Lexus - a first for me

[flookyk]

I was just thinking, looking back at all the cars I have owned in just over 40 years of driving (passed test 2 months after 17th birthday) and this is the first time I have changed car and kept the same make and model, going from the 2011 RX450h to this 2017 RX450h.

The only other time that has been close was after owning my first 4x4 back in 2004 (Suzuki Grand Vitara XL 7 seater) that i used for towing a caravan, I changed it for a smaller Suzuki GV1600 3 door.

When I changed to the 2017 RX back at the end of last August I actually only had one make and model in mind, just shows how much it had impressed me in the three years I had owned the 2011 RX.

[cruisermark]

I bought my first Lexus, a Mark LS400 3 in 2006, I'm now on my 4th which is an LS430 and cannot see myself changing to any other brand.

 

 

 

[olliesgrandad]

My current Lexus is the 4th in a row. The only other marque that I have revisited so often is Mercedes, having owned 5 over the past 30 years.

[JBPRX400h]

We are now on our 12th Lexus! No, we didn't own them all at the same time!

2 x GS300
1 x IS200
1 x IS250h
3 x RX400h
2 x SC430
1 x RX450h Gen 3
1 x UX 250h
1 x RX450h Gen 4 F Sport

The only other repeat cars we had were

Reliant Scimitar GTE SE5
Reliant Scimitar GTE SE6a
Middlebridge Scimitar GTE (Middlebridge bought the rights to the GTE when Reliant went bust)

They were sporty, practical and, by today's standards, basic mechanically so it was easy to do our own maintenance.
We owned the SE6a for 21 years and including absolutely everything the tax, insurance, MOTs, petrol, tyres, parts and even the original cost of the car came to a total of £22,175.  That works out at just over £1,000 per year!!!

Really miss those old cars.

JBP

[Spacewagon52]

I have bought 4 Lexus cars ............ the problem I have is selling them! I still have 3!

[ColinBarber]

Between my wife and I we have had 15 Toyota vehicles, 7 with a T badge and 8 with an L - two of them RXs, a series I 300 and a series II 400h.

[Illogan]

I can't help feeling that I am but an amateur!

[Prince Bob]

Looks like I have some catching up to do! I am only my 5th

GS 300 X2

IS 300 Sportcross

RX 300 

RX450h

May have one last hurrah until I'm forced to go all electric. I do have a soft spot for Mercedes and owned a lovely CLK convertible for a few years, and I used to like BMW in my younger years, particularly an e39 540i and an E36 325i. Will be interesting to see what the next generation RX offers.

 

[Greisingel]

11 hours ago, Prince Bob said:

Looks like I have some catching up to do! I am only my 5th

GS 300 X2

IS 300 Sportcross

RX 300 

RX450h

May have one last hurrah until I'm forced to go all electric. I do have a soft spot for Mercedes and owned a lovely CLK convertible for a few years, and I used to like BMW in my younger years, particularly an e39 540i and an E36 325i. Will be interesting to see what the next generation RX offers.

 

I am going to run my 2005 RX400H into its grave. So I’ll be having only one until the postcode lottery comes in. The new RX450H is the dream of course. I used to have a e39 540i. Lovely motor. Rust got at it. Had to go. And the RX400H is only a second slower to 60mph. 

[LenT]

1 hour ago, Greisingel said:

I am going to run my 2005 RX400H into its grave. 

Best laid plans...and all that, Andy.  I thought that too about my previous car - a Honda Accord bought new six years earlier.  And then an Iveco truck wrote it off on the M25 and I discovered it was no longer on sale in the UK.

Still, on the plus side I then discovered Lexus.  So not all bad.

[Greisingel]

55 minutes ago, LenT said:

Best laid plans...and all that, Andy.  I thought that too about my previous car - a Honda Accord bought new six years earlier.  And then an Iveco truck wrote it off on the M25 and I discovered it was no longer on sale in the UK.

Still, on the plus side I then discovered Lexus.  So not all bad.

Indeed! Know what you mean. I have never spent more than £4K on a car. And while I am proud of that fact, most of them have been time consuming DIY refurbs and preservation jobs. My next door neighbour buys warranty near new cars and has trouble free time. I wonder if I am choosing false economies.

I am looking at a 2000 Iveco LWB camper van – beautifully fitted out. Tranny is apparently notchy when cold.

[Malc]

On 4/8/2021 at 5:49 PM, JBPRX400h said:

Really miss those old cars.

I'm on just my 3rd ........... and continuous Ls400 .....  10 years with this Ls400 replacing an earlier Mk1 and Mk2 and 20+ years as my main cars

Buy yourself an oldie, you shouldn't be disappointed nor go broke in the process of owning and running one 

Malc

[Dixgas]

I'm on my fifth.

207 IS 220  mk2 6 months old

2011 IS 250 mk2  new

2013 IS 250 mk3 new

2016 GS 300h mk4 new

2018 RX 450h mk4  18 months old.

[LenT]

1 hour ago, Greisingel said:

 I have never spent more than £4K on a car. And while I am proud of that fact, most of them have been time consuming DIY refurbs and preservation jobs. My next door neighbour buys warranty near new cars and has trouble free time. I wonder if I am choosing false economies.

My guess would be that having invested time, effort and no doubt some skill, into your refurbs, you’ve ended up with a greater sense of involvement and satisfaction with the end product then if you’d just taken delivery new.

Also if you go back far enough, you can do most work with not much more than, say, a good socket set, screwdrivers, spanners, a couple of Mole grips, ramps and, if you’re really fussy, a torque wrench.  I lift a modern car bonnet and it takes me a moment to just locate the dipstick!

It would be interesting to know how many LOC members are refurbers and buy-newers.  In my case, a two-year old IS250 suited me perfectly- and was no longer available new anyway.  

Obviously how much you’re prepared to spend on a car is a factor.  Anyone buying new, even after negotiations, knows that a ‘trouble free time’ is at the expense of a loss the moment you drive off the forecourt.  I regularly get invites from the Lexus dealer, (today, for example), presumably to sell the IS250 back to them so that I can replace it with something new.  Problem is, there isn’t a new model that would suit me better.

 

2 hours ago, Greisingel said:

I am looking at a 2000 Iveco LWB camper van – beautifully fitted out. Tranny is apparently notchy when cold.

Sounds like a good project!  Despite my encounter I hold no grudge towards Iveco.  In fact what does irritate is that two days earlier I’d had new Michelin CrossClimates fitted.

[Greisingel]

There is a sense of pride. I felt like a blooming hero refitting a radiator, sorting a new AFS adjuster, O2 sensors and so on.

One thing I cannot find out is if the belt and WP has been done. I’ll need to know now I’m on 114K miles.

One thing I know I am hooked on Lexus. I had a ride in a 2016 RX450H. Not only is the interior finish immaculate and finessed, the ride was fabulous. I think my struts might be a touch tired. 

[LenT]

9 minutes ago, Greisingel said:

I think my struts might be a touch tired. 

Is there nothing you can take for that?