Soon to be GS 450h Owner

[Zurbaran]

 In a sort of spur of the moment situation I decided that it would be a good idea to buy one of these. Was just a case of me being out shopping and saw one that reminded me that I really liked the look of them and that they IMO have aged very well. So with that I headed home and checked online. There were five (in Ireland). Two gen 4 (way to pricey for me cheapest was a 2012 with 100k on it for €21k) and three gen 3. One was a private sale 2007 with suspiciously low mileage the second was overpriced and as it turns out from a dodgy dealer. The third was a 2010 with 100k on the clock being sold by toyota with a 1 year warranty.

Rang the toyota dealer to arrange a viewing but unfortunately there was someone close to doing a deal on it and had just gone home to get a buggy to see if it fit in the boot. I was thinking at this stage there was still hope as the boot is tiny, wasn’t to be though as the car was sold that day. Never found out if the buggy fit..

bit peeved at this stage as I was doing research on it and the facelift is what I wanted. Not sure on the numbers but I know very few were sold here so I’d be waiting a while for a decent one to come on the market. Only other option is having a look at cars in the uk. I did that and one immediately stood out. A 2010 se-l with 81k on the clock with full Lexus service history. The service history checked out and I did a report which came back clean. Car is mot’d only advisories were for wiper blades and one or two other small things. There’s also the end of the two year Lexus warranty and the Battery covered till late July next year. 

 

Long story short I put a deposit down after getting a few quid off the price and the dealer booking it in to get the driver seat bolster refurbed as it was a bit worn. I’ve not driven one since 2007 so I hope my memory is not deceiving me cause what I remember was was a very impressive car that had as much in comon with the class above as it did it’s own class mainly down to the smoothness and and effortless exceleration.

Really wanted an is 300h about 6 months ago but was so underwhelmed when I went to test drive which was a disappointment as I love the exterior looks.

 

Anyway I’m flying over to England next Saturday to pick it up so I hope it’s everything I expect/hoped for..

 

[Zurbaran]

Completely forgot to ask the questions I started this thread for..

Are any of the common reliability issues fixed by the time this facelift came out? If so which ones?

To get the best out of the ML system I think usb would be the best option? Is it possible to use usb for audio and Bluetooth just for phone calls?

is the hdd sat nav good? It mentions that it gives real time info I think, how does it receive this info?

[Zurbaran]

Few more pictures

[Vlady]

What a lovely example! Welcome to the LOC!

How was your drive all the way home from England, as good as you remember?

[Zurbaran]

Unfortunately it’s next Saturday that I pick it up. Time seems to be going a lot slower than normal..

[Vlady]

2 hours ago, Zurbaran said:

Unfortunately it’s next Saturday that I pick it up. Time seems to be going a lot slower than normal..

I know how it feels way to well! I waited for mine to pick up for a week and half! Wasn't even enjoying the food, concentrating on work! Like falling in love! lol!

Keep us updated Andrew. Good Luck!

[Britprius]

Great looking car. What wheels are fitted? They look like GSF wheels if I am not mistaken.

John.

[Zurbaran]

 

1 hour ago, Britprius said:

Great looking car. What wheels are fitted? They look like GSF wheels if I am not mistaken.

John.

It said Maru 18 inch on autotrader. They may be painted? I will probably look to get them refurbished but not for a while.

 

 

[Zurbaran]

21 hours ago, Zurbaran said:

Completely forgot to ask the questions I started this thread for..

Are any of the common reliability issues fixed by the time this facelift came out? If so which ones?

To get the best out of the ML system I think usb would be the best option? Is it possible to use usb for audio and Bluetooth just for phone calls?

is the hdd sat nav good? It mentions that it gives real time info I think, how does it receive this info?

Can anybody answer any of these questions? It’s a little bit of a worry as the 3rd gen does seem to suffer a few problems that wouldn’t normally be associated with Lexus.

I’ve read about problems such as gearbox (or pump going into it I think?), shock absorbers, rattling dash, corroding exhausts and tyre  pressure sensors.  Were any of these issues fixed during the life cycle?

