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I'm with Stephen on this one, put the key out of range. Saves it getting wet; the doors can be unlocked so I can open/close them at will when washing the door jambs etc; saves the battery wasting it's precious juice every time the car either locks or unlocks itself.

When I wash my car I always put the key out of range of the car in the garage, that way it doesn’t keep locking/unlocking every time I wipe over and around the door handles. As @KenR says, if you unlock the car but do not open a door it will automatically lock itself. This has been a security feature of all of the cars I have owned for many years.

I’ve had my eye on an NX350h since late 2021, but wasn’t far enough into the ES to make any change until recently. 2016 - 2019 I had a Lexus IS300h Advance 2019 - 2021 I had a Lexus ES300h F Sport with Takumi Pack 2021 - 2024 I had a Lexus ES300h F Sport with Takumi Pack Today I took delivery of a Lexus NX 350h Takumi Its safe to stay that pound for pound, I couldn’t find a match in any other brand that delivers reliability against cost

I get the same message..... so I won't bother to trouble the dealer yet then! It would be nice, though, if Lexus were to update us on this program/work - even if dates have slipped - as it's clearly a concern for a lot of us. Someone must have the responsibility for it and a schedule/outline plan with some milestone dates and progress can't be too hard to produce, surely!

Depending on your speed the petrol engine will be driven (not actually consuming fuel) to protect the transmission even if the battery isn't full. Once the battery is fully charged then regen braking has to stop (no where for the energy to go) and so it uses the engine as a load to provide a constant 'engine braking' force - without doing so you vehicle would suddenly start accelerating down the hill.

No point holding back. 115k miles on it. Extra few thousand miles is neither here nor there. Get those cars out of their garages and on the road!

Lovely car and some great photos. NX will be better for your "off roading" 😀😀

I unlock the car then turn the key fob off so the sensors don’t trigger in the door handles when the water goes over it but you do need to open and close the door once to stop it locking after a couple of minutes key fob is turned off by holding down the lock button and pressing the unlock button twice

If you press unlock and don't open any doors the car will automatically lock after a few minutes and therefore the mirrors will fold also.

Well, quite obviously written-off car being sold without explicitly stating it was written-off is immediate red flag. Hopefully, that is clear and that is why I always do checks before inspecting them in person. £5.99 for detailed car check is much cheaper than even cost of fuel to drive somewhere to inspect the car. So I always do that... But what are the odds that same person crashed two cars on the same private plate and I happened to find both of them 6 months apart?!

Hassle your dealers and Lexus themselves. Regularly. April has come and gone. The only cars with any solution so far are the RX and even then you have to know there’s a problem, know there’s a solution available and know to ask your dealer - there’s no evidence anyone is actively promoting this to owners. I’d also argue riveting bits of tinplate over stuff in the wheelarch in the vain hope it’ll stop an entire global network/industry in its tracks isn’t exactly going to be a permanent solution once thieves find another access point to the canbus system eg tailgate, tail lights, under the car etc.

I just figured it out! You don't actually twist. Mine slides upwards right off. The key fob looks just like the ones on video (3rd gen GS) but ti slides off after mechanical key has been removed. I am glad I didn't damage it.

So, 6 months in now, just under 8k.. traction started at 38 now up to 55 as a full charge. Resetting monthly and now achieving 3.4mile per kWh. Lots of motorway driving so happy with this return. I anticipate that as we move towards warmer months now it’ll creep up towards late 50’s. Decent performance all round now. for May covered over 1200 miles, 750+ of which was in EV (61%) As a result combined mpg for May: 101.7mpg. Typical charge of up to 14.8kWh, on a decent off peak tariff (7.9p kWh) so costing £1.15 ish for a full charge.. also able to take advantage of a Hive smart charge offer which credits back half of the cost based on off peak grid availability. As such I’m charging at around 4p per kWh. Cheap motoring..!! Just over a 1p per mile on EV. All Reset for June now

