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I previously owned a Lexus RX450h (fourth generation) which was an absolutely wonderful car in every respect. The car was very refined, very comfortable and easy to drive, and considering the size of the vehicle was quite economical. There are only two of us in the household and we are both in our late sixties, the main problem with the RX 450H was parking as it quite a large car. We both made a decision to downsize, so we visited the local dealership and went for a test drive in a UX250H sport Design. After the test test drive we were both impressed with the car and decided to purchase a new model that had been in the showroom. We were able to secure a very good discount on the vehicle as it was the older model, the new UX300H was just about to be launched. Having owned the vehicle for just over two months now I am really impressed with car, the vehicle is very manoeuvrable, and provides comfortable seating for the driver and passenger. My UX has Faux leather seats which I find to be quite acceptable, they seem to be harder wearing than leather and are very comfortable even on longer journeys. My only criticism with the vehicle is the road noise transmitted through the car via the run flat tyres, particularly when travelling over rough road surfaces. The tyres I have on the vehicle are Bridgestone's (probably not the best for road noise). We recently travelled to Devon in the car which was a round trip of 380 miles, throughout the trip the car performed flawlessly. We found that the boot size was adequate for two people, we could comfortably fit a large suitcase and other baggage in the luggage compartment (we have the TWD version). Whilst travelling on the motorway I could see that the vehicle was switching between ICE and battery power even at speeds of 60MPH, to my surprise the at end of the journey the car had averaged 62MPG which is outstanding. The vehicle was showing 490miles since the last refuel, and the low fuel warning light was not even showing. I have the Lexus Link App which gave me the following trip information since the car was refuelled : Trip Distance - 476 miles MPG - 62 MPG EV - Distance Driven - 120 miles I intend to keep this car for a long period of time, I think that hybrid vehicles still have a long future.

I actually use the built in navigation and find that it is OK.

I'm curently getting 2.5m/Kwh and because I mainly do relatively short journeys, I only tend to use it in EV. My trip summary since last reset is 176.2 miles of which 172.3 is on EV (98%) which gives an impressive 649.3mpg!!

Hi MrBee, according to the Lexus magazine the car is equipped with Predictive Efficient Drive technology. I quote a section of the blurb below. If like me you use Apple or Google Maps I don’t think the cleverness is applied! How does it work? With the help of the Lexus Link app, selected Lexus hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with embedded navigation systems will be able to learn a driver’s regular routes and driving style, while simultaneously looking ahead via live traffic data to anticipate opportunities to save fuel. More economical driving is automatically and seamlessly achieved by optimising the charging and discharging of the battery on hybrid models, and the use of full-electric or hybrid modes on PHEV vehicles.

I’m very impressed, it’s great efficiency for a big car. EV efficiency was showing as 2.1kw/h when I got the car and it has steadily increased. I don’t know about the sat nav coordination, that would be excellent if it could. For any longer trip I plan to use HV when at a steady speed on dual carriageways or motorways and EV when in built up areas and on slower roads. If remaining EV range matches sat nav miles to destination I switch to EV. That worked well on my last trip and I still ended up with a few 2-3 miles of EV left. For example my last trip was just a few miles in EV to get to the faster roads, a long stretch of HV, then I used the rest of the EV range through Taunton and on to my destination on country roads. On the way back I did it in reverse, twisty roads and Taunton in EV, faster roads in HV and then switched back when remaining distance matched EV. It works really well. Probably just saying what you all know! Does anyone switch between modes more often as a driving technique or do most people keep it simple?

Came across this seller with cheaper than the rest drop in air filter ebay item no 386697252978

Sadly…. I think this is probably best advice. But…. If you have the time to be off road and inclination. Fill the hole with penetrating fluid…. Literally fill it and soak for a couple of days minimum. Then learn or get someone to drill and tap it / or drill out completely + a bit of heat will help. No guarantees even then it’ll budge….. but potentially you learned a new trick and there’s a certain satisfaction of rescuing yourself. 😁 If that all seems a bit too much hassle…. Revert to line one. Good luck.

Given how seized the pin is I would go for a new carrier bracket. The only other option would be to drill a hole in the other side and then try and punch the remains of the slider pin out but it looks too far gone to me.

A brief update on this. The car has been with the dealer for four days now and they are not responding to my calls. Lexus link+ shows it has been locked since 10.30 so they have done nothing today. It is a good car but frankly the dealer network is crap.

I remember years ago we were in Rouen and my wife had the speciality of the region. The menu was in French, it turned out to be sheep’s foot. It was like a ball of elastic bands in a very strong garlic sauce. Revolting. What do the French do with all the good bits of an animal to eat. The specials always seem to be the rubbish bits.

