Malc

at least in my 95 Ls400 I can blame the crackling sound on the tapes I'm using rather than any unlikely and expensive degradation of the sound system itself Malc

Rick, sorry to hear of your sad " loss " . hope you're all ok .. and welcome to this Forum too might it be a sensible idea to put your faith in a local well regarded repairer to oversee the whole job including finding the replacement parts too ? Guess you're thinking to buy the write-off from your insurers who might give it a Cat N if you're lucky The payout, after your buy-back, should cover the costs of repair hopefully ..... I'd have thought, which expenses won't be cheap I'm sure If you're keeping this car forever then it shouldn't matter to you one jot if it's a Cat N write-off BUT check all that first AND that when it is repaired it will happily pass the next MOT and there's nowt in the bang that makes it unsafe going forward ......... a dented cill might just have other repurcussions to the whoile body structure ..... so i would check that out as a starter maybe Good luck whatever Malc

and petrol ..... this is all a ridiculous argument about vehicles and emissions ......... about 16% of the world is western run and controlled and the rest really doesn't care a hoot about vehicle emissions ........... some 6.7 billion people ............. who have to often struggle ( much more than we do in the west whatever " class" and impoverishment we may experience amongst our societies ) .. so let the do-gooders think their 20mph speed limits are making a difference . the emission technicalities will catch up with them eventually when they really want to open their minds to the reality of it all .......... so keep spending taxpayers money on fresh white lines and speed humps and all that ..... it keeps the business world running and employment good too ............. more white lines and humps please, it's good for Society in that respect NOW ..... if anyone wants to make a difference to emissions then I suggest they stipulate NEVER to fly Wizzair .......... the little I can do in my business environment to help Ukraine is not to book any pax with this airline coz they are openly now flying to Moscow from UAE and in defiance of Western sanctions ( UAE doesn't care a hoot btw ) and to STOP the missiles and war mongering emissions of CO2 and all the other crap from armaments going " bang " everywhere .... heaven knows what the emissions effect is of all that and especially when the next nuclear power station goes pop in that part of the world too OK . off my high horse now . sorry if it's digressed a little . my apologies everyone Malc

possibly just a little less than the price of a new car maybe sounds an amazingly complex procedure and " sacrificial " adjacent parts seem a tad under-designed ..... or maybe overly so to ensure £££££ spent at Lexus Malc

remembering a few years back I had to have a brand new, from Lexus, oil sump plug and it was @£30 ..... horrified at the time ......... but after some 25 or so oil changes I s'pose it had simply " worn out " Malc

very commendable too ..... I suffer the same extremes of comfort and " niceness " whenever I do a long long journey in my 95 Ls400 ..... floating on air maybe Methinks Lexus ( and most others I guess ) really don't know how to truly improve on the customer experience from nigh 30 years back Malc simple really, get yourself a 2005 SEL Malc

but it will have a value ....... to be sold on T'Bay in 5kg bags for an inordinate sum ££££ Malc

I shouldn't jest about that YES, I can see the insurers linking in with the Authorities ( whatever they are ) AND issue speeding tickets etc automatically and points on your Licence and the insurer all the while keeping tabs on you to calculate the " risk " you pose to their coffers £££ Malc

sure it's not a stop light bulb ? Malc

we have this in Sittingbourne Kent too .... when the big junction set of lights fail by Lukehurst's, well, the traffic flow is smoothe and slick and removes the tailbacks and all congestion totally Malc

personally everyone, please remember that one can annihilate a cyclist equally efficiently at 20mph as at 30mph ........... Malc

this year maybe ?? lest we forget that the oil companies changed their configuration on pricing very recently in that the spread between their own internal pricing rose 24 pence which improved their pricing to the retailers by this further margin and thence to be added to with Petroleum Revenue Tax of say 50% giving an uplift at the pump price of at least 35p before the retailers started to reduce their own margins ..... there's no sod-ding hope for us poor old retail buyers at the pumps .... you and me eh! Malc

has the seller sent you a full interior and exterior ( slow ) walk around video ? Malc

and today at Hempstead Valley Kent Sainsbury's E10 is a staggering 167.9p local Asda is 173.7p never thought the day would come where Sainsbury was less expensive than Asda ( I avoid the word cheaper ..... it's all so bl0--dy expensive ) Malc

