Linas.P

They just would not take mine when I was buying RC. To be honest I expected £2000 PX for it, but that was was in 2019. Also I guess times maybe have changes slightly now, used cars seems to be in higher demand than they were in 2019.

It is semi-objective thought. IS250 standard 13 speaker system that was fitted for free is literally another planet from the horrible standard system in car that is generation newer. Granted - if listening to the radio it will be just fine, but otherwise it is one of the worst audio systems I have ever listened to. Similarly, I recently rented brand new RAV4 abroad (2023 model) and it was obviously base trim... so audio there sounds exactly the same like 6-speaker audio in IS300h (and at least at first glance it seems like it is also 6 speakers). But whereas I can't complain about it in rental car which was only 86 Euros for 6 days and obviously poverty trim, it is very disappointing to have it in supposedly luxury car. And also in perspective of rather brilliant standard system in the previous generation.

Yes - pre-FL rotary dial always means the basic audio. Basically if it looks like that then run away:

To be honest none of those were very surprising. If one really wants to secure their car then additional, purpose made immobiliser is the way. They get fitted into most difficult to access places and most of the thieves won't have time to figure out what it is and where it is. Sure - that does not prevent them from breaking into your car (wheel lock to be fair is one of best in terms of visual deterrents), but they most likely going to have to abandon it. If immobiliser is properly fitted then CANBUS attack shouldn't by pass it. But I agree with layered security approach - wheel lock should deter some thieves just on the basis that there is more than one security feature fitted into the car, so they can't simply rely on soft attack and doing it quietly like relay for keyless or CANBUS hack. Using angle grinder even for 3 minutes at night is definitely not what they want to do. Then even if some thieves going to be very determined, basically doing relay, getting into the car, already waking-up whole neighbourhood cutting/drilling the lock-out and THEN after all that car doesn't start and they need to spend extra 5 minutes finding where immobiliser is and how to bypass it... then they may give-up and run. The key issue in UK - thieves can actually afford to take time, they are not at risk to be caught by police, because police won't come even in 30 minutes and they are not at risk of owner doing anything because using any sorts of weapons to defend your property is illegal in UK. So unless owner turns out to be Bruce Lee (what are the chances of that), they can take their dear time to do whatever they want. So I think final step should always be a tracker. But... that said my solution is to drive 17 years old GS300 on the basis nobody will steal it. I just don't want to worry about my car being stolen and fitting 5 different systems to prevent it. I mean really - UK Police, please do your job, this is getting ridiculous! P.S. - I say "UK Police", but the issue is much wider, don't want to write whole essay, but it is issue with the laws themselves, CPS, Courts etc. So by "Police" I just mean entire justice system and enforcement from beginning to the end sucks.

I don't think anyone suggested that GS450h can't last as long as 3UZ equipped GS430 or SC430. That said GS450h was first Lexus hybrid and there were things that Lexus has refined over the time, which makes 4th gen GS450h one of the best cars Lexus has ever made, but makes 3rd generation a little bit of odd car. Not necessarily bad, just different. Also when we are talking about 18 years old cars, "good hands" are really secondarily importance, because by this point these cars are almost inevitably neglected by one of many owners they had. So whereas it is possible to pick well maintained 10 years old car with maybe 2 owners, it becomes exponentially harder to find such cars after that and their cost usually don't represent good value. This is okey for IS250 and GS300 that are fundamentally simple cars without much to go wrong, but GS450h is not a simple car, there are things that could go wrong and they can cost a lot to get right.

Yeah according to few Lexus salesman ANY car over 10 years old or 60k miles they send to auction, I know there are exceptions, but that is generally what they do. In either case PX on 10+ years cars is horrible... and to be fair on any car that has value of under £10,000. Because PX always takes £2,000-3,000 of the market value, because dealer is including the costs, risk and some profit into the transaction. So if one is PX'in £20,000 worth car this may represent only 10% of the cost, but on £5,000 car that is 40% of the value. Besides it is would be difficult to sell £20,000 worth of car privately, but it is entirely possible to sell £4,000 worth of the car, so there is less reason to take cut on PX.

