Linas.P

Well that is your problem right here... Techstream can't programme used keys, it can only program "virgin keys"... so the reason you need proper dealership computer is not to register the key, it is to actually re-set it. Now according to dealers - they can't do it either (even if they actually can), so they will always offer you a new key for £600. Key being ~£450 and the rest for the programming. They as well won't program the key you bright in. Contact any car lock-smiths, they will be able to program key for you (they basically have more potent version of software which can reset the used keys), but it won't be much cheaper... I reckon £80 if you lucky, but many will ask for £150. The only difference is that they will be quite happy to take key you already have and won't force you to buy brand new one for £450.

Well... yes they are decent taxis, say comparable to London black-cabs in the way of being purpose built for it, just much much uglier. That makes sense for ~£40k Alphard... it makes much less sense for £100k Lexus LM. Lexus LM is not meant to be taxi, it is meant to be executive vehicle and we in the west have very different view on how they should look like. No dignitary wants to be seen exiting what looks like alien washing machine repairman van! Just let this sink in - Lexus LS500h which is truly special car costs ~£90k in UK. And it struggles to sell... I kind of see why, but in other hand LS has loads of things right about it, reliable, extremely luxurious, arguably good looking car, which by the way isn't horrible to drive if one wants to take a seat of the driver... and yet it does not sell. So Lexus plan is to bring LM 300h, the car which is as exciting to drive as London cab and looks like alien shaite that has fallen into blackhole and was twisted so violently that it turned into neutron star and then exploded... and they are planning to sell it for £100k+ (in China it is $215k, but they have 100% tax on cars, so it will be $100k in US and despite exchange rate, something like £110k british shillings). How many they planning to sell? Even in the first year if they decide to force each of their dealership to buy 1 as demo... this would make 46 cars... and that will be all LMs they will ever sell in UK. Jokes aside I can see Japanese, Chinese, Thailand etc. embassies buying some of them, but even then embassy staff are "westernised", they know than anyone outside of eastern/southern Asia are horrified of the looks of these things, so they might buy a few to make themselves feel more at home... but outside of this very niche client base there are probably exactly 5 people in UK who would be interested. People in the west don't associate vans with luxury, actually almost irrationally we put form over function when it comes to luxury, as such this car is just not suitable for our market. Well unless Lexus knows something that we don't, maybe China going to invade Taiwan next year and they expecting thousands of rich Taiwanese, Chinese etc. fleeing to London? Perhaps they will prove me wrong, but I predict this to be total flop. And again we are talking about Lexus here... the company which literally established a design studio in California, the company which spent years trying to understand what features people like in their target market and in 1989 delivered LS400, which was literally perfectly adjusted for their target market and was instant success. How can they misjudge the market so badly now?! Or are we really failed so badly when it comes to car culture in UK than people nowadays finds it truly acceptable shape of the Luxury vehicle?

Ohhh yeah - that thing is hideous... yet that is what we will be getting in UK next year. I really questioning Lexus market research team when they somehow reached conclusion that UK would not want RC350 or new mk3.4 IS... yet somehow they expect LM to sell?! Who is their clientele? Expat chinese millionaires?

I don't know why but Dongfeng in my head sounds like Dog dong.... they surely put much effort in the brand names. Yeah - that sounds alright for newest cars with LSS+ where they can apply sensors, but as far as I know on older cars they simply makes ETC less sensitive and that is all... regardless if there is wall in front of you or not.

Yes as I said - MB certainly buys some engines from Renault, perhaps more than I thought. But MB X is a joke... "Luxury Pick-up truck"... as if it was not enough it was made by Renault, the Nissan who as well uses same platform for Navara licensed it to china and they made Dongfeng Rich 6, which looks nearly identical.

I believe only MB X-Class is Renault (it is literally Renault with MB stickers) and I believe Renault supplies 2.3L diesel engine for MB, which they mark as 250d. But I mean Toyota is guilty of that as well... anyone wants Zupra? As I don't have 200t I am not sure I will be going into this rabbit hole for now, but if I stumble upon some lead by accident then I will be sure to share.

Yes this is purely dumb american thing... there must be a way "programme it out".

Weird isn't it? Because that is my experience as well... up-to 45-50MPH it just doesn't want to put the power down. Yet from 60 it takes off and it is just a matter of time when it is doing over 100, miss it and you lose the license. I think the "unintended acceleration" thing needs to be investigated properly, because as I said up-to 50MPH even IS250 beats it, which shouldn't really happen considering the power figures. As well similar power BMW 430i is much faster and in my experience launches much more harshly... so there must be something with how car is adjusted.

