KenMavor

19 hours ago, J Henderson said:

43550-30020 is the part number for the driver's side.

They're not cheap. I had to get one on the opposite side replaced last year. Local garage did it for £320 supplied & fitted.

Brill.  Thanks.  Local garage has quoted £335 inc vat to do it which I think is taking the **** a bit. Will try autodoc with the part number and see what comes up.

Front drivers side wheel bearing needs replaced.

Best place to go for one....and also any idea of the part numnber?

Thanks.

So over the last few weeks I have been test driving everything that has four wheels, an engine and some seats.

A year ago I test drove a 2013 RX 450h and both my wife and I loved it.  Hence I thought that I would replace aging but perfectly fit for purpose IS250 with a RX 450 somewhere along the long.  My son would then inherit my IS250, free of charge.

Having just retired I thought now is that time to change.  Wanted a petrol and hybrid if possible.

There are two of us and now a 6 month old puppy.

Test drove a RX 450h from a garage nearby.  Hated it.  Realised it was too big by a large amount.  Whilst the model we drove wasn't great it had 63k miles and £13995 was the price.  Had looked at others higher priced but this one was a bit of a dog in my mind.  Lesson learnt - buy from someone who loves their RX 450h and treats it accordingly.

Tried a Mazda CX3 (too small), Mazda 3 (meh) and CX5 (too big again).......nice enough cars but not that comfortable inside.  Nothing startling to be honest.  A bit noisy as well.

Tried a Honda CRV.  Nice enough but slow and I'm not yet ready for my slippers and flat cap driving.  Quiet and comfortable but again nothing startling.  The dealer we test drove the Honda at had a spotless Lexus 600h for £17k and 82k miles.  Was so tempted.

Tried a Honda HRV.  See above.  Lots of boot space for the size.

The Hyundai Kona was next.  Nice enough car but small engine.  Hyundai Tucson was too big.  Ioniq was rejected by the wife as being ugly.  IX35 only diesel options really.

Lexus CT200h....I liked it.  A class above everything else on comfort, style, lay out.  But too small in the back for the dog and a wee but too slow.

Thought about Audi A3, BMW series 1 or 2 but rejected due to overpriced and not getting much for your money.  Looked at VW but again you need a lot of money to get a decent spec. Briefly flirted with Peugeot, Kia, etc but nothing said....choose me.

Had a chat about what we realy needed from a car and then we decided that it was my wife's car we need to change and not my Lexus.  She has a two door Toyota Corolla T sport.  Really nice car but in no way fits what we need.  So it will go.

Then went to the garage that is actually closest to our house......a Suzuki dealer.  We test drove a 2017 Vitara and a 2017 SX4 S-cross.  Both had all the gadgets you could want.  Both were a revelation, both very similar size, one with a 1.6 normal petrol engine, one with a 1.4 boosterjet turbo.  Both were very confortable, cruised easily at 70mph.  We test drobe the SX4 Scross for a day and drove it hard and long.....motorway, A and B roads.  Just kept coming back for more.  It also had 4 wheel drive which will help if we get the snow returning in June.  It had all the gadgets and I mean all of them...adaptive cruise control, panoramic roof, 4 wheel drive, reversing camera, 7 inch touch screen, all round parking sensors, leather seats, good economy.

Interesting process trying all these cars and seeing what their strenghts and weaknesses are.

Bought it for £11500 and 33k miles on it, three years free servicing, 1 years warranty and breakdown cover.  Wife loves it.

So I will change my IS250 for a NX next year sometime when they come down in price.

5 hours ago, steve2006 said:

Driver’s side contains the “EMV(Electronic Multi Vision) and Navigation system HDD”

So the lady that talks to you occasionally lives in there, the one that talks all the time lives in your house. 😀

.....what about the one that natters on inside my head?

9 hours ago, mandy3211 said:

Hi All,

My 2011 Rx450h sat on my driveway for a couple of months and wouldn’t start. So called the RAC, they tried their level best, but couldn’t help. The error displayed was ‘check hybrid system’. Took the vehicle to my local Lexus dealership and the diagnosis began. First it was a relay in the hybrid battery which was faulty, replaced it, still no joy. The next error code was for a battery sensor, again replaced, still the vehicle wouldn’t budge. Now, the final diagnosis is that the hybrid battery needs to be replaced as it has been damaged due to water ingress potentially from a leak of the rubber seals and grommets on the bumper. Have been quoted circa £2700 for the hybrid battery without labour on top of the 1000 quid for the relay and the sensor.

Does anyone have any similar experience on their vehicle of a similar model or year.

I’m just contemplating, is it worth spending close to 4/5 grand on a vehicle which is 10 years old.

But, if I don’t, no one would buy it as it’s dead meat. 
 

Any suggestions/comments are very welcome and appreciated. Cheers.

