scythe

As Mark suggested above, there are free apps for Android and iOS that will measure and display speed very accurately. : o )

Hiya, I came close to changing my tyre pressure sensors on my 460, but I sold the car before the tyres on it wore out and needed changing, so I didn't actually go through with it. Don't worry about the MOT. It is a fail item, but only on cars that are new enough to have to have them. My car passed two MOTs with the warning light showing. My plan was to buy genuine sensors. There's a Lexus dealership that sells genuine parts on ebay. They were about £30 each. I would recommend buying five (for the spare as well) and changing the lot. The reason they fail is that the battery in them gets used up, so if one is in that condition, you can be pretty sure that it will not be long before the others all pop off too, each one bringing down the system til the failed one is replaced. So my advice is to get some genuine ones (probably sooner than later, before they all disappear) and keep them til you change your tyres. They have a serial number, and it's important that you have a copy of that serial number before they disappear into the tyre because they have to be programmed into the car - again, I'd advise programming them in before getting them fitted (but at the last moment) so you knew they were all connecting. Just don't panic about it! You'll not be using run flats, so there's not the same safety thing, you will just need to get the old tyre pressure gauge out from time to time, like in the old days. The HID bulb though, that's another matter. Got to get in from underneath. And it's so hard to do you'll not get Halfords to do it for you. Sorry about that! : o )

Well, quite honestly, I think that car looks absolutely lovely as it is. Great colour as well. : o )

Someone on here will know better than me, but on my 460 the air suspension would automatically lower the car anyway by 20mm or so at speeds of about 60mph. This was primarily to reduce drag and improve petrol consumption, but also marginally increases ride comfort. Lexus did know pretty well what they were doing when they set up the suspension and geometry of this car. Welcome to this website. : o )

However, you could ask them to collect the car from you, and leave you a loaner. : o )

I bought a three year old 500h three months ago, and am starting to adapt to it now. Previously I had a 2007 460SEL which I owned since 2008. Driving the 500h is a different experience. I'd not changed my 460 because after 2009 Lexus nerfed all 460s, with things such as adaptive cruise missing, leaving only the 600 with a full box of toys, and I wasn't at all keen on the idea of a hybrid. (Incidentally, if you haven't come across the word 'nerfed', ask your grandchildren about it - it's mine that taught me how to use the word!) The biggest difference is the way the engine and transmission feel. The 460 I found brilliant. It's engine rarely turned over faster than 2000rpm, cruised at about 1400rpm, and was just simply obedient. Just a slight increase on the accelerator caused an effortless and instantaneous response. I drove with the ECT in the power position, which didn't seem to affect the mpg at all. In this position the car always got itself into the best gear. If you wanted power, it would drop into a low gear and give all the acceleration you could want and more - instantly. It was so good that quickly you stop noticing that the engine and gearbox exist. The 500h is as fast as the 460. It pulls away using the traction battery, almost silently, with only tyre noise audible. When the engine starts, though, things aren't simple. The hybrid system always starts up in Eco mode, which sounds good, but when I drive away up a hill the engine sticks in too low a gear, and the accelerator needs a lot of movement before it will drop down into a lower gear and accelerate reasonably rapidly. I have to remember to put the power into sport mode when I start it. Then the gearbox behaves as you'd hope it would. However, there are several different noises as you make progress. The engine when it starts can be audible and sound a bit rough compared to a V8. There are two motors/generators in the car. The main drive motor does whine a bit when you gently regenerate. When there is more serious regeneration the engine (which is connected to the other motor/generator) engages and uses its motor/generator to also regenerate. This makes more noise. Nothing terrible, nothing bad, but it's there. Also the car has ten "gears", so does a lot of shifting, and the shifts can be noticeable. Again nothing bad, but noticeable. The 500h has air suspension which is much like the 460, though the tyres are run flats, and so a bit less absorbent of minor stuff. I think the 460 ride was just a little better than the 500h. The 5.2 metre length of the 500h is a bit of an issue, but the real problem is its manoeuvrability. It has a long wheelbase, and its turning circle isn't great. The 460 was good (but not as good as the 430!) You do have think in advance with the 500h if you're going through a drive through, or even just parking in a car park. Talking of which, the 500h has a better rear camera, which can go ultrawide, and side cameras, and rear side radar that picks up pedestrians, so this is all better. The 460's driving seat was nice and accessible, and well padded and adjustable, but driving across Ireland I'd find myself squirming in my seat, because it wasn't perfect. I think the 500h seats are perfect. Every surface can be adjusted, and though it's taken me weeks to do it I've got all 28 adjustments so refined that I just don't want to get out of the car. The seats are a very good reason to get a 500h! They hold you as tightly as you want to be held in precisely the way you want to be supported, and if you ask them nicely they'll also give you a very decent bit of pummelling. I've intended to record on here the differences between the two cars, as much for my own benefit as anything else, so later on I'll precis the above and add on all my other observations. To directly answer the OP's second question, no. The LS500h isn't the pinnacle of Lexus development. Hopefully that is still to come. However, in the meantime I think the 500h is a good stepping stone. I'm glad that I've made the change, but at the same time I'm looking forwards to what they do in their next all-electric version. : o )

