wharfhouse

My take on this is: I have used supermarket fuels for decades and run cars to high mileages without any problems. I found a noticeable drop in economy using the new E10 (over the old spec 95 octane fuel) - strangely not immediately but after a number of months. I switched to the new E5 instead of E10 and the economy went back to previous (or slightly better) levels making the same trips in the same conditions comparing the same supermarket E5 and E10 (in this case the same Sainsbury's). The difference between E10 and E5 fuel economy is between 5% and 10% - I find if E10 is in the tank for some time (a few weeks) the economy definately falls off which doesn't happen with E5. As for performance I can't really tell the difference between E5 and E10 but the car does run noticeably quieter and smoother on E5 - again this is comparing E10 and E5 from the same Sainsbury's. My conclusion from the above was if there is less than 10p (at today's prices) difference between E10 and E5 then using E5 will break even or save me money (and the car seems to run better on E5). Now, Sainsbury's used to be about 6p difference per litre between E10 and E5 (so definitely saving me money) but more recently I noticed the difference has crept up to 10p a litre. I've tried various branded E10 and have not noticed a significant change over the supermarket fuel - for me BP E10 seemed to offer a small improvement, Shell E10 not (in fact I thought it was slightly worse) and so overall I do make a saving using supermarket fuel given the extra cost of branded fuel. The E5 price difference for branded fuels I've tried (which is often more than 10p a litre) could never be more financially economical. About 6 months ago we got a Costco fuel station near to me and so I switched to Costco for the majority of my fuel. The fuel is always a few pence per litre cheaper than even the cheapest supermarket alternative - sometime more - and the difference between their own E5 and E10 is about 7p per litre. So I now use Costco E5 wherever I can. The car runs very quietly and smoothly on this and compared to any branded E5 (BP, Shell etc.) the price difference is some 20p a litre cheaper so a no brainer really.

What's the difference in tread depth across the tyre? Inner edges often wear more than the rest of the tyre on rear wheels so to some degree that is normal and you might have eg 3mm left on the rest if the tyre when the inner edges mean it needs replacement. However if you have significant tread left on the tyre when the inner edges have gone an alignment may well be needed.

I was close to being an ex Lexus owner after only one car some after the fateful decision not to bring the latest IS to the UK. There's nothing else in the range I want. However, with the EV mess I've