Linas.P

Yes, but for the year you looking at the Premier no longer existed and was already replaced by Takumi. As for the "comfort" it is hard to say, because it is subjective thing. I consider GS more comfortable, but that is because I value flat cornering and road holding, I just don't like when car leans in the corner and not only because of driving dynamic (i.e. handling), but as well because I find it "uncomfortable" and likewise it could make some passengers sick. And that is why I hate SUVs overall - I find them all uncomfortable and that is kind of inherent considering high centre of gravity. Now sure - many new SUVs have suspensions that deals with it quite well, but comparing like for like car will always be better than SUV in that regard. That said NX will have more suspension travel, thicker tyres and overall softer ride, let's say if you going over rough surface or speedbumps, it probably will be more comfortable. Although again is very personal thing - I prefer less soft suspension that settle quickly (like you would have on GS), rather than softer suspension that "waves" little bit longer. At the same time there are people with opposite opinion - they prefer softer car, which leans and waves more, but transfers less of small movements into the cabin and they may find NX more comfortable. So I would not say either one is necessary more comfortable, they are just different, GS is comfortable car, NX is comfortable SUV. Finally, there is factor of "perceived comfort" - GS uses better materials, is better put together car and it is higher class car than NX, so perceive comfort will be higher, because quality is better inside, sound insulation is as well better. But that is not to say NX feels cheap (like for example ES does), NX is very decent for what it is, just not as good as GS. If you really looking for similar quality as GS, then you need to be looking at RX. I would say NX would be more comparable to what you would get in RC/IS, maybe slightly better, but closer to them than it is to GS. And by the way that was reflected in the price as well - GS was always more expensive car than NX.

It is real shame Lexus has not done anything about it yet. This 100% justifies call EVERY SINGLE CAR and retrofitting something that prevents this, I just can't see how it could be passed onto the owners as "acceptable security" of the car. And don't blame Lexus for making this mistake, but I blame them for not acting as they should in such circumstances... they made mistake they need to solve it. I know in UK there is not such thing as "class action lawsuit", but they certainly should face consequences for doing nothing about it. And I know argument could be made "why didn't you said the same when they had all keyless entry debacle"... well that is different. First of all, it was inherent flaw with the technology, those attacks didn't damage anything in the car, nor key. In short it was not like they left a security flaw in the design simply that design itself turned out to be vulnerable. Secondly, there was prevention - one could simply disable keyless entry in the car, or put the key in the pouch. Still not ideal, but there were workarounds. In this case it is 100% security flaw, because there is no reasonable explanation why headlight wiring should have access to can-bus in such a way that it could unlock the car and start the engine. I do understand why that wiring exists, and why it is connected to the can-bus (that is because lights nowadays are so smart that they require dedicated ECU to control), but basic security design should ensure that headlight ECU should not be able to instruct other ECUs to unlock the car, disable immobiliser and start the car, this just shouldn't be possible. And on top of that - no communication line should be easily accessible for outside of the car - good example is Immobiliser in older Lexus models, to access it you need to remove entire dash and ventilation vents, so nobody is accessing that on the driveway in 3 minutes. Following that example, what I am saying is that any such security critical system must be placed in the car in such way that it would require significant time and effort to access them. So in short - Lexus is deficient in two ways here, physical security for access is inadequate and signals are not encrypted, nor security rights properly provisioned for auxiliary functions like headlight control (I guess that makes three ways, but can-bus protocols is by default unencrypted). I guess fundamental mistake here is to allow headlight ECU to be on the same can-bus as the rest of the systems, multiple better designs are available and in fact were used in the past - there are other networks types that could be used on the car, or the car can even have multiple separate can-bus... one high-speed can for critical parts and secondary low-speed can for things like headlights, seat-memory, windows etc.

The interior colour is what you get when you feed babies with too much vegetable puree and they puke it back. Just joking obviously, but I hate cream interiors... and this is isn't really a cream either - it is like "caramel" or something like that. I would gladly take Black, White, Blue LF-A with Red or White interior, worst case scenario Black... This one is just kind of sad, probably worst possible combo from what was available to order.

I can excuse myself, because I don't like colour combo and the wheel is in the wrong side (although that should make it more desirable/expensive). That said it seems the prices of LF-A are coming down from all time highs... remember one being listed for £1,040,000 and few around £950,000 range.

