olliesgrandad

My thoughts are that was twenty pounds well spent. I always think that anything involving clips near paintwork is a recipe for a scratch or mark. When I rebuilt a Morris Minor I got the screens professionally refitted to ensure that the rare and expensive stainless trims weren't damaged and that they fitted neatly.

Yesterday my brakes exhibited the same pulsating symptoms at low speed in traffic. I experienced similar with my IS and am sure it's due to the energy regeneration. I take it that the puncture is not in the tread where it can be repaired

Whenever I start my car the navigation screen greets me with the navigation menu which l have to exit out of if l don't want to use sat nav. This wasn't the case with my Is and looks can't find anything in the menus to alter this. Any ideas very welcome.

Well I've now had my car for 19 days and driven 1774 miles. I refuelled today and my average Mpg over that distance recorded tankful to tankful is 46.92mpg. I use a smartphone app to do the maths. The car computer gives an average of 51.7mpg so that gives a good idea how optimistic the car software is. Very pleased with this as my IS300h f sport averaged just over 44mpg over 20000 miles.

Apparently according to the service manager at the dealer the setting has been removed from all new models.

I used to use Collinite when I had more time to detail. It certainly looks great and is quite durable. When I discovered chemical guys blacklight I couldn't believe how easy it was to apply and how durable. I love their products. The interior plastic cleaner gives such a nice matt factory finish.

When I had an almost new Mercedes 2 years ago it was never maintained at Mercedes. My local independent I have known for 30 years since he was Service Manager at my local dealer before Mercedes took them over. He did a small service, changed front brake pads and changed gearbox oil. All for £400 which is almost what Mercedes wanted for a gearbox oil change alone. He is good and I have seen both Steve Winwoods and Richard Ashcrofts cars there (both still under warranty). I don't think that the money I got for it was when traded was poor and the car wouldn't have been retailed by the dealer as it was high mileage for age. I also knew the car had been properly serviced by fully qualified Mercedes trained technicians and not an apprentice.

I was always told when buying a used car if you have any doubts walk away. It has always stood me in good stead . I can give you two examples of how hard it can be to spot a 'bad un'. I once knew a car dealer who was moving around 500 cars a month. He would buy at one auction and clean the vehicles etc and resell at auction elsewhere. I was in the police then. One day he brought me an Audi that he was unhappy with. After a lot of checking the various hidden locations for vin numbers it appeared on the surface to be okay. When we started checking date codes on components things weren't quite right. This led to lifting carpets and we then realised that it was in fact 2 cars from 2 consecutive model years welded together. This just shows that even an experienced trader can get burnt fingers. The second example was that I had a friend who was the MD of a company that was a dealership for Isuzu and Subarctic. He always ran new vehicles. One evening he picked me up in a slightly older Trooper. I commented on this and he explained he was going trunk it for a while as it had been bought into stock before it was found to be a 'ringer'. He had bought it for a second time from the insurance company so couldn't retail it because of its HPI status. If the history is questionable best walk away. There will always be another one.

The electronic indicator stalk does annoy me as like the GSF driver I am often doing the 'over correction' indicator trick, especially on the motorway. I also miss the digital speed readout of my is 300h f sport.

I have a cyclo dual head polisher which is extremely good. Bought it about 7 years ago., and very pleased with it. I paid just over £200 for It. Dr bv 6

My last Mercedes (E250 cdi cabriolet) wouldn't go into stop /start mode when I bought it. Dealer found that the 2nd battery which powers the stop start system had a broken terminal stopping it from functioning. Once replaced all was good.

Nothing on the tints but the car had a new battery fitted in May together with a big service and spark plugs. Suspect the battery was changed because the car only did 950 miles in a year. I have done more than that in 10 Days.....

They did fit new screws. I didn't pay for the plates, the screws or the touch up kit.

Cheltenham is local to me and they said that if they put them on they would make sure the right coloured plastic screws were in the correct place on the plates. The set on my IS would have fitted but the intention was to put plain rather than EU plates on. Unfortunately they didn't have any plain rear blanks in stock and as you know the rear plates on Lexus are bigger than a standard plate. I also collected the touch up kit they had ordered for me. The car I bought has had 2 plate changes in its life and I wonder if that slowed DVLA down (or was it to do with the tax issue...)

Well at last the V5c arrived today for my new toy and I wasted no time in going online and allocating my private plate to my GS300h. A quick phone call and I was at Lexus Cheltenham where they swiftly made up and fitted a new set of plates gratis together with supplying a free touch up paint set. I have now been able to register the car on the online portal and see the full history stored. When I have a bit of time I will go through it.

Bigger is not always better. Moving from the IS300h to a Gs300h level find that the screen cannot be rearranged to show items in different places like the is. The menus are not as good and I cannot display compass direction or map directions on instrument cluster. The is screen I found quite adequate. Remember not to clean it with chemicals though as you can easily strip the uv coating.

Well I have just refuelled today after covering 920 miles with my GS300h.As usual I always check brimful to brimful and use an app to make the calculations. My previous 2014 300h f sport averaged just over 44mpg.Amazingly the GS has returned an average of over 47mpg. This is real world conditions so very impressed. The car computer was showing 52mpg today, so quite optimistic. The more I drive the car the better it seems. I bizarrely find it much easier to park than the IS300h. The lock in tight spaces is superb. Seats are much more comfortable as is the ride quality. The sound from the ML system seems to vary considerably in quality between radio stations. I thought that radio 2 seemed to have a better surround feel than Union Jack despite both being DAB. The sound playing from tracks on a USB was very good. I may still need to fiddle with the settings a bit more though.

Well relief today. My car is now showing taxed at Dvla.

I know the paint on the car is all good as I put my paint detective over it and since I have clayed and polished it with chemical guys blacklight.(the most durable polish I have yet found). There were a couple of chips low down on the front apron, but they have touched in well. I like to keep my cars nice but to be honest I don't have a lot of time these days to do the big detailing thing as my weekly mileage is around 600. I have had toy cars in the past. My last one was a rare limited edition BMW Z3 2.8. I also had a concours winning Morris Minor which I restored over a 5 year period. What you say about their pricing is right, but they can be pushed quite hard to bring down the cost to change which is what matters. They also seem to get the right cars. I always check countrywide for the best deals. In the last 5 years I have bought cars in Yeovil, Carlisle and Leicester.

Preparation was OK. Car clearly had been extremely well looked after from new and interior is immaculate. The preparation was better than the 2 mercedes I previously had which both needed hub centres and tarnished exterior trim replaced under warranty. One of them was only 18 months old and the side rubbing strips were pitted.

The dvla website says to allow 5 days for update.

I was a bit worried this morning as dvla shows my car is untaxed. I rang Cheltenham Lexus who confirmed they taxed it. Apparently I'm the 2nd customer this week who's car is showing untaxed.

I was a bit worried this morning as dvla shows my car is untaxed. I rang Cheltenham Lexus who confirmed they taxed it. Apparently I'm the 2nd customer this week who's car is showing untaxed. The best garage I've dealt with is a family run Fiat dealership in Tutshill. My wife is on her second fiat 500 from there bought last month. Immaculate preparation and plate transfer. I used to go there with my alfa for servicing as it was about £100 service Cheaper than alfa and the service stamp was from a franchise.

I can't get full access to the portal yet as I haven't got the V5 and it is required to verify ownership. The car is on there with a private plate not the current number. I am hoping to get the V5 soon so I can put my plate on.

Definitely no film on the inside. The dealer did say the tints were factory fitted and they supplied the car from new so it will remain a mystery.