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Who is it selling in Birmingham?? Most important.

Here are some of things u should check: Make sure it has a full or at least a good service history which includes the cambelt change. On driving the ride should be quite smooth comfortable with no noises or creaks from the suspension. Gearbox changes should not be noticeable Upon inserting key the steering should tilt and retract - test and make sure the mechanism works as motors are very expensive Braking should be quite and smooth - if you get a groaning noise when coming to stop that’s a sign of cheap aftermarket brake pads - they will need replacing. Check colour of gearbox oil it should be red with no smell of burning. Check all electrics work Check the Sat Nav works - there have been reports of some failures Check the sound system properly to ensure no blown door speakers or woofer Check the air suspension works - when the switch is flicked the car should rise about at inch slowly - and the compressor does not make any noises Check the bonnet struts hold the bonnet Check the car has the correct Toyota red coolant Check for rust around the doors near the plastic trim and around the boot area Check rear quarter panel glass for cloudiness - this indicates the glazing has failed Ask if the cabin filter has ever been changed - these are often over looked. Check the bonnet pull works as it should - some of them fail Check toolkit is present Make sure there are no warning lights lit in the dash Ideally you want 3 remote keys Check the car has a matching set of tyres and wether they are branded or not - this should give an indication wether the car has been pampered or neglected Before driving off make sure you have the say nav code and locking wheel nut key. Hope this helps.

My first car, way back in 1976 was a Triumph Herald, followed by another, then a Triumph Toledo - as a young bloke I desperately wanted a Triumph Dolomite sprint but could never afford one In 1982 I got my first company car - a Ford Cortina mark 2, followed by others including Vauxhall Astra, Toyota Carina E, Nissan Bluebird, which took me to 1992 when the company I worked for was forced to get rid of all company cars to survive the recession. I bought the car from them as it was only 2 years old and offered at a very good price (they are a successful family business that I'm thankfully still with today). When it came time to change the Nissan, and based on the excellent experience I'd had over a 3-year period with the Toyota Carina E, I decided to go back to Toyota and bought a brand new Carina as they'd now re-named it. I bought a second Carina, which then re-launched as the Avensis and had two of them, then finished with a Toyota Celica - really enjoyed that car. This took me to 2005 when I bought my first Lexus; an IS 250 SE, new from my local Lexus dealer. I had it for 4 years, covered almost 100,000 miles and was blown away by the quiet relaxing drive, handling, generous levels of equipment, superb customer service and complete reliability - all it ever needed was servicing and tyres. It was a Toyota but at an altogether different, higher level of quality. This was followed by an IS 250 SE-L, bought as an ex-Lexus management fleet car at a very keen price, from Lexus Stockport. Had this for 4 years and it also never put a foot wrong or needed any type of repair. I then my current IS 300h, new in 2014 from my local Lexus dealer. So, as you can see, my love affair with cars started 40 years ago with the old British brand of Triumph and for the last 20 years I have been with Toyota / Lexus. My car buying choices have always been heavily influenced / constricted by cost and I've always considered overall value for money to be more important than lowest price. Since being able to afford to spend more on cars, (the last 10 years), I've considered all of the other makes of executive saloons but when I boil the numbers down Lexus wins every time. Add to this the fact I really like the way the cars drive and I feel my Lexus brand loyalty is justified. It is of course an entirely personal choice for all of us. Thanks to Dutchie01 for starting this thread which has allowed many of us to take a wander down memory lane. Robert

Put something in writing/email with details of your many phone conversations first and request their immediate attention as this is affecting your car and could cause further damage. At the end of the day it seems that the pre-approved inspection was somewhat sloppy and the car was sold with an obvious repair to the exhaust shown by the whitish grey paste. Under Sale of Goods Act they are liable for rectification of the fault and the obvious course of action would be to allow Aberdeen to do the work and invoice Bolton. It would be best to send your email with full details to the dealer principle and copy to Lexus UK. It might also be worth giving trading standards a call too. To be expected to pay £420 on an item which should have been picked up is ludicrous when you have owned the car for such a short time and completed so few miles.

