GSLV6

Electrical of some kind, either a pump or motor. Doesn't sound like the fuel pump which leaves hybrid system, perhaps electric steering motor (although why it should run like that I'm not sure) or brake actuator pump motor as above. Low oil level would concern me but doubt that's the cause. Mine never seems to use oil but I check to ensure it's always above half way up between markers (it usually registers full between services).

I never run mine down much past 10 to 15 litres in the tank but on average in the hilly Cotswolds only ever see 375 miles before I top up so if I drove on until the warning light perhaps I could squeeze 420 miles to 430 miles from a tank max. I'm not heavy on the right boot, advanced driver trained and mine averages over a long run on A roads around 35mpg, if predominantly motorway and at a true 70mph (77 indicated) I get no better than 32mpg. Local trips of up to 15 or 20 miles sees closer to 27 to 28mpg, about the same as my old V6 GS300, although that was way better on long runs. I once came back with a full car from a family holiday in the lake district and with a roof box fitted and still returned 43mpg.

I agree with both of you. Compared with the cost of a new RX, I would FAR rather have a V6 GS300 SEL and be prepared to throw £10K at it replacing sensors, seals, suspension, attending to any auto gearbox issues and minor bodywork and ECU reflashing etc. My old GS300 V6 was hands down the best car I ever owned and to drive, I much preferred it to any of the newer models. Lighter, nippier, smoother, more compliant suspension, quieter, more comfortable and festooned with more buttons that Cadburys packs into one if it's chocolate packs. If I remember rightly, there wasn't enough space on the dash to accommodate everything so I had a drop down compartment to the right of the steering wheel, low on the dash that presented what looked like a remote control with more buttons to operate things like the rear rising window blind. It was a supremely luxurious car in every respect of the word and I often regarded it as the fastback V6 version of the LS with better road manners. I reckon you could by a good example with moderate miles for under £6K these days and invest another 6 to 10 K and have a car that would see you proud for another 10 years. I may just look into doing just that.

I think it's the same across the range with the newer models. A friend just bought a new Mercedes GLA which doesn't have a speedo. It's more like a Tesla inside, with one giant screen where everything is accessed and very few buttons except the usual steering wheel controls. It stopped working after 12 weeks and left her stranded because although she could start the car, she had no speedo, no fuel gauge, no satnav, no heater controls. It had to be towed for another fault anyway! It was with Mercedes several weeks and eventually they had to replace the whole screen. This is everything that's wrong with the way things are going with in car controls. I'm old and grumpy enough to realise that my next car will be my last in all likelihood as I tend to keep a car a long time. My RX is now 8 years old and I'll probably have it another 4 or 5 years. When I change, it will not be for some Euro6 compliant tinny overstressed disposable engined box, nor for electric and nor for a newer Lexus. I'll look for the lowest mileage RX4 I can find and that will have to see me out. It will be a nice under-stressed reliable V6 petrol....with buttons and manual controls (as far as they have them).

Yes, agree with all of that. Technology for technology's sake I am afraid is one of those "must have" fashion things manufacturer's seem to want to pursue as they see it as "keeping up with progress" and fear losing sales because the ipad and Apple Car Play generation they think would shirk at buying anything not fitted with it today. No-matter who tries to tell me it is progress, my own answer is "nope, you're wrong!". Progress is engine refinements, better suspension, longer warranties (😁), handling and reliability improvements etc. It is not in car entertainment updates to keep up with what others are doing. Sure, fit inductive phone charging shelves, more cup holders, better stereos, nicer interiors etc but leave our buttons and mice alone (?😆). I won't buy any car in future that has a screen remotely resembling a giant i-pad with everything gone touchy feely. It is a distraction, it is annoying having to muddle through on screen menus, it is a danger when driving and has no place in a car you need to keep control of. Nice analogue dials and a dash festooned with backlit buttons that access most controls "at the touch of a button" and the mouse control for everything else was all perfectly fine and tbh was the pinnacle of driver controls along with HUD which I wouldn't now be without. Looks as though I'm destined to slum it with an RX4 but I won't buy anything remotely touchy feely. I guess I'm just not a "touchy feely" sort of person.

Maybe I'm the odd one out, but I much prefer the older mouse control than either the track pad or the touch screen. It was changed, mainly it seems as motoring journo's hated it, but what do they know?😂

I won't be changing my V6 RX3 in any particular hurry. The driving differences between it and a newer RX4 are minimal to non existent. I wouldn't contemplate changing the silky smooth V6 for the newer Euro compliant 4cyl RX5 models, especially at the current pricing which seems to have taken new costs well beyond the means of those bar the wealthy but if the used price of the last of the V6 RX5's comes down sufficiently within the next 4 years I may have a look then. I don't feel hard changed or at any disadvantage at all. They have prettier interiors and a little more space but I dislike intently touch screens in cars and all eggs in one basket with LCD screens mean if they go wrong, you're stuffed. Much prefer physical buttons and real dials.

