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Collected the car earlier today. Drives perfect now. The total bill came to £18k in the end.

Bought a 2006 RX350 SE in February from a Lexus Dealer with 94000 miles. Done 5000 + miles since, including a 2000 mile stint over two weeks around the Scottish Highlands (NC500), which is what we bought it for. The car is a very comfortable cruiser and not too shabby off road - the 4 wheel drive system is a step above the one in the RX400 which we also looked at. New battery and plugs is all the work we’ve required, plus have installed digital radio. The difference between buying the 350 compared to the 400 (circa £4K) helped the decision! Power steering pump is worth a check for leakage, but it plus other items will be covered if necessary by the warranty. Rear callipers, as with many/most Lexi, maybe shot but repair/refurb costs are reasonable, so check them out and use to negotiate price down... As per above take time to check the car out, there are a fair few good ones available so no need to settle for one that has been mistreated or had a bash. mpg for us is anything from 23 to 30 according to how we drive and type of road. The 3.5 motor comes complete with a satisfying rumble from the outside, but quiet as a mouse inside. Tax is high, but the difference in price covers that plus lots of petrol. It’s a Lexus so beautifully well built, lots of space, well equipped, very comfortable and the front seat folding arm rests are to die for he heh. No hesitation in recommending. Models without nav are rare and you lose associated sound and screen goodies, but they are keenly priced. Bluetooth works perfectly with my Samsung S7 and wife’s late model iPhone, and the Mark Leveson ICE is superb, even now it’s 13 years old. Good luck! Michael

I bought a 350 (56 plate) about 5 years ago and it has been trouble free apart form one spark plug coil failing and problems with the sunroof both fixed under the dealers (not Lexus) warranty. The coil was done by Lexus in Bordeaux and the garage paid the bill! (They underwrite their own warranty). I have had a small leak from one of the rear sunroof drains caused by a kink in the pipe inside the trim in the boot. Fixed by inserting a short length of 15mm copper pipe at the bottom (both sides done) which solved it. Also replaced the sensor for the headlight leveling system (bought from USA for about £80 delivered, took me about 20 minutes to fit it). Otherwise nothing apart from service items. I get about 24-28 mpg depending on whether local or motorway use. On the 400 if you are going to lay it up in the summer you will need to do something about the small battery as I understand that these run down over about 2-3 weeks if they are not used. I believe the handling of the 350 is better than the 400 as the suspension and geometry was revised. I am not convinced that the mpg on the hybrids is sufficiently better to justify the extra servicing costs as most seem to have them serviced by Lexus agents although I understand that little or nothing is done to the hybrid system in the services apart form changing the coolant on the inverter occasionally. If the inverter fails (some have been reported on the forum) it is expensive. Battery failures seem to be rare and usually confined to only one or two cells so replacement is not expensive (but potentially dangerous to do yourself). Running costs (fuel & road tax) are a bit more but I suspect that you would pay less for the 350 and you get quite a lot of petrol for the money. When I bought my 350 a 450 of the same age and spec would have cost about £6-8K more. I reckon it costs us about £6-700 a year more than running a hybrid excluding any higher service costs because of using a Lexus agent so over 10 years its on all fours. I haven't regretted my decision.

Welcome aboard, I can only offer what odds and ends I've picked up during ownership but it might help. Alongside the usual checks for service history / tyres / crash damage / etc / etc have a good look round the interior and sniff for water ingress. That was one of the things we've seen a few times on these pages. The body seams aren't great around the tailgate from what I've seen. Mine needed a few lines of sealant to sort a trickle into the boot and a few of the tail lamp gaskets could do with replacement. The 2GR can suffer from an oil leak at the back of the engine. There's a pipe that feeds oil up to the cams that can perish and you get a trickle of oil down the engine as a result. Mine is actually suffering a bit of mist from it and will need addressed. Pipe is around £100 plus some curse words if I remember right. I've had a few worn out bushes in the rear DS hub as well. They are a big heavy bus so you'd expect that sort of thing. Handbrake is rarely used so make sure the cables haven't seized in the off position. Other than that it's just the basic maintenance that you would expect (a lot of the above is probably in this category for a 13 year old car anyway). Oh and fuel. Lots of fuel. But that being said I'm loving it, in no rush to drive anything else!

