H3XME

5 hours ago, CorkVilla said:

I've since discovered this RC300h has the base audio. Is it really as bad as everyone says? I'm coming from a 2008 Volvo so expectations are not that high. It is a 2017 car so will have another three years with the Lexus warranty. Will the value of the car plummet after it reaches ten years of age? Plus points are that it is that lovely blue colour, only has 34,000 miles and is an F Sport. 

You’ll have to find out for yourself. Many of us are spoilt by audio systems in other Lexus models. 

The value won’t plummet if the IS is anything to go off. As above, people very rarely have issues with them. This is one of the only few “newish” cars I’d be comfortable buying out of warranty these days. 

23 hours ago, JDM-Fiend said:

I used one of these:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07JN9MD28/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Bluetooth Audio for music now built into the car and you can skip songs direct from the steering wheel.

This is probably the best solution if you don't want to spend £200 on a CarPlay head unit.

2 minutes ago, Tomango said:

Sorry, I forgot the price. I thought £400 the lot. Thread is not bad but may be over 5 years old so not sure about usability. Can take some close-up pics if interested?

No, sorry. Way too pricy for 16s. There was a set of 17s on eBay for ~£250 but now I checked I can't use them anyway. CT wheels are 5x100 like Prius.

How much mate? Tyres got much tread on them?

13 hours ago, Linas.P said:

could be caused by blocked diesel filter

Do these not have like "DPF Cleaning" dash light of some sort? Some diesels are good and they tell you when it's cleaning the DPF, some diesels even let you clean it manually like a Land Cruiser. 

1 hour ago, Bob King said:

Spotted this on FB, not sure what the news headlines would read…"mature Lexus driver, meets would-be rally drive in lane".

Eveyone was ok and Peugeot was lifted off with a tractor, think the Lexus would be an uneconomical repair now ☹️☹️

 

Just buy it back and buy replacement panels 🙂

6 hours ago, Carlh said:

Not yet was just asking around first to see if anyone has any ideas 

Without a read out there could be 1001 guesses. Won't be helpful

26 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202401105414712

I definitely see above as good value, but for me... I am kind of sucker for "completionism" i.e. it is just basically standard car without a single option. No RCC, no sunroof, no TVD... and for me at least RCC and sunroof are deal breakers, I can live without TVD with just normal LSD, but I would take TVD if its there.

For £21k, and still under warranty technically, it's a not an awful deal for today's climate despite the mileage, but it is reaching the age/mileage where you need to start thinking about water pump, alternator etc. "Problem" with these lexus/toyota cars is that even though some are old, high mileage & rough around the edges, they still drive and will continue driving. That's why the prices won't go down as much as other cars.. There's nothing much to choose from these days (New cars), so if you want a well built toy, you'll be looking for used cars with proper engines like those.

I don't mind not having those options. It's got M&L and that's enough for me. Radar Cruise is effing annoying, not because it's a bad system, but because even on the shortest distance there's a gap big enough for some c#nt to comfortably get in and your car then keeps slowing down and speeding up resulting in ***** mpgs. I understand the system can't be turned down any more due to safe braking distances, so this is a fault of those who don't keep those distances.

As for the diff, I'd take a regular torsen (mechanical) LSD over electric one. Arguably not as good, but less to go wrong when you're looking at 10 year old cars. Applies to many other luxuries.

On 11/6/2020 at 2:35 PM, Linas.P said:

I don't believe RC-F will cost under £25k in 6-12 months... or even in 3 years time.

Now's your time 🤣

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202310132944563

The prices aren't dropping as much as the mileage is rising unfortunately.

It won't work. It's a different system essentially. And wiring as you already know. I would suggest aftermarket head unit with carplay etc, BUT from the pics you posted I can see it won't work either.

This is the back of an aftermarket unit for pre-facelift cars and facelift cars without screen. You don't have the 8pin canbus plug 🙂

There are some units that are supported by facelift cars with a screen, but I can't find it atm. Look online. Retro-fitting won't work between jdm/uk cars. MAYBE on pre-facelift cars.

4 hours ago, MartinH said:

Are these headlamps OEM fit? 

I would not ask were it not that I must have the front bumper replaced. So clearly there is an opportunity here to replace the headlights, which are old and feeble.

Sorry, they’ve sold now. Only got the wheels 

£695 08 manual 🥲

52 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

It doesn't make £5 difference in MPGs, E5 is ~1.5%, for simplicity let's say £2 per tanks. Also E5 is ~14p more expensive on average, so that makes it ~£9 more per tank.

Also it doesn't make engine healthier, ethanol is actually common additive to clean the injectors and even carbon build-up.