It may not be the motor, it may be the CANBUS system just not conveying the message for the motor to operate, which a reset should fix. If the reset doesn't work, then unfortunately, the motor seems to be the likely culprit. Mine was only done under warranty as the car's within the 10 year coverage period

Yes, because as we all know, a click tocking is better than a tock clicking, or an 'orse clopping.

They did the same to mine. I also moved 2 miles within the same geographical area and they tried upping my premium by £200 annually but refused to justify why so I cancelled my renewal and went elsewhere where I got fully comp with legal protection, breakdown cover and protected NCB for just under £300.

I'm afraid that any claim, even a no fault claim, often results in your premium increasing so it is an unfortunate fact of life that coughing up for minor repairs yourself is usually the cheapest longer term proposition these days. I see insurance as a legal obligation but not something I'd ever claim off for anything other than a major prang or theft. Even NCD won't guarantee no rise in premium following a claim unless it is protected. You always ending up paying one way or the other.

Suspension is the part that joins the voicecoil/cone assembly to the motor assembly and can be replaced if parts are available although it's not one for a diy enthusiast as it can be very tricky. The surround (which I think you mean) is the foam or rubber surround to the cone and these are routinely replaced for most hifi speakers where needed. Not all drive units will sound the same even if the same size (but from a different manufacturer...ie they are NOT the same designs) but replacing with a good used like for like speaker drive unit is probably the most practical proposition.

It was widely reported up to 5 years ago when the most stolen cars in the London area included Land Rovers, Range Rovers and the Lexus RX450h. The same vulnerabilities are still present as when a manufacturer combats one type of theft by upping security, the professional thieves always find a way around it....eventually. Best advice is don't make it easy for them. A steering lock has been mentioned but you will probably need more in vulnerable areas, so a wheel clamp adds another layer of security. These thieves won't want to spend more than 2 minutes trying the steal any vehicle unless it is well out of sight, so adding visible deterrents is usually a good way of making them think twice or not bothering. I remember when spates of Peugot sports hatchbacks were being stolen some years ago, Peugot proudly announced the addition of "thief proof" mobilisers on one of their Rallye or GTi models. It was parked outside a showroon. The first week it was on show, thieves stole it within 2 minutes by working our where the wiring was, and simply plugged their own pre programmed box of tricks into the loom to disarm it and drove it off the forecourt.

I think whilst longevity is indeed related to how we drive, there's no shortcutting the fact that grippier rubber usually means softer compounds, allied to a 2.2 tonne vehicle that is very torquey, so that recipe I think would result in fewer miles per set than on a lighter vehicle. They're really very good tyres, very confidence inspiring and very quiet at motorway speeds. I'm sure if I drove more sedately I could see 15K miles but probably not more than that. I think even if I could justify fitting tyres at twice the price I'd be changing them every few years anyway as rubber does age and harden. I guess if I was doing 20K miles/per year then I'd stretch to more premium slightly harder compound tyres. The only shame is that Avon no longer make tyres here in the UK as their plant closed down after they were bought out a few years ago. They made Cooper branded tyres also I believe. Avon AFAIK were the very last British tyre manufacturer left until they were bought out.

I usually get no more than 10K miles from the ZX7's but at £146 a corner I don't mind as this represents two years motoring to me and tyres ought to be changed really every 2 to 3 years, especially doing less miles as sat on the driveway they tend to craze quicker. During lockdown I hardly used the car and had to replace all 4 tyres a year later as the rubber had crazed in between the treads so it wouldn't have passed MOT. Used daily the rubber will stay more supple. I got rid of the OEM Dunlops very quickly as I found them harsh, noisy and they had awful wet weather grip. The ZX7's were a revelation. Better handling, a far more comfortable ride, significantly safer wet weather performance and braking performance. For the money they're the best I've so far tried. I also like the Geolanders a lot but they've now got a bit spendy.

Just PM me Herbie for detailed advice if needed. Basically, most amps are designed as voltage sources which swing the current to meet the demands of loudspeaker loads. Their stated output is usually in Watts RMS which is a sort of maximum mean power they are designed to operate at. Most solid state amps (Class A/B and Class D) are capable of happily driving loads with nominal impedances between 4 and 8 Ohms with no problems. However, to ensure the best match it is a good rule of thumb to cater for transient peaks in current demand at lower impedances so I would always advise choosing an amp with double the minimum stated power needs of the speaker load to allow for transient peak power demands in the lower frequencies. The stated speaker impedance uis usually described as the nominal speaker impedance, so an 8 Ohm nominal impedance means any amp is suitable that can drive an 8 Ohm load. A speaker rated at 8 Ohms can have a minimum impedance in the bass registers of more like 6 ohms, ditto a 4 ohm speaker can have a minimum impedance of 2.5 to 3.5 ohms in the lower frequencies so an amp capable of delivering power into a 4 ohm load is recommended. However, when you look at speaker ratings, they also include a sensitivity rating in dB/1w/1m (or watts for 2.83V/1m). If you take a speaker capable of outputting 90dB/1m/1w into 8 ohms and one which outputs the same into a 4 Ohm load, then using 4 ohm taps on some amps (mostly these days it's just valve amps with optional impedance load outputs) then using the 4 ohm tapping results in the 8 ohm speaker still working fine but with around 60% of the available power on tap, lower distortion and better damping factor so it will sound quieter for the same volume setting. Conversely a 4 ohm speaker driven from 8 ohm taps or amp designed for an 8 ohm load will work fine but if you drive it too hard the amp could run out of power and into clipping as the power needed to give the same output as 8 ohm speakers is double. In your case you have a little Chinese op-amp amplifier with tube buffers in the output stage (ie not a true valve amp). It will work but with those speakers which are nominal 8 ohm loads, you'll see half the power available from that amp, or perhaps a little less so in reality it can only supply enough current to drive them with a maximum output of 50 wpc and will likely clip if you overdrive it. If you don't need the bluetooth connectivity you'd be better advised using a better designed more conventional amp which can output 100wpc into an 8 ohm load. Sorry for the thread drift!