The door placard is for the OEM tyres. Newer tyres are designed to give a comfortable ride at much higher pressure and running them at the OEM spec tyre pressures may be under-inflation. See here for more info: http://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/61 TL;DR start at 10% below the maximum rated pressure on the sidewall and adjust down until the ride is comfortable enough.

UPDATE: Right guys, major update due. So Lexus did eventually agree to repair the oil cooler and pipes etc. However since the repair the gearbox has not been functioning correctly. It would not go into gears easily. It would labour when shifting up and you had to press down on the accelerator for it to pop into gear. I have been driving it in manual mode for the last 12 months!! The car has been taken into Lexus Leeds on a number of occasions to try and solve the issue. However the problem persisted and Lexus UK have agreed to replace the gearbox! Great news! I pick the car up on Monday. They have also replaced the manifold. The bill in total is over £15k I believe. Glad I had warranty. Its not been an easy process but we have got there in the end!

Afternoon Folks, Just thought I would chime in and clear up a few points. No, car wasn't offered on here, being an owners club, most people already have an IS-F, so are less likely to be in the market for one. I also didn't want to break the rules by advertising without Gold Membership status. Regarding the price, even if someone does offer me close to the buy it now price (£26k), this is well under half what I have spent on the car. If I was trying to recoup my costs, the price would be over £50k. If you are looking to buy an IS-F, then tune/modify the car to make big horsepower you would spend a lot more to make a stock car look/perform like mine does. Also keep in mind the modifications are not extreme like most (no neon lights, lairy colours, spinners etc), car is still very subtle, and can be used daily if the new owner so chooses. If the current bids and offers are anything to go by, car won't be going anywhere. Worth pointing out I had a genuine offer of £17,500 which I respectfully declined. If you were in the market for a Japanese saloon that has over 600hp and is reliable, you would be hard pushed to find anything under £30k. I have no grief or ill feelings towards anyone on this forum, nor do I have an issue with people having their opinions, but to try and say modifications de-value a car or don't add any value is wrong. If you notice 'The Hulk' GTR is also advertised on eBay at the moment. I know the tuner who built it, Severn Valley Motorsport (SVM) and they want £155k obo. If you apply the it's a 2009 model worth £28k book price for trade-in, you would argue this is ridiculously priced, no one will buy it etc. My car is a one-off, the parts used are all high quality items and couldn't be bought/fitted/setup for less than £50k IF that's what you wanted to do. The supercharger kit alone is close to £10k plus the installation, setup, running in etc. I accept the fact I won't get my money back, that's the way it goes with modifying cars. What I will not accept is the idea of giving it away for a silly price. I am not desperate and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the car whatsoever, lack of free time is the main driver for potentially finding the car a new home. It is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, but if that price is too low, it won't sell as I would rather keep it. Hope that clears things up and if it did find a good home, rest assured I would still be around to help folks out with any technical issues or modifications they might need in the future. Cheers, Pete

Hi All I've had my IS300h for 3.5 years under a company car lease scheme. I thought I'd post a quick review of my own observations. Having had a stream of German cars for many years I changed to the Lexus IS300h advance. Driving an auto and hybrid was a major change for me but after a few months I was very happy with my choice. The car still feels fresh as it did on day one with no fade in performance or handling. In my view, the car is the intelligent mans choice for a changing landscape with anti diesel rhetoric and ULEZ about to be rolled out. I will most likely stick with the Lexus brand as build and overall quality are my main criteria. Well done Lexus for building such a great car. My next car is likely to be another IS300h or the ES300h. Nick

I believe the correct part code is 89428-20110 You could try a Toyota dealer as the part is used on several models. Otherwise very cheap ones available from China, or cheaper than Toyota from RockAuto

ps buying an SE-L with air suspension carries more risk due to the costs of getting the system fixed if it goes, which there is more of a chance of at middle age! But it does offer advantages so if buying one then go in with your eyes open. Plenty of threads on here via a search for more information if you are interested....

Yes, 4 weeks on the boat. I’ve followed several cars from Japan including my current NX. Each have been pretty much bang on 4 weeks.

Why not? Its part of the evaluation you need to do to make an informed decision.

I remember it well!

I made readings and tests again today. It seems that all codes disappeared, I made over 130 miles. Also, I noticed fuel consumption improves from 28 to 32 mpg (I tested the usual trip). Now the Long fuel trim shows -20 which means that the PCM removes the fuel. Thanks ColinBarber, probably the PCM is learning and the values are so high. I'm going to disconnect the battery but it should learn also without this step I guess. Before changing the MAF the error code appeared after 10 miles drive but now it's over 130 and no codes (no pending codes) ! I'm guessing disconnecting the battery will clear all settings.

