Barry14UK

Lucky in front bank!

True but surely when a customer pays more for a premium perceived car he/she would consider reliability should be at least comparable and as well guaranteed as in a lesser marque/model without paying extra for the assurance. People are becoming more discriminating in what they buy and I know a number of people who have had Mercedes and BMW cars who have gone elsewhere and won't buy them again due to unreliability and heavy running costs of their modern cars, nice though they look and handle - I am one of them. There are a lot of good cars available now, some better in certain respects than premium cars and if I was doing many miles each year I would consider a Kia for the standard 7 year warranty among other things. My daughter has a Sorento in which she does mega mileage ferrying her brood to/from 4 different schools each day etc., and with which she is very pleased. Sorry, this has gone off direct topic but I think OP got pretty unanimous answer in thread.

It's about time Lexus at least matched Toyota's warranty and better still the 7 year one of KIA. I suppose they wouldn't want to do this as they would have to increase the initial cost. In view of the age of the car here and anticipated annual mileage, maybe worth not risking expensive dealer repair bills..

I get the impression that many of the Insurers quote a competitive premium to attract new business. Last year I moved to Saga but they have upped the price very considerably this year at renewal with none of my details otherwise changing. I fed my details into the Confused site because I was really ha ha. Anyway I used their link among others for a quote from autonet insurance group who turned out to be a broker. Nevertheless, they seemed to be well reviewed and came up with a price that was much less than what I paid to Saga even last year. The policy is with Ageas Insurance Limited who also seem to be OK (mentioned previously in this thread). Strange thing is that when I did a check direct with Ageas providing the same details as given to the comparison site, the direct quote was about double!!

Sad to see some of the old Bristols awaiting restoration that link takes you to. I am reminded that Britain produced some very special cars in their day years ago, perhaps beyond the reach of the average motorist. Allard, Alvis, Lagonda and better Sunbeams and Daimlers being some of the others as well as RR and Bentley of course. We might build more cars nowadays but these are almost all assembled for other owners with Morgan being a quirky small scale exception - not sure who owns Aston Martin now, another premium car struggling I believe. We know that with these premium marques you are paying for better coachwork, comfort exclusivity and performance these sort of cars offered in their day. Even the cheapest modern car today is generally going to be more reliable and cheaper to maintain with as much performance as is needed under normal conditions on our overcrowded roads. I knew I guy once who had a number of exotic Italian cars which I am sure will have appreciated but he told me his Ford Escort was the most reliable and best used while the others were just for play.

I remember an Interceptor being 'Best of Show' some years ago at a car show, (the metal bodied one rather than the fiberglass bodied one that had a charm of it's own). It costs a fortune to keep it in good order or fill it with petrol being a large American lump and spares generally available and if so at what cost? It's very dated in a number of respects, rear end suspension for example which is not independent. Probably better to get an Aston if looking at this sort of car. As regards the Bentley, these are bought by very well heeled individuals including overpaid soccer stars and pop stars initially or company chairman and the like. (The chairman of the company I worked for had a Bristol, another low volume car). But these sort of people often update frequently, so an extraordinarily expensive car depreciates quite quickly but then stabilizes some years on so that for example a good low mileage one can be had for a shade under 40K for a 12 year old. How much would a glorified Range Rover fetch 12 years on from new? In other words you would be buying the Range Rover at the higher end of it's depreciation curve but the Bentley much further down along it's depreciation curve and look at the craftsmanship that's gone into the Bentley.

I can understand the Kudos and special feeling of having the Bentley Continental GT convertible but the up market Range Rover - come on!! As previously said, better to have a Lexus or one of the top Mercedes. A lot depends on how long this person intends to carry on driving. A petrol (or diesel) is not a bad choice now because it will probably take 10 years to get a decent infra structure to support all electric or hydrogen cars but faced with the same situation in 10 years time a battery or hydrogen powered car might be a better option, although the uniqueness of the Bentley would make it worth more than a Range Rover I think.

