Mark W

This has shocked me.....I'm getting ~25mpg out my GS430 is I drive it reasonable, 23 if I give it the boot.... Are these typical IS mpg figures, due to mods or you all drive around with your foot flat to the floor? Previously had an LS until it had to go to the great car graveyard and actually considered an IS to help save on the fuel bills - In the end I opted for a GS anyway - but I would have been a little disappointed if I'd have bought an IS for that reason and only got 26mpg. (not that I consider an IS to be a disappointment to drive - I just prefer larger cars)

Its all in the name - its only a "gauge" and not there to measure the exact quantity of fuel remaining. Dont think I have ever had a car where its accurate. Every car Ive had - you get a fair few miles out of it before the guage even drops from full (Had a 2.0 vectra years ago and could get 100 miles out of it before the gauge started to move.....300 miles at 1/2 way......then BAM! - Filling up again at 400 miles because the lights on)

Bonus from work.... re-decorated his entire bedroom for his birthday...new bed, 42" plasma on wall, Kiss1600 wireless media player and his playstation - the look on his face when he opened the door was well worth every penny. Not the usual birthday for him....but recently had our second (another boy) and he had been as good as gold ....no jealousy and helping out loads....so wanted to treat him....

I recently bought a 42 inch Samsung Plasma for my 6 year old son for his birthday.....what a bargain too....has everything....HD (1080), built in freeview, Picture in Picture, loads of inputs (3 x HDMI for starters plus a PC input and component input) and all for £699 !!! Free next day delivery - 247 electrical (do a search on google as not sure of the url) ON the LCD vs Plasma debate - theres loads of pros and cons for each - I prefer the plasma from a pure viewing perspective - the colours appear more vivid and the viewing angle is much wider. LCD's also suffer from "ghosting" on very fast scenes. Although with plasma's you have to watch for screen burn - although the samsung I just bought has automatic protection (moves pixels after a set time on any still image) The "Plasmas only last 3-5 years" comment is not true - any plasma manufactured within the last few years will last as long as any LCD Model is a PS42Q97HD - they also do a 50 (the PS50) although not sure how much more money we are talking about but guess a lot less than your 2K limit..... Saves you some money for the Lex :)

To add to my mis-diagnosis by Lexus Wolverhampton - prior to going into the dealer (whilst I was waiting for the recovery vehicle to collect my car) I opened the bonnet and checked all the fluid levels. All were perfect - including the coolant - bang on maximum. On collecting - the coolant level had dropped to below minimum and only just reached minimum when engine had reached running temp. Since then - coolant level hasnt dropped at all (Ive done around 1000 miles since then). As no work has been done on the car that could possibly resolve the loss of coolant (only work is change of plugs) then make your own judgement. I'm also somewhat surprised that they did not top back up as part of the "repair" rather than give back to me with a low coolant level......given its pretty important. Whilst I didnt get stung for a huge amount (just over £200) as I said I didnt want them to continue - I do have all the paperwork from them stating what they believed to be wrong with the car.....including loss of compression.

How do you know you are nearly getting to the bottom of the tank? Easiest way to calculate your mpg - fill her up to the brim and reset your odometer - drive until you need to fill her up again. see how many gallons you need to fill her up again to the brim. note down mileage on odometer. divide mileage by gallons and theres your best answer. If you are still getting 22 then theres a problem somewhere - unless all your driving is short trips or all urban driving....

1.1 litre N plate debadged resprayed red fiesta with lexus style lights, full bodykit, 12" exhaust cap and 42" subwoofer taking up the entire boot. I'd then hang about outside my local mcdonalds every Saturday night revving up my powerful engine whilst listening to my 700W JVC stereo. I could then be cool like all the other 18 year olds I see now..... (Cant understand it - when I was that age I was down the pub or in a club)

If you change radio station whilst you are driving you will also notice the aerial move either up or down based on the signal strength for that station although probably best that you listen for it moving rather than look whilst you are driving...could end up costly

Seen this a few times before on many cars and the reason I dont use the jet washes.....some of them are far too powerful now and if you hold too close to the car you can easily do damage to the paintwork. (ever put your hand close to the end of one of these things....nearly takes your fingers off) People use things to blast clean their driveways - and then turn loose on their car !

