Linas.P

I know - your car is just bizzare, rear camera, but no sensors. Heated/cooled seats, but no memory? Is steering column electric? I can get you headlight washers if you want - obviously just joking (what a waste of space they are) 😄

Whole car available (except of what is already listed as gone and the frame), so anything you wish. On the serious note - I don't know if there is much of "upgrades" that can be easily retrofitted or that matter. If you had regular SE, then obvious one would be leather, but you already have leather right? Not sure if you also have memory, but that would be heck of a job to retrofit. Rear curtain - kind of minor thing, but would be absolute nightmare to fit. Electric steering column? I mean it could be done, but without memory function it kind of adds little value. Do you have parking sensors? As far as I know you needs sensors and body control module (I have all of them) and I would assume they would work with the rest of the computers, but you can never be sure and if it doesn't then you would be in deep pain trying to match all the modules (on positive side I have them all, on negative side - cost of replacing all computers for just parking sensors just wouldn't make sense). Wood trim? As far as I know most people hate it, but in theory it can be done easily and it is available.

That guy with orange RC-F must be local, because when I test drive the cars from Lexus Woodford I always get onto some local roads, then come out to M25 ~J25-27 and I seen Orange RC-F there twice. When I test drove LC500, there was Orange RC-F going anti-clockwise, when I drove ES300h, there was again Orange RC-F going clockwise. And this was like year apart, so I thought what a coincidence.

@JDM-Fiend Yeah - all SE-L sills are available (as a set, rear ones are also little bit nicer with brushed metal, not just plain plastic), vents available - not sure about condition thought from memory they are good, but need to check. Can't remember if I took rear view mirror, will need to check. I will check and let you know prices in PM.

When I had cracked mirror on SE-L, I had same issue - could never find the correct replacement. It was either auto-dimming, but not heated, or heated, but not auto-dimming. I even bought whole mirror of another S-EL, but it turned out somebody had already replaced glass for just generic mirror. I do have SE-L auto dimming/heated mirror for passenger side of the breaker car if you interested. But I am not braking it down into parts, selling whole mirror. As others said it is red however.

Rear window sill/deck covers with third brake light and central console are also gone now. Also driver side headlight and mirror are likely to go (TBC soon).

Hi Taseen, Yes have passenger mirror, but it is sold as a unit (will not part it out further). So whole mirror is for sale if you interested.

I would add that it is much easier to remove the engine from below, if there is any downside of that approach, then it would require de-gassing A/C, but apart of that removing engine from below together with gearbox is definitely much easier. Obviously, that requires decent clearance under the car, so basically lift.

That is standard on all cars delivered to Europe between ~2005 and ~2012. My EU spec. IS250 had the same - OFF>Side>ON(Auto), but ON(Auto) means it is dumb switch as soon as you turn the engine on they come on, there is no ambient sensor (well there is, but it is used for dash brightness, not for headlines) And this was the case until DLRs were introduced, then EU/UK spec. became the same again - DLR come as soon as you turn the engine and if your lights are on Auto, they also turn on as dipped beam when it get's dark. I have seen somebody here checking wiring and it is possible to rewire lights in a way that they start automatically and ignores ambient light sensor, which is kind of hit and miss.

Or why our government decided that DLRs will resolve all the problems, rather than simply make into the law to turn on the lights like most of Europe. Once drivers build that habit (and they do in few years) then you don't need technical solutions for simply turning the lights on. That said last Wednesday noticed Prius driving without lights, it was 4PM, but in this time of the year it was already getting kind of dark and then specifically looked to the plate, because it looked like rather new car... sure enough 67 plate. No lights whatsoever... And I am like "wait, but these should have DLRs from factory and it is legal requirement to fit it"... sure it is for any car after 2012, yet people go to extreme lengths disable even the DLRs (I know in US that is popular mod)... I just don't get, why would anyone want to be less visible, sure... too lazy to turn the lights on, because it is not required in UK, but actually take time specifically to disable feature that is there to make everyone safer?! The only saving grace it was white car, so not exactly easy to miss.

There seems to be particular offenders, I think Qashqai is one and few other mid size SUVs that blinds everyone. Definitely a poorly designed LEDs in dipped beam. To be fair fake Xenox are not as common now, but then you have 2 camps - the idiots that drive with DLR at night and don't understand what the issue is, or the ones that rely solely on auto high-beam and goes around blinding everyone, plus army of people with poorly adjusted lights (some of which are factory job).