If my memory serves - the only part at risk was 1 or 2 o-rings in fuel tank. But again 10% of ethanol is too low concentration to cause any issues (in my opinion), I have run my car extensively on E85 without issues, so I can't see how E10 could hurt. Besides many cars in Europe run exclusively on E85 and there are no reports on anything failing. 

Regular E10 is £1.46/L by me.. Esso 99+ is £1.55/L. That's ~£5.50 more over 60l tank. I'll stick to Super Unleaded :) 

44 minutes ago, MrTrendizzle said:

E10 eats away at the rubber seals etc... I've run my IS250 on E10 almost since it came out and i've got zero issues beyond a little less ommpff. 

Altho i'm fully aware at some point i will most likely need to replace some rubber seals/fuel lines. From my understanding the main pump seal inside the cabin can be destroyed over time and leak fuel vapors in to the cabin which is a HUGE no-no for Lexus so instead of just swapping the seal with an updated rubber compound they just rate the IS250 for E5 only. From a few threads it looks like the E10 seals are the exact same part number as the IS250 E5 rated seals which means at some point the rubber compound was updated so if it does fail you car will eventually be ok with E10 as you replace each seal as they breakdown. 

There's others with more info so take a good read, IMHO the only difference between E10/E5 is price, power and MPG.

Why not just run E5 then? It makes ~£5 difference to a full tank and you'll get that £5 in mpgs, keep the engine healthier and you'll avoid replacing seals etc..

6 hours ago, CorkVilla said:

I'm thinking of test driving a 2016 RC F Sport with approx 90,000 kilometres. I've never driven one before and don't know much about them. Just wondering what kind of things I should be looking for? 

I'm currently driving a diesel Volvo so this would be quite a change for me. 

Hey man, I was in the same boat as you a couple of years ago. Really love the look of them, but after test driving it and I realised it wasn't the car for me at the time. Nothing wrong with the car at all, it's just my expectations were a little too high. It looks beautiful and sporty. I was expecting it to drive like a sports car and while the handling & seating position are brilliant, it's lacking oomph to back up the looks in my opinion. Mind you, it was my mistake expecting it from a hybrid powertrain that's in lots of other lexuses. It's built for comfortable cruising / commuting. It would make a perfect daily, but it's no tarmac ripper. If you don't care about the performance aspect of them I would say you'll be happy with it. I was only unhappy about it because it would be my only car, so I was expecting a little more fun from under your right foot. To clarify, it isn't out right slow, especially in real life conditions (commuting to work etc). The hybrid system gives you a lot of instant torque so it feels quite good until higher speeds.

As what to look out for.. there isn't much really. Make sure it's got the basics like full service history by lexus (so it qualifies for the 10 year warranty but not sure if Ireland do this), both keys, see how the boot lid feels to close. I know some people had issues with the boot lid but a little bit of WD40 in the latch solved it. Also make sure to try Sport/+ modes compared to eco and feel the difference in the suspension damping. If you can't feel an obvious difference there is something wrong with the dampers. Also an issue some forum members had. Can't remember exactly what the cause was.

Bottom line, it's a great reliable and efficient car for a vast majority of people, but don't be fooled by it's sporty looks like I was.

15 hours ago, GMB said:

gone up 35% plus a massive excess for no reason. They are having a laugh at our expense. I don't know how or why they can get away with robbing us all. 

They'll bump the prices up to retain or increase their profit. Whereas everyone else is out of pocket.. It really f#cks me off when us, regular tax payers, are worse off because a billion pound company "can't" take a bit of a hit on their PROFIT.. it's not like they will go into administration, they're not trying to stay afloat, they're trying to increase their already ridiculously big profits.. 35% increase takes the pi$$. Look at the energy companies, prices went up for one reason or another, yet they're hitting record, billions of pounds profits? wtf. was the increase really needed then? a joke. 

26 minutes ago, MrTrendizzle said:

I'm not far from Brum and i pay £540 a year up from £460. Altho Aviva chucked in RAC roadside+Recovery which should've cost £80 so technically the price didn't change or RAC was free. Dreading renewing tho. Checked a few sites and i'm getting quotes between £800-£2600 with mods declared and some companies refusing because my daughters sticker in the window is the 7th mod and refuse cover. I have to claim window tint and decals as "Stickers" to bring the price down. I mean they're both technically stickers so why not right?

I live on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, my mate lives in Great Barr. I pay £480/year full comp. with protected NCB, all mods declared like for like & 10,000 miles. I checked a comparison site earlier, just out of curiosity and the cheapest quote was £2100.. that's assuming my car is "stock"... ridiculous. People need to start ringing around rather than rely on online quotes, it's extortionate. 

