Linas.P

It "was" SEL - so yes. Not sure about front section, but I can do whole unit for £25. Unfortunate timing on your black interior swap as I have complete black interior including everything for sale now.

I had an issue where it wouldn't always close if I tried to close it with reasonable force, so I had to slam it all the time like an animal... couldn't live long enough with the car for that to become an issue that needed a solution, so sadly can't advise how to resolve it. One guess - how about "bumpers" adjustment, maybe they got lose and it doesn't close far enough to trigger the locking mechanism, they can be simply adjusted by screwing them in or out (in your case probably in). I just can't associate electrical issue with Lexus (they are just not known for failing in such way), unless the rear of the car was previously damaged and poorly repaired.

As above - I don't believe there are any "good" or "bad" providers... it is just how much they can get away with. Been with BT, with O2, with TalkTalk, with Sky... and currently with Hyperoptic. If anything in terms of customer service the TalkTalk was best, but that is ignoring the fact that I probably had to call them the most... so their product was kind of shaite. Now I am with Hyperoptic, not because their customer service is good, but only because they are the only ones that provide 1000Mbps downloads/uploads... and they know it! Meaning they are dismissive of any issues whatsoever. For example in summer they had scheduled like 4 maintenance windows... "2 hours between 8AM and 8PM" in middle of the working day. Meaning that if you are working from home, you internet may disconnect at literally any time for 2 hours Each time I send them polite e-mail stating that "best practice" would be to schedule the work in "more suitable" time like maybe "1AM to 5AM?" and if they have to do it during the day, then they should have tighter window for maintenance and shorter downtime e.g. "15 minutes between 10AM and 11AM". Also I pointed out that if anything were to happen, their timing meant that they would impact literally every users they have. Obviously that got ignored. First time was alright - maybe 10 minutes downtime at 10AM, second time similar... maybe 20-30min at 10AM... third time they disconnected the internet at 9:10 and it didn't work until 8PM... "they run into unpredictable issues outside of their control"... And that was kind of enough for me... so complain got escalated and they ended-up refunding £100 "as good will measure" and sending and apology (which is kind of mild and I found Ofcom lacking balls in this case, which wasn't entirely unpredictable). Now sure - I would be long gone considering rather awful service, but I know that they know that I know that everyone knows that my next best option is typical Openreach bunch with woefully obsolete FTTC connection, which is £20 more expensive and offer 86/20Mbps. I have heard same story about Virgin fibre (500Mbps) in nearby apartment, where they are also sole provider of decent internet. So it seems they are only as nice as they have to be...

I reckon it would be cheaper to just get whole GS (I know that for sure, as I just shifted one GS for £1000, which I thought I would use exactly for this exercise, I just couldn't get the place to work on that, so had to abandon this plan), with dressed engine and not bother with swapping everything over, but in principle yes - you can do that, most of the ancillaries are identical. Also I, if I do swap of 3GR I would prefer to do it with A760e, because it is much stronger box. Well obviously unless converting to manual. As for ECUs - I tend to believe it is identical hardware for most GR series engines, only the programming is different, but that is the my question - what are those companies, I have not heard of one that can work on Petrol Lexus ECUs. They were rumoured, especially on US forums, but I haven't come across one yet.

On automatic car you don't need to map anything, just use GS300 (3GR-FSE) ECU. Obviously, I understand you having manual car that was not an option as there was never manual XX300. That said - how do you get IS205 ECU mapped, or you run aftermarket ECU?

Can't answer for more specific questions, but whatever you do you first need to check that head gasket issue, because if you have head gasket issues then there is no point doing anything else. If engine has overheated is it scrap, theoretically it can be fixed, but it is uneconomical fix, it is cheaper to replace the engine than fix it... and as it seems from your thinking about - you would get rid of the car if it turns out to have head gasket issue (which I can't blame you for).

I am not even sure what is the argument here - they can charge what they want for I can pay what I want for... it is all self-explanatory. I just don't want to pay for parking, never paid for parking and never will. As for US - that is separate topic, I just don't like the country overall. That they get $2 that is kind of their problem not mine, customer shouldn't pay their wage, their employer has to do it. Find another job. On the last sentence I partially agree - just looking at the bottom line is bad idea. But parking is not bottom line for me, honestly cost of parking would make no difference financially for me, but that is principle.

