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Classic topic! Boxy hatch first car - for security reasons! Starlet mk3 with loads of home modifying inlc added rev clock and laguna splitter lol! TSW stelths wed the holy grail them days. Civic 1.5 lsi 90bhp Civic 1.6 SI 110bhp ricer boy Momo arrows oooh a wheel I will always loves. CRX del Sol 120bhp think- Coolest car ever roof come off go's in the boot, id love another one. Vtech screams when the roof is off! things start getting bit serious now, EK9 Civc type R OEM, 185 bhp cracking go cart would love another. MR2 TBar turbo, 260 bhp cleanest car I ever owned, lethal car to drive though! R34 GTT 280Bhp R32 GTR OEM. R32 GTR 400bhp setup by trackday company - animal quickest car ever driven, been in or owned! Supra TT6, OEM 360-370 bhp, great car but no room for kids! Pics on this site! ISF OEM, All out love after near 3 months ownership! - Ive had my fun messing around in the past! Dont think ive left anything out!

Here is a report on the corrosion on my recently bought LS430 2004 82k miles which recently replaced my rusted out 1995 LS400. My inspection included a £16.99 endoscope from Amazon and it is a fun bit of kit. With its own variable light and colour image [also waterproof] it connected by USB to my Macbook Pro and was immediately found in Photo Booth. I drilled a 10mm hole inside the top of the wheel arch and introduced the scope into the void to find pristine metal and shining black mastic in the seems. Not a trace of rust. Corrosion Block was sprayed into the void. FLY-Shop® 2 Million Pixels Cmos 5m/16ft Waterproof USB Hd 6 LED Borescope Endoscope Inspection Tube Pipe Camera This was the same result in the doors after removing the door cards. Where the lower 'chrome' strip on the outside is secured through the door shell with plastic pegs there was no rust whatsoever. The upper trim strip is secured by mastic or double sided tape and again no corrosion as was the case at the bottom of the door void where I would have expected something at least. All was so clean I even decided against spraying any ACF-50 into the doors. Underneath the car across the 'back axle' area all components were covered in rust except of course the stainless and aluminium items. Nowhere is it more than superficial and I have now treated it with Rustbuster fe-123 converter followed by Corrosion Block which will last about a year. Also where the rear number plate retaining bolts enter the body there is no rust. I have yet to investigate the door sills and the front wheel arches but I am feeling much better about the LS430. The only area of rust really needing Rustbuster's two part epoxy mastic [on top of the converter] was forward of the rear wheel arch at the bottom, both in the arch itself and the horizontal surface just forward of the arch. I can recommend the endoscope for the price and although it is not sold for 'medical use' I am sure I will find out things about the wife I didn't know when she comes out from behind the sofa.

I had similiar views to you before my wife got the IS300h and I drove it back on the motorway from Chester. First of all, I think the IS250 is a smooth engine and refined with the 6 speed gearbox, however, there isn't much between the IS250 and IS300h in terms of smoothness. In fact, it is easily arguable that the IS300h is smoother due to the CVT which doesn't shift at all - the IS250 6 speed can get hesitant when asking too much of it. I would also say that refinement of the IS250 is less than the IS300h and that is simply down to the electric drivetrain - completely silent when driving along at low speeds in town unless you brake, but even then, its not obtrusive and it almost sounds like you're going to the future. In terms of repairs, the IS250 actually costs MORE to service due to extra cylinders and some other stuff. Lexus Bradford quoted me £990 for 3 IS250 services and £750 for 3 IS300h services (both were 20,30 and 40k services). Essentially its £240 over 3 years which isn't much but even if you drive 5k miles a year at the claimed MPG figures, it would make a £200 difference in petrol costs and a further £215 cost in tax annually. Therefore over 3 years you lose £1485 and 5k miles a year is very low! Not to mention, the IS300h holds value much better for a few reasons. Firstly, its being replaced by the IS200t and when a new model comes out, a car will always lose value as its no longer desirable. Furthermore, the running costs puts it out of reach for people who drive even 10k miles a year and as a rule, its not as desirable as the IS300h in the current times. I wouldn't worry about reliability, Lexus hybrids are insanely reliable, may even be more so than the IS250 which has carbon build up problems. One odd thing I found was that insurance price is more expensive for the IS250. I was rather concerned as there's hardly any difference in claimed power output and 0-62mph times and phoned the insurance company who stated it was down to the car having a V6 and being "rare". Take that how you will but I thought it was just a way of making money personally. In terms of driving, the IS250 is good but i'd say its the IS300h which wins and that's simply because of the instant torque. The IS250 IMO is weedy, the torque is too low and you have to rev its guts out to get it to shift anywhere (causes it to actually become less refined than the IS300h as it ends up being quite loud ALL of the time when you do that and fuel economy goes to about 18mpg). In contrast, the IS300h has plenty of instant torque to get it moving and mid range power is immense (the quoted 0-62mph times dont show this). It genuinely gob-smacks people with faster cars (Audi A5 3.0l TDI and Merc C250 CDI). I would also say that the IS300h is a better balanced car. Although it has more weight in total, more than the 250 at the rear, it helps offset the nose heavy front too which you only really noticed when pushing the car on B roads.