GS450h is great car, but it is much more complicated than IS250/GS300 e.g. if battery fails on GS450h then it cost as much as whole GS300 to fix. I am not saying they are unreliable, or that they do fail often, but when they do they are much more complicated and more expensive to fix. Also the cars are now getting to 18 years old, so it is kind of inevitable to have some sort of issues and all those issues on GS450h will be more complicated to fix than absolutelly basic GS300. 2005-2011 GS450h has many great things about it, but cheap to maintain and fix is not one of them, so you just need to pray nothing goes wrong. 2012+ GS450h seems to be slightly more reliable than older model (again I am not saying old model is unreliable car by any means), perhaps because it is not as old yet.

I am surprised they even taking it, when I asked Lexus what they would give for mine when buying RC... they said "sorry sir we don't want to offend you with the offer... so we won't make it". Point is - yeah PX on 10+ years old car will be tragical and not worth considering.

Not sure what you mean by GS300/3.5. In UK we only got GS300 which is 3L. We did not get GS350, which would be better choice of the two. Do you mean GS450h (which is 3.5L)? I have extensive knowledge of both GS300 and IS250, actually own both at the moment. GS300 is more comfortable and larger of two cars, but it does feel much older inside and drives more like old car, although extra 50hp does make it feel much better in terms of performance. My main issue with IS250 was that it always felt to me like it is little bit low on power, it is okey, but it is borderline slow. That is not an issue with GS300 - it has plenty of torque and plenty of power, but it is more of a "boat". That said GS300 comfortably seats 4 adults for long journey. That said 3L v6 in GS300 sort of caps out at 36-38MPG and you can expect maybe 24MPG average. IS250 feels much more modern car, it is sportier, handles better, is sharper, but it is slightly lower to the ground, harder, less comfortable and rear seats are a bit of compromise. They are decent, I have been on long trips with 4 adults in IS250 as well and it was okey, but if in GS300 nobody cars if they sit in front or in the back, then I am quite sure people would prefer to sit in front in IS250 and I also had to sometimes move my seat as a driver little bit forward. IS250 in this case is much more economical, the best I have seen was 44MPG, average over thousands of miles was ~28MPG. Now the key for this choice is the price, GS300 is just much better value for money... I had 2x GS300 I paid £750 for one (turned out to be for scrap really, but I really bought it for parts and it is still on the road to my surprise) and I paid £1000 for second car which was 80k miles, had few small issues, but generally solid car. So GS300 is unique in this way that you can find real bargains if you spend some time looking, no other Lexus model is so undervalued. So £2000-3000 should easily buy you decent GS300. IS250 automatic - you looking at £1000-£1500 more, so £3000-4500 I would say. Considering they are equally as reliable and good cars GS being more comfortable boaty and slightly less economical and IS being more sportier, more economical and less comfortable... I would say GS is better VALUE. That said I am looking at fixing my IS250 and maybe engine swapping it for 3L or 3.5L as I personally prefer driving IS... but I just can deny amazing value that can be found in GS. £8000 budget is way too much for these cars in my opinion. For £8000 I would really be looking at GS450h from 2012 (I know they are more like £11,000-£12,000 at the moment, but I would be monitoring if any come in for cheaper). Also you could probably get GS250 for £8000, which would be better car than both GS300/IS250 even if it is little bit underpowered. Basically what I am saying - value in Lexus is getting higher mile, cheaper ones with service history. Buying lower miles later year models is really diminishing returns, cheaper cars will be 99% as good, as long they were maintained. I definitely would not pay £5,700 for GS300, £3500 tops.

