Britprius

When sitting on a cold day with the engine off in electric mode the exhaust system will loose it's heat. When the engine starts as you pull away the exhaust gasses condense in the cold exhaust to form steam. It is the steam you can see. For every gallon of petrol you use 8 gallons of water are produced out of the exhaust. John.

If you can drive the rest of your journey in EV mode it would be best to avoid doing this if possible. When you start from home cold the Hybrid system will try to use as much EV or electric assist as possible.This is to reduce emissions from the cold engine by reducing the load on it while it is effectively in "choke mode" running rich by injecting more fuel. Given that you also have to climb that hill it would be more fuel efficient to have battery power available to assist than to use it on a flat section of road with a warm engine. John.

I did realise the high beams could possibly be altered in the menus, but the main problem I struck was definitely a fault as I did not alter anything while driving. I do not think the stupid main beam curtain effect can be turned off. I did not attempt getting into the menus using the built in handbook, because that is about as useful as a chocolate teapot having to come out of the menu to go into the handbook then going back to the menu to find you have to start again. After a long day I just wanted to get home. I agree, and said as much that the parking brake is more or less automatic. I did have a situation where it did not auto release on putting the car into drive. I think it was because the car was parked on a steep upward slope but if your going to have a switch to operate it put it where it can be seen, and got at. As it is it is ware the bonnet release is in most vehicles, and you need to lean well forward reaching down to operate it. It is also flushed into the lower dash panel making it difficult to feel as once you lean forward to reach it you cannot see it. Why not put it on the transmission stalk "a logical place" so pulling the stalk towards you puts on the brake pushing it away takes it off. These positions are not used on the stalk just up for reverse, and down for drive with a push button on the end for park. It is quite possible the C300 D would have less lag the version I was driving was a C220 D, but you should not need to "for want of a better description thrash a car" for it to be driveable. In town at busy junctions or islands that you cannot see over when a gap appears you have to go, and that quite simply is not possible. When it did go it was usually with one of the back wheels spinning in the wet. The engine stop start also does not help the situation. John.

Thanks Rayaan. The Merc I had was indeed a diesel "C" class, but with all the bells, and whistles. I had to come back from Birmingham to North Hereford on Thursday night, and found where previously they had worked the headlamps would not go to high beam. They are LED lights. The only way to get them to come on was to hold the operating stalk in the headlamp flash position. If held for more than about 1 minute they went out. After about 30 miles I was driving through a village on dip beam when the lights went to main beam on there own dazzling oncoming traffic until I could cancel them having taken me by surprise. They then worked normally for the next 20 miles. That is turning off below 20 mph, and turning back on at about 20 mph with the theatrical curtain opening type turn on. The strange thing is if you flash the headlamps they go strait to full strength main beam without the delay, and curtain effect. The dipped headlamps were possibly the best I have ever used while the main beam were possibly the worst. The engine did not seem matched to the 8 speed gearbox. Unless you used the paddles to hold the car in a low gear with the engine revving with lots of drone when following slow traffic like tractors the ability to overtake quickly when there was a short opportunity was not there. The car would be in 5th or 6th gear with the engine running at about 1000 rpm. Flooring the accelerator did nothing until the turbo spooled up and the gearbox changed down. Perhaps I am spoiled by the GS450H instant power. On the move the transmission was always changing gear on the rural roads where I live with the forever changing drone from the engine. Perhaps on a motorway it is fine, but that is not where I do 95% of my driving. The other major thing for me was inability of the suspension to deal with uneven road surfaces where the car would hop sideways on hitting a bump even in a straight line. Ok I was using sport mode to try to get rid of the turbo lag, but I was not in sport plus nor did I try it. Normal mode was not noticeably any better. The electric parking brake works well, but the operating switch is out of the way, and difficult to find even when you know where it is. It is true I never found a use for it as it generally comes on, and off when needed automatically. The good points about the car apart from the dipped beam headlamps was the cruise control with physical breaking to hold the set speed. You could if you wished drive the car "quite safely" once on the move just using the cruise control from the steering wheel. This having plus or minus 1 or 5 mph speed increments on the same button. The birds eye view parking facility on the central display was very good. Perhaps erring on the over safe clearance warnings, but very effective. A pity the screen seems to be stuck on the centre of the dash like an afterthought or aftermarket addition, but this does not detract from it's functionality. The TPMS worked well displaying the actual tyre pressures, and on which wheel rather than just a low pressure warning. John.