I have deleted reference to the Lucas battery I thought might be a possibility but it isn't. I have done a lot of research on an alternative battery to the Pan but none of what I have found on forums or seen advertised seems to come close - well maybe I have now found one that is close enough! I found it on a major Battery supplier's site in Belgium. It is the middle model of a small range of 3 Auxiliary batteries made by Hankook in Korea and is referenced AXS55D23L with 5 year guarantee. Scroll down to see here https://batterysupplies.be/wp-content/uploads/docs/catalog/BSCataloogENG_web_hankook.pdf The footprint may require a slight trimming of the Lexus plastic undertray. It's bigger brother the AXS65D26L is shown here https://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/product/hankook-axs65d26l-dual-purpose-agm-battery/ being sold by Battery Megastore for £106.97 but it is too long. I don't know whether they would be prepared to stock the AXS55D23L but I doubt it if they could only sell a couple or so batteries. I will sound out Megastore about this but before doing so would like to ascertain whether anybody else might be interested as they may take this into consideration. In need I could investigate the possibility and cost of importing the AXS55D23L from Belgium or agents in France. Interesting short video here on Battery Supplies Home page https://batterysupplies.be/en/ NB I don't think it would be necessary to remove any of the lip of the undertray as a fillet of plywood could be used to infill as there is sufficient height to do this do this. Just use appropriate plastic round the battery like some of us used to do with the flooded batteries before AGM.

Ideally petrol should be used in 3 months from fill up. It is progressively less effective after this and although may start a car for quite a time after, the longer it is left the more unsatisfactory it will become. Depending how much fuel there is presently in the tank it could be helped by adding a good proportion of new fuel. Did you pull a plug to see whether there was corrosion and a spark when plug body earthed?

I purchased complete Denso blades from ECP for my RX450h last year at reasonable cost and have found them to be great. It was just as well I collected them though because with the the first pair that was offered, one was of the wrong length.

The Russians built some very interesting planes too, although surprisingly their version of a Concorde was a failure. I remember many years ago watching with amazement a display by two SU27 Flankers at Biggin Hill when they performed their 'Cobra' manoeuvre. Yet in complete contrast Sukhoi SU 26 was a great aerobatic plane in it's day which I also saw at Biggin Hill where I attended many an air show. (Sadly no more airshows there now). If anybody has not been to Brooklands it's worth a visit to see over the prototype Concorde which has some cut away sections inside and also some interesting cars. Many car clubs have a meet there - don't know if Lexus have ever done so but a thought for the future. Bit of an irony that Brooklands provided many planes for battle with the Germans in WW2 but was in due course saved by Mercedes buying part of the land for it's Museum and test area. Before this happened and the strip was lost there was a 'Final Fly-in' (out) by light air craft. An old aero engined record car also made a run down the strip. (Can't remember if it was the John Parry Thomas car that was resurrected from Pendine Sands but if not similar) I was given some in cockpit instruction on flying the static VC 10 and remember the day well. Watched interesting documentary on TV last night on the Messerschmitt Me 262 that started the jet age as seen in this video. Fascinating!

Yes that's the point I was making, that they had another explanation, some of which did not make sense or was irrelevant. What is clear is that CTEK and their support team need to write their manual in way that gives no cause for doubt because there is a lot of uncertainty as forums have shown. The two issues I raised, one about connecting the negative of charger remotely to chassis as CTEK and Lexus suggested and the other about what AGM batteries can be Recond on the CTEK have been clarified.

Toilet rolls for droppings! No wonder there's shortage in supermarkets! I have always used wet newspapers - many call them rags anyway. Good luck with your car.

Nick, I did the same thing, saw there was a mode on the CTEK for CAR with AGM and Recond and programmed accordingly. This was some 4 days ago before I saw Tony and John's comment. My battery went up to 12.76v Car starts but I have not used it since. I have tried to minimize any drop by switching off courtesy lights and closing hatch manually, rather than using the button but of course it pulls in finally electrically. I checked the battery today and it showed 12.25v. I am wondering whether like you by using the AGM Recond mode I may have stuffed the battery, although it was not holding up well previously so may not have been caused by this. I will check again in a day or two. I think there should be a prominent warning not to use the AGM Recond facility even though it is an option provided on the CTEK. See what CTEK Support say here Φ. Δ. 2 months ago (edited) Hi. I own the CTEK MXS 5.0. Can i use the "recon." function wen the battery is connected on the car? CTEK Battery Chargers 2 months ago Hi, Yes! All CTEK chargers are made to be electronic safe all the time and can be used in all modes whilst still connected to the vehicle. Please note that AGMs and GELs should not be RECONDed, all other types of lead acid batteries can be RECONDed once or twice a year. Best regards CTEK Support I follow what Herbs and Colin have said about the possible reason for separately grounding the neg of the charger during charging but this was not the reason CTEK gave as I pasted into my previous post. If the voltage on my battery continues to drop significantly, I will try normal charging this time and if this happens again will secure a large heavy normal LA battery I have spare in the boot and connect by jump leads to existing Pan battery so as not to lose settings if I have to use the car in an emergency before obtaining a suitable replacement.

