Cotswold Pete

That photo makes me a little envious even though it is not a Mk4

This always bugs me the lack of USB sockets and the fact that fast ones only on the front. I guess they suspect you only plug your USB sticks in the front (which is true, but then I have fast scanners connected as well). I could not live with just 4 USB ports, currently running with 8 USB ports (which is a bit excessive) and my machine like yours has 3 of the fast ones only on the front. Sounds like a fun day with a new toy, whereas I have just found out my laptop needs a complete reload to cure some odd user conflicts, so that will be a few hours letting it tick away doing that. At least I will have a stripped back O/S (as it is not going to be used for Internet Browsing), and it should run nice and quick for the Audio recording stuff I am panning to do (which is going through my 600 cassettes and working out what I need to turn into MP3 - as in those cassettes are some rare old BBC recordings from 1980 onwards, that would be a shame to loose when mylatest cassette deck ebay purchase packs up - my other good deck just packed up after 30 years of sterling service))

Bluenose, All the machines look good, IMHO the Dell kit direct from Dell is always good value. If it were me I would then add a small SSD and just put the Operating System stuff on it, then all you normal data on the HDD. That means you get superfast startup time, which is where SSD wins out, and then normal date reading/writing on an HDD is not a problem of speed (unless you are doing some serious photo or music editing). SSDs though reliable, are more likely to fail the more you read from them, and just having the OS on a small SSD keeps your cost down and then you can backup the OS to a partition you can create by splitting the 1TB hard drive into different logical drives. All this reminds me I must get of my backside and spend some cash on upgrading my 12 year old PC, which is creaking a little.

Gate

I wonder if it is loose connection for the power to the Compact Florescent tubes that light up the panel. If they are not lit, you would not (usually) see anything on the panel, even though the touch screen would be live. Could be a easy fix once you get the screen out, doubt it is the tubes themselves failing, otherwise they would not light up at all, and if they are 'failing', my guess is not an easy thing to replace even though they would have been some off the shelf CFL when the car was put together. If it goes off permanent then a pain, so unless you want to stump of £220 on ebay (Display) then maybe take some photos of the unit when working, then at least you have a template you can refer to especially if you ever need to use the more 'esoteric' options. I know the manual covers them but a photo means you could in theory print them out to scale and then use them to be 'spot-on' when dabbing a blank screen.

Ken83, I had similar issues with LS, and one thing I found was non-OEM made things worse. So eventually got my local mechanic to replace pads, and shims and disks with OEM and hey-presto last 12 months have been silence from the brakes. I am surprised with 11 month old car you have a problem, but the anti-squeal shims might be duff (even if they look new). Maybe given you are in London, give Japex a call (Hemel Hampstead way), they seem to know their Jap cars inside out. I use Osaka in Newport-Wales, but that is a bit of hike for you

Crikey, Just had a look at that link from Royoftherovers. Wonder if there will ever be a BMT option (where car decides you have Bad Music Taste) and tunes your radio to whatever your mother would have liked listening to!!!! I learnt many years ago (after falling asleep twice at the wheel, and just missing hitting the M4 barriers) how to open the window, sing along 'badly' to the radio, and then find the first safe place to pull over and have a 20minute kip. . Those were the days when no AC in company cars for my grade, and running the M4 at 90 with the window down was a little 'hair-re-arranging' The trick for learning a 20 minute power nap was to practice at home by putting on a vinyl record and then when it got to the end the click-click of the run out would wake me up. After doing that for about a week (every evening) like a Pavlovs dog I was trained for a short snooze.Can still do it now on really long runs (while missus pops into services and has a coffee, and buys me a Greggs sugar-hit)

Barrel

Well March 10th struck down with Covid, hospitalised Apr 6th, and only this week did I get the LS out for a drive to the office to pick up some papers so I could work at home. So after so long not driving (other than short trip to get MOT sorted and there was no other cars about), the 15 miles to work was weird. Firstly forgot what happens when you put your foot down with a 4 litre engine Secondly seems like everyone coming the other way is a potential threat (I recall that feeling when I was learning to drive) Judging the width of car had me all over the place - just need a bit more practice But such a lovely car to be in compared my wifes new Mazda (which is okay, just not an LS). Roads busier than I was expecting, but quiet enough for me to start building confidence. Looking forward to when I have the stamina to drive out to see some friends in Wales, but suspect Dr will say take it easy for a while longer. Also decided to touch up key scrape down both off-side doors, just to make the car a little tidier looking, as not got the cash to splash on a respray. For sure it will still show, but not as bad as having a five foot squiggly white line. Just need to complete the job so that it looks okay(ish)

Apologies for confusing people earlier, it was the one in the original link at the top. Now only 7 hours to go, still £1800. Based on Royoftherovers comment, wonder what stopped previous sale.

Just read this and one other thought came to mind, as it sounds like similar problem I had on Omega over 15 years ago when I had new tyres fitted. Tyre separation. One of the new tyres had the tread wall coming away from the inner belt, and I had wobble at really low speeds 15mph to 25mph (like I was constantly hitting small patches of ice) at higher speeds like the wheels were totally unbalanced (but balancing showed things to be perfect). It was AA man who suggested I just get a tyre depot to have a proper poke of the tyre, and hey presto new tyre found to be seperating.

Only on £1800 today, this car seems like a steal, and even if cam belt not done still a good buy at £2k+ IMHO.

Queue

Bee

Ifty, When you say the unit comes out, is it just a case of easing it out from the front of the lower dash.

Tis true that not all CDs are equal. I have a Sony home player that can read CD text, but I reckon less than 10% of the CDs I play have any Text Data. You can create copies of your own CDs then edit any of the data (using Media Monkey), then burn a copy of the tweaked CD files and hey-presto text in the car or home. Tis a bit of a pain to do as it just takes time.

Just discovered the drive boot release button no longer working. Seems like it just 'flops about'. Is it a cable release behind, and is it easy(ish) to get to see what has 'broke' without major pulling apart of the lower half of dash. It's not a big deal, as the remote key still unlocks boot, but is handy about 2 or 3 times a year to be able to just pull that little tab when the missus needs to get something quick. Any advice appreciated

I think so as well, I found some old postings where some Lexus owners had problems with cheaper end of non-OEM shocks, and on the way back from garage last night realised that the LS is worth doing it 'right' as the ride in my 20 year old car was better than my wife's 2 year old Mazda 2 over the potholes that are joined up by small bits of road on the A46 . Just need to wait a week before Lexus Parts Direct can get them to me and off back the my local indi to have them fitted.

Actually decided to go with Lexus Parts Direct, will have to wait a week for the shocks, but for the sake of an extra £180 (and not needing the car for a couple of weeks), may as well go OEM. That will be one more job done until the next biggie (cam belt on next 10K miles)

Just had the Mk4 fail MOT on rear shock leaking. Problem is the garage cannot supply LS parts.only OEM (not sure what brand) Question: Is using non-Lexus shocks a good idea (£108 ea.) versus getting them from Lexus Parts Direct (£194 ea.) I had new Lexus shocks fitted on front last year, but only coz the team at Osaka said non LS shocks can create a rough ride. Not sure what my local MOT garage is going to use, but any comments appreciated.

Good point given the rainfall we have had always a chance a little water crept into some tanks, though they should be watertight. Does not take much water in fuel to create a problem, so fingers crossed all tickety-boo from now on.

Miners

Some really great music in your list. These guys reminded me of Lord Huron and the CD Lonesome Dreams.

Council

From my experience would avoid BluePrint for anything (had them on LS and other cars owned), the cost saving not that great and as Tinonline says, quality overstated IMHO.