flotsam

That post was intended for another thread where someone was asking about fuel economy.

I was merely trying to make it self-evident that there's no point in spending money on an expensive car and then not using the features. It's like people who buy a car and put seat covers on. What's the point. You'd be better off buying an old jallopy and paying less in insurance, less in depreciation.

As for Maneesh, I think he's the one that's burning money but I know he likes to work on his car. As I've said previously when it's all running fine, he'll probably sell it.

If you want to save money there are a few options:

1) rip out the A/C and sell the bits to Maneesh,

2) sell the whole car and buy one without a/c thus saving a lot more than you would on petrol. If posing is all you want buy a Jag they're cheaper,

3) take a cold shower every few miles.

Moral of the story: Why buy an expensive car if you can't afford to use it? If you wanna be a second class citizen try walking.

The a/c has a thermostat to control the temperature. It shouldn't matter if it's a little warm outside. There must be something wrong with your a/c. Mine's lovely and cool on hot days. Well that IS the point.

If you want to save money there are a few options:

1) rip out the A/C and sell the bits to Maneesh,

2) sell the whole car and buy one without a/c thus saving a lot more than you would on petrol. If posing is all you want buy a Jag they're cheaper,

3) take a cold shower every few miles.

Moral of the story: Why buy an expensive car if you can't afford to use it?

told the police all this and guess what they didnt even bother to come down to check it out.

What are you complaining for! You get your bins emptied don't you.

Isn't that worth the 80% increase since Labour came to power? It saves you a prison sentence when you get a shotgun and shoot the vermin in the back (more than they deserve).

So as a rule, you don' t normally use your brain?

Make sure you use round holes too. Remember round block go through the round holes. If you need some practice go down to mother care for one of those training tools for toddlers.

No problems at all of note with mone except for sagging drivers seat (redone under warranty) but that is due to, might I suggest, LS drivers being larger than the average

Yep if you travel in first class on the trains the seats are too big and more blokes pick their nose than in standard class.

Lexus insurance seems a bit weird. Some people have had good quotes but most people say they are nearly double what others charge (a bit like the AA).

It depends on the driver. Some companies are more aggressive such as mine, Privilege.

Since the cost of repairs is the same whatever the cost of the car this doesn't make much difference.

The major differences are the XS, the mileage you do and your driving history.

I think it was Bracknell Tyre & Battery which gave me a quote of £80 for D8zs OEM fit for LS400.

Wherever you go make sure you ask for the stick on weights rather than clip ons which scratch the paint on the alloys.

Oh And the MkIV has two trip meters too.

I had a test drive of a Mark III (I think) and the suspension was a lot softer.

You do tend to feel more bumps in the MkIV but I'd say the handling is more interesting.

I don't tend to drive on the limit but so far it's suprised me how well the MKIV will take sweeping bends and sharp turns especially for this big a car. If you do drive like a lunatic in the MkIV be ready to buy a new set of tyres soon. It's big and heavy and the tyres take a bit of punishing.

:D ....OR....you get in car and race off at 70/+ to wind-evaporate all the water?

Nah!

You've just washed the protective wax off and you want to put the dust and dirt back on?

I think some of you've missed the point. If you rinse this way, it's quicker to chammy 'cos there's virtually no water left. Hence you don't get water spots at least not from washing.

Yep! They're definitely the dumb, scum brigade!

Lower end BMWs are over-rated and their owners know it.

Merc drivers are arrogant. Park wherever they like, pavement, on the corner of a blind bend, on your drive etc.

The only other thing I bought was a telescopic wheel nut wrench (£6) and a socket (21 mm I think on the 17'' rims - bigger than most standard wheel nuts which are 17 / 19 mm), the provided wheel nut wrench handle is reasonably short and I was just about jumping up and down on the damn thing trying to get the nuts off without success (dealer used the air wrench to torque up the nuts so tight couldn't shift them !). Hope that helps ! It's a cracking car.