The CTEK MXS 5. charger manual is not very explicit in certain respects to the point of being seemingly contradictory in some ways. CTEK support says not to use the Recond on AGM batteries. Also, eyelet connectors are provided for connection direct to the battery and can be left on the car but the manual says that for batteries mounted inside the car the ground should be connected to the vehicle chassis remote from the fuel pipe and the battery. This aspect was put to CETEK support as here :- why can the black not be connected to the - on the battery? CTEK Battery Chargers 4 months ago Hi Mary Ellis. The battery will be perfect charged if you connect to the battery! The issues is - if your car is quite new and equipped with a Battery Management System (BMS)- that you need to connect to chassis to make the BMS notice that the battery has been charged. The BMS is dialoguing with the vehicle computers to make the vehicle work as good as possible. And if the vehicle believes that the battery is empty, the alternator will run more and create more CO2 than needed, other functions might not be working as good as planned. I hope this explains. Best regards CTEK Support I am still not clear how this relates to our Lexus cars. Anyone know if we have this BMS and if so what year/models? I don't quite follow this because if the battery was still connected to the car, it would be grounded anyway and why would you remove the battery from it's terminal post? Would it be safer to connect the ground eye lead from the CTEK to a screw on the chassis anyway? NB. The Lexus manual also says to take the Neg lead from a charger to chassis when charging so if this is the case using the 2 eye connectors + and - connected to battery is incorrect as the Neg should be taken direct to chassis. Could this be because it has BMS?

Be interested to learn make and model/spec purchased, also how is works in short and long term. Virtually any 12v battery will do a job for a time but ideally a deep cycle job is preferable, particularly if you use auxiliaries a lot and when fitted under the bonnet like I believe yours is, not so necessary to be an AGM one like that in boot of RX450h.

This will depend on the state of charge before car was laid up and how good the battery is. It's not a bad idea to check with multimeter when car is about to be laid up and charge it to full. (If you have a CTEK or sililar smart charger, you can just leave it connected and forget it because it will keep battery charged up as necessary). Otherwise suggest you check once a week initially. If battery still shows reasonable charge you could leave it for a week and check again charging as necessary. So you can determine whether a fortnightly boost is necessary. With a good well charged battery the figures obtained may mean you could extend to checks at 3 weekly intervals. You might be OK for even longer but I would not chance it without a solar charger or smart charger such as the CTEK. See what Lexus said which I posted under 'Alternative Battery' thread about battery problems currently being experienced and their suggestion for running car at intervals. We are only considering charging our 12v battery here. If the car is laid up for months it would be necessary to run the car to charge the traction battery as I don't think there is any way an owner other than a specialist can charge that.

Assume correct battery was fitted. I would think the 12v battery should hold up OK for a couple of weeks without use if it was nearly fully charged to begin with. If it doesn't last this long the battery could be failing or discharging due to a heavy drain somewhere in the system or even something like happened to me once on a different car where a light in the boot remained on. Best check it out with a multimeter.

Also tyre pressures. As I understand it, self centering is caused by all the parameters that make up steering/suspension geometry and I would not have expected this to have changed significantly to make a great difference.

The original Panasonic 12v boot located battery on my third Gen RX450h is AGM but does not say so. It is VRLA (Valve Regulated Lead Acid) and has a vent tube to outside the car. I believe this is typical for Lexus hybrids for reasons Colin states. I have read that this type of battery should not be opened up but somebody did add a little distilled water to a dead battery and by careful charging resuscitated it. (A way to charge a dead battery that will not accept a charge is to connect it to a partially charged battery and charge it for a considerable time - it sometimes works). The person who topped up the battery removed the Panasonic label then broke away some whiteish plastic to reveal the cell caps. Maybe Lexus fit variations of the battery?

The ref for the raised cover in black was reported as 58427 - 43020 and I pass this on in good faith, not having personally checked this out with Lexus.