As you have covered the front wheels it may be worth have the rear tyre balance checked,did you ensure the hub flange to disc mating surfaces were properly cleaned before fitting the new discs as this can cause problems with balance if not done.

Thanks for the welcome (unfortunately I've been a member for over two years, it's taken me this long to buy one) Another apology ....some of what i wrote in my "first impressions" above has turned out to me wrong..... When clicked over into sport + and through a series of tight sweeping roads, it's definitely handles better than the RS4 (as well as being faster) Brakes need bedding in....(nearly had a oops moment) Also who thought it was a good idea to put a g meter in a car, it's like having a devil on your shoulder encouraging hard acceleration, braking and steering.

Brown interior, oh so British Leyland Rover. Apart from that looks really nice. David.

When/where did you get the chance to drive it?

Hello and welcome to the LOC. Never heard of a brake booster/servo failing on the LS400, what was the problem with it? If you suspect the brakes were binding have you checked the calipers as they have a tendency to seize, if the brakes overheat it may affect the ABS sensors and trigger a fault causing the warning lights to illuminate. Pulling the codes will help with diagnosis, you could also take the car for a run and then carefully feel the wheels for excess heat indicating binding brakes.

Hi, I've had my IS250 for a couple of weeks now and I am very pleased :) We are taking the car on a longish drive with my 16yr old son in the back. As you can imagine he has a few gadgets that need power and I don't like the idea of trailing leads out of the arm rest. After taking the rear air vent and ashtray assembly, I could see the plug running the power to the 12V socket in the arm rest. I looked and searched for something that I could use at the back but to no avail. So I've fashioned a prototype plate. I removed the ashtray and the bit inside, took a lid of a project box from maplin and cut it to the approximate shape (it is a prototype :) ) I cut the whole out for the dual 12v USB socket and connected it to the 12v socket in the arm rest. Here's a pic Is there a "real" aftermarket plate for this? Failing that I'll make it properly. Cheers Neil

Have I stumbled into a non English Lexus forum? because reading these posts is either a foreign language or the writings of a remedial classroom😂 Do you people know about punctuation?

last car i owned had a full service 1000 mls before i bought it at dealer. got a fault evap system ie air con filter and charcoal cannister The air con filter had never been changed the amount of leaves that fell in the car was unbelievable, all ticked items in service book when i checked most were not done.Not saying all dealers are same just saying we checked this and that which is easy peasy, as above says look at your bill three quarters is labour and vat. Full service history on older cars means nothing use your eyes and ears best tools going. I know its hard to beleive i bought the oil filter tool before the car reading about the pitfalls forwarned and forarmed.

Ok so you want to fix this yourself buy you don't know what's involved in an A/C service or why the calliper has siezed? Well good luck but Ok..... A/C service consists of re gasing the unit, changing the filter and cleaning the system out. You won't be able to regas it yourself buy you can change the pollen filter. Also cleaning through the system is a specialist job. Your rear calliper is siezed probably due to the piston inside the calliper corroding and sticking. You will either have to take the calliper off, take it apart and try to clean the pistons up or buy a new calliper. No it is not ok to get an alignment at kwik fit, not in my opinion anyway. Go somewhere that knows what they're doing in regards to geometry and wheel alignment. There's at term "throwing good money after bad" that's what inevitably happens when you use kwik fit.