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Hi Folks! Just taken delivery of a new NX450h+ Takumi in sonic titanium with dark rose leather. So far so good, very pleased with its quality and robust feel. The drive is taking some getting used to after my last car but I’m finding it very relaxing and the economy and overall efficiency is something of a revelation!

Thats correct Linas, the French dont care about cars at all and it shows. Not even sure detailing exists over there. I once had a French agent working for us that always kicked a dent in his new car saying the first one is mine! BTW i always wash my car and my wifes car by hand. Drive 10 mins away from my house nice quiet wash boxes. Takes me out of the house for an hour, like the silence.... My wife tells her friends he needs an hour for himself.

My final update on this.. turns out the caliper carrier bolts weren't anywhere near as tight as they should have been so when breaking there would have been enough slack to cause the clunk noise. All sorted by my indie garage.

Last contact with P&O before I found email address for Paul Ludow (that's amazing in this day and age of do not reply messages) Paul is President of Carnival UK and P&O. The response from guest support prior to this was to tell me to go back to ABTA (we had already done this) P&O closing down any further discussions. So many thanks to Paul and his assistant Lee for sorting out in a satisfactory manner. There was no way we were going to give up, we were absolutely convinced we had a very strong case. Thanks all for support. Bill D.

I suppose mine could be seen as an old experienced drug dealers car, wife sits in the back with the stash 😀

TAKES ME longer than 6.9 secs to get outta bed these days . 0 - 60 ........ stairs would take me maybe 30 mins too 😇 I marvel at the turn of speed my dear old Mk3 Ls400 can achieve .... sure beats hands down most cars I see on the roads these days . in normalish driving conditions Malc

Nope, they actually started off slower, especially the Mk1 & 2 due to less power (8.0 secs). The Mk3 got faster (7.2), 1997 was 6.9, but the Mk4 was the fastest to 60 at 6.2 secs. In the LS430 they were all 6.6 secs, LS600h was 6.2, the LS460 was 5.7, and the LS500h is 5.5. So the Mk4 LS400 was the blip. Otherwise they got steadily faster to 60. Interestingly the LS430 is the same as the Mk4 LS400 over the 1/4 mile. Not that it makes much difference to me. I used to do motorcycle drag racing in my youth and have ridden motorcycles since I was 14 so it's rare anyone beats me off the line. I once humbled both an M5 and a Porsche 996 with my 202Bhp/1900Kg Honda Legend barge. Reflexes and front-wheel drive traction always beats too much power and too little grip. They were so focussed on each other it never occurred to them that the old geezer in the barge was a threat 🤣 By the time their traction control had recovered I was long gone. A friends tuned RX7 beat the Legend easily, but then twice the power and half the weight has that effect. Even my GTR1000 (4.0s 0-60) struggled to beat that thing!

I've seen various figures quoted for the various LSes from 7.2 down to 6.2 secs. I think the best description of it is adequate without being violent.

You are really looking at car tyres when abroad? Linas what is wrong with you! Tyres maybe but maintenance? They bring the car to the garage if its broken thats it.

Welcome to the forum Jason . Sounds a nice car you have. I will be travelling down to Cornwall in the UX 2weeks this Saturday just take my time and enjoy the vehicle. Coming from East Yorks its a long trip usually do a couple of stops and always stop at launceston on A30 go to butchers breaks journey up. Over the years the road to Cornwall has significantly improved. Good for a hybrid drive on A30 keep it out of cruise ease of accelarator on those looooong downhills.

My search is finally over! Managed to pick myself up an 08 mesa for a good price, wasn’t listed anywhere but I posted on the isf Facebook forum and he messaged me! Couldn’t be happier😅

How wrong I was about 50 miles, I scraped to 47. But that is still excellent, I think? Tonights guess is the highest again 57.8/56.7

Tonight's charge prediction marginally up on yesterday with 53.1/51.5 indicated. Actual from yesterday's predicted 51.3 was 44.7 but included around 20 miles of motorway driving. Charge appears to reduce more rapidly as the battery depletes. First leg of the journey was 9 miles but battery only reduced by 7.

