H3XME

1 hour ago, MartinH said:

I would welcome hearing their impressions from drivers who have driven, or still drive, this car!

Having been in that boat, I considered a 200t, albeit RC. My thoughts on it, after a 45min test drive were.. mixed. Ignoring the tuning potential, out of the box it didn't feel much faster than my IS250 (08), probably due to its weight. The sound wasn't anything to rave about either, and fuel economy was worse/same as my IS250's.. I literally saw no point in it. Especially since we're talking IS now, that you can still buy with an already proven V6 version or the 300h if you do a lot of city driving. The best thing to do is to go out and drive it, see what you think.. 10 people / 10 different opinions and all that.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202404128595259

1 hour ago, M4TTY said:

Cheers mate, I will contact them for more info.

Btw, why import one? You won't be able to get it much cheaper than buying one here. There's 3 for sale on the marketplace atm. One of them is for £5k in Grey.

3 hours ago, M4TTY said:

Cheers mate, do you know if this will diable the cruise control limiter too?

It will disable the speed limiter altogether. If you any questions, I'd contact Torque GT. They've been importing cars for a very long time, they know what they're talking about. They even provide a kph to mph conversion with odometer recalibration. 

15 hours ago, McShmoopy said:

Cheers mate, I was more used to a horrible screeching noise from the brake pad wear indicators. I’ll probably use the standard pads and discs I’ve got this time around and next time consider a big brake upgrade!

GS300 Calipers you can pick up for £150-200 for the pair. Pads / Discs are pretty much the same money as IS250 stuff. I think the only extra you'll have to buy is the dust shield if you want it. That's comes up to £18.50 each on Amayama from japan.

51 minutes ago, McShmoopy said:

Hey guys

Been experiencing some whirring type noise when braking from what I believe is the front brakes, Ive got some new front discs and pads ready to go but before I tackle it I thought I'd get a second opinion incase its something else that could be causing the noise.  

 

IMG_5326.MOV 59.78 MB · 3 downloads  

 

Sounds normal if you're due pads change.
While you change the discs and pads, grease up the slider pins and you'll be alright 🙂 

4 minutes ago, morgan_sa said:

Thanks for the offer, Lucas. How well do the 350Z wheels fit? I've seen the offsets are +15mm front / +18mm rear vs the standard fitment, but do they still fit under the arches (on standard suspension)?

Yeah, they’re almost flush on stock suspension. You’d need +25 front and back to be flush on stock wheels and suspension, so you’ll be fine 🙂 don’t have any pics of them on stock car I don’t think 

4 minutes ago, HighlandJohn said:

Update on windscreen replacement.

Was told new screen was damaged so Wed appointment postponed until tomorrow [at depot, not 'on-site'] afternoon.  Called to get time and was told 3 pm. All fine, suited me.

Then 5 minutes later I got a call to be told that 2nd screen [from a different supplier] had been damaged also. I'm not sure who's "damaging" these screens - if at suppliers or the local depot.  Now booked for 23rd of this month.

Mhhhh......watch this space.  

Fills you with confidence that doesn't it! Managed to damage 2 of them already.😁 Good luck John!

18 minutes ago, Gillian said:

I’m selling my 2014 Lexus IS300h. Is a super car to drive, £10 road tax and only 41,000 miles on the clock. It does have a scrape on the back corner.  Despite advertising it on auto trader I’m not getting any genuine calls. Can anyone suggest where else I could be advertising it and what price I should be asking for it? Many thanks, Gill 

Depending on how much you're looking to get out of it, I would seriously consider getting the scrape fixed, even if it's a few hundred quid to repair. And a new armrest is going to be under £100 surely. Check eBay.

You're up against the scrape and the fact that private sales over £10k are generally difficult as people would need finance.. Might be worth considering fixing it and checking what Motorway, WBAC and Arnold Clark offer if you were to get rid that way.

On 4/6/2024 at 6:50 PM, Latvian Lexus said:

Could it be something about taking out fuses while battery was connected?

No, I've installed 3 sets of Vland headlights now and none had issues at all. I keep the Battery connected etc when putting the extra fuse in for the DRLs. 

16 hours ago, Ozzay said:

Bit of a downer as well. Hit my passenger side door mirror as some other cars door was open mid road. Cracked mirror. And bits and bobs came out. Lucky mirror still folds in.

But need a replacement anyone know of any genuine replacement mirror with the backplate?

You're best off looking on eBay for a mirror in your colour Oz. As your car is 2007, you shouldn't have issues finding the right one. It's only the facelift cars with indicators on the mirrors that a bit harder to come by.