Well I’ll be interested to know what others think, but a £7K payment for a 14 year-old car - plus you get to keep the car - sounds like a fair result. After all, under the skin it’s still the same faithful companion that you’ve enjoyed so much for the last six years! I don’t know whereabouts you are in London, but in view of the body damage you’ve described, I feel you might be better off with old fashioned panel beaters rather than having entire panels replaced - which is probably what the Insurers would have based their repair estimate on. I’m sure we’ll all be interested to know how you get on, Jules.

alot of co's will do excess protection cover, i remember when i had my RX they suggested i bring up my voluntary and comp excess to £600 and then buy excess protection for £30 to cover £500 of excess. I saved a lot more than the cost of the excess protection. Worked at the time for me. Also, i add family members as named drivers, especially spouse. Saved lots that way. I have never claimed on insurance in 30 years, nuts!

I was on a call to Lexus (Glasgow) yesterday as when I enter my registration on the Lexus Vehicle Safety Recall Checker, it states - We have identified that your Lexus is subject to a voluntary customer service campaign or outstanding safety recall. The service manager checked and told me there was no recall on my car. I asked about protection plates for the UX but he had no information on when, or even an estimation of when this would be. Try your registration through the checker - https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/about-my-lexus/vehicle-recall

Lucky it’s only money eh 👍🤣 Malc

Yes, just LHS. Not sure whether they need access via bumper trim as some talk of them now punching a hole in the inner wig to reach the wires but depends where the connector is, if behind the nearside front LED it would make sense to park the nearside of the car next to a wall (as they would need to access via front corner of bumper) or next to another car on your driveway.

Yep - car still drives like a dream - cosmetic damage for most part, just concerned about the roof opening and closing with minor dents. Have been advised to trial this in a controlled environment (certainly don't need telling twice)🤣

Hi Len Brilliant and appreciated advice. I have accepted insurers reduced offer of £9,111k to £6,924k. Should go a good way towards repairs. Jules

They are a professional set up there, they have the proper lifts etc and the bays are always immaculately tidy, re the sensors, I didn’t think there was a way in the 300h to see the tyre pressures in any of the screens, just the yellow low pressure warning? My wife’s UX shows all four wheels but can’t find anything similar on the NX

I've seen a number of these now. The best one being 2 seats in the back that can fully recline like a bed with a TV screen the width of the vehicle, fridge, full floor carpet mats. I think it's the coke & hookers edition.

Fully agree with everything Malc says above. I had my parking brake done a year or so ago - yes expensive - but in 9 years, that is the only "repair" I have had to contend with.

Just seeing Mike Bluesman hasn’t been back here since May 2023 …….. a years a long time and thanks for trying to see what’s happening Steve Best wishes Malc 🙏

After much pondering about a lack of spare wheel, I bought a "dynaplug" kit & I already have a 12v tyre compressor I keep in the car. If you can find the hole in the tyre you can plug it up

To The best of my Knowledge The system purposely charges only to the optimal charge of 80% as this maintaines the best Longetivity of the Battery itself.. It Never charges up to 100%

OP you are leaving the world of Mercedes very sensible. Welcome to quality build, reliability, bells and whistles as standard – and as yet none of the subscription options lunacy. The 400 is a terrific car (go to Autotrader and see how many are sold in the 3-5K bracket still in spite of 15-20 years age) Belt and water pump Trunk chassis area water ingress – via rear seams, hinges, roof rack joins. LS-X these. Use an endoscope v bright LED light viewer attached to iphone. It's a quick way to see Plugs – useful to know if changed – but with regular oil changes and good maintenance I for example am still running very well on factory plugs (2005 model 126K mileage) If with sunroof – check front footwell areas for damp – press carpet to listen out for squelching. The A frames can clog Get TIS on to it if you have it on a laptop and they let you to check stored CELs if any existed. Check for rust – get under the beast. They are older now and rust can be a problem on underside members/edge of body – sills etc. If buying from seaside town doubly important. But you'll probably OK – great cars to drive. Plenty of poke, V smooth. MPG Hmmm they're heavy and the hybrid was as much about boosting ICE power as offering good MPG. On long motorway drives using cruise control I have climbed to 35MPG. The EV part is good for town and traffic – but it is early tech (groundbreaking at the time) Enjoy the 400!

