mcwatson

Are you a current or ex biker dobedo? Your comments sounds like your one! See him? - when in a straight line of solid traffic, its half dark and headlights are on and bikes are weaving in and out of lanes, you can't always see them. He also left it until the last minute to brake to prove a point. As for hearing him, not sure how much time you spend in your car but try sitting in traffic with all the windows closed and tell me if you hear a bike coming from behind unless its under full acceleration. My point if you understood where I was coming from was that I was critiscising his reactions, not his reasons! I'd have preferred a hand signal to show retaliation than damaging my car. I've always had respect for motorcyclists, I even move right over to let them through. When the next person gives your car a whack because you did something wrong, I look forward to your posting!

Travelling in on the A40 yesterday morning in what was very slow moving traffic. I wanted to change lanes from the 'fast' to the 'middle lane. Very conscious that motorbikes travel between these two lanes of traffic, I always look out for them. Some travel with care and others just try to get through as quickly as possible. I looked in my left wing mirror and couldn't see anything so indicated and moved across. Unfortunately, a bike travelling at a stupid speed came roaring up and hit the brakes to not hit me. Realising I had inconvenienced him, once I had moved over, I put my hand up to my drivers door window to apologise and he left hooked my wing mirror as he went past bending it right round to face the wrong way and putting a very small scratch on it. Whilst I understand he had the hump, I also thought it was unnecessary as he was speeding, its not an official traffic lane that he was travelling in and I acknowledged and tried to apologise for crossing his path. Somewhat annoyed, I went to my local police station to report him as I got his reg plate. They said I could do him for criminal damage but I said for what it has caused, its not worth it and I certainly aren't going through the insurance as it will cost more in the end. But the police can call him and have words with him which is what I'm more bothered about. But as I live in the Thames Valley police area and this happen in the Met area, I have to go to a more local station to where it happened. Will be doing that later. But why can't motorcyclists understand that if you take the risk of 'racing' through stationary or slow moving traffic, cars can't always have enough time to cross lanes without getting in the way!! I'm sure I'll upset some on here who drive as well as ride but I thought I did my best and look what I got back!!

Don't know for sure but from the brief discussion I had with them, its to pay the money up front. I've looked into the warranty direct option mentioned further up and that looks like the way I might go. For my car and to cover work being done by Lexus main dealers, they want either £248 for a year or £722 for 3 years which compared to Lexus direct, their 3 years is £1590. Looked at what they cover and it seems pretty extensive so I'd be very unlucky to come across a fault that isn't covered!! Some friends I've asked since have also used their service and have no complaints.

quiet

My car is three years old on 21st Dec 04 and therefore the warranty expires. Always dreading something going wrong and costing a fortune to fix, I'm considering taking out extended warranty but when quoted £530 for the year, kinda making me wonder what to do. Like all insurances, your be pleased if something goes wrong but gutted if all okay as money spent for nothing!! Just wondered what everyone else does.... have people paid for it to cover their pride and joy or taken the risk?

aids

Agreed, if its in the middle, it can definately be fixed unless your talking a mother of all nails. Depends where you go though as some places are out for pure profit, not customer service so some will convince you that it can't be repaired. Unless it was within an inch or so of the sidewall, you have paid £90 instead of £10-£20 for a repair!! I paid £12 for the repair of a screw through the middle of mine!!

I had the exact same problem a few weeks back. Pressure down to 10psi, pumped upto the desired amount and then back to 10psi in a few days. Couldn't work out why and then turned the wheel on full lock and moved the car forward a few inches several times checking the tyre each time. Eventually found a screw in the centre of the tyre. Happened to have a service the next day where Lexus saw it as well and said it couldn't be repaired. They wanted £150 for a new tyre. Told them where to go and took it to my local and respected tyre place and they repaired it for £12. They would have charged £120 had I needed a new Dunlop SP9000 Lexus MFS. Can't say I had the cracks in the tyre but this might be cos its been running on low pressure for a while!!

Just enquired with Lexus GB and they said that its £530 per year & unlimited mileage to extend my warranty but I can do until the car is 7 years old. I know it will be worth it if anything major goes wrong with the car but its like paying my insurance all over again for something that might not happen!! Anyone got any views? Would you do it?

