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An update after 14 months and almost 10k miles with my NX. I still really like the car. It is very comfortable and quiet - I'd describe it as a relaxing driving experience. Yes, with the eCVT, flooring the accelerator will cause the revs to rise as pointed out in so many reviews, but I have never had a situation where I've felt the need to accelerate in such an 'agricultural' manner. Maybe just me, but life is too short to drive aggressively. The minor rattles that had started were traced to the passenger seatbelt buckle against the seat/pillar and the locking wheel nut box in the glovebox! Both easily resolved, and despite the terrible rural roads I drive on no other rattles have emerged which is impressive. Paintwork chips continue to irritate on the front bumper, but they are relatively minor. Personally I don't have an issue with the infotainment, not that I use it much. With use it is simple enough, and the navigation has worked on the few times I've used it. Sound quality from the stereo is good too, even when streaming via Bluetooth from Spotify. Discussions with many of my peers (mainly over 45 years old) show that infotainment in cars has a couple of consistent themes. None of us like the 'i-Drive' wheel type systems, including drivers of 3 and 5 series BMWs. Most would prefer buttons or touchscreens. Also, there is a lot of focus in reviews about the functionalities of such systems, but my peer group aren't bothered about most of it. All we want is a navigation system that works and the ability to listen to music. All the other stuff is largely irrelevant and never used. Economy - with hardly any motorway miles - is as expected. My daily 15 mile commute on country lanes and a short section of B-Road, I guess at an average speed of 40-45mph, gives me c45mpg. Overall the computer is showing 41.4mpg over the total mileage of the car, so probably about 40mpg in reality. Good enough, and about the same as previous diesel / auto SUVs owned from VW. I don't have any real negatives. This is a stress free car to own and drive, which is exactly what I was looking for. Service from Lexus Swindon is excellent, and the car feels very well made. Passengers often remark on how much they like the interior, how comfortable the seats are and how quiet it is. I'm fortunate that I get pretty regular access to all sorts of cars (business policy is to hire cars for business travel) and I've yet to find a comparable car that I'd rather own at this stage of my life. One last point. I do rather like the fact that you don't see many NXs (or indeed Lexus in general) on the roads. It wasn't something I'd really thought about when I first got the car, but as time has gone on I find the exclusivity appeals to me. Whenever I see a BMW 3-Series or an A4 I tend to think of David Brent type characters, who are likely to be regional sales managers for a photocopier company or similar...whereas with Lexus I'm of an age where I still think Partridge...😂

Took the wheels off my 2008 GS450H and gave them a thorough clean, polish, and wax. Also cleaned up the the calipers and painted them silver and cleaned under the arches. All that described in a very short paragraph but Jesus H I’m feeling it now. My legs are tired, my arms ache, my knees hurt, I’m a wreck! Anyway, unhealthy middle aged bloke grumblings aside, here’s the evidence of what turned out to be about 12 hours work. This is the car pre-clean. Note the dull grey calipers and dirty wheels. This picture shows in better detail the caliper behind one of the front wheels, the dull locking wheel nut, and the grime under the wheel arch (but hey at least the body work is pretty clean). Here’s a rear wheel shot. The rear calipers are tiny in comparison to the meaty bad boys on the front, and on my car at least the rear discs while still ok in terms of thickness look rusty and naff around the hub. Apparently since it’s a hybrid the rear discs don’t have to work very hard as there’s a braking with regen. Either way, looks could be improved. Once jacked up and wheels off I could get to the arches with the pressure washer and scrubber. I wasn’t going for pristine here, just improved. I blasted several times with the Karcher, sprayed G101 and agitated it around, blasted it all off again, and once dry sprayed and wiped with Aerospace 303. The wheels of my era GS450H have chromed plastic ‘spokes’ which might look nice but are a right pain to clean around. Since this was going to be a proper clean I decided to remove them. A spray with WD40 around the 10mm nuts helped and my electric screwdriver paired with an adapter from my socket set saw them all come off easily enough. This is definitely something worth doing every year or so as I could easily imagine them seizing solid if they went ignored. Wheels are a pretty hostile place for a happy union of plastic and metal like this. I cleaned them up with some Autosol, which is brilliant stuff. Once the plastic bits are removed the wheels look like this. This is pictured towards to the of the (back breaking) process of cleaning them. I cleaned the wheels with Bilberry wheel cleaner, Dragon’s Breath iron remover, G101, then tar remover. I used some old Meiguars polish then waxed with Collinite. With the wheels sorted it was time to tackle the calipers and rear discs. I was undecided between going for black, which is possibly more original, or silver, which to my eyes looks cleaner and fresher. I went with silver. I used Hammerite smooth coat which came well recommended and a brush I stole from my 5 year olds art box (now replaced with a new one). Beefy front caliper done. Weedy rear caliper and drake disc done. I could have done a slightly neater job but figured any small excess would be hidden by the wheel or removed the first time I braked, so didn’t worry too much. Car jacked up waiting for wheels to be reattached. Weirdly one of the bits I’m most proud of is the locking wheel nuts. I cleaned them up as best I could and then dipped the nut face down onto the open lid of the paint tin. The residual pain on the lid was enough to provide a small coat to the surface of the nut but no more. Looks pretty neat I think and doesn’t interfere with how they work at all. Front wheel done and back on (yes I know a nut is missing, I was letting the locking ones completely dry before reattaching). Rear wheel done. It was a hard slog but now I’ve done it once I know what’s involved I’d happily paint calipers again in the future. I’m pleased with how it’s turned out. Thanks for reading! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I think I've found the leak, and it's not where I thought. As has been suggested I had a look in the boot after reading about an RX400 with water ingress, and yes, It's coming from the rear. So, now to fix it, but not till next week. I did however clear out some light debris which had gone under the plastic trim adjacent to rear lights and water ingress seems minimal now. We've been plagued with torrential showers here over the last few days, and this has actually helped to pinpoint the problem. i don't relish drying the carpets though, Pete

