Linas.P

I agree - I rather drive in any European country than UK, really dread coming back after every trip. Generally, driving culture in France is better than in UK (outside of Paris), but they do tend to cut you off and checking mirrors is not their thing, but unlike UK they move over after overtaking and do not block the road. No respect for other cars thought, small incidents considered "part of driving".

So that depends on the tyre circumference. As I said if you go for 225/50, then circumference is close enough not to cause issues. Not necessarily, as long as the level of headlights stays correct it would pass. It basically then becomes manual adjust. But you right, that is what I have on my GS300. Some idiot somehow managed to brake actuator and previous owner then fixed it with piece of metal and few screws. Looks really dodgy, but in principle it works.

I think most people replace tyres like for like, very few people I know experiment with the sizes. But from early on I never liked how IS250 handles, my first one was F-Sport with 18", so it is even worse 225/255. I just hate that you come to the corner with RWD car, accelerate mid-corner and it pushes out the front end. It not suppose to be like that. And all that is just tyre widths/grip. Wider summer tyres have more grip in dry, so automatically if you get way narrower tyres in front and way wider in rear - your front will lose grip before rear, despite car being RWD. This is done for "safety", because assumption is that driver is inexperienced and will not know how to handle oversteer. Basically with such rear balance you can push car as much in corners. Again - I assume most of car will have whatever was fitted on them from factory, so they will have 245s in the rear. But that is neither best tyre size for the car, nor really there is any need to stick with it. As for 245/45/17 not being most common tyre size in general... yeah it could be.

For winter tyres 100% 225, they will actually be better for driving in winter, you can also go for 225/50 if you want to keep speedometer indicating somewhat similar speed as before. I had square 225/50 for winter and they were great. For summer, I had 235, 245 and 255 and I probably would go for 225 or 235 in future. Basically, 245 and 255 in my opinion ruins the balance of the car. Lexus did it deliberately, because understeering is considered "safe" by those who can't drive, but I find it just annoying. 225 in front and 235 in rear would give you perfect balance, or as close one could get to it i.e. car would neither understeer, nor oversteer and if you go past the limits all 4 wheels will slide (which in IS250 is not very likely). Square 225 set-up would make IS250 feel like RWD car should and there would be slight oversteer, which could be fun combined with the right skill. And I don't mean it would be unsafe or anything, it is not very powerful car, 225 is plenty to keep it on the road, but the balance will be little bit more natural for RWD, little bit of oversteer. Nice bonus - if you have square 225, then you can rotate the tyres and that means set will last longer as you can wear them down more evenly. Keep best tyres always in the rear. That said 225 will look a little bit silly in the rear on standard wheels and offsets, so 20-25mm hub centric spacer would be nice. Also remember entry-lever IS250 came with 205/55/16... so 225 is really PLENTY for this car.

Little bit harder to do on Autobahn. I was flashed in kind of stupid place also - so it was unlimited speed where I was doing like 230-240, then on long downhill there was a sign for 130, I noticed the sign and let-off (I never brake, only let off and let the car slow down), then 100m later another sign 110 and 25m later bunch of speed cameras. So when I let off it dropped to maybe 180 before the speed cameras. Then probably another 200m later it is unlimited speed again. So looked literally like deliberate speed trap for sole purpose of flashing people. Not sure what were the fines in Germany back in 2016 (I know since then they have increased them), but I can't imagine it would be small for 70 over.

Would be interesting to see how it looks, also mileage. Thanks.

Even before that it was rare to get the fine. I was stopped in Germany once - probably in 2016 or something like that and they wanted to impound my car for unpaid fines. But the fines were 3 years ago and I have acquired the car 6 months ago, so I was good to go. And that was the same trip when I got flashed in France twice and also once in Germany and never got any fines from either. Either change the car or put different plate on it.

Flashed probably for speed, also suspect I passed trough the city which had Crit'Air without registering (which by the way you may need to get). You can't get fines from Europe now. Which is kind of double edge sword - so you don't have to pay them, but if you go back few years later and you have several big fines they may stop you and impound the car. But it has to be many and big fines for them to bother, they won't be chasing you for 1 fine for 12 Euros.