That was the best decade not even from Japanese car perspective, but arguably overall in terms of quality of live. Sadly, I have not really lived in the time to benefit from it.... 😞

You need to find the lowest point on the pipe, I assume that is going to be just under the rear axle. Anything after secondary cats should be fine. No that rubber melts at ~200-280C, so it is very unlikely that any part of exhaust get's that hot after catalytic converter. What I have personally seen is the hole in the back silencer, however I am not sure how the internal layout on IS250 looks, so it is hard to say if hole in the box would achieve anything. Based on some comments above (water pouring out of the back box) it sound like it may work, but I am not 100% sure. As for diameter - buy the rubber plugs first, measure their diameter and drill hole ~10% smaller than the plug e.g. say 6.5mm hole for 7mm plug.

No... ML was optional extra for all trims, same as sunroof or DCC. Yes often the cars with sat-nav have ML, but not always. Also I thought all RC-Fs pre-face lift had ML (despite theoretically it being optional), because it is hard to find one without it, but I have now seen 1 single example without ML. My point - sometimes even some optional things are always fitted, but it is definitely not the case for ML in IS with sat-nav, I would say only ~60% of cars with sat-nav also have ML.

Yeah it will be just too cold for it to cure. Rule of thumb with sealants - 20C+ and ideally dry place for application, then 24h no exposure to water. I remember making same mistake with ceramic coating applying it in cold garage in February... took 2 days to cure and then was kind of hazy requiring machine polishing entire car again.

Or DCC... MM can be sat-nav, no ML. Although it is small loss considering standard audio is very decent in mk2 anyway.

That is exactly what I have seen done. It wasn't a screw, but more like small rubber plug. Ad as far as I understand it was factory job on some cars. Also when I lost back box on my IS250 (at ~120k miles and 8 years old), it wasn't rusted, it just sheared off, looked like stress fracture. Got it welded back and it lasted another 70k+ miles after that (it never failed again, but car got stolen, so don't know how long it would have lasted). Also thinking about it - my old IS250 had it's all original exhaust by 200k miles, it looked rather horrible and rusty from outside, but there were no holes or any other issues apart of one backbox falling as mentioned. But I consider that car a little bit of outlier, high mileage and generally exhaust don't last that long.

Well I guess one can get whole crashed 2010+ IS200d for £1000, but you correct on both parts. 1. getting FTV engine already outside of the car will cost as much as whole IS220d in running condition. 2. once everything is done and engine fitted... you may as well have yourself IS250 both manual or even automatic. I guess it made sense to fix IS220d's when they were still around £3000-4000, but now that they are trending ~£1500 I just can't see any way to do it economically.

I don't believe I know anyone who have done it, main reason - it is likely uneconomical repair i.e. your car is worth less than the cost of buying and fitting the new engine. Now theoretically - could it be done? Yes, 100% - it is direct fit, take old one out, put new one in, they are identical engines, just one has slightly stronger head gasket. The only caveat - you will also need new ECU (engine computer) if you really want improved reliability. This is because never engine (engine model - 2AD-FTV) is slightly detuned (making 150hp instead of 179hp) compared to old engine (2AD-FHV). So yes - new engine has slightly updated head-gasket which is stronger, but key difference which makes it more reliable is that it makes less power and that is ECU that makes this difference. Also it is slightly more economical on fuel. You can make a compromise, little bit of "Frankenstein", and use 2AD-FTV with ECU from 2AD-FHV. This should give you stronger headgasket, but without reduction of power and without improvement of fuel economy. Here you would be trading little bit of improved reliability for keeping little bit more of power. Again - this is all hypothetical, because I don't believe repairing IS220d is economical to begin with and it is not like newer engine is that much more reliable, it is slightly more reliable and chances are it will last you as long as you keep the car, but it still inherently has same issues as older engine. In short - yes it could be done, yes it is direct fit and basically identical engine, yes it will work in place of old engine without problems, but if you really want improved reliability then you as well need ECU... BUT - it is likely uneconomical repair.

I have seen holes drilled into the bottom of backbox. In theory anything after emissions equipment is legal, however it would throw the emissions measuring probe off and likely cause MOT failure on emissions.

