Spottedlaurel

Well done, loads of life in it still! My '93 LSS400 is on 165k, sadly not used as much as I'd like to. Highest mileage car we have in the family is a 1999 Avensis SR which recently turned over 280,000. 300k is the target! Still drives nicely too.

Do remember the theft/insurance issues with the 4th gen model, which could be bringing down prices a bit. If you can get a sensible quote and live in an area where that's less of a problem then it could be a tool for negotiation. If nothing else check it's had the security plate fitted, or get them to do it before you take delivery.

I drove a Premium Plus and overall I liked it, but then I have no experience of a 4th gen RX and I'm comparing it my 3rd gen version. I was mildly surprised to find there is no padding behind the inside door pulls, and the seat backs looked rather plain and simple. First world problems and all that.... If I can afford/justify it then I can see me going to one of the PHEV models in a few years. I'd be happy with a Premium as I'd prefer it to be on 19" wheels.

Things that are worth thinking about in winter that haven't been mentioned yet? Don't rely on auto lights (so many people seem to, no good when it's foggy but bright enough not to make the lights come on), and turn auto wipers off at the end of the day. Not ideal to have them try and work the next morning when they're frozen to the screen....

RX450h Premier should have air suspension, which can be problematic. The rest of the range have conventional springs, as I believe do all models of the NX.

Discussions about it here, it helps to slow down / prevent easy access to the wiring that makes the 2016-on model vulnerable to theft.

Some years before we knew what car that would be, or evenwhat a Lexus was 🙂 A couple of those cars do still exist I believe, but not as you see above. The Mini E450DWC is now orange and modified with the usual recipe of wide arches and fat alloys. The 924 has undergone a rather dramatic transformation. I saw it on eBay or somewhere a few years ago, when it was painted black. DVLA now lists it as white, I did a search and it now appears to have been the donor for a Lamborghini Countach replica!

I'm lucky in that photos of a fair few family cars have survived. Mostly everyday stuff, although one of my grandfathers had a tatty E-Type for many years which I recall being used to take hay down to the horses. Sadly no photos have turned up of that one, but for some of that time my grandmother had this MkII: I believe this is the car that my dad had when I was brought home from hospital, with perhaps a little less opposite lock: After an Escort Mk1 he had this Avenger 1500: Which is the first car I can remember. I have particularly strong memories of it because it was sold to someone in the village who kept it until the early '80s, then a young lad got hold of it and after being used and abused for a while it sat festering away in a ar park that I walked past every day on my paper round. Next came this '70s classic: With one of my first cars in the background! Mum had learned to drive when we still had it (the Allegro that is!), and she rolled it on a snowy day. It must have been repaired reasonably well as it survived until 1984. A Mk3 Cortina followed it, then this Capri 1600: My dad then got a job with a company car, and he went through a couple more Cortinas (I remember thinking a yellow 2000E seemed rather posh) before having two of the wedgy Alfa Romeo Giuliettas in succession. He never had anything Japanese. I recall a trip to the local Datsun dealership in the '70s, possibly because the farmer he worked for had bought a 1500 pickup, but nothing came of it. By this time my parents had split up, so I start picking up on my stepdad's cars as well as what mum had. After a couple of Minis, she had this: Followed by this Cherry, which became my first car and the beginning of 30+ years of Japanese car ownership After the Cherry she got another Mini, which my aunt had won in a Daily Mail competition: And a couple of stepdad's, which followed on from a series of Datsuns: As he ran a series of vans and trucks for his work as a builder they eventually they had just one car between them, which for some years was this XR4x4: I had the odd drive and remember it fondly, with a gruff, heavy feel to it. They bought it back some years after letting it go so they could have that registration plate, which they still have to this day. It's now on a new Corolla, his first non-Ford for many years.

Check you can insure it OK, and also whether the security plate has been fitted.

Ditto! I'm happy to be looking to keep my Mk3 for another 4-5 years, or longer. It feels like they are at the sweet spot between clever levels of technology in terms of how the hybrid system works, but with a simple user interface (and no Canbus theft issues as a bonus).

I had no issue omitting the spark plug change from my 6yr service, when I had only done 40k. Likewise when I got them done last year at the 8yr service they were able to add them (or say I was having a 6yr/60k service?). Regarding extra items, they had no problem adding an air-con regas onto the intermediate service I had done back in July.