I have not used Toyota, but I have enquired about the service and in conclusions they turn out to be same price. As well if you service your Lexus in Toyota, then you won't get Lexus Relax warranty, despite Toyota having same warranty it simply does not apply to Lexus... so it is kind of no brainer to use them. Now to be honest that was back in the days when Lexus had "Essential Maintenance" plan, but I doubt something would have fundamentally changed overall. To quote some specific numbers back then minor service for my IS250 was £285 with Lexus and "Essential" price was £165. Toyota dealer quoted me £225 for minor service, basically oil and filters... and it doesn't come with courtesy car or coffee or anything else, they did not do pick-up, nor delivery and sitting in Toyota dealer whilst they do it was kind of unacceptable either, as they don't even have like a sit down area. In short if you take car with them, then you basically have to take bus home and come later to pick-up the car (well or taxi if you really posh). So even assuming now I would have to pay £285 to Lexus, I would still rather use Lexus for convenience of having courtesy car etc. Last time I called Lexus they said they not doing "Essential Care" anymore (which is real shame), but offered 20% discount. So all in all - the saving by using Toyota is simply not there, or so little that it is not worth bothering about.

Isn't GS mk3 about the same overall size as LS mk3? To be honest the only LS I have never been inside is mk3.

I would not be surprised if he did and had million questions of how to fix things that shouldn't be broken in the first place. Although, I doubt anyone paid £4500 for it (at least I hope not). As for GS looks... that was my opinion comparing IS to GS, so I assume same can be said about GS to LS. The other problem is that UK roads and everything in general are tiny. I had LS in Bahrain and it felt normal, but in UK it probably feels like your trying to drive aircraft carrier trough the town, parking it as well must be an issue when all the places are 1.8x4.2m or less. As the story goes - in US Lexus are not even fitted with folding mirrors, because average US parking space is as wide as British spaces are long...

You know - thinking about it... it may be something wrong with me, but there is always that moment when other half decided to go to the market to look for handcrafted junk and one is left to sit on the bench in car park 😄 In the other hand I just have eye for the detail in general, so if I have a second of spare time I notice all sorts of weird things. It is not so much that I am looking for premium tyres, but I absolutely can't stand chinesium death traps on the cars - I honestly believe they must be made illegal, or testing methodology made more stringent and they would not be able to pass anyway. Because in UK they are so common, especially on powerful luxury cars I just got this habit of looking out for them and ridiculing it. And in general - anything that is absolutely dumb and dangerous, those sort of things boils my blood, so I notice them. In France not so much, I feel like if I lived there for a month I would stop bothering, because it seems people get it right there. I mean if one can draw any conclusion from this, then it seems when British people need a tyre and ask for replacement, then they either ask or are advised to replace just one tyre and to replace it with the cheapest trash that could be found. When French do the same, they are advised/ask to replace both and they choose decent brands... although I have suspicion Michelin is much cheaper in France than anywhere else. Which is convenient considering they make one of the best tyres.

Same here - I just find it relaxing to detail the car, although sometimes it is hard work... so I would not bother if somebody did the bulk shifting of dirt for me (as long as they don't damage the paint) and I can then focus on details. I honestly don't think French would be offended by hearing this. I know Jeremy Clarkson is not the person that can trusted on the facts, but there is segment I believe in Grand Tour where they are mocking French car culture and it is spot on - basically caring for car, especially cosmetics is like low bar for them. That said - Britany was unbelievably clean all around, in a week I have seen literally 2 pieces of rubbish and second thing I noticed, they all put good tyres on their cars... even some sort of rusted old Peugeot that is barely worth £100 will wear Michelin, or Continental or something like that. I did not see many cars with budget tyres, they are almost as rare it seems as premium tyres in UK. I think matching tyres per axle are legal requirement anyway, so matching tyres were non-issue. So argument could be - their priorities in right place. Except, I don't mind if they don't care about their car as long as that doesn't extend to other people car.

Not sure of you model, but if it is 2008 then I assume it would require using TechStream. Although, I have not seen such option on 2008 cars, I know my 2016 RC had, but nothing below 2010... unless it is LS or RX, because those had more options.

Maybe the Steering return spring? Bonnet release lever spring is silver and thicker. Although I am not sure about the plastic piece inside.

Good news - final piece of puzzle is not complete: I almost fell of the chair laughing... First of all - obviously the fine is not issued by them, why on earth they would issue the fine to themselves whilst working on the car. Secondly, this "goodwill gesture" again... car was in their possession, they parked it incorrectly on "public highway" and it is good will gesture that they will pay for it?! Wow... But anyway - fair enough, they paid back for service they didn't do, they paid back for fine that they got for me... no money out of my pocket, their customer service kind of sorted the mess so it is not all bad, just a little bit of wasted time.