Been in GS and LS and my view is this. GS is like an LS but is more responsive on the gas at the lower revs, so feels more urgent from the lights. The LS will get there but will feel like it had to make sure its slippers were on properly before it pulls the nose up and goes. GS feels like it is going to allow you to push on through a corner with more bravado than an LS, though an LS can do corners at speeds that mean any tractor around that bend is going to be embedded in the bonnet in the next second. Never been in a GS in the wet, but I would suspect it is a little more stable. Had my LS up to 125mph and to be honest that seems like my limit, though car as stable as a rock, never been in a GS at that kind of mph. LS is quiter, though in my view not much in it on most road surfaces, though an LS versus GS on a dead new smooth surface, the LS was so much better to be in. So if ultimate agility is your thing I suspect the 460 might not quite cut it, but likely to be a close run thing. The 460 is chain drive, so assume saving £500 - £600 every 60K to 90K miles helps.

Whilst I can't help with the transition from GS, I bought an LS460 yesterday and also own an LS400. The LS, regardless of model is always going to be a luxury car first and foremost and is never going to feel sporty, however, that doesn't mean they aren't rewarding in their own right. We've owned so many cars over the years and performance used to be the first thing on my mind, but since buying the LS400 a few weeks ago, we have since sold our "sporty" modern 2018 daily and replaced it with a 2006 LS460 and I couldn't be happier. I drove it 200 miles home, didn't stop once and can barely remember the journey. Drive one, adjust your expectations slightly, and I'm sure you'll love it. Just remember, even the swb version is a big car!

So I took the plunge and opted for the Grom VLine Lite system so I could take advantage of Apple CarPlay. I saw that no one has really bought the unit before and done an install so I decided to take it upon myself to see how easy it would be to install. Disclaimer* Apple CarPlay needs to be 'activated' once installed! Fairly simple; press on it 11 times. This is the box that arrives with the top lid opened. Above shows the connectors on the rear of the unit. On the left is the DisplayPort connector that will run to the head unit behind the screen. the connector on the right is for the power cable that will run to the bottom of the head unit. I haven't really seen a clear image of the front panel online so here we have HDMI IN, USB 1 (mainly for iPhones), USB 2 (mainly for Android and any other USB device), HDMI OUT, SD Card Port (below the HDMI OUT port), proprietary connector; used for connecting AUX, front facing camera, rear facing camera (not needed if you have the factory reversing camera as the car will still automatically default to the main reversing camera), GPS (again not needed if you're using Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze etc which will use your phone GPS), and an adapter for connecting a touch screen panel if your car wasn't fitted with a touch screen, then we have a Mic In port and the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth antenna. The above image shows the power cable that will run to the OEM head unit and below that is the proprietary connector cable that connects to the various aux devices (it is not needed to run the Grom System and can be left out if not needed, such as in my case) The cable on the left with the blue connectors is the display cable, the cable in the middle is the USB extension cable and the cable on the right is the Mic cable. Above shows all the components of the kit laid out on the table awaiting installation. Probably the hardest part was trying to get the air vent out. The 4 tabs (that have been circled in the picture and can be slightly seen) need to be pulled down and then the vent assembly can be taken out with the help of some trim removal tools. I found a video on YouTube showing me how to do this and it can be quite tricky! Beneath the vent is a cable with two connectors that needs to be disconnected and removed before you can set the air vent aside. You then need to remove the 2 triangular plastic trim bits below which is super easy; just pull them towards you and they should pop out. Or use a pry tool! Use a 10mm socket with an extension to take out the two upper bolts holding in the head unit. Then move onto the two lower 10mm bolts holding in the head unit. If you're worried about dropping the bolts then you can always use a set of extension magnets. These were bought on Amazon and really came in handy. Clearly they came in use when trying to take the bolts out and placing them back in as my Halfords toolkit wasn't magnetised 😞 You can unscrew the gear knob and press the 'shift lock' button to move the gear into DRIVE and leave it there. I felt this helped but it's totally up to you. Lay down a cloth and bring the headhunt out and lay it down on the cloth. This is needed as the bottom of the headunit is short and will definitely scratch your trim if not used. The display cable is a Y shape cable, with one going into the Grom Unit and the other two behind the head unit. The cable has a male and female end. If there was something already inserted in your head unit(it's a blue connector so it can't be missed) then take it out and insert it into the female end of the Y cable, then insert the male end of the Y cable into the slot that's empty in the head unit. The picture should help clarify! The power cable is essentially the same sort of Y cable. In my case there was nothing plugged in so I just had to find the slot and insert the connector. Above shows the power cable connected to the head unit which was originally vacant. Above shows where I ran both cables so they could route into the glovebox. I decided to remove the passenger air vent so I could get access to the top of the glovebox. This is straightforward as it pulls straight out but be careful as there is a connector attached. For those of you who have changed your air filter, you know there is a panel at the rear of the glovebox that needs to be removed. On TOP of that cover is another cover that can be opened slightly to allow the cable to enter the glovebox. It's quite hard to see from the picture but the cables were routed into the glovebox and came in somewhere near the middle. Above shows approximately where the cables entered the glovebox. I should mention that this is where I found it easiest to run the cables. You may have a different opinion! Now would be a good time to run the microphone. I attached it to the ceiling, just behind the rear view mirror and ran the cable around the window. I opened the side air bag cover on the A pillar to run the cable down and tucked in in behind the rubber seals in the door and ran it through to the glovebox. Above shows the rear of the unit in the glovebox. It should be mounted so the display and power cables are facing the passenger door, and the USB cables should be facing the driver. I placed the unit on the glovebox divider and secured it down with double sided tape. Trust me; it's not going anywhere! Now would be a good time to do a test run. I turned on the car and pressed 'DVD' on the head unit and voila, it entered into the Grom system. I forgot to take a picture of the grom home screen, but Apple CarPlay was activated and works a treat. I shall hopefully do a review of the Grom system and Apple CarPlay if I have time or will make a video if I can find another camera. For £370 yes it is expensive even for such a basic system but or someone who uses Apple CarPlay a lot, I guess I can justify the price!