Neil just been out to the car,you’re a bloody star played around with the steering wheel controls and bang lovely sounds coming through. Music is my life,I am so. Grateful. Thanks and best wishes to all who have responded.

Neil and Glyn Wow what a response thank you so much.I really hope the steering wheel issue is the culprit,this sounds a real probability. Good to check the simple things out first.! Will report back on all you have raised. Thanks both once again. Graham.

Thought I would let you know that following contact with chief exec of P&O it is all sorted, full refund of cruise, excursions and travel insurance. Just shows persistance pays. Bill D.

It's a reasonable second car for a young aspiring drug dealer

First serious journey with 270 km including 230 of motorways... The car and I are just getting used to it, so it's a case of "qui va piano va sano". The weather wasn't great but the traffic flowed smoothly so it was ideal for testing the adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, lane changing assistance...and the accuracy of the speedometer. Start with 4 passenger, trunk quite full (with its first plants). The battery is half charged and once on the A14 motorway I switch to hybrid mode to conserve energy for my final stretch of road. Driving behaviour: It steers a little less well than the Passat which was longer but all in all it makes up for it in urban driving. Not too big a gap in width and the higher stance helps. The steering is sufficiently consistent in normal mode and it's in keeping with the car's mass for me. No unnecessary effort but I feel the direct link to the wheels...in short a natural and pleasant feeling. There is a recovery, even if it is true that for an old DSG driver, the sensation is fundamentally different and even surprising. The take-off at the toll booth is a joy. No worries on the hilly and slightly turning part of the A13 Motorway (Paris --> Normandy), it drives at least as well as the Passat in "normal" mode A bit of road noise on average roads but no more than with my previous self-sealing tires . Driving aids Finally the HUD helps well and the logic is very similar to VAG's. I will soon get used to the ergonomics. However, the lane-keeping system coupled with the capacitive steering wheel and the lane change assistant is clearly a step above the Passat (which was already very good)... It's great on a motorway with light traffic The lane-change assist didn't surprise or bother me on a country road. Passenger feedback Very positive. Wife took advantage of it to sleep in the cool of the night Consumption: headwind , at 120 kph regulator (118 real), rain, 4 PAX, a small 6.5l per 100 and the end of battery on the last kilometers In one word : Delighted Currently charging, some points of progress noted: - a longer type 1 cable, the one delivered is nice but short (order a 12 m long model after block it will be more practical) - have the electrician connect the reinforced socket (he installed it and the secondary panel but did not connect anything...)

Looks great 😀😀

I appreciate your thoughts and comments. Thanks for taking the time to reply to me.

Hey Lexus CS. Start using Trunk Monkey to fix the CANBUS theft issue. Look I found you a solution.

I’ve asked via their online form. I’ll update here when they reply.

I have not used Toyota, but I have enquired about the service and in conclusions they turn out to be same price. As well if you service your Lexus in Toyota, then you won't get Lexus Relax warranty, despite Toyota having same warranty it simply does not apply to Lexus... so it is kind of no brainer to use them. Now to be honest that was back in the days when Lexus had "Essential Maintenance" plan, but I doubt something would have fundamentally changed overall. To quote some specific numbers back then minor service for my IS250 was £285 with Lexus and "Essential" price was £165. Toyota dealer quoted me £225 for minor service, basically oil and filters... and it doesn't come with courtesy car or coffee or anything else, they did not do pick-up, nor delivery and sitting in Toyota dealer whilst they do it was kind of unacceptable either, as they don't even have like a sit down area. In short if you take car with them, then you basically have to take bus home and come later to pick-up the car (well or taxi if you really posh). So even assuming now I would have to pay £285 to Lexus, I would still rather use Lexus for convenience of having courtesy car etc. Last time I called Lexus they said they not doing "Essential Care" anymore (which is real shame), but offered 20% discount. So all in all - the saving by using Toyota is simply not there, or so little that it is not worth bothering about.

Batteries are my problem, the old Celsior must have had 4 or 5 in 16 years of ownership and I’ve just replaced it on the new one. Problem is, as you mention Malc, lack of use, I am averaging 2K a year with just local shopping runs and maybe 4 x 40 mile round trips to the local airport where it then stands again for 2 weeks at a time. Straight pass with no advisories on the MOT again @ 80,000 miles so another year to enjoy.

