scythe

Sorry to be suspicious! I hope you enjoy your European tour when you get here. Best wishes.

I've read through this a couple of times, trying to work out what it's about. Victor, please don't be offended, but my worry is that this is part of a complex scam .... "How much will I fetch if I just sell it to a dealer? 04 83,000 miles 3 owners incl. myself with full Lexus service history? many thx" .... and that all along you're been sitting in Splott, in Cardiff, with an 03 83000 mile car with three owners that you can't shift for some reason, and that once 'your friend' has sold the car on to someone on here, you can disappear because you've "gone back to America" Doesn't it make more sense to hire a car for forty days? You could then swap the car across the channel for a left hand drive car at no extra expense, the cost wouldn't be that great, and if the car developed a problem it would be instantly replaced? If I'm wrong, perhaps you'll forgive my suspicious mind?

Cool. You won't regret it!

The gearbox is electronically controlled on an LS 460. There are three settings for the gearbox - snow, normal, and sport. Added to this, the gearbox adapts to your driving style. If you get into a LS 460 that you've not driven before, it's easy enough to confuse the gearbox. The best way to do this is to put it into normal, cruise around gently for a bit, find a motorway to join, gently drive down the slip road til you see a gap, then push the accelerator down three quarters of the way. If you're used to big engines you expect the car to instantly shift, but the gearbox in this situation sadly doesn't believe you. It accelerates, but without dropping down any gears. Maybe a second later it drops down a gear, then maybe a second later it realises what is happening, and drops down several more. Those two seconds are enough to give you a bit of a scare! Instead, if you keep the selector in sport, the gearbox performs perfectly. It instantly responds to the throttle, and in that situation would instantly drops several gears and the car would just go. The gearbox adapts, and you'll feel that its performance is quickly improving. Don't let the rubbish about the gearbox from reviewers who've not driven the car for very long put you off it. Sadly, Lexus does seem to have deserted us as far as the LS goes in this country. It's stopped bringing in the LS 460, and only sells the LS 600 at such an inflated price that virtually no one is buying one (only 62 were sold by Lexus last year). However, the 460 SE-L is a brilliant car. I'd recommend that you buy one (especially at that price!) and enjoy it while you can, because I don't know if there will ever be a comparable car available in this country again.

Well, I'm sorry to go against what others are saying, but my advice is to buy the Lexus warranty. I think that you'll get it a bit cheaper than that (£865?) by shopping around, but it is still more expensive than other warranties. So why am I suggesting you buy it? When you compare what's covered with other warranties, the other warranties tell you what is covered. You have to work out what isn't covered. The Lexus one tells you what isn't - and this list isn't very big. Looking at the warranty direct list mentioned above - their 'ExtraCare' policy at about £630 - there are lots of large looking things in their list. But just compare it to the list of kit that's in your car. Electric seat adjusters? Forward and rear radar? Vehicle stability control? Heated/cooled seats? Electric boot lift? Stereo infrared cameras? Sat nav? Electric handbrake? And what about all the mundane things that are the stuff of life, such as window rubbers and cigarette lighters and illuminated dials and seat belts and visors? I've had LSs for some years now - and I've lived through a total of seven years of extended warranties. All the bits I've had problems with that have needed replacing in that time, would, if they were straightforward replacements, have cost me less than the cost of the warranties, but not by much. But the big crunch is that when you do have a problem, your Lexus dealer will sort it out for you without any hassle. He won't have to worry about how much diagnostic work he has to carry out, or whether you'll want to pay for the part that needs sorting, or whether he'll have to wait for approval from a third party company, and whether they have limits on it. He knows that he'll get paid without any arguments, so he just gets on and deals with the whole job as quickly as possible. You've presumably paid over £30k for your (£72k when new) car. I think that £1k per year to guarantee the whole of the car isn't really too much - especially when it comes with included full-on RAC European cover! Good luck!

According to DVLA, this car was manufactured in 1996, and first registered in 1999. I know that Lexus still had a stock of mark threes when they started to sell the mark 4, but this does seem to be a long time on. Incidentally, he's tried once before to sell this car, starting at a slightly higher price: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50175&item=250733183362 Why not give him a ring then fill us all in on what he has to say? ;o)

Hi Autobahn, I do understand your despair. Your lexus dealer has treated you like ****. You've heard all these good things about lexus dealers being great and you never saw it coming. It's all been a bit harsh. Let me say some things though. Your car has presumable had a couple of owners, the first one being Lexus GB, who then sold it on to someone who kept it for a few years and didn't bother getting it serviced. If it had been serviced by any lexus dealer then it would have been plugged into the lexus system (and all the details of everything uploaded to lexus, including how nicely the car has been driven) and this would have been available to all lexus dealers including the one near London you bought the car from. It was therefore 13000 miles late for a major service. Your car won't be significantly worse for this, though the oil will have lost some of its protective qualities in that time. The car will be fine, and could end up covering over 200,000 miles before the grim reaper comes for it. It looks like a great car. It has the jewel in Lexus's crown, which few other 430's have, which is adaptive cruise control, which will seriously improve the quality of your life. It's a good colour, and the lighter coloured leather will be great in the summer months. You can have many years of pleasure driving round in what is a brilliant car. Be grateful for it. You've perhaps paid a little too much for this car - about 2k or so... but its got a lexus warranty, and its basically great. Lexus do build excellent cars. The sales person at your lexus dealer - this is no surprise. As a general rule of thumb, believe nothing they say. Anything they say is either something they hope you'll pick up on for later, or it's something they are saying to make you want to buy a car, or feel good about doing so. Nothing they say can be trusted. This, sadly, is true of all sales people. Even buying a book in a bookshop, the point of sale person will tell you they've read the book, and it's great. They won't have. I've had lexus sales people lie and lie and lie and lie. They are the worst. If you have a problem with itself, then tough. Lexus in Japan build really great cars, but unfortunately they have three layers underneath, and its really hard to penetrate those layers and make anyone car. Complaining is useless. When you own a lexus you have to put up with that. There's no point in moaning, and no point in trying to dump the car. Get some serous long journeys done. Go up to Scotland, and see the Isle of Skye. Drive across Ireland, to the west coast (they have some top motorways now). Take the ferry down to santander, and drive down to Malaga, and the rest of the spanish coast. Enjoy the car. It really will be one of the best cars you ever have.