17 hours ago, ColinBarber said:

So does the engine in the Yaris Cross - exactly the same. The Lexus marketing material makes no comparison to the Yaris, but it is easy to draw that wrong conclusion. 

What’s your source for that please? The discussions in the Yaris forums (my partner has a Yaris) on this topic are all about whether the 130 variant engine coming to the Yaris and Yaris Cross will also include a balancing shaft like the LBX, because the current 115 engine in those cars doesn’t have one…

On 2/24/2024 at 8:38 AM, cur666 said:

"Obsessed"...where is this said or implied? 

My  NX was a thirsty beast, especially given that it's a hybrid....therefore definitely any sort of "enjoyment", was limited to driving really careful to conserve fuel.  If I didn't want to conserve fuel,       I wouldn't buy a hybrid car, because surely that, to me, is one of the main reasons to buy a hybrid car?     

 

The NX is a two tonne SUV, hybrid or not. An SUV was never the right purchase if your priority was conserving fuel. 

My last two cars were diesel saloons. I moved to an SUV very aware my fuel consumption would increase significantly, and it has! 

31 minutes ago, Jag-1978 said:

you are right I guess it depends which Lexus dealer you phone.. I just had a call with Lexus Coventry and they do something called a Lexus TWG warranty for 10 year plus cars and that costs £546. Subject to an inspection to see if the car is viable for the warranty. So that's good piece of mind. Lexus Birmingham and Lexus Solihull both said there is no such thing, interesting as they are both part of the same proprietary group Steven Eagleson I think so Coventry must be under another group.. Unless both dealers are not very knowledgeable 

Yes, Lexus Coventry is part of “Listers”. 

2 hours ago, Don C said:

Off you trot to BMW where everything is super and perfect.  Good job you’re on a high income, you’ll need it 👍

Given Lexus (as a percentage of their cars) are the number 1 stolen car brand in the UK in 2023, overtaking JLR, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for anyone to suggest Lexus ought to take some action.

JLR are spending £15m retrofitting upgrades to their Land Rovers and other cars… dating back to cars from 2016! They are owning the issue, and are even subsidising insurance costs given that some of their cars essentially became uninsurable (plenty reports in these forums of very high prices or insurers refusing to renew and drop cover for Lexus models).

Whereas Lexus have introduced a protection plate, that doesn’t actually solve the issue, and is only available on one of the vulnerable models. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13060215/Britain-stolen-cars-Interactive-graphic-targeted-thieves-list-Lexus-RX-Range-Rover.html#

On 2/14/2024 at 10:06 AM, BillSt said:

Interesting that the DM article placed Lexus as the most stolen brand as well as the RX as the most stolen car. The NX is not on the list but few MY23 sold and MY24 all had only one key while the new key software was brought in. I understand that the CANBUS routing is not as exposed as the RX.

 

The newer current-gen NX (like the new RX) have an encrypted canbus, that isn’t vulnerable to the current injection theft. It’s not just about the location of wiring but how messages on the canbus are treated. 

3 hours ago, wharfhouse said:

PCP is about keeping monthly payments lower than a loan / HP and getting a new car with a very small deposit, which for many is the main priority especially if you like to change a new car every three years. On PCP  you are financing the depreciation rather than the whole cost of the car. If you intend to keep the car long term or have a decent deposit to put down then a loan over say 5 or 6 years will probably get close to the monthly PCP payments and you then have some decent equity left in the car to use against the next one when you are ready. I've bought cars on PCP in the past and on a couple of them I paid the final "balloon" to keep the car rather than trade it in. However those were on zero/very low PCP deals. I've also used personal loans and bought for cash. For me it all depends what works at that point in time and what makes the money work best for me. 

To be clear - you are financing the whole cost of the car on PCP as well, and you will pay interest on the balloon payment for the entirety of the PCP agreement (2-4 years typically). While you are right that the aim is to pay the car’s depreciation for the period you have it, the interest costs on the balloon payment can be quite large - and you’ve no ability to pay that down during a PCP. Whereas with a traditional hire purchase, you’re financing and paying off the entire amount over the term. 

16 minutes ago, HoofHearted said:

The UK is in a recession as someone else has posted so I’m not going to get anywhere near to the settlement figure.

16 minutes ago, HoofHearted said:

had phoned Lexus finance last year and they told me I could hand the car back penalty free after the halfway point (time) of the agreement, realise now he meant halfway through the value. 

got a visa to emigrate that’ll expire in August of this year, won’t reach the halfway point of paying the car off until June 2025. 
 

with the private sale option only going to get worse I’ve got the two options of giving Lexus around 5k which I sorely need or abandoning the long held desire to go and live abroad and stay in the UK for life.

 

Assuming your monthly payments aren’t tiny, you should close that gap between the value of the car and your finance settlement as you’ll still be making monthly payments between now and July/August. 