Not sure why would you consider scrapping it? Scrap money would be £400 if you lucky (probably less if they come to pick it up). Selling it even with faults would be 2-3 times that. If you would spend little bit of money to "recommission the car", fitting new battery, fixing puncture in the tyre, taking it to local car wash to do mini-valet, you may get even more. £2000 for running GS300 is really cheap and that is already 5 times what you would get scrapping it. How to do it - facebook market place or ebay probably would be easiest for cars with problems. Autotrader would get more attention, but people there would expect car to be driving and good shape. Also you can just put your details into selling section on this forum.

Really depends on how much and what kind of driving you are doing. If you doing a lot of miles and long trips, then your exhaust will be fine, if car sits for long times undriven and then does a short trip, then it will rot very quickly. I would say - worst case scenario ~8 years, but some probably last 12 years or more.

Video with sound before and after is mandatory with these sort of posts! 😄

Hierarchy... Luxury is most basic spec. Then F-Sport/Premier are kind of same level. Premier is considered top spec. but for example it does not get digital dash, which for me would be deal breaker. After face lift Premier was replaced by Takumi, so the hierarchy became Luxury>F-Sport>F-Sport + Takumi Pack > Takumi. Again F-Sport + Takumi being kind of the same as Takumi, but Takumi lacking digital dash, instead having some wood trim and little bit better base equitpment. As for what Luxury lacks - I would need to find the the option list, but basically all the options that are standard on F-Sport/Premier would be either optional or not available on Luxury. Luxury for example does not get Leather and by default has vinyl seats, smaller wheels etc.

Is there any immobiliser related fault? Basically the question I have - why do you think it is immobiliser? Immobiliser fault should look something like this - engine should start and stall immediately, engine could also crank after that but won't start. Based on your description engine does not seem to crank?

Interesting - I may try to do it next time. Previous when I tried I could not find the way to avoid it.

OP probably can clarify when the car was serviced and where - one of the big reasons to use Lexus service is to get Relax warranty on vehicles that qualify. It would be madness not to service premium car of such age at the dealership, but I guess everyone to their own. Lexus cars are reliable, but not invincible either and RC is not cheap car to fix outside of warranty, after all it was £40,000+ new, so parts won't be cheap (I know myself considering my £4,200 bill for seat, which in my case was fixed by warranty). All that said... something doesn't add-up. There is no reason why Lexus technicians would be scratching their head or why would they advise to replace the engine. Engine failure is really binary thing - it either has failed or it has not failed, I cannot believe 2AR-FSE which is used in all 300h models of the time would fail at just 54,000 miles, even if car was not serviced for 2 years these engine can take such abuse and run for a while (it does not help wear and tear, but they will run). So unless rod exited the block in quite open fashion, then I don't understand why engine would even be a question or speculated. Somebody just talks complete BS here, maybe priming customer for huge bill.... "ohhh it is £5,000 for inverter, at least it is not £28,000 for engine". No sorry, engine does not fit in this equation at all. Can hybrid system fail - yes it could and it could cause the symtoms noted. Initial symptoms sounded like 12V battery, and for that it would be just about time to pack-up. What is strange is that car died when running, which is not usual for 12V battery related faults, so it may be further issues with electrical side of hybrid system. The hybrid system check results would help here... when was that done? Was car rarely driven by any chance? That would explain a lot and also it probably would be resolved with new 12V battery and good trip for 500 miles. But then I am still puzzled why Lexus technicians are scratching their heads? This should not be difficult issue to diagnose?! Could it be jump start related? AA is generally good, but car service quality is in decline across the board, so I would not be surprised if AA guy shorted and fried something (which could indeed be headscratcher for whomever tires to unpick that). In short I am kind of puzzled myself - described speculation from Lexus does not fit description of the issue, also description of the issue does not sound like something experienced technicians would struggle to troubleshoot, also also considering age an mileage of the car I am struggling to understand why this isn't warranty job (yes it isn't under factory 60k/3 years cover anymore, but I would expect it to be under relax, am I right to think hybrid side has longer warranty 10 years/100k as long as hybrid health check is done?). Seems to me like some parts of the story are missing or omitted.