ColinBarber

If you change it according to the schedule then I don't think it really matters going semi or fully synthetic, especially as most LSs aren't driven hard.

Definitely agree on using Toyota fluid, or the OEM alternative, although for that age of vehicle I'd guess you need Toyota WS rather than T-IV - your manual should confirm that.

The rain sensor on my RX400h was very good, rarely had to manually override it. My IS300h is very poor in comparison, my dealer has swapped out the sensor under warranty which has improved things somewhere but it still isn't as good. You would like to think these things would improve as technology gets better, sadly not the case here.

Yes the IS should be much quicker. Essentially the same power, actually a couple of hp more due to more efficient exhaust manifolds, and less weight. Gearing should make acceleration quicker too given the extra ratios in the gearbox, hopefully that will outweigh the loss of power during more gear changes.

Another problem with the main dealers is they just don't diagnose fully or try and repair things anymore, just replace assemblies. It's a double edged sword though because given labor rates of over £100 per hour it is often cheap just to swap out parts than pay for extra hours whilst they diagnose. I think 5 years old is a good cut off point, before then and you lose too much value of your vehicle by not having FLSH - go with the 3 year standard warranty and a 2 year extension. After that look at the possibility of an independent, or just standard essentials servicing at Lexus but go to an indenpedant for any repairs.

The transmission typically won't go into top gear before it is up to temperature. What speed are you travelling when you experience the revs issue? Before a certain speed the transmission won't be in lock-up so there would be a rev rise as the extra power goes to the torque convertor.

Bearings shouldn't need replacing at 55k miles unless the vehicle has been overloaded, driven at excess speeds around corners or in some other way abused. My 400h had 112k miles on the clock when I sold it, not a sound coming from the original bearings. Unless Toyota started to use cheaper bearing on the newer vehicles to save money - this was around the time when their cost saving over quality drive was in full force. Sadly the law only applies to the original manufacture's warranty. The third party Lexus extended warrant stipulates the vehicle must be serviced by a Lexus dealer - one reason why they lowered the warranty prices was to stop older vehicles going to independents.

individual cells can be changed, it just isn't something that a Lexus dealer would do, and I don't think you can purchase a cell from Lexus/Toyota. Independants can clean up the contacts, refresh cells and balance them to fix these issues. The GS seems to have this issue more than other hybrids. I've not heard of this issue with the RX400h and there are many many more of those on the road. The Prius don't suffer as much with this either.

So you don't have to use the rubbish Lexus Sat Nav :) I use my phone for Sat Nav, music etc.

That is a newer unit that the one I used to have, hopefully it has improved. I certainly wouldn't recommend that older models.

Given that the 300h outsells the 250 9:1 it is a pretty good guess to assume it was one even if Dixgas didn't see a hybrid badge. Seems the 250 had a surge in registrations last month, I guess all the ones committed by dealers have been delivered and registered. The model has now been removed from the Lexus website so I guess you cannot order one anymore now, just able to purchase what is in stock.

It may be worth seeing what policies are available elsewhere. Tyre cover and alloy cover can typically be found cheaper than from your dealer so I would expect the same to be true for a smart repair policy.

Lexus typically provide a 0-62 mph figure, because they test 0 to 100 km/h. The extra 2 mph equates to 0.3 to 0.4 seconds difference when at 60 mph.

They seem to use progressive letters at the end, possibly just for maintenance releases, but the bigger releases seem to make the numbers jump rather than just a single increment. It is therefore difficult to know how many releases you are behind just looking at the version number.

You should be able to reset the system by pressing and holding the stereo power button for a few seconds until it reboots.

I think that will cause problems with the curtain airbag. For my 400h I used a Brodit proclip holder which fitted to one of the middle air vents. No marks left behind. I now use another one for my IS.

If you want reliability then the Toyota is a good choice, provided it doesn't have the 2.2 diesel engine that was also used in the IS220d. Not that exciting though. Mondeo is a good car, and cheap to fix if something goes wrong.

Welcome Lee. Seems a bit extreme to scrap a vehicle just because of a coil pack. People seem to be in the habit of replacing multiple coils, expensive and not sure why as only one will fail at any point in time. Misfires are sometimes caused by an injector fault which produce multiple misfire codes and again people go changing coil packs which don't need changing.

Whoever maintains that list doesn't do a very good job. On the IS they don't even list the firmware I have install as an option.

The windows should still operate, just not the double press auto function if it needs to be initialised. Are you sure the disable window button hasn't been accidentally pressed?

The 12v battery is used for the standby electrics (e.g. the alarm, central locking etc) and it also is used for the 'ignition' - which initialises the hybrid system. Once the car is in the 'Ready' state the hybrid system starts generating the 12v for the car systems and it will start recharging the 12v lead acid battery. The petrol engine is started by the hybrid generator/motor rather than by using a traditional starter motor. This allows the engine to be turned over much faster and smoother which is why it can be difficult to even detect when the engine is being stopped/started whilst driving. If your 12v battery is flat then you cannot initialise the hybrid system, it cannot go into 'Ready' and it cannot start the petrol engine. The one good thing about the hybrid system is it doesn't need a lot of power from the 12v battery. If your main battery is flat you can 'jump' it with just a small 12v battery (such as a moped battery) as it only needs to provide a few amps to unlock the doors and power up the car.

Welcome Paul. I doubt many people have 'upgraded' from the standard fit alarm system. You can get wiring diagrams from the Lexus tech site. Subscribe for an hour for less than £3. https://www.lexus-tech.eu

The Lexus originals are Denso - Toyota own a large part of Denso (around 25%).

The 12v battery doesn't crank the engine at all on a hybrid :winky:

This issue does seem to be mainly related to the LS430 and certain Toyotas (4Runner, Landcruiser and Tacoma). It doesn't appear to be a corrosion issue (there are several accounts where the owners have used official Lexus service centres for the life of the vehicle using the correct fluids) but failure of welds/joints where the pipes join the cooler body - possibly due to long term vibration fatigue. I'd therefore say the issue is an installation/design issue and/or lower quality components of the LS430 so no reason to suspect your LS400 needs any special treatment.