Congrats.... these bloody IS250s... they are so good that it is hard to replace them! It is funny indeed, because I did similar thing 2012 F-Sport > 2010 Premium (it was US AWD, but specs wise like SE-L, but without wood grain), then 2008 SE-L and now 2006 SE-L. So spec. wise I didn't go backward, but age wise older an older. To be fair it kind of makes sense - second generation Lexus IS250 where pretty much the same throughout the years, fundamentally the same engine, gearbox, power, fuel consumption etc. What changes was only infotainment system, minor things like indicators on mirrors, DLRs, things that honestly do not matter. Infotainment is shaite either way, even back when it was new it was outdated and now it is basically irrelevant whenever it is first or last car that rolled of the line, it would be considered outdated. So it kind of makes sense to go for older model all else (vehicle condition) being equal. ML in SE is indeed very unusual and weird, so if memory serves to get ML you had to buy Navigation for £1995 and only then you could put ML option for £1000 (or am I mistaken this for MK3?) So somebody saved £3,000 on SE-L, to then spend them on ML, which to be fair in MK2 makes minor difference considering standard car had 13 speakers and ML only adds 1 speaker in the centre. Sure it goes from something like 375W to 795W in power and clarity is much improved, but apart of that it is not like MK3 that has poverty line 6 speaker stereo which is awful by default. In MK2 ML is really a marginal improvement. As for less stuff to go wrong - probably not, Lexus are not known as far as stuff going wrong is concerned. Certainly not memory seats, not wheel column - but every little helps I guess!

Did anything unusual happened during the change? like sparks of smoke coming out from anywhere? Jokes aside, there could be many things. Starting from basics - are you sure it is correct battery, correctly connected and it has at least 12V? I assume you fitted new battery, but even new things are sometimes faulty. Could you try connecting old battery if it works at all? Simple logic here - what was changed is the battery, so it is now important to eliminate the battery as the cause of issue. Other related question - why did you change the battery? Maybe it wasn't the battery issue to begin with? Anyway I am sure more information is needed before the question can be answered, at the moment it is speculation at best. P.S. It would be best to start new thread, because to be fair you issue is not related to the issue I had and you will get better responses without confusing them.

Agreed, tyres in particular are the only thing that connects you and the road, so I never compromise on that. However, premium tyres are probably within 2% of each other (worst to best) and little bit research allows even some mid range tyres in the top 5%, so I still think Michelins are best tyres around, but at the same time I am quite happy to take something like Goodyear for 20% less, knowing they are maybe 0.5% behind Michelin. In some other areas they may even be better - for example Goodyear EffcientGrip2 are considered best touring tyre around. The only reason I don't use it is because they generally do not make sizes that fit Lexus. I think they don't have anything bigger than 235s and 18", so that leaves very limited choice. Event then - I considered downsizing from 245/45R17 to 235, but EfficientGrip2 was only available in 235/50/R17 (which would kind of work), but the price was more than Michelin PS5 in correct size... so it just doesn't make sense. But for example if I had CT200, on it's 215s then EffcientGrip2 would definitely be on my list.

Same here - great lifespan, but they are little bit on the "sportier" side. Not harsh, or noise, just not "soft" either. Funny enough I have replaced Dunlops SportMaxx RT2 with Michelin PS4 and Michelins were noticeably less soft/comfortable. Now to big part is was because I went from 17" to 18", but still Michelins where noticeably more "high performance" tyre. For example driving Dunlop RT2 on cold morning would not be a big deal, but Michelin PS4 in cold morning (and by cold I mean 4-8C maybe) would be very sketchy, they felt literally like race tyres which you have to bring "up-to temperature" before they start gripping. So by that I reckon PS4 had much harder compound which in colder temperatures really suffered and was just too stiff. That said - once PS4 were "up-to temp" they they gripped like a train, point the car into direction and it goes there like on the rails, both mechanical grip and compound itself was phenomenal. Sadly, Dunlop has not released any tyres for nearly decade now, everything that is made is all obsolete OEM junk. Dunlop/Goodyear is the same company, so if you looking competitive replacement for Dunlop, then you need to look at Goodyear Asymmetric 6 now.

To be honest I would keep them as it is. As long and you have matching tyres on each axle they should be good enough. That is unless they are badly mismatched e.g. if your fronts are Michelin PS4s (UUHP tyre) and rears are Bridgestone Turanza (touring tyre) then they are not well matched (it goes as follows Eco > Touring > UHP > UUHP > Race). But if fronts are Michelin Primacy (Touring) and rears and Bridgestone Turanza (also Touring), then I would just leave them as they are and just replace them with 4 new tyres once they get to ~2.5-3mm. The reason for this - for example UUHP will grip a lot better in hot and dry than Touring, but a lot worse on cold morning, so you get this disbalance and unpredictable handling between axles, but as long as they similar "grade" tyres they should be alright.