You are correct about the service mode, and throttle response, but this still does not remove the MG1 generator load off the engine. The test requires that the engine is off load while doing emissions testing. Loading the engine increases the emissions above the fail threshold. As far as passing the test with the cat deleted this is up to the examiner. If he does not realise a cat has been removed he will pass it. If he knows or suspects a cat has been removed he must fail it or risk loosing his MOT licence. He has the ability to check the cars specific specification via the VIN number, and if in doubt get advise from the ministry during the test. The chances of the car being pulled for a roadside emissions check are remote to say the leased. More likely if you drive a commercial vehicle, but if you are stopped the ministry roadside testers they have all the details of the manufacturers fitments to hand down to specific VIN numbers as above, and have the ability to fine you, and remove your vehicle from the road until the system is re-instated if they can prove the exhaust emissions components have been tampered with. It is now an offence to tamper with emissions control equipment to override emissions levels. I agree this is all a bit big brother or state control,but it is what it is. Gone are the days when we could make whatever repairs we wished to keep a vehicle running, and perhaps we are getting to the point where we should buy old vehicles that are exempt from controls. With no MOT requirement, no road tax, and cheap insurance motoring cost would tumble. John.

Pictures of the repaired area. The door shut line is exactly as it should be, and even though I know where to look cannot find any trace of repair. John.

Thanks for the update. It seems a retrograde step with DAB reception in this country being hit, and miss. Where I live there is no DAB reception. Do you know if the new player has the option to add a second 6 disc player as the version in my car does? giving a 12 disc choice or seven discs on the newer unit. John.

Do they not use the same player as in the GS as this is a 6 disc CD/DVD unit all built into the front unit. It would seem strange to make two different units, but I could be wrong. Simply offering another disc to the player would answer the question. John.

Be aware there is also a sensor on the rear suspension so check that also. John.

I feel for your loss, and do not wish to sound flippant, but a remote controlled ejector seat might do the job. John

I think this is more of a problem of who you insure with. I am over well over 70, and still pay a premium that perhaps most here do not get anywhere near. With retirement age now at 70 companies cannot call 75 old. John.

Yes that's the one. I should have posted a link to it myself. John .

For the GS450H and derivatives There is now an aftermarket twin silencer one piece rear exhaust system including "Y" piece available from EuroFlow. Priced at £236-85 is good value for people looking for a quick DIY replacement exhaust at less than 1/3 of the OEM. It is probably made of steel rather than stainless, but a lot of people will not be put off by this. John.

At long last my Lexus is back home.😂 The body shop called this morning to say they were short staffed, and could they come and collect me to drive the car home. I actually thought this was better than it being delivered because it gave me the chance to check everything out on the drive back. The car looked in show room condition when I collected it being valeted, and fully machined polished. The drive home was pure pleasure driving in near silence, with instant throttle response, and smooth ride. The repair work is excellent with near perfect color match, and texture. I will post pictures when "or if" it stops raining. I have managed to arrange an MOT on Monday at my usual MOT garage so I will be only one day late with the MOT. The DVLA have taxed the car for one year even though it only had 24 hours of valid MOT. John.

You have to remember Richard is also a 3GS driver at the moment. John.

The annoying thing is that if I had known it was going to take so long I could have SORNd the car and saved 2 months road tax. 😢 John.

Yes as they are not far away, It is quite possible the loan car company will not as they are in Worcester. If they are on the wrong side of the river Seven at the moment there is no chance of collecting the Mercedes, but that is not my problem. I will however have to get the car MOT'd as it expires on my birthday the 1st of March. Surprisingly the DVLA have renewed the road tax due on the same day according to an email conformation. John.

