GSLV6

Lexus recommend changing key fob batteries every few years to avoid this problem, which is good advice.

Thanks Norman The parking can be challenging, mainly because they have to share it with Toyota etc so the complex is a little limited and tight! I thought that the GAP insurance was quite a good deal tbh, as it covered 3 years for under £100 annually. I'll check out ALA too though. The 2 for 1 year option is a good hook, but it's simply too much money for a newish vehicle and doesn't reflect the lower risks. Its about time that Lexus considered a stepped warranty premium to reflect these things as they are missing out on a lot on a lot of custom treating one size fits all. It would be dear enough at £400 annually for any vehicle up to 5 years old. When it comes in at three times that, it simply isn't worth it. Once the vehicle's 5 years old, that's the time I'd consider it and despite what's said, I'm sure that for good customer's, they'd offer a 2 for 1 down the line. I got that offer for my GS300 which I didn't even buy from them, so it is offered despite appearances ;-). Things that I prefer over the GS now I've put a few miles on the RX include the driving position (you soon appreciate the higher driving position), the load space, the cabin room and the ride which is eerily silent. The things that I prefer about the GS include the steering/handling, the performance, the sound system (it's better) and the levels of kit as standard. It's going to take me a while to adjust.

Just to add a few tuppenceworth, you can probably save a little going to a non Lexus dealer, but not much. All traders will add about 20% odd over private market value to make a living but at least going to Lexus you'll get piece of mind. I'll also buck the trend and say that in general (air suspension to one side) you are pretty safe with any Lexus getting the "bells & whistles" because things like the electrics seldom go wrong. As for the warranty, well, I could have taken one out when buying my GS but I chose not to. The car, a few weeks later was diagnosed with a failed hydraulic tappet seal. That was engine out to replace it, and a bill of over £3K as I had all 24 replaced in case of a bad batch originally. The warranty would have covered that. The original trader I bought it from covered £2K of the cost so I was lucky. It ended up costing me what the warranty would have done in the first place. The next year, the exhaust split (at just 8 years old....a known problem with the Mk3 GS) and a shock absorber needed replacement. The warranty, had I taken one out, would have covered all this work totalling over £4,000. You pays your money... I think Jamie, you're wise picking a Lexus over its German rivals. Despite my horror story, Lexus are pretty reliable on the whole and I was just unlucky. Compared with BMW and Mercedes, the Mk3 GS is light years ahead in build quality than any of its contemporaries. The SE version is more fully loaded than my current F-Sport RX, and dare I say it, a nicer place to be in many ways, and remains a drivers car, albeit not one tuned for smooth tracks or developed on the Nurburgring (thankfully) but for real world roads such as ours. Nothing the Germans makes has the compliance or refinement until you get to S Class. Don't kid yourself about reliability of German Marques. To a large extent, they still trade on the reliability of models made over a decade ago but any pretence of being up there with Lexus is pie in the sky. Check out the JD power survey for the past 10 years and Lexus remains at the top. My advice would be to have a detailed inspection done by Lexus. If it reveals no problems, then decide if a 2 year warranty is for you. The service agreement costs a little more than from an Indy but I took one out in case I later wanted to take the warranty out which requires the vehicle to be inspected then serviced at Lexus (so I was told). To some extent whether you do tale a service plan or not may also depend on the reputation of your local Lexus dealer. I'm guessing that your local dealer is Lexus Milton Keynes?

Dampers on the pre facelift didn't seem any better tbh. My Gen 3 had to have 3 of the 4 shock absorbers replaced between 60 and 70K miles. Cost for the pre-facelift were cheaper to replace it seems (2007 model). My personal observation of the Lexus models I've owned, the best built seem to have been 2000 to 2007 models.