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

you paying £400 for your cover, then it is well worth it for the windscreen. Say £50 excess for ~£400 increased premium due to claim is still cheaper than ~£600-800 for windscreen. However, if one is paying £1,200 for insurance then we can quickly calculate that it would be cheaper to simply pay for windscreen yourself, rather than having it on your insurance.

Again, depends on the insurance company. Some don't care about a windshield, that's not classed as a claim in everyone's books. It's not so black & white and that's what's so fkin confusing about car insurance in this country.

This week, I called 8 different insurance companies to get a quote on a 2013 Toyota Mark X G's (2GR lump, IS platform). All of them were import friendly. 4 of them refused to insure it because they don't have "tables" for this kinda car. Maybe that makes sense as there's less than 5 in the UK, I can see the logic, fair enough. The other 3 were happy to insure it but differed in quotes. £2100, £2400 & £1000. All policies included protected NCBs, modifications & 8000miles.

They make stuff up as they go. It's frustrating. Was considering a PCP deal on a facelift RC300h too, but the new Lexuses get stolen left right and centre, so the cheapest quote I got was £2700. Who would've thought that insurance would price me out of having a regular car at the age of 28. I pay £480 for my IS250 atm. It's brutal these days.

1 minute ago, Malc1 said:

Ive never had calipers actually replaced in decades of motoring and many 00’s of 000s of smiles miles in my Ls400s 

Consider yourself lucky Malc. I didn't have issues with slider pins on my 1991 V8 Soarer, but the piston within the caliper itself was seized. I believe early LS400 shares the same brakes. It was a major PITA to remove the seized piston. Dust washer ruptured and the piston was seized solid. I had to weld a bar to it to get a better leverage to hammer it out. Never again🤣

Just now, Malc1 said:

Lexus Main Dealer is often eye wateringly expensive for servicing sadly 

It's probably by design. Indy's will actually try to fix stuff. Lexus will not be fixing anything, they just replace stuff. Perfect example is when i had a health check done and they wanted to charge £400 per caliper because they didn't move as they were supposed to. All it needed was £25 replacement slider pins and a bit of elbow grease. Did it myself in the end.

30 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

Hi all.

My IS250 weather seals are getting a bit past it, so I’m looking to replace them.

Does anyone know of a supplier?

Online they have been called so many different names.

So to be clear, it’s the rubber strips that are against the windows that move up and down.

This is a bit of a niche product, so you're most likely looking at OEM parts. Contact your local dealer. Or find a part number.
I think this could be it though.. https://www.amayama.com/en/part/toyota/7575353010
Roughly £50 shipped for RH side. OEM part from Japan. Your dealer could quote similar amount though so check. Part no. 75753-53010 (RH) 75754-53010 (LH)

1 hour ago, Spock66 said:

If I was a prospective customer I would also be thinking what is the after sales support - where can I get it serviced, availability of parts etc.

This isn't a problem. Especially if it's a JDM counterpart. JDM IS or RX can still be serviced at Lexus or any Indy garage of your choice. Cars that were never available here can go to indy garages or import specialists. In terms of parts, it's all the same as here, you can still order from Lexus/Toyota. They can find part numbers from a VIN.

4 hours ago, wheels with nuts ltd said:

I know it is worth buying Japanese cars as they tend to be better spec, better quality, less miles and so much less repairs in unauthorised places. 

Debatable, there are also lots of the same cars in base model spec compared to what we get here. Be careful what you're getting.

4 hours ago, wheels with nuts ltd said:

What are the changes needs to be done to drive car legally on British roads. I know it needs to be converted from kmh to mph and rear fog lights is a must in UK. Is there something else what will stop me of passing MOT for Japanese Lexus models which are available in EU market too? (Let's say models CT, IS , and RX)

many thanks for any information.

If the car is under 10 years old, it will need an IVA test (MOT on steroids basically), it will need to be converted to MPH too. However, if the car is over 10 years old, it requires only a standard MOT, can remain reading in KM and it will just need a fog light if it doesn't have one. So it's fairly straight forward 🙂 Radio goes up to 89hz IIRC. So that will need a range extender but it's less than £20. Or a new head unit. Most cars will be fitted with ETC which is a just a device used in Japan for not having to stop at tolls on motorways. Can be removed once here.

4 hours ago, wheels with nuts ltd said:

Is there something else what will stop me of passing MOT for Japanese Lexus models which are available in EU market too? (Let's say models CT, IS , and RX)

many thanks for any information.

No, it doesn't matter if it's available here. Let me use an example of Nissan 370Z. UK cars will have a £700/year road tax bill. JDM imports will be around £300.. £325 I think it is these days. Imports aren't emission tested.