I am talking about leisure as well. When I drive for work I don't care - work pays, even then I haven't seen many hotels charging for parking, most of the time when I drive for work I use hotels that happens not to have parking at all. Like Grand in Birmingham... and then NCP with ***** on every corner cost £36/day.

Just personal preferences and priorities... I actually prefer hotels little bit out of town - you can find real gems! Overall, I can't remember EVER staying in hotel where I had to pay for hotel parking, I have stayed in few hotels where they did not have parking at all and parked car in public car park - yes that happened! But never hotel where they charge for parking. And they were never too remote, too expensive (value for money is kind of my thing) or bad in any shape or form in comparison. I cannot say I lose sleep over it - if I am driving to the hotel I usually just check where I am going to park or if hotel advises anything about car parking. In my experience most of the time it is FREE on site parking, but in few occasions I found hotel which does not have parking, in which case I just look for alternatives and usually find another hotel that does have parking... overall I have not seen many hotels that charge for parking, maybe I am not visiting right places? But indeed - if I was told parking at the hotel will cost me (price mostly irrelevant) I would be surprised.

Who said it is objective? Yes people choose hotels based on what they like and value or need that day. If I am not driving then I would not care if car park is paid or not paid, or even exists. But when I drive I would not use hotel that does not offer free parking (unless there are extremely compelling reasons). Overtime, I build preference to certain hotels, so perhaps if hotel offers free parking when I have car and I like their service, next time I will stay there even if I don't drive. It is just personal priorities so it is mostly subjective. I am not speculating here - I know it does. I know that local councils puts certain restrictions on parking... and when it comes to absolutelly anything related to their approval they will put parking as bargaining chip. As I said "if you don't make that parking paid, wont allow you to refurbish". Also now there are woke people in management and workforce and some hotels started charging for parking as they think it is "environmentally friendly to punish guests who drive". So it is both personal politics and world view and sometimes just politics. That is why I don't go to US... actually many more reasons, like I just generally don't find US attractive or interesting destination. Also I don't tip and remove "suggested" tip or service charge, unless I really like service (like if they really go above and beyond). I said that also - if it adds value (and valet parking does add value) then I don't mind paying for it. I simply don't see being allowed to self park next to sign that I am doing it at "my own risk" as "value add". For example if there was free car park and somebody wants to make me pay for it, then they have to offer the actual service. Parking the car is not a service... they either have to do valet, or have to clean it, or have to guarantee it's security. That is a service and I happy to pay for it. Finally, I have noticed the trend of hotels turning car parks that used to be free and can be free to paid ones... because of all reason above. So some common sense has to be applied - yes we know some hotels charge for parking, because they always charged for parking, because they have very limited space and are in area where it is hard to expand that space. Yet there is now new trend (of last 20 years probably) where car parking is becomes paid for no reason e.g. quiet family run hotel in country side where car park is basically just a field with virtually unlimited space. In the past they just said "yeah park in that field just around the corner", now they say "we offer car park for a £5 fee". The field cost nothing for them to maintain, does not add any value, but they now decided to add arbitrary charge. So in such case I vote with my valet and go to stay elsewhere and instead of making £5 out of me they lose customer who pays maybe £100 for a night. They have a principle and I have a principle.

I think also relevant to the topic - should you pay extra to find 255, or downsize to 245, or even square set-up for 225. I have long argued that for winter conditions the narrower tyres is better and testing seems to support it. So no need to be hanged-up for keeping the factory 255s... at least no for winter. Obviously if you keep the tyres all year round, then extra width is beneficial in the dry.