The car is now sold. : o )

Hi Steve, yes, wherever you are, I'm a long way away! I've had perhaps 6 people who've found out where I am, and have immediately lost interest! I do seem to have sold the car, twice. Someone 180 miles away says he'll come and buy it on Saturday, and if he doesn't someone else will just buy it without seeing it, and will send a lorry to pick it up. The car does 31-33 mpg on motorways travelling at the speed limit, and at bit more than that travelling on free-flowing 60mph roads. It manages about 24 on child-to-school type journeys. These figures are with the ect set to 'Power'. I never use the 'Normal' setting. : o )

Hi Phil, You are making an incorrect assumption here ... The journeys I made, though infrequent, were all sufficient to warm up gearbox, engine and whatever else. I do agree with you about servicing though, and if I was keeping the car then I'd get it serviced straight away. And Steve, when I bought the car at a year old with 4000 miles done, the car smelled gorgeous, and no one has smoked in it in the years since. : o )

In a word, covid. We stopped going out, and in the first year of lockdown the car only did about 300 miles, and not many more for the next two. Normally I have to drive over 90 miles each way to get it serviced. Though it is out of time for it's next service, it hasn't yet done 10000 miles. : o )

When my current car became 10 years old and I could no longer get a Lexus warranty on it, I had to get breakdown assistance for myself. I went with the Lexus Roadside Assistance version. It has been well-priced and offers the full thing, including relay, european cover, onward travel and everything. Just over two years ago I paid £230 for two years. I decided to sell my current Lexus myself, but rang up Lexus Roadside Assistance to see if I could transfer the cover to my new car. No, was the very simple answer, and nor could it be delayed til the cover on my new car ran out. Maybe this is the modern way with breakdown people, but I know in the past the AA and the RAC were very happy to delay and restate cover. It turns out though that the car itself is the thing that is covered, and it cannot be delayed or transferred. The breakdown assistance goes with the car and not the person. So if you're buying a car, it's worth checking if there is residual cover from the last owner, and if you're selling it on, then it could be something worth mentioning to buyers. I bought my first (of five) LSs in 1998, and in 25 years I've only needed to call them out once, and that was to deal with a problem caused by a Lexus technician. It does make me feel it's a bit expensive, but I think I'm probably just repaying the debt I owe for all the early callouts I needed earlier in life. Many's the time I arrived places in a yellow lorry with an old volvo estate on the back : o )

But ring round a bit, including Lexus Swindon, get a few figures then go back to Lexus Cambridge and tell them what you've found. : o )

I thought it would be a longish sell for this car. Comparing the price I've been offering it at, and that it has only been service by lexus, and that I'm the second owner after lexus had it, and that it's a relatively low mileage for the year, I thought I'd get more interest in it. I got a year's insurance as a second car (surprisingly cheaply) and I was prepared to wait all summer. I've had six people get in touch to ask questions, but no one has come to see it. It's starting to annoy me now though! I've been taking it out every third or fourth journey I make to keep it running nicely, which involves swapping phones and things. It's there outside the house. Keeping it decently clean is now an issue. (In west wales we get fine Sahara desert sand falling, and there are birds with some unsavoury habits living here.) I've therefore decided to start reducing the price until it goes. I've now listed it at £5300, including a set of decent wheels, on Autotrader.

