don’t cost any more than any other for standard servicing, however there are a number of weaknesses with these cars, especially higher mileage examples. 1. Once you get past 100k there is the risk that cells in the hybrid battery may start to fail, I think there is someone on here who can replace individual cells otherwise a new hybrid battery from Lexus is around £2,500. There’s no real way of checking either other than just seeing if everything seems to work ok. Try and find an example that has a recent hybrid battery health check certificate from Lexus or try and make it a condition of the sale, even then they only check the battery and no other hybrid components. 2. The shock absorbers are an expensive dealer only replacement item at around £400 each and they are prone to failing. 3. Rear brake callipers can seize because of under use as the hybrid system uses regenerative braking. 4. Check for creaks and rattles around the dashboard. 5. Exhaust back boxes rust and can also fail at the Y joint. 6. Earlier models can rust along the front edge of the bonnet. 7. Listen for timing chain rattle from the engine. I’ve had 2 of these now, I probably wouldn’t have another as I feel like they are a bit of a ticking time bomb just waiting to go wrong, especially older high mileage examples, the first one I had suffered hybrid battery failure 2 weeks after I bought it, fortunately the dealer took the car back and gave me a full refund, the second one was getting ready for new shocks and a new radiator when I sold it along with a few other issues, they are nice to drive, comfortable and refined and they are very, very fast. I averaged around 30mpg day to day and around 40mpg on the motorway. Make sure the boot is big enough for your needs as it is tiny because the hybrid battery takes a lot of the space. Good luck if you decide to buy one, as I said they are lovely cars but just be aware of the potential issues and have deep enough pockets if it should go wrong.

Very interesting thread, glad you seem to have sorted out the issues with your car and now you can hopefully look forward to many happy hours motoring. I had a mk3 GS450h which developed some problems I simply couldn’t afford to put right so I ended up cutting my losses and flogging it. I’m now having to slum it (some might say) in a mk3 Ford Mondeo 2.5 Ghia X. The reason I say some might say is because I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by this car after the Lexus. I find the seats much more comfortable and supportive than the ones in my GS, especially as I suffer with a bad back and sciatica, there was quite a few creaks and rattles in the Lexus, the mondeo has none!!! It has more leg and especially headroom and yes it still has a sunroof. Being Ghia X spec it still has all the toys and heated leather seats which work brilliantly. The mondeo has a nicer ride than the GS but still handles well. It isn’t as quick as the Lexus but it’s still no slouch and the 2.5 V6 engine makes a lovely sound. Perhaps one of my favourite features which is the icing on the cake on frosty mornings is the heated windscreen!!! It cost me £1500 and I’m quite smitten with it!!! The only issue I’ve had was the radio didn’t work very well but I found a replacement on eBay for £30, fitted it myself in 5 minutes and it’s fine now. I still like Lexus but I’ve had 6 of them, the only one that didn’t have any real problems was the LS430 I bought off Phil on here. I’m just now beginning to ask if they really are all they are cracked up to be and worthy of the reputation they have? I’m sorry if I’ve put a downer on this thread and I really hope you enjoy your new car, it looks great by the way!!! If you look back at my previous threads and posts you’ll see I’ve had more than my fair share of problems with Lexus, maybe it’s just me that’s unlucky!!! I’ve decided it’s time to give other makes a chance... Here are a few pics of the mondeo if anybody is interested lol!!!

I don’t really see why it shouldn’t be ok, the only possible things I can think of that might cause issue is if the newer sat nav drive or ML amplifier isn’t compatible with the older screen assembly. The annoying thing is that I did have a spare prefacelift sat nav that I haven’t got anymore, I would’ve sent you it to try for free!!! The actual job of changing them over is quite easy to do.

If I worked out how many thousands I’d lost on cars over the years I’d soon become very depressed!!! I’ve never kept a car for very long, every time I buy one I always say to myself “ Stop looking and keep this one for a while.” I can’t resist it though. I also lack patience, once I decide I want a car I want it now if not sooner!!! I’ve sold cars to WeBuyAnyCar against my better judgement just purely because it’s a quick and convenient way to get rid of a car even if you take the biggest loss that way. I’m not in a Lexus at the moment, my GS450h needed a new radiator, new rear shocks and some other things were starting to need attention, there was no way I could afford it so I cut my losses and got rid, I’m in a mk3 Ford Mondeo 2.5 V6 Ghia X at the moment and it has very pleasantly surprised me with how good it is but I’ve already got my eye on a mk2 2.5 Ghia X as I prefer the 90s retro styling lol!!!