I have Maxxis on one set and Falken FK510 on the other now. Both are made by Sumitomo Rubber Corp. Also Sumitomo now has their own branded tyres. They are by no means premium, but they are reputable mid-range (Sumitomo and Maxxis that is). Falken are considered premium nowadays, but I reckon they are a step short from real premium tyres like Goodyear, Continental and Michelin. Although they are very compelling against Pirelli and Bridgestone. So yeah - if one is looking to save money I think Maxxis and Sumitomo are safe bets (they are not dangerous chinesium tyres, they are fairly decent). Other ones worth - Uniroyal, Sava, Debica, Cooper... but they don't have much "penetaration" into British market and often price does not make sense. But they are decent tyres made by Michelin/Goodyear under different names.

That is hard question with many answers. I would right away discount budget tyres - they are just not good. For summer tyres some of budgets are "alright", but they simply fail on longevity and that kind of defeats the purpose of "budget" tyres. So let's say on Michelin one can drive 36,000miles, on budget tyres one can drive 12,000 miles, therefore if Michelin costs £300 and budget costs £100 they costs THE SAME. However, most of the time budgets are only 30-50% cheaper, so as paradoxical as it sounds - it is cheaper to buy premium tyres. Winter tyres in my opinion are more difficult to get right, so if budget brands can't make summer tyres, they have no chance of making winter tyres. Second hand tyres are also complicated topic, I did calculations and they just don't work out when it comes to cost. The problem is purely miles/£, so let's say new tyre is £100, used tyre is £50... new tyre comes at 8.8mm thread, used tyre had 4.5mm. On the surface looks like fair deal, but that is ignoring the fact that you need 2-2.5mm of thread before replacing the tyre. So 4.5mm is not 50%, it is more like 25% and even at that we know that worn tyre perform worse than new, so last 50% of the thread is not as good as first 50% of the thread. As such if new tyre at 8.8mm is worth £100, then used tyre at 4.5mm should only be worth maybe £20. Yet I can see Michelin PS4s and CC2s with 4-6mm thread left selling for £90, which is just ridiculous and makes no sense. I believe CC2 depending on side comes with ~9.3mm thread, so by the time it is 5mm, it is 70% worn. So if new tyre is £150, then how comes 70% worn tyre still costs £90?! So it seems budgets and used tyres are not an option... this leaves just just new and premium or mid-range tyres. For winters I would advise to look at Nokian, Hankook and Gislaved tyres (they are not known in UK, but they are strong in winter tyre sector), or indeed premium brands. All the premium brands are fine as well.

