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Hi, For the past 15 years i have been a BMW driver, current i drive a 730D in full spec. Because of the diesel bashing, and the rising taxes on diesel drivers i started to look around for something else. A plug-in hybrid is not an option since i live in the city and i can't charge my car overnight. So almost by accident i ended up in the Lexus showroom, and the ES caught my attention at once. I arranged a halfday testdrive with the car ( privilege level ) to see what the buzz was about. I must admit i started with low expectations , coming from a 6cyl diesel with massive torque, i was ready to be disappointed. A few things i noticed as i took off. The cabin was nice and overall of good build quality, bar a few niggles mostly on the lower parts of the cabin, i was satisfied with the materials. Music is important for me and i was very happy to note that the Mark Levinson 17 speaker was sounding a lot better than my Bowers and Wilkinson 4500£ stereo in my 7. Another hit was the head up display , an option i can not live whit-out anymore, the ES display is wiiideeee ! and clear! The seats as far as i can tell match those in my 7 in comfort, and the safety systems (lane assist, cruise control etc, etc..) work as good as in my present car, and above all , man this is a silent car wow! it beats my 7 easy when it comes to silence ! Now the drivetrain and engine, it took me an hour before i understood the concept of a hybrid CVT, but then i got going. It takes some getting used to, coming from a powerful car, but if you drive it like a comfort car then the whole concept works. Those looking for slides, RWD, sharp hairpin steering etc.. should look elsewhere, but at my age (i'm 55 ) comfort goes over sporty, i don't want my teeth rattling when'd driving over our deteriorating roads, and my back give me enough problems as it is whitout adding 22 inch wheels to it. And as far as the power of the engine is concerned; where i live you are either stuck in slow traffic or traffic jams or the speedcamera's take out all the fun of driving fast, so a lot of good those 6 cylinders will do you! of the 20 000 miles i did last year there were maybe 200 miles where i really could enjoy the speed and power of my 6 cylinders in an undisturbed way , if you take in the extra cost of ownership, taxes etc.. those were 200 very expensive miles! So i reckon the downgrade of power will take a few weeks getting used to, but all the other aspects are very promising indeed, ordered mine !

too much ' power ' in all respects ... wonder if it's as much a pollutant cause as the figure brandished about that cows chewing the cud and farting / breathing etc cause 40% of global warming so we've already reached 70% in passive global warming ................ and the rest from humans breathing ( we could selectively remove some of these, Trumps, Kim Jongs etc ), coal burning, wood burning, gas cookers and heating ............ so that leaves us with almost zero I would estimate from our beautiful wonderful petrol cars long live 4 litre gas guzzling Ls400s ... with of course the correct air filters to stop them being choked up from your mobile phone output Malc

A pretty strong showing for all Lexus models, but I don’t think there are too many people on this forum totally surprised by these results. Quality, reliability, comfort, a touch of genuine class that every Lexus owner appreciates.

The first time I needed to replace the tyres on my IS, I went for Dunlop Sport Maxx. I hated them! In cold weather (below about 7C) they skipped and juddered, especially when I was reversing and turning, even gently, well away from full lock. I considered winter tyres but here in the south west there are probably only 2 days in a typical year when full winter tyres would be really useful. So, when I needed to change them a few months ago, before winter set in, I decided to try Michelin Crossclimates. They were SO much better. As it stands I'll be sticking to them in future unless I find they degrade too quickly, but so far there doesn't seem to be any signs that they might.

Hi Brian. It is normal.

Shhhh. Don't tell everybody, they'll all want one.

Can we stick to the subject of the post please keep the politics off the forum.

Well said Herbie. Not all cars of the same model and trim are the same when they become preowned. Squeaks and rattles bug me but as Herbie stated I listen to Rock music and loud too. So it's a lottery as to what car you get. To get a "robust" car you'll have to test 10's if not 100''s before you find the one you'd be happy with.

Sounds like you are happy, same as me. On the satnav comment, I have reduced the contrast which takes some of the colour away and makes the white border stand out a little more. Definitely needs a colour setting.

Won't bore you all with what I've done, but I will say, hold on your F cars guys, the grass isn't always greener. Once I've got my head round my new car, I'll write a mini review discussing why I swapped out.

Maybe I'm just lucky but I don't hear any squeaks, rattles or other annoying noises in our 63-plate RX450h Advance. Mind you, I'm an avid music lover so I always have the radio or other media playing something, so maybe the annoying sounds are there but just being masked.

Well here’s the breakdown droplinks - slight movement in both enough to be a problem upper control arms. - 1 ball joint shagged and all bushes knackered. New stuff on and service has returned to normal.

They are fabulous cars, a good friend of mine bought one of the very first UK cars, we both did trackways together and his Gtr always whooped my RX7 despite it have 400 BHP and quite light. But at the end of a years track fun things got a bit expensive for him, due to it being quite a hefty beast he had to replace bushes, arms etc at a cost of over 3K and that was quite a while ago. My smug face was on when all I'd replaced was some front brake pads, of course it could have been worse if I hadn't had the engine re-built just before our year of fun. The later facelift cars (with more BHP) are a real improvement over the older cars, you don't need a stereo because all the transmission sounds that come through the car. But again it's a car you can't relax in believe me I tried for the first half of the test drive and gave up and floored it. http://s713.photobucket.com/user/DavidWiltshire/library/

I am not sure what dirty supermarket fuel is or the effect it will have - your car has a fuel filter. There may be more ethanol in cheaper - the max is 5%. More expensive fuels have additives that can be demonstrated to improve fuel consumption. You should never MoT a car that is not at normal operating temperature - when you book a lot of garages remind you of this and tell you to warm it up before you arrive. You should always make sure you take care of the basics before the test. Somebody made a comment about the air being dirty these days - they were not alive in the 1950s when people dropped like flies in the smog caused by coal fires - the clear air acts have taken care of the problem. The air is clean these days but could be a lot cleaner - all you DERV drivers. None of my Lexus ever failed (an MoT or got close - I am on no 7) - LPG will give you good emission results, if you have a conversion. Warm the car up and leave it on auto - they have to test the car as it turns up. They are brilliant machines but not magic so be nice to them 🙂 Good luck Bren

A newbie who has not actually got his lexus yet ! Have always yearned for a lexus but time /finances were never right finally made the decision recently and went looking for an rx450h in Scotland - Like hunting for hens teeth ! I have finally found one in Cheltenham 2013 LUXURY model with 35k miles -beautiful ! I haven't actually seen /drove it !!! but waiting on RAC inspection on Wed and then hope to go down fri/sat to pick up. Will post my first experiences . Geo

Well I collected the NX yesterday. Nice drive back home too. It’s not as sure footed as the IS but I didn’t want a boy racer anyway.

I’m at Lexus Swindon this morning having my tyres checked (TPMS activated a couple of times). There is an ES Takumi in the showroom and a new GSF in the same colour. I think the GS looks better, and has more presence. It certainly looks longer. The interior is lovely, but a few areas seem a bit cheaper than the GS. Even so, the ES looks like a great option. Most drivers won’t mind the move to FWD - after the snow last week maybe some will prefer it! I’m impressed.

Go for the f sport

Not on European models! Tyre repair kit only.

I picked up my fsport a week ago, came from an is300h fsport and have to say very happy with the es

Saw my first ES at Lexus Reading this afternoon. Only mooched about the outside but man, yes: it is a big car. Not suited to nudging into hedges on country lanes, I'd suggest!