Yup, mine has 205 on it, and the same size on all the spare wheels too. Even that seems a bit skinny to me, but I doubt you could fit anything wider on the 6.5" wide rim. In any case, I'm sure those clever engineers spent an awful long time working out the optimum size so I'm happy to accept their judgement. Dug out the spare wheels this morning: Didn't realise I had five, will have to check and see what spare I have. Not immediately sure if I have nuts, but it maybe that your wheels were fitted using the originals? The important thing is you can see there are the handed pairs and four caps.

Looks like it will be an impressively thorough job! I don't do too much domestic work nowadays, but this is the sort of thing I've been involved with the for the last 30+ years. It's too easy to over-extend an existing property, ending up with poor flow and dark rooms because the layout hasn't properly thought about. Sometimes the only way of achieving that is by something more radical, as you're doing here. If you're in an area you like, and the plot justifies it, then it's a good solution.

VAT exemption on new build work may be a factor?

Not elusive here, pretty sure I do. Will check in a bit....

I'll try and take some photos tomorrow. I don't recall them being too bad, they're what came on it but I had another set with better, matching Dunlops which I used to have on my Camry, and I swapped them across.

I have a spare set of 15" wheels....

Maybe just you and me then Malcolm? Now on around 165k miles, I've done around 4,000 since getting it three years ago. Realistically too much to do on it as a long-term project, but I'll try and keep it going for as long as I can. In a back-to-back drive with a Mk4 I reckoned it was smoother, although it isn't as fast nor economical. The magical smoothness of the engine and 'box are still a revelation, better in some regards than my hybrid, V6 RX. There's a purity to the look of the Mk1 on it's 15" wheels that is lost on the later models.

I have shared photos on here before, but this is what mine looked like after 60k: That was at eight years old. The dealership and I could see no point in changing them at six years when it would have been on 40k, and I couldn't see anything within the service recommendations about them having to be done on anything other than mileage.

I know of a DHP not too far away,will give the owner a nudge....

Find an excuse to try one next time you visit the dealership? They gave me an RX450h+ to drive when my older model went in for brakes, and they knew I had no immediate intention of buying one. Admittedly that used the engine less as it was the PHEV model, but the 4-cyl unit seemed fine to me. It was fast, smooth and rode well, certainly got me thinking about it as a very eventual replacement for my 3rd gen version (like 5-6 years' time). I like the fact there are decently-specced versions available with 19" wheels, a consideration for me living in the countryside. The example I tried was on 21s - it rode well, but I'd be nervous about damaging a wheel. There are one or two aspects where I feel the quality is slightly lower than in the previous generations - the way the seatbacks are detailed/trimmed, and the lack of soft padding inside the interior door pull, for example. Having never driven a 4th gen RX I can't make a direct comparison, but overall I liked it.

I've said the same thing before. The Germans manage to churn out tourer/estate/wagon versions of many of their saloons/hatchbacks but there are very few big Japanese estates available that aren't an SUV. When I got my RX I considered Subaru Outback and Mazda 6, not much else out there. I'd love to see them make something equivalent to the Nissan 300C and Toyota Camry estates I had in the past and fondly remember.

Most of the non-autoroute speed limits seem to be up to 90km/h again, but watch out for the odd stretch of 80 on busier roads. We saw very few police of any sort and no mobile camera vans, but there are a fair number of fixed cameras and they're not always obvious.... If you don't already have one then a dashcam could be handy? Might help overcome the language barrier if you have any problem.

Yup, Crit Air sticker. Very easy process, you'll get the sticker in about a week for something less than 5 euros. Not necessary if you don;t go into the big towns or cities, but worth having in case you do. We recently got back from around 1700 miles of driving in France (with a couple of short forays into Switzerland). No issues whatsoever, as usual the journey back along the M20/M25/A12 was far more hassle. Take the time to avoid autoroutes and use the old main roads or smaller D-roads across country, so much to see. Take it easy at junctions, occasionally the priority isn't what you think and the worst is you'll have someone thinking you're an idiot for not proceeding as they expect. Some villages have a Stop sign for a small road coming out when you think it would be your right of way. Roads are in much better condition, with low levels of traffic out in the countryside. I wish I could do our trip all over again. P.S. Regarding headlights, I suspect you might be similar to my RX - the flat beam doesn't need adjustment, but turn off the AFS.

I'm pleased to hear it's still available. My RX turns 10 next year so it will be ideal for me as I want to keep it for a few more years yet - changing to a 4th gen RX isn't a particularly appealing prospect at present due to the theft/insurance issues, and I'm more than happy with what I have now.