[Zurbaran]

I’m particularly worried about the shocks and whether I’ll notice on the test drive as my current car is a 12 year old fiesta which crash’s over the smallest imperfections in the road.

In saying that it should be some upgrade either way, haha.

[Odysseus]

Completely forgot to ask the questions I started this thread for..
Are any of the common reliability issues fixed by the time this facelift came out? If so which ones?
To get the best out of the ML system I think usb would be the best option? Is it possible to use usb for audio and Bluetooth just for phone calls?
is the hdd sat nav good? It mentions that it gives real time info I think, how does it receive this info?

Hi Zurbaran,

Great choice of car and I hope it gives you years of enjoyment. I too have a GS450 and recently submitted my one year review. Maybe something to read when you get a few minutes.

In terms of your questions, they are pretty strong mechanically, but (expensive) weak spots are shock absorbers going and the exhaust rusting around the Y section.

Shocks are around £400 each fitted by Lexus but are usually covered by a Lexus warranty (which is well worth considering) and a new exhaust section is around £600, or just over half that for a custom made stainless steel job from a third party.

The ML stereo is very good. I have the Lexus iPod adapter and it sounds great. Similar kits are available from Grom and others and while I’ve not had one in my Lexus the Grom kit I installed in my Volvo offered brilliant sound quality. Assume just over £100 for one of these. You’ll be able to have Bluetooth for calls and USB for audio no worries.

The HDD nav is pretty good but the maps may well be out of date. Lexus will update them for you for around £150. Traffic updates are from TMC, which in the UK is broadcast on the Classic FM frequency. It will reroute you if it knows there’s congestion etc, but in reality Google maps or Waze on your phone will be ‘better’, but it’s a matter of one being built in and the other not. People have different views.

I would definitely consider a Lexus warranty. In the UK we can buy one of these for £1,095 for two years and pretty much everything aside from wear and tear items is covered. My GS450 was purchased used from a Lexus dealer so had a one year warranty and I estimate I’ve had around £1,500 of warranty work in that time. I’m now covered by the two year warranty meaning I’ll have three years of warranty cover on my car before I’m personally on the hook for big things going wrong.

While they’re unquestionably a great car, yours is getting on for nearly a decade old (mine already is) and they cost £50K when new. It’s handy having the peace of mind that a warranty provides.

Best of luck with it!


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[Odysseus]

 
It said Maru 18 inch on autotrader. They may be painted? I will probably look to get them refurbished but not for a while.
 
 

They look like the correct alloys for the car, but painted grey rather than the usual silver. The chrome strips are still chrome I note. [emoji846]


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[Zurbaran]

It was last serviced at Chester Lexus in late July. Do you think they would be happy to sell the warranty? Or would I have to leave it with them for a couple of days? Problem is I’m only in England for the day although I suppose I could go to Northern Ireland if I needed to.

As far as I can tell this warranty offer is not available in Ireland but I know from speaking to them that Lexus Ireland will honour it.

[Odysseus]

It was last serviced at Chester Lexus in late July. Do you think they would be happy to sell the warranty? Or would I have to leave it with them for a couple of days? Problem is I’m only in England for the day although I suppose I could go to Northern Ireland if I needed to.
As far as I can tell this warranty offer is not available in Ireland but I know from speaking to them that Lexus Ireland will honour it.

I think it’s definitely worth a phone call to Lexus Chester.

Warranties are something the sales guys get commission for selling so there’s motivation from their end. If it needs an inspection pre-warranty I’d imagine it wouldn’t be much more than an hour’s once over as they wouldn’t want to tie up workshop time on something that isn’t billable.

I pay the £1,095 in monthly instalments at 0%, and so it’s only £91.25 per month for 12 months.

General guidelines are the car has to have a full Lexus service history, be under 10 years old and under 140,000 miles. I think the full Lexus history thing is at the discretion of the warranty selling dealer, but once you have the warranty you can use it at any Lexus dealer.