That's interesting Carl as I had no bother with the sales manager, quite the opposite in fact. I have 3 years left on the hybrid warranty, a 12 month full lexus sales warranty on the car and a 3 year service plan, carried over from the GS and topped up back to 3 from 2 years, so the only other thing we'll be taking out is GAP insurance as the car is only a few years old. I won't be taking out the full warranty until the car reaches 5 years old. When the weather picks up and dries off in the spring and the salt is off the roads, I'll have the subframe waxoiled too. Must admit, having done about 60 miles since picking it up, I am finding the seats a little too soft. I have back problems and the older GS was perfect as it was a little firmer and 10 way adjustable so dead easy to get it spot on. The RX is proving to be a little more difficult to get right for the most comfortable seating position. The other niggle is that I don't much like the Radio controls accessed via the mouse nor the long winded way of tuning through stations rather than using the back and forward keys which just seem to jump between present stations. The DAB is pretty good, better than expected though. Overtaking is a breeze and here, I have to kneel down before Rayaans (!), bow, scrape and doff my cap, as the RX actually (in sport mode anyway) makes overtaking a breeze and feels almost a little more punchy than the GS. From a standstill, the GS is still quicker but once on the move, the RX is surprisingly agile. Rayaans, I eat humble pie....err...humbly Fuel economy with mixed driving it has been disappointing with 36mpg best and 31mpg average. We'll see longer term how this changes (or not). Handling is simply amazing compared with the Lux models. The F-Sport was well worth the extra. It just sits flat through corners unless pushed to the point at which 2.5 tonnes forces the car wide as the tyres start to lose grip and that's a gentle reminder that this isn't a sports car but it is still surprisingly capable.

Picked up the RX today Pat on the back to Lexus Cheltenham who even topped the petrol tank up to 3/4 full for me. I must say, it's a completely different driving experience to the GS. Despite the test drives, bringing it back home today, I really became aware of its bulk and width and also found that it demands a completely different driving style. I miss the GS already in many respects. I found its seats slightly firmer and with more adjustment which I preferred, and it was much more of a driver's car. However the RX seems to make journey's more of an event than a chore and promotes a more laid back relaxing style of driving. The good points include the quietness of the ride, and surprisingly, how agile the car is for a 2.5 tonne beast. I'm glad we went for the F-Sport, It was worth the extra for the suspension which really does seem to limit body roll. Much less feedback though from the steering than I'm used to. It isn't bristling with as much adjustment or gadgets but perhaps that's no bad thing. HUD is brilliant as is hands free phone and satnav is a big improvement on the older version. I found that it seems better to leave the car in Sport mode all the time and just press the EV button when in town. The average of 20 miles of mixed motorway and town driving was about 32mpg but that is still rising as the tank was only just filled before I picked it up. Driving in ECO mode seems somewhat pointless. It seems to have a throttle lag/delay built in, so to make progress, say jumping into a gap when filtering onto a roundabout you have to rev the thing to get anything from it! I only had one foot to the floor moment to see how it picked up in Sport mode, and it does indeed fly. Perhaps still not quite as rapid as the GS but really there's very little in it, but only if Sport mode is selected. All that remains is to fiddle with the seating to try and get it spot on, but that always take and age when I change a vehicle. Will start a thread on longer term ownership a few months down the line but this seems a good place to sign off on this thread. For now, I have a list of jobs, which includes paint prep for polishing and sealing then waxing (cheaper than paying for the paint protection option!), then up onto the ramps for a clean off and wax-oiling of the sub frame assemblies.

Just come across this. Crikey Chris, I feel for you! That much rust on a subframe of a relatively recent motor is unexpected but I guess living its life by the coast has played a large part of that corrosion. Hope your new part sorts the issues for you and you're left with a solid car for many more years to come. How is the underpan out of interest? Is that treated/sealed in some way? My last GS lived by the Severn Estuary most of its life and even at 8 years old, corrosion has set in on the engine block pulleys, the cross member supporting the radiator and various other steel pressings. I was pretty shocked when I found it, but cleaned it all up and just oiled up the parts and it never seemed to get any worse. Luckily you're a handy chap with a spanner, and if as OCD as me, then I'm expecting that you'll have that RX in far better shape than when you bought it. Look forward to seeing the end results of your labours

Some models have a volume control in the rear, located in a control box. Try under the boot liner next to the jack or have a route around next to one of the rear speakers connected to the reversing sensors (in the boot?).

double post

Pulsating most certainly is not normal unless the ABS kicks in. Under normal (ie not heavy) braking, there should be no pulsating. This points to either a problem with the ABS system or it could be symptomatic of a warped brake disc. The only way to find out is to have the car jacked up, the wheel removed and the brakes inspected. The clue here is the clicking sound which could point to a faulty ABS sensor bringing ABS into play. It could also be something simple like something rubbing against the disc, which if warped, could create a clicking noise as it may only contact the disc once every revolution. All speculation though until a brake inspection is carried out. Anything out of the normal where braking is concerned is a potential safety issue and ought really to be inspected.

