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Picked her up last weekend from Southampton after trading in my 2007 335i M-Sport. She is a 2008 with 50k on the clock (Full Lexus Service History). I absolutely love her. She is called Lichelle :-) Apologies for poor photo quality. She's a little dirty as well as I picked her up in minging weather.

unless you are going to be a total arse i doubt you would notice the difference between two brands of tyres on the same axel ,and dont forget we are lexus drivers we are grownup and drive sensibly ,if this imbalance where to be say on an Audi or Bmw then the outcome may be different

You are mistaken. He said Jag XF R Sport not XF-R which doesn't actually exist yet in the new model CVT is fine for driving. 95% of people have no issue with it and some don't really know the car has a CVT

I see the NX dropped 11 places to 17 this year, despite a similar score to last year. Which confirms how the SUV section is very competitive and the newer cars often push older ones down. 17 is still good mind. Voted 1st for Build Quality :), 4th for Seat Comfort, 9th for Reliability, 24th for Ease of Driving, 29th for Road Handling, 34th for Ride Quality, 35th for In-Car Tech, just out of top 50 with a 51st for Practicality, 80th for Performance and 107 for Running Costs. I feel the Running Costs poor result is due to the huge difference of Claimed and Real World MPG. Top car was the Tesla Model S. Lexus also had some other good places. 4th IS Mk3, 5th GS Mk4, 6th RX Mk3, 10th RX Mk2, 37th GS Mk3, 42nd CT, even the IS Mk2 still gets a 85th spot. so another good year for Lexus.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Superb-1995-Lexus-LS400-Mark-3-Only-105-000-miles-99-classic-insurance-/272217588621?hash=item3f616ec38d:g:Sq4AAOSwd3dXFoZs Of any interest to anybody?. I'll have to stick to the Passat for a bit longer I'm afraid.

Pretty simple job to remove the aux belt, then check it for condition, and also check the idlers for roughness/play. I fitted a new Gates belt to mine, reasonably priced on ebay.

Nice description, but disagree with him regarding the criticism of the later 5-speed gearbox. Also, not every single LS400 has failed heated front seats. Mine still work perfectly on my mk.4. All said, I think the car is definitely worth the money he's asking for it.

I use the Toyota rubber grease - it comes in a tooth paste size tube - a lot of people use different greases with the same results. Its personal choice. If you find one that works, stick with it. The Toyota rubber grease works for me. Have used if for a few years without issue. If you are going for another make just consider if it is suitable in not attacking the rubber seals. I have serviced my car this weekend - just done the pins today and they were all good. I have put a couple of pictures below of the grease on the pin. I renew the grease every 6 months. The picture below is before cleaning and applying the new grease. I used the rubber grease on it 6 months ago - it came out no problem. There is a noticeable difference in the colour (clearer grease on the pin i have just taken out) suggesting its doing its job and not just sat there on the pin doing nothing. I have also circled a lip on the pin - this area needs to be spotless, if not it doesn't matter what type of grease you use as the rubber will not seal on the pin correctly and allow dirt and water in. The grease I use does not attack the rubber seals so they are always tight around this point. The pin below shows the cleaned pin with a smear of the clean rubber grease - note the difference in colour between used and new. Not very clear images but the difference is very noticeable. A picture of the grease I use is below along with the part number. - available from Toyota or Lexus for around £10

something i have noticed is that you can buy a long one or a short one if you intend on having it plugged in whilst driving you may be better off with a short one ,some of them have a switch so you can turn the obd2 adapter off and still leave it plugged in

Update to my cracked condenser - all sorted on Friday with minimal fuss. Lexus Bristol gave me a 2016 IS Advance for the day. Nice but much prefer the F Sport! One thing I did notice was a glossier looking Nav screen which looked good. F Sport much more of a matt effect screen. Air con now working as it should just in time for summer. Lets hope we get a good one!

Don't be scared Mark ................ as i said, I would go4it if i was wanting a Mk3 ............ it's 21 years old and a slight play in anything, well, most cars are at the knackers yard by this time ................ looked after I think this young lady could last you another 21 years .... never known slight play in my steering rack, they really aren't known for any problems in this direction at all, might have been an over zealous MOT Tester ! Mine's done 184k miles and costs very little to keep in good form ( 60k miles with me over 5 years, and my 3rd Ls400 in 15 years of constant Ls400 motoring ) Malc

I was booked on for the dyno Monday coming but then had last minute meeting organised for me up in Teesside so had to cancel. I have three sets of parts to test now, standard, HPS with K&N filter and my own design...well really it's a hybrid of the HPS, RR-Racing and the CCS-R setups. Hopefully find a day soon to back to back dyno them.

Oil consumption can be due to wrong grade oil. Long term it will burn off and soot will gather up in cat converter clogging up exhaust and if there is an egr. And you will need to top up with correct oil till the old one is burned off. You might never see blue smoke if engine is good and exhaust system is working well. This A5 C3 thing should have been in owners manual. I am sure many people have screwed up engines because of this. Chain garage will have a database so they are a safer bet I would assume. But DIYers ger hit.

