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Bought my own LS460 5 weeks ago. Same Lexus Dealer maintained from new, one owner with 61K, Sienna Red with the beige interior. Cost £14K and the dealer did the 60K service, put 3 new tyres on it and front and rear discs with new pads at their expense before I bought the car. New 12 month MOT. I had observed a number of issues with the car but the dealer in fairness said "we can't spend any more on the car as the profit margin was on the floor". I knew the car was a good one for the age (2007) and mileage so I bought it. At this price with 12 months Lexus warranty they are like hen's teeth to find. I took a service plan out at £37 a month for the next 3 annual services and the next 3 MOT's. I will be purchasing another 2 years Lexus extended warranty next month which I think is good value at £1695 before the offer runs out at year end. The 2 year extension will run from the expiry of the 12 month warranty the dealer gave me. I have posted a number of specific posts relating to the car, mainly what I consider improvements or aesthetic changes and just wish I had bought one several years ago. I knew of the reputation of Lexus having spent all my working life in the Motor Trade but never experienced any of the cars until now. I drew up my to do list on my car as I have done with the previous 3 Jaguars and before that the 3 Bentleys I owned. This Lexus however knocks all of those cars into a cocked hat because of what I have discovered in 5 weeks during my own mini restoration. The smallest design details have impressed me during the dismantling of various parts/fittings and I have 5 items left to do on a list that started with 31 areas I wanted to sort out. This was not 31 defects but 31 things that I could improve. Things like front and rear bumpers, plastic sill panels removed, stripped down to the absolute degree and re painted. Wheels refurbished, new exhaust trims in the rear bumper replaced, mud flaps, fitting special jacking plates to the sill flanges to aid wheel removal at home or on the road. There was no mechanical or electrical car issues, it's all just about how the car looks. Prior to buying the car I noticed a localised paint job on the front near side corner of the bumper. It was poorly painted and the black rubber rings around the parking sensors were now red due to the fact the bumper was left on the car and the sensors were left in place. I knew the bumper was coming off eventually due to the stone chips I needed to resolve and after 3 weeks I removed the bumper. I had noticed the off side headlamp was misaligned slightly and as an ex body shop man I knew there was more to this and true enough once the bumper was off I could see a piece of the headlamp case was missing where one of the 3 bolts would normally hold it in place to the body work. There was no damage to the inner panels at all and I quickly worked out the car had taken a light impact to the side of the bumper just under the side of the headlamp. At £800 who was going to buy a new headlamp? not the owner who I'm guessing hadn't made an insurance claim. So the monkey who worked on the car used a number of none Lexus fittings including a horrible product called "Dum Dum", a black rubberised flexible gap sealer to try and secure the headlamp. I bought the proper Lexus fittings etc and repaired the headlamp case successfully. I didn't go running back to the dealer shouting the odds, I spent £4 on the right parts and it took me an hour to repair the headlamp case and now it's repaired correctly. This to me is car ownership and I enjoy putting stuff right or back to how it once looked. The car is eight and a half years old and the previous owner was not a car man or was sufficiently interested in his own car to care for it, nothing unusual there I guess. In summary: A Truly Great Car with brilliant engineering too .

A lady walks into a Lexus dealership. She browses around, then spots the perfect car and walks over to inspect it. As she bends to feel the fine leather upholstery, a loud fart escapes her. Very embarrassed, she looks around nervously to see if anyone has noticed her little accident and hopes a sales person doesn't pop up right now. As she turns back, there standing next to her, is a salesman. "Good day, Madame. How may we help you today?" Very uncomfortably she asks, "Sir, what is the price of this lovely vehicle?" He answers, "Madame, if you farted just touching it, you are going to s**t yourself when you hear the price.",!!

Good morning all. I had Spacers fitted last week to give Zorro a wider look and improved grip and handling in corners. I've gone 15mm at the front and 20mm at the rear.

What a ton of work,very clever but

patrick.hanley@freelance.gg Here you go!

Thanks for the pinout diagram Ruud I will have a look when I get time Sunnybrae if I get it sorted I will let you know

Sorry no link, just drove past today and had a quick look. Can possibly get a mobile no if you want,the sales chap is an old mate?

Tim, See below picture. The left socket is under the bonnet, the right one is the Diagnostic port underneath driver's side dash. I used the one under the bonnet - easier access.

