Nick W858

13 minutes ago, Jimbean said:

Took delivery of a white takumi  LBX three days ago. Quite a bit different from my 19 year old IS250. But this one is really for my wife. It handles well, corners well and is nearly as quiet inside as the IS.  
Shame about the lack of a full manual - though it is available online (and it keeps referring you to the multimedia manual which doesn’t exist except online inside what it calls the Navigation Manual !!!)

So far we are pleased with it except my wife hates the big multimedia screen which she says is very distracting. I have yet to discover how to turn it off.

Sounds great, well done, I bet it looks lovely in white. No doubt it won’t sound as nice as the V6 although will be a lot more friendly on fuel!

Interesting, thanks for sharing that, looking forward to driving one myself and seeing the difference between it and the Yaris Cross.

Good purchase Pat, our 450h is now 13 years old, has over 150k on the clock and is still going strong, my wife used to swap her cars every couple of years but has had this for ten years and has no plans to change it any time soon!

Thanks Tim, they both look good in those colours, am looking forward to seeing one in the flesh myself when I take my GS in for its service.

4 hours ago, DavidCM said:

A general suggestion to those approaching retirement and considering downsizing ---- leave it for 3- 6 months AFTER retirement and see how your car needs change after finishing work.In the majority of cases, downsizing will probably make sense,but it will be expensive to make a mistake by jumping the gun and needing to upsize afterwards.

 I completely agree, my GS450h is too big for pootling around town but I’m retiring early (taking voluntary severance) and whilst I don’t think I will work again, I might and if it involves long journeys again then I’d rather do it in the GS as opposed to a city car and much as it’s nice to swap cars, financially it’s never normally the most sensible thing to do.

12 minutes ago, GMB said:

Yep, a friend of mine had a Porsche for a while, it nearly bankrupted him. When he complained about the prices they just said - you bought a Porsche what did you expect? or some similar words that he told me

Well I have a superb independent now and the costs are very manageable, the car itself is superb and drives/steers like nothing else I have driven. I detest the dealerships based on a few terrible experiences and am pleased that I won’t ever need to darken their doors again!

1 hour ago, Winston said:

That’s a minor service on a 911 if your lucky 

I still have the receipt for the service on my 911 back in 2018, to be fair it was a major service! At least the warranty it was under saved me the £10k plus it needed on a new PDK box, on a car that was 6 years old with a full PSH and only 35k miles on the clock.

On 1/20/2024 at 8:42 AM, Tel said:

Pre-Ordered my LBX based on my Yaris AWD experience.

Tel

Good for you Tel, I ran a Yaris Cross AWD for a few weeks last summer whilst waiting my GS to be prepped for purchase, I was surprised how much I liked it, I imagine the LBX will be even better.

Hmm, got my GS from Solihull, wasn’t a great experience in terms of the level of service and expertise, that said, the person you dealt with wouldn’t be the first car salesman to be lacking knowledge, amazes me how many salesmen have little real interest in cars or the motor industry.

Eddie, that looks lovely, I’m potentially retiring in a few months, I had a Yaris Cross as a loaner a little while back whilst waiting for my GS450h to be prepped by the dealer I was purchasing from. Obviously a very different car to the GS which I use for 300-500 mile round trips for work most weeks but for something which will be used locally only in retirement it looks great. I’m also tempted to see if the 300bhp version will come out and I know that’s pretty unnecessary for my needs but also thoughtful that life’s too short sometimes to always just do what’s most sensible!

Hi Jag, we purchased our 2011 Advance model in 2014 with 70k on the clock, it’s predominately my wife’s car but we always use it for family getaways with two kids, the dog, luggage etc. Now with 150k on the clock, annually serviced and nothing has gone wrong. As has been mentioned, not as cosseting as something like the LS400 which I ran for 18 years but a very easy to live with do it all car which no would no hesitation in recommending. I too like to buy privately and tend to use my gut feel about the owner/condition etc, if things go wrong on a private sale there’s little chance you can do a great deal about it. Good luck

We have owned 6 Lexus cars over the past 20 years or so and we absolutely love the vehicles, two of the six were purchased from a Lexus main dealer and without doubt were the two worse cars in terms of bodywork and how they were presented out of all the vehicles we have bought. Hope you get it resolved to your satisfaction.

2 hours ago, MartinH said:

Agree, mostly. On the other hand, Toyota Corolla is basically 90% of the car 90% of car buyers actually need.

Need v want are two very different things and for most people a second hand anything for less than £5k would satisfy most of their motoring ‘needs’. My wife is constantly telling me she doesn’t need another dress or handbag but she jolly well wants one and that’s what she’s going to buy!