Rick you are allowed to name the insurers. Two years ago after getting a big price rise for my renewal I changed insures, and went with the cheapest on compare the market "Saga" They were by far the cheapest, and with a low excess. After the first year my premium rose by £20, and near the end of the insurance year I had a no fault claim. My renewal premium this year was exactly the same as last year. My claim was completely pain free with no hassle, and the use of a new Mercedes C class for 7 weeks. This is exactly as insurance should be. I believe they are advertising car insurance at the moment with a guarantee of no price increase for 3 years My premium for the GS450H was under £300. John.

The hybrid battery is fan cooled "or 3 fans in the RX" by air only. The liquid cooling on the hybrid system only cools the inverter, and the transmission. John.

Good news "I hope" I have just had a call from the body shop where my car is being repaired. The car should!!! be back with me on Friday morning 7 weeks after going in for repair. A nice early birthday present. Keeping my fingers crossed. John.

In my opinion LPG fumes smell no worse than those of diesel exhausts, but the LPG is far less polluting. John.

Foreign Car Spares on Ebay are selling rear shocks at £249-97 delivered. I know from experience if you can pick them up, and ask for some discount they will sell them for £225 each. The two versions are interchangeable particularly as your changing both. John.

The Prius I drove is now a taxi driven by a friend. It returns over 120 mpg in cost terms against 65 mpg as a normal Prius hybrid. He has calculated this saving pays for all service, and replacement costs of consumables such as tyres. It also paid for the conversion in it's first year of use. He had considered a plug in Prius, but this would need regular charging to gain any real advantage, and not possible under his circumstances. As far as boot size reduction is concerned the LPG tank is in the spare wheel well, and is also where I would fit a tank in the 450H. This loss of spare wheel does not worry me as my car is 14 years old, and the spare has never been on the car. I do carry a small compressor, and an aerosol sealing kit. As far as the Prius taxi goes if he has a puncture with passengers in the car he is not aloud to change the wheel using the spare and continue the journey anyway. One of the strange rules governing taxi's. So loosing the spare is not a problem. I live in a rural area where gas filling is readily available so no problem there, and there are no problems with filling with gas. While I agree the exhaust does smell this does not entre the car, and does not smell on you hands, and cloths every time you fill up as with diesel. Diesel exhaust smells just as bad as LPG. Reliability is very good, but I agree anything can go wrong, but you can always switch back to petrol if needed. I know anything can be proved by statistics, but Scandinavia where LPG use is common, and is used for there buses has had no increase in fires in vehicles due to the use of LPG. This cannot be said for countries with no LPG installation regulations. The safety of LPG is borne out by insurance premiums that in general are no higher for LPG, and can be cheaper for converted cars. Again I agree there is a point where LPG conversion is not worth the cost, but that does not apply to every vehicle. It is more dependent on the use of the vehicle than the vehicle itself. John.

Linas. The great majority of LPG conversions are done on cars with large engines because these are the vehicles that can make the greatest savings. I have driven a Prius that was converted, and that returned cost wise the equivalent of 110 MPG. As far as converting a GS450h is concerned why not if Prius economy figures can be obtained. It maybe that some performance will be lost, but how much of the performance of the 450H can you use in normal use. I fail to see the logic of not converting if in use the car does even moderate millage if the problem of the injectors can be overcome. To me diesel is not an option. I am driving a new rental Mercedes C class diesel at the moment "while my car is in the body shop", and find the constant drone gives me a headache. Add to this the terrible turbo lag, and diesel smell that lingers on your cloths every time I fill the car up is not my idea of driving pleasure. It also returns no better MPG than my 450H. John.

It is possible to convert to LPG, but as with the GS450H some petrol has to be injected to keep the injectors cool. This means although less petrol is used you still use some even when running on LPG making the conversion less effective on fuel savings, and needing to do more miles before breaking even on installation costs. John.