MLW

Any ideas on a 430, I'm craving for a radio with more than 10 stations!

Is the earth the same on a 430, and where is it? My car is a bit insensitive to locking on stations. Suffolk is bad for reception, but a £1,800 radio should do better.

A very good report. Is it possible to remove the steering column shroud and then see the in/out thread, and give it enough turns with a spanner to pull it out about 2 inches. That would solve everything for me.

Did you notice a significant improvement after the new plugs were fitted? In the old days when plugs were replaced each year, one often noticed a bit of a pick up after a plug change. As a bit old school I often worry about 60k+ mile plug changes, although I know that they are much better these days.

Bought Pagid pads front and backs for my 430 from EuroCarParts for £57 the lot. After about 2-300 miles 'bedding in' they feel great. Lots for progression and bit. Perfect.

Are Avons good. They are used on Rolls Royces but seem in recent years to be a mid-range brand. Do you last? There is no doubt that the new classification has forced competition in the industry to up its game. It is interesting to see how some older, very good tyres, like Goodyear NCTs are now rated as noisy and not fuel efficient. Information and testing really do work to improve products.

What is nice, is they have not slipped. At Mercedes in the mid-90s the CEO (who had been in America) decided the cars were 'too well made', and stripped out a billion worth of cost from them. Mercedes then started to rust, electrical problems etc etc, and went from 2-3 in the JD power survey to 2-3 from the bottom. It took till 2006 until the value and engineering were put back, but much of the damage was done.

What size?

I've been very impressed by the Duracell 5 year batteries from Europarts. Order at the weekend on-line to get the discount, and free delivery too.

It is probably amazing but that mauve and black interior really should be illegal, and that grill just scares young children and old men.

Given Lexus labour charges at £170ish per hour, it would be really useful if this site could set up a category of 'good garages members have used and recommend', maybe by geographical area.

The key is to read the full spec, not be prejudiced.

My last oil was Asda's and the spec was absolutely top notch. Probably made by Comma oil.

It is often hard to walk away, but not as hard as having made the purchase and then sitting at home feeling a bit iffy about the whole thing. If your stomach said walk, it is a 99.7% chance that walking is the best thing. When you see the correct car, your stomach will say 'I think I am lucky to get this one'.

Ultra is top SN spec, fully synthetic.

Basic and silly I know, but why not disconnect the battery for a day and see if it 'reboots' clear of any issues? Might be worth a cheap go.

When I bought a SAAB, it had all the service documents. That old trick of charging an outrageous price per litre of oil was there (who buys it per litres, the garage has a 100 litre drum out back), but they had also charged him for 8 litres even though the car took only 4 litres!

Actually that included filter and sump nut washer. This morning, with online discount, the oil is £26.78p! http://www.eurocarparts.com/basket

I think on an old car it is best to do as much as you can yourself, and find a good local garage for the rest. My local F1 Autocentre (Bury St Edmunds) changed all 4 pads + a brake clean-up, and did and oil and filter change (while it was up in the air) and balanced all 4 wheels for £155 all in. The young mechanic also said he has never changed pads that were so easy on any car! Look at a LEXUS service, it is an oil/filter change, plus 'a bit of checking'. Changing an air filter and cabin filter yourself takes 15 minutes and costs £20ish, and Bosch/Mann parts too. Plugs about £65 for the best iridium Denso's every 50-60K miles. I provided the Mann filter, Toyota sump nut washer, and 5 litres of Shell best fully 5-30 synthetic for £33. The 4 Pagid pad sets cost £57. The manager and team there are always happy to fit your bits (as they are cheaper than they can buy ,,,,,,, yes amazingly true). That means for about £250 I am set up for a years servicing and about 5 years of brakes.

I'm with your mum, but what I want is a radio that locks on to all the stations, and a usb slot to play downloaded radio/music programmes.

That is very interesting, but I am a little old school and like to 'get the gunge to flow out of the bottom'. Although in practice it probably makes little difference. You still have to get to the oil filter. Why not make a slot for the sump nut, and a flap for the oil filter?

I would love to turn my £1,800 (or so they say) Mark Levingston Hi-Fi into a £70 Amazon JVC player that could do it all. Someone please help us!

As Mr. Royce said when asked why his cars cost so much .......'The quality is remembered, long after the price is forgotten'.

I am happy to use OEM parts from anyone reputable, but on this very special part, i.e. the gearbox, I would only go for Lexus/Toyota fluid. The tragedy is that in the USA they pay peanuts for this genuine stuff.

Can only speak for my first 430. This is a 2002 car with 30,000 miles on it. It was a Lexus demonstrator, bought by a gentleman who did very few miles in his later years. He paid £45,500 in 2003, I paid £4,500 last May. It past its MOT easily on Tuesday. I simply love it. What do I love. The quiet (SAAB like understatement, no flashy bling bodywork here, the new LS had me choking!), 25-27 mpg (mostly motorway/dual carriage), the silence, the interior, the perfect air suspension, the comfort, the safety, the power of the engine, the gearbox which is almost unnoticeable in its changes., the reliability, (nothing has gone wrong in 12k miles), the paintwork and quality of the fixtures and fittings. Problems: I wish the boot opened with the central looking, it seems to be an anti-theft feature on most cars these days, but is a faff opening it separately, The Mark Levingston hi-fi. I live in Suffolk (an iffy radio area) and it is not sensitive to picking up channels. A £70 JVC from Amazon would be better. The '6 stacking CD player is also tricky. A single is better in my view. It is a big car to park, and the family have a panic in a multi-story car park, but big = limo= class and comfort. The engine under-tray makes oil changes longer than they should be. Lack of a car manual, but that is not the car's fault, it is true of many minority cars. Wish it had a cam chain, not a belt, although it is good for 90k miles. The key to running an old car is to over-service it. I have just bought 5 litres of top Shell synthetic plus a Mann oil filter for £31 from Euro Car Parts. As the car stood for a while I am doing the first two oil changes at 7,500 miles each, then at 50,000 miles I'll go over to 10k miles changes. Pagid pads ALL round are £57. Amazing price although they are a 2-3 day special order not in stock. I bought the car planning to do about 7k a year but a family sickness means I have done 12K in 8 months and 5k in 5 weeks. I can't think of a better way to travel if you have too. I think the 460 has a road tax of £500+. p.s. DHL has just delivered all by car bits. Free delivery at home, 2 days after on-line (25% discount) ordering.....and the sun is shinning too.