Although it sounds like you may have overpaid and/or have a really high interest rate - in which case refinancing to save interest between now and then may be worthwhile (depending on your circumstances & exact loan situation).

More detail here on what JLR are doing to try and fix theft and insurance issues for Land Rovers…

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/jlr-takes-action-to-stem-range-rover-thefts

seems to suggest they similarly have a number of canbus vulnerabilities, but are proactively fixing cars going back to 2016!! 

On 1/24/2024 at 2:19 PM, Lex loafer said:

I was quite clear: the most stolen cars in 2023. Not a Lexus on the list. 
 

 

The Daily Mail now have an excellent article, using DVLA data to rank cars with the number stolen vs the numbers registered. Ie in percentage terms, rather than just the highest numbers.

The Lexus RX is number 1 on the list, with *1 in 46* of all those registered stolen last year!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13060215/Britain-stolen-cars-Interactive-graphic-targeted-thieves-list-Lexus-RX-Range-Rover.html#:~:text=According to MailOnline analysis of,SORN) being nabbed by thieves.?utm_source=LexusOwnersClubUK&utm_medium=ForumLinks

5 hours ago, Scotlex said:

I am very surprised that manufacturers don't sell lots of cars at £39,995.

There are even lots of cars just over £40k which seems stupid 🙄

For the luxury car tax list price, it excludes the first year tax and first registration fee (£55). Thus a car at £40,300 can still fall under depending on the co2 rating and initial tax rate.

Lexus are aware of this as the ES starting price has been £39,995 and now £40,000 for quite some time… despite list prices on other Lexus models going up hundreds or thousands of pounds in the same time period. 

5 minutes ago, cur666 said:

Is the new 130 engine available in the mk4 Yaris ?

Yes, now available both Yaris and Yaris Cross (not entirely clear if it’s identical, but, there is a new 130 engine for those cars in top trims). Won’t be in any existing cars, but, it’s an evolution of the 115 (which I know drives very nicely). 

Long story short - the 12v Battery is tiny. Turn the car on if you’re going to be working in it for anything more than a minute or two. 

Yes, it’s 10 years / 100k miles. I guess it depends on your definition of “significant “ and what the price premium is for a newer, lower mileage model… 

17 minutes ago, GMB said:

That would be fine if the refusals to insure actually made any sense, I would not insure a car with such a likelihood of being stolen either. They blanket refuse or increase prices so that all Lexus cars suffer from the failings of a few. An example; my ISF was refused. It does not have canbus, no bad history, did only 1000 miles last year.  They just told me that the underwriters have put the ISF in an "uninsurable" bracket.  So, it's baby out with bathwater time.  Maybe if they were a bit more discriminating it would not seem so unfair.

 

There doesn’t appear to be a “Lexus premium” for my car insurance. It’s a huge amount of money (that’s mostly my fault for being in London), but quotes for comparable plug-in SUVs are comparable- those in slightly lower insurance groups are fractionally less, those in higher groups are fractionally more (e.g. Audi Q5). Just as you’d expect. 

4 hours ago, GMB said:

I'm hoping the insurance companies will get a grip on the situation. They cannot go on refusing business, driving customers away and charging ridiculous amounts. It almost seems as if there is a hidden agenda, but I think it is sheer greed.

Hopefully when they do their accounts at the end of the year they may see that their tactics are losing them profit. Despite their increases they have had less money from me this year because I SORNed one car for winter, up yo now it has worked out well - keeps the car nice away from the salt etc.  Maybe that's an intention, I don't know.

They really are a major pain in the butt.

Insurers have been quite happy to stop insuring Land Rovers which have a bigger market share than these Lexus. They lose money by insuring a vehicle and then having to pay out its full value due to theft. Far better to simply not cover it - and given the Lexus market share vs number of cars out there, it’s not even a rounding error. 

7 minutes ago, andrew-amazing said:

This kind of attack is done on all cars and not only on Lexus. If you change car you’ll have the same problem once the thieves will found the sweet spot to attack can bus, for example in Land Rovers is usually in the tailgate.. there are many videos on YouTube 

It is indeed a game of cat and mouse. But Lexus/Toyota seem to have given up, effectively leaving whole generations of cars easily stolen. Whereas JLR are spending £10m to retrofit older vehicles with better security. 

23 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

 

One other thing. I’ve looked at a couple of other brands - one premium, one not - and both dealers offered significantly more for my RX than Lexus have! That’s disappointing, but may be resolved with a bit of a haggle. One option is the new MINI Countryman which I’ll drive in March. Looking in the showroom, it’s more practical than the LBX, helpfully cheaper for a like for like spec (£4k approx), and has an impressive and high quality interior. At the other end of the scale I’ve been impressed by the Skoda Kamiq, which is £10k cheaper than the Lexus for the top model, and as I’m now doing fewer than 5k miles a year may well be a good ‘value’ alternative.