Cracking car. My mate has just moved over from a history of owning JLR to the same spec and absolutely loves it.

This problem you have is one of the reasons I am reluctant to move on from 98 LS400 ,as it was the final version of that class, Lexus had ironed out all of the problems in its 10 year production cycle. As new models appeared the amount of gizmos increased also and therefore more things can go wrong the 98 model as everything I need to enjoy the luxury it provides so I am thankful that the motivation to better what I have does not exist.

May take the Lexus over to Switzerland in August. Decided I did not take enough photos of her in Spain. See if I can reach my mileage allowance on insurance!

That is perfectly normal. I have just come from a 2017 Prius that I had from new, so 7 years old when I sold it. That would only ever show a 'Full' battery after a motorway journey, then a long decent down a hill to our home. So far I have not seem my NX show a full battery, just one below. Thing to remember is that although the battery gauge may show 'Full', it is actually only around 80% full, the same when it's low, it is not that low in reality. Toyota/Lexus reserve a portion of the battery at the top and bottom that is not visible to us, this helps protect the battery and ensure its longevity. I hope this puts your mind at ease 🙂

Check for corrosion on the underside too. I had a water leak onto the hybrid battery. Warning lights galore. If you're reasonable with spanners you can remove the rear seats and expose the battery and a plug underneath that should drain the area but gets blocked up over time. Does it smell damp? Squash the carpets in the car, remove the mats, does it feel spongy? Remove the plastic tray in the boot, under the carpet, just lifts out. You're better off buying one that's had water ingress and a knowledgeable owner who's sorted it. If the seller plays ignorant, just be very thorough. Whereabouts are you in the UK?

Keep the car unlocked when washing by opening one of the doos. How do you get the interior sills washed with the doors closed if youre washing it whilst locked? Alternatively press the auto button and it will stop it from folding when locked

Lol we should get this topic closed 😊 For future I would only consider Yakima or Thule. Gonna need to attend to the rust forming on the Cruz bike carrier. Btw Cruz response was take them off when not in use to avoid exposing to the elements 😬 like WTF... Also they started rusting after 3 months. But there cheap and cheerful and do the job.. for now!

Personally i think if you plan to keep the car for a while i would recommend getting the premier variant vs the f sport. It has all the bells and whistles so a year down the line you wont feel like your car is old and lacking. If you're getting a lower model but slightly newer consider late 2016 early 2017 after that they increased the tax. One of the main benefit to me of the is300h is the £10tax. I wouldn't buy or consider any car above 2016 just for this reason but thats just me.

Yeah unfortunately wet cars hide defects very well. I learnt this the hard way too and will never buy a car that is shown to me wet or has pictures where the car is wet. The reason we notice defects is when light bends / reflects differently off damaged surfaces vs the rest of the car. When a car has water droplets on it that sort of different reflection/bending of light is happening at every water droplet that is sat on the car making it much harder for your eyes to separate a defect from a water droplet especially small dings, stone chips, small scratches, clearcoat defects etc. are very easily hidden. One more option to consider if you want to peacefully resolve this is to ask them to buy back the car at a closest possible price to what you paid and sell you another car. Then you can decide what amount of loss you think is acceptable vs fighting it out in court which will also cost you i presume.

Thanks for sharing the quote. Recently did my own disc & pads all around for £400 delivered from EBC brakes. Saving approx £598 due to no labour charge feel abit better now. Changing out the disc & pads is the easy part any garage will dl the job easy money, however whats really important on a brake job which is time consuming is the brake hardware clips need to be either replaced/ cleaned removing brake dust & corrosion to look like new with a wirebrush & caliper slider pins taken out wire brushed & regreased. Otherwise within a few hundred or thousand miles you will get that horrible squeal reappear. Also make sure they don't throw away your brake shims that go on the pads just transfer to your new pads to mitigate that squeal which are not cheap.