By this time majority of GS450h are out of warranty and people seems to cope just fine. So you are more of exception to still have warranty for it, not the other way around and these cars are perfectly usable and reliable outside of warranty. Could it be that your hybrid battery fails... yes, things like that happens, but it is not the end of the world £600-800 and it is fixed, probably that isn't much more than you were paying for extended warranty? Is it? Going to GS430 is not so much "going back", they are mostly the same, GS430 probably nicer to drive, sounds nicer, gearbox is nicer etc. Ideally you should go to GS460, but those are rarer than unicorns. That said - if you already have GS450h then it makes absolutelly no sense to change, any added reliability that you would get would be consumed by the cost and headache of changing the car... another big issue GS430 is probably £715 for road tax now (£695 maybe)... so again anything that you can potentially save by having more reliable (or rather less risky) car will be consumed just in the road tax... and there are good chance your GS450h won't go wrong anyway. So no GS450h>GS430 makes no sense, even if it is not a step backwards.

Mine is a basic obd device same as below: Carista is the app I used. Neil

Picked up the 450 yesterday; total fail with the MA1 😞

Good write up, thank you. I really like mine too although I’m interested in the 300h because it has the new Mk5 powertrain in it. I’ll be having one of those on extended test soon. I haven’t really got much to criticise mine for. I agree the leather seats aren’t as durable as the nulux version and they aren’t as comfortable either. I don’t understand why they insist on using over bolstered seats in the luxury versions when they can fit bolstered seats in the F Sport models. I changed my tyres for all season and they’re a bit on the noisy side but although the Michelins are quiet, they’re a summer tyre which is no good where I live.

Hi Pally, I do as you do… and find that this appears to give the best of the two modes 😀

Mitchelin Primacy 2 Tyres Reduce Road noise considerably so i,ve Heard..Really Good tyres ..!!

In Rouen now. Return to UK tomorrow. Rather impressive fontage.

Here is the link to Lexus-Tech site, register here with your details and then you will be able to download the file with all the specs of your UX: https://www.toyota-tech.eu:8443/auth/realms/TD1realm/protocol/openid-connect/auth?redirect_uri=https://www.lexus-tech.eu/owin/security/keycloak/ApplicationCookie/callback&response_type=code&scope=openid&state=oidc_state_f82f51521ab244eda0ae27b22cb5d669&client_id=lexus&kc_idp_hint= Once you log in, go to home menu, then repair and select vehicle specifications. The file you download will surely help with the insurance company.

Nice write up, agree with everything apart from the tyres, don't have a problem with the OE Dunlop SP Sports on our Design. As long as you do your homework and know what you're getting rather than buying one and then coming on here and moaning about the small boot and lack of rear legroom they're a lovely motor. Currently on holiday in Hampshire, self catering so took everything bar the kitchen sink with the seats down, no problem. 230 mile trip, showing 57mpg but we had a lot of traffic and a long stop/start A34 diversion.

I think thats inline with my expectations

Nice, ZR10s. A man of culture

In a word. Annoying (the CT, not the 430). But I have hit close to 60mpg on the way down without trying too hard so I'll take the compromise Mark. It actually feels almost like the Nissan Primera GTLE I used to have years ago. That thing was lovely to drive (and so is this)but the suspension was slightly stiffer. Hopefully I'll try and do a comparison review in YT at some point as they are both lovely things. Pity about not have soft close doors or cruise control 😆 but I think I'll live.

Hi. If you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line. Regards, Dan.

I agree. That's been my experience. Listers Lexus don't charge any extra for fitting or disposal of old tyres, so you do get tyres at a reasonable cost to start with. They'll also give discount on parts. Was recently quoted a cheaper price from lexus to supply and fit tyres than I did from my local tyre fitting garage based on the same tyre make and model.

I got in touch with the dealership - they ordered one immediately and took a few weeks to make / get to them Its apparently being sent to me now

So does my 2008. Its a little button on the window control panel on the drivers door. They don't auto fold on lock, you have to push the button to fold/unfold.