100%... because as I said for them it is not considered an issue. And if you challenge them they will be confused what you want... maybe they will say "pardon" just being nice, but otherwise they will be like "what an ffffing idiot, starts shouting about the scratch... those foreigners are weird... it is just a car, it mean to be scratched". And this is not some sort of "stereotype" from Top Gear or something - they really do not care about cosmetics of the car, they certainly would not be able to comprehend "detailing".

No - it is just like Lexus are. Also if you have ~ 2006 onwards Lexus, it already has 95% of features that even most modern cars lacks. Things like heated/cooled seats, memory etc. Thinking about it - the only thing my 2006 car does not have is little warning light for cross-traffic and lane change. I am retrofitting radar cruise later this year. The TPMS sucks, because it has it, but does not show individual tyres, which makes TPMS redundant and just annoying. And honestly I can't even think of what feature it does not have that new cars do? Traffic sign recognition maybe, but it is such a minor thing, GPS shows speed limit anyway. So really no point of replacing them.

That is correct... It is preventing course of justice in their view. But as I said by now all the devices automatically hide the camera location so won't be an issue. Other note - French will absolutelly smack your car with their doors and don't even look back. It is 100% normal and not considered an issue... it is almost like national hobby to hit each other cars and trade some paint. And I don't mean they do it deliberately, or carelessly or in some bad way - no for them, they just can't comprehend that being an issue, in France it is ALRIGHT to hit other person's car when opening the doors. So beware of where you park. This was mine few months ago and I was parked in the corner of the car park by the beach.

That would be ridiculous, hopeful it is not only 4th Gen. But if it is, then I now understand some owners being extremely concerned.

Yeah - all the apps... Google Maps, TomTom, Waze etc. all do NOT show speed camera locations automatically when you in France. On the positive side (depending on your perspective) you will never get French fines. I have been flashed few times last year and haven't received anything (not sure why, to be honest as I wasn't going that fast, I think once 77 in 70). Also in my previous car on my way out of France and into Belgium I have forgotten I am not in Germany yet and definitely been flashed twice for speed (this was in like 2016) and never got any fines either. That is quite good way of looking at it - because in France they don't have modified cars they are actually quite amused of seeing them. And unless something is dangerous or ridiculous it is more of positive attention, not in a way of trying to punish you (even if they could, which for most mods they can't).

Yeah - spot on, it seems it is not big issue before one realises that that 884 RX represents significantly higher proportion of cars than 6015 Fiestas. Also note - RAV4 which is most vulnerable car for stealing is also in 6th place.

It is 90%+ same as IS250, with exception of engine and gearbox, also bigger brakes, but they are the same as GS300/GS450h. So parts are not (more) of an issue than for IS250. As for insurance - as mentioned you need specialists who does insurance on imports, although I would not bet on "same price as UK cars" or "insurable at all". Basically if you live in countryside and you are driver with a lot of NCB and generally pay little for insurance it may be true that it will cost the same, however one may find that they simply CAN'T insure imported car at all. Probably should not apply to anyone above 30 years old with decent driving history, but still -insuring imported car is little bit more tricky. Swapping IS250 automatic is easier, as it is literally plug and play. IS250 manual is also simple enough, just need to tidy-up some unnecessary wiring for gearbox.

I know you don't see it that way, but that doesn't mean we are no punished... I certainly am punished. I agree with you that this is more about "windows dressing", but that is mainly my point - I could be on board and can make sacrifices if I see it as necessary evil and if I can see it working, however I am strongly against it exactly for this reason (it being empty sacrifice). Why should I sacrifice for politicians "keeping appearances"? Besides I would genuinely support actions that makes our environment better, so I see this as doubly bad as not only we focusing on wrong thing, but also we are distracted from doing the right thing. Not all transition has to be inconvenient and expensive, a lot of main sources of pollution could be tackled without public having to do anything at all about it. For example consumerism is big issue and if we can cut on low quality disposable goods, then it will be better for everyone and people would actually save money in long run. We are very efficient in manufacturing ICE cars, the inefficiency comes from battery production. You kind of right (not sure if that is what you intended to say here), but much of that inefficiency is currently hidden by simply buying batteries from China... and all the rest of the shaite. So we have this warped perception of pollution, because we don't count pollution of all shaite in import from China. This doesn't help either.

