Malc

....... the Ls400 is absolutely the only car that I know I can drive for hours and hours and hours and emerge with zero back pain or other aches and pains ...... feeling as tho' I've just stepped out of a comfy armchair. And I'm a fat old bugger only 5'10" tall. Throughout my driving life of 48 years, of which 14 have been Ls400, I speak with some experience......... not always so rotund tho' but I did have aches and pains with other cars when I was " smaller " Malc

...... a Ls400 is the ultimate Grand Touring car ................. Malc

...... intuitively ............ the lad was maybe driving without insurance cover and his dad will probably settle with some cash .... get two estimates, show his dad those and tell him he needs to give you the cash immediately or you will report it all to the police ................. Then it's your choice on timing and repairer to fix your car................. I wouldn't worry your insurer any more with cash in hand .......... . just don't use them again, they seem amazingly unhelpful especially if you have Fully Comprehensive cover with them. Malc

...... if you should end up buying the write-off or indeed just arrange for the repair to be done under your own steam ( should the young lad pay you cash to cover the damage and not go thru' the insurances ) then I can suggest a competent and good value bodyshop repair guy just near Ramsgate if that's any good to you. Beware hiring a car tho' and expecting anyone else to pay for it even if there's no fault to you !!! ..... unless someone has prior agreed to pay for it. Malc

........... might be coz i always buy my new tyres from there too ...... but i doubt that's the reason, Tony ( the usual guy there ) seemed quite instant with the pricing quote ...... £nil if everything was ok and £34.95 if anything needed adjustment Malc

..... don't drink decaff coffee . u need the caffeine this time around ...... well done Malc

Guys, just had mine re-done following the nearside UCA renewal. Treadmark Tyres Canterbury £34.95 ....... just one adjustment needed it seems from the coloured printouts. When I first had this done ( at the same place ) 4 years ago now, just after buying the car, and newly installed technology, the cost was @£50 Hardly ever see costs going down eh !! :outforcount: Malc

............. looks a bit of a good buy to me ........... the cambelt shoudn't need doing for 3 years or so .......... if I was thinking of changing mine I would certainly go have a look and take some cash with me to steal it from the owner at maybe £1800 ............ Malc

... and without any grief at all . Toyots / Lexus . correct first time fit ... about £22 ... saves on broken finger nails, fingers and fuel revisiting Halfords etc ..... even tho' it's a great pleasure to drive the Ls at any time. :hocus-pokus: Malc

. remembering Steve2006 on here and the tightness of a belt, maybe the cambelt ....... maybe send him a message ? Malc

......... wbac .. my sis-in-law had a really good 02 plate Nissan Primera with full service and sub 90k miles ....... end value with wbac .... £265 !!! and everything worked .................. and that was the price before they actually saw it ! Malc

....... my Ls400 does that too !!! Malc

............ driving thru' Italy the laws stipulated that in most areas one has to drive with daytime running lights ........ my dipped headlights were ok, most cars with fixed built in day running lights weren't at all intrusive or glaring. Problem I had was remembering to turn them on when I started the car ............ ............ but then it was common place to see police driving cars with a mobile in hand pinned to their ears !! Malc

...... typos on a website ............................. command of English language or not it's a bit naf to get one's "marketing" askew .. I would go bananas if the guys I was involved with doing adverts, web changes etc got such a fundamental awry ............ but there we are, maybe (as I have said before ) I'm staid and old fashioned and have rather higher expectations than I should. Dumbing down is a bit sad ........ but alas, only to expected these days btw, hope you get the right stuff, this does seem a better way to go than piecemeal, or fully, replacing these air units. Malc

.... is this the Lexus that was on here before, where the guy bought it just to do odd trips around europe etc ? and he was thinking of selling afterwards .. maybe a year or so ago now ! Malc

....... looking at the advert and the typos alone would put me off this company tbh ..... " warrienties with in " rather than " warranties within " it's the simple things in life that can make the difference with vendors, especially on ebay ....... but I have absolutely no idea if the product is ok Malc

ah right ............... ADL is Automotive Distributors Ltd .......... adl.co.uk I think ............ and my indy uses those guys a lot especially for good quality Jap parts ( from Japan he says ) ... so here's hoping the UCA will last for at least another 20 years eh !! Malc

........... hmmmm ............. only 250 miles a week ............. . you'll feel a lot better doing 500 miles a week, the joy of such wonderful driving will soon make the fuel costs seem insignificant ............ unless you're going for one of these new fandangled " bluemotion " type cars that does 70 mpg and cost you maybe £25k or more to buy then just absorb the fuel costs and drive the best car you will have ever owned or wish to own. Malc do you get the feeling that we LOC guys here are mabye just a little passionate about our Ls400s !!

............. compared to almost any other car on this planet the Ls400 is incredibly reliable and inexpensive to maintain ........... petrol costs, well it is a 4ltr limo but you should get 30mpg on a good run and early 20's normal sensible driving.................... as has been said, cambelts should be changed every 100k miles / 10 years and upper control arms maybe about now at 160 / 175 k miles ... but if it has 11 months MOT then it's ok for another year probably ( at least ) .......... and will last another 175k miles. ..................all other parts are keenly priced provided you don't buy from Lexus ( except the batteries which seem to be good value ) Just buy it and enjoy the best drive of your life ....... I've just returned from an amazing 5343 mile round trip from Kent to Italy over 4 weeks ( last year 6060 miles to Spain and Portugal ) and only lifted the bonnet to refill the windscreen wash bottle ! Best car ever. Malc

. so how's it all going ?? Malc

............. any MOT Advisories about rust ? Generally I would say repair it all ... 86k miles is insignificant in the life of a Mk3 Malc

Mine's Aspen Green too, just like that and it also starts first time every time too ................ they can all look brilliant with a little tlc Malc

............. I'd say it's in pretty good nic tbh ......... no flaking teeth and no sign of deterioration really ....... on mileage it would do 100,000+ miles but on years maybe it's 5yrs over the usual limit. When the first Ls400 was introduced there was no time limit nor mileage criteria for changing the cambelt ............ this confused everybody BUT when the original belt was made of Kevlar ( effectively ) it would probably be just about indestructible ................ they used kevlar to build bomb proof containers etc. I recently tried to ascertain from Lexus the construction quality of new replacement Lexus cambelts and was given the runaround and no answer ! I've only ever once read of a cambelt ( USA Forum ) on a Ls400 snapping, under test conditions and at 150k miles continuous running I think it might have been. But the service schedule says 10 yrs / 100k miles so best be safe and do it eh !! Hope your journey thru' cambelt change land continues with great success and not too many frustrations on the way Malc

Tulpen ......... when I bought my Mk3 off ACLex on here ( 4 years ago now ) he had changed it to a DHP ........ and offered me the option to restore it to original, which I was glad to accept ........ nothing quite like the original styling methinks Malc

.............. whatever happened to inner tubes ??? Malc