I just bought a LS 430 (2005). Sold my 2016 Prius 4. My fifth Prius! I just wanted no car payments and to be safe and comfortable in my retirement! A few years back I owned an ES330 and it was a delightful car but no bells and whistles. My LS 430 certainly has those!! And the one owner before me changed the dated radio to a fancy touch screen Panasonic unit. I have two screens! Ive owned many many vehicles in my life but this one is by far the most comfortable and QUIET!

There was 4 marks to the LS400 Mark 1 - 1989 -1991 Mark 2 - 1991 - 1995 Mark 3 - 1995 - 1997 Mark 4 - 1998 - 2000 I think the mark 3 has the best looks

I think that was the one I was referring to but I thought it was a 400h because there was all sorts of battery chat. I barely remember what I had for breakfast though so don't take my word for it.

Another little update. 65156 miles, 17th scheduled service and an MOT yesterday. £223 at Lexus Sheffield. Still running like a Seiko

That drivers seat looks amazing even for a low mileage LS. A fair price for such a nice looking car, assuming it drives well and runnnig gear all tickety-boo

ha ha nemind just trying to help perhaps some other poor sod will benefit,brian

To be fair, I have another car in the garage for 'fun' albeit I hardly ever use it. As I've got older I care more about comfort and refinement. I just want to get where I want to get with as little stress as possible. Audi do make a nice interior. Pity about the DSG gearboxes, which is why I'd never own (another) one.

Thanks to everyone for their helpful suggestions. If I cannot find the lost fob then I have decided to get a replacement through Lexus. This will cost around £330 (inc VAT) and my local dealer will programme the key at no extra cost. While I am capable of navigating a ship around the world with just a sextant, chronometer, charts and nautical tables, I find any computer programming beyond my simple skills.

As I sprayed rather a lot of cleaner I left it for a couple of hours! If only every job on a car was as easy eh?

It is one unclip (the electrics) and two Phillips screws. Always do it off the car. Big spray from all angles. 10 mins to dry, then back in. Dead easy to do.

Thanks Lee, I did start cleaning without taking off the spokes but quickly realised it would make my job easier and faster in the long run to whip them off. I put some grease on the thread when I put them back on so hopefully that will help get them off easily next time I do this job. A few more pictures showing the silver calipers behind the clean wheels and the newly painted locking wheel nuts. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Had the same problem with my wife's CT (2013) last month. Heard the rattle, self-diagnosed a heat shield problem, and drove to the nearest Kwik Fit. They initially said that heat shield was a dealer only part but put it on a ramp to have a look for me. The mechanic (female) said that it was corrosion around the bolt fixing so they just refitted it with a large washer and its as good as new plus I don't need to pay anything! I offered her £5 for her trouble and the insisted that I put it in the charity box instead. Now that is the customer service that I expect (and usually get) from Lexus.

Are you an Ambulance driver then Brian ?

Ok good luck with your search ,I would suggest a 3/4 breaker bar you will get no flex and it transmits the undo torque to the bolt easier ,

Interesting Alan as that is exactly what it cost to refurbish the headlights on my old Merc. Thanks.