No - not an issue. Think of literally 10s of thousands of cars driving from UK to Nürburgring every year. They are barely road legal, nevermind OEM. Yes France has stricter laws regarding modifications, but they apply to French cars only... with exception of what I said clearly and obviously dangerous mods. So as long as your car does not look something like this: ... you will be fine. Germany also not an issue, it is more relaxed than France in a sense that you can certify mod on your car, rather than needed national certification of each mod for each car model. Not sure about Switzerland, but again - the strictest country in Europe is France when it comes to car modifications, it only get's better after that.

You cant freely take modified British car to France. Yes - France does not allow unauthorised/uncertified modifications. Down to things like wheels - you just can't put aftermarket wheels on car unless they are specifically model certified. The way it is dealt with is via similar process as MOT in UK i.e. if you take modified car without certification it will simply fail. However, when it comes to foreign cars France would rely on country of origin to inspect the cars. So if you car has MOT in UK, then it is good to go - it is none of French business what is modified on your car, it is not for them that are certifying it. As long as your car is somewhat road legal they not going to pick on modification. By "somewhat" I mean no stupid camber, no flames shooting out of the bonnet and similar. For them to take action your car would have to be obviously unsafe for public roads. In short their rules do not apply for cars registered in UK and just visiting, expect of things like tyre thread depth which you have to comply when visiting. My assumption would be that exhaust should not exceed certain noise levels as well, but possibility of you being pulled over for that is non-existent... unless you stop in front of police and start revving the engine.

I agree with that, my problem is rather prioritisation - we starting from smallest and least polluting industry (Transportation) rather than most polluting (Manufacturing). As such we are inefficient in making those vehicles which suppose to be greener to be. Also for me it seems that BEVs are more of political tool to control and punish the population rather than genuine attempt at solving climate change. I know it sounds little bit like conspiracy theory, but one has to question why we are forced in using public transport "because of little pollution caused by cars", but we actually encourages to consume as much as possible otherwise? Yes I agree - source of our fuel are still evil dictatorships, if not in form of ruzzian czars then in middle-eastern sheiks... having fuel source which does not require to be dependant on authoritarian regimes would be welcome, sadly BEVs are just not there yet and trying to force them upon population right now feels like sub-optimal solution.

Absolutelly, I just used cheap winter tyres on car in arctic conditions and they were very dodgy (not much choice - it was rental). It was -20C and therefore main roads were dry, even summer tyre could have handled that, but going on slippery side roads was a real challenge. And we talking here about literally brand new tyres with probably less than 100 miles on them. Yes there are situations where even cheapest winter tyre outperforms best summer tyre, but they are very specific situations. Otherwise, same like one can tell shaite summer tyres from good ones in summer, likewise one can tell shaite winter tyres from good ones in winter. If anything it makes more difference in winter than summer, my opinion is that summer tyres are easier to make so if companies can't make good summer tyres, they have no chance to make good winter tyres.

Usually such deal would only make sense if Toyota had Century cars that could be sold for general public, but they don't, so it would not make much sense. That said - it would be interesting to see royal family or government using them, quite good value also me thinks... certainly better than Jaguars and Range Rovers.

Absolutelly not. Maybe depends on exact conditions, but particularly in UK that cannot be further from the truth. For set of cheap winter tyres to have an edge it has to be deep snow/packed snow conditions that basically does not exist in UK for more than few days. Also Nexens are one brand I avoid, old memories, so perhaps I unfairly discount them as budget tyres, but I have once replaced brand new set of Nexens, because they were horrible.

