GSLV6

I have owned Lexus cars since around 2013 Sara, with cars dating from 2007 onwards. You'll always get some person who says things like "they were better built in my day, blah blah..." and whilst certain aspects were more solidly built, on the whole reliability has improved up to a point. It's hard to say when that point was reached but ever tightening euro rules and a world decline in car sales over lock down meant that a rejuvenated car market is trying hard to woo people with changes (and some evolution) in technology whilst coping with ever tightening emissions regulations. Personally, the most solid Lexus overall I've had is my current RX3 but the most luxurious and beautifully finished inside was a 2007 model. The Regs for emissions have made engine systems more complex and some would argue, less long lived, due to greater demands placed on smaller engine units. There's some truth in this. There are other manufacturers, who are basically selling cars using disposable engines designed to last around 60K miles. Speak to any mechanic and they'll tell you the same. The hypocrisy in this against "green" targets is astonishing. Manufacturers know that ever tightening rules means there's no long term viability in designing such tried and tested and long lived motors of the 90's and 2000's; I've seen older LS400 and LS430's with over half a million miles on them and doubt modern Lexus cars could achieve similar but generally, they're still pretty good compared with the competition. The latest RX is a nice car and the engine is pretty tried and tested albeit higher stressed (being turbocharged) than the outgoing 3.5 V6 which was to my mind one of the finest engines that the Toyota group ever produced. Lexus changed their target market from the mid to late 2000's trying to capture more of the younger market and lagged in up to date technology for entertainment systems until relatively recently (perhaps up until 4th generation models). The cars made since then seem to use more plastics everywhere and externally especially. Valve covers these days are even plastic! But with that, electronics generally have been quite reliable with fewer little niggles than those made in the mid 2000's. I had a few issues with my GS3000, mainly electrical but some shocking design faults with suspension and exhaust systems resulting in limited life expectancy for those items. Engines have been solid though and dependable. Many new luxury vehicles use plastics everywhere including under the bonnet and I wonder how reliable these will be longer term. Plastic cooling pipes used by many in the cooling system for example, is not a great recipe for longevity. The interior of RX5 models is quite luxurious but a lot of it is due to the little finishing touches and styling. I would argue that my 2007 GS was probably better made on the interior and just as luxurious but without some of the modern touches. The early RX models were also pretty solid internally and were more utilitarian in design, so stand up well as the years role on. Don't worry about what other people think. If you like the car, and can afford it, buy it and enjoy it. Life's too short. Peace of mind comes from Lexus after sales customer service which remains excellent compared with just about any other car maker.

Not for a recent RX4, going by quotes others have had on here (ranging from £1000 to £5000 depending on area). All policies come with compulsory excess these days and £650 wasn't compulsory. It included £350 voluntary, so £300 compulsory. I always add voluntary as any claim made, even with protected NCB, will result in a premium hike come renewals time. They way I look at it, if I damage the car I ask myself what am I prepared to pay off insurance to avoid a premium hike and add in that amount of voluntary. It reduces the premium.

That was for an RX4 I'm considering. My RX3 is £280 fully comp

Just had a quote on a low miles RX4, a few years old. £548 fully comp, including breakdown, windscreen, key, legal and personal injury cover, legal fees and a few other benefits, sdp plus business use, £650 excess for £548 anually. That doesn't seem out of the way.

Much to my surprise, after a chat with Lexus, and pressing for some discount, it seems all is not doom and gloom on purchase price and insurance. After mentioning canbus vulnerability, forecourt price dropped a little and using the car details I'm after, I was quoted £548 fully comp, total of £650 excess with all the usual add ons thrown in for the standard price (legal expenses, courtesy car, breakdown cover and personal injury cover). That also covered business use as well as sdp. That puts a very different slant on things. I don't consider £548 massively excessive for a car which is a few years old and it seems a heck of a lot cheaper than some folk on here have been quoted, so possibly a post code thing.

I had the same thing on a GS300. Only the Lexus part seemed to solve the issue. I had a service plan so at least got some discount as at the time a new TPMS sensor was £284 for that one.

Yes, there's definitely a manual lever for door opening. It begs the question "why add a button on the inside and not just have egress via the conventional lever?". Unnecessary "farkles". Personally, and it is a personal thing, I think that interior quality compared with the solidity of early marques, is dropping off and I don't like the reliance on touch screens and electronic tech for the sake of it. The best compromise imho of functionality and tech was possibly the RX4 which also suffers with a fewer less annoying rattles than the previous generation. Even better, my older V6 GS300 had a plethora of buttons, all within easy reach, all well marked and still working perfectly after 10 years abuse. Interior build was also exemplary, more Bentley-like with lovely quality touches.