A 250 mile drive home from Yorkshire, and apart from the usual steering wobble sometimes under braking it drove faultlessly, with an average showing at 30.6MPG. A bit of tidying up to do, one of the worse being it was a smokers car, but overall it was a treat to drive! I'll get some photos on soon. And Steve, if you read this, they sorted out the blower, the mirrors, and the seat belt height adjuster, so all works fine. Phil

Hello Everyone, Sorry, I know some of you have been waiting to see what my verdict is of the car, I just wanted to have a really good drive of it and show it about to a few different people to see what they thought too. I've drove it for quite a while, it was an hour and a half from the dealers home, some motorway, a tiny little bit of town and mostly country and B roads. This most defiantly is the car for me! How do I know? Well until I sat down to write this post I completely forgot I was supposed to be choosing between the BMW and the Lexus and instead all I've been thinking of since I got home is shall I have the F-Sport or the Premier? Listers Lexus Cheltenham. The service was great, couldn't fault it one bit, sat me down got me a nice coffee and a biscuit that I didn't even have to make myself. I had a chat with the sales guy Ben who was very knowledgeable and gave me a summary run down on all the payment options. He showed me around a stunning looking Blue F-Sport (the exact one I would choose if I get an F-Sport) and quickly ran me through a few of the features. Before I knew it I was in the car with the keys ready to go. I was expecting to be there for quite some time so it was really refreshing that they just wanted to get me on the road and let me loose to have a go myself. It’s probably a very good idea as I have probably worked out a lot of the stuff myself that he would have had to have spent showing me. The info System. Before I left the dealers I was sat in the car not going anywhere for about 25 minutes messing about with the Info System, your all right, it’s defiantly not the most intuitive interface and I thought the map looked a bit crappy and basic too. Not sure if it’s any different with the premium navigation package but it did the job and got me home. I found navigating the system quite cumbersome, as a professional IT consultant I really should have found it a lot easier so I can’t Imagen how hard it would be for someone with not much IT experience. It took me until I had been driving for 20 minutes to work out how to select the DAB radio instead of FM and it wasn't until I got home that I finally worked out how to shut up that bloody woman’s voice on the NAV system. It’s not as bad as I thought though; I was expecting it to be a lot worse than it was so not a deal breaker and I’m sure I’ll get used to it. The Ride. Sublime, silky smooth, silent, comfortable, in ECO mode driving conservatively, as I do most of the time. Sport mode, a fair bit of lag when you smash your foot down but apart from over taking in real life it’s a rare event. After driving diesels for the past two years it felt amazing. Economy Like everyone’s said it depends how you drive it. I drove all the way home from the dealers conservatively; the drive consisted of some motorway, a tiny bit of town and mainly B roads and country roads. It took me about an hour and a half and I got about 46 mpg which I thought wasn't too bad for my first go. After a cuppa I took the missus and my mum who’s visiting out in it for a spin, don’t know why I bothered! They just went on about how safe it was and how fast it was and that I will probably kill myself because it’s a 2.5l engine. I tried to explain to them that just because it’s a 2.5l that doesn't mean it’s a racing car or even that fast of a car by today’s standards. They couldn't believe a car costing that much didn't have a reverse cam or auto dipping full beams. On the plus side they thought it was a very smooth and comfortable ride but I soon got bored of them and kicked them out at home. I then drove the 17 or so miles to work, my normal daily commute in the rain and wind in ECO mode very conservatively and got 55.5 mpg which was about the same as what I got from my 2.0l diesel but driving not so conservatively. I then reset the clock, stuck it in sports mode and drove home, shall we say, not so conservatively and got 23.5 mpg, hence totally depends how you drive it. I found the CVT gear box a bit strange to get used to, it revved high a lot of the time and although once it’s moving, it really moves, but the lag is irritating and not something I'm used to. It rolls well with the corners and sticks to the road like glue, my last car had horrendous under-steer even a low speeds so I was a bit nervous and probably didn't push it anywhere near what it’s actually capable of. Summary Like I said, this is the car for me, it’s such a nice place to sit, so comfortable and, well, I can’t really find the word to describe it but it just feels good, another league from the sparse, clinical BMW interior. The F-Sport looks amazing in the blue, such a shame you can’t have it without the sport suspension and with all the features of the premier, but, as I went through town I got quite a few double takes from people having a look at the car, a BMW or an Audi wouldn’t even batter anyone’s eye lids. My mind is made up; only thing left to do is choose between the F-Sport and the Premier now. I'll probably still have more questions but hank you everyone for the replies and information you've given, I'm just sorry to say that your Lexus’s are going to be that tiny bit less exclusive because of me.