I am not 100% about stickers (I doubt it because cars leave the dealership with stickers in the window) but tints being classed as mod is down to the insurance company. My I.C. (Brentacre) says tints are not classed as mod to them, but my ex from like 10 years ago had an issue with tints (not factory fitted).. A bloke came out to fit a blackbox and spotted the tints so she had to get them removed. Really depends on the insurance company, it's quite dumb that there are no set guidelines for consumers. 

8 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

Absolutely there's a load of scams on Facebook. I've personally reported 12 so far in just 2 days. How do I know they're scams? Because my Internet security tells me and I pass that info to Facebook. They've responded to each report I've made with thanks. 

What they'll do about those posts I've reported we'll have to wait and see. 

Absolutely f*ck all. I reported a bunch before because it pi*sed me off and nothing happened. The best you can do is "Hide" those listings or Block the profiles listing them.

47 minutes ago, MrTrendizzle said:

As for sellers on FB so long as you avoid the 3 B's then you're normally fine. Obviously don't send money to someone you don't know and you're golden. Who needs a deposit if i've agreed to pick the car up within the next 2 hours.

100% it's fool proof if you don't send money to people. Never asked anyone for a deposit nor will i ever send someone deposit (unless it's a legitimate garage ofc)

2 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

After reading a post that there's an is350 for sale on Facebook market place I thought I'd have a look. 

I'm not on Facebook so I had to make an ID up to view.

What boggled my mind was How the Hell are is300h's on there for between £3&4k?

These cars must be missing a 1 in front of them. 64 plate and newer I saw and was gobsmacked. 

As Rasta Mouse says 'whagwahn' what's going on. I can only assume that Facebook have missed a 1 in front of the prices or they're all a con and spam of sorts.

What do you regular Facebook uses say?

There was a huge influx in scammers on Facebook in the past few months Vlad. Everything that looks too cheap is a scam. Funny thing is, most of the cars, regardless of age, value etc are all around 4k 🤣 You can filter through easily enough. 

Facebook marketplace is a very handy place for everything under £10k tbh. Higher value cars are better off on AutoTrader or even eBay classified listings, but you have to pay for those. Makes sense why you'd put a £800 sh1tter on facebook since you don't have to pay £20+ for listing it. I've sold most of my cars on Facebook but that's because they were all low value.

1 minute ago, Dells said:

I think all insurance companies just think of a number then double it , when you see that someone in Birmingham ( a friend ) same age as me with a 2L ford year newer is paying £150 less than me in the Cotswolds, go figure.

Dell

Depends what are I suppose. My mate with a Birmingham postcode pays £500 more than me on the same is250 

30 minutes ago, ahmedali44 said:

Another one bites the dust and now lost my patience with ppl and humanity as change his mind but he was honest guy . FB buyer's not really genuine as just wafflers but this was from Gumtree 

Put it on auto trader.

12 minutes ago, Robertdt said:

Yep Lucas is right, ive owned imports now for over 20 years and currently pay about £170 for my DC2 Integra-R and its not on specialist insurance. I think if you got back to when the floodgates opened with JDM cars comming over on mass, insurance companies where caught cold and bumped their prices up or wouldnt insure which will be what Linas is talking about. The other myth at the time being you couldnt get parts from UK dealers, i can only speak for Honda here but my local dealer always accomodated me, including have JDM headlight bulbs in stock.

Rob

All parts that dealers order in come from the manufacturer anyway. It doesn't exist that they "can't" get something for your imported Lexus/Toyota. Doesn't matter where it's from. And for the likes of IS350.. you won't have any issues with parts as the only main difference is the engine and front brakes that are used in other UK models anyway. Parts bin car! 

5 hours ago, ahmedali44 said:

Import cars insurance is higher or some won't insure.do like is350 but same don't do in uk . But ES350 is UK now 

This is a myth. Insurance on imports is not automatically more than on UK cars. It's exactly the same for me. I had multiple imports over the years. There are specialist who will insure it no problem.. 

IS350 just popped up on fb yesterday. Fresh import, £178 road tax, fully specced SE-L with a sunroof. £8k..

On 12/3/2023 at 3:25 PM, andrey77 said:

How do you calculate that 5-10% difference guys at all?  Is this small digits make you thinking to change the car  for Ford Fiesta for example? lol.    Just put the fuel and enjoy though

Well, if you've been using any old supermarket E10, and your Tank Average is 40mpg, then it's pretty easy to notice that your Tank average goes up to 42-44mpg by using E5... that's 5-10% increase. MPGs aside, Super Unleaded like Momentum99/Esso99+ (same fuel) has the best cleaning properties for the engine. Just because newer cars can take E10 doesn't mean they won't benefit from E5. Mind you, if you change cars every 2-3 years, you don't have to care about this as we're talking long-term benefits.