Linas.P

The first issue - honestly nobody is surprised about it, this is the case 99% of the time. Strangely, I also run into the problem of exhaust places refusing to make "these flanges"... I really don't understand why, because those flanges are just standard flanges. So I suspect just need to ask around and somebody must be able to do it properly. I suspect they don't want to put the effort, because they make more by selling whole section, but that is just not good excuse. Last summer I was a bit in a rush and my flange was completely gone, so that is how "the fix" looked like. At that point I reckon it was not much of the loss, because there was no flange to speak of: As for fuel leak - IT NEED IMMEDIATE ATTENTION!!!! unless you don't mind your car turning into fireball. First of all this would be classed as "dangerous" fault in MOT, and for once I would agree with them. Secondly, it is genuinely dangerous to drive around like this, because top of the fuel tank is literally under your passenger seat and there is no metal between it and the interior so petrol is basically in your interior. This is potentially not difficult to check, just pull lower part of passenger seat-up (there are 2 hooks) and you can check the top of the fuel tank. My guess it could be two main places, maybe 3 - the fuel pump ring is cross-treaded, the houses are damaged or leaking (or some idiot forgot to connect return line), or maybe some issue related with fuel pipe/breather hose. Any history of recent fuel pump work? Worst case scenario it could be physical damage like cracked fuel pump housing or hole in the tank, but that is less likely. But first step would be to check what is going on under the seat.

Lexus made move from DVD to HDD around ~2010, and HDD (and later solid state) versions are updated via SD card. For RX specifically 2010 model (which lasted until 2015) came with "new HDD based system", meaning that 2015 car definitely has that.

Yes ML would be something important to me, Premium sound system is good enough, but ML is better. As long as it is not standard system it is good. Although note - this is "premier" model, not F-Sport... so No digital dash, meaning you get dash which looks like the one taken from 2003 Prius, really dated and ugly. This would be a problem to me I would like to make sue it has digital dash (also called LFA dash), just make the car feel 10 years newer.

Well... using your phone is not so much solution for outdated maps, it is kind of workaround. Also replacement unit not only resolves the map related issues, but as well improves phone integration overall. Besides I can see why people wouldn't want to get 6 points and £1000 fine just because based on some police officer discretion they glanced too much into their phone. Replacement unit is more of permanent solution (or longer term solution), that does not involve using your phone when driving.

I doubt it has anything to do with their maturity. That is not how car thieves operate. Simply said they have dedicated roles, some steal the car, they get set amount of money for doing it and they take it from your driveway maybe only 20 miles away and park it in some industrial park. Their job done, they do not care the slightest what was in the car and how much it is worth. Separate group then moves the car after some time, same again - set price for set job, which does not include evaluating designer bags value in the car. Third group perhaps dismantles the car into part, same again - they are mechanically minded. At no point there is any incentive to anyone to put anything on ebay, because such action would compromise their operation, if you find your personal item on ebay that can lead the police to the thieves, whereas otherwise they are safe as they did their little dirty part in the process took the salary and are "off the hook". Removal of dash cam is obvious one, if car gets recovered then there may be incriminating information on it, also many dashcams have GPS tracking and similar features. Boot carpet- I suspect were looking for tracker. Carpet under the dash - same reason.

It is quite simple really, the sole purpose of oxygen sensor is to check if there is oxygen in exhaust gas. Hole lets in oxygen from outside and therefore makes oxygen sensor to incorrectly read like there is unburn oxygen in the exhaust, so the ECU thinks that it needs to inject more fuel to match the excess oxygen, as such too much fuel gets injected, whereas there are actually no excess oxygen and you end-up with unburnt fuel and thus petrol smell. This most of the time results to incorrect error code P0420/P0430 displayed, because ECU then assumes it is Catalytic Converter fault for not burning excess oxygen and fuel, system simply does not account for the possibility that there could be hole in the exhaust providing this extra oxygen. As suggested, the most common reason for this code is exhaust leak near oxygen sensor. Cats rarely (if ever) fails on these cars and when they do fail that happens at 200k+, but usually the entire exhaust rusts and crumbles arounds the cats before the cats themselves fail. So the common reason for cat replacement is usually rust, not that cat is no longer works.