Message received today from Listers but alternatively smart charger or solar pane could be used for 12v battery but I don't think would help the traction battery which I would hope would hold it's charge longer. Vehicle Maintenance Tip The majority of us, with the exception of key workers, are now isolating at home and only venturing out for basic essentials, which means that our cars are parked and being rarely used – if at all. If your car has not been used for two weeks the last thing you’ll want to worry about is a flat battery! We’re experiencing a few customer issues directly related to this and you may want to consider starting your car every few days and allowing the engine to run for ten to fifteen minutes to top up the charge. The car does not need to be taken out on to the road, should not be in a garage or confined space and for security it should not be left unattended. If you have two cars in the family it may be worth alternating between vehicles when you do venture out for essential reasons. To be clear, we’re not advocating wasting fuel or polluting the environment – just trying to help with the unnecessary hassle of charging or replacing your battery. I hope that this once a week inconvenience will save you considerably more time and hassle when life returns to some form of normality. Yours sincerely, Geoff Lister Chief Executive

My understanding is that a full size spare wheel was an option on at least some cars but few had it. It requires a lifted cover which reduces the available boot space. Apparently it's so rare that even some dealers don't know of this option. I did make a note of a reference of one colour but obviously anybody wanting to do this would want to colour match existing. If this is being actively pursued I will try to find the reference I recorded somewhere which could involved some delving.

I am considering the 12v battery that sits in the boot. (It would seem some other models, particularly earlier ones had the 12v battery under the bonnet). I believe an alternative needs to meet the following criteria, which would exclude the MX5 battery on at least 2 counts. * replacement needs to be of a size that can be accommodated. The Lexus Pan battery is about 215 mm in length allowing for the beadlike protrusion near the top. The battery sits inside a plastic under-tray which has an upturned lip with space around the bottom of the battery and the lip. So if you wanted to retain the lip on this tray the maximum length of snug fitting battery would be about 220 mm as the the ends of the battery tray are slightly rounded rather than square. If you are prepared to remove the side lips and reroute a cable slightly that is clipped to it, you could just accommodate a battery up to the more standard size of 242 mm length but this would take the battery to within a couple of MM or so of the tyre on the spare wheel. It is possible to move the wheel off centre before tightening down to gain another 3 or so mm clearance. A similar situation applies with the width where the Pan battery is about 165 mm + say 5 mm for the bead. A replacement battery of 175 mm would be a very tight fit although easier if one of the cross way lips was removed. (A width of 175 mm is a very common battery size). Height is not a problem with any battery I have looked at. So in summary, providing you are willing to cut the plastic tray (you can always slip the battery in polythene before fitting), the biggest size battery you can fit would be 242 mm x 175 mm. The height of the Pan battery is very close to 200 mm with the positive terminal post plus red insulation bringing the total height to approximately 230.5 mm A small packer would therefore be needed to bring the height up in a typical battery with height of 190 mm inclusive of the terminal posts. * the positive and negative terminals have to be in the correct place and if of another type have to have adapters to convert to round posts. * battery needs to be a deep cycling one, of about 20 hr 50 amp rating, of AGM lead acid type with vent control valve for release of excess gases. High cranking power is not required as this battery does not turn the motor. I suppose it's a lot more straight forward to bite the bullet and haggle with Lexus. With all my previous cars where required I have fitted a good quality after market battery so buying off a dealer goes against the grain!

I know this subject has been raised from time to time and the present enforced lack of use has prompted us to check our batteries and charge by one means or another. I had difficulty in starting my car and although it charged to full using my smart charger. I am currently checking regularly to learn how well the Panasonic original Battery (2015) is holding it's charge. However, if not soon, there will come a time when the battery needs to be replaced. It seems to me that Toyota (Lexus) got together with Panasonic to provide a suitable 12v battery that would slot into the available space in the boot. I can't see this battery for sale anywhere else, so a cosy arrangement between Panasonic and Lexus dealers meaning you have to buy from them with Panasonic not facing direct competition from other manufacturers because of the customised dimensions/spec. Another downside to this is when your battery fails you might be many miles from a Lexus dealer so need to install a temporary non standard battery to get you to one. I think the prices asked for this Pan battery are excessive and I have checked forums on both sides of the pond to see what others have done. I believe there are other batteries that would work but maybe not as well in certain respects? I would like to stay as close to the Panasonic Lexus supplied battery as possible which means fitting a deep cycle battery giving about 20h 50A. VARTA showed their D47 Dynamic Blue as suitable but I find this hard to believe. It would be good to know any alternatives you guys have found to work satisfactorily over quite some time. NB Edited following further consideration.