Leaderboard

How’s it going everyone? First post for a while since the little man arrived 😀 back on the 28th September. All is going well and he’s safely back home now and coming along nicely. I’m enjoying some PAT leave and inbetween bottles of milk and bouts of screaming (mainly from baby Corey, sometimes from me!) I’ve had time to let my mind run away with me and have collected my next ISF upgrade from the local powder coaters today. I've been looking at wheel upgrades since I’ve had the car but nothing really set my pulse racing. I was looking through some old photos last week and found some pics of my R32 Golf (MkV) that I had fitted with Porsche Alloys. I properly loved the look and the fact that it was a relatively (at the time) rare set up. That set me thinking as to what other prestige brand wheels would fit the ISF and after a little research I found what I think will be an ace set up. I picked up the wheels on Saturday, dropped them off at the powder coaters the same day and picked them up today. I’ll be getting the tyres switched and the wheels fitted in the next week or so and I’ll add some more pics then. So, take a seat Dav! I’m not sure these will meet with your approval and the shock may take it’s toll on your delicate and brand focussed disposition! Here is is a little peek at my next wheels and yes, I intend to use the original centres! Controversial!! These are Aston Martin V8 Vantage Alloys, 19 x 8.5 front, 19 x 9.5 rears. They will fit the same as my OEMs with the 15mm H&R track spacers I’m currently using, the same flush outboard fitment but with an extra 0.5 inch of inboard fitment which is fine given the OEM wheels without spacers used to sit 15mm further into the wheel wells. These have been media blasted to bare metal then powder coated in BMW Metallic Orbit Grey. The centre caps are brand new genuine units. Who knew centre caps could cost that much! Hatemail to the usual address please!! 😀🤓😝 Enjoy!!

Thank you everyone for your kind comments. I'll still look in the forum from time to time. Tim

I was speaking to the service manager of Lexus Sidcup today and I happen to mention to him this car for sale. He told me that they aren't allowed to touch it for any work, even an oil change. For a service, the customer drops it off to the dealer, who then contact Lexus UK. Lexus UK send a covered car transporter down to take the car to Belgium, where the Lexus technical centre for Europe is located apparently. They then carry out any work before sending it back. I suppose if you can afford the LFA, you could just use one of your other cars in the meantime. Perhaps slum it in an Aston for a few days

So I've had to move sub forum and this is to blame...

I've just sold my RCF so my advice is make sure it's got full lexus service history. It was the question they all asked when I was ringing dealers.

they look great , cant wait to see them fitted on the ISF My neighbour who lives opposite has an Aston Martin V8 Vantage, now iv'e seen this post he may wake one day to find his Aston sat on bricks 🙂

I do not know if 25C is enough but I would like to have it higher. It doesn't bother me if the seat heat is turning itself off gradually on it's own as long as I have a good blast at start to warm up my bum I would be happy! :)

All the best for a speedy recovery, like they say “where there’s one there’s always another”......get better n get that F 👍🏻👍🏻 Good luck

I have now added the new Lexus ES 300h club for everyone. Let the discussions begin 😄

After about six months of ownership I thought I would pop some of my thoughts down. I came from a Mercedes GLC, I wanted to go cheaper so tried to get a Suzuki vitara. I didn't even get as far as a test drive, both the dealers in my area are that bad! One completely ignored us fo half an hour so we left. The other had a hand scrawled sign on the door stating "out, back in about 5" so foiled again. I then wanted to look at the Volvo xc40. Booked test drive, arrived to find they hadn't got a petrol model but could have 10 minutes in there diesel one!!! We left. Then onto the Lexus dealer, what a difference, " yes of course you can put your dog in it, treat it as your own, what's the point in only driving a short time etc". We ordered one. i like it very much. A couple of things the GLC does better, when in reverse and the wipers come on it wipes the rear and the camera pops in and out so is always clean. Also the kick to open tailgate I'd like on the nx. Other than that I prefer most things on the Lexus. In summery, good move if not what was intended!