As above, scored discs happen for a variety of reasons. The most common is simply picking up a bit of grit from the road which, for obvious reasons will end up with other mud and muck plastered around drive shaft and wheels, eventually some muck is bound to get onto brake calipers. Grit or rust can become embedded into the brake pad surface where the pads may be grooved, thus scoring the discs when the brakes are applied. Some pads (such as EBC Green) can be very soft and result in loads of black brake dust coating the wheels, and as well as wearing very quickly, these are more prone to dirt becoming embedded and scoring discs. OEM (standard) and fast road brake pads tend to be harder, and often made with sintered metals in the compound, so brake disc wear is higher than with older (banned) asbestos pads. To prevent seized calipers, it's always a good idea before and after each winter to jack the car up, remove each wheel in turn and use brake cleaner on the calipers, remove each pin for the pads, clean and re-grease with copper-slip, ditto for any brake pad shims. It allows inspection of any floating caliper pins too (which can also be cleaned). This doesn't take long and can pre-empt any MOT issues. If a brake part (caliper, pads or disc) are replaced on one side, ideally the other side ought to be done too, as brakes have to work with the same efficiency in pairs to avoid any potential safety concerns. However, most warranties won't allow for calipers to be replaced in pairs because the argument is that a caliper, as long as it is working, shouldn't have any detrimental impact on braking force. That needs to be checked after work is done to be sure. This is something most people miss. Always ask for a report which details independent front left and right braking force checks after work is done and refuse to take any vehicle back if they are not both very closely matched. I would be very careful about buying unbranded discs from Ebay. Some are Chinese imports, and when you compare OEM/Branded against unbranded, things like run-out measurements can be miles out. I know several people who've bought and fitted new discs only to encounter brake judder from discs which are only a little out on run-out, but this has been enough to cause issues. The other thing to be aware of is the receiving hub surfaces need not just to have loose dirt etc removed, they have to be spotlessly clean and smooth as any tiny amount of surface unevenness will result in the same symptoms as high run-out and will lead to juddering under braking and other problems. Whilst it is not difficult to change discs (providing you can get the old ones off in the first place), all mating surfaces must be prepared properly and be very smooth and even. Finally, you never know what metal quality you are getting on unbranded Ebay discs. Some are complete rubbish and even if they have been well enough machined and have close tolerance on run-out, they can soon warp when overheated due to the inferior alloys used. Stainless steels are particularly prone to this. A quality cast/machined disc will rarely suffer the same fate. Bearing in mind we're talking about the safety of the driver, family and other road users, discs, pads and tyres are areas where I would never cut corners. You can buy decent products much cheaper than from the dealers, just be sure of the quality of what you're buying.

A test drive is the only way to know if you'll like it Rayaans. I've driven a few IS300h cars now, and liked the drive a lot. On paper, the performance doesn't look to clever in comparison with any of the 450h models but behind the wheel, they've always felt adequate, courtesy of the mid range shove that the electric motors add when needed. You might be disappointed after stepping out of a 450h F-sport though. The ace up the NX sleeve (it has a few) seems to be what the car is like as an overall package. It looks pretty good (I think that the styling suits it better than the RX tbh), the cabin is excellent in fit and finish, and surprisingly it's actually very capable off road, unlike the heavier RX450. Take a peak at the review the Fith Gear have done on the NX. They really liked it. I'd not be tempted to an NX even if I was single as the load space is just too small. I would struggle to get my bikes in there plus my other hobbies also demand more load space than the NX can offer. It's a fashionable thing, not really a practical one, unless of course you are single and willing to use roof boxes or bike carriers when needed.

Probably! Sorry for the thread drift!