Ohh don't even tell me about that... I had my car detailed just couple of weeks ago... not perfect, because it can't be perfect for 18 years old car, but it looked very nice from 5 metres away.... just to be "Frenched" in Britany. Some French bugger slammed the doors so hard into the side of my car that it literally dented the panel... nevermind copious amount of white paint... and obviously he is nowhere to be found, because in France that is not even considered an issue. Sorry I know I made big deal of mentioning Eastern Europeans, but French despite 1000 amazing qualities really do not care about their cars cosmetics, that is kind of their national thing. I know it is stereotype as well, so certainly not all of them, but they certainly care much less than Brits... Or maybe I am just salty because it is personal! 😄

This is precisely what I do and what I recommend other to do as well. Independent for minor/interim works and general inspection, and Lexus for annual service and "stamp of approval". Ideally when I take car to Lexus I want to see clean sheet where all the statuses are marked "green". The only issues that my independent garage cannot do two things - A/C service and Tyres fitting/Balancing/Alignment. Not that it is very difficult, but because they are rather small shop and both things would require £10,000 worth of equipment and space. Now in the past I have used ATS Euromasters for those two things as they had good alignment equipment and A/C station. Since then ATS Euromaster have closed and they had horrible reviews as well, but for what I used them I never had issues and they were certainly more professional than either Kwikfrauds or Halfrauds. I honestly would not use any of the three chain for anything more than fitting the tyres or A/C service. My independent garage is not what I would call very good, but at least they are honest. If they don't know how to do something then they will tell me that they are not comfortable doing it or advise me other place to go to... and they never manufacture non-sense that doesn't need to be done, but likewise I am always present when they work on my car and I generally was satisfied with their service. Again they are not really mechanical experts, but for one they are probably 100 times more knowledgeable than kids working in chains and secondly they do honest work. If they can do it they do it, if they can't do it they say that they can't do it.

I would not call it a battery "issue", the battery was connected correctly, just the battery cover was put on upside-down and I would not be surprised if that was the work of their colleagues in different branch, because I just can't see any reason why anyone would do that. Now what you are saying is correct - disconnecting the battery could cause error codes and things may need resetting, like seat memory, windows specifically in Lexus and other things, but none of them are something that autoservice wouldn't be able to do. In short all these things should be within their "competence/expertise". I mean literally - they should not only be confident doing it, they should be experts at doing it, because that is one of key services they are offering. If for whatever reason they don't think they are competent of doing it, which would be extremely surprising considering that they sell and fit the batteries, then again you right - they probably should have called me and told me that they will be removing and refitting the battery because it was fitted "incorrectly", or simply told me after the a/c service that they solved that issue "as a good will gesture". I would not expect that it would prevent them doing A/C service. As very last resort - they could have informed me that they either need more time, or they were not able to do the work. Obviously, I would not be very happy, because that is again something that is clearly within their "expertise", but that would have been 1000 times better than lying and saying they did the job which they haven't done. And they did have my mobile number and e-mail, so if they wanted they could have contacted me. Guy literally told me he will call me when work is done, but after 2h+ I decided to walk back, because he have not phoned me.

You would be surprised how scratched-up some of the brand new cars are. people pay £500+ to get them detailed to really the condition they should be in. It is no longer 90s and not LS400 that came from factory wet sanded and polished to perfection. 100% - detailing is hobby and to be fair not very logical one, because we basically trying to maintain something that sits outside to the such degree that it turns into mirror finish. Maintaining the car in perfect cosmetically condition requires a lot of work, experience and expense, yet it could be ruined by parking it under the tree once. From my experience I would say most of the cars are not even regularly washed, the already minority that are regularly washed are washed just to basically get them clean... and only few % are actually detailed and kept in good order, because very few people actually appreciates the shiny car. And obviously we can go into crazy detail of who and why don't care, but it is enough to say that is really minority who even thinks about the topic we discussing here. So I kind of see both sides - I spend the amount of money and time detailing my car which I can't justify, but that is because I like having shiny car, yet I completely understand people who have daily driven cars, which for them are just appliance to go from A to B and then they just take them to regular car wash... and trust me that is already more care than 50% of owners would care to do.

