GMB

Good idea, but it will be parked on its own after 20 minutes😕

Well the gov'ts strategy is working on me. For the first time I am SORNing the IsF this coming winter. With road tax at £695 and insurance going up and up, I am admitting defeat. We also avoid hire cars and motoring holidays due to all the tricks and traps on UK and foreign roads. At least I have the satisfaction of not feeding money to the robbing bar stewards. I get the feeling that we are all being driven to poverty and subservience by this gov'ts recent policies. Everything is getting much more expensive and even the modest pension increase is eroded by tax thus making the alleged 10% equate to 8% when private pensions are taken into account. Oh well, at least the sun is shining today😎

I asked about this at the Lexus dealer a while ago. "What do you do if the battery in the remote key fails?" I was told that you simply put the remote key right next to the start button and it will work. Does anyone else know if this is correct or not. I have not tried it myself.

Thanks I will mention it next time I visit.

They must be the Lexus ones because the Lexus garage fitted them and they were not cheap. The boot now just stays in whatever position you leave it. i.e. half way open or whatever. These struts will not lift the boot by itself.

I replaced the boot struts on the isF because the boot was so heavy. I thought they had failed. The new ones make the operation just not quite as heavy, just a bit better. An expensive small improvement. Shouldn't have bothered really.

Hello Herbs, as you probably already suspected regarding insurance statistics: We have some friends who have lived in Fulwood at the same address for 40 years. The quality of life has gone down a bit recently we are told. The big issue seems to be bad parking , bad driving and inconsiderate/agressive drivers. This is (allegedly) mostly related to parking issues at the (not so) nearby hospital. Parked cars have been damaged by careless, or worse, drivers. It is still one of the better places to live in Preston. To be safe just keep away from Bolton.🤕

We had a brand new VW Up Gti. It broke down within the first year - battery gone flat! It also had almost no suspension travel , on very low profile tyres which got wrecked over potholes. Not suitable for UK roads but it was a hoot to drive, but had to go.

Hi Dave I got this one. The "monitor" seemed to be the best value and they were doing free fitting and including the first year's subs in the price. A very good job done at home too. They were also fairly local to me. The renewal is £179 per year. There are lots of other companies and prices but this one is professional and accepted by the Insurance companies. I only fitted a tracker because Direct Line refused to insure me without one. Since then I have had quotes from other companies that do not insist on a tracker and are only about £40+ cheaper if you have one installed. Personally, I would not want the car back if it was stolen and probably trashed, thrashed, wrecked and abused by some idiot thief. Personal Vehicle Tracking Solution Selector | Tracker https://www.tracker.co.uk/products/tracker-tool-individual

My tracker subs is due and I am not bothering to renew it. £40 difference in insurance prices with or without tracker. Premiums up 16 - 20% despite extra no claims. I just get the impression that we are all being fleeced as mugs. The insurance companies just put the price up every year because they can. They are in business to make money from you just like the banks do. I learned many years ago that they are not your friends or business partners, they just see you as a source of income. Don't get me started about the government - tax rises, cuts in resources etc etc. As you quite rightly say. "Basically we're on our own". Nurse - get me my tranquilisers please.🤡

Aluminium foil works just as well. Very cheap at Aldi. You can also use it as a heat shield or even for cooking if necessary. I do not work for Aldi but their pizzas are nice. I don't like the Marks and Spencer ones...... Nurse!

Yes I was concerned that they told me it was optional. There is an existing thread on this ISF - 100K Service Schedule https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/profile/63452-charliecloud/ Everyone seemed to have a different opinion depending on the model of Lexus. Even though it was documented as an included job in the major service ( 60K - the big one which became a 100K service due to being 10 yrs old ) it was not done as the garage said it was not "necessary". I had to pay extra to get it done at the next visit. There seems to be a lot of confusion. I am still not sure what the correct advice is. However, the garage now tells me that it is now done "for life" and will not need to be done again. True or what?🤔

Thanks Rich for the update. That sounds like the logical answer. I suppose that it will do no harm to leave it for a while as it is only a minor irritation at the moment and hopefully no risk of consequential damage?👍

As I understand it very few IsFs have had any serious mechanical issues, even the thrashed ones. So I would expect engine, gearbox, transmission to be OK after many years. Not much corrosion underneath either, despite salty roads in the UK. However, brakes and suspension and obviously tyres do get a beating on such a car, so I would expect some maintenance costs on these. The diff oil is a contentious subject. Mine had no record of any change up to 60K miles so I had it changed just to be sure. Apparently the old oil was very clean anyway. Cost about £70 parts and labour ( The oil is "special" apparently ). The only problem that I have had is an occasional noise, a kind of light clunk, from the left rear of the car on certain bumps such as a slight ridge in the road. Lexus has been all over it and can find nothing that could cause it. Big bumps do not do it, nor do little bumps, just a special sort of bump?? 🤔. It sounds like a loose item in the boot, or the exhaust catching, but all checks prove that is not the cause. So until it gets worse or gets noticed I will ignore it. Apart from that minor annoyance the car is 100% and runs beautifully. BTW it still goes like the clappers if you dare.