That's what I would do. I had a Vauxhall estate written off some years ago, bought it back, had the bodywork done as good as new and had a grand left in my pocket. At least it wasn't an accident causing chassis damage.

Jesus, give it a break.

With a 2016 model you will still potentially have 2-years Relax warranty cover.

I download the PDF manual, then do a CTRL F and type in what I am looking for and this has always found me what I was looking for.

The Lexus manual in my opinion is pretty poor. The so called index finds nothing most times, you have to wade through all the likely looking sections before you find, by chance, what you want. Even in a printed document these days, electronic searches at the publishing stage should produce a comprehensive contents section. Bill D.

Looks great! Happy motoring.

I have now done a deep dive into the DRS issue I had, I have now replaced my ARS but more importantly identified the failure point and how to fix it, It’s a long read grab a cuppa and a biscuit...its worth it... hopefully it will help all Lexus owners with the Aisin rear DRS or ARS as Aisin call it… Background to Problem Background, this is important as it plays a part in the failure…..I had a long drive in the car from Manchester to Chester in poor weather conditions about 0 degrees it was raining and cold. The roads were gritted and snow/frost present. I parked the car from Thursday to Saturday in an open-air carpark where it was lightly snowing and it froze over the three nights the car was stood. Due to an Android Auto kit installed in the car it caused the battery to flatten, on the Monday the car would not start, meaning that I needed to jump start the car….I rang RAC and Lexus and followed the correct procedure to jump the car…I initially thought his had caused damage to the DRS ECU but this was coincidence and not the case as I found our later. I drove the car home with no problems on The Saturday. On the Sunday Drove 10 miles local, no issues. Then Drove 5 Miles, then had DRS, AFS and VSCR warning light illuminate The problem Scanned the Car, these were the fault codes - VGRS C15C9 DRS System Malfunction AFS B241D ABS/VSC/TRC C120E A malfunction signal is received from the rear steering control ECU for 1 second or more C1241 Low Power Supply Voltage Malfunction (Presumed due to the previous Low battery) The above modules with DTC’s pointed at the DRS ECU containing faults. I scanned the DRS ECU it had the following fault – C1B17 Motor Rotation Angle Mismatch (Stroke Sensor) I reset by using the workshop manual calibration using Techstream – · PERFORM ACTUATOR CALIBRATION VALUE INITIALIZATION · PERFORM NEUTRAL POSITION MEMORIZATION AND MOTOR ROTATION ANGLE SENSOR CALIBRATION. At this point, I expected the fault to be a damaged DRS ECU as I had jumped the car. I had investigated how the rack worked, it’s a very robust design and the components are designed to work under harsh conditions, at this point I was convinced it was the ECU as the car ran fine for a while then it came back, I assumed this was due to component failure in the ECU. Thinking it was the DRS ECU, I removed it and asked my brother to look at it, what he doesn’t know about electronics isn’t worth knowing. He took it apart and solder up what he thought could have been dry joints, I installed it back in the car and it all started working again… Two weeks later same fault…. what could it be??…I reset it as before and it kept coming back, randomly. It got to the point that it would not reset, UNLESS I hit the rear tyres with a lump hammer (Yes sometimes a big hammer works wonders) I was now thinking that as the rack worked periodically it “Could” be the rack, but I was still convinced that the design of the rack was pretty bullet proof in design. A brushless Motor, motor resolver and stroke sensor…robust, logical components for sollid DRS system. Side note - I have had Aisin gearbox’s in cars before, solid and reliable – Namely my Volvo 850R and T-5R. Just to rule out anything else I replaced the Auxiliary battery with a Genuine Lexus Battery, the fault still remained. In April the fault came back, no amount of hitting the tyres would allow me to reset it, the car was due a service so decided to ask Lexus to review the fault and let me have their verdict. The reason for this is that I wanted to be 100% of the fault before I planned my next move, I basically wanted someone’s second option to confirm it was the Rack. Lexus Service & Lexus UK The car went in at 109k for service and the Service Manager and Technician met me, very apologetic, it was the rack, the cost for the rack was £10k plus fitting, apparently a two hour job (and I can say it is only a two hour job…read on!) Note that due to the DRS fault the car now failed its Hybird Health Check, it’s covered for 15 years….. Not happy with this, I spoke to Lexus UK who would go 50% for the rack, as noted by @Damien7579…Still way too expensive…. I was not willing to accept this as an outcome, time to get my hands dirty.... Replacement Rack I wanted to repair the rack, BUT I could not take it off and use the car, so needed to source a rack, I could temporarily fit a none-steering rack from an GS F if I could not get a rack….. Okay, so I needed a Rack….a few options presented themselves – Rack from a LS500, or LC500 these are both the same in operation but I would need to replace the inner tie rods with the ones from my failed rack along with the mounting brackets. I had sourced a LC500 rack from the US about £1500 including import, this was an option. Used rack from a GS F-Sport….. these are like gold dust…none for sale anywhere. However, the world is a large place, time for “out of box” thinking… After looking though various Japanese car part websites, I managed to source a rack from Japan, second hand from the “Be-Forward” website. Some poor reviews on Trustpilot but many looked like they were made up. I conversed with them over Whatapp and their website, used my Visa card for payment (Credit cards provide