Your car being 2008, it will have DVD based system. The disc is located behind hazard light switch, you can see video below on how to access it (if you wonder - yes, two pins are included in your toolbox). That said - updating maps makes no sense, Lexus Sat-Nav was not great even when it was new, now it is horribly outdated and I don't believe latest maps are even available. You can probably get 2018 or 2020 DVD for something like £200, so all you achieving would be to replace 14 year old maps with 6 years old, still not something you can rely on when driving. Solution is to get aftermarket android system, which will have google maps, or even better android auto/crapple carplay and would run circles around outdated sat-nav in the car. The systems starts from around £200. £300-£400 should get you decent one, but even cheapest ones are still many times better than what came out in 2008.

You are best to ask the sellers, they usually insist to see how your unit looks, some even ask you to remove the unit to take pictures of the back connectors to make sure you get the compatible unit. For example I knew exactly what unit I need, but seller basically refused to sell me the unit without taking picture of connector. I have cheated a little bit, found matching unit picture online and sent that. Basically, sellers on aliexpress and similar places, even ebay have incentive to make sure you get the right unit, because if it doesn't work it is expense on them to take it back. So it is not like you can go and order wrong unit and the simply going to ship it to you. As far as units are concerned there are many variations, at least 8, maybe more - it is combination of screen or no screen, ML or non-ML, later HDD versions of several sizes, but in principle they can be put in 3 main categories - with Optical audio-out for ML, with additional connectors for screen/camera, or one without neither. I have noticed that some trims had slightly different button design, IS250C seems to have little bit more chrome, I think Advance trim has like black surround, but all that doesn't matter, it is still same unit underneath. I don't even think it matters if it is HDD or DVD version, the location of connectors may be slightly different, but it will be same connectors based on those 3 broad categories. So simply ask seller if they have unit that fits your car, answer their questions, send pictures and they will tell you which one you need to order.

I see many of those stuck on motorway every day and I always surprised how many cars are broken down... and as far as I know AA doesn't come quick unless you say you are woman with a child and stuck in the live lane. I have heard stories of people waiting even 8h before they come pick the car-up.

The Brigestone Potenza simply isn't great tyre, especially the ones that came originally with the car. I can't really compare like for like as the only had 2 sets I had one mine were Dunlop Sportmaxx SP001 (or something like that) and then Brigestone RE050A which came on facelift and were better than original S001. In short - I never really had modern and good tyres, both Dunlop and Brigestone that came from factory were basically obsolete tyres on the day car was sold. RE050A is actually good high performance tyre suitable for track use, but it is way too grippy for daily and has horrible fuel economy (I think it is rated F). S001 - is just obsolete entry level tyre for OEM to cut costs. So everything was compromise... and generally speaking Brigestone Potenzas and Turanzas that came on Lexus cars IS250, IS300h always had rather poor reputation, so I am not really surprised to hear your experience. Why are Goodyears adding 10% of mileage - did you buy smaller sizes? Because to be honest I if I had All-Season on 300h I would keep them all year round, as it isn't really performance car that requires UUHP tyres to handle in summer and more modern All Seasons are probably better than old Brigestones. Also it could be the case that sitting unused over the winter they got little bit stiff, same applies to new tyres, so you basically shouldn't judge their ride and noise for first say 500 miles, then sometimes they do become more compliant... that said I kind of doubt it. The only Brigestone that is worth considering would be new Potenza Sport, which basically replaced RE050A, but it is also UUHP and compromises you have to make just doesn't make sense on 300h which doesn't really benefit from 9Gs or whatever in the corners.

Indeed, my point was that it isn't explained how they come up with the price before you get the actual offer from dealer. Also probably higher deposit on top of higher residual, so the actual credit amount is not significantly larger. And I am right to assume that all initiatives for BEV/PHEV are now over? Except of maybe charging point grant? And perhaps dealer own initiatives?