This ^^^^ If an extended warranty was taken out, the only reason that it could be invalidated is if a pre-existing condition was not declared. If the mot was an advisory rather than a failure, then it is not classed as a failed component under the terms of the warranty (surely?) and any subsequent leakage noted which is declared a failure under the terms of the pre-existing warranty, within that warranty period has to be honoured under the terms of the contract. It just seems like a cop-out to argue anything else. The flip side is that if these are the first shocker failures in 113K miles, then applying the measure of "reasonableness", which much of Common Law is based upon, one could argue (ie the assessor) that it is fair wear and tear as one would expect most motor vehicles to have a shock absorber replacement within 100K miles as they are consumable wear items. However, the legal test isn't necessarily the same test at all because it is specifically covered under the terms of contract for the warranty itself and if that covers shock absorbers, then they have no choice but to honour the warranty. I fail to see how they can't. Actually John, happily, Thermomic Valve Amplifiers are very much still in production and still provide some of the best hifi sounds around. Here's one that I recently commissioned for my set up. It's a Radfdord STA25 Series 5 The trendy audiophiles now refer to them as "Toobs" but I refuse to use a slang version of an Americanism, so use "Valves" . What a pedant I'm becoming in my middle age!

I know...sometimes there's no rhyme or reason! The 55 AMG in CLS guise is a great car. That's a strong engine but thirsty! The insurance would take into account things like risk I imagine, as well as repair costs. Risk I must be made up from a number of factors, including post code (ie how many are stolen in the area annually), security measures, car type and class, power output perhaps, typical spares costs for that model, owner's risk history etc etc. It's not surprising that there's often little parity between quotes for different people living in different areas for the same vehicle. My own company was trying it on with their ridiculous quote so I couldn't even be bothered to haggle or discuss it with them....they instantly lost my custom and now have to refund me half the premium left to run which will offset the cost of the Lexus premium. It pays to shop around annually, so no doubt we'll see what Lexus can offer in a year's time.

In your case though, you were coming from a very powerful and expensive to repair motorcar in the CLS55 (AMG by any chance?) to a somewhat more sedate car by comparison and would I be right in assuming a lower insurance group? I would have expected a rebate too in your shoes. I was going from a GS300 (group 32 or something?) to a group 42 RX450 F Sport. I guess it depends on your postcode, and insurance company too. I was expecting Lexus to quote more. The only thing is that they didn't offer breakdown cover (usually about £35 extra) but do cover key theft, loss or damage to £1500. No voluntary excess on the policy too. I just ran a "compare the market" comparison and the cheapest was £294 annually, with the average being £305 annually. Most exclude Legal cover from that (£28) and exclude key cover, they also included minimum voluntary excess of £250, compulsary of £300. I would have gone with the £305 quote (Closer to £350 by the time the voluntary excess is brought down a bit and legal cover is included) but paid extra for Lexus because at least in the event of an accident they will only use Lexus approved repairers, not one of the usual national cheap and cheerful franchised repair shops that I wouldn't entrust my pushbike to. There's a reason why Lexus approved repairers cost more. I would imagine (hope!) that unlike some insurance specialist body repair shops, for example, that they don't cut corners to achieve low bottom line. Plenty of metal bashers and paint sprayers that will do the job for peanuts but you'll get an equivalent service in most cases. I will probably switch next year and save a few pennies but am happy for now to go with Lexus.

Having just purchased a 2 year old RX450h, I was aghast at what my current insurer wanted to cover the extra over my GS300 for the next 6 months until my policy runs out. They wanted an additional £350 on top of the £230 I'd already paid, so an annual cost of £580! I called Lexus, and was pleasantly surprised to get an annual quote for about £400 with the same low excess, same legal cover, same windscreen cover and fully comp. I was expecting it to be more, but it just goes to show that insuring through Lexus can be cheaper than offered elsewhere. It even includes (expensive) key cover, which I don't currently benefit from. Bonus is no overseas call centres as I believe they have a 24/7/365 cover from a Portsmouth office. Well done Lexus

It is Norman, a great shame, and puts the RX now behind competitors including the Merc GLE and Volvo XC90 both of which (running costs to one side) seem to be more practical. It was a closer run thing with the Mk3 and a golden opportunity was lost to simply make the RX a smidgen longer, compromise slightly on rake angle, retain the same vertical load height/area as the older model, with a little additional load depth (say 200mm max), and with the spoiler, cd can't be overly compromised by making the rake a little steeper as with the older model. I wonder, in reality though, whether this will put a lot of people off as the biggest demographic seems to be well healed middle aged Americans as a fashion conscious buy for a tech laden comfy high seating position SUV, rather than a practical go anywhere one? A bit like the RX has now just become a glorified version of the equally impractical but fashion conscious NX for which many a normal hatchback offers as much space for less compromise. What it had going in Mk1, 2 and 3 guise was that it offered generous levels of practicality without falling victim to a fashion conscious designer penning it in some trendy upmarket urban coffee house and saying to his Hipster mates "look at this, it's my reworking of a cracking good SUV to make it appeal more to us younger crowd" and in doing so it has lost much of what made the originals appeal in the first place. Understated elegance; unfussy and uncluttered cabin with a focus on few driving distractions, sensible and practical load space. Now I've sat in one and seen a new one, it is certainly enough to make me look elsewhere if we ever change our Mk3. A quick look at cars like the Mitsubishi Outlander, Kia Sorento, and Nissan Patrol shows that those manufacturers are not willing to sacrifice much in terms of practicality when it comes to load space.

