Three Months Of Gs Ownership

[Carl911]

I have owned my GS450H for just over three months now.

I had considered buying a brand new is300h but saw the GS by pure luck whilst visiting the Lexus main dealer and ended up buying it.

Firstly I must say that the car drives superb, like a new car in fact.

However, since owning up it has spent a few trips to the Lexus main dealer.

Firstly the climate system started to play up in that air would only come out of certain vents.

Not the end of the world but Lexus replaced the unit under warranty at a cost of a eye watering £1500.

My wipers were also very squeaky so Lexus kindly replaced those to.

Now I have had a strange buzzing noise which has always annoyed me. It does it from cold start and then at certain revs when the engine is running. I might add you can only hear it with the window open but it's always bothered me anyway.

I thought it sounded like a resonating exhaust box or heat shield.

Lexus said it was a common fault and was caused by the fuel pump.

Dubious I was but hey, Lexus warranty fitted a new one costing around £500.

Unfortunately this did not cure the issue.

Anyway, I had the car serviced and whilst doing there checks they noticed a slightly leaky shock, an oil leak from the vvc high pressure pipe and a slight leak from the water pump.

Rather surprised I was as the car has only done 50,000 miles but then it is still 8 years old.

Oh well, Lexus warranty replaced everything at a cost to them of £1200.

Still rather perplexed at my ongoing buzz I asked Lexus to take another look.

After removing the exhaust and heat shield it was confirmed that the buzz was in fact a slightly noisy rear box baffle.

Kindly, Lexus have agreed to replace the rear exhaust system at a cost to them of £1500.

Thank you Lexus.

To be fair, if it were my money, most of the issues with the exception of maybe the oil pipe could have been left with no real detriment to the car itself.

However, I think it certainly proves just how Astonishingly good the Lexus extended warranty is.

Even at £995 for two years cover its easy to see how just a few parts with labour can benefit your wallet in the long term.

All that aside, the car has driven impeccably and has been a joy to drive and the warranty has certainly proved very useful.

Carl

[Hayne]

Carl,

Looks like your warranty was worthwhile, however, it just goes to prove the incompetence of main dealers, when parts are replaced on a whim, without proper diagnosis.

Just think; if that was a private owner paying out of their own pocket, that would have cost a lot of money for unnecessary replacement parts for what should be a simple repair. In this instance, its the warranty company who have been ripped off !!

In my very strong opinion; Main dealers are fine when it comes to warranty work, but for anything else, avoid them like the plague!!

[Connoisseur]

Great car, with great warranty Carl eh..........

What did you think though as each issue was followed by another? Even with the warranty surely you started to wonder.........

But I do understand. Had mine for 3 months and its not been w'out issues but everytime I step in, push the button and relax back then I remember why I bought a Lexus, and not another make.

Pleased it's all got sorted. How is the Vais unit for you? Have just added Alpine EZI DAB to mine........

[Carl911]

Hayne is right and if it was my money then I'd be very angry at the misdiagnosis.

I would have expected a higher standard of mechanical knowledge from a premium dealer like Lexus.

Sadly, it's the same at most main dealers now a days.

As connoisseur has mentioned, this sort of thing could put you off the car at such an early stage.

In all honesty, the Heater was the unexpected one which from a reliability point of view I found concerning.

The buzz is more a minor annoyance that potentially others may not even have worried about.

The items noted in the service again would have been left and probably have been fine for many more miles had it been me paying.

The warranty attends to just replace anything and everything which under normal ownership just wouldn't happen. It certainly exxagerates the cars wear and tear.

All that aside, the car has not let me down, starts every time and drives beautifully.

I am particular and once the buzz noise from the back box is done, I think I'll have pretty much a perfect gs.

Yes, at one point in the back of my head I considered what I'd swap the car for should things not go accordingly and it always comes back to Lexus. Just nothing else out there comes close. I even looked at Jaguar XF and some how they just feel like a cheaper car even if I do like the discreet auto knob on the centre console.

I'll be sticking with my Lexus for the foreseeable future unless I end up changing for another newer Lexus model at a later date.

Carl