I've bought another car, and am in the process of selling my 460 (the advert is on here and autotrader). My NCB for 16+ years has gone on the insurance for my newer car. The problem for me was how to insure the older car til I sold it. Initially I checked with the usual comparison sites, getting relatively large quotes - about three times what I'd expected to be paying if I had carried my old insurance over. Bear in mind with these amounts that I live out in the sticks, am in my 60s, and none of my neighbours in my postcode crash their cars and make claims. My insurance was £190 last year. The best offer I got was £350 for a year, and it wasn't 5* defaqto rated either! With heavy heart I followed through the first 5* defaqto on the list, which was from the AA, showing a price of £450 on the comparison site. To my surprise, as I went through the questions, they started to ask me about whether I owned another car, and how much NCD went with it. The AA effectively treated my old car as a second car, taking my now main car's NCD into account but fully comp insured (5*), 7000 miles per year, 90 days overseas, £425 excess, their offer was only £122. I still haven't got over this! Two morals here. The first is to live out in the sticks, be in your 60s, and if possible forbid your neighbours from damaging their cars and claiming. The other moral is to give AA a go. Especially if your Lexus is a second car.

I've added the service record for the car.

I've just put my 460 up for sale, details in the small ads: https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/143786-ls460-sel-2007-87000miles/ : o )

To save you all from having to do a bit of googling <g> ... https://lochbayboathouse.co.uk/ I'd like to stay here too! : o )

Well, I'm going to sell my LS460 SEL next week. I've had it since it was a year old at 4000 miles (it was a Lexus staff car for a year) and it's now done 87000 miles but it's not immaculate! I'll take selling photos and stuff over the weekend, but in the meantime here's the car enjoying some summer sun in Galway - happy memories for me!

And look ... a new catalogue ... It's a shame that they aren't making a version without all the stupid stuff in the back (the seat, plus screens and stuff) that otherwise has the full safety kit, that would make the car a drivers' car rather than a chauffeurs' car. And it's too expensive, I think. They sold shedloads of LSs when the price was just a bit more sensible. I still think that it is simply the best car available though. : o ) LS-MY23-56-INT.pdf

https://mag.lexus.co.uk/2023-lexus-ls/ So, gone, but coming back. Sadly, I know it will be too expensive for me especially considering that I do so few miles these days. Ah well! : o )

In case the LS has bitten the dust, here's a cut-out-and-keep pdf. It's a copy of the LS brochure I downloaded at the start of this month. It had outgrown itself, but I'm still a bit sad. : o ( LS-e-Brochure-110621_tcm-3157-2309078.pdf

Andrew - can I congratulate you on buying a car that will have cost you so little in depreciation over it's 22 year life. : o )

You probably know this anyway, but if you're ever stuck, there is a key in your key fob to get into the car. If you're using your key card, there is one in there too. This will get you into the car itself, though the alarm may go off. You then touch the start button with the card or fob, push the button simultaneously, and the car will start and the alarm stop. Hope it doesn't come to that! : o )

I suppose they bear the cost - they don't want to put anything in the way of you having a test drive.

Originally, Lexus dealers didn't ask for payment for car loans. Well, since about 2015 when the licences went card-only, it costs them about £10 to check your driving licence is valid if you just turn up with it, and to see how many points are on it. However, I've always found if I offer them a code from here: https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence they don't have to pay for that and they never charge for the loaner. They won't ask for you to bring a code though, because they know it will just cause problems - easier to ask for you to pay for it by saying it's for insurance. : o )