insurance) and ordered it, £600 later and 10 days it turned up! So now I had a rack… Fitting I decided to fit the rack myself, I’ve lots of experience with cars at a hobby / enthusiast level, it didn’t look too hard… I took the diffuser off the car unconnected the Actuator from the ECU and commence operation, watch out for the little studs that held the diffuser on, they like to hurt you! - Before I started any work, I sprayed the track rod adjustments with WD40 and the location of the Bolts that hold the rack to the Subframe. I took photos of the track rod threads (And everything else I thought would be helpful) so I could get the wheels roughly pointing forward…IE Get the “Toe” as close as possible. View without diffuser... Bolts that hold on Actuator in Blue -- Soak these though with WD40 a couple of days before on both sides, they will be stiff... I decided to replace the rack without taking the wheels off (Yes it can be done), I drove to car into two blocks of think wood so give me some more space below the vehicle. I firstly unbolted the rack from the subframe, it stays in place as it’s held in by the track rods. I then started to slowly undo the track rods. The idea was that I would be left with the track rods connected to the wheels so I could simply screw the new rack onto them, this worked well. You have to be careful that the wheels stay pointing forward and take up any of the track rod movement by moving the actuator back above the exhaust, The actuator weights about 15kg once the track rods and free you can rest the actuator on the exhaust and then slowly remove it from the vehicle. Track Rod ends ready to recieve new actuator... New V's Old Actuator Actuator removed ready for new one... Fitting the actutor is in the reverse of removal I started at 7am and was done for 11am with a couple of tea breaks! New rack in place.. Proof of the Pudding Okay, now the actuator was fitted time to see if it works, I lifted the rear wheels off the ground using the Diff as per repair manual and - · PERFORM ACTUATOR CALIBRATION VALUE INITIALIZATION · PERFORM NEUTRAL POSITION MEMORIZATION AND MOTOR ROTATION ANGLE SENSOR CALIBRATION. It took three attempt and it worked on the last one, I think the reasons for this is the DRS ECU can only calibrate in small steps and had the previous rack setting stored, I am 99% sure this is why the Repair manual says 3 times. I replaced the rack on 18th May its now the 27th May and no faults 😊. Post mortem of Old rack This is where it gets interesting! I now had the old rack, I wanted to see what when wrong, and more importantly if it can be repaired. I know from the wiring and repair manual how the rack worked. I had previosuly measured all the Ohm resistances at the connector, and all were within spec. I was convinced that when I was hitting the wheels with a hammer it was dislodging material/debris somewhere. I noted that the schematic for the New LC500 was slightly different from the GS and it showed the Stroke Sensor as external to the rack, this corresponded to what I had identified as the stoke sensor. I decided to examine this. I attempted to remove the stroke sensor from rack, I managed to remove one screw, I stripped the head off the other so ended up drilling the head off, it was then I noticed that where the two screws pass through the stroke sensor the bracket has fatigue cracks and one side had failed, this wasn’t the main cause of the failure, which I will discuss shortly. What I did notice was the use of stainless-steel screws…these will react with the aluminium over time. Stoke sensor. I removed the stroke sensor sensor circled in Blue below - and looked inside the rack where it made contact with the worm drive, no debris and the worm drive/cog was perfect… The stroke sensor itself is in two parts, these are screwed together, again with Stainless Steel Screws, these had reacted with the Aluminium and I could not remove them, I examined these locations and again saw fatigue cracks in the casings one side had failed. Since I considered the part was broken I decided to force them apart. When I did, between these parts is a small rubber gasket, definitely NOT up to the job of keeping moisture out, this in my opinion is a poor design, there should be a complete gasket between both. This design has allowed water to penetrate between them and the constant attacked of moisture and freezing has forced the case apart causing water ingress inside the senor, I have said before, the design is pretty “Bomb Proof” BUT this slight oversight has caused the failure. Removed stroke sensor - Red=Broken Bracket, Blue=Gap between both casings, Green=You can see the fatigue crack here Better View of broken mounting to stroke sensor casing due to fatigue and probalby interation between different materials. After I broke the casing open - Inside the Stroke sensor, bandy damaged by corrosion and water ingress... Sensor full of debris and corrosion...causing the readings to fluctuate out of spec I am now trying to source a stroke sensor and expect this to be a complete repair for the rack, before I fit it, I will be upgrading the interfaces and inserting gaskets. I have made contact with Aisin and expecting a call back for their technical chap., I may even decide to repair the current stroke sensor. I am frustrated that I fitted the new rack with this issue present, I may removed the rack and rectify the defect, OR just spray the Stroke Senor area with protection, such as paint or plastidip....The rack was from Japan and looks amlost like new so not concernded for the time being... Conclusion Remember at the start, when I said the car has stood in freezing conditons?? I am sure that was the start of the END for the Stroke Senor due to the freezing conditons driving the casing apart letting more moisture in. I hope this helps someone who finds themselves in the same position as me, I will report back if I get the stroke sensor, I am confident that the stroke sensor was the problem looking at the corrosion inside of it.