If we are talking about 20-30 years perspective then anything is possible, I would not speculate where Iran will be in 30 years. Also I agree with your second point - west underestimates how evil and efficient dictatorships could be and relies too much on China. Same mistake as relying on ruzzian oil, becoming too dependant on dictatorships is generally bad idea. Likewise I agree that AI will shape our future very soon, I am just not convince we will need BEVs in the future or that they will help environment, so anything in that direction in my view is wasted effort. Primarily because cars are minor contributor to global warming. If we want to tackle global warming we need to look into other sources of emissions.

To be fair Lexus is kind of fading away. Hard to say what it will become, but it is increasingly similar to Toyota. From true Lexus models there is only LC left. I guess LS could be considered "true" Lexus because Mirai used Lexus platform rather than other way around (although platform being owned by same parent company makes this point is kind of moot). It also could be argued RX does not have direct equivalent in Toyota range, but all other Lexus models nowadays are just Toyota with lipstick: NX = RAV4 ES = Avalon UX = CH-R LBX = Yaris Cross GX = 4 Runner LX = Landcruiser CT = Auris Now not all cars are bad, and some provide extensive improvements - like GX550 is great looking mid-size SUV, NX is quite a lot more premium than RAV4, but importantly RAV4 was fundamentally strong platform, so it is good car... but otherwise Lexus is becoming just top trim in Toyota line-up, rather than standalone Luxury Brand. When one is buying BMW, it isn't just some Opel badged differently and with more leather, same for Merc... I have always considered Audi as less luxurious than other "premium" brands simply because it shared a lot with VW, but even then Audi at least option of their Quattro system (with caveats), also Audi get's some unique performance engines that are not shared with VW, also also - Audi sometimes shares platforms with Porsche now... but Lexus really just takes Toyota model, changes some angles and creases in the body panels, adds more leather, adds worse navigation system with more confusing controls, adds better sound system and that is about all. All Lexus cars now get's identical engines with identical power as their Toyota counterparts and they are even slower, because they are heavier. They don't even try any arbitrary power restriction marketing like Audi, where same engine in Audi get's 320HP, in VW 280HP and in Skoda 265HP... I hate that in VW group products, but at least there is perceived benefit of having Audi + Quattro (even if it is haldex based). Whereas doing blind test in Lexus vs. Toyota it would be hard to tell the difference. Even pricing wise the gap between Lexus and Toyota is shrinking, Toyota is going more upmarket, Lexus is going more downmarket. Take NX, RAV4, BMW X1 and X3... at first it seems like RAV4 goes more against X1 and NX more against X3, but then upper trims of RAV4 actually costs more than lower trims of X3 and NX. And generally even starting price of Lexus vs Toyota is much closer. On BMW there is clear distinction X1 starts at 34k, X3 at 46k, but on RAV4 is 38k and NX is 43k. No X1 ever cost more than X3, yet as I said RAV4 can easily cost more than entry level NX or BMW X3. I really don't know why, but Toyota just does not try to position Lexus higher. Whereas Century has always been highly regarded and totally different car in Japan, I kind of doubt it will ever leave Japan, but I guess that is decision Toyota made - they are not making Lexus their flagship brand, no Toyota is the flagship brand itself. Lexus is losing relevance when Toyota itself is becoming premium brand nowadays, and they reaffirming that statement with Century.

No - not even similar. Also which V8 - 1UZ, 3UZ, 1UR? Obviously none of them would have mountings in same place as diesel, but some of them would have them in slightly more convenient spot. 1UZ would be simplest swap also easiest to fit, but you likely will also need different gearbox and bell housing adapter, custom aftermarket ECU. There are loads of things that would not be straightforward at all. Also you would be better of starting with IS250 (because petrol) and also because it is v6, so you already have banked exhaust and wiring meant for petrol car, diesel would be different with DPF, downpipes from turbo, very different wiring (but you would need custom wiring loom anyway).