Having just read all of this article, I must say that I now feel a little worried, I was aware of this feature, but not of it's sensitivity and in fact, potential danger. This safety factor could, in itself, also be a danger factor. I think that what JonnyWil #28, described in his first paragraph is typical of what we would all do in a similar situation, after of course the mind thinking, "Chr... what the hell was that," followed by a quick dashboard check, (Think about it?). These actions, even though natural, take precious seconds and could be a potential hazard to fellow road users and pedestrians, depending on prevailing conditions at the time. Yes, it is important to keep original documents and maybe, as in the case of the AA report, withhold it, until a full assessment is made by Lexus. I feel that it is also another good reason to use a carcam, it would document the full sequence of events and reduce the amt. of time and effort, in establishing the initial cause of the problem and its progression. I didn't know that the headlight washers had sensors in them. Does this mean they must be washed and dried with care? is the sensitivity adjustable? or does it take quite a whack to set them off? I take your point Rayaans, about the number of recorded instances of this incident, but how many go unrecorded? Not to be too dramatic, but we both know that sometimes the measure between life and death can be a lot less than seconds. Maybe more needs to be done regards the design of these things, both from a pedestrian and driver prospective. Safety should have have a 360° aspect. My car is MY13 but first registered 01/15, I wash/clean it each week, also wiping any excess water that gets below the bonnet, now I'll be more careful me thinks. I use a dealer in Milan, 'Spotorno car,' I think that in reality they are a Toyota dealership and just do Lexus as a sideline. I would rate them at about 5 out of 10. Servicing I am quite happy with, I have a good rapore with the mechanic. Bodywork they are not so good at IMHO, my CT was rear ended in July 13 and they had an outside guy collect it, the finished work was bad, so I got them to do it again. I must explain that when annoyed my voice can be loud and the whole workshop stopped to look as I was giving the manager a verbal headache. When my IS was rear ended this year, it went to a local chap, who knows me, is good and reliable. OK I got a crap car for a few days, 'Fiat dustbin,' but I only needed it to get home and back, 13km. Accessories also take a long time to get, rubber mat for the boot, minimum 2 weeks. In UK when on holiday, had a Blackvue fitted in the morning, 2hours, then nipped down the road to, 'Snows,' Hedge End, spoke with a nice Polish girl, "sorry no mat in stock, but wait a moment please, I'll take one out of that show car, we can replace it later.' Had my mat in less than 5 minutes, but was about £100 lighter. A totally better attitude and service, but Hedge End are normally like that. Lexus make a big deal out of the fact that their people are specially trained by them, next time you're at your dealership ask the mechanic for his in date Lexus training certificate, also the body shop operative, bet they ain't got one, probably a Toyota one, if that. Fairy duff, Toyota certificate or less, Toyota or less prices. Lexus also need to get their spare supply chain sorted, they should be able to get parts within 24hrs, not a week or more, bet their boss's responsible for these things are paid very well out of our hard earned cash, to keep the seats of their trousers very shiny. The product is good, I am pleased with my IS and would buy another if health and life prevail, (I'm 69), but Lexus cannot afford to live on their laurels, they need to concentrate on really improving all their service sectors and use a little 'Roundup,' on their more, ' Micky Mouse,' dealerships. The opposition is closing in, very quickly. Well that's my half crown's worth. Best wishes. Michael.

Hello and welcome to the LOC. This can happen when the battery is disconnected ( the "Check VSC" light may also appear on the dash display). The system usually resets itself after the car has been driven for a while so the ABS light should then go off. Regarding OBDII code readers there have been problems with communications on the LS400 so not all will successfully work. There is another way of obtaining fault codes by shorting out the Tc and E1 connections in the diagnostic socket and reading the TCCS code on the dash display which can then be converted to OBDII codes.

*****, I've been reading the manuals, what an information overload:lol: This is a bit of a stab in the dark, but, do you have the "park assist sensors" turned on using the satellite switch, I'm wondering if that made a difference to what is shown on the screen. It's too cold to leave my log fire and find out, hahaha.

mine was build by GOD himself as his own personal motor hahahahahahahaha now owned by the devil (me) lol

Just my 2p's worth, I find them bright enough... I've had other cars with HIDs and the RX lights are pretty good in comparison. As for longevity, I have *never* had problems with bulbs blowing in Toyotas nor my Lex so far (unlike many other fords/French cars!!). Just keep the connectors clean and you're good for many years. I think in 10+ years of having 3 Toyotas, I've changed 2 or three bulbs in total because they blew. The HID ballasts on the RX do have me wondering how long they will last considering how many times 'auto' mode has them turning on and off, if I ever get problems with these, I may see if an LED bulb is available to replace the HIDs/ballasts (if legal).... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The extra noise should only be apparent on hard acceleration. I'm not against them, I just don't think they make the difference they claim to, certainly not on a Toyota engine with a genuine Toyota filter, and this is based on me using them on a couple of cars in the past and other people's feedback. I also don't think they represent value for money once you factor in the oil you need to purchase and your time in performing the cleaning etc. Even if you are careful, and even when they are new pre-oiled, they do coat the MAF sensor with oil so over time your engine will run less efficient - you should clean your MAF every couple of years anyway but maybe every year with an filter than uses oil. Let's hope my experience isn't the same with the RX300 engine. If it makes a positive difference then everybody here stands to benefit. :)

Sounds like the water as hit the O2 sensor and caused the fault code to generate, the vsc is linked to the drive intelligence so a fault may have also been generated. There is a procedure to reset the VSC and that is in the owners manual.