I also went from a diesel Rover 75 to a GS430 and now an LS430. I think the newest sat nav disc you can get is 2012 from these people: http://www.satnavdiscsale.com/lexus-2012-sat-nav-update-disc-for-all-generation-1-navigation-122-p.asp I think it is a very usable system, the only bind is lack of postcode input. The facelift models offer the 6 speed box with tiptronic control, slightly revised front styling, fold down vanity mirrors for rear passengers, reversing camera, I've heard they improved the heated and cooled seats for the facelift but I don't know for certain, the pointers in the instrument panel changed from red to white and all text displays became matching amber, the gearstick surround is wood on facelift models, it is brushed aluminium on pre facelift (I prefer the aluminium). They also added voice activation. (I wouldn't use that because I'd feel stupid talking to my car but others probably like it!!!). That's all I can think of for the facelift. My LS430 wasn't quite perfect, almost but not quite. I have a blown subwoofer which I'm going to attempt repairing with some silicone sealant after reading many success stories online which doesn't even include removing the speaker as you need to take back seats out to do that. My power fold mirrors only close about 1\3 of the way but some WD40 might cure that. The up down adjustment on my drivers door mirror doesn't work so I moved it in place by hand (left and right adjustment is fine). If anyone knows how to fix this please let me know!!! I think when you are looking at cars this old with possibly quite high mileages you can't really expect absolute perfection, there maybe a few niggles here and there. One thing I will say is that mine has done 200k with a full 20 stamp Lexus service history with 2 cambelt changes and really does drive like a dream!!! It is by far the best car I've ever had and I've had plenty!!! I don't think I could go back to a lesser car now, although there are certain things that can go wrong and things to check for I believe these really are amongst the finest and best engineered cars on the road bar none. My fuel economy averages 23-24mpg on my 10 mile trip to work and 10 miles back. Last time I went on the motorway I was getting about 32-33mpg. Not bad for a 2 ton V8 luxury barge. It's bloody quick when you want it to be too, easily capable of smoking most other cars on the road or you can just sit back and relax and enjoy the near silent ride this car offers. As I said, the best car I've had.

I know how you feel. I bought an ls400 and only had it a few days and decided it wasnt for me. I bought an is300 off of someone on the forum. But ive still got the ls on my drive. Looking good. In wondering if I shouldn't have gave it more of a chance

Hi there, Been lurking around for forum for a little bit now and just taken delivery of my new 2016 Lexus CT200h Sport. Have only managed to drive it for about 20 miles so far but very impressed with the quietness and build quality. Hope to do a bit of a road trip this weekend and put some miles under its belt. Service from Lexus in Poole was impeccable.

Love the big jap barges. Currently on offer in japan. Exhausts.. Or a limo...

Very very important!

can't wait to hear dave748's review on his test drive starting today

Autoexpress did a comparison between the RX, Cayenne Hybrid and Volvo XC90. No prizes for guessing who came last?! However, whilst I was looking at the figures - it appears the Cayenne is like £73k and the XC90 was tested at £67k whilst the RX was £58k. And...... something I wasnt expecting... although the RX has a slower 0-60mph time, it absolutely destroys both the Porsche and XC90 from 30-50mph and from 50-70mph i.e useable, real life speeds. 30-50mph - XC90 (3.6s), Cayenne (3.0s) and RX (2.8s) 50-70mph - XC90 (5.9s), Cayenne (4.6s) and RX (3.8s) Something else which I found very odd. The test was clearly based around efficiency yet the Cayenne did 22.8mpg and came 2nd (their argument being that they didn't charge it enough wtf?) The RX got 26.9mpg (I assume they must have had it in Sport mode and ragged it as I get 30mpg in normal day to day driving)