Later ones are in the low ‘6’ 😁🫣

Given the age of my 2004 Celsior the paint wasn’t in bad condition at all but I had noticed weird marks in the paint when washed, dried and hand polished in certain sunlit conditions. After asking my local paint shop 3 times for a machine polish and never getting it in I began to look into DIY. Many YouTube videos later I was more confused and hesitant by the various stages of polishing, which polishing pads to use, which cutting compounds to use, which polishing machine to use and what speed plus all the methods involved in applying the compound, amount of pressure to apply etc. I ended up buying a £50.00 DA machine, 2 Chemical Guys pads (green for the cutting and red for polishing), a bottle of Chemical Guys VSS scratch and swirl remover and a tub of Armor All polish. Over 3 days I rinsed, snowfoamed, rinsed, clay bared, cut the paint and then machine polished. After reading all the horror stories about paint thickness, hard/soft paint and panel edges I took my time. I wasn’t looking for absolute perfection but an improvement. I think it came out pretty good, the weird marks have gone which was my main concern. OK there are still scratches in the paint if you look closely but overall I’m satisfied with the results.

You know - thinking about it... it may be something wrong with me, but there is always that moment when other half decided to go to the market to look for handcrafted junk and one is left to sit on the bench in car park 😄 In the other hand I just have eye for the detail in general, so if I have a second of spare time I notice all sorts of weird things. It is not so much that I am looking for premium tyres, but I absolutely can't stand chinesium death traps on the cars - I honestly believe they must be made illegal, or testing methodology made more stringent and they would not be able to pass anyway. Because in UK they are so common, especially on powerful luxury cars I just got this habit of looking out for them and ridiculing it. And in general - anything that is absolutely dumb and dangerous, those sort of things boils my blood, so I notice them. In France not so much, I feel like if I lived there for a month I would stop bothering, because it seems people get it right there. I mean if one can draw any conclusion from this, then it seems when British people need a tyre and ask for replacement, then they either ask or are advised to replace just one tyre and to replace it with the cheapest trash that could be found. When French do the same, they are advised/ask to replace both and they choose decent brands... although I have suspicion Michelin is much cheaper in France than anywhere else. Which is convenient considering they make one of the best tyres.

Yeah sounds like a plan. Unfortunately I couldn't make this one as I didn't have the weekend off, hopefully can make the next 👍

Sounds great to me 👌🏼

I like that idea.

Jason.. A Very Warm Welcome to The group..Should you have any Questions The plethora of Knowledgeable members In this group Will Be more than Happy to Help You...Enjoy Being part of the Team..!!

Incremental is the word. every charge from new three weeks ago, a little more. Will it ever get to 50 like you guys? At 21°C my 6th charge 43.1/41.4 standard 13A charge from garage socket.

Many of us stayed in the Premiere Inn which was very close to the Bear Inn where we held the meetings. I think everyone was impressed with both of them and can't wait for the 2024 event. It was such a pleasure to see and chat with old friends and new. No competition just SC430 owners enjoying conversations, comparing notes and having fun! I did not see any Soarers this year but we appeared to have an increase in the amount of SC's present. We must thank Juan for organising the weekend and for appearing to help and assist everyone's enquiries. Thanks to Bill for sharing his mechanical expertise to the needy, even if the use of an angle grinder and sledge hammer appeared excessive! 🤣 Dr Will took drone footage of the vehicles which is available on utube, and we are grateful to him for that and all the others who made long journeys to be there. Finally, thanks to Lexiguy Junior (my Tom) for encouraging the drivers of all cars to park in lines, so they looked an impressive display.

I have seen secondhand amps on buyee.jp which is a Japanese company that facilitate buying from Japan yahoo auctions similar to ebay in the uk. I think there is one on there where the bid is about £57. Obviously it would be more with shipping. I find it quite fascinating what you see on that site ranging from anything like red interiors to really nice body kits. However the problem is the bigger the item the bigger the charge for shipping so for small items it is great but for large items it becomes quite onerous.