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[Chris111]

14 hours ago, Zurbaran said:

 

It said Maru 18 inch on autotrader. They may be painted? I will probably look to get them refurbished but not for a while.

 

 

Those are the correct alloys for the 2010 facelift version of the 450h SE-L, the SE getting 7 spoke 17" alloys with these 18" being an optional extra (although prior to this all trim versions of the 450h were fitted with the previous design 18" alloys) but they would have been silver. 

FYI the info below indicates the level of equipment you can expect to find on this model but they relate to the 2008 facelift and a couple of things did change for the 2010 model

As you can see there were four trim levels available but for the 2010 facelift only SE and SE-L were retained. The '06 to '08 cars have the most standard equipment (the SE-L having ACC/PCS and sunroof as standard)  but these became options from 2008. However to 2010 cars did get, amongst other things, DAB radio and the deletion of the cassette tape, a redesigned front grille and alloy wheels and I think also improved safety features.

Enjoy your new car, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

[Odysseus]

I realised on the drive in this morning that I gave poor advice on the topic of Bluetooth. Since you’ve got a 2010 model you have the updated media system that allows Bluetooth audio streaming (like my wife’s Prius I was driving this morning).

You can still handle the calls separately to the music, they won’t interfere with each other, but you won’t need any new tech to do so.

Best of luck with the car.


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[KayCee]

As a rider to that the music options are a lot better you can use a memory stick ,your phone and best of all the HDD when you insert a CD if it is not on the HDD it asks if you want to record it and you can get a lot of CDs on there

Good luck with it my 450 runs superb had it nearly 3 years now and as never put a foot wrong with the exception of a rear caliper that was fitted FOC

[Zurbaran]

So after reading this forum religiously for the past few days I can see that the previous owner is a member https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/profile/53453-catchhster/

reading his post history tells me he was looking after it and that the issues he was having were fixed. So I assume he looked after it until the day it was sold as it still looks well. Bit too late to try and contact him as I’m flying over in the morning.

 

[Zurbaran]

On 9/12/2018 at 8:01 AM, KayCee said:

As a rider to that the music options are a lot better you can use a memory stick ,your phone and best of all the HDD when you insert a CD if it is not on the HDD it asks if you want to record it and you can get a lot of CDs on there

Good luck with it my 450 runs superb had it nearly 3 years now and as never put a foot wrong with the exception of a rear caliper that was fitted FOC

Can I ask how the Bluetooth  music performs for something like Spotify? The putting cd’s on the hdd sounds good but I don’t think I even have any left.

if it is aac capable and can stream at 256kbps it will do the job. This is one thing I’ve not been able to confirm with my google powers.

[Odysseus]

Best of luck getting your new car today buddy, exciting times!

Let us know how you get on. [emoji106]


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[royoftherovers]

I bought mine from Lexus Chester, 5 years ago and nothing has gone wrong.

In my view you must try to take out the Lexus Extended Warranty. Speak to Tom Skelton soonest and find out if you can.

Hope all goes well with your new car.

[Zurbaran]

Currently on the ferry heading back. Car is as good or better than I expected. 

Unfortunately whilst queuing for the ferry the fella in front wanted to get into the lane that was moving quicker.. reversed back into me. As it’s dark I couldn’t see the full damage but the grill is completely broken.

[Farqui]

Oh gawd, what bad luck. String him up!

[Odysseus]

Oh man what terrible luck. No doubt insurance will cover it but what a crappy thing to happen on your first day with the car.

Hope it all gets sorted with the minimum of fuss buddy.


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[Zurbaran]

Yeah, will take it to Lexus as soon as I get the time.

One of the keys batteries is dead so need to replace. Does anyone know what Battery they take?

Another thing I noticed after pick up is that of the four window buttons on the drivers door the front passenger button doesn’t work when in the passenger seat though it works fine. The drivers button initially was only working in manual mode but now is full auto. I’m hoping the issue is just the switches?