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I had to check the link to see what this car actually was that could cost 170k (Merc nomenclature means nothing to me). Looking at it, I have to say that I wouldn't give tuppence for it. Just another aggressive little insect on the road that needs to be swatted out of the way. Same as Porsches, I just don't get it. I mean, if you want to go fast with a lot of noise and discomfort and in cramped conditions, then buy an old 1275 Mini. Job done! I wonder if he's the John Guest of Speedfit fame? Whatever, he's a sad, materialistic b*****d IMHO.

Hello everyone I recently purchased a high milage LS430 (249k miles) for £3k.(might have been a little too much to pay.. May be .?) Anyways it has full history etc etc and is in good condition. A few days ago I was unfortunately involved in an accident. Not so serious. The damage is to the front passenger headlight, wing, and bumper and may be 1 or 2 sensors. After the accident I have noticed that my brake lights stay on. when I lock the car, then after a minute they turn back on again. What do you think is the problem? In addition, I have noticed that the rear passenger suspension might be malfunctioning. The distance between the tyre and the body is smaller in comparison to the other sides. Any ideas on what the problem may be? Do you think it's all related to the accident that I had? The insurance company will be sending an assessor to check out the car on Monday. Do you think I should mention these problems to him/her? So the current problems I am facing are: 1) brake lights stay on 2) passenger side rear suspension is malfunctioning (this is the side that also sustained damage in the accident) Many thanks

Sticking a garmin to my windscreen suits me too. I have owned 3 cars with built in sat nav and my garmin has been used in preference to them all. My major gripe with built in sat navs is that they dont appear to be able to tolerate intelligent passengers who can reprogramme the route whilst the car is in motion and they have all been a little troublesome to silence in a hurry when I need to concentrate on the road rather than to listen to mindless chat about staying on the motorway for another 30 miles. The best built in sat nav is in our prius but i only use its superior display for reversing and in car functions such as setting the air conditioning and checking fuel usage.

Yes indeed well looked after. I'm still using it now cz it's still solid but a tad unsightly due to the headlight. May end up buying it back because it's been looked after so well. is this the gold one where you wrote in the ad " please no silly offers as I can break it for more" or words to that effect?

Never a truer word spoken,an old friend of mine,became a millionaire overnight,by selling at a crucial time,land he'd bought,just off the M4, near Reading,he'd bought it in a 50% share with a business partner,a couple of years previously,for a relative song,they set up a Property Management company with the proceeds,my friends business partner promptly went out and bought a late model Astin Martin with his small change,my friend,more cautious and far-seeing,bought an older Volvo Estate,stating that one of the first rules of business,was,do not show off your ostentatious wealth,keep your light under a bushel,etc,he went on to bigger and better things as time went on,whereas,his business partner -a Jack the lad anyway, went under,spending all his dosh on flash cars and coke,( not the diet kind,I might add) some kind of lesson to be learned possibly.

The other way I used to look at it was if someone turned up at one of my small business's in an expensive car I knew the only person to pay for it was me so they never got the business. Never flaunt what you think is your wealth in the face of a prospective customer. Mike

Well in last 4 years managed to convert a few of my mates with German metal to come over to Lexus. One of them got so ticked off with his Merc costing him about £4K every few years to sort out suspension issues. He made a comment that his LS400 (17 years old) is so much nicer than his 5 year old Merc and 4 year old BMW. The only reason he keeps the German metal is so that his customers can see he is successful (or to put it another way, earns so much money he can afford to p*ss it away maintaining the darned things). Watched Top Ger last night, and made me think that those guys earn so much money it would be of little consequence if they had to spend your average annual salary maintaining their steeds. But to me it is not a motoring show, but more a chance to laugh at some wealthy petrol heads showing what burkes they are. It is in fact I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here with wheels IMHO

I just googled Lancia Aurelia B20 and I agree, it does looks nice. :) Was it only available as a coupe? However... beauty is in the eye of the beholder isn't it? On that note, this is what I consider to be the best looking car ever made, the very rare Nismo Z-Tune: Love its aggressive stance. Boy would I kill to have one of those...