It could be the lamp failure box, have a look under the hinge in the boot (I think it’s the left one), hopefully you’ll see a small black box there. Sometimes there’s a couple of wires in there that might just need resoldering to the circuit board.

Well, it looks like I have a leaky radiator!!! I saw some coolant on the ground when I parked the car up today. I got down on my hands and knees with my iPhone torch and could see drips from 3 places along where the rad sits, due to the under covers fitted I couldn’t see the exact location of the leak. Is the radiator an expensive job on these cars? It soon stopped dripping after I switched the car off. Thing is, the car is driving fine and not overheating at the moment although I’m bloody cold driving it because of no heater and typically the weather is getting cold this week, do you think if I drive it gently topping up as necessary for the next few days it will be ok? I can’t get it fixed until at least Friday as I’m at work everyday until then and need the car for that and I don’t have a spare car or car I can borrow.

Quick update... I checked the coolant level and it was indeed low in the expansion tank, I’m surprised the car doesn’t tell you when it goes below the min level, Anyway I topped it up to the max line with correct Toyota coolant. That seemed to fix the heater problem, however, tonight it went back cold again so I went back to the expansion tank to find it back low again!!! This is after about a day and around 40 miles driving. I’m going to top it up again when the engine has cooled down. One thing I did notice on the expansion tank cap is that there is a small pipe on the right hand side of it a few inches long which isn’t connected to anything, is that how it should be? I’ve been trying to do a bit of “spirited” braking where possible to try and improve the brake judder/wobble but so far to no avail!!! I’ve yet to tackle the headlight although it’s been ok the last couple of days, the nearside main beam and sidelight bulbs both need replacing, they look hard to get at though, has anybody here done those bulbs DIY and was it easy enough? I haven’t had chance to get the alloys cleaned up yet at the tyre shop but will do as soon as I can. Cheers everybody.

Cheers for your help. I’ll try giving the brakes a good work out, there are some decent long hills near me to try them on. I’ll take the car to my local tyre shop to see if they can clean up the wheels for me. Headlights have been fine today. I’m still a bit concerned by the occasional knock or bang from the rear suspension. Also, tonight I have a new problem!!! It was a bit chilly on the way home from work tonight so I put the heater on (it’s the first time I’ve really used the heater as I bought the car in May and with the huge heatwave we had this summer I’ve only used the AC). When the car is coasting or running at low revs the heater blows cold and only blows warm air when accelerating at high revs then when you ease off it gradually cools down again. The temp needle is sitting exactly half way up the gauge where it should be. I’m going to check the coolant level tomorrow in daylight and when the engine is cold. Any ideas? Thanks once again for your help!!!

Hi, I’ve had my 2006 GS450h for about 4 months now and have so far been really pleased with it, however I do have a few things I’d like to pick your brains about, here goes. When braking I’m getting quite a strong shuddering from the front of the car and through the steering wheel, I suspect possible warped discs, what do you guys think? Occasionally when you hit certain bumps in the road or speed bumps I’m getting a bang or knock from the OSR of the car. I’m worried it might need new rear shocks which I know are expensive!!! I’ve noticed that the near side headlight sometimes works fine, sometimes it’s quite dim and occasionally doesn’t work at all!!! Do you think it needs a New HID bulb, are these cheap and easy on these? I think the NSF alloy may need attention as it is allowing air to escape from the tyres (it takes about a month or about 500 miles from topping up the pressure to the TPMS light indicating a fault). Finally, the near side main beam bulb and sidelight bulbs need replacing, are these easy to get at to change yourself? Many thanks for any help or input.

