tonyricha

Collected my 2009 SE L yesterday with trepidation, selected reverse and yes the guidelines appeared! Relief !!!

My 06 SE L had the guide lines but now I am worried the 09 may be missing this valuable feature, he ho still better than the Merc with no camera but parktronic which will not tell you if it wants to bay or parallel park , wait to see what it will do. How can that be safe ?

Strange life, I am travelling to South Wales tomorrow to collect my new to me GS450 and drive back to Huntingdon.

You are spot on, my GS450 died 3 years ago so I leased a E Class diesel which I have hated almost every day since. Collecting my next GS 450h SE L with adaptive cruise and sunroof tomorrow, sod the economy can't wait !!

Thanks for your welcome back wishes. Mercedes not good, basic and uncomfortable but very goood on fuel. Just felt so mass market after 4 Lexus cars. Needed pads and discs after just 30K !! GS did 135 K on its originals.

Hi all, Tony Richa is back, after 3 long years trundling around in a diesel Mercedes ( faux leather seats yuk !!!) I have bought another GS450h SE L . This time low mileage and a less " in your face colour" Semi retirement means annual mileage will be a fraction of previous levels so hopefully will last a while. 

No, not my old girl, she went to scrap. I would avoid any high mileage GS450h, not because the Battery pack but the hybrid system. When mine failed (with still good Battery pack) Lexus wanted to change the gearbox for over 4K as they will not strip and repair and no body else is keen to do it. Then you are chancing timing chain problems as a bit of stretch throws the computer out and costs a fortune to replace. Too complicated and technical, I don't own a car any more, just lease so no worries.

yes afraid so, still hurts looking back at these photos.

Mercedes although not so nice has turned out OK, so cheap to run in comparison and to be true another GS would never have been as nice as the old girl.

I have just gone from a GS450h to a E220 CDI ( only because Lexus offered me almost nothing for my dying GS, Mercedes paid more than double!)

Yes the Merc is slower making my licence is much safer but in never drops below 52 MPG and hits the 60s on a motorway, road fund licence is a mere £30 after the 1st free year and service contract is around half the Lexus charge.

I don't feel the same pride or interest in the Merc but that GS450h cost me a lot of money and I feel was just too complicated as no other garage would try to repair it.

Good luck with your decision.

Hi Edward, congratulations on your purchase,

I say the warranty offer is not to be missed, these cars are OH so complicated, when problems start no other garage is able to solve them and Lexus will only replace whole units rather than fixing anything meaning they want stupid money to fix any issue.

Just be sure it will be covered for the entire period as they normally stop cover at 6 years from manufacture. It is under written by a insurance company ( not Lexus, just looks that way ) who try and duck out of any claim, usual rubbish like gradual deterioration is not covered.

My 06 plate 450h suffered hybrid problems just after they would no longer cover it, scrapped it!

Hi all, I have just gone the other way, having driven a GS450h for 200,000 miles I now find myself in a new E Class Merc 220 CDI (long story) but have taken the hybrid driving method with me , it is never below 51MPG and up to the low 60s on a motorway run. Whilst I miss the performance and quiet of the hybrid I gotta say diesel is not as bad as I expected! Stop start with auto hold helps keep the noise down and £30 RFL helps.

Fantastic ! 300, 000 was the target for my GS450h but it fell over at 200,000 and was in my mind too expensive to repair, too complicated with potentially so many more components/systems to go wrong.

Well done for sticking with your IS, top motoring value, wish I had kept my 300 Sportcross !

IF it failed a MOT test because one of the headlights didn't come on the bulb will be covered by the warranty, funnily enough that's exactly what has happened before, not mine of course just somebody I know.

Far from a pointless thread!

Up to now I have always avoided monthly payments but liked a nice car so searched Autotrader for a " depreciation disaster" ie let someone else take the big hit over the first 18 months and use the saved cash to buy a extended warranty but after Lexus total un helpfulness when problems set in just months after the extended warranty expired my opinion has changed to leasing a new car.