Just had a set of new winter Kumho KW27 winter tyres fitted to mine tonight. Now ready for anything the weather can throw at us, have been stuck in the snow & ice before I learned how good winter tyres are on a rear wheel drive car. Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

there are lots of performance cars out there to be had for around 10 grand. your IS does look nice and you right i personally dont see a lot in your colour. was there issues sourcing a smaller spooling turbo? i wouldn't enjoy driving it if i have to wait an age until it comes on boost and do you have some dyno figures?. so long as you like it that's what counts..

Hi Stew. in answer to your first question, I don't really know what difference the flywheel is making as it was all done at the same time so have nothing to compare it against. in theory it should help to spool up quicker and take a little stress of the engine, so something I would always suggest doing and a new clutch goes without saying. I see you have the sport model so will have the lsd which was something I had done on mine. it has only been two weeks since it was done. the drive home was appalling but this was because the ecu hadn't been reset, once I did that, it was smooth as anything off boost and progressive on. I then took it to my own tuner to look over and he was concerned that the fuel pressure had been reduced down to 2 1/4 bar from the standard 3 as he found it running very lean at the top end, so he altered it back. with the "thinking" ecu it is the only thing you can alter as it controls everything else. Simon at MJS advised me to put it back to 2 1/4 as his experience with the kit was that it ran better that way and would get a misfire at 3. it did start to get bit lumpy after a few days but again resetting the ecu cured that and it has been fine ever since. for me running lean at the top end on full boost is not something I would want so would rather have it a bit lumpy lower down than risk it at the top end. as I said above, it is a fairly big turbo and too big really for the stage 1 which is why it does take a while to come on boost. That said for the price, you do get a lot of smiles for your buck so it is a compromise. a custom smaller turbo and manifold fitted by TDI is £5k ex vat without the flywheel and clutch so for £2300 fitted for the turbo and another grand for the flywheel and clutch and oil change it is good value for sure. I also went for the big brake kit which works really well and again makes sense when pushing bhp from 155 to around 230. I also did super pro poly bushes. it wasn't cheap, about a grand fitted as it takes so long but has tightened up the handling and made you feel more secure and also quickened up the steering which really is nice. I have also had the mid cat taken out (as it was chewing itself to bits) which has given it a bit more responsiveness, the engine light is on but that's a small price to pay. I am 61 years old, so boost gauges, 0 to 60's and top speed don't really interest me. what I was looking for was a "driveable" Lexus and the way it should always have been. I did change the wheels and tyres and tried to get as close to standard looking ones as possible to not get noticed too much and keep the car looking as "normal" as possible, but with the wheels and intercooler that hasn't happened! the lower front grill is removed to fit the intercooler, which is a shame but Simon has painted his black which I will be looking to do. Overall yes I am very pleased so far, but is till very early days. I have been running my car on vpower (optimax) since I bought it which will also help if you aren't already. Give Simon at MJS a call and talk through the options with him. All my work took a week that he did in Ipswich. Good luck

Changing the springs doesn't always "ruin" the ride, it just changes it. I put Eibach springs on mine and far preferred a slightly firmer ride with less roll, it just depends what you want from your car.

You will miss the reliability before too long I am sure!

I wouldn't do anything to it if it's a company car mate.

Got the is200 back from garage this evening and am very happy now as i fitted the tein springs (thanks Moley) along with all new pads. I was worried that the only 23mm rear drop wouldnt look any different as the rear was ridiculously high originaly but it turned out nice Before After Its not super low but hopefully handling will be a little better and it looks much better at the rear.

If it helps you decide, check out my stock is200 kitted with H&R 35mm springs and stock shocks. Tyres are Michelin 225/45/17 http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/82345-h-r-springs-fitted-pics/ By the way, your car is in really good nick....

hi carlb - I would go with 40mm drop if your going to keep the rim size the same with tyres. you will have a approx fingers gap between tyre and arch. the front will slightly dip in more as there is more weight at the front of car. also depends on what make of springs your going for as some are softer than others. but I would say 40mm drop! that's my take on it, that's my advise - its your call pal.

She's riding on KYB OEM shocks + H&R 35mm springs...... Looks good......feels good ......Thanks to all for the advice...

Hi. i decat the system on my is200. i never looked back. did it at a exhaust fitment centre.(yanked the manifold and mid pipe and removed cats) the diffrnce is notable and no change in tone. however i fitted a back box with multiple chambers (sum bs about the back pressure) i`d say a increase of 20 horses just mind the sensors(heated oxygen) fron one is easy by removing the plug and unscrewing it. the manifold (headers) are tricky to get out as the steing unit is a bit in the way. remove 2 12 cm bolts. pull out and refit after wards . but the rear(under) is fixed. just remove the mid pipe. two bolts front and back. these have special heads. so grind and fit new. repack the gaskets after wards 3 hour job but lifetime of joy 20 bhp extra from decat the system, are you real :D

my redstuff work well with oem discs,no squeal,but then i thought that was down to lack of grease.