steveledzep

Politics

Just the usual things : Stamped service history with supporting receipts. All MOT certificates if possible. Recent MOTs record mileage at previous MOTs for the past 4 years or so. Other than that, general condition.

I'm not certain Michael, but it is my opinion that the NCD is specific to that particular policy and the vehicle insured there. My wife is named as a driver on my policy and when she had a claim on her own policy, I declared it and it didn't affect the NCD on my policy. I would be very surprised if it had a knock on effect to your other policies.

Fully agree with everything John says. Only had mine 6 months or so, best car I've ever had. My daily commute is only 5 miles there and 5 miles back, so a diesel isn't an option. MPG is very impressive for the size of engine coupled with an auto box. My commutes are averaging 25 to 27 mpg (25 in cold weather), but long runs achieve approaching 40 mpg. My computer generated average is 32+. Try to get the SE-L, that's the one with all the toys. My wife and I share the car and the memory seats are a boon, particularly when you program the key fobs too. Let us know what you get please, with pictures too !

road

I only guessed the driving time for you Phil. AA route finder predicts 1hr 55 mins from Denbigh to Aberystwyth. You can adjust depending where you are in Denbighshire. The same site predicts 1hr 40 mins for my journey. I find their driving time forecasts slightly pessimistic and I don't drive like Jason Plato ! I was just interested to look :)

Meant to say that the car looks very attractive. Good luck if you go for it.

Hi Phil, Driving time to Aberystwyth for me is about 90 minutes or so. From Denbighshire I wouldn't expect it to be much different. I wouldn't have thought it was too far to go to check out a major purchase :) Maybe you've moved from Denbighshire ?

Yes, filled up this morning at Asda at the price you state. No Shell stations for miles around here. I alternate fuel between Asda and Texaco.

I bought the same ones Eric. I was fed up of the Lexus locking nut spoiling the look of the wheel. The ones you have bought look superb, all five nuts matching ! When I bought mine, I set about swapping them over and that's when the zig-zaggy bit on the key sheered off ! My local tyre shop solved it for me very quickly. As i am a regular customer for tyres and MoTs too, there was no charge.

I'd take your tank to Mike's supplier next time :) Haha ! The domestic lpg market was mostly controlled by British Gas with little competition for many years. The rental of the tank tied you in to the supplier. LPG users were over a barrel ! A number of years ago (8 ?) the government stepped in and made it easier to change suppliers. My contract is renewable every 2 years and I'm confident that I'm with one of the most competetive suppliers. I do have it delivered of course ! It would be a bit of a faff fitting castors to my tank and pushing it to Mike's supplier !

I had a delivery of 910 litres in March and the cost was 41.4 ppl plus vat @ 5%.

Depends on the ambient temperature. When 0 degrees or below, mine would start at about 2000rpm, then blip to 2200 before settling to about 1500. Once driving, would quickly settle to a tickover of 750rpm(ish). In the recent warmer weather, it has been starting at not much more than 1000rpm and going to tickover very quickly.

Technology curve ? I'm not even on it.....have an IS250 !! Love my car though : ) With regard to your original point, I drive along the M4 in South Wales a lot and monitor the mpg shifting upwards and downwards depending what gradient I'm on ? Don't wish to get mathematical about it, but find it interesting too.

New air filter arrived this week and I fitted it today. Can only help matters. Not done many miles since ECU re-set but seems to have made a positive difference. Changing to a higher octane fuel was always going to be a last resort situation for me. I don't expect blistering performance from my IS, just smooth delivery of power across the range. Think I have achieved that, thanks everyone for their input and help.

I don't know the solution, but it would be extremely unlikely that both switches have failed at the same time. Is there a dedicated fuse to boot release ? Does the boot release on the key fob work ?

My IS250 SE-L doesn't have a single rattle. Well screwed together I'd call it ! Now my patio.......that's a different story !