Hi, My apologies if this is in the wrong place!!! My nephew is looking to join the Lexus community, he’s just sold his Cadillac STS Seville, the car developed quite a few issues which would’ve been uneconomical to try and fix so he cut his losses and let it go for spares or repair. He is ideally looking for one of the following a mk4 LS400, early LS430, mk2 GS400 or GS430. He isn’t bothered by high mileage as long as the maintenance record is fairly good, he certainly isn’t expecting perfection on his limited budget which is around £1500 or less, the main thing he wants is to be sure that the car is basically solid and sound, ideally with all gadgets etc working. As I said he’s not expecting absolute perfection at this price. If anybody is thinking of selling or knows of any for sale that might be worth a look please let me know!!! Many thanks in advance. Martin. To offer any car for sale here you need to be a Gold Member, this applies to PMs as well.

It seems the dealer is trying to avoid speaking to you, he knows he’s told you a load of crap and is now trying to avoid his legal obligations. Trading standards will see straight through what they’ve done. The dealer knew there was more to this car than meets the eye such as being in an accident etc and gave you a substantial discount to get rid of it, telling you it has no warranty means that they think they can wash their hands of it now. However, hopefully they are about to find out it doesn’t work like that. Warranty or no warranty they still have a legal obligation to stand by what they’ve sold you.

As I said, If the car wasn’t clearly advertised as spares or repair in the first place and it does have to be clearly stated not just in the small print then he doesn’t have a leg to stand on, he can’t suddenly decide it is spares or repair because he knocked £1,000 off, the courts would never accept this. The worst thing you could’ve done was signed for it under those conditions, you should really have walked away, no make that run away!!! Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course and it’s easy to point the finger and say now what could’ve been and what should’ve been. All you can do is plead ignorance in that you didn’t fully understand the terms and conditions in a heat of the moment situation. (That’s why most legal documents are required to have a 14 day cooling off period.) Any car that is classed as spares or repair is also classed as unroadworthy regardless of the MOT and the dealer shouldn’t have let you test drive it or drive it home. Id still get in touch with trading standards, citizens advice etc, this dealer is clearly crooked and you need to trailer the car back or have them trailer it back and get your money back ASAP.

When you buy from a dealer there is no such thing as “Sold as seen” or “No warranty implied or given” in the eyes of the law. When a dealer says “ Spares or repair” they are saying the vehicle is unroadworthy and not to be driven on public roads, you should only have signed that if you had no intention of driving it on the road and were getting it trailered away, the problem is that you’ve driven the car home when that dealer stamp has explicitly said it’s unroadworthy. That doesn’t automatically mean the dealer is off the hook however, you see, you could claim that you didn’t understand fully what was meant by spares or repair or you didn’t fully read it until afterwards. Did the dealer allow you a test drive? If so they have knowingly let you drive an unroadworthy vehicle on public roads which they could be prosecuted for. As the dealer has stated it’s unroadworthy they should’ve also taken reasonable action to ensure you understood exactly what that meant and that you didn’t drive it away. Was the car clearly advertised as spares or repair? If not they can’t just add it on to get out of giving you a warranty because they’ve given you a discount on the car. Get in touch with the dealer and trading standards and don’t go down without a fight as you still have rights, good luck and keep us informed!!!

I had a Vauxhall vectra once and the heated seats were roasting in that on max setting!!!

A rare car it may be but it’s still vastly overpriced especially with 220k on the clock which the seller states is nothing for an engine like this which may be the case but remember the rest of the car has also done that mileage!!! It really annoys me when sellers come out with crap like that as if the engine is the only component that matters in a car. The GS460 is only 0.1 seconds quicker to 62mph than the GS450h but will be a lot thirstier and much more to tax which is probably the reason they hardly sold any.

The first LS430 I had you really couldn’t feel any heating or cooling from the seats even though you could hear the fans running, on the 2nd one which I bought from Phil they did work both heating and cooling but they were very weak, I think the exceptionally warm weather we are experiencing now will definitely over power them. Lots of owners have said that they are very poor almost to the stage of them being pointless. Cleaning or changing the filters may help but don’t expect anything brilliant from the system!!! My current GS450h heated seats work brilliantly but I can’t feel any cooling when I set them to cold, once again I can hear the fans working but can’t feel any effect, how are the cooled seats in your GS Phil?

I’d have no problem at all with any of those 3 things if I thought I could get away with it!!!