gdh300

Sad to see someone leave the Lexus fold (says me, who as done just that). Well, you don't need to worry about exclusivity with an Audi. Or indeed, being bombproof. Hope you know what you are doing... And of course, you aren't going to get out of T-junctions now. 😉

Pffft, that would NEVER catch-on....

Electronic door mirrors (nearly showed my age by saying "wing mirrors") will doubtless be a fashion thing, if it catches on. The only advantage I can see is it makes a handy supplement for a dashcam, should any sort of blackbox recorder become mandatory. You know, when all those corporate lawyers are trying to sort out litigation in a crash involving an autonomous car... I know LMP and GT3 cars have been using cameras to replace rear view mirrors for ages. These are augmented with graphics to highlight cars behind and if they are closing or receding. As demonstrated in this video, which if nothing else has a wicked soundtrack: I imagine how useful this would be on your road car. Red arrow for the drugged-up gym owner in their Range Rover Sport, Amber arrow for the junior 'executive' in their first company car Audi A3 1.6TDi, Green arrow for any Lexus driver... 😁

Funnily enough, I had a set of CrossClimates fitted to my GT a fortnight ago. Bit early to say about how they perform in the cold (only had a few sub zero mornings since, and no ice or frost to speak of) but feel perfectly competent in the high single / low double figures we've had recently. Certainly quieter than the tyres they replaced (which had about 4mm to 5mm left), the 'hiss' you get with many summer tyres has gone but there's none of the 'brrrr' you can get with proper winter tyres. Also seems to be a nit of extra spring in them when going over expansion joints, etc.

As I've posted before, can we not get this filth from Rob banned?

Sadly, I think perfection is unobtainable, no matter how much you pay! There'll always be something. My missus's 17 year old Yaris is a brilliant bit of kit 😁

Depends what you want to pay 'premium' for. Snazzy infotainment or 200k mechanical integrity and reliability. I'd take the latter and forego the former. And a Toyota (or Lexus) is more likely to make that it than a BMW (which nowadays appears just a means to sell 3 year's finance). But let's not fall out about it. I think we are all on the same side... 😉

Well, as long as we are concentrating on the important things of car ownership... 🙄 Jeez. All spoilt today, aren't we?

Blimey, how much G are generating in your IS that you need a drilled metal footrest? 😉

No need to worry, I was very happy with them on my IS300.

From what I can remember, the UK market won't be getting the non-hybrid variants of the UX that use Toyota's new DCVT gearbox, but this is a interesting video none the less. The new Corolla also uses this transmission, but again I think we won't be seeing see it here. Compact and complex: Torturous torque transmission!

Not to be picky, but the Landcrab was the Austin / Morris 1800 / 2200. The Maxi was a completely different beast (apart from the doors, the suspension and the drive train, for money saving reasons 😖). My dad had both! Anyway, on further research me old mucker Shinzo perhaps - not unsurprisingly - does have amongst his fleet a LS600h and a Toyota Century and an . Mmm, V12 waft...

My eye caught the words "Gordon-Keeble" in the recent posts column on the home page, and I just had to come here! A beautiful car, one of those fondly remembered exotics from my childhood. A warm welcome to the forum, Mike.

You can prise them off with a credit card, so no need to remove all the bonnet lining. I say 'prise', you have to push against a clip and they pop out (I think on the rear edge). Just don't loose the end of the hose! Give the jets a bit of a rummage with a cocktail stick and they might be restored. Is the water hard round your way? If so, may be a few house soaking in vinegar. Do you have the type that are three jest on one, or the later fine spray type?

Not seen that before, a Lexus as an official car! Always seems to be Mercedes. Then again, perhaps in the UK we don't see Shinzō Abe arriving at official dinners and the like. Lexus or Toyota Century do you reckon?

No offence to your fine work, Steve! I hang round here even though I'm Lexusless currently, as it's a good crowd and very informative; always learning something. TBH, I'd rather the calm here than worriedly scrolling through thirteen pages of "1.5 EVO - 1st gear kangaroo"... 😁

For reason I won't go into, I went to the (VW) T-Roc forum the other day. Bearing in mind the T-Roc has been out for only about four months, there are probably 100 threads already cataloguing loads of faults, including clutch failures. Long live Boring Forums!

It is - as far as us we temperate oceanic UK types are concerned - 'winter' now. On my drive home tonight it was 2°C and I'd driven about 8 miles (about 1/5th my journey home) and was sitting in stationary traffic, and there was a lot of 'steam' visible out the back of my car. I'm sure what you've been seeing is the same as I saw; high humidity, low ambient temperature. still cold exhaust from low speed but with an up-to-temperature engine. Hybrids in similar circumstances can run their motors for less time than my pure petrol, so effects will be more pronounced, I'm sure. All the same, I'd keep an eye on it, just in case. Excessive moisture in the exhaust can only come from one place, so keep a very close the coolant level.

Pretty quiet, yes. But then compared to Bridgestones, anything would have been... Of course, new tyres are always great because of that lovely 8.0mm of tread when you've perhaps been running around on 3.0mm. But the Avons I had did not get significantly nosier as the tread wore down. Unlike Falkens I've had before which generated a horrible drumming as they got down to 3.0mm, or indeed the Pilot 3s at 4.0mm I've just replaced on my current car.

I loved the ZV7s I had fitted to my IS300. Better than then the Dunlops Maxx RTs they replaced which in turn were better than the Bridgestones it had on when I bought it. Pleasingly good in low temperatures last winter; no winter tyre obviously (never tried them in snow) but seemed to remain supple. And yet they don't get rated in tests.

Wow, what are you going to do to that cat with a coat hanger?!

I seem to remember Jaguars lovely XK8 had a 'sealed for life' autobox with no means to inspect let alone change the oil. Turns out, 'sealed for life' was disappointingly for a life of only 80 to 90k... I had a partial change (i.e., what will drain out unaided) done twice on my IS300's box, but that was admittedly older technology. Like Dave says, "if it ain't broke don't fix it"; changing old ATF (that might have been in the car since it was built) may actually dislodge some grunge that then moves - like a DVT - to somewhere more critical in the box.

You'll need one of these fine IS250 fellas to answer that definitively. But when I was researching IS250s, I think it was something like 50k for the ATF and 20k for the diff. To be honest, in the 80k I did in my IS300, I had the diff oil done once; I think 20k is over-egging it a bit.

Apart from expense of getting it changed (which I know from personal experience is not to be dismissed), there is an argument that says a belt is better in that it is routinely inspected and replaced. Tensioners are routinely replaced with cambelts, but probably not even looked at in chain engines. Unless they are rattling, which could well be too late. Chains can run for the life of the car, but not if oil is ever neglected for either level, age or mileage. Also dependant of course on quality of the maker; witness the problems BMW and VW have had with their chains failing.

I think this usual for anything in a car using 'radar'. Thankfully, planes seem to be able to operate their radars in the rain! A former work colleague has one of the latest Prius with every available modern aid. He said when we had 'The Beast From The East" as he drove through the heavy snow, one by one the aids were pinging messages saying 'unavailable'. Worth the money then.