I don't think changing my pedals is going to make much difference ! It's only a couple of days since I allowed the ECU to reset. I've only been to work and back twice, yesterday and today, 20 miles total that's all ! BUT, I've not experienced any labouring and it has driven smoothly up the hill in my lane with just gentle accelerator pressure. I consider it too early to be conclusive, but early signs are good. Maybe the previous owner drove with a particularly heavy right foot and the car has been struggling to accommodate my gentler driving style ? I'll report again when I've done a few more miles. Thanks for all the input.

Thanks Eric. I have a Lexus extended warranty in place......so I'll keep it original for now. What are the benefits of the air filter you depict ?

To be fair to Lexus in this instance, the vehicle was serviced at 62k by an independent Jaguar specialist and again at 65k when I bought it from an independent performance car dealer. So, both of them missed the air filter and both of them missed the spark plugs, I've sorted them myself ! A fully stamped service history is supposed to be reassurance to a new owner......I wonder ??? Mine has four Lexus stamps, two from the Indy Jag guy and the one from the supplying dealer. I had to replace a front caliper too, but I got the supplying dealer to cough £200 towards it ! I don't expect this hassle within a few thousand miles of two "alleged" services ! I'll keep you informed of any change I experience due to the re-boot.

I disconnected the battery for an hour or so this afternoon. While the bonnet was up I removed the engine covers and gave everything a clean. I inspected the air filter and it was filthy, even the housing was very dusty. Good shout Normski, you are correct, I was very surprised ! Makes me wonder what they do at services ? New air filter on order. Had to reset the seat memories and clock etc, but no problem. I took her out for a short spin and everything worked as it should, so I'll see if the car can accommodate my driving style and learn to respond accordingly. I'll keep the ECT button up my sleeve for now, I don't want to be trying too many things at once.....I won't know which has been effective ? Thank you for all your inputs, I'll report again in due course.

Thank you all for your contributions. There are so many things for me to try ! I am confident that the calipers are free and the park brake is off and I don't have an exhaust problem. However, Normski's post about the air filter surprised me, I'll check it out. Hopefully, I can approach this in a methodical manner. The potential solution that most interests me is the resetting of the ECU and allowing it to learn my driving style. I want to evaluate that approach first. I find it very interesting to hear many recommendations for running permanently in ECT/POWER mode. I can try that next, but will be monitoring fuel consumption closely ! I really don't see me going down the route of higher octane fuel, Dave1 summarises my viewpoint on that. However, I shall keep with premium brands and avoid the supermarket fuel. Is it really lower quality, or is it their buying power that allow them to sell 3 or 4 pence per litre cheaper ? I'll let you all know my findings.

I'm glad to see the back of him, especially as my daughter and wife think of me as a Jezza lookalike ! I don't watch light entertainment shows on tv, that's what TG has become. Maybe I'm a bit of a nerd, but I'm interested in cars and the show isn't about cars any more. If my memory serves me correctly, I remember Quentin Willson demonstrating a stable glass of water on a revving Lexus V8 engine many years ago ? I found the William Woollard era interesting too, always about cars. Told you I am a nerd.....car programmes don't have mass appeal I guess......I'll get me coat !!

Hi James. I am a bit of a wimp on the throttle ordinarily. Yesterday though, I had to make good progress to North Wales and back, 300 miles round trip. The car performed very well, on winding, hilly, single carriageway roads for the most part. I passed loads of lorries and tractors and returned 35.3 mpg (car computer). I alternate between Asda fill up and Texaco fill up, never letting it get below 1/4 full. I live in the sticks, can't recall seeing a Shell service station !! Car had a full (60,000) service just 3000 miles ago, so air filter should be spotless, parking brake not on and calipers sorted as described. I'm looking forward to giving the computer an opportunity to learn my driving style. It has 68,000 on the clock and I've only done 3k of them. I'll be reporting back on all my experiments. Thank you all for your interest and participation.

Thank you for your responses gentlemen. It's interesting that having ECT permanently on is a recurring suggestion. I'm surprised that you are reporting little, if any, detrimental effect on mpg ! I'll give it a try and monitor mpg at the same time. I used ECT on the way home from work this evening, I was disappointed that it laboured up the hill in my lane. Maybe I need to change my driving style to suit the car ? I'll try disconnecting the battery for a while on my day off on Friday.