This has been a little while coming, so please bear with me. I'm a bit of a perfectionist (it's a curse) and never more so than with my cars. I have a bit of a history with 'refreshing' cars. This usually involves returning cars to a better than pristine state and then (lots of money later), getting bored, selling and starting again. Thus it's hard for me really appreciate my cars and to keep them for any long duration. Like I said, a curse. Anyway I'm hoping to change my ways with my move to Lexus. It just ticks so many boxes for me right now. The base car was a really good place to start: low mileage and a full service history from the original dealer. The car had been well looked after; the paint work original, in good nick and the mechanicals sound. However, as with everything that gets used, it picks up some perfections along the way. The first thing I wanted to do was sort the paint. The car had picked up some front end blemishes/marks and the odd chip. To do this properly required a complete front end refresh. The next issue is that nothing lets a fresh paint job down more than putting tatty trim back on. So new headlights, grills, and a plate mount later and we were looking good. I love the original look of the ISF, so while salivating over an amazing set of forged Vossen alloys, I chose to refurb the oem 10 spokes for now. I didnt want the car sitting on axel stands for a week, so i opted for getting another set. After sourcing a great set from a very helpful member on here, we got these refurbished and sent up to me. The wheels came with new Bridgestones, however I'd already bought some PS4Ss which had been in the garage, getting in the way of the Mrs. I really rate these, having used PSSs for years. New wheel centers finish these off well. Turns out the old ones were actually in very good condition anyway. The ISF's interior is in really good condition, if a little dark. Theres nothing i hate more than saggy seats with crumpled bolsters. It was also a nice surprise considering how badly my previous new Audi seats wore over 2 years of light use. I toyed with the idea of a quilted cream retrim, having seen how good the colour looks combined with an USB car. I'm going to sit (haha) on this for a bit as it strays from original and I'm not sure how well it resists dirt (i have a little one on the way). Ive settled for now with a new set of Lexus mats, Lexus boot liner and some replacement plastic trims (replaced some scuffed boot trays and sill trims). Finally, to tie everything in, the car came back today after several days away with a really nice man called Clark. His reputation preceeds him and im never dissapointed with his work. He treated the ISF to a paint correction, detail and a protective quartz coating on the body, trim and wheels. Next plans... well I'm currently trying to source a Jap s/s & titanium exhaust to help the v8 sound a bit meaner. Then I'll see how I feel about the Vossens and the retrim again. Big thanks again to Mr Rat and Sam at Lexus Cheltenham for helping me out big-time with the wheels. Top blokes. Right, ive prattled on enough, see what you think:

Four months into GS F ownership I finally got around to taking some pictures. So here it is, early car with fixed dampers, sonic titanium with red leather, Mark Levinson but no sunroof -perfect spec for me. The plate doesn't really suit but came off my V10 Phaeton which the F replaced. Plan is to keep it forever -one of the reasons I chose it over an M5 or AMG. I love the sense of occasion you get when driving, and the Jekyll and Hyde character. And, of course, the noise! I feel very fortunate to own three of the best sounding cars ever -the GS F, an S54 BMW Z3 M Coupe and a Gordon-Keeble. Hi to everyone on the forum! Mike

After just over a year of ownership, I am beginning to wonder if the LC500 is just too flawed to live with on a daily basis and whether it is time to move on. Looks wise it is an amazing car and is a real head turner but I'm not sure if this is enough. I would be interested to hear other owners comments on the following: There are places that the LC500 just can't go as it is too wide. UK Roads are not designed for a car that is this wide. The lack of a surround view camera which should be standard on a car like this just makes it worse.I went to a car park with a 2m width restriction yesterday and there was just no way I would risk trying to get in. On narrow roads you have to be really careful too. The whole Infotainment system is poor. I am getting a lot of crashes where it just switches itself off and then comes back on again. It seems to forget what mode you were in and switches the split screen off.The SatNav sometimes shows the car in completely the wrong place. Stopping the car and restarting it seems to be the only way to fix this. The trackpad is very difficult to use when stationary and is all but unusable while driving. The lack of any heated seats switches is really annoying. I know that you can set this to automatic but this means that they don't necessarily come on when you want them to and they never seem to get that hot. My car is a Sport and so this maybe due to the alcantara, perhaps the leather seats do get hotter. The interior lighting is very poor. The ambient lighting all but switches itself off once you select Drive and now that the darker evenings are here, the courtesy lights are so small and dim that they do almost nothing to illuminate the interior when you open the doors.There is also no illumination of the heater and aircon controls making using these very difficult to use at night. The auto high beam often does not work well, either dipping very late or switching the high beam on in a built up area. The day/night sensors are also far too sensitive. Finally, I have a really annoying rattle from the front passenger seat which cannot be identified. I may be tempted back to a German car, as while they may not have the looks, they do all of this stuff so much better. Are these flaws common to Lexus vehicles in general or is just the LC?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201810261866618?atmobcid=soc3

First world problem!