Really good to hear 😃 I was trying to find your thread a couple of months back to see if there had been any update.

James (fetchez la vache) dropped a bombshell in his write-up by stating that the upholstery is synthetic. He was gracious enough to follow this with an apology in case he has spoiled my intended purchase. I have not been idle since learning of this. I have had an ES F-sport Takumi Pack on order since February for July delivery. The options have been carefully considered and where necessary discussed further with the supplying dealership. The upholstery has not been discussed as I was in no doubt from Lexus' on-line brochure (there isn't a printed one) that leather is standard on the F-Sport - Pages 40 & 53 confirm this. I took this up with Lexus Customer Service. They referred this and came back within a couple of days to confirm that the seats are synthetic and therefore the on-line brochure is wrong. I discussed with them the option of changing tor a base model with Premium Pack (as SH20) and Rich Cream leather - they told me that I would have to have a brown fascia whereas I would wish for black; in doing this I would have to forego the Takumi Pack as ordered which includes the larger satnav screen. As a general point, many people would prefer leather on a premium car, some might prefer synthetic, others may not be bothered and there may be ethical views. Staining on light leather could be a nightmare. Certainly on a car of this stature and price I would expect no less than quality leather. I raised this issue on the US owners' forum and was told that their ES comes with synthetic seats however an upgrade to perforated leather is available. First-Lexus makes an interesting point that he would prefer suede. My 1998 GS300 SE has leather which has stood the test of time in the 20 years I have owned it. The non-SE version came with Alcantara - a super Italian suede-like material which was tactile, hard-wearing and as expensive per-metre as leather. In any event if the car was delivered with plastic seats contrary to Lexus published spec I would hand it back so I am indebted to James for his observations. So what am I to do? I've considered this carefully and decided that I am going to cancel my order this coming week and buy a Mazda. It's not a hybrid but it comes with quality leather upholstery, all of the goodies including Apple CarPlay and a powered trunk. It will be delivered in 2 weeks and costs £10k less than the ES. I have three Lexus models in the driveway and this will be the first non-Lexus I will have bought in the last 15 years. This is the first negative post I have ever made regarding Lexus.

your cars looking great well done. wow a central heating radiator in the garage lucky you in winter time nice and toasty.

Haven't had time to update this for a while, all fixed and back on the road. Some questions about features to follow.

Thanks Paul, thanks to all of you for the well wishes, it will never be goodbye, still plan to help out and offer advice for anyone that wants it. Car won’t be going anywhere unless I can get what I feel is a fair price. Current bid doesn’t fill me with much confidence, but had some calls and emails that were a lot more encouraging. If it’s meant to be, then it will go to a new home. If not, that’s no hardship either! Has been a real labour of love, but I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