The thing to remember about any synthetic finish, actually the two things are these: 1. Successful application involves proper surface preparation first. Many dealers may not prepare the surface properly, removing paint swirl marks first or failing to remove insect strikes etc and the result can be a mess; 2. You can buy and apply these coatings yourself easily enough but some require curing at set temperatures, typically 20 degrees or above for 48 hours so don't apply them in winter! You can apply any wax based finish over the synthetic sealants and doing so often both protects the sealant, making it more durable, and enhances the shine, resulting in a more organic looking, deeper shine. You cannot apply a sealant over a wax though as it won't bond. Sealants work by bonding with the paint finishes. It is advantageous to use something like a Carnuaba (5%) wax polish over a sealant to reap the benefits. You can extend the life of the protection by doing so. It is not recommended to use any form of cutting polish (Autoglym Super Resin polish included) over a sealant as each time you use it, you remove a tiny layer of that protection. Waxes wont do this unless they use a heavy solvent base (best avoided). Personally, a one off treatment like DiamondBrite or Supaguard is worth having done by a specialist paint protection company (usually they'll come to you, erect a canopy over your car, clean and prep bodywork and wheels, then apply the one or two pack sealant and buff to a uniform blemish free finish) for between £200 and £300. Certainly cheaper than the £520 that some Lexus dealers offer when buying a car ("would you want a paint protection and leather protection added sir?)". The alternative is that you buy off the shelf products, use a mild abrasive fine grit polishing compound (I use 4500 grit or finer ) to prep the paintwork, seal with a polymerised resin finish, then use something like Meguiars Super Tech Wax and buff. The only maintenance then needed after every 3 to 4 washes or so is the re-apply the Meguiars which goes on easily and buffs readily and easily. This regime achieves most of what your £200 to £300 commericial paint finishes do but you can do yours in an afternoon at home, stand back and admire the results for under £60 for all the compounds and polishing cloths. To apply some of these sealant compounds properly though you really need one of the pro-polisher machines (the devil's in the detail so do your homework first). I have one and I think I paid £225 for it, but have done several cars with it so it has paid for itself over the last few years. If you only intend on doing one car, the commericial option is a good one as they are not daft and price the service accounting for a DIY approach needing a similar one-off expenditure for the proper kit.

When I received a quote for map updates for my 2007 GS300, I nearly fell over. Went out and bought one of the latest Garman satnavs instead for less money and its a better system anyway, and I have free updates for life with it. Haven't tried the newer Lexus satnavs but the old one worked well on the GS only the lack of full post code set up was unforgivable.

The new Mk4 model does have "improved" sound deadening over the Mk3, I checked yesterday with Lexus whilst looking at one. What put me off the new one entirely though was the silly compromise to boot load space. The increased rake at the back really does make a sacrifice to load area to an extent which I couldn't live with. It's a shame that they've sacrificed practicality on the alter of fashion although they'll probably mutter something about slippery cd numbers... I do like the new cabin though, fab seats and driving position abut also find the instruments, and especially the large screen, quite distracting compared with the Mk3. I don't think, even if I could justify the cost, that I'd trade the Mk3 for a newer Mk4 on those issues alone. I don't know why the F-Sport that I ended up buying was so different from the first Luxury model that I tried. It was noticeably much quieter. What surprised me the most was that the "subtle" changes in suspension weren't that subtle either, and seemed better still than the previous older F-Sport that I tried (fresher, lower mileage suspension perhaps had something to do with it?). Whilst the SE/Lux/Advance models use the standard suspension set up which to me seemed to pitch and roll a little too much, the 2014 F-Sport was very much more composed. I threw it into a tight turn (it was one of those entry slip roads to a motorway which curve round) and there was hardly any body roll at all, very impressive for such a large vehicle. The HUD is a fabulous extra and it really hit home just how much we all unconsciously must drive without our eyes on the road these days constantly worried about speed cameras of one sort or another, which sort of makes a mockery of the safety agenda (read "revenue" ). It ought to be standard on all vehicles as an essential safety feature. That or get rid of every speed camera in the UK. That's another debate to be had though... Tyre-wise, I'm sure they've just gone with the company that they get the best deal from Rayaans, so the new OEM tyres won't be the optimal fitment. Having not driven one, I can't comment on the comparison with the older Dunlop 270s.