I would say - use at your own risk, but at the same time I was using E10/E85 for years on cars that are allegedly not compatible. I would not recommend leaving E85 in the tank for long time, but apart of that I never had any issues. Fuel economy should be worse because that is chemistry - ethanol just has less specific energy in the same volume. In my experience it is never direct impact e.g. E10 should be 3% less efficient, but in practice it is usually 1% less efficient... my guess - car ECU adjust the timing etc. and he car simply makes little bit less power on E10. As well I guess difference on E10 is too small to notice, but I have certainly noticed the difference on E85. On E98 I could get my IS250 to 240km/h, but with tank full of E85 I could barely reach 220km/h... from ~215km/h it was slowly creeping-up, but it just felt like engine was down on power (which is to be expected).

It is indeed subjective... I personally find 300h not fast enough to be enjoyable, but it is practical and cheaper to own, I don't think anyone denies it. Although that said - I found even 200t lacking... so that makes 200t lacking in two places and 300h only on one. IS200t got much larger IS350 brakes, so they last quite a long time, maybe not as long as IS300h, but not as bad as IS250. But on second point I think you hit the nail on the head 🙂 indeed it is always the same question. I would add - I was never in the market for 2.0t, and I just got it because Lexus gave me no other choice. I hope it will be enough.. but the rest is history.

I have lived in Europe and cheapest fuel was always E85 and as far as I know everyone ran old Lexus on E85 without any issues. Note E85 has 85% ethanol, E10 only 10% of ethanol. Now I am not saying that I recommend using E85, but whole Europe is running cars on it and if that doesn't cause issues for IS250, then I doubt E10 will. My only gripe with E10 is that it is 3% worse on fuel economy, but still costs the same... at least E85 is significantly cheaper e.g. in Germany if you refuelling on autobahn the E95 was like 1.94 Euro, E98 2.02, E10 1.82 and E85 was 1.56 (or at least it was when I last been driving there). So you get what you paying for... but when they replaced E95 in UK with E10, they just replaced it like for like as if you buying same product.

Wow... that is good find... I assume somebody has already ordered and by the time it got delivered it was already face-lifted car. As you can see it has larger sat-nav screen and radar cruise, which was fitted as standard and not as an option like in pre-facelift. Yes - Lexus Relax works for 10k miles/12 months from last dealer service, until 100k miles... regardless if the car was serviced by dealer before or not. So that is kind of nice as you can always get it. That said I am not sure Relax would cover something like seat motor. Mine was still under 12 months sale warranty, which is more comprehensive. Lexus electrical part is usually good as well and to be honest Lexus went to town when repairing it. A single motor was "weak" (the one which tilts the back) and they replaced all motors, all controllers, all wiring, all rods, all gears etc. If it would have happened out of warranty I probably would just had that motor replaced for few £100. Or maybe replaced the whole seat for £500. I was actually surprised they didn't just replaced seat, but apparently Lexus doesn't make whole replacement seats. Remember RC seats folds forward, so perhaps that is weakness only relevant to RC. I have not heard of anyone else having such issue in Lexus (although seat motors failing is not uncommon for electric seats in other cars). The fuel economy I guess was impacted by tyres... Your comes with R18/225/255, mine had R19/235/265... but my fuel consumption was just ridiculous - 18MPG in the city and more than 32MPG on motorway (I have seen 36MPG once when driving at 50MPH limit on roadworks), if I would do "normal motorway speeds" say ~85MPH, then MPG would drop to ~28. It isn't my driving style either - my IS250 in exactly the same driving pattern did 26/44MPG. Obviously fuel situation wasn't helped by Lexus fitting Potenza RE050a to RC which are rated F for fuel economy. RC-F can do ~36MPG on motorway doing 80MPH (on R19/255/275) and in my experience 22-24MPG in the city. RC350 is even better - easy 40+MPG on motorway (as it comes with updated Atkinson cycle) and say 26MPG in town (US figures are lower, because their gallons are smaller). I don't think anyone has done 3.5L swap... I am just saying maybe one day I would do it when cars gets cheap. Not exactly in the mood to pay £20k for RC200t just to pay another £10k to engine swap it, when I can buy RC-F for £27k. But yes - if you need to source 2GR-FSE, then you would need to import it from US or middle-east.

