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I am now feeling OLD .... why? Not aches and pains but I feel the world we live in is changing very rapidly and not for the better. There are decent people out there but many are out to just screw you for everything they can get and I include employers as well. I feel very sorry for the young, as there appears to be few opportunities to get on. I am very pleased I am retired and out of the rat race but I still feel sorry for those that have to put up with so much rubbish. Rant over, I will now go for a ride in the LS to calm me down.

in summary I don't think its wise to retrofit ACC,even if you were to somehow get it done, its a critical feature and if you had an accident insurers would probably void your policy anyway.

Took it out the garage to admire the fruits of my labour....... This car looks good, if I may so so myself Just has some road-rash on the front bumper (expected of a 8 year old car). Would like to respray the front bumper, but concerned about colour-matching.

I don't know if this can be retrofitted, it would have to work with the existing cruise system as this unit would be in charge of it's functions. The blurb sounds like it is pitched at car manufacturers rather than the aftermarket. It states it can also bring the car to a stop which means it would have to be plumbed into the brakes as well, which doubles the risk factor having it fitted, especially if you buy it and give it to your local mechanic or auto-tech to fit and they have never done it before especially on an RX, you can imagine how much wiring they'd have to chop in to... Plus the cost of the part & installation time and it is probably cheaper to sell or trade your existing vehicle for one that has ACC built in from the factory & God only knows what stance you insurance company would take... Sorry for being a downer on this one as it sounds like a cool retrofit but is fraught with risks and costs. Chris.

They issue MOT garages with possible new changes to come in the next year but very few actually happen. There is obviously a dept that comes up with all this nonsense and nothing ever happens but civil servants can never be laid off so this dept keeps churning out crap to try and justify their huge salaries. You pay your taxes and they waste it.

*blows the dust from this book* I'd love to do it, but my dog ate my homework...

So, I will shortly be the owner of this fine specimen. The Lexus has been fantastic, probably the best car I owned in my long list of motors. Felt like a change and this will certainly up the ante. I dont usually purchase a car so quickly but the seller and the car itself on this occasion ticked all the boxes.

Hey mate, I was browsing facebook as you do and it appears Lexus Birmingham have a blue/noble brown (not completely sure as I cant see the interior that well) Premier in their showroom - might be worth a look? List was £62k so id assume its got the ICE too. The prices don't really matter, its just the cost to change you want to keep an eye on. I usually just tell them straight up that I have a car to P/X and I want a fair value for it and I also want a discount off the car they are selling. They either play ball or don't and you can quickly find out the guys who are willing to go for a sale. I talked to 4 different dealers in 2012. I ended up getting a 10% discount + fair part exchange and some freebies such as the rear rubber mat and plastic protection plate but I think its because it was a facelift and not an all new model. I talked to Stockport, Manchester, Bradford and Leeds. Bradford were owned by WMG at the time and they were talking about £4700 for my RX300 and £3k off the RX450h. Manchester and Leeds gave better deals but Stockport eventually gave £5k + £5250 for my RX 3 months after I had talked to Bradford! Ive got way too much going on at the moment, too much debt due to new health centre build :O. Might have to delay purchasing :( On the bright side, my RX is still alive and going strong and just passed the 36k mark and managing 35mpg on the motorway! :D On the bright side, there may be better discounts about at that point!

Go to You Tube and type in Lexus mirror glass replacement. You come across some examples of flipping out the mirror glass only.

Can we keep to the main subject please LPG. If you want to discuss E85 please start another thread.

Hi Neil , update on ML no audio issue , got an auto electrician coming next week who seems to think the after market nokia hands free has caused the problem ( Nokia ck-7w) Apparently its quite common for them to get stuck on mute. Hope so as it will be a lot cheaper than getting the amp refurbed. Heres a couple pics after a wash and wax.

David and Hugh: I've just returned from India where I have put to bed a deal with a Foundation that just said to me after only some 6 weeks association " you are the only guys that I have met that I want to do business with " ( in my field ) We have a part time preacher as a senior guy in the business and the Foundation has an existing, and prior collaborative partners they have dealt for many years in my ( new ) field of business. I feel privileged .................. and know just how you both feel ............. I want to and think I have, left the rat race behind ( I hope ) Malc

I have had dogs longer than I have had a Lexus, but when I first got a Lexus the rug over the back seat was not adequate protection. My wife found a Kleinmetall Allside car seat cover. This hangs from the front and rear head and rests with the base on the seat. It can be half or full width and works a treat. It can be removed in moments leaving the back free for humans and completely free of everything that comes off the dog. It wipes clean and is waterproof just in case although I have never tested this. Here is the cover on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Allside-Carseat-Covers-145-140/dp/B000A217OG/ref=sr_1_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1457863048&sr=1-3 I have no connection with the company. I'm just a very satisfied customer with satisfied passengers who have travelled in the back when the cover was removed. John

interesting, and spacewagon, I feel the same way. It's enough to make you cynical

indeed, hence me paying a deposit very swiftly.

Thanks everyone for your help. It was an airlock. The solution was to top up the expansion bottle when cold, I did this 5 times over 5 days. I also squeezed the pipe at the top of the radiator and today back came the warm air. I have also checked pipes and looked under the car for obvious leaks but could not find any, but I'll be keeping an eye on this for the next few days as it's a bit of a mystery as to why the coolant level went low in the first place. I did (needlessly now) order a thermostat, but for £35 I guess its good to have a spare one just in case...