I think my point was that both automatic and hand car washes have their own issues. Hand wash has potential to scratch the car more, the automatic wash just misses areas altogether. I personally would not advise either one as in my opinion both are bad. So what ate the options left? Do it yourself, or hire decent mobile detailer detailer to do it for you. The first option requires skill and physical fitness, the other option is generally quite expensive... but if you can do it for £40, then it is a steal. I do it myself because despite what some may say in my area that would cost over £150, if I had an option to do it for £40 I am sure that is what I would use quite often. Even if I have to walk around afterwards with MF and detailing spray to complete few small bits, that is still worth it.

Not too bad - disconnect the battery, 2 small plastic covers on the sides, 2x torx T40 (if memory serves), disconnect the airbag, MARK THE ALIGNMENT, disconnect the clock spring and just undo the nut. Just make sure not to hit yourself in the face with the wheel when pulling it of 😄 As well make sure to time the cable clock spring... or rather make sure that it doesn't move. If you clock it incorrectly then it will it apart on full lock. Else it turns total of 5 (more like 5.5) rotations lock to lock and after 2.5 rotations from once side it should be clocked correctly and cables should be at 12 o'clock. I always get paranoid when doing it, but I have little clip tool which you can put in to make sure it is locked. Overall, it is nothing complicated, but there is potentially to mess it up if rushing it. Ideally get workshop manual and it will have everything step by step.

Depends on car wash, many never cars washes have "soft bristles"... allegedly. Ignoring the marketing speak, my personal experience and actually experience from few practical tests (I think 5th Gear did one... although not very scientific) was that automatic wash scratched the car less than hand wash.

Do you have manual or electronic steering column?

I am not sure if it is better or worse 😄 Although, I must admit you were very brave keeping the window open!

Does it count as a child labour? 😄

No... but often I am just playing around for argument sake or just mocking people... I never said I am saint, nor am I trying to be "nice guy". For me it is more important to be objective than nice. By the way - I am applying same standard to myself, so I do check what I am saying to make sure it is as objective as it can be. Does not mean that I never get things wrong, I may use wrong source or I may misunderstand it, but I rarely just regurgitate yesterdays dish into the comment and expect other to figure out what I meant. ... because you repeatedly mentioned it as if it was important detail. Which I think is not important and I was not quite sure why you thought it was important to mention origin of the workers. Besides as I said, I don't believe it is even true, at least not around where I live. Not majority, not predominantly, not usually... yes sometime some of them are... but then if we start listing all the countries I think before long we will have a list of 30+. I guess it would be right to say that there is correlation - the poorer is the country, the more likely you to find it's citizen abroad in poorly paid job, but relatively speaking Eastern Europe is not the poorest region by long shot, nor UK is most attractive destination... at least not anymore.

I think it is little bit ignorant if not a bit xenophobic way of looking at it. Not that it is untrue, it is likely true... I don't want to go into much details as there are many layers to unpick here, but I think my point here is that wash quality in many hand washes are horrible not because they are employing Eastern Europeans, which in itself is stereotype, because around me majority of hand wash places are specifically and increasingly non-European, nor I am saying that they don't employ them either, they indeed employ some. My point is that poor quality of hand wash places are due to poor pay, hard work and low expectations... as such they usually attract people who have no language skills, transferable or technical skills and who probably don't have other opportunities at that moment in their life and that reflects on their care and dedication for work. And that is more important than the ethnicity, language or country from where the workers came from. In short - I may have misread the meaning behind the statement (although this is not first time I am noticing it), but the reason I picked on it was because it sounded like poor quality was used as synonym with Easter Europeans. Which is just not true. As for specifically damage to the cars - automatic car washes are conclusively better than hand washes in that respect, there is no doubt about it. The only problem with automatic washes is that they skip thought entire areas of the car, so one ends-up with half washed car.

Ohhh don't worry - it works fine, I can choose when to read it and I just didn't expected your "macaroni" on such non-controversial topic. "pragmatic challenge or reasoned response"... 😄 I guess only if you say so yourself! I suggest starting by basic syntax, then ideally reading what you posting before submitting and as a next step logical continuity would be good. Main problem with your comment (and by the way with most of your comments)... is that you very often compare "apples to oranges"... there are other ways of saying the same, but you basically compare two different things as they are equal and at that point no logical argument can continue. Or maybe you do compare same things and have some logic to your madness, but you just forget to adapt it to your audience... at which point you just end-up misunderstood... in the end of the day I can't read your mind. P.S. this is by the way my honest feedback.