It would have had it (it does have it in other markets), but there was never a facelift of IS200t in UK. In (end of) 2016 Lexus simply dropped IS250 and IS200t models as they were not selling at all. I am not sure if it is full speed system or not, or if it is laser, I just know it is now fitted to all Lexus and Toyota as standard (since ~2017-2019 depending on the model). Yes sadly Lexus are not really "tuning friendly" cars... I as well forgotten to mention that 300hp would have been about the limit anyway and any gains after that would have been impossible. The main reason is that the engine has integrated header (part of the block), so there is no way of making higher power beyond ~280-320hp as the header would become bottleneck. In terms of reliability it is hard to say, I don't think judgement is out yet, but Lexus sold a lot of them worldwide (they are called IS/RC300 in the rest of the world) and so far everything seems to be reliable. On mine driver seat motor failed and Lexus warranty picked-up the bill (£4200), but I reckon that could have happened to any car and it is not mechanical. Apart of that I sold mine with 70k miles and up-to that point there were not a single issue with engine, gearbox, suspension or anything else... so I would consider it as reliable if my example is anything to go by. You know - it is sad to say, but there were not many good things that I can think of. There is running joke on this forum about me owning the car "just for the looks", but that was about it. I loved the looks of mk3 IS when it launched and always wanted one, RC was even better in my opinion, so I decided I will get it one day. Had RC300h for weekend and hated it - just too slow, then there was opportunity to get RC200t for very good price and I went for it. Car was fully loaded, had every possible option and the colour combo I liked, so I guess that is what I liked about the car, and I am kind of completionist, so I don't like to see any placeholder buttons or read about the features my car could have had, this one had everything. It was surprisingly practical, folding rear seats, it was in good condition... but as far as 200t engine is concerned, not much good I can say. Fuel consumption was bad (worse than RC-F - literally), the gearbox itself was good, but I think Lexus didn't properly adjust it for the engine, so it was indecisive and hunting for gears. I guess in summary - the price was right, the car was loaded, I actually sold it for more than I bought it for, so all in all quite lucky, but just couldn't live with that engine. If they had RC350 in UK that would be my choice. By the way car is for sale now again, seems like the new owner was only able to live with it for a year as well - https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210010315645 They are indeed stylish and reliable, Premier has ML so I am sure sound system is good... would it be better with 3.5 V6... likely... I never understood why Lexus decided not to bring IS/RC350 here - they are faster and more fuel efficient, but we just can't have them here for some reason. Maybe one day when they get cheaper I will go onto the mission to engine swap one... as a matter of fact it should be quite straightforward deal, 2GR-FSE should be pretty much bolt on and with 306hp representing significant improvement, the rest of the car is already identical. Regarding reprogramming ETC - I know it is possible, but I don't know any place that I could recommend to do it. Basically the difference from ECU is that throttle controls are not encrypted and could be exported changed and reimported, basically just making throttle more responsive, but sadly I don't have much more info about it. There was somebody claiming on here to have done it to their IS200t, so maybe they will come along and share how it's done.

The only difference between Premier and F-Sport is that Premier had an option for adaptive cruise, whereas F-Sport didn't even had an option, basically you could not get adaptive cruise on F-Sport even if you wanted to pay all money in the world for it (Lexus is just weird)! My personal opinion - you missing out on F-Sport dials which is kind of party peace of this model and adaptive cruise on IS was never really great, it is not "all speed system" like on NX, RX, LS, LC... basically it is older system which cut's off below 30MPH. The all speed system is actually good. The facelift (from ~2018) got LSS+ which includes Adaptive cruise on all models. Everyone to their own, but the engine was worst part in my experience (I had RC200t) and as a matter of fact old IS250 keeps-up with RC200t all the way to ~45-50MPH and only the 200t takes off. So for most part 200t isn't even faster despite having 30 more HP. Where it does get faster is from ~60 to 100MPH sort of range, at that point it really feels strong, but in UK that is jail territory. Gearbox isn't dual clutch, it is still torque converter, but it is quite good 8-speed gearbox (AA81E) - very similar to IS-F, RC-F and indeed same as RC350. I think the only difference from IS-F is that AA81-E comes without external cooler, whereas AA80E has it, sadly I found it to be poor match the the short power band engine... just keeps hunting for gears. Anyhow... back to your question about the tune. As Rayaan said - just not possible, but not only because ECU is locked. You actually can get more power unless you replace turbo as well. The turbo fitted to 8FARTS mazes out at 17PSI... and that is what it is already running at from the factory, so to get more power, you need more air and to get more air you need different turbo. So yes, it is not possible because of ECU, but it is further not possible without a turbo. What you can do instead, you can tune (or hack) ETC as it has built-in delay. Lexus calls "unintended acceleration prevention", which is made for dumb americans who keeps crashing into the gates and shops. Removing that delay would improve response and some say may cut 1s from 0-60. Apart of that what is left are only cosmetic mods. Tuning boxes don't work on 200t either. People claim they do, but take it to dyno and there is no difference... the only thing they can do is to remove that delay and that is all. To get it to 300hp you need new turbo (£1000-2000) and new aftermarket ECU (£1000-£1800) - something like https://linkecu.com or https://www.haltech.com, then some custom boards to control your dash (probably £80 in parts, but you need to write your arduino code yourself) and finally tune (£500). I don't believe it needs any other work as Lexus tuned it very conservatively. Gearbox, suspension and brakes are already from IS350, so they are good enough. So I reckon £4000-£5000 and you can have 300hp... as well you likely will be the first one to do it in UK. I honestly don't believe it is worth it, it would be cheaper to get different car and you probably would have some spare money left. But you are more than welcome to try 🙂