On 7/8/2023 at 10:20 AM, wharfhouse said:

I'll be buying a new hybrid just before they are banned unless a) fuel cell cars come forward at a sensible price b) BEV get significant reliable range and much lower charging time and reduce in price, and c) the EV infrastructure improves dramatically. I'm sure I can't be the only one thinking like this...

I agree with these sentiments. Had a Yaris Cross for two weeks whilst in between selling my is300h and waiting for my 2016 GS450h to be prepped. Did c500 miles plus in it and found it quite fun, very economical and easy to live with, could see myself in an LBX when I’m doing less of the long work trips (the GS is excellent for those longer drives). Whether the LBX is value for money is subjective, I predict they will shift a fair few of them though.

Thanks I am doing, done three 400 mile work trips in it now, fast motorways, fast A roads and some city crawling too - average 40mpg. Loved my old LS400 and both my ISFs and the 300h was nice too but this is a very good blend of performance, economy, comfort and looks and as an all round package is hard to beat.

Thanks, yes she’s a beauty, cleaned her today and comes up lovely, that interior does definitely keep you on your toes in terms of bringing out your OCD!

Here you go

Thanks Barney, just had my first work trip with the GS, circa 400 miles with a couple of overnight stays in between, mix of fast ish motorway driving, some country roads and some heavy town traffic. Car drove beautifully, very comfortable and cosseting. Never realised how much I needed a heated steering wheel in my life! Averaging 38.6 mpg over the 400 miles, similar trip in the loaner Yaris Cross last week only averaged 45 mpg, obviously with more biased town/city driving the Yaris would do a lot more to the gallon but for the kind of driving I do for work, the GS is great. The car is 5 years newer than my wife’s RX but the difference in the way the engine and car feels in the GS is astonishing although I’m aware that an SUV compared to a saloon is always going to be different. The GS feels a real wolf in sheep’s clothing. 

Thanks Barney, yes he was a lovely chap and restored my faith in the fact there are some decent people out there. He was the only prospective buyer that I was happy to give my home address to. The others I’d offered to meet nearby with the proviso that once we were both happy with each other we’d go onto my house. Probably sounds a bit of overkill but better to be safe than sorry and the buyer was proof that you meet the nicest people in a Lexus! 

Finally got the GS last Thursday evening, beautiful car and when the time comes to sell the car, really hoping I find another great private buyer.
 

Picked the car up Thursday evening from the dealer as I was heading home from a work visit down South. Paintwork sorted, leather all cleaned up nicely and the car was absolutely sensational in the 80 miles or so home. Loved my IS300h but great to be back in a six cylinder and the car is lovely and responsive whilst being cosseting too.

Ha thanks Steve, unfortunately the Yaris is very much in view from my front window! Yes does make you wonder doesn’t it? I’m pretty certain the dealers assume they can give their part exchanges a quick wash and sell them on. With hindsight if I’d inspected the car at the railway station I potentially would have walked away at that point. I did have a couple of other non Lexus options on private sales not a million miles away that I could have gone to look at. Really disappointing that in all the conversations with dealer that none of the issues were disclosed. Hopefully all resolved by this weekend, I am warming to the Yaris, nice high seating position, 4WD, loads of tech and 60 mpg, what’s not to like? Oh yeah, the whining engine!

Well I ended up driving home in this after a long journey by taxi and train and finally being picked up in my GS from Birmingham International by the Lexus salesman. I drove the car back to the dealership and it was wonderful. Major issue back at the dealer was despite collection being delayed due to some wheel and bumper refurbishment they offered to do after apparently not noticing it on the video they sent me, they also had missed a hideous attempted repair on the nearside bumper and a couple of dodgy stains on the passenger seat along with a few other minor bits they had neglected to tell me, really disappointing, second time I have bought an approved used Lexus car and both times the prep has been awful. After a minor hissy fit from me, they put me in the Yaris Cross and have offered to deliver my GS when the issues are resolved. Has really taken the shine off the buying experience and I think I’ll be sticking with private purchases in the future as I have made many of these over the years which have all been a much more positive experience. I’ll post some pics when the GS finally arrives.

Well my IS300h has just sold privately. Yes there was a bit of hassle but not too much and it went to a lovely chap and the return was c25% higher than what the Lexus dealer offered in part exchange and both parties were happy, I’m guessing if he’d purchased it from the Lexus dealer he would have paid another c25% over what he paid me. 

Not nice when you see the mark up. The simple answer of course is to stick with the private sale route which comes with its ‘interesting’ challenges!

Thanks Jim, yes I agree, they seem quite rare in that colour and spec. Just hoping nothing goes wrong between now and a week tomorrow when I’m due to collect. Car is awaiting some minor wheel refurb, hopefully it’s in great condition, not seen it in the flesh yet.