Cotswold Pete

It would be interesting to see how many BHP a LS with 200K miles on clock is actually delivering. My guess is not too much reduction since car was new, so long as it has been looked after. These engines are so lazy no need to thrash them so surely less wear compared to trying to squeeze 400BHP out of a 2 litre Ford ASBO motor. Wonder how much the charge would be do get onto a rolling road for a measure?

Just given my LS a bit of an internal wash, care of leaving the roof tilted and along came one heck of a shower. So rushed out of office and closed the tilt, and could see a drip taking place at rear of sunroof, so then slid the roof forward for a micro-second and closed it back up. The drip stopped. Made me wonder if you always get a better seal as the roof closes upwards, as the closing from a tilt when the seal is moving down. No doubt get a bit of condensation in the car when the sun comes out. hey ho

Must confess never been a fan of the 430, though one of my uncles had planned to get one when he retired, but now he is retired his missus got him to buy a campervan, which no doubt is bit more comfortable for a nights kip. All the possible issues with the roof motors would put me off as much as anything else. The only open top for me would be Triumph Stag (but one with proper rebuild on cooling system), but this will remain a pipe dream until I had some garage to keep it in. As to the LS400 insurance issue, I would rather have a car that if hit would be worth s*d all as far as the payout, rather than have a Beamer / Audi which may be worth more, but would have burnt a naffing great whole in wallet keeping it going. Given I probably need to spend over £1K getting my Mk4 back into tip-top, I see that as fine, given it only cost £2.2K four years ago, and has cost a heck of a lot less than my wifes 10 year old X-type to keep on the road. And if someone wrecks my LS I would still be quids in, but pi*sed off about not being able to find a replacement. Hopefully after last 20 years of having no one hit a car I owned, this will remain so for a few more years.

Cycle Carrier Boards, did not realise they are as cheap as chips (not too solid in engineering terms). £20 from Halfords - 2m cable £18 from Screwfix - 4m cable plus cost of number plate

The Thule does not seem so stable (to me) in the way it is put together, and also the Saris works well as it has the two hooks that go right down to the rear eyelets right by the exhaust boxes and really hold it on along with the side straps. In old days used to have roof bars with bike carriers, but you need to be a ruddy weight-lifter to get the bikes up that high and so that was why Saris appealed to me. Enjoy going to Penberth, I intend to get out to the Forest of Dean and Afan Forest near Neath. Just need some nice weekends when the missus is not expecting me to clear out the shed or paint a window or two.

I have had a Saris Bones for about 12 years, but only just got around to using on my LS, once set up takes about 5 mins to fit and remove. Have had 3 MTB on the rack, and solid as they come. Only thing I need to do is get a plate/light bar to put on, as I have tow bar electrics, and probably blocking the brake lights a little too much, but so far only used the rack to carry a few miles at a time. This rack works well becuase the back bumper is darned solid and deep, where as on my Omega of old, it never felt quite so stable. Agree that it adds a certain look of menace to the back of the car without adding the length problems with a bike rack mounted on the tow bar ball. One thing to be careful of is the pedals catching the metal work, and I like the idea of bubble-wrap, will use that next time to be safe.

If I was spending that much on an LS, I would be more tempted to put another £2K-£3K in the pot and get an LS460. But I'll be sticking with my Mk4 for the mo.

Blueprint cheapos did this to me, got worse and worse - God know why I kept them for 2 years. Had Pagid in for last 4 months, no squeals so far.

Wonderful idea even for April fool, but if ever it comes to fruition, it needs to have different modes such as In a bl**ding hurry white van man mode 1 Just chilling to Bob Marley mode 2 Annoyed at BBC stars pay mode 3 Other options no doubt could be programmed in later

Longer than the rest of the car I would think, modern LCD systems are well robust, however the issue tends to be the naff connectors used which break under vibration stress.

I would have thought it would be worth more to an enthusiast looking for a MK1, but I assume the breakers are not in touch with such folks.

IMHO all this gadetry is a darned distraction, which I assume with the coming of driverless cars is not an issue. Maybe in the future cars will come with kettles, fridges, bookcases (for us traditionalists), a workbench, and wine cellar, all useful to keep you busy while the car whisks you up the M1 into the back of another car! It might be 28 years behind Lexus, but Lexus then must have known you only want a certain level of distraction, not a full-blown IT system in the dashboard.

It is great the LS seems to have a lack of engine braking, in some ways it means you have be darned careful when folloing other cars who are slowing down with no brake lights showing as they engine break. I think it is not just the auto-box because other autos I have driven you get a level of engine braking, so I assume the LS has something smarter than your average electronics, and a car with low drag co-efficient (0.27 I hear on the 400Mk4) all helping it to make sure car uses the least fuel possible.