I usually make the assumption that if it wasnt required it wouldnt be on there... Any plastic covers are going to be there to protect from the elements (rain / snow etc) and the odd flying bit of gravel etc.....not there to protect in a crash or offroad incident. If you dont replace could damage from small debris or perhaps corrode earlier than they would if protected...

You can certainly get 'em....I previously had an LS400 MkII - And had the roof bars (Lexus) - They came with the car so dont know where the last owner purchased them from. I wrote off my LS and sold the racks on ebay last year for about 40 quid....although the guy that bought them had a MarkIII and they wouldnt fit....so must be specific for each "mark" - so make sure if you do see any you make sure they are correct for your car.... Rather than send back to me for a refund, the guy kept (as postage would have been another 8 quid or something) Suppose he then resold. I do know they are pretty rare though as there was a lot of interest on them at the time and several people commented on the fact they didnt know you could get them. Anyway, good luck in your search

Glad you got it sorted mate....I also noticed reduced road noise (not that there was much but now you can literally hear a pin drop in the car) and you also had chance to sample to culinary delights of Cannock :) Newport is a nice place.....missus's friend moving there next month (wrongly assumed you lived Wolves due to Lex Wolverhampton - didnt make connection with your name)

Depending on which side of Brum you live and can make the trip to Wolves......I found Castec Motor Services excellent...They are Rolls/Bentley/Range Rover specialists .....so used to V8 beasts :) the guy that owns used to work for Rolls Royce as an engineer (Fred) Very friendly, decent price and good..... Since took my old car and the missus there for its MOT.....didnt charge me for my old car and MOT sailed through...

They'll wonder whats happening - 2 lexus's in a week - Mine got quite a bit of attention....but that seems to be common now.....My wife answered the door the other day because the postman had a recorded letter....and he asked where "the car" was - she asked him what car - He said "the lexus....I like to look at it as nice car.......". On Sunday I filled up with petrol and the guy behind the counter asks me if he can ask me a question. He wanted to know what the GS was like - as he was thinking of getting one or maybe an X-type jag......I put him on the correct path of course ;o) Wandered a little of course there..... can guarantee my car wont be going anywhere near Lexus Wolverhampton. Hope you get it sorted Newport ....let us know if it does the trick....Wave as you go past Penkridge :) (suppose depends which side of Wolves you live)

I have a set of Saxo VTR alloys in the garden and noticed last week that the centres were solid, I'd never seen that before. Now I know why. I find plants are much prettier :)

Congratulations ! Ditto Hando.....those easyfit bases are a godsend and help keep you leather sweet (those kiddie seats have lots of thin edges that dig into your leather and can scrape it when you are messing around puttin the seat in) We have the Bebe Confort - same type of system as the MaxiCosi. Easyfit base - clunk & click youre away :)

Believe its a common issue with the GS where you get wheel wobble at speed (mine was pretty bad around 60-80) Despite having the Wheels balanced before...didnt solve the problem and thought it was the wheels (they are OZ's) or the tyres (Yokahoma Decibels) However, had a chat with WIM (Wheels In Motion - What a helpful and excellent guy!) and he suggested 90% balance problem and 10% tread pattern. He suggested having the whells balanced as centreless rims (where they are balanced on a plate the same as your discs rather than using the centre hole on the wheel). As often, the centre hole is cosmetic and not dead centre....so balancing your wheels using this "hole" just gives a constant error. Anyway, just had them done using the centreless rim method and shes now as smooth as a baby :) Actually quite difficult finding somewhere that does it (took me 5 calls before I found somewhere that did locally) but well worth it. (ATS in Cannock - £27 and fast/friendly service for anyone that lives near there - not sure if all ATS can do) Thanks again WIM for your advice :) and hopefully others may be able to benefit by having this done.