I agree but it does look odd when you know what it should look like!

Hi Chris, The short answer to your Q is NO, I don't know the origin of parts but my garage man knows that I require the best regardless of cost so I don't think he would have tried short cuts. All's well at the moment so fingers crossed - and Thank you very much for your responses. Ken

Looks amazing

The ISF is a good drift car. Got a passenger ride in one on the back circuit at Ascari. They had to disable the electronics (they wouldn't tell us how :))though to allow enough slip. The car was going all day long over two days and never missed a beat. Rear tyres lasted about an hour each time and the fronts not much longer. Something to do with the angle on full lock.

Browsing this thread on my PC.........gee...that Merc is in good nick!

I love the panoramic roof on that Gen RX, the interiors are dark and black so to let extra light into the cabin, that for me would be essential - although as other posters have mentioned, it eats into the rear headroom. I'm not sure about the roof rails, but my gut feeling says you can still have them. If you do long journeys, then the cooled seats would be fab but on the whole you probably wouldn't "miss" them if you didn't get a car with them fitted. As for the HUD, it is a bit of a gimmick so although might be handy at times and not having it on your previous RX would again make you less likely to miss it in everyday driving - heck if it is on a car that you like and end up purchasing, great! If not then it wasn't meant to be! Test drive both models if you haven't already, as this is the best way to see what you like/prefer. At least you have a couple of things to run through all ready including your hill climbs! As for poor old Lex, grab some dry or normal silicone spray and lubricate the key well, it is amazing for sorting out the issue with the ignition barrel, and should tide you over until you get a new ride. Chris.

Hi Piers, I would really like to hope the new callipers haven't gone bad at only 6 months! My money is on the parking brake shoes, do you know the last time they were changed, assuming they weren't done when they did your callipers... Like brake pads, they will eventually wear down to the metal, so it could be time for them to be changed. If they get checked out and are ok, then it is possible it could be that the parking brake cable has started to seize a little, this was a common issue on the MR2's especially in winter as water could make it's way inside the cable and freeze causing to to corrode and the parking brake to not disengage fully. I mentioned above that I had the same noise on my Celica, and a simple adjustment of the parking brake shoes at each back wheel (spin a cog to slacken it off all the way, then spin in opposite direction to tighten up to just before they bite) - I did this over 8 months ago and still noise free. Do you have to push the foot park brake almost to the floor before it engages at the moment? Ta, Chris.

Good luck with the new motor toffee_pie, hope you get lots of pleasure from it. We'll miss you!

Hey Eric. Congrats on the purchase. I wish you many miles and smiles in the Merc.

There is one on the way to Hailsham that supposedly supplies autogas, but doesn't. Before I moved from Wales, I rang a few Calor and Flogas outlets that supposedly did autogas, only to find they didn't, and the one Flogas that did, decided it wasn't worth bothering with, and closed the pump just before I moved. When I last looked on the relevant websites, I couldn't find any others, including flogas, although the pump in Eastbourne, polegate services, is, I believe, supplied by Flogas. I don't mind travelling to Hailsham, as the garage is right next door to a Marquis motorhome and caravan outlet, so I take a gander in there at the same time. I do the same as you Mike, and check lpg map for where to stop for gas, before setting off on a long trip up north. However, I now ring the garage/outlet before visiting, having pulled off the motorway to get gas on two occasions, only to find the garages had stopped doing lpg. A nice up to date site would be a help, as the current ones don't seem to be very well maintained.

Use either SRP or White diamond. They are both pretty much the same thing. The 845 would be OK if you are using the SRP or WD to polish the paint but if you're using them for filling it'll remove the fillers being solvent based

It probably does work but it depends on if you want to go to the trouble of getting it done. Of course, with things like this, you always end up finding that its stopped working when it goes wrong and something bad happens i.e. an accident at 70mph

Hissy Fit update! Lexus had her back to deal with her oddities......... They replaced the radio! How that will resolve the reverse camera not engaging or the windscreen wipers switching on and off randomly I really don't know! However, the faults have been reported under original warranty so hopefully she will be covered for any further issues........ I shall keep you posted.

It's hard to see how this has anything to do with the thermostat - if it was stuck open the heater would still be a bit warm and the temp gauge would show low. It is either an airlock, preventing coolant from getting to the heater matrix - check the pipes to the heater (at the back of the engine) - they should be hot to touch at all times the engine is hot - if not you have an airlock. Or it could be the heater controls - there's an ecu which controls motors to arrange airflow to mix hot and cold air as required. Something could be wrong there. But as this followed a low coolant situation, I'd go for the airlock. Try cautiously disconnecting hoses in the coolant system and see where coolant or air escapes.

We have had a similar issue with my wife's RX300. It's the near side rear and only happens with slow braking. The caliper was stripped down and greased etc. To no avail. Had it checked at a Lexus garage who couldn't find anything wrong. I opened a similar post some months ago and someone advised adjusting the parking brake so that it, basically, doesn't engage when operated. Had this done in conjunction with replacing the discs and pads and the problem went away, for a while! Since having the car mot'd the annoying noise is back so I am going to have the parking brake mal adjusted again to see if it goes away. Will let you know the outcome.