On 3/27/2024 at 12:27 AM, Linas.P said:

Regarding Insurance - don't forget windscreen cover still counts as claim on your insurance, so it is worth doing some math to see if it is worth claiming it from insurance or just paying for it upfront. 

I can confirm this isn't always true, although majority of the time it is. Really depends on your insurance company because I made a claim last year, £50 fee and when renewing this year there was no problems, no questions etc. I did also ask before I claimed it if it's going to affect anything, they said nope.

On 3/28/2024 at 8:33 AM, zoricib said:

Any idea if they'll replace the exterior clips on a typical windscreen replacement? Mine has been done before (I think) and it has lots of micro-pitting so I was considering putting a claim in (and a hammer through the windshield to qualify 😅) but the external clips don't look great & know they're quite expensive to replace.

They have to replace the clips. They are not re-usable. They tried (and did) to do this on mine because I wasn't there when they were doing the work on my driveaway. They re-used the clips, put the plastic trim back and I could hear the wind blow when at speeds over 50mph. The trim didn't sit flush with the window because of the clip and it ended up flying up and bending backwards when I was on the motorway. Luckily it didn't completely fly away, but it bend and crack the trim/moulding. I called National Windscreens, made a complaint and went back to their HQ to get it replaced. Unfortunately for me, Lexus didn't have any in stock so I ended up having to wait 3 weeks before they could get the new clips and driver's side trim. All sorted in the end, but yeah, those clips must be replaced with the windshield, but moulding/trim doesn't if removed carefully.

Picked up some front end pieces. It slowly taking shape. 

Coilovers are going on this weekend if the weather holds.

Android Head Unit is on order too, arriving next week. I went for the more OEM looking model this time. Also doubled up on the RAM (4GB. I had the 2+32 spec last time and I had no issues with smoothness of it etc, but I used it for about a month before I sold the green Lexus so I thought I'd future proof it a little with this one.

Wheels from Japan should be with me at some in May and then it's more or less done.

On 3/28/2024 at 10:50 AM, Linas.P said:

These wheels are just alloy, no covers for them. Do you mean like "kerb protectors"? @H3XME maybe able to advise on those.

Otherwise those wheels can be refurbished to look like new (powder coated), but there are no plastic covers for them.

Yeah he must mean centre caps. There are no wheel covers for alloys like the ones you'd put on steelies.

11 minutes ago, Thracing-44 said:

Would definitely be up for a meet at some point, never been to C&M myself. Weekday evenings don't work too well for me with work. I may try and get along to a JDM weekend at Castle Combe as that's close to me. Thinking of taking the Lexus to Shed Fest as well haha. 

Yeah, well I normally leave work a couple of hours early to get there, so I don't go often.

1 hour ago, Lex_utor said:

So the autoclub truck was here. I'm a member. He measured it and said it's the alternator. I was today at a couple of places and I think I will have it done with one of them. The alternator they would put in is a Denso. I guess that's is ok?

It's always better to put the exact same one as OEM. Yes they OEM one is Denso but there are different models. Is there any way you could send your alternator off for a rebuild?

16 hours ago, Linas.P said:

The holes for washers could be welded/filled etc. (not doing it would cause issues in MOT, even if your car technically does not need to have washers, you could fail because they seems to be present but do not work). So the reason I am saying this is because I know how difficult is to force somebody to pay for repairs if they decide to be uncooperative.

I can confirm that you won't fail MOT on the headlight washers. Not on this car anyway. It's old. My green one had them and when I did a 3IS conversion I had to plug the plumbing to the headlight washers as the 3IS bumper didn't have washers.

@MartinH

I will have a black 08 SE bumper for sale in May. No headlight washers, good condition, but I presume you'll have it all fixed by then. 

You guys @BkS @Thracing-44 wanna meet up at C&M (Stratford) on a Daikoku night in May? 1st May. My car should be ready by then

1 hour ago, morgan_sa said:

 Alloy refurb: the current alloys are in quite a poor cosmetic state, although I'm yet to decide if I'd rather replace them altogether (I quite like the forged Nissan Rays alloys, although open to suggestions!)

You can have my F Sport wheels (graphite) - £500 or 350Z wheels. Or even 370Z but that’s down to whether you fancy going for 19s.  

8 minutes ago, CorkVilla said:

Went to view the car and very disappointed. All four wheels were badly kerbed and the interior looked very unclean and worn. For 30,000 euro I was expecting a lot more. It just didn't look like a car that was well looked after. Pity because they rarely come up for sale here,

Would it be worth buying in England or is it not worth it because of import fees?