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Stuart, auto transmissions vary in design and therefore need differing fluids to meet their particular specifications. Different additives and friction modifyers are employed depending on the type of valve operation, clutch bands, friction plates, torque converters, etc, that are used in autoboxes . That's why it's important to stick to the ATF recommended by the manufacturer. You can use a fluid that is out of spec for your car, but you run the risk of ending up having poor gear changes. Toyota type T-IV is recommended for our cars and supercedes type T-II (which is no longer available). It's actually made for Toyota by Mobil and is known as Mobil 3309, available on ebay. Hope this helps.

Been reading the good and bad thread and it seems everyone is praising the build quality. I know the car is uber quiet so rattles stand out like a sore thumb, but does nobody else think the car is a little bit too rattly / creaky. I had a mazda before this and even after 10 years and 120,000miles it wasn't as rattly as the IS, or certainly wasn't as noticeable. I get the following rattles. - Rattle from the armrest rest when light pressure is applied. - Rattle from the seat belt adjuster. - Rattle from instrument cluster when the car is cold. - Rattle from the door card (waist rail). - Severe rattle from front of door card when the window is open (audible over wind noise). - creaks from console when knee resting against it. - Rattle from Door card if knee resting against it. - Rattle from clock area (flat area infront of nav screen). - horrendous rattling when the stereo is on quite loud. nobody else find the same? Even my wife doesn't think its as good as it should be. Can't imagine I've been that unlucky to get a bad car. Am I just too critical?

i have had the arm rest rattle and fixed it ages ago and it hasn't come back. on the front of the storage bin where the armrest locks i wrapped a piece of self adhesive felt around the locking point from the top and wrapping it underneath this now pulls the armrest down by the smallest amount but the rattle is gone.

The rattles you describe would really bug me. Mine's seven years old and I can hear my wife's dangly earrings creaking !!

I'm not calling anybody a liar but I think it is a tolerance thing. I don't believe people who say they don't have any rattles. I've been in plenty of RXs, GSs, ISs, owned 6 myself, and they all have multiple rattles, even demonstrators or loan vehicles with less that 1,000 miles on the clock. Press any of the trim panels and they all tend to click and creak as multiple hard plastics touch each other - which they do on their own when going over bumps etc. Most of the issues aren't continuous rattles, although I have a couple of those too. You see hundreds of these sort of complaints on US forums - it is just something associated with Lexus/Toyota vehicles - if you want a reliable car get a Lexus, rattle free then possibly BMW.

Too critical for most but I'm with you. Sadly a common trait that affects all Lexus vehicles from the 90s to the present day. I've some of your rattles along with one or two with the roof lining, a temperature affected rattle around the LHD dashboard/glovebox/A pillar and one or two that I'm not sure where they are. I have a particularly harsh road that I travel on point to work - newly resurfaced but with quite large stone chips, and after driving on it for a few weeks multiple rattles started to occur :( The armrest rattle seems to come from the latch, my dealer tried to resolve thinking it was the main cover not resting fully on the rubber stops so added some felt but that just made it worse. I get a slight noise from the drivers door which seems to be the seal isn't tight enough. When I clean the seal with some silicone spray it seems to resolve for a while. My neighbour who has the same car also complains of the same thing, which seems to be more noticeable in colder weather.

http://210.211.49.136/technology_explorer/intelligent_adaptive_front-lighting_system_AFS.asp?model=All it looks like when turning the lights only turn 5 degrees to prevent blinding oncoming drivers where if you are turning left they turn 15 degrees which probably explains what you have noticed http://www.toyota-global.com/innovation/safety_technology/safety_technology/technology_file/active/afs.html hope this helps

How dull. Here we are in 21 century, yet still we produce cars with boot, bonnet, round steering wheel. Perhaps the Avantime was ahead of its time (and flawed) but this is just stupid? the back looks just like the Toyota people carrier. where is the next design progression? This is just a tarted up variation. Having just read that UK will have another 20 million people in 25 years.......the roads will be too jammed, unless we abandon personal ownership of cars and move on to a car version of Boris (now Barclay) bike scheme for cars; plus better public transport. I'm off to spend my declining years in Andalucian hills, in a Mehari for shopping?

I'm only a few miles away in Brighton but you won't see my LS today because it's tucked up inside my garage. I recently did a 460-mile trip to Suffolk and didn't see a single LS; on Sunday I did a 27-mile trip to Crowborough and saw a green and silver Mk.3 LS400 and waved at it but didn't get a 'reply'. It's much the same with my old Accord Coupe - they're very rare these days. I like having such unusual cars.

Hey at least the new owner can get a die-cast model of their own car,lol