Looking Forward To Owning A Gs450H

[softpack]

Hi everyone, this is my first post so please be patient if I have posted in the wrong area.

After 9 years of Mercedes ownership culminating in a 2005 S350, I am looking forward to taking delivery of a 2007 GS450H SE in 4 days time.

I have bought it from the Teeside Lexus centre as an approved vehicle with 52K on the clock so I am assuming it should be a sound car.

I would appreciate any pointers as to what I should look out for in the way of known faults at this age and mileage and also what to expect over the next 3 years (60,000 miles)

Any advice on servicing requirements and cost would be most welcome.

Thanks in advance

Peter

[tonyricha]

Hi Peter and a warm welcome to LOC, perfect choice of car ! nothing to watch out for but please check recalls have been completed, I think yours is too young for valve spring hassles, steering rack and rear brake calipers may have needed doing. Re servicing Lexus offer a service package which you can pay monthly interest free D Debit which suits me fine, cost of course depends on your predicted annual mileage but dont worry now just enjoy it for the next 12 months and forget those hard seats in a Merc.My 450h is well over the 100,000 miles now, runs better than ever and is free of any faults but I do extend the warranty for peace of mind

Regards Tony

[Normski]

Many congratulations Peter & welcome to LOC!

My advice would be:

1). Look into a service plan - you get a discount on the service and any work required.

2). Warranty - It's a complicated car and some of the early ones I believe suffer from ECU issues. Check out the options available for extending the existing one.

3). Tyre pressure sensors - some of these have been known to stick and then break when changing tyres. Cost a fortune to replace so be very careful when getting tyres changed. I'm sure there is a way to maintain them so fingers crossed someone will come along soon and advise more.

I still love the S class by the way. They did go through an "iffy" phase but I think they are wonderful :)

Anyway, hope all goes well on pick-up day. Get some photos up when it stops raining!

Ta,

Noman

[softpack]

Thanks for the welcome guys. :)

Service plan and extended warranty have both crossed my mind as my annual mileage will be in excess of 20K and I will probably take them out following your advice.

Re: the tyre pressure sensors, how do these work and what makes them so expensive to replace?

I was under the impression they were just proximity sensors measuring the distance between the chassis and the ground which will reduce when a tyre loses pressure.

The S class will be a hard act to follow, but from what I have read, the Gs450h should be up to the job.

I will certainly post some pictures when I have figured out how to upload them.

Best regards

Peter

[tonyricha]

Hi again, these tyre pressure sensors are inside the tyre and send a signal when the pressure drops but care is required by the tyre fitter,I now find Lexus dealers are bang on with tyre prices (10% discount for LOC gold members)and they know how to go on. One snag with these sensors is if you have the metal dust caps they can corrode the thread on the valve stem which means the whole thing needs replacing so either use plastic dust caps or put a smear of grease on the thread to stop the two metals reacting with each other. I grease mine then nip them up with a 10MM spanner to stop the scallys pinching them.

I think the ECU issue on early cars related to GS300s only

Tony

[softpack]

Hi again, these tyre pressure sensors are inside the tyre and send a signal when the pressure drops but care is required by the tyre fitter,I now find Lexus dealers are bang on with tyre prices (10% discount for LOC gold members)and they know how to go on. One snag with these sensors is if you have the metal dust caps they can corrode the thread on the valve stem which means the whole thing needs replacing so either use plastic dust caps or put a smear of grease on the thread to stop the two metals reacting with each other. I grease mine then nip them up with a 10MM spanner to stop the scallys pinching them.

I think the ECU issue on early cars related to GS300s only

Tony

Thanks for this Tony, you learn something new everyday.

Peter

[coneybiller]

Bit far away from your mileage yet, but my 450h is going in for its 100k service at a cost of £450, which I thought was going to be allot worse! Absolutely lovely car!

I used to work for Mercedes-Benz and from what I've driven, I prefer the lexus all day long! Gadgets upon gadgets, and best of all, unlike the german rivals, they all WORK!! :winky:

Expect you've taken delivery of your car now so we hope you enjoy it :)

Cheers

Ben

[softpack]

Bit far away from your mileage yet, but my 450h is going in for its 100k service at a cost of £450, which I thought was going to be allot worse! Absolutely lovely car!

I used to work for Mercedes-Benz and from what I've driven, I prefer the lexus all day long! Gadgets upon gadgets, and best of all, unlike the german rivals, they all WORK!! :winky:

Expect you've taken delivery of your car now so we hope you enjoy it :)

Cheers

Ben

Thanks for this Ben,

Took delivery on Thursday, Spent all evening reading the handbook and am now trying to put all of this into practice; may take me a few days, but from what I've seen I'm going to like it. :P