Like many others, have missed this post until now!! Here's me! Name: Mark Watson Age: 29 (30 in November - fingers crossed Nov never arrives) Married: For 2.5 years to my wife Sam. Kids: Jamie who is 3.5 years old (born on 01.01.01 - Cool ay!) and Steph who was from Sam's previous, she is now just over 12 years old. Job: You guessed it, IT Manager for largest entertainment distribution company in the UK (any CD's, DVD's, Computer software found in large supermarkets or high street stores probably came through our place). Been here 12 years - pretty much from school and done several different roles in IT, latest is project management. Live: In High Wycombe - have been for 4 years and have completely renovated my house, only original things are the outside walls, middle floor and the roof. Everything else is been redone. Car: IS200 Sport - purchased from new in Dec 2001 after opting out of company scheme. Coming up 3 years old and still love driving and being seen in it which says alot. Having said that, trying to convince myself to not sell it before the warranty runs out. No mods to it cos I can't be bothered to argue with the insurance companies to get insured. But I'd seriously like to stick body skirts on it. Hobbies: Cleaning the motor (don't enjoy it but car looks cracking when shiny), socialising in my local (about 10 paces from my front door), football (adore Liverpool FC), computers, DIY (although novelty is wearing off). Thats it!!

My car is three years old in December and not sure whether to get rid of it or keep it. One thing that puts me off keeping it is that its outside of warranty. Do Lexus provide extended warranty? If so, do you know how much it is? Or is it of the general opinion that its not worth doing this and just pay for repairs as and when needed?

mellow

taxman

Nightmare

Thanks everyone for your advice. I'd have never bought the tyre from Lexus as they wanted £150 for a tyre which I recently paid £110 for. Anyway, took it too Chiltern Tyres in Hazlemere where I bought the tyres originally and they did the exact same procedure as Snipey mentioned above and all for £12 which in hindsight, sounds a bit more than what others have mentioned but well worth every penny instead of the £110 for a replacement. The screw was dead centre of the tyre so no problems being too close to the side wall. I asked about safety and they said its as safe as the original tyre and the repair will last the life of the tyre. Back to happy motoring!

Thanks. My car is in with Lexus Twickenham for its 40k service and they just called to say it is in the side wall and need a new tyre costing £150. When I left the car with them this morning, the screw was completely in the centre of the tyre tread (strange how these things move!!)

Appreciate that this could be a vague question if you cannot see it but I have a very small screw that has gone into my front tyre. Its enough to keep dropping the pressure down to 13 or 14 in PSI but is this likely to result in needing a brand new tyre or can these things be fixed? (Not like the old days where an inner tube could be patched up!!) Only got the new set of tyres recently so be gutted to have to buy a new one!

fishing

Its all dealer dependent. Lexus Bracknell don't charge for courtesy cars other than ensuring its refuelled. Lexus Twickenham want you to get your own insurance AND pay an admin fee. I got round this by getting them to collect my car from me, they can take the time out to escort the car to and from the dealer if they want to charge for a courtesy car! If I remember rightly, Lexus Oxford want the car insured but don't charge an admin fee.

I half agree with the original post. My Lex is coming up to three years old and am planning to move to another manufacturer shortly. Still love being seen in the Is200 three years on which says alot. But I think the service given by dealers is poor (and is getting worse), fuel consumption is poor considering its not a performance motor, boot space is poor and I've had more mechanical problems with my car than I care to state. Its been in to dealers numerous times. But having said that, I still have enjoyed my time with the motor, I think its a lovely car, comfortable, very highly spec'd and still turns heads three years on (when its clean!!). Will be sorry to see it go (but only once I've moved to a different manufacturer will I know how sorry I am)!!

I've read loads of posts on how having the A/C on hammers petrol consumption but does anyone know if it uses more fuel the harder it works or does it cost the same no matter what setting its on? Just wondered whether it makes much difference if its pumping the cool air out like there's no tomorrow or just a gentle breeze is better on the fuel usage?

trouser

Not disagreeing or anything but I can only dream of getting more than 500 miles from my car. As I said in an earlier post, I got 435 miles after driving unbelievable fuel conscious and running from a tank that was filled to the flap and refilling as I spluttered into the petrol station. No air con, roof rack, just me driving (ie. not weighed down).

As sad as it maybe, I log my fill-ups to monitor mpg. I'm actually considering changing my car cos of the poor mpg. I average 26mpg. I hate filling up to leave it to the last minute (usually 3 or 4 litres left in tank) and can get 330 miles out if booting it or have managed 436 miles when driving like my nan. This is all on about 65 ish litres. I have found that mpg increased until the first 10k miles and then has got worse since (now almost 40k) but maybe I drove more carefully in the beginning! Either way, costing me lots in petrol so considering changing (sorry to say) to something that will be consistently over 30mpg.

cigarette