OK all sorted. As I'd paired everything to my iphone I just needed to leave the phone indoors and then when the car started up it reverted back to normal mode and I found everything I was looking for. Many thanks for the response.

An update from the dealer: "My apologies for the confusion, I thought you were asking for the protection plate which is not available for your vehicle. The product enhancement for your vehicle has not been released to the network yet and we have not been given an ETA on when it will be provided." So it looks as if the April 26 date in the orginal statement from Lexus was primarily to get Watchdog off their backs - or am I being too cynical?

An interesting and useful comparison. My car is a GS300h Premier, pre face lift. A couple of nit-picks: My car has RCTA and head-up display. It has 18" wheels and the larger discs - I didn't know 17" wheels wouldn't fit but can well believe it. The sat nav shows speed limits (not always accurately, but my last map update was 2019). I think that improvements/spec changes are incremental and come in randomly during model life, so some pre face lift will have features that others don't and that probably carries on for post face lift as well. I don't think the ride is all that wonderful - I'd agree with the post somewhere that gave it 6/10. I understand that pre facelift cars are Euro V and post are Euro VI My road tax is £25 per annum. I love my car and expect to keep it for many years!

I see prices of those first ES cars are now sinking down to the low 20s. But the best IS eg 20-reg Takumi are still fetching high 20s — surely a measure of what a flop the ES has been. IS customers value the car's (relative) compactness.

I'm always like oh yes I want this. Then I watch the youtube video and see the whole interior dismantled in pieces and I think, bluetooth will do just fine