You see... you dealer is right away better than mine... mine only gives little biscuits and no pastries! 😄 5 years is still relatively new... the worst experience I had was when I servicing 14 years old 160k miles IS250 - but age should not matter right? Customer is customer?

No... I had Lexus in other country and actually the service I received there was better than UK. But your 300h was still nearly new? When I book courtesy car I book it based on availability i.e. when booking service if you book "while you wait" it could be next week, if you book it "drop off" then maybe even in 2 days time, and if you book it "via courtesy car" then you may need to wait 3 weeks. So the issue is not notice... but it happened to me twice that I came to get service done and they like "what you waiting for" and I am like "this was service via courtesy car"... and they "ohh sorry, didn't see it we don't have nay at the moment". I mean when I had my 3 years old RC services the service was okey... I asked them not to was the car, but they still did... not a massive issue I guess, but there was nothing really special about their service... and they as well forgotten the service plan was included with the sale if the car, so there was awkward moment where they are like "£895 or whatever" and I told them I am not paying 😈 but I guess this is more of the sales guy miscommunication...

Well I guess it was more correct to say "not everyone wants SUVs", apart of that mostly agree? SUVs cost the same to make as the cars, people no longer care about driving dynamics or the looks and manufacturers are very happy as well, because it is easier to justify the price of larger car. I just don't understand at which point that became the same as "nobody wants anything else". Lexus always seems to jump to conclusions very quickly... it was the same with 300h - "70% of sales will be 300h, so let's not sell any other engines" and same again with SUVs "70% of sales will be SUVs, so let's not sell any other cars"... I just always find it strange that they don't want to cater for another 30%. I am sure BMW and MB as well mostly sells SUVs, but they still have space in their model line-up for 3-Series and 5-Series, and coupes, and even some engine choice. I don't want to go into details comparing each trim... but in summary my point is that Lexus could offer all the SUVs they currently offering and sell just as much of them without leaving sizeable part of customers without any choice. I don't understand why can't they offer new IS as well as all the 121 shape of SUVs of all sizes?

That is just my experience, maybe it is particular dealerships that I have used, who knows ... perhaps GS-F helps as well? I have received surveys and over the years ranked experience as mediocre, noting ever changed, so maybe it is just me.

That is why I prefer getting "coated" aftermarket discs - coating does not help braking or anything else, but it prevents discs from corroding in places where pad does not touch them. And as you said yourself - I would probably leave them as they are. If there is still thickness left (in the rear) then rust is more or less cosmetic thing. Again if they were below certain thickness or unsafe Lexus would have market them red and insisted on replacing them, if they marked them yellow then it means they are decent enough.

Yeah and red interior for £4k which sat on ebay for 2 years... I remember laughing at it, because nobody needs GS-F interior! That apparently was press car which was crashed in one of the events.