Any links to where I can see one of these boot bike carriers Carl?

Really nice gesture. Who knows, perhaps when I go to pick up our new (used) Lexus in a few days, our local Lexus dealer might even leave a magnum of bubbly on the back seat as it's also close to my birthday!......................................................................bump back to reality....perhaps not! (wishful thinking on my part). Hope you enjoy the bottle and find another cake to go with it

Thanks Carl Tyres were Dunlop 235/55/19s but I didn't see which ones (could be the 270s or could be the sport model). They weren't as worn as the ones on the first one we test drove and that was definitely noisier than the GS. This was appreciably quieter, and I'm unsure of there were any changes between vehicle sound deadening between 2012 and 2014 as the original one driven was a 2012 model. It left me scratching my head because the differences between this and the Lux model we drove was significant on noise (I made a big thing of it after our first test drive as documented on this thread). Our GS is very quiet and refined but you notice a bit more than with the newer RX when changing road surfaces. The RX was quieter than the GS on a quick motorway trip at 70mph which was unexpected.

Well, as an update, I appear to have had an accident this morning. Do you know, my hand slipped today and it accidentally caught my bank card from my wallet and slid it out into a Lexus card reader, even typing in the PIN number! You have to watch it this slippery cold weather as things like that can accidentally happen. It followed another early morning accident where I slipped outside and landed in the car and accidentally drove to a Lexus dealership. When we got there (my wife and son slipped too), we got out and accidentally slipped into a shiny silver RX450H F-sport (easy to confuse as it was another silver car and the sun was in our eyes). It wasn't until we were on the motorway that my wife worked out there was no transmission tunnel in the rear where her and my son sat, so realising our mistake, we pulled off the motorway and headed back to Lexus to hand the car back and apologise for what was really a very silly mistake, but it must happen all the time with them. The nice man kindly offered us a cup of coffee to warm us up, and it was then that I had the accident with the bank card. I don't know how, but somehow we seem to have bought a two year old Lexus RX. Joking aside, having looked at quite a few, and this was the best of the lot. A 2014 F-Sport with ML upgrade, black leather, and optional roof bars (to be fitted as part of the deal). Under 16K miles from new. It drove better than any of the others. It just felt tauter, the cabin was quieter, even more so than the GS which was a surprise after the noisy Luxury model we'd been in (tyres I suspect). I ensured that Sport mode was engaged and whilst I still think it isn't quite a match for the GS on performance, there was no lag, unlike driving it in Eco or Normal modes. Very impressed. We got a reasonable deal on the GS in PX, and the RX had just been reduced by £2K, so the room for negotiation was limited. Still, we were given top book for the GS which was about £1500 under what I could have easily achieved privately, but in some respects, it saves a month to 6 weeks of tyre kickers, haggling and a cluttered driveway and means no complications over paying a double whammy on tax and insurance etc. I was impressed that lexus arranged 3 days free cover, sorted the road fund tax, sorted the servicing and provided a comprehensive 12 month warranty. The car has a few years left on the Hybrid system warranty and we elected not to take the extended 2 year warranty or paint/leather protection which we can get cheaper by buying that ourselves anyway. All in all quite chuffed with the deal. Compared the Mk4 RX whilst there and with the exception of the dash and cabin, I actually prefer the Mk3. It has a more sensible load area in the rear not as compromised as the new shape which doesn't appear to give any real world advantages for the extra £25K it would have cost us. I'll post pictures once I have the car and do a short write up on another thread after living with it for a while. Thanks to all who have helped with information, much appreciated.