I would similarly have issues about paying more for less! The cheapest car is almost always the one you own already - with the potential for a Relax warranty until 10 years / 100k miles, is there any reason to change? 

If you’re looking at other brands, have you considered the Toyota Yaris Cross? It’s due a small facelift/refresh (already out for Yaris) and could be a good and much cheaper option in top spec trim…. 

https://www.toyota.co.uk/new-cars/yaris-cross/premiere-edition

Manufacturers run “campaigns” to apply updates and fix minor issues when cars are in for other work all of the time. No reason Toyota/Lexus couldn’t run one here if they wanted to. 

2 hours ago, GMB said:

Robber Rishi and Jeremy unt are doing their bit too.   

Britain has downgraded its forecasts for the takeup of electric cars over the next seven years as higher financing costs and rising energy prices threaten to cut the incentive for drivers to replace combustion engines.

The latest forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), released alongside the chancellor’s autumn statement, said that just 38% of new vehicles sold in the UK in 2027 would be electric, down from the 67% it predicted in March

And I suspect it’s “only” 38% because that’s the government-mandated minimum for zero emission cars they’ve legislated for to be sold and registered that year… (it’s a £15k fine for the manufacturer for each car they sell below the 38% target - unless they borrow allowances from other years or other manufacturers):

1 hour ago, GMB said:

 

I don't get it, they seem like decent cars but they are massively discounted - what's the problem?  List price £70K????

 

That’s the problem - £70k. For a car that barely goes 200 miles on electric. it’s an awful purchase compared to pretty much any other option. 

They also don’t have real leather on any trim. 

The new similar size Porsche Macan EV starts at £70k and will go another 100 miles or so on its Battery. 

Quote

On 1/27/2024 at 1:01 PM, GMB said:

Yes they do, the issue is that we have had the last 13 yrs of no real solutions, probably even counter measures against improving the situation.

BTW I did not vote for them. In fact nobody voted for Rishi.

 

The same people voted for Rishi who voted for Liz, Boris, David, Gordon and Tony - their local parliamentary constituencies. We do not have a presidential system. We elect local MPs. The MP who can command the confidence of House of Commons becomes PM - that would usually be the leader of the largest political party there. 
 

I do agree though with earlier posts - we’ve given up expecting proper behaviour. Personally I’d pull everyone over with an illegal tint, number plate, loud exhaust etc. The same goes for throwing the book at everyone carrying knives, burglary, theft etc. People need to respect the law again - but I fear it’s going to get much worse before it gets better. 

7 hours ago, Boomer54 said:

 

Personally, I hear a lot of common sense coming from people like Toyota on how this may payout, but are politicians paying attention?

No, they aren’t. E.g. Despite the noise from the Conservatives about pushing back the 2030 ICE ban, the annual BEV sale percentages haven’t changed. Manufacturers are being forced to sell and register BEVs as 22% of their total this year - despite only 16% of the market being BEV last year, and that being a slight dip on the year before. Consumers are not ready, infrastructure is not ready - but on pain of £15k fines per vehicle, politicians continue to force the impossible.

US has Trump, across Europe we have all sorts of new & interesting populist parties. At some point, citizens and societies crack - and I think voters are only just getting started after being ignored for decades. 

On 1/23/2024 at 11:48 PM, Linas.P said:

To be fair Lexus is kind of fading away. Hard to say what it will become, but it is increasingly similar to Toyota.

Not in the UK - Lexus has just had its highest ever annual sales here. 

With EVs, cars become much simpler to build with fewer moving parts - and so we’ll increasingly see more similarities between Toyota and Lexus. Porsche was owned by VAG who still have a controlling stake - I don’t think anyone can say Porsche is any less premium despite increasingly sharing parts & platforms with Audi and more widely. Electric motors and batteries are becoming commodities- the design of cars is thus what is left to distinguish them. 

But maybe it doesn’t bother me so much, because I used to drive an Audi (VAG) and before that a Volvo (Ford)!

I used Chris Knott for a number of years to insure my modified Volvo S60 (Polestar) and later my Audi A4. They were always very pleasant and helpful. I would say their prices were probably keener a decade ago, but, in recent years still competitive - but it all depends on circumstances.

When my partner decided to get a license and learn to drive, they were open and honest they couldn’t really provide competitive quotes until someone had their license for 3+ years. 

When circumstances allow again, I’ll definitely be giving them a call to see how their quote compares with others. 

1 hour ago, RadicalCoupe-Fuji said:

As long as you don't buy a range rover your chances of car theft are not that high

The Lexus RX has made a top 10 list of stolen cars… it’s also much more likely to be stolen than a Fiesta (given how many more Fiestas are on the road compared to relatively few RXs!).