MY 2009 HAS FOLDING MIRRORS

I came to Lexus from a BMW E60 530D. The BMW was the best car I ever drove but the worse car I ever owned. Absolute money pit. Turbo = £1,700 Exhaust Manifold cracked....TWICE = £500 a pop Glowplug controllers, glowplugs, EGR, Throttle body, MULF (bluetooth unit)...TWICE An endless list of small issues. I ended up with a well stocked garage of tools. I got an IS250 and have owned it for 9yrs (ironically it has just broken lol). I found it quite boring after the BMW, at weekends I'd open the bonnet ready to get to work and found literally nothing to do. Everyting seemed to keep itself clean and it was absurdly reliable. My garage expanded into machine polishers and detailing equipment as I never had any mechanical issues or even proper maintenance to do. Rear brake slider pins the only thing I had to address in the 9yrs of daily driving (an Annual greasing keeps on top of it). I changed Spark Plugs for a sake of it at about 80K miles I changed the boot struts too for about £60. I think they have a soul though, I needed more space than the IS250 can offer in the back, becoming a grandfather bought childseats into the equation along with pushchairs. I wanted an NX300H but couldn't find the right one. For my sins I bought a BMW F34 335i. I'm now waiting for the dreaded Bong of Doom and wallet emptying repairs. Within 2 weeks of buying the BMW the Lexus has thrown a strop, It definitely KNOWS I have bought a new car. I was going to give it to a relative but.... The radiator cap fell apart (£20 replacement) and I changed the waterpump (straight forward nuts & bolts) although crazy price for coolant from Lexus, and the radiator split so I changed that too. Now it won't start at all. Nice little project, a fault I can't yet find so lots of poking about and I am not dependant on it so can relax and take it slow working out what is wrong. Once fixed, it will go to the relative. Great cars and I would thoroughly recommend an IS250 SE-L Auto. I bought it at just over 50k miles and it is now on 140k.

This shouldn't be a deciding factor. Putting better fuel in, like Tesco Momentum99 works out to only £5 more per full tank. It's a better fuel overall. You can use E10 sometimes, it doesn't affect how it runs, it's only the fuel system as a whole that doesn't like a continuous use of higher ethanol. VVTi very easy to check. It doesn't happen to every car, but most higher mileage cars have this "problem".. I use quotes because the whole thing is basically just a 1s rattle upon start up. Nobody ever ended up with an engine failure because of the VVTi rattle that becomes more common on cars over 100k miles. My old one that was on 180k miles only did it after a hot start. My mates does it on cold start sometimes, but like I say, it's not a deal breaker. There's nothing to fix it but it never gets any worse. If anything, it's a great bargaining chip if it happens when you view a car. Water pump, you can see it when you open the bonnet, this shouldn't even be listed as a problem because it's a serviceable item on every single car. They tend to go around 80-100k. Easy early signs to look out for - check for leaks around the pump. Toyota coolant is pink, so it's easy to spot when it's all dried up. Brake caliper SLIDER PINS get stuck if not greased up regularly (every 2 years is fine), especially the rear ones. Calipers themselves are fine. Everyone tends to change calipers because they cba to replace the slider pins, but it's a £25 fix with a bit of elbow grease. Not sure what you mean by engine slushing up.. As for insurance, try to call people instead of doing online quotes. I'm 28, no accidents etc. I pay £480/year with all mods declared. Try companies like Adrian Flux, Keith Michaels, Brentacre, Greenlight etc. Companies who aren't on comparison sites. As for finding a car, I advise travelling further for the right car. There isn't many of them so if you stick to brum area, you'll struggle. Also, I wouldn't be buying this car from a dealer, not with your budget anyway. You can get a far better deal buying privately. oh and mirrors are electric and folding on every 250, just not automatically with locking the car.

Gratuitous Basque shot.

They may well have a Thatcham category 1 fitted but that hasn't stopped them from being stolen, so i dont really see the point in them

Hey dude, I'm around Brum too. I've had multiple IS250s over the years. Keep going back to them after I make a bad financial decision like JZX100, 300ZX etc.🤣 They are very reliable, and running cost is low too on a grand scheme of things. It doesn't matter what year you go for really, but given your budget you'll be looking at pre-facelift cars (2005-2008) but the changes on facelift were negligible anyway. Send me a message and I'll be happy to help you look for a car. As for what you can expect for 3k.. I would say cars around 100k miles. Don't be put off the mileage as these cars are good for 300k with regular maintenance that involves just fresh oil every 5000 miles. I would look for cars with a good service history. I wouldn't be bothered about bodywork as much because panels are cheap. They are easy to work on. Here's mine.

Spare parts for Lexus I have found to be expensive and provide a good return for Lexus. I think as long as there is sufficient demand these will remain available, at least for regularly replaced parts. Certainly there are much earlier RX cars still in use and with a need for parts and some suitable components can be brought in from other markets. I remember a long time ago now getting what I was told was the last available sump for my 2.5 v6 Camry. This was shipped in from abroad but in need I could have got one from a breakers. Other parts for that car were still available.

Another few pics to keep us rolling 🙂

Ok so I had a look on facebook marketplace, I never used marketplace, haven't used facebook in years if I think about it. But I'm seeing a lot of IS250s for under £2.500, even the 3IS for around £2.200. Is there something I'm missing? Is there some unspoken rule you have to know when looking at facebook marketplace ads? EDIT: I think they're just fake or some scam. 3 out of 4 ads have the same description and the people selling them have 100+ cars listed