After totalling up outright purchase price, extended warranty and Lexus service costs I realised I can have a brand new Merecedes E Class including service plan for far less with no worries as when the warranty expires I just return the car, OK I will have nothing in the car but then when Lexus bid me £900 for my GS450h SE L it made me realise what poor value I was suffering. Also no cash outlay meaning my savings are still available ( to pay the lease in times get hard)

I feel modern cars are just too complicated to risk owning especially with the dealers attitude of replace whole units rather than repair and so specialised nobody else wishes to get involved.

Hi all, just found out my old 450h was sold in a midlands auction for £41/2 K, so if anybody else is considering selling one of these do not be tempted to accept a trade in bid from dealerships, I was bid £2 K before problems arose and £900 with the engine management light on.

Vasilis was right it his earlier post re values.

Cheers, think I will stop moaning now and move on.

"Won't get fooled again" As said by Roger Daltrey.

Hi John I agree with most of what you say, yes the car did amazing before the egg hit the fan, my grumble is the cost of full service and extended warranty which only ran out by 2 months before only because they would not renew it because of age of vehicle, so they seemed happy to relieve me of large amounts of cash for what ?? to make the car more reliable ? then to try and steal it off me for £900 when in fact the suspect pump is available for a fraction of the gearbox they tried to sell me.

I just feel my loyalty to the brand was repaid with a kick where it hurts.

Hi Giles, I doubt it is caused by the fluid, mine had full Luxus service history meaning the fluid was changed as specified.

Hi again, when mine was like this Lexus told me not to drive it so I got it recovered. When I went back all seemed ok for about 40 miles then it cut out completely, thankfully in a safe place. It did re start but without the hybrid system but I never trusted it again.

Good luck Simon.

yes well said but my advice is buy a GS300 if you really want one, just as nice ,only slightly slower and more juicy but easily repairable if broken. One of the reasons I bought hybrid was to avoid London congestion charge but that no longer applies.

If mine had suffered Battery failure I was prepared to replace but didn't see these issues which all of a sudden seem common.

This was my 4th and last Lexus!

Hi Paul, truth is there is a storm brewing over the hybrid pump in the gearbox, cracking car but now falling over with no warning. Cars fully serviced by dealers are failing and Lexus don't want to know about helping with repairs, no warning they just stop the hybrid system working but with a red warning light on they will not MOT test. Lexus quoted me £3,500 plus fitting to change the gearbox on my 06 plate but maybe only really needed a hybrid pump at £900 plus fitting.

Mine died thru bad advice from dealership with full Lexus service history and just out of warranty.

Tread with care, Toyota don't care.

Hi Simon, please read topic " Sad day for my 450h " and the one beside it. Seems the wheels are falling off these cars and Lexus are trying to deny there is a problem by being completely unhelpful

Good luck with yours.

I feel a mug for listening to these bandits, they persuaded me the pump alone was not available (or easily changed ) and so needed a complete gearbox.

I work under "best advice rules" and wrongly assume others do also but clearly not the motor trade, to then try to steal the car off me for £900 adds insult to injury, all after I had been a loyal customer for years.

This would have been the subject of a small claims court if I had dealt with them ( Lexus Milton Keynes if anyone is unsure who )

"In Pursuit of Perfection " pah !

Its just dawned on me ! what I miss from the old girl is Sun roof, adaptive cruise and reversing camera, would have really struggled to get all of these on another GS 450 unless another fully loaded early edition SE L with the same risks.

Feeling better about the Merc now ! ( even though it looks like its been in a collision , most new cars do now or is it me?)

Well said Adrian !

Hi all, here is what happened to my GS450h

the Lexus dealers who had serviced it 15 times (full not essential ) offered me £900 against a smaller car.

Mercedes Benz who had never heard of me paid me more than 3 times the bid against a lease on a new E Class, which also has servicing costs way less than half of Lexus rates, £30 RFL and averages 55MPG on each tankfull. That didn't take too much thinking about for a business vehicle.

I do miss the GS, the Merc is not as nice or quite as fast (licence feels safer!) but it but it aint gonna be a disaster as I don't own it, less than £15 K over 3 years including servicing does it for me, I paid almost that in warranty and service costs after buying the Lexus with hard earned cash.

I have decided these high tech cars are too complicated to own as the dealerships will not repair just whole unit replacement and nobody else is prepared to have a go. I could not spend another 6 K to replace the gearbox knowing the rest of the car had done 200 K.