If Lexus cost the same as Tesla I would expect it, but there you go

Have you ever looked at the panel gaps on a brand new Tesla Model S? The one I saw on display at a country fair had a gap at the bottom of the bonnet/ wing of about 6/7 mm decreasing to about 2mm up at the windscreen scuttle.

Yes that is weird. You would have thought that all cars with sat-nav would update automatically. What I'm really puzzled about is my wife's 05 plate Honda FRV that adjusted its own clock without any sat-nav or clever tech on-board. Maybe it used old-fashioned RDS or something.

nice one Dan, I had actually considered the exact same wheels! Look forward to seeing them on the car

Agree with the above. Does the wobble get worse still if you go above 75, to me that indicates tyres or wheel (could be UCA - though I had worn UCA replaced and had no such symptoms before). I wonder if it could be pads/shims, though does not present as 'wobble', (well not for me), sort of a feeling of a unbalanced wheel, but once it kicks in it does not get worse with speed. One other thought, had a tyre with seperated layers years ago on Omega, it presented like I was sort of driving on a slippery road at low speed only when turning a corner and then at motorway speeds felt unbalanced, but when you put it on wheel calibrator it showed as perfectly balanced. This was with brand new tyres, which is why it took a while (and pure chance) to diagnose. Cannot remember how tyre depot confirmed the problem, but it was me that asked them to suss out if that was the issue. Is this a job for the chaps at Japex to have a look at?

Right I’m going to insist on this next time Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Best of luck and I think that the above pic may be from a US version Owner's Manual? paul m.

Quite ridiculous. But if you do fancy having it done at a main dealer I'd try calling a different one. Lexus Coventry clearly couldn't give a toss. Try speaking to Chris on service at Sheffield. He has either a 400 or 430 and I'm sure he'll tell you if it's Lexus "policy". By comparison I bought my '02 2JZ IS300 last year and received a year's warranty from Lexus Sheffield. Just before the warranty ran out I had it back to them for a service and they identified a small leak from the pump. This was changed under the warranty but while they were in there I asked them to change the timing belt. It wasn't really due for a couple of years but it cost me about 35 quid because all the labour was included in the water pump job.

Guys, my indy has confirmed the item ok, ...............thank you Shirish It's now ordered on line at £103.50 PLUS carriage at £51.20 for delivery by 10th / 11th November ( from Japan and not the UAE option ) The cheaper snail mail carriage at £20+ is estimated at about 60 days delivery Total cost will be the £154.70 above PLUS Customs Duty and if there's a post office fee that I recall reading about before on here Reckon total cost might be about £190 and some £100 less than the Lexus supplied part from my local dealer I'll keep you informed Thanks once again guys Malc

Great choice, and welcome to the sub-Forum. To judge by my own experience you are going to spend a lot of time just gazing at her sleek lines. I notice you wisely gave other cars in the park plenty of distance.

But the front ones wipe if you leave on auto when you start up, much more likely to damage them, as windscreen isn't heated and not scraped!

The house I was looking to purchase has fallen through so my car purchase will be later than planned. Will be interesting keeping an eye on prices. They are now in my price range which is great news.

I recently discovered that you can disable this if you have TechStream. Mine now stay on all the time, not that you can tell! Incidentally, I have just got mine back from the dealer and the service manager showed me picture of a thermal camera they have which showed 25C on the seat base at full power.

Hear Hear. Bigger German branded cars especially are lauded in the media. They are great for 3-4 years but as a second hand buy are a big risk. I should know having owned a 2nd hand E60 for 4 years. Its a decent, generally reliable car no doubt about that but some of the engineering is pretty poor. Niggles are commonplace and pricey to resolve. The latest is a warped rocker cover meaning a minor oil leak that is dripping onto the hot manifold. Common problem apparently. Seriously.....what shoddy engineering. That's my last. GS250 then a Camry next 🙂

You don't miss too much in regards of max speed. I can do easily 155mph in GS450h but GS in general is not really designed to do that. What I mean by that is suspension is too soft for it especially for me with 2 passengers and full boot. It was happy on flat straight but on more bumpy bends and especially with breaking it was jumping too much. It would need some suspension upgrade and/or extra down force. On the other hand I was surprised by breaks which are really good even at slowing down from 155 to 70 area in short time - yes someone didn't look in a mirror 🙂 For a while it is fun but for longer periods I was cruising in the 140-145 area where is was more happy to be.