This is interesting, Ron. My two LS 400s have minute scratches that are becoming a nuisance when driving against the sun. I've tried to polish them out but my results have a lot to be desired. My usual detailer refused to handle this job and said new windscreens were the right solution. My problem is that 'unfortunately' I haven't been hit by a pebble right in front of my line of vision so I wouldn't be able to claim on my insurance for a replacement. At the moment I've approached another detailer in Kent who reluctantly agreed to professionally polish my windscreens but he didn't sound too enthusiastic. I'm just waiting for a nice day to drive to his premises. So, in the meantime, and to get to the point, how much did you pay Autoglass? Maybe it's not as much as I fear! Many thanks Pepe pepe I would be interested to know if the polishing works. The screen on my LS is terrible if the light is in a certain direction. I was thinking along the lines of a new screen but have considered polishing if i can find someone who knows what they are doing Hi Hugh, yes polishing DOES work. Trawling the internet I came across Glas Weld (www.glaswelduk.com). These people specialise exclusively in repairing windscreens so I gave them a call. An extremely efficient and polite lady took my call and asked me to describe my problem. After taking my details she promised that of their technicians would call me later that very same day. This took place last Monday 24th at about 11.30 a.m. Sure enough, by 2.30 p.m. a very knowledgeable-sounding chap rang me and told me he might be able to help and he agreed to come to my house the following morning. His name was Mike Toney. Mike proceeded to inspect carefully the windscreens on my two LS 400s. His assessment was that he would be able to polish off the minute tracks made by the wiper blades but he was quick to point out that the abrasions caused by grit and sand over the years would be IMPOSSIBLE to remove entirely. He also pointed out three stone chips that had also damaged the windscreens, fortunately outside the MOT failure zone. He recommended that I have these repaired at the same time. How much would this cost? Mike explained that his minimum fee would be £100 for the first hour of polishing, followed by £60 per hour thereafter. He estimated that he would take two hours on the polishing job. I then asked him about the stone chips. He asked me for my insurance certificate and quickly determined that my policy had an excess of £10 per windscreen and he also verified that my insurer was on Glas Weld's list of approved insurers. This meant that he was automatically authorised to repair my windscreens without prior reference to my insurer. In other words, he would do all the paperwork. At his point I wish to point out that at no time did I feel under pressure from Mark to take the matter further. He made it extremely clear that under certain conditions I would still be able to see the minute abrasions caused by grit striking the windscreens at high speed over almost 20 years. Would I still like to proceed? Having said yes Mike went to work and I quickly realised why my detailers were reluctant to do this type of work. This is because the polish is applied by a 'drill' that rotates at about 2,000 rpm. This in turn heats up the glass, but the temperature must be monitored very carefully as otherwise the temperature could easily crack the windscreen. This is slow and delicate work. Here are the tools Mike used on my Mk4: Here are the vacuum devices used to address the two stone chips on my Mk4: I am pretty sure that Mike spent more than two hours working on my cars. His results are truly impressive. My Mk3 had a highly visible stone chip that I thought had been 'cured.' I was wrong. Once Mike finished the blemish simply disappeared! I was utterly delighted. The two on the Mk 4 are barely visible. What was the final bill? Polishing 2 windscreens: £160 VAT 32 Insurance excess 20 ------- Total £212 Between yesterday and today I took out my two LS 400s under all kinds of weather, especially driving into the sun when it was low in the horizon. I am delighted with the results. The view is absolutely clear. The scratches made by the wiper blades are no more. Only the minute specks that Mike warned me about remain but these no longer pose a hazard. Finally I have to say it was a real pleasure dealing with Mike. He is a true gent and I recommend his work very highly. I should also point out that my relationship with Glas Weld is only that of a satisfied customer. Their helpline is 0800 387 528. I hope this points other members in the right direction. Pepe

Yep same for me mate. It's perfect up to 55mph (same story on the 200 as well) then after that it's horrible :(With all due respect to the poster above I'd be amazed if it's something as simple as a out if round tyre. Just do a little research across other Lexus forums and you'll see that literally hundreds and hundreds if not thousands and thousands of people have chased the steering wheel wobble on the 200/300.