I have taken the stereo out of the car many times and I could now do it blindfolded. I kept looking for an obvious mechanical fault without success. I then watched a Youtube video where someone dismantled and repaired a Toyota cd changer. Following his example I applied 5 volts dc to the motor and it worked. It moved the trays up and down. I connected the car's wiring to the partly-dismantled cd changer and it responded to the buttons and loaded and ejected a disc. Another ribbon cable sorted out the display. I reassembled the cd changer and put it back in the car. Power on and everything worked, including the tape player. I can also store radio stations again. What a productive morning.

Same here. My back injury is the worst (pain never goes away, been told only thing left is to remove the discs but 50/50 chance of ending up in a wheelchair, so no thank you) but over the years I've broken both ankles....fractured my right calcaneus....both knees are shot and will both need replacing in the not to distant future....had a subacromial decompression of my right shoulder and a full rotator cuff repair of my left. Having now reached 65, all these injuries are becoming arthritic and like someone said above, spending time washing/polishing and generally keeping her clean and shiny, just doesn't hold the enjoyment and pleasure it once did, hence why I spend £10/fortnight (maybe every week during winter months) to have someone elsedo it. OK, they don't put the same care and attention in like I did but at least it doesn't take me three days to recover from every wash

Indeed - this is not EV bash, it is bash on idiotic idea of banning internal combustion before making any steps to build infrastructure which could handle EVs and just expecting everything to sort itself out. I personally have no issues with BEV, but I do believe they need to stand on their own two feet, without subsidies, without coercion... and if people still buy them and they work for them... perfect! Maybe one day they will be so good that people just going to prefer them over "outdated" ICEV and ICEV will naturally decline and disappear (same as steam engines disappeared in the past) - that is fine as well. But every sane person understand that BEVs just don't work for most, so if left to their own natural evolution and adoption they won't get adapted even by the end of this century... what is the solution? Ban people form buying what they want and need... and then expecting everyone will be happy about it?

After weather seal renewal and the faff with dipped beam, all lights refitted and refitted the exhaust this morning, she starting to come together, some sneaky peaks 😉

Yes I was looking forward to seeing you as well as you and I are quite active on this forum but by the time I got round to it you had just left so perhaps next year. Regarding the markers this is a link to ebay. I offered $62 for 4 and they accepted my offer. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284933919161?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=mlJvGx96TN2&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=fgLYK3NFS2u&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY I did also buy the bulb holder sockets and wiring as well just in case I ever wanted to wire then into the indicator circuit as I purchased 2 sets of amber LED’s. My car is a preface model but I am not sure if the later ones are the same size. Mine are 183mm wide x 38mm high. Vladimir was at the meet yesterday with two SC’s both silver and he had the smoked ones on his which he had wired in and they where sequential LED’s although I didn’t see them working myself. Here is a link to the bulb holder sockets and the wiring connectors. The wiring connectors were very cheap from AliExpress but they were very tight and had to forced on. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195592157367?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=EgGS6wAyTp-&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=fgLYK3NFS2u&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Saturday was a good day, most ladies going together to do retail therapy in Coventry, leaving the men to talk SC430! Let's hope Sunday is better!

Consumers Act 2015; this letter I wrote seems to have got Lexus a bit more focused on the issue. I've now had an kill switch fitted and pledge to fit the prototype armour. They've not agreed to a CAN bus immobiliser. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives me rights when I buy a product that it is fit for purpose, as described and in satisfactory quality. It has come to my attention through reliable media reports that my Lexus RX has an easily exploited security vulnerability due to a non-encrypted CAN bus network, which is easily accessed by hand prying open the bumper and wheel to expose a front headlight connector, overriding the immobilizer. My Lexus now has the unenviable boast of entering the top 10 most stolen cars in the UK, according to the Telegraph newspaper, with associated increased insurance costs and difficulties. The security evidently isn’t fit for purpose, as described or of a satisfactory quality. I’ve discussed this with my local garage, and they mistakenly think this is my problem. I am temporarily using an additional steering wheel lock, and reducing use of my car, but this isn’t a proper resolution. The way to resolve this issue would be to upgrade the CAN bus with encryption and protect the vulnerable access point. I’ve investigated myself and have recommended to me by a specialist an additional CAN bus immobilizer (Approx £500 for a Ghost system). I would like you to cover the costs of this additional security or advise on what other measures you are planning to take and the timescales. If I don’t get a satisfactory response, I may install the additional immobilizer myself with a protection / armor for the entry point, and additional out of pocket costs related to theft insurance, and pursue the costs through a small claims court.