And that beeping noise when you leave the door open....it's Americanised car. Which I do not mind actually. European cars are vastly over-rated and if I lived in the states I would probably drive a Cadallic, Lincoln etc or indeed a Lexus. The Americans get a far more inspiring range of Lexus models as that is the market that's important to them - they get the amazing GS350, the GS300 (not the hybrid but the 2litre turbo). They also get the inspiring RC and IS350 plus this engine in the RX. We were lucky to get the 2.5. It's a nice engine but I would have preferred the 3.5. I do drive abroad and at times would like the car to be faster above 120mph and do more than 140mph. That situation does not come up enough to put me off, but I would have, choice been given, had the 3.5 one.

Little update all beige parts now re-coloured black seat leather changed to black and red new custom steering wheel arrived new headlights (1 arrived , other due next week new coolant header tank arrived bank balance slightly lower lol car should be back on my drive in next week will post up pics of full interior change hopefully next week missing my car but should be well worth the wait

A diesel, particularly a very thermodynamically efficient one can take nearly 20 mins to get the engine to temperature. Back in the days when I had a 9-5 job and commuted, my E220cdi would only be fully upto temp near the end of the run. I was in Lexus Glasgow and I asked them if they could code out the seat heating cool down, it has 3 bars and slowly counts to 2 then 1. I know when I am comfortable and would rather it stayed on the 3rd setting until I decided it was time, not the car. They said they couldn't but the seat is more of a "warming seat" not the full on heated variety that you get in a Volvo, BMW or Mercedes. I smell a bit of company line BS and really the seat heaters are under specified. The aircon system is very powerful, as good as the system in my old X5 - maybe better. None of the Mercs or even the Volvo had such powerful aircon. I have the feeling with the very high powered aircon system and the tepid seat heaters the car was designed and engineered for a warmer climate. I can tell driving it it doesn't like the cold, even the steering collumn makes a groan coming out because of the cold. This is a car for Arizona, Texas, not a car for NW Scotland. MInes 5yo and no mention of the plugs - 60k is about right for sparking plugs. You'd have to drive it like an Ape to get as low as 31mpg. When you say warm up - engine temp does take about 10-15 mins. The more efficient the engine, the longer it takes to warm. The cabin heater doesn't take long to heat the car up.

breakers (old school, climb and discover type) .... the modern type of breakers are only interested in the big stuff (doors, etc). I'm sure you'll find this part on loads of Toyota's and Lexus vehicles ... then splice back into your wiring at home

Its been a while since it's been tried lexus/Toyota Mk1 Toyota aristo http://www.speedhunters.com/2008/08/car_spotlight_gt_gt_jzs147_aristo_wagon/ Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

All the best Tim.

Firstly, it's illegal and an MoT failure. What's the problem with the DPF?

Very sorry to hear this Tim. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.

Sorry to read this.😥 Wishing you a swift and full recovery. Hopefully see you back with a nice GS-F at some point soon. 👍😎

There’s always another car Tim at another time. hope you get your health back on track. best wishes, matt

I would be amazed / genuinely astonished if I could do anything to make the ML in my RCF sound any better. Aftermarket car speakers are pretty much across the board terrible sounding. The drive units that ML specified were sourced via their sister company Revel so you’re in good hands. A direct Lexus sourced replacement will be best way to keep the sound quality of the ML spec’d unit. Then again beauty is in the eye (or in this case ear) of the beholder...after all some people think Bose and Sonos sound good - each to their own I guess.

Where is that can of worms I left lying around.....it needs to be opened.

Well i think the whole system is a bit of an attempt to help drivers who can't guess the correct speed limit of a road. The older system on my RX was much better. It was just built into the sat nav system and would get speed limit info from there.

And if technology can’t even read road signs correctly, what chance do we have with driverless cars.