Not necessarily, it is only extra cost if hotel legitimately has shortage of parking and has to prioritise or rent additional parking spaces. However, that is very unlikely to be the case in British country side. Also it is matter of prioritisation... you could argue that having toilet in your hotel room is also not free, but it is generally accepted that having toilet is not optional. For me having free guest parking is also not optional. So I expect that anyone who decided to run the hotel looked at all the things they had and included sufficient parking spaces before opening it. Also, sometimes it is just hidden within costs of hotel as per your contract comparison, but sometimes there are two hotels for the same price, offering same service, just one has free parking and other doesn't. Same comparison can be used for any other service that hotel has, for example I may not use hotel pool, but that pool is included in my hotel price regardless... or sometimes hotels charge separately for the pool. Now as I don't care about hotel pool and for me that is optional, I may ignore the charge for the pool and still say in that hotel, but parking when I am driving is not optional for me, so I will choose hotel that has free parking. The other problem I see - many hotels used to have free parking, and they generally have plenty of parking spaces, but because of politics and being woke, they now started charging for parking in their car parks "because they are on the mission to fix injustice in the world and punish people that they consider should be punished"... no thank you - I don't want politics to be included with my hotel room at an extra cost. To be fair some hotels and many public institutions are nowadays literally FORCED to charge for parking, for this political reason, else they would not get planning permissions for extension or renovation. But because there is no way for me to know that I just pass on using them, even if sometimes the charge is not their fault.

Cracking exhaust manifold seems like a QC issue on exhaust supplier. I know IS-F had, does this still exist on RC-F? I would have thought Lexus should have resolved that by the time LC launched... that said in grand scheme of things it isn't complicated issue to fix, I know it can get expensive and involved as many things have to get removed to access the cracks, but it is not like engine bearing issues, or something more fundamental with engine design. Exhaust manifold is either leaking or it is not leaking, it is pretty binary and fix is obvious. As for 1UZ tuning, yes I agree that in form of LS400 it wasn't highly tuned from factory, but it is tuneable. If I am not mistaken - when Lexus raced SC back in 2000s, they used 1UZ as the basis and not 3UZ, although that would be semantics anyway. By that I mean - the design of these engines is fundamentally good and capable of making power and revving out, they just didn't came in that state of tune in limousine (which makes sense). Still in case of LS400 I am sure that most of perceived laziness comes from gearbox, but attach same engine to manual gearbox and it is quite happy to rev and responsive. Not that it is comparable to 2UR, or needs to be.

I think it is less to do with engine and more to do with gearbox... 1UZ is quite happy to rev as well, just perhaps now when mated oldschool 4-speed automatic. As for LC500, I have no doubt it could do 200k... especially when this mileage accumulated so quickly it must be mostly highway driving... which tend to be very easy on cars anyway. As long as it get's regular service, there should be nothing unexpected. I think the only irony is that guy put protective wrap after all the paint was chipped, not before... That said - what an amazing choice if one can afford it, I can't think of better car if you doing such astronomical mileages, could not be anything worse than drive so much in some shaitebox, but in LC500 is really as good as it gets.

Donkey... would have been more appropriate name.

It is not the point... even if it is 1p, it is not about the cost or percentage of overall holidays cost. It is principle.

It is just principle... if I ideologically hate something I am not going to pay my money for it. And parking is one thing I never pay for... unless as I said it actually provides value for me, or it is paid by work.

That is the point - I see car parking as a right, not a service. Unless it is secure car park which is liable for any damage to my car, then yes that is service. So I would not use hotel without free parking on principle. Besides I understand that parking can be restricted, even prohibited for outsiders, but if you staying in hotel then you are "guest" by definition and I assume that decent hotel must have guest parking, it is like part of the deal... no parking means not good enough service. Definitely not £1.10, it was long time since I did actual calculation, but everything included (insurance, mot, service etc) my IS250 costed me like 18p/mile. So perhaps it would be closer to 30p now. And parking is not £1 either. I think in Sainsburys it is £5 (or maybe £4.80, something like that for 1 hour, then maybe ~£8 for 4 hours and ~£12 for a day). Asda car park is basically free if you shop for £10 or more, but it is all messed-up, so you get parking charge deducted from your shopping, but then you have to go an pay, card often does not work, no contactless payments and there were many (like literally 2 times LOL) times where I had to go withdraw £10, then go and beg for cashier to convert into coins so that I can pay £2.20 for parking... and after that I said "never again". Tesco is indeed annoying if you don't have their club car... I would go as far as saying they are scam, prices are literally rip-off without club card like cheese is like £6, but £2.40 with club card, the normal price is probably £2.40 but if you don't have club card then they going to rape you. That said Sainsburys is just across the road, so if I need something small I just walk there (maybe 8 min walk), but for larger shopping I go for TESCO... and it works out about the same as everywhere with club card.