No language barrier, concept barriers, no questions, only corrections. I specifically responded to that quote. Later you shifted that position, but it does not make your previous comment correct. You can safely drive in winter with all-seasons, in fact recent all seasons compounds are the most reasonable option for the UK, and arguably much of the continent for many drivers. Purely logically, snow is below zero, and with all season compounds you can expect reasonable traction, handling in -10C. And because of road salting, you can have below zero temps and still liquid wet (freezing point depresses down to -7 even) on the road. All season are the best for driving on dry or lightly damp road in winter - better than summers, better than winters. They also offer reasonable traction/breaking on snow. If the going gets tough, it should be chains anyway. Look up tests for all seasons, don't take my word for it. There is limited testing done for ice driving, and it's really only Nordic grade winter tyres that have some useful grip on ice, because generally the advice is don't drive on ice. For black ice, it's a tough one in any case. All seasons still should give you some better grip, the question is of course is it enough for anything. Hitting it at speed, likely not. But probably not even standard winters could handle that, landing on it at speed. But of course they would be better. That is a corner case, where advice is generally: if black ice formation is likely, don't drive. Conclusion: in the UK, all seasons bring the best balance for most drivers, including for those driving to Europe in winter. I do.

Charging in the rain ! Just charging in the rain

Very nice and clean and what a great car to sit in traffic in.

Cleaned an topping up, getting ready for Sunday evening traffic jams

Small update to follow on from yesterday. When the ECU is in ‘Auto Programming Mode’ for new keys after the immobiliser reset, as if a brand new ECU has been installed, the ECU wants 4 keys programmed before it will exit/end ‘Auto Programming Mode’, with the final 4th key assigned as a Valet key. I knew this, hence the reason I bought an eBay key so I then had 4 keys, which didn’t work in the end and only my existing 3 x keys could be programmed. If the 4th key isn’t programmed, the car/ECU stays in ‘Auto Programming Mode’ for days/weeks/months with the security light flashing when a programmed key is inserted until it eventually gives up. A bit annoying, even though this is a ‘temp’ ECU but the car still starts and runs so no big deal. However, while playing around with Techstream this morning connected to the car, to see if there was a reset/clear function for the immobiliser, I noticed a very nice utility to end the ‘key’’ Auto Programming Mode. So gave it go and no more flashing security light. Checked how many keys are programmed to the ECU and it’s 3 x master keys, which is correct for what I’ve done. Even with Techstream a master key is needed to clear keys etc, so Lexus were correct about this. This post is a mixture of information, trial and error, failure and then success in the end installing a used ECU with the immobiliser chip ‘reset’ so ‘keys’ can be programmed to ECU and car will start and can be used. Now I have a full/fulller understanding of what’s needed and how to do it, I’ll either create a new post or a ‘How to’ guide dealing with just the immobiliser chip ‘reset’ stuff.

Just switched to an aftermarket (non OEM) puddle lamp, a real upgrade from the original one LED setup . A one minute plug and play job

Thanks Ron. I do have CCTV but his face was fully covered and he did not seem to care. Perhaps putting razor wire under the wheel arches and electrifying the car with 50,000 volts might give the next one a bit of a shock! The problem is I am the one that will be arrested for harming a scumbag.

Bill, if the contract condition is unreasonable, then a claim against that can be made. if you complete the declaration after paying for the cruise, and they refuse to provide the service after you have paid and then completed their declaration. A reasonable contract would allow both parties to withdraw at that point. You suggest others have a similar problem, it would make sense to raise this with a national organisation or newspaper. Hope you find a solution.