People in UK indeed struggle to drive in winter, but that has nothing to do with driving wheels. Brits simply don't know how to drive on slippery roads... sorry that is just a fact. And I am not saying British drivers are worse than drivers in other countries, however in UK you simply don't have "winters". Yes some snow drops for few days in few places, but that is not a winter, so simply said average British driver does not have an opportunity to develop skills and experience driving in winter conditions. It always causes me hysterical laugh when two snowflakes drops and there is carnage outside, as if it some sort of end of the world. And also - I am not saying there are no good British drivers who are million times better than me on the snow, however they likely learned those skills outside of UK, or in other ways (like being rally drivers, off-roading etc.) And secondly - I am not convinced tyres actually helps in this situation, they kind of do, but skill absence can make it worse as well. First of all we need to understand what type of situations you are likely to encounter in UK - sludge, black ice, packed snow and generally wet roads. Deep snow (and no - 2 inches isn't a deep snow) is not consideration in UK, nor is "dry" ice. You generally can drive on summer tyres on sludge and wet roads just fine, it is a matter of experience, but that does not require special tyres. Yes summer tyres start losing their properties below 6C and are useless below 0C. But if you have sludge or water that means 100% it is above 0C. All-season tyres by virtue of their softer compound and by deeper grooves have slight advantage below 6C, but here is where everyone get it wrong. All-season are NOT winter tyres and below 0C there is absolutelly no difference whenever you have summer or all-season. So let's say outside is -2C and there is packed snow, you can drive on that in neither summer, nor All-seasons. Even more common example - black ice, that is you have puddle, temperature drops to -1C and usually on the bridges black ice forms... no tyres will help you with this (not even true winter tyres), so one just has to be mindful of this and be prepared to deal with it. There are spiked winter tyres, but they generally are designed for "dry ice", that is when temps drops to say -10C and stays for a long time, then you may get strong ice forming and you need spiked tyres to drive on it, in UK there are simply never such circumstances and metal spikes falls out as soon as you hit the dry asphalt, I don't know if they are even legal to drive in UK. So what usually happens in UK - people fit All-Season tyres and they think they are invincible, because they have "winter tyres", they hit black ice and the only difference tyres makes is that they are going at much higher speed completely oblivious to their predicament. Also - driving wheels makes absolutelly no difference, all the same rules applies whenever you driving RWD car in dry or wet or slippery conditions. So if you know how to handle oversteer in dry, then you will know how to handle it in slippery conditions as well. It is a matter of skill and experience, not driving wheels and not tyres. At least not in UK. There are countries that regularly has REAL winter and generally those countries have mandatory winter tyre regulations and conditions there means it is matter of tyres and not matter of skill, in UK there are no winters. If you look statistically, then you will be surprised that majority of crashes in "winter" happens to SUVs which most of the time are FWD or even AWD, so to say that RWD struggles is not really true. People just don't know how to drive in winter, do not choose safe speed for conditions and lose control, and tyres are not silver bullet either. Now to be fair UK is very wet country and roads here are horrible, all year round, dirty, covered in mud and leaves, surface rough etc. So it does make sense to use All-Season tyres, or what I usually do - I use A-Rated for Wet summer tyres. In UK honestly the wet rating is the most important and I never had issues with them in 14 years, I never change to winter tyres, but if I need to replace tyres then I try to do it in autumn. Anything below 3mm is asking for trouble. I know this post sounds passive aggressive, if not outright condescending, but I have grown-up and learned to drive in country with 3 months of actual winter where temperatures below -10C are common for months and even few weeks with -20C even few days as low as -35C, so I cringe every time when temps get to single digits in UK (positive single digits) and people struggle with driving. Yet I would be completely useless driving in desert dunes probably and Arabs would cringe looking at me driving, so it is just a matter of skill and conditions that enables certain skills to develop. In summary - to drive safely in winter one needs to develop skills and have experience for it, predict dangers and drive appropriately, this is not skill one can acquire in UK. Tyres helps, but only to certain degree, weather in UK does not get too bad to actually need any special tyres, but All Seasons will help a little bit assuming one has basic understanding of what they are doing and what are the risk.

I don't even understand how this counts as driving "without due care and attention". I mean for first accident, yeah that would be applicable, but once he crashed first time and he continue to drive (actually tries to flee) and crash again that is already "dangerous driving". So in principle - he has crashed, he is in the vehicle which is no longer road worthy (presumably) and he is trying to flee the accident and then causes another accident, this is 100% "dangerous driving". "Without due care" means "accident", something that one didn't plan to do and it was just lapse of attention, but once person is fleeing the crash that cannot be called "without due care", his actions are deliberate. I would drop "preventing course of justice" on him as well. So driving ban - 100%, but I reckon it could have been much more than driving ban. But I guess in this case they were lenient because of "no previous convictions" and similar stuff. Needless to say very light punishment and most people do no get such treatment in UK.

Yeah - that is good point - driving ban should have come without a question, even before considering potential criminality of his actions.

Seems to be at least £10k more than similar cars were selling for last few years (even considering that last few years were absolutelly highest prices for used cars probably ever).

Yeah - escaped lightly because he is TV persona, other person would have gone to jail for that. Multiple counts of dangerous driving, hit and run and finally... he must have been high on something to do this. Alcohol, medicine, maybe both... There is no way somebody crashes as bad as he did and then continues to drive swiping other cars. So dangerous driving under influence is like 5 year jail. Perhaps some leniency considering his age, but should be at least suspended term.

Indeed, but now there is new trend of woke rural hotels to charge some arbitrary fee, like £5-10. It is almost like "pollution charge" and I don't play that game.

Even worst Chinese unit still going to be better than what Lexus was putting out in 2012. The sat-nav controls and features were never strong part of Lexus. For 2012 model you will indeed have to find compatible unit, but in principle the price will be in the same ballpark. - The steering buttons definitely works, this is never an issue with these replacement units. - the CD changer should work as it is still used as "slave" interface with AMP in most cases, although once you have android unit I am not sure how important is the feature of CD player?! - the stock camera may or may not work, this needs to be confirmed for a specific unit. The ones that replace non-sat-nav units usually does not have interface for camera and use generic USB camera, the ones that are properly designed to replace sat-nav often have "plug&play" integration for all features. All these questions would be answered by the seller. In my experience sellers even refuse to sell you the unit unless you provide them with specific model you have and some even asks you to remove headunit and show the pictures of the connectors to make sure they send you the compatible one (I guess last thing they want is to deal with returns). So again - from my experience it seems almost as if you need to convince them to sell one, than the other way around.