I have no experience with current FWD vs. AWD, but have driven new RAV-4 hybrid AWD, which has similar drivetrain to NX350h. Also I have driven last gen NX. First thing - hybrids are not "true" AWD i.e. there is no drive shaft going to the rear, instead they have electric motor in the rear. So for most part there should be no difference in fuel consumption and how the car drives in straight line i.e. there is no drive train loses etc. Sure AWD model will be slightly heavier (maybe 40-50kg), but that would be really trivial impact. Now as far as handling, AWD is surprisingly good, I hate how FWD cars drive with passion, but in NX AWD it really doesn't bother me, despite it basically being FWD car with extra motor tagged in the rear. This is because traction control is quite clever and rear motor acts almost like torque vectoring differential (actually probably exactly like it), so in corner exit and under acceleration car rotates nicely and doesn't understeer like FWD. So even thought it is obviously not sports car it doesn't have that FWD car feeling that I hate, sort of overloaded front axle, fidgeting steering under acceleration, it does actually feel for all intended purposes like well adjusted AWD system. Obviously, rear will never "step out" and it will never power slide, but it works well for reducing understeer and overall gives nice neutral balance. As for drivability, obviously AWD will have an edge in mild offroad, slush, snow, mud etc. Not sure how much of that is relevant in Hampshire, but I was driving one in real winter conditions and in one occasion it literally made the difference between crashing and not crashing (long story, but I am quite convinced I would have crashed if I were in FWD), also it climbed steep slippery hill (be it in 3rd attempt and with some run-up), FWD would have stayed at the bottom of that hill. So that rear motor is not just for fun, it does it's job. If you planning just to drive it in the city or only on motorway, then perhaps it doesn't add much value, but in adverse weather conditions it does help. Tyres shouldn't be a problem, also I believe it is square set-up so they can be rotated anyway. Finally, as mentioned most cars that are in UK and available to buy are AWD, so to get FWD you would need to make it to order, which kind negates any savings on purchase and would mean at least 3 months wait time. Lexus is known to be a company that does not negotiates the price, especially not on NX which are selling quite well anyway, but I guess if you make that proposition that you looking to buy FWD and would only consider AWD if the price is somewhat adjusted, then maybe it would work. For example I just looked at carwow and they reckon you can get AWD for better price than FWD. Meaning Lexus can discount some of the AWDs because they have them in UK, but they are not willing to discount FWDs because they would need to make them to order. I have no idea how carwow comes up with monthly payments (as it seems 450h+ would work out cheaper, maybe some government grand?), but it just shows that price difference between AWD and FWD does not exist in practice, which should also reflect to any pricing in dealership in person.

Sounds similar issue to what I have, mine was damaged around lifting points and surface rust. My solution was simply go over the trouble areas with wire-wheel and sprayed it with black Rust-Oleum paint which is both rust converting and good for protection. Is that complete solution? Obviously not, but for time being it solved the issue cosmetically and at least slows down the car demise... it being 18 years old car, it is quite good going considering there is no rust apart of some surface level. And if that buys me 5 years before more robust solution will need to be used... this is plenty.

eCVT on RC/IS is less dealbreaker to be fair, yes it still drones at 4000RPM or so when you on middle of accelerator, but it revs up if you push it to the floor, or if you go in FSport+ mode fake "upshifts and downshifts" are both instantaneous and satisfying in the bends. I guess if I would improve anything on it, that would be that in Fsport+ manual mode I would make it to keep the "ratio" that you have chosen for longer, or even forever. Currently, it keeps the ratio I don't know... maybe for 30s or for 60s, so sometimes what happens is that by the time you go from one turn to another it goes back to D and drops the ratio. So for example you playing around with paddles on eCVT before the bend you change to "3rd", then "4th" in the bend and you already see another bend, so in such case if you would be in real manual car you stay in 4th, rev it to the limit and before next bend maybe change back to 3rd again... what happens on eCVT is that when you rev out the 4th and let's before the bend with intention with braking a little bit and changing to 3rd the gearbox simply goes to D and sets probably ratio equivalent to 6th, so now you start braking and instead of expected 1 click to go to third, you have to change ratio 3 times. I mean it works like poorly optimised automatic gearbox in this sense, but all that is software and when it works it actually mimics DTC quite well, the only problem is that short memory where after 30s it goes "WTF is going here - I am economy car and 4th gear at 60MPH is not economical, let me fix this". So really the fix would be simple software update where FSport+ and Manual would mean no auto upshifts and it would be in manual mode as long as you keep it there, not just for some arbitrary time. Well the second problem is what engine that eCTV is matched to. GS450h for example is still great car to drive despite eCVT, because drone from nice V6 is not so horrible, drone from pesky 4 cylinder in 300h is much more annoying. But apart of that eCVT in Lexus is one of the best systems where I would go as far as saying I almost like it. In summary - mate it to V6 and make manual mode real manual and the rest is good already.

Don't know - FWD is dealbreaker for me. Even for cars that are not sports cars and maybe don't have that much more power RWD drives much better.