I agree with you for the most part. However, I believe there is more to it than just the age of the brand. When Lexus first launched, they had a fresh perspective on customer service and aimed to provide a luxury experience that matched their cars and brand image. As the brand matured, they no longer had to work as hard to explain what their brand was about. At the same time, both Lexus cars and their clientele have changed. In the past, Lexus customers were looking for the ultimate luxury experience. Now, many customers are simply looking for a practical vehicle to transport their families. They compare Lexus to other brands based on factors such as the number of ISOfix points, charger points, and boot capacity. These customers are less concerned with the brand or how the car drives and more focused on the monthly cost of owning a vehicle. As an established brand, Lexus already attracts these customers to their dealerships. The level of service they receive may not be a significant factor in their ultimate purchase decision. Many buyers already know what they need from a car and have their own unique criteria for making a decision. For example, I know someone who only buys cars with a rear wiper - that is her main requirement. In short, Lexus has become more mainstream and their models and clientele reflect this change. Putting on a show with champagne would likely be a waste of money. Secondly, I think it’s important to distinguish between the sales and service departments at Lexus. In my experience, the sales department has mostly been good, with a few exceptions that may have been due to miscommunication between Lexus UK and local dealers. Overall, Lexus sales staff are still much better than those at other established luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz or BMW. They may not have extensive knowledge about the cars, but they are generally very friendly. I believe this is partly because most Lexus dealerships are not as busy as those of other brands and their sales staff have to work harder to make a sale. In contrast, sales staff at BMW or Mercedes-Benz dealerships may not care as much because if one customer doesn’t buy a car, the next one will. But when it comes to Lexus service department my experience has been mostly negative and I would even say subpar. There are many reasons for this. For example, Lexus cars are known for their reliability, so most service appointments are routine and don’t provide much opportunity for profit. As a result, customers may be seen as more of a liability than an asset. Additionally, many dealerships are part of larger networks and their service staff may not care whether they are working on a Hyundai or a Lexus. While sales staff may receive brand-specific training and attend events, service staff likely only need to pass basic competency tests to prove they can follow repair manuals and turn nuts. The one exception was when I needed warranty repair and the dealership was eager to claim £4200 from Lexus GB’s warranty to complete it. In summary, while Lexus sales are still better than the competition in my experience, because being nice for them is directly linked to their bonuses, but their service has been outright unpleasant, because there is nothing to be gained from being pleasant. Final thing - it matters what you drive and why you there. When I bought new IS250 they were treating me rather well, giving nice courtesy cars, calling me to the events etc. When I later bought old IS250 suddenly they started forgetting to book courtesy car, tagging pointless repairs on it etc. Then again when I had 2 years old RC - they are suddenly nice again, given LC as courtesy car etc. And same goes with sale staff - if you enquiring about used car with low profit margin, then you will speak with some apprentice office assistant who knows less about the car then you do, but if you enquiring about lease on LC, then suddenly you greeted by Sales Director of the dealership. Prep of the car follows the same rules - if they delivering new one, then they will make sure it is spotless, but if you bought used one and negotiated the price to the last penny, then you will be taking bus to the dealership and it will stand in the corner somewhere.

They are not very pushy because this is typical up-sale for older cars. Experienced that myself many times. "Lipped" is usual catch phrase, but in fact it means nothing, how much lip is too much and how much is acceptable? The answer is rather simple - the only thing that matters is minimum thickness of the disc, and that is all - if it is close to minimum thickness or below it, then it is worn out and needs to be replaced, however if there is still 1mm of thickness left (0.5 per side) and you already have good pads with 9mm, then I would leave them until next service... as replacing discs requires replacing pads and you would be throwing away nearly new pads. Make no mistake - they measure thickness and if it is below, then instead of warning they would put it as "red - below minimum thickens, requires immediate replacement", if they not saying that, then it means you still have life in them. Rear discs being corroded has less to do with wear, but more to do with lack of it. This can be caused by car just sitting, or maybe you have issue with the callipers, just not applying pressure on one or both sides. It is not unusual for rear discs to corrode before wearing out and I guess in hybrid it is even more of an issue (because rear brakes don't do much most of the time). Especially is callipers are stuck/seizing the discs would corrode, but I would assume Lexus would pick-up on it if that would be the case. Now when it comes to IS300h it has same issue as older IS250s had and that is in my opinion "excessive" brake wear because "undersized" brakes for heavy car. IS300h being hybrid should be little bit better with some regen braking, but it is even heavier car. So in my experience the discs would last ~1.5set of pads, which is below average. I assume in IS300h discs last longer, but ratio would be the same i.e. on IS250 they would only last 30-40k and pads would last 20-30k, on IS300h it is likely be 40-60k and pads 30-40k, but effectively you would still be expected to replace discs before you need to replace second set of pads. I kind of doubt that you worn out disc with just 1-3mm of pad (I believe new they are 10mm, or maybe 12mm). So again I assume you probably still have life on front discs, even if there is little bit of lip.

No - I just bought it on Sunday or Monday... waiting for it to be delivered. But that was my plan to do.

That is what I did right away after reading you post 😄 even if pump is busted maybe it could be used just to trigger code reset. Lexus is sometimes funny with these things... modules gets locked out and do not take instructions to delete codes. So sometimes there is literally nothing wrong, but just swapping module and then reconnecting it back could remove some codes. That is what happened with my immobiliser ID BOX, I could not delete the code from it and car would not start, put new ID BOX in, but didn't have matching steering lock to complete the loop and start the car. However, that was enough to trigger something and I was able to delete the immobiliser code and then car worked after reconnecting old ID BOX. So ID BOX wasn't even bad, it was code that got stuck. Interesting info regarding health check - I may try running it and see if it helps to reset codes.

Order... somebody has crashed car or just docs... More unique cars are not usually chopped as there is no market for their parts.