I really rate Avon RX7's. Not the best mileage but great all rounders and despite the summer tyre tag, are great in the wet (top rated) quiet, grippy and even perform well in the snow. Cheap too compared with most premium tyres.

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I've repaired quite a few. It's not difficult but it does need care to avoid creasing the cone. Measuring DCR of voicecoil won't provide enough for a close match. It's the Thiele-Small parameters that matter so finding one with similar "Vas", "Fs" (free air resonance in Hz), power handling and sensitivity are all really needed to get a close match. If there are any clues to what driver it is, I may be able to help as I'm a loudspeaker engineer. However, these do crop up on Ebay (some on there presently) so easier to replace like for like with one that's in good used condition from there (about £50 or £60 each)

You need to do a reset. That should solve it. Start by manually opening the rear boot by first remotely opening central locking, open rear door and gain access to rear door manual control. Upon tailgate and raise to the fully raised position. Remove battery cover in rear and disconnect the negative terminal. Leave disconnected for 10 seconds then reconnect. Close rear door manually then manually raise it to the top again, close it and press central locking on your remote. It should now all work. This worked for me after my battery went flat and needed replacing. Ensure button in glove compartment is enabled for remote operation. The only time it didn't work was when the tail lift motor failed which was replaced under warranty.

The unfortunate thing about insurance is many in the small print will only insure for "market value" which is less than the actual value of the car. It was explained to me after I wrote a mercedes off many years go which I had paid 7.5K for and they offered 4.5K back which I refused. I was told that "market value" was circa 20% under actual sale ticket price for me with some mealy mouth worded explanation of why. I took out a legal challenge and won getting the full amount back but they then refused to renew my premium (surprise surprise). You can elect not to have the insurance repair it and do it yourself. I reversed my RX into a friend's car accidentally catching the corner of his front bumper which did similar damage to mine, denting the rear quarter under the rear lamp cluster. I took it and his to a local bodywork specialist and he did a fantastic (as in invisible) repair job for £400 all in. That's what I'd be doing in your shoes. Ask for the car back and say you'll repair it yourself.

...or London's beloved mayor will have his goal posts moved somewhere out of harm's way along with him attached to them (you can live in hope!) 😄. Whoever replaces him though will most likely carry head on charging down the zero emissions route, as most politicians are firmly wedded to killing our economy by doing so.

it most definitely should not sound like a diesel. When the engine cuts in when power is on and the bonnet is lifted, my V6 is as smooth as butter and very quiet. You can obviously hear it start but tbh the other electric systems, air con and other things going on make as much if not more noise than the engine at idle. As above, if that isn't the case, walk away. Some can have noisy fuel pumps, located at the back end of the block. My GS suffered from a noisy pump which only quietened down when warm. The only other obvious cause would be a failure of the hydraulic tappet seals. Expensive fix if so.

Having looked at the cabins and compared the seats of the outgoing Takumi RX450h, I'd have that over the 500h. It may be personal rather than objective but the seats I think are better, I prefer the outgoing dash, in fact I much prefer the 2016 onwards cabins than the new models, and the smoothness of the V6 engines. If I were to chop my 2014RX3 in, I'd stick with the next newer model and pick a high spec low miles example and have loads of change left for a decent family holiday for many years ahead!

You're best advised paying a little extra and going for a post 2011 RX3 model where a facelift and some improvements were made. The plushest ride was on premier models with air suspension but at that age could be trouble stored up as this suspension is expensive to repair. Air compressor failure costs £2.5K to replace the compressor and each corner is over £1K to replace. Lux models have extras including options for LED headlamps, sunroof etc and were a very popular choice. F Sport gives better handling thanks to lateral dampers as well as conventional but feels fairly firm. It also comes as standard with full LEDs and is optioned with Mark Levinson sound system (which you can pay for on other models too), HUD (which is worth having) and several other extras. It's one of the better options longer term and FSports tend to hold their value well as one of the more desirable models.