My 2012 IsF had the same issue and was corroded around a mounting bolt. The Lexus garage just put a bigger washer on the bolt and it was fixed. A year later and all still OK, MOT etc - all good. A new heat shield is over £100 but extra large turkey foil from Aldi is only £3.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but if it was £630 then it will be £695 from April 1st. I am sure others will confirm. Mine is due April 1st too. I am going to do 6 months and SORN it over winter. 700 quid for 3000 miles p.a. No way🥸 Thanks Mr Hunt for nothing. Pension increase 10.1% - No. The personal allowance fix means you can take 20% off the increased amount for tax on the private pension. Tax codes already changed for April 1st. Bar stewards.

Many years ago I had a convertible sports car ( I am too ashamed to say what it was ). It had such a fantastic anti theft device that even the police could not tow it away when once parked illegally in London. It was a key in the footwell immediately under the clutch master cylinder. When this was on it locked the flow of fluid and set the clutch absolutely solid. I have no idea what it was and have tried to research it without success. The second line of defence was a set of Maserati air horns linked to a selmar "motion" anti theft system. One evening some scallys in Liverpool tried to molest it and I heard the alarm going off from inside the Cinema. It was SO loud. They disappeared due to all the attention it was attracting.

Dubai, Australia, Japan from a google search. But they can afford them. We are all skint especially after the Car Tax rises and Nasty Duff budget this week. 🤮🚓 IsF up to nearly £700! I am seriously considering a SORN this Autumn.

Thanks for that info. I will give it a go.

Me too. Upped the excess a bit.

This ( see pic ) seems to work. Looks OK. Seems solid enough. Easy to use. Fits on the floor near the seat. Handy if defending yourself from road rage😊 Bought last year from Halfords.

This year both insurances went up by about 16% for all the companies researched. When I queried this, despite an extra year's no-claims bonus I was told that it was due to the increased cost of repairs and medical claims generally across the UK. IsF - £480 pa. 200t - £445 pa. All the same excess, conditions, fully comp etc. 4 yrs NCB BTW - house insurance reduced by £1.50 pa. 🤪

The system does not work. Many years ago I stumbled into an incident where a policeman was being attacked in a shop and "asked" to help out, and I mean the policeman and the shop manager were crying out " help us ". The policeman was losing the fight. The shop manager ran away. I helped restrain the ( very large ) attacker and the policeman got up and took control with his truncheon. Police arrived in a van and took the guy away. The policeman was very grateful. A week later I got a letter from chief constable's secretary. I thought " It must be a thank you or something, maybe a nice letter or a medal even😇 ". WRONG. It was a threat that if I did not appear in court to testify I would be prosecuted. Fortunately the aggressor pleaded guilty, BUT the point is that my name and address were given to the defence team, so the well known nasty type with a bad family knew where I lived. It turned out that he also had a knife on him! He was from a notorious gang of peripatetic itinerants. Conclusion: The shopkeeper fled the area never to be seen again, and probably because the offender pleaded guilty I did not have to appear for the prosecution, so no known consequences for me, luckily. However, I would probably do the same again to help a person in distress and have to suffer the consequences.

I think the point Gregory is making and actually agreeing with you, quite correctly, is that big old lazy engines will stand high mileages easily provided they are serviced regularly of course. The only area of real concern would be suspension and brakes on a heavy old car. Having said that, my old Rover P6 3.5 V8 was a rusting disaster that overheated. Coming down Wrynose pass the brakes failed as they were red hot and boiled the brake fluid! That was a scary moment.

Hi Sergio The one I got to try was an RX 450h ( I think ) It was the last of the V6's - 2022 ? . Now they have 4 cylinder engines I believe. I think your GS is a different vehicle altogether. Sounds like a lovely car and before it got strangled by the emissions police. I saw this on the RAC website and it sounds like a different vehicle altogether, in fact, what I expected from the RX but never got. "The 3.5-litre V6 is so smooth, you barely notice it switching on and off. However, accelerate hard and the extra shove it provides is clear, because the GS 450h is effortlessly fast and responsive." Maybe the one I tried was a bad 'un.