rayaans

This has been the second year running with Admiral Multicar - the first time it was £701 but went up to £750 last year (the renewal was actually £840 but 5 mins of haggling got them down). They were the cheapest anyway, the next was double the price if going separate and just a tad under double if going for multicar. So far Directline is saying £732 for the RX and Aviva has £572 for the IS. I like that Directline has a guaranteed courtesy car even if you use your own repairer. I did try A-plan but they said they were unable to compete with Directline and Admiral. Im still waiting until tomorrow to be able to go through comparethemarket.com, Go Compare and Money supermarket. For some reason, they're a day behind confused.com

So its insurance renewal time again! Currently on an Admiral Multicar policy which was £756 for the 2012 RX450h and IS300h. And I paid about £60 including the £25 admin fee to change over when I got my 4RX. Still waiting on renewal from Admiral As Directline and Aviva can be done 60 days in advance, Ive done those and Directline is showing £1400 for the Multicar - £200 more if done separately. Confused.com is showing much higher for both at the moment. And biggest joke of the day is Adrian Flux - "computer says £4000 for the RX" at which point I ran out of patience and put the phone down. Dreadful company to deal with and stupid prices. The search continues......

I hope it gets driven properly though! PITA in winter mind but hey it great when flooring it down the back roads.

Im not entirely sure if that is true. The hybrid battery is there is aid performance as well so will certainly be activated when flooring it at higher speeds. It won't just sit there doing nothing. The total system output of the 4GS is 345ps at 6400rpm. It doesn't change with speed which would suggest its 345ps at 6400rpm at 70mph and at 20mph. Otherwise it'd only be 296ps over a certain speed.

The answer to your question would be yes, certainly. NEVER say you have a dashcam - let them find out themselves when they're caught.

Ok, so this particular car will be on time-based servicing due to its low mileage. Therefore, if a service has been carried out already this year, you would need the 4, 5 and 6 year services. If not, then you need 3, 4 and 5 years which would be £1015. This would be a Full 40 (major) at £485, 50K intermediate at £265 and a Full 60 at £595 bringing it to £1345. However, you have to be aware that the Full 60 includes spark plug changes. Spark plugs only need changing at 60k miles and your car may not be near that mileage at 6 year. Spark plug change is not time dependent and therefore you would need to ask if you should just pay the Major price of £485 rather than the £595.

Yep, keep looking on ebay. Different Lexus dealers will put them up from time to time. Also check Lexus Parts Direct which I believe is Lexus Swindon aka fish bros

All very odd. Green Spark plug company are suggesting that they are different sizes, whereas Sparkplugs.co.uk say they are the same. The part number 90919-01249 is for the FK20HBR11 though and the newer spark plug is showing up as an alternative when cross-referencing. Personally, I'd probably stick with the normal spark plugs - after all, they only need changing every 60k miles

That' doesn't make sense. Should be around £1000 unless it's including a 60k service or something

To be fair, the price of the IS-F is fairly reasonable considering WBAC would pay £28k for it but its full of buffer trails! Someone would need to really really want it over an RC-F to go for it though.

There is original Lexus branded glass but it won't be cheap. Asahi glass corp make the original windscreen and its highly unlikely you'd be able to get it here - it'd have to be ordered in. I wouldn't be worried about the glass itself - that won't have any effect on why the windscreen is misting. Back in 2001, my VW Passat did the same thing out of the blue, basically misting the inside of the windscreen permanently - turned out it was a heater matrix that had gone so worth checking that out.

Fun to make videos with but haven't actually used it for anything useful yet Sods law probably says that you'll be involved in an accident when you don't have a dashcam, and when you get one, nothing interesting happens

Top dash cam Mines the older model - the A118-c but it works in the same way i.e. using a 3m sticky pad to stick to the windscreen. Im sure you will agree that the video quality is very good from these little compilations I enjoy making:

Some phones are difficult to pair to the system although its a bit hit and miss as to which ones. I've had no trouble with HTC, Samsung and Huawei Your car may need a firmware update if its running on a very early system and they seem to cure bluetooth issues most of the time

As above - I would also use the 12v cigarette socket for charging the phone. Luckily my car has a wireless charging pad so makes it much easier

To be fair, I haven't been bothered to change to winter tyres in any of my cars since 1993 including RWD Mercs and Lexus. I've never been stuck Common sense would suggest if the weather is bad, stick to the main roads and set off early although I did end up not following my own advise when dropping my son to school about 4 years ago when I had my 3RX on OEM Dunlops. Living in Yorkshire, the hills are crazy and it turned out a Citroen C3 was spinning its wheels until it gave up and just stopped. Obviously I went around in the RX in Snow Mode with a huge grin on my face.

They've been offering this since the other manufacturers started it - so not exactly late to the show. I bet the £7000 won't be on a car worth £20-30k as well

Full LED lighting bar the boot. The reading lights in the front are actually touch sensitive rather than buttoned. Pic below shows the ambient lighting. It's always on at night but gets dimmer once the car is started

I've driven every year of the IS300H from 2013-2017 now and noticed little difference between them. In fact I though the cars earlier than 2014 were actually more responsive which I suspect is to do with the software change in 2013 to lower emissions and increase fuel economy

I'm not sure. It should really be across all trim levels. Guess we'll only find out if someone decides to scrap their car for a Lexus

I don't think thats specifically true Motorline Lexus are doing it on Sport models http://www.motorline.co.uk/lexus/offers/scrappage-scheme/

Are you sure the hill start isn't working? You have to be completely still and plant the brake for 2 seconds. The ESP indicator will flash in the instrument cluster and it'll hold for a few seconds and then let go. Whats wrong with the radar cruise? As far as I remember, it wasn't brilliant on the 3RX anyway

Yes, Im on DW, the only member who rings a bell with a Touareg and Q30 is Nanoman! Before signing, just take a good look around the car, Im sure you'll spot any poor paint or dents that should be sorted beforehand. Lexus Sheffield has great customer service though so you should be fine but I don't know what their prep department is like. If you do spot anything, I am pretty sure they'll sort it out without any quibbles. The wheels are probably worth checking as they corrode and for some reason, the 2nd Gen RX tends to get a lot of stonechips up front so its more than likely been resprayed or touched up. And yes, the RX350 is permanent 4WD The DVD changer does play movies, but Im pretty sure you can only play them when the car is stationary so probably no use for an output (which I dont think exists anyway).

The pirellis are a good tyre and ones that are often fitted by owners to their 3RXs over the pond in the U.S Added bonus of being cheaper and made in the UK too

Yes, its a brilliant dash cam - fitted the older model, a118-c to my sons car and its great! I believe they're all the same, a chinese company makes them and different brands stick their name on it. They all have the same software too apart from the branding of course