Kevin .....this is incredible ........... yes, the rubbers do wear with age and use and do become an MOT failure ...... I think mine began at about 15 years of age and 110k miles . I would wait until the next MOT and see if they become an Advisory ..... presumably they weren't at the last MOT ?? Methinks the Main Dealer ( or someone ) is taking you for a proverbial cloud nine ride ... as John says above .......... claim on the Warranty and see what excuse they give for not proceeding ... no Lexus is built that poorly I'm sure Good luck Malc

then on my 95 Ls400 that would be the abacus sticking out of the spare wheel area Malc

I don't know the answer to your Q sadly BUT I do know your car will be amazingly rare in Oz ........ there's another Oz guy on here with this post too 1992 LS400 Lexus Refresher build. Down Under Australia ........... and I do recall looking at the prices brand new for the Ls600 a couple of years back and the car import tax regime in Oz was amazing ..... your normal Ls600 was delivered cost there at @ £250k ...... yes GBP POUND STLG so it might be worth checking out the import regime if you're thinking to take it there Malc

looks like the sales have already peaked in the USA Malc

I've just taken a totally passive stance with my Pot and it's with Aviva with Black Rock ........ mainly simple general low risk FTSE stuff and with tiny tiny annual drawdown ( say 1.25 % ) my Pot has increased some 40% over these past 7 years ... the power of a brilliant investor and mentor Black Rock methinks ...... summat like US$ 13 ? trillion under their astute and professional management ............. BUT I doubt they do as well as Warren tho' Malc

$49.6bn I believe BUT that's tempered against his profits too which about balanced that out I'm reading ......... he has a clever accountant maybe . guess it's all to do with the timing and tax losses to the Fed ......... and his $106bn is real real cash ...... he maybe hides it under his mattress .......... AND he's told the world he's anti Crypto as it's all just a wisp of the imagination and doesn't have any asset realisable value . whereas EVERYTHING he invests in, if it goes bust, will always have a break-up asset value for him to turn into, well, maybe another pile of cash he's a Clever old Sage of Omaha eh ! I'm only reading ( in the past tho ) that China holds that much more than the US holds OUTSIDE of the US . and yes, it can and does print all it needs for own consumption I guess " than the USA holds OUTSIDE of the USA " ............... I wonder if this refers to the USA citzens and Corps holdings of dollars outside of the home country though ??? It's all a little beyond me . the closest I get to USA stuff these days is Starbucks Malc

an old adage for stock market investing too .............. no one gets that right apart from maybe Warren Buffet ..... read his sitting on a cash pile of US$106 bn right now ..... longevity has its rewards ..... he's 96 maybe and was made, by his daughter, to change his car a coule of years back. so he bought himself another olden ... a canny saver too Malc

they asked and i simply said ...... go for what's best .......... and they clearly did ..... and to match the centre caps .. the ridiculous upfront choice was enormous and confusing I felt a couple of years back, pre covid when I asked them about all this they told me the finish would probably last 15 years or so if i didn't damage them I'll let you know if they told me a fib Methinks the Mk3 centre caps were a brilliant piece of design engineering at the time, to simply have solid colour plastic right through Malc

that's the general price area I was quoted by Lepsons and SMART locally ,,, but I went with a more local guy who's been around a very very very long time too and ( cash ) £250 sealed the deal but NOT touching the centre caps . the colour matches ( I think ) or as near as dammit Malc

there's a few useful suppliers mentioned here .......... LexusPartsDirect and Amayama and Rockauto each of which delivers OK within and to the UK........ if you can't get the parts from Lexus itself ........... the other suppliers are often with OEM product, often with Toyota stamped on the parts themselves .... these are good suppliers and keen pricing too, often much better value than from the Main Dealer other products are BluePrint but whilst many buy these my own experience has been a bit naff over the years .......... I've owned and run a Ls400 ( my 3rd ) now for over 20 years and this one has done 240k miles coming up and I've had her 11 years from 123k miles about ... and I bought her from a member on here at the time too An Ls400 can be a brilliant car to run and to own with good and regular servicing and some preventative care too over the years ..... immensely reliable and comfortable, safe and economic to keep going .... mine's on E5 fuel, not sure if the 1998 model can use E10 tho' Others here with air struts and a Mk4 98 car will be here soon to welcome you I'm sure Where are you based btw ? Malc

what did Lepsons charge you for the 4 wheel refurb ? are your centre caps solid plastic like mine on the older car wheels ? solid colour too right thru' of course Malc