Hello and welcome to the LOC. If you want to go the OEM route then have a look at the link below, Lexus Birmingham have some good offers on and it may be worth giving them a call to see if a direct deal would reduce the price further ( bypass Ebay ) Delivered to your door too. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Lexus-Front-Discs-Pads-GS300-3-GS450h-04465-30500-/171967667944?fits=Car+Make%3ALexus&hash=item280a125ee8:m:m6Wk3v0SfQZ_UWAMc2PPwfQ You could also go with after market parts but I would imagine there would be little difference in price from the likes of Blueprint plus some other pad brands have squeal problems and excessive dust.

............strange, the gear knob looks extraordinarily worn for the miles and also, the seat buckle is in the slot possibly because when there's a driver in the car and it's chasing around the paddock doing wheelies the driver doesn't want to feel restricted or maybe, just maybe, there's a fault on the dash showing about seatbelt stuff is the aerial stuck up too ? The car looks to be in a paddock around Shepway area ( see the bins ) and that could be Folkestone or maybe Ashford areas...... admittedly on the way from Canterbury Why not just get the seller to have a fresh MOT on the car ......... from the Lexus/Toyota garage in Canterbury possibly, or at least the one they would use .......... you could phone them to find out which it is and suggest the appropriate MOT testing place I guess !! Good luck with it ......... I would offer to view but I think it's at least an hour from me each way and with the car the standing in the paddock, isn't something I would feel comfortable commenting on, seized brakes, rust etc and I don't know my Mk4s either at all, never having had one If I was buying it I would send my indy along from Margate to inspect it for me ... and of course have to pay for his time etc .................. sorry I can't be of more help Malc

Look at the back of the filler flap. There is a plastic round shape that the filler sits on. The Japanese think of everything

That looks as if it has been previously "repaired". Look at the signs of white repair paste around the pipe/box joint. Lexus Bolton should be replacing the box as it was obviously substandard when you purchased it. As a used approved that should have been picked up on the inspection and service. Amazed that the MOT did not pick it up and issue advisory at very least. Was MOT done by Lexus Bolton themselves or did they take it elsewhere? Armed with that photo you appear to have a cast iron claim against the dealer..........with or without warranty cover they are liable for either fixing it or paying for it to be done elsewhere. Don't let them fob you off. If they get away with things like this they will continue trying it on. I would also contact Lexus UK with details and the photo. Lexus Aberdeen could always approach Bolton to back you up.

Hi take your time looking for a good car, there are plenty out there +1 to that .... sound advice

Hehe, poor Iftikhar, it is always fun deciphering your posts. If I may? "Went to see is250 se-l black 24k on clock in Slough today, on for £11650. Key looked battered, plus only 1 key, history was from independent garage, gear knob worn quite bad. These issues did put me off as it had low mileage but a gear knob worn quite bad. Body work was good - no dents - although the steering wheel was quite worn for a 24k car, and he wouldn't drop price. Saw another one in Finchley; was much nicer car with 28k, one owner, silver, 2 keys,1 lexus stamp rest from independent garage. Both cars were amazing to drive. Should have bought is250 in first place. He even knocked down by £500 straight away, had it on for £11500, gear knob and steering not worn. Will look at few more then probably go for silver 1." Didn't want to change the wording too much, but I hope you don't mind the changes.

Try a few commas, full stops and capital letters please. Your posts would then be enjoyable to read !

Have to say - the IS300h F-Sport performs beautifully in snow/slippery conditions even with the wide 255's on the back. Much better than the Merc C220 it replaced with 215 tyres all around. That car just kept crunching no matter what, even slipping on wet roads. The IS on the other hand feels very sure footed.

This morning I saw a new, brown RX450h on the back of a transporter travelling north along the M3 and exiting at junction 6 (going to the Reading dealership maybe?) Not a colour that I would pick, but beautiful nonetheless, with real depth to the gloss showed off by the sun (sun! - remember that!?) shining on it, and actually not as dark as I was expecting it to be after seeing pictures online.