Drpellypo

I bought a Passat years ago and when I went to pick it up one of the salesmen said they'd show me round all the features. I was like, no need, I know this car inside out - have spent the last 12 weeks reading up about it on the internet. So i left with the car. 4 months later I was coming out of tesco with a load of bags and walked up to the boot and someone else was walking along the path next to me, so I stepped off the kerb to let them past, in turn putting my foot under the bumper, and blow me down the boot opened! I figured I must have pressed the button in my pocket by mistake. So I tried it again, and low and behold it did that as a feature. I was so ridiculously excited, I dragged the other half out of the house when I got home and was like, look at this..! Needless to say I promised myself to pay more attention to the sales talk next time I bought a new car, as I wasn't aware of a feature for 4 months which was, at the time, one of the most exciting things ever. haha.

Leak from the shocks is super common on the LX's. Just look at MOT history of a random one on auto trader and it'll most likely have an advisory for light misting on shock,. I would press them for a replacement though. If it's leaking it's going to run out of fluid at some point and need replacing.

Edgar, you are going through an identical dilemma to me. I likewise am a bit in love with the idea of the hybrid, and I also have it in my mind that, owing to the fact there are electric motors (that never go wrong) driving the car, and braking some of the time, surely this is placing less mechanical strain on the car overall, hence lowering the chances of things going wrong. I'm following this thread closely :)

Have you still got the old one? If so, strip it down, wash it off in some paraffin, change the brushes, and give the windings a scrub with some emery paper, and you've got yourself a reconditioned starter motor to sell on. Recon'ing starters is how I learned my trade when I was a kid, and it was a piece of cake.

I appreciate buying from a dealer is especially important for things like BMW's etc. What I've found in my search for the RX400h is that most of them are low miles, full dealer service history anyway, so if you can drive to Lexus and get a 2 year warranty for a grand, it's an absolute no brainer!

That's great, thanks! So makes total sense to get a used one and then just purchase the warranty. Makes you wonder why they command such high prices because the £7k ones I've looked at have full main dealer service history and typically low mileage.

Sorry if this is a dumb question; I've genuinely searched and not found an answer. If I bought a Lexus privately, say a 2007 rx, could I then purchase a 2 year warranty from Lexus? Or is a requirement of purchase that you've bought the car from them? I'm looking at RX's with 70k ish on the clock and they are £7,000 private, and £11,000 from a Lexus dealer. £4K is a hell of a premium especially if you can buy a warranty for under £1k and get the same cover as a main dealer purchase.

I must admit the RX has most recently got my attention. The 500 replaced a BMW X5 and I admit I do miss the elevated driving position. What are the RX's like in terms of common problems and associated fixes? I got rid of the X5 at 91,000 miles because every time it went to the garage it came out with a £500-1,000 bill. That was an Indy, too.

Hello everyone. Have spent a few weeks lurking on here, mainly on the LS section. I'm starting the process of looking for a new car. I typically give myself a year to do this (yes an entire year!) At the minute I have sat on the drive a Fiat 500 which I bought for MrsP with 7,000 miles on the clock. It now has 18,000 and is yet to cause any issues other than a door handle replacement, which I did myself, so only cost £35. I also have a Skoda Fabia which is our 'pool' car. It has 169,000 miles on the clock and never ever breaks. This car goes on and off the road as needed and will happily sit for a year and start up with no complaints! So that will be staying. My daily driver at the minute is an Audi A6 which has been in the family since 2001, but is now starting to reach the end of its life. So it's this car I want to replace, and I was looking for some help! I do around 3,000 miles a year, so fuel economy is not an issue, and I'd rather save money on the cost of buying a car that most people are put off by the high running costs of. The A6 gets around 21mpg and I'm perfectly happy with that. More is a bonus but not essential. Image is unimportant to me. I'd far rather have an ugly car that was a nice place to sit in than a prettier but less comfortable car (hence hovering around the LS section!) My one strict requirement is that i need a car that will carry a 186cm long kitchen worktop. The A6 (saloon) took this load perfectly with the back seat down. Other than that, I'm just looking for something that is going to be reliable. I'm budgeting around £4-6k. I'd definitely consider cars for less, but certainly no more than £6k