I tried negotiating down the forecourt price of a 2022 RX4 which was on at top dollar price, but the dealership wouldn't budge an inch and was clueless about affects on value recognised by non franchised dealerships on value of used RX4's. Here's an example. Both 2022 models, one a Takumi (non franchised) and one an F-sport (Takumi pack) from a franchised dealer. The Takumi was immaculate, only 10K miles and was on for £36K with mine close on 17K part ex as an offer. The F-sport had 14K miles and the franchised dealer wanted 6K more and offered less for mine. I was astonished at the reluctance or ignorance about insurance premium hikes and canbus vulnerability hitting used values by the Lexus dealership. I told them that. They, I believe, will discuss it with their tech team and come back to me with a better offer. It's a buyers market and no RX4 is currently worth top book value as whole life costs are so badly hit by the vulnerabilities. Anyone wanting to buy one and run it for at least 5 years is advised to bargain hard or look elsewhere as great offers exist...just not with Lexus dealerships it seems.

No problem sourcing cheap rail systems IF the 2001 model is the same as the 2003-2005 fitment: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185474533991?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338749392&toolid=20006&_ul=GB&customid=GB_131090_185474533991.146649679390~1872802775217-g_CjwKCAjw9IayBhBJEiwAVuc3ftI-LZ2EI-uU6h9C7x7BAheEcLm7_XIaof21WXdFgi7YVpH4IBYHRxoCWSQQAvD_BwE If not, bars are going to be easier to source I suspect. The issue with many bars is wind noise. Despite using aero bars, I found them as noisy as straight square section bars. Rails don't add much but at least give you the option of using a wide variety of bars or racks of your choice. Racks have the advantage that you can add a reasonable amount of luggage (there is a roof mass restriction to loading in all cases) and they're less awkward to mount than large roof boxes.

I don't see how this could happen. The doors, much like the RZ and other new models, don't use a conventional door lever, but a button entry on the door handle. From the inside, if electrics go down for the button release, they've thought about this and still have a lever directly behind the button to manually open the door.

I'd personally avoid anything other than OE pads. Having fitted fast road pads, carbon and ceramic pads to cars in the past, most have created more dust and much and not lasted as well as the OEM ones. You need to be careful with some ceramic (sintered) pads as they can lead to premature brake disc wear depending on grade. Avoid ones like the EBC Green pads (sometimes referred to as organic) unless you want to be changing them every few thou miles. They have neither the stopping power nor longevity IME. It's a big heavy car so don't skimp on the brakes. I always replace mine with OEM.

Leaving it to become a problem invites the problem really. All it takes is a simple two step process. 1. Have the rust brushed off with all loose particles and rust removed with a brass brush. 2. Have a Lanoguard specialist absolutely coat the thing in Lano. They get to everything, especially where normally inaccessible for DIYers. I did an old Rav 4 and it stayed fresh through several winters without any reapplication needed and kept it nice and rust free. Did my RX now twice and parts of the underside still look brand new after 10 years. Avoid anything like the old fashioned waxoils which eventually harden, crack, let moisture in and hide the rust which eventually eats away the steel. Lanoguard is made and supplied by a small family business in the UK and has been so successful it's now sold world wide. It's made by processing waste products of the wool industry (chiefly Lanolin). It can be applied to everything bar brakes, won't harm plastics or rubber and won't catch fire if the exhaust gets some on it. It's a natural product and non harmful and even good as a moisturiser! The great thing about it, is it dries to form a non-sticky or gunky extremely durable layer which prevents corrosion and very hard to remove unless you use repeated high pressure washes with strong detergent. Overlanders in New Zealand and Australia swear by the stuff, especially those living in coastal areas. I do my bikes and cars myself at home and apply liberally with a paintbrush to every part I can access but for most cars you're better off having access to a ramp and spray apply it. It's around £60/litre but that will do two cars easily. The specialists offer better coverage for a reasonable price and if you want peace of mind, this is the product to go for.

I probably wouldn't have peace of mind as many issues relate to electrics and some stories of stranded owners after the main screen went down which seemed a particular problem for 2021 cars. It's frankly unforgiveable for any maker to sell a prestige car which isn't to a top standard of reliability. By that, I mean that I, personally, wouldn't pay them money for one which has known defects likely to leave someone stranded. I wouldn't expect a Ford or Vauxhall to be in the top tier, but all premium cars ought to be.