Or... just treat customers like customers and give everyone who wants to park free parking. It is no so much different from say grocery store - I have ASDA and Sainsburys close to me, but they have paid parking, so I drive 2 miles further to TESCO, because it has free parking. If hotel does not give me free parking, then I consider the hotel to be "anti-motorist" and because I am motorist and I am a customer, then also anti-customer and anti-me... so I don't want their service. Obviously, if I am not driving then I don't care, just take the hotel that best works for me that day. Loyalty programme exist only to collect customer data and advertise to them, which is fine concept and I am not against it, but it should not be linked to parking charge... I think there is better and more positive way to get those details.

I am not going to guess/speculate what you meant.

Sorry, you will need to elaborate on this - can't figure out are what you asking/implying...

I kind of agree that parking charges at hotels are unacceptable, but I would not call them "rip-off". The way I see it, it is a choice - if you feel that parking charge is unfair then you don't book that hotel, they lose business and they will make parking free. As a guest I ALWAYS expect free parking, if hotel does not provide it then I simply choose another hotel. We vote with our valet. Well I guess to be completely honest it kind of depends, if hotel is excellent value and it would cost me £50/night more to stay elsewhere in worse hotel, or paying £5 parking charge... then common sense beats principle. But if price is similar I may even pay £10 more on principle to have free parking. I think what makes £5 "a rip off" in this case is that by signing as a member you get free parking, knowing that - it doesn't make it better, it makes it worse. This means parking is actually free, they just basically scam £5 from guests unless they sign for membership. This is disgusting, just don't stay in such hotel where they don't respect their guests. Surprisingly, it seems country side hotels in UK have parking charges more often than ones in the cities, which is just inexcusable. That said I rarely stay in hotels in UK nowadays, unless it is paid by the company, for personal use I use airbnb and I have never had issue with them, country side hotels are out of their mind in UK, for horrible pub-like service and premium view to the swamp they try to charge more than 5* all-inclusive hotel in Spain or Egypt or some other decent holiday destination. For example this summer I happened to end-up in lovely town of Shrewsbury and stayed in Lion + Pheasant, I understand it is sort of "trendy" hotel for hipsters, but £180 per night in bloody village with the view to the busy street?! If anything I would not give even 2* for the rooms, they were let's just say "nice", but no air conditioning, no mini bar, no TV, no hair dryer, old rotten "classic" windows so you get all the noise from the street. Now... okey I don't need hair dryer and I can't remember ever using TV in hotel, but air-conditioning is big one, the room was actually very hot (probably 26C at night, middle of summer mind you), as well no mini-bar and not even bottled water... so staying in this "s****y hipster" hotel the guests can help themselves with the water from the tap I guess?! To be fair to them, they only consider themselves 3*, but then how do they explain the price?! Birmingham Grand, which is proper nice middle of the city centre 5* hotel only charges £150. How is that makes sense?! People in Shrewsbury must think they are some sort of Milan or Barcelona... even then I bet you I can find better deals there. There is no way that hotel in Shrewsbury can cost more than £40/nigh.

That RR or Bentley sells their cars for £200k that is not a surprise to anybody, they always been for people with more money than brain... you know "ball kicking types". But G-Wagen and Range Rover mean to be utilitarian cars, rugged and able to go to muddy country side, G-Wage was literally military truck... how comes people pay £100k+ for them nowadays and drive them for 5 miles to school run with 5L+ engines is beyond any reasonable explanation.

It never works like that - when converting US prices you can bet it will be same amount in £ +10,000. So if GX would come to UK, it would start from something like £72,000 and even that is a little bit optimistic. Remember - Lexus RX starts at £62,000 and it is smaller model in the range. That said... again... I am a little bit baffled with Lexus decision making. Surely they can sell more GXs than LMs, as UK is quite hot for large luxury SUVs at the moment and as you mentioned even at £72,000 GX550 would be very competitive considering G-Class and Range Rover easily goes past £100,000.

German 3L diesels are indeed very good. If I would ever had to own diesel (quite unlikely) then that would be my pick.