Thanks guys.....just bought myself a large can of WD40 and will give it a go. Going to have to suss out where the water is getting in and fix it somehow...otherwise not going to be able to drive the car in the rain....which given this summer is going to be a slight problem Glad to see you've had no more probs Newport. Update: No use....good dousing with WD40 and reset ECU....light out but still misfiring so looks like back to the garage. I'm wondering if its ruined the spark plug on the 1 cylinder...as when the garage replaced them last time they showed me the old plugs and the one from the misfiring cylinder didnt look too healthy...

Hi Ken....I did have a Parrot 3200 in my LS400....although no longer with me after I wrote it off last year so I cant provide pics. I stuggled to find somewhere to place as well......in the end placed by the gearshift using a "sticky tab" rather than drilling any holes for screws. Not ideal as you had to twist to see it....but looked a little silly stuck to the dash. also didnt want it on full view as would look tempting to thiefs (may think its a sat nav) One thing I did struggle with with was the wiring loom to connect it - have you successfully connected yet? The official loom had a wire missing that was required in order to function (wiring in car didnt quite match the loom available from autoleads). This wasnt a faulty loom - just that an extra connection (believe it was the +ive line). Autoleads were great though and sent me an extra cable which I just clipped into the appropriate ends of the loom to resolve. Free of charge and turned up first class post the next day. Then worked fine. Wiring connection can be found somewhere on this forum as thats where I found out which wire was missing. My LS was a MkII though - not sure if the MkIII has different connections. Took me hours to fix in - space is very limited behind the radio - finding space to fit the "blue" parrot box behind there was interesting...plus due to the short cable lengths, awkward to position everything then get the radio back in without messing it all up..... Now driving a GS430 - and in same predicament in terms of where to put the Parrot....may not bother with it and revert to a StarTrek earpice instead....Parrot currently installed in my Mondeo (gap car whilst I looked for a Lexus to replace my LS) and its a cool piece of kit......but theres just no-where to put it in a lexus without looking a tad silly or awkward to use. Not sure how much space will be available behind the unit in my GS either...as its a navigator (sat nav) so space may be even more tight. But if you find somewhere (or anyone else has one in a GS) let me know.....I miss it at the mo and would like to install. Mark

Came home last night and it bucketed it down with rain....so much everyone had to stop on the dual carriageway as you just couldn't see where you were going......also rained all night and car isnt garaged....got in car this morning, drove a few miles and engine mgmt light came on again. Listened carefully to the engine and it does sound a little like its misfiring a little, although I didnt notice any difference in performance This sort of proves the theory that water is getting where it shouldnt (somewhere by the spark plugs) when the car is driven in heavy rain. I'm going to have a good look around the engine tomorrow to see if I can suss out where the water is getting in. I was quite shocked when I opened the bonnet just how much water ran out from under the front grille.....is that normal? But my main question is - will the Engine mgmt light automatically go out if I fix the problem or do I need to reset myself? Had a Vectra in a previous life and the ECU in this would clear the error after several successful starts and no more problems - Is the Lexus the same or will I need to get it reset (or perform some tasks to reset it myself)?

Having previously owned an LS400 and now driving a GS430SE I have to say I prefer the GS. The LS was excellent for those motorway cruises but on back roads and country lanes it tended to feel like you were driving a bus. Mk1-3's are also starting to look a little dated now. However, dont get me wrong - I loved the LS and it had a tad more kit (Heated rear seats, electric seat belt hight adjustment, electric head rest adjustment etc) but from a ride perspective the GS is better. Have to say those extra gadgets were not used much either Either way you will be happy though - after all - its a lexus ;o)) Happy driving and wish you all the best