Plates are quite literally, a sticking plaster. No issue for a determined thief. They'll work it out soon enough.

At the time of purchase, the F-Sport was quite an outlay for us because it was top of the range with most option boxes ticked. It's funny but 8 years on, I'm still quite precious about scratching it try to avoid supermarket car parks unless I can find a remote space. Our other car is covered in battle scars from utterly selfish, entitled people who have flung doors open on it and run shopping trollies into it. Some people don't care. I have one paintwork thumbnail sized mark on the Lexus, where someone keyed the driver door, and after using a the supplied paintwork touch up paint and lacquer, it's not that noticeable. We'll probably do the same. Keep it for another 5 years then it owes us nothing much. Means buying close to new will be out of our reach but by then, there'll possibly be something cheaper that'll be within means. You're dead right about the V6. It may not have the punch of the noisier IL4 + hybrid, but it's smoother and quieter. One of the best engines Toyota/Lexus ever made and seen in rugged and reliable vehicles worldwide from pick-ups to luxury SUVs. Owners ov V6 Camry's think the same

After a little research today, I tend to agree with you. Volvo now owned by the Chinese, numerous reliability issues, poor dealer after care and expensive service costs. The car I've been after it appears is sat on my driveway. Nothing made today really betters it. It still looks and drives like new and there was a moment of blindness to change it for no better reason than to benefit from another 10 year's warranty. To keep it means even if I need to renew the hybrid system, and undertake other expensive repairs in future, it will end up costing less than the sum needed to put against it buying buying a two year old RX4 which will then lose much the same in value over the next few years anyway.

Not for me, currently although that can always change. 2014 RX3 at £280 annually fully comp and my wife's newer Honda civic is bizarrely a little more. A few m/cycles too, for under £200 the lot fully comp. I'll see what I'm quoted for an RX4 but if anything over £700, I'll not bother.

It seems that almost unbelievably, we find ourselves in 2024 with little or no real choices to Lexus but also if we stay, we have to count the cost of ownership of say a 3yr old vehicle as not just £3 to 5K annual depreciation, but that or more in insurance costs. Add in petrol and you can see that buying say a 2 or 3 year old RX4 will in real terms cost around £7.5K annually, bare minimum, excluding servicing costs. That's pretty ludicrous. It's not worth the extra money to stay with Lexus imho. The extra cost invested in a less reliable make goes a long way to keeping it serviceable.

I have just e:mailed Lexus asking if the promised security fixes are indeed imminent and if they will make far more difficult for an RX4 to be stolen. I'm not holding my breath.

I've been looking at the CX60, and can only assume that build and engine specs will be similar. One thing putting me off is Mazda's use of plastics in some highly inappropriate areas, including the cooling system (pipework). Even the rad caps are plastic. Lots of manufacturers are now using plastic valve covers which are cheaper to produce than stamped metal ones, and some have had no real issues (Lexus) whilst others have had oil leaks and cracking. Mazda seems to use more plastic under the bonnet than many, and that puts me off. It's difficult to form a reliable opinion as I haven't spotted many used CX variants with high miles which is one barometer I look at when looking for a new car. Modern cars seem to be treated as disposable commodities by many makers and it's hard really to know where to look if leaving the Lexus fold, but Mazda have earned a solid reputation for comfort and reliability with their SUVs, despite having poorer ride qualities compared with Lexus and Volvo. I'd have one over a Volvo though as there's too many reports of faults on the XC range which many seem just to accept for the cache of the badge and an out dated notion that they're reliable cars (engines may be but their track record on water ingress from sunroofs, multiple electrical and sensor faults, poor hybrid system reliability etc puts me off).

It seems too little too late for many people. Also whatever they roll out in the next few months may not prevent attempted theft and damage anyway. The car's at the top of the theft charts and until thieves work out that security fixes are in place I guess the theft attempts will continue unabated for a good year or so until they realise they're not getting what they were after. Sadly, this all but rules me out if for no other reason I wont be paying exorbitant insurance premiums to anyone.