Assuming you set the system as soon as you hit the motorway, and assuming it is you average bit of London motorway, I would have expected at least 30mpg, if not 33mpg. My LS400 at 56mph does about 38mpg, and even got 39mpg once on M5 on Somerset Levels. At 80mph fully loaded (passengers & boot) - does 30-31mpg I would think any adaptive response in the ECU is not going to account for these figures of 23mpg. I get 28mpg on way to work (All A roads with small amount of town driving), and that includes a climb of 500foot as soon as I leave the house, and the old beast is not warmed up and chewing though about a gallon every 5 miles on the climb. I have never found tyre pressure to make that much difference (other than wearing out the tyre), though I did find a small improvement (and I mean small) after engine oil change and full ATF change. I have tried Shell V-Power a few times and noticed no difference, other than to wallet. Is it worth you giving the guys at Japex (Kings Langley) a call, seem to be well regarded in sorting out what is going on.

Just thought, but in past when I have had cars that do short city miles the throttle gets clogged up quicker and so fuel intake is all over the place. Is your rev counter up and down while stationary, might indicate cleaning throttle worth a look.

Heavens to Betsy, I'll be putting my order in for one of these when I become Prime Minister!!!!

Count me in as a handbrake on, driving off practitioner. Once sounds like a herd of buffalo in the back as i accelerated up to 60 with handbrake on.

Totally agree with this, just get yourself off to a custom exhaust specialist, they'll sort you out for a fair price, using stainless steel rebuild. As for lower ball joints, a clunk and wandering are symptoms, but last ball joint I had done the clunk was so minimal I would never have guessed it was the problem. Personally I'd go with the non-Lexus chaps, and forget the 'nice' but useless video.

I love the fact that it says after pressing the fuel filler door button it may take up to 10 seconds to open. I would love to see the messages on the console After 1 second - We have registered your need to open the fuel filler door After 2 Seconds - We are okay to open, but can see it is cold, and am now giving you time to put on your jacket After 5 seconds - we have checked your credit card and can see your credit limit is exceeded and will be closing the filler door After 5.5 seconds - we have spotted that your paypal account is fine, so we are now resuming the opening of the filler door After 7 sconds - the door is open, we are now heating the filler cap so as not to freeze your digits After 10 seconds - ready to fuel

Filling an LS is a chance to observe the people who have no idea how to park near a pump, cannot remember which side their filler is on, and those who know where the filler is but have not worked out that the pump line can stretch across the boot, and those desperate to make sure they only put a fivers worth of fuel in as that is all they have (been there myself a few times). Life in the LS, fast on the road, slow at the pump, just the way it should be.

I find some plugs do not fit well, and the push and twist can work for a while and then after a bit works loose, which is why I use better grade USB sockets in the lighter then a seperate cable out of USB socket to the electonic junk that litters my console. Does the standard cigarette lighter work, coz if it does not, then maybe a loose connection behind the tray, as I have heard the connectors can fail if flipping ashtray in and out causes a break in the cable.

I did wonder if it was fuel pump, and on low tank there is a pressure issue, but reading your symptoms not so sure it's that simple. Also not so sure the problem relates to capacitors failing, as in my experience that causes stalling after long runs, when you let revs drop. Not sure if it is worth you giving the chaps at Japex a call see if they have any ideas. But it would seem like you can get round France so long as you never let fuel go too low, so knowing guage reading accuracy seems like a good thing. Best of luck with the trip, and sounds like you have way more spare time for replacing so much gubbins.

Malc, only reason I wondered if the vibration was bushes, was because on Vaux Omega when wishbone and bushes were on their way out you used to get vibration. I do recall in my previous LS the car drove fine but it had the UCA slowly giving up, but got through 2 MOTs with no problems. Makes me wonder if I have a bit of brake judder, just had new Pagid blocks fitted - and I have followed the many many discussions on this form about blocks/disc/judder - so makes me wonder if getting new shims would help, but for the mo will ignore the squeak and wait for the mercury to get back down to the usual British average.

Noticed over past few days that I have a squeak developing, and last night had a good old press down on front off-side and squeaking like the my wifes Jag when some of the bushes were going. Also have a slight (and sometimes pronounced) vibration at 30-40mph. Sounds like something needs replacing, not sure if that would be upper control arm, or something else. Any ideas, before I call mechanic.

Wheels look shabby, but not sure if that is just way photos taken. Also the upside down driving position looks a little challenging