Long post warning - but still featuring GSF content!! I’ve been a petrolhead for a long time - ever since my first Matchbox car I guess. Later, as a young teenager, my posters of semi-naked ladies were forced to share space with car pictures; I remember staring at both a lot. Another thing I remember, just next to my poster of Lindsey Dawn McKenzie (remember her??!) was an older picture of a Dodge Viper, a gen 1 car, in red - I’d had this poster since I was 8 years old. The Viper lacked some of the more refined design cues that Ferrari and Lamborghini boasted, but she seemed to have an evocative, outrageous and curvaceous style all of her own. There was nothing else quite like her - I was smitten! The car was nice too. (please excuse the grin... 😂) A couple of decades later, and after a track day driving one, I thought “why not?"; so here’s my new toy, a 3rd gen imported Viper that lived in Florida until very recently. The gen 3 is considerably more refined than the early cars and the original 8 litre V10 now displaces 8.3 litres, which is 14.6 pints. There ain’t no replacement for displacement so they say... Many people will remind you that it’s a truck engine, which is and isn’t technically correct. Originally, Dodge mooted using a big-block V8, but needed more power. The engine was duly handed to Lamborghini, who added two more cylinders and recast the block in aluminium, resulting in an engine both more powerful and lighter than the original V8. Its a relatively simple and old-school giant, 20v, pushrod and with no fancy turbos, cylinder deactivation - nothing. I’ve only done a few hundred miles in it so far, but here are my initial impressions; Firstly, just look at it - the Viper’s doing 150mph just standing still! The enormous bonnet, huge vents/slashes in the bodywork (all of which are functional, to expel heat - we’ll talk about this later) and massive fat tyres - 345/30R19s at the rear, 275/30R18s at the front all edge toward the superlative! The folding roof is manual, can be completed in about 10 seconds but unfortunately does involve opening and shutting the boot. Getting in, the driving position is a little unusual, aside from being a left-hooker, the pedals are offset slightly to the left. When cruising the below-waist configuration could best be described as ‘manspreading’. The driver is cocooned in a very comfortable seat between wide sills, which house the side exhausts, and the immense gearbox in the middle. The steering wheel isn't adjustable, but the pedals can be moved closer or further from the driver to fit. Visibility is a leap forward from the gen 1 cars (where, being 6’2” I couldn’t decide whether to look out of the extreme top of the windscreen or stretch and drive over the top of it!) The engine utterly dominates the car as you would expect. Physically, it’s massive, and from the moment the red start button is prodded, a huge bassy rumble of thunder splits the air, quickly settling into a surprisingly low 600rpm idle. The gearbox is probably the most truck-like of the drivetrain components - it’s heavy, a little vague and fairly slow, although it does deal with 505bhp but more specifically 525lbft (712Nm) of torque with ease. The gearbox almost isn’t required, however. Shifting into first and pulling away, I’d be surprised if you could ever stall it. Gentle driving activates the skip-shift mechanism, which will guide you straight from 1st to 4th if you change before 15mph for ‘economy’. A $30 plug in device can disable this, but I’m undecided for the moment. Torque is everywhere and in the lower gears at least, the Viper appears to have little inertia; you decide how many revs you want to do, and the car’s speed immediately comes up to match. On a motorway, the Viper is sprung fairly softly, the tyres aren’t ultra-low profile and the ride is at least as comfortable as my GSF; which surprised me. There is some tramlining, but it’s easy to drive around that. The cabin is typically American (plasticky), although reasonably refined with little wind intrusion with the roof down. In the ultra-long 6th gear, revs are barely above 1000rpm at 70mph. A country road blast really wakes the Viper up, although it’s a wide car and needs room to play. Above 3000rpm, the brute force of that mighty V10 pins heads firmly to headrests, like a modern day Cobra. It’s not traditionally sonorous - sounding more like a V8 with extras, rather than the wail of other V10s. It handles like a go kart, has very quick steering and ample visibility to create a very enjoyable hoon! A blast in it reveals the engine’s dominance in more than just noise and power however; the heat haze is plainly visible from the 10 slats in the bonnet, and the warmth from the transmission tunnel, and the sills (do not touch these when getting out!) works the air conditioning hard. It’s been my dream to own a Viper, and it was difficult to let my previous track toy, a Honda S2000 go. Let’s hope I did the right thing! I aim to keep this thread updated for as long as anyone is interested, any questions, ask away. Hope you enjoyed the post, and I'll get some more picturesque images once it stops raining!)

There aren't really any issues with early cars which don't also affect later ones - not that there are any major issues anyway. Main thing is brake calipers, especially the sliders - but they all have the same maintenance requirements. Very early cars have solid rear brake discs - they were changed to vented in 2007 but it doesn't make any great difference. Older cars are just...well..older. Main thing is specs - they changed pretty well every year in some respect or other, even in minor ways such as the trim levels and colours available. People on here always say to get the top specs - SE-L etc. But consider - then you get a lot more electronic stuff to potentially go wrong. It's a lot more irritating to have some equipment not working than to not have it at all. I've had my 2006 SE for 7 years now. I did have a serious problem with a body ecu - I suspect due to a chafed wiring loom - but apart from that - nothing.

The surface of my paint was rough. I used a clay cloth and lubricant and was surprised how easy it was to do. I put a wax on it afterwards and this is the result : (she's 6 years old in 5 days time)

I was that old man....

Just an update on this one parts gathering has been slow due to unforseen circumstances at home. Wheels splash guards etc have arrived. Still need a few pipes brackets and plastics. Airbag unit has been sent off for reset due to the pop up hood activation. It will be running with 235/35/19 tyres all round. Gaps are nice with these. Updates to follow when I get back on it. Hopefully soon.