I've had two S60's and an 850T5. The 850 was by far the more reliable and better built car. My first S60 was a noughties T4 mild turbo charged petrol saloon. The throttle body position sensor and controller failed causing a dangerous driving condition where the engine would surge for no reason. After identifying it and reading the issue had appeared on BBC's Watchdog issue, I approached the traders who refused to help. Volvo wanted £1300 for the parts plus labour to sort. I refused and went up the chain of command and they eventually offered to do the work for half that but even that wasn't on as it was a design fault they'd known about for several years and done nothing. I sold the car and declared the issue taking the hit on value. I later bought a newer S60 D5 which went through two propshafts (half shafts) as the UJ's were relatively short lived due to the torque of the motor resulting in a clunk every time drive or reverse were engaged. No pattern parts were available and each time it happened it set me back £750 to repair. Then, engine mounts went, bulbs were always blowing and door power packs failed. This all happened under Ford's involvement with Volvo. I was considering an XC60 but as things seem to be no better with Volvo dealers than when I last owned one, I won't be knocking on that door now. That leaves me with Hyundai, Mazda or Kia to look at. The great shame is that Lexus cars themselves are great as are the dealerships. It's Lexus HQ who have failed their customers and whilst I would look at a 2 or 3 year old model not affected, it seems that all models are likely to be affected as they only altered the CanBus design for 2024 onwards cars (2023 manufacture of the new platforms). It's all very sad. I am lucky I guess to still have a solid RX3 with low miles and will stick with that whilst watching for progress from Lexus on this issue.

I think that despite 2023 sales figures, as the Lexus security statement has only really just been made public (April 2024) word will start now to get around and if it doesn't, are prospective buyers really prepared to shell out between 2K and 5K on annual insurance? Only those presently with RX4's who want to keep them may be painted into this corner unless taking the hit on resale but the industry knows (I put a silly low bid in for a Takumi spec RX4 with 10K miles on the clock yesterday and they offered me 2.5K over book on my car to do a part-ex....that was what prompted me to look towards this site for answers as I don't believe in free lunches existing in the used car market unless there's a good financial reason).

I think I'll wait until they've properly resolved the security issue and would be thieves aren't ripping off body parts to find the quick fix solution as the expense remains to fix the damage on insurance and Lexus solution won't better insurance issues presently because of that. Insurance companies seem wise to what's going on, more so than most would be customers.

I came back to this forum after a long break because I wanted to do some homework on a planned change from an RX3 to an RX4. Glad I did. It's just saved me making a £36K mistake. I shall be calling Lexus tomorrow and asking them not to bother with a trade in. I'll keep my trusty RX3 for a while longer, then abandon Lexus for another manufacturer. It's the only way, short of a class action (which I believe highly unlikely to happen unless the message goes to each and every RX4/NX/LC/ES/Rav4 etc etc owner in the UK) likely to persuade Lexus to offer a bullet proof solution which will deter thieves and lower insurance values. Nothing else will. It's that simple. I cannot conceive of any reality where I might go ahead with an RX4 and cross my fingers with layered security such as trackers (waste of money and time....don't stop attempted thefts), steering wheel locks (defeatable even if only by cutting through the steering wheel), steel plates and the like at my own cost. Why should I or anyone else pay for a luxury vehicle then accept it's up to me to provide a solution to a Lexus design fault, and a grossly negligent one at that? Brand loyalty is an illusion. The minute a manufacturer....of anything...does something like this and treats customers with such wilful neglect and disdain is the second I dump them and look for another. It's a buyer's market. When their sales volumes half, and dealerships start closing around the UK, it will be too late for them to recover and initiate any meaningful damage limitation. Those feeling snug and secure in their RX5 purchases may yet be undone when time reveals issues with those platforms. A wise man looks back at history for lessons. Sadly, I genuinely believe that short of a class action actually being realised, nothing will be done of any real use and Lexus UK is finished. Overnight, those currently owning affected vehicles perhaps looking to trade them in for 5th generation platforms may not bother when they realise their cars are worth diddly squat on the used market as insurance becomes uneconomic for them, used prices tumble etc are hardly likely, if they are sensible, to chuck a huge amount on a new model as the whole cost of ownership does in fact span the life of total ownership experience. Only a fool or someone with more money than sense would blindly go ahead. So where does this leave us and Lexus? Clearly, they are bargaining on a new breed of buyer and have already written off existing 4th generation car owners. Their whole advertising campaign is more aimed at the young and affluent. I wish them good luck....they're going to need it. I'm now off to study the latest guides on reliable, secure cars which offer at least something of the RX experience. It hasn't taken more than a few minutes to discover the the XC40 and 60 are in the mix and other opportunities, perhaps for something completely different will shake me out of my RX complacency. My eyes have been opened.