Hi guys Just back from a superb 'Road Trip' - the North Coast 500 - 500 miles north of Inverness. Starting in Inverness, we went north to John O'Groats, west to Durness then south via Lochinver, Ullapool, Gairloch and Applecross to Loch Carron. The official route (there's a website) goes back from Loch Carron to Inverness, but we cut that leg out as it's mostly a fairly boring 2 hour drive through Glen Carron. Instead we headed for home via Lochaber, Fort William and Glen Coe. Even so we managed about 600 miles on the part designated as the NC500 with various excursions and diversions. Thing is, of course, there's also the 900 miles round trip even for us in Cheshire to the start and finish, but we were in Deeside in Aberdeenshire anyway. Car performed faultlessly (now due for a service!) and I really appreciated its overtaking ability on some of the winding roads along the route! Most of the route recommendations involve doing it clockwise, but we did it anticlockwise, partly because it leaves the best till last and also you approach the mountains of Assynt from the north - the best aspect! (IMHO) Many superlatives are hurled at scenery, but the views on this route really justify them all! Here are a few tid-bits. All pics taken between Monday 11th April and Thursday 14th April. Don't know if the pics will appear in order, but here are the titles: 1 Mermaid of the North 2 Rolling Boulder scupture at John O'Groats 3 Torrisdale Bay 4 Inverpolly Forest 5 Summer Isles 6 Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh from A896 7 Here we are at Inveralligin, looking south across Loch Torridon towards Ben-damph Forest 8 Shieldaig (the more southerly one off Loch Torridon - there are two Shieldaigs quite close together!) Other 'Road Trips' are available - from personal experience I can particularly recommend the Route des Grandes Alpes between Lake Geneva to the French Riviera (only passable in July and August), and the coastal route from Los Angeles to San Francisco - some of you might like to suggest others!

Good to hear it's a warranty job, reliability seems to be good my LS400 is all original on the AC including the gas after 21 years

Hi Martin and welcome to the Forum. I bought my LS400 nearly six years ago and afterwards put together this advice - some of which might now be out of date or wrong? I don't know about 430s but there are plenty of members on here who do, so don't be afraid to ask. There are never many 400s for sale, and once you’ve discounted the ones that are too old, clapped out, expensive, or too far away, you won’t be left with many to choose from. Good ones sell quickly so it’s important to look at as many examples as you can, otherwise you won’t be able to make comparisons. Be prepared to travel to find the right car. I ended up buying one from 250 miles away, and did wonder at one point whether I was mad, but I don’t regret it because I got a good car at a good price. It’s sometimes difficult to work out what a good price is - some sellers ask ridiculous prices, assuming that a car that cost £45-50,000 new must be worth at least a tenth of that now, and in one way you can understand why; but I’ve noticed that overpriced cars stay on the market for months until they’re reduced. Mileage seems not to matter as long as the car’s been maintained properly, but things inevitably wear out with age. I read somewhere that younger with high mileage is usually better than older with low mileage. Service history is a must, because they’re complex cars that need proper maintenance. Some for sale haven’t been serviced for 20,000-odd miles, which suggests that they need expensive work. If the cambelt needs changing, budget for about £450. I think they need changing every 10 years or 70,000 miles. Open the bonnet before starting the engine. If you hear a roar it could be the top exhaust manifold leaking, which is expensive to replace. The rest of the exhaust system will probably be the original (stainless steel), which should last the life of the car, but obviously you should check for blowing. Starter motors sometimes fail and this is expensive to repair because they’re stuck right down in the V at the bottom of the engine. It’s difficult to know when they’re about to pack up, but try starting the engine a few times. I’m not sure how you check for it, but you need to ensure that the power steering isn’t leaking fluid. This can damage the alternator. Listen for knocks or clonks over bumps. Suspension wear is common, particularly the wishbones and bushes, but mine has got through six MOTs with a bit of wear and clonk (more noticeable when cold). The CD-Rom unit for the satnav is under the boot floor. Sometimes the disc is missing. But it's an outdated system (street name only, no postcode) and it's cheaper to buy a Tomtom than a new disc. If the bonnet won’t stay up on its own, budget for new struts. Check whether the car has the Dynamic Handling Pack – this includes slightly lower suspension, stiffer springs and bigger wheels with low profile tyres. This version looks better (in my opinion) but the tyres are much more expensive. Gear changes should be almost imperceptible. On my car, most are only noticeable because of the rev counter needle moving. Heavy braking from high speed and then keeping your foot on the pedal can cause the brakes to bind, so check for judder when braking hard. Check that the trim around the inside of the boot fits properly. If it doesn’t, the boot can let in water and become damp/smelly. Check that everything electrical works. This will take time because there are a lot of toys on the car, but you don’t want to be stuck with a dodgy sunroof, aircon, lights, seat motors etc. The heated seat elements often fail because they’re not very strong, but if you’re like me you never turn them on anyway. The electric aerial often fails, or breaks off in a car wash. Budget for about £50 for a decent replacement (I’m told that cheap Halfords-type ones don’t get good reception). There should be at least two keys, and one of them must be a master (these cost a lot of money to get chipped by Lexus). I was advised to deduct £200 for each key not supplied with the car. Otherwise I think it’s just general things that would apply to any old car you might be looking at. But do read what other guys in the Club say – most of them are more technically-minded than I am! Good luck with your search!