I've had the over tightened nut problem too on a VW. I couldn't turn the thing, broke a socket. Couldn't budge it. Eventually sold the car without having removed that wheel.

Could potentially damage the wheel. Try and insist on them not using air wrenches. The Guildford garage tightened my nuts to the correct torque without needing to be asked.

Yep My MkIV has a trip computer plus if you use the touchscreen for the satnav there's a log of trips giving average speed, date, and I think distance. Every time you reset the trip computer it goes up in the log. Useful for making sure the garage haven't taken the car for a long drive when you have a service. Not sure if this bit is in the manual.

I've actually got my user manual by the computer as I'm doing a bit of revision. Every now and again I wonder about things in the car I haven't used in a while.

The computer gives:

range,

average fuel consumption,

current fuel consumption,

average fuel consumption since refueling,

distance since refuel,

elapsed time,

average speed.

Now I geddit!

Someone else has written on rinsing the car after a wash and how you only dribble some water on the paintwork.

Now I see why.

I used to spray water on the car which left lots of drops all over.

If you just dribble some water, you get a sheet of water which collects and then falls off the bonnet in one whole sheet leaving virtually no drops of water left. That way, you don't need a squeegy thing and it doesn't leave your chamois soaked. It's a lot quicker too!

The problem's getting the money though. A Rover driver with no insurance sounds like a scumbag without much cash. Besides which the lefties will be saying that being made all the poorer will just encourage crime.

There should be a fund for compensation from seized assets of scumbags. Geoffrey Archer's worth a bob or two. We've got part of what Dame Shirley Porter owes. Blair should be imprisoned for giving the taxpayer's money to the unions as well as allowing his brat to get drunk whilst underage. etc. etc.

That's 'cos you're not paying enough tax.

80% increase in council tax since Labour came to power is not enough. They want more money. It's a closed shop too. You can't buy your own weapons off the internet unless your a crook. If you wake up in the middle of the night at home and shoot the scum in the back they send YOU to prison instead.

In the US anyone caught trespassing gets both barrels. And I'm not talking booze.

Just think if the police were privatised. They don't turn up, you don't pay their wages.

Auto boxes are just another thing to go wrong.

On the Lexus they never go wrong.

There's a guy on the forum who's been made redundant and claims he can't afford to fix up his Lexus. He thinks it's just the fuel pump. It's got just over 100K on the clock.

Make him an offer if he fixes the car up.

I only treat mine every six months which is good enough.

The dynamic handling pack only increases the rims from 16" to 17". But bear in mind that this also has a slight lowering so 18"+ without too much damage to the ride might be possible if you want better handling.

Personally, I wouldn't damage a smooth ride. I like the way I can do 600 miles and get out fresh as a daisy and the way the ride is silent on the standard rims and tyres. Also, I know Lexus spend a lot of effort getting the resonant frequency of the supsension right.

But 74p for Gordon Brown to keep the unemployment numbers down.

I asked a chap there to come and see what he thinks and he said that it is a pot or two down at idle. I have returned 24mpg on the first tank I have used though so I don't think it can be running too badly at speed.

You must know that the S-Class actually shuts down some pots for economy. I've run a four cylinder on 3 pots before and it seems to run ok, if a little rough.

it's costing £2,500

:o Luckly they didn't write it off.

Yes, lucky indeed.

How do these things work? Do they write it off when the repair is 100% or more of the car's value? Or do they write it off when the cost of the repair is say, 80% or more of tha car's value?

According to Parkers (it's the only guide I have), my car should be worth 3,300. However, since Parkers undervalues cars, mine is closer to 3,500?

I've heard that should the seat belt tensioners or the airbags go off, then it costs a small fortune to replace them and often they write off brand new cars up to about £30,000 in price if this happens.

In the first two years you have no rights whatsoever. The company can do as they please. By sheer co-incidence, the old YTS under the Tories, which has now been replaced by higher education courses in Media Studies, lasted two years.

Great!

Loads of space to put your arm through to clean the inside too.