I think this highlights perfectly the problem with so called mechanics these days.....they are more technicians, who plug in a computer, get a code and replace the item that the code is pointing to that is faulty.  And so on down to the last code.

All they are doing is treating symptoms and not the root cause and when all that fails they are stumped.

Better to go to someone who specialises in said area and then you will get a guy who has knowledge and experience of similar problems.

Many so called higher end businesses (Lexus, Dior, Givenchy, apple etc.) have built up a brand, reputation and image that means people believe they are getting a superior product in every way. This includes after sales and parts after the event.

apple is the prime candidate in this area.  Iphones are made in exactly the same place, with similar parts, in a factory where they make other, "lower quality" phones.  There maybe differences but not to the tune of 5 times more expensive than the other products but people, in their millions, choose apple products, or a Lexus, or a what ever.

The Lexus image has to project that quality, even parts, so yes you are correct that the same part, under a different name costing 70% less will be exactly the same but people want to believe it is better.  Also, people can't be arsed looking for the cheaper part....they just want it fixed, by the lexus mechanic with Lexus parts and are suitably impressed and  comforted that it is exceedingly expensive...after all if it's expensive it MUST be of a better quality.

5 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

Toyota Corolla for me.

My wife has a Toyota Corolla T Sport.  It has a 1.8 engine with VVTL - similar to the Honda VTEC.  It pulls like mad to 6200 revs when the VVTL kicks in and then it just goes like sh*t off a hot shovel.  It is just glorious fun seeing BMers and the like having trouble losing a Toyota Corolla along the roads. 

2 hours ago, Blessing said:

The seller mentioned that it has a pre crash system. Does RX 450h 2009 actually have an automatic pre crash system? 

It does have pre crash system and the adaptive cruise control, and the HUD, and the body work looks spotless......damn!!!

1 hour ago, royoftherovers said:

She is a Peach indeed. Thanks Herbie.

All right, all right......no need to rub it in.......  😂 ☹️

OK....which one of you ****holes bought the lovely gold RX 450h in Pwllheli.....

Was spotless, well looked after, full Lexus service history, personal number plate, 86k miles, £10990.

Raging, just absolutely raging.........sent an email to the seller, had to do a business call and he had sold it already.

Rant over......... 😂

4 hours ago, whiteman said:

I had a the astra zenica jab 3 days ago, arm went heavy a few hrs later and now just feels like I got a slight dead arm, bit of a dry throat and yesterday just wanting a nana nap lol. today fine apart from a dry throat still .. 

 

.....maybe that's just a bad hangover you're having.....just saying...........🤣

Astra Zeneca one a week last Friday......absolutely no after affects on me and my wife....

Roll on the next jab. Then I can actually start looking at RXs....

On a similar vein.....

Our neighbour got stuck in Austria for 3 months during lockdown. Went to GP in Austria whilst she was out there and he advised her not to get the vaccine as he said many people were being paralyzed due to the vaccine....sorry about the language......but what the actual f.......

She was then paranoid that she would be paralyzed (actually really panicking)......and then she traveled from Austria, to Amsterdam, to Manchester to Aberdeen to get back home and was panicking about getting the vaccine!!  The risk off getting Covid in her journey home was about a million times higher than getting ANY adverse reaction to the vaccine.

Just goes to show that many, many people believe all the negative, and false, information that is being spouted on various social media and news reports.  That could cause major problems a few months down the road.

On 3/24/2021 at 4:49 PM, KenMavor said:

£17990.........

....now on their website at a mouth watering.......£18490....ouch again.

2 hours ago, LenT said:

Many thanks Paul.

You've highlighted the warning signs of a scam very clearly.

OK, so fundamentally it's the old 'if it seems too good to be true, then it probably isn't!' scam flag. 

I can understand a seller wanting cash.  It's a feature of that TV show 'Wheeler Dealer' after all, to mention but one of the several car restoration shows.  But I agree that attempts to bypass the EBay security transaction system (such as it is) should itself be a very clear signal.

I've rarely bought cars privately or off an ad. (Or indeed anything off EBay.)

But I do recall one piece of advice for when answering a car ad. over the phone.  You only ask about 'the car you have for sale' which helps to sort out the street traders posing as private motorists!

These are all scams.....there are about 15 eBay accounts in operation on a regular basis that have been hacked.  I have reported about 12 accounts that have similar set up to eBay.  Nothing happens.....Ebay really need to get some AI going so that they can spot these sort of scams and shut them down quickly but I ain't holding my breath.

1 hour ago, Herbie said:

Well, we got home about an hour ago after a lovely leisurely drive back down from Teeside and I have to say my mind is blown. We have enjoyed every minute of ownership of our 3RX and we genuinely considered it to be the best car we'd ever bought - but the 4RX is a whole new level

It's SO comfortable, SO quiet and SO effortless to drive... it's just utterly amazing!

I also have to say that we had amazing service again from David at Lexus Teeside who provided a smooth and quick transaction. He noticed that the two front tyres only had 3mm tread and while that's legal, he didn't like to send it out like that so two brand new tyres were put on before we got there and also a full tank of petrol supplied too.

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you Ken, Jules too, but whoever does get it will be really pleased with it.

Photos of our new beastie to follow tomorrow - I'm now going to read and inwardly digest the owners manual cover to cover

David from Lexus Teeside did say you seemed a bit pleased with your new toy...... lol....enjoy.

20 minutes ago, Cyclone said:

Ouch, either a big mark up from £14k (obviously they need to cover pre sales inspection, corrective work and warranty cost), or they’d built in some profit from the sale of this against the total deal the OP did. Either way at £18k they have loads of margin.

Too rich for my blood......and bank manager.....ie the wife.

On 3/20/2021 at 5:52 PM, First_Lexus said:

^^ I’ll guess at £16,495...

£17990.........

8 hours ago, KenMavor said:

That's a pity....might ping Teeside a quick email and see if I can take it off their hands at a reasonable price.....wonder what their mark up would be if I said as you roll up to the garage on Wednesday to to the swap I just take it off their hands.....

Just had a chat with David from Lexus Teeside.

They dont want to give me a price until they've seen the car........which is on Wednesday.

@Herbie.....am presuming full Lexus service history, annual hybrid checks, 60k ish miles?, one careful lady owner :-), MOT to August 2021.

Anything else I cna tell them is wrong with thr car so I can get some money off?

I'd have to get a car check done as previous owner is an unsavoury charcater it seems ..... 🙂

Anyone care to guess what they will tell me the price is going to be?

15 hours ago, Herbie said:

Just completed the paperwork and returned by email this afternoon, so the wheels are already turning and the machine is in motion, so to speak.

That's a pity....might ping Teeside a quick email and see if I can take it off their hands at a reasonable price.....wonder what their mark up would be if I said as you roll up to the garage on Wednesday to to the swap I just take it off their hands.....

YG14NBE

Is that your old one?  looking at £18990.

Damn......I would have taken it off you for £15k.

😞

22 hours ago, Brechin Slate said:

You'll have to take my word for it Ken.  She actually withdrew 5 quid extra but I trousered that as a consultancy fee 🙂

.....was it something along these lines then....

1 hour ago, Brechin Slate said:

All done! Sweet Alloys, a Southampton based mobile service came out this morning.   Happy with the result and price.  Even better that my wife felt guilty and handed over the cash, a rare occurrence in itself!

.....pictures of the wife handing over the cash or it didn't happen as the youngsters say today...... 🙂

4 hours ago, Linas.P said:

This is always quoted as an issue, because about every single person who get's SS exhaust later comes back to complain about drone. Sound like you have best of both worlds then.

I think being aware of the potential issue before getting the exhaust done gave me the questions to ask and to make sure they guys building the exhaust didn't just do a like for like replacement.  I know they changed the diameter of the pipe on the rear section.

16 hours ago, Linas.P said:

SS are likely to drone... if OP want's to "show-off" a bit then why not - IS250 actually sounds great with SS system, but then you will need to live with drone.

Technically any modification to emission equipment is MOT failure, whenever removing secondary (lower) cats and leaving primary (upper) ones would pass mot is kind of a guess game. I would argue that as long as car passes emissions test and still has primary cats it should be road legal, but that will be decision based on MOT tester discretion. Cats in IS250 are not restrictive anyway and removing them adds nothing to the car so I would advise to leave them in place.

SS are likely to drone... if OP want's to "show-off" a bit then why not - IS250 actually sounds great with SS system, but then you will need to live with drone.

Always seen this quoted as an issue and when I got mine done I said to the fitter that I do not want the exhaust to drone.  I want it to be as silent as the OEM one on it.  He then did some tweaking to pipe sizes and it is throaty but does not drone at all.

11 minutes ago, Mitcheyfex said:

Sorry to revive an old thread.

 

The weld went well, but I also now have other holes in the exhaust and taking it to a garage they have advised I need a new back pipe mid section and cat.

 

I read today that catalytic converters are being targeted by thieves because the value of the metal inside these cats is more valuable than Gold currently.

 

What is stopping me selling my cats in order to obtain enough money for a new exhaust system? Would that work? Or is it a stupid question.

 

Thanks in advance 

Get a new stainless steel one built for your car.  You can go cat back or whatever or remove the cats underneath the car....there are 4 in total but the front two are part of the exhaust manifold and very difficult to get to by anyone.  Unsure if removing the two cats underneath the car is a MOT fail but someone will be along soon to confirm or deny.  Cost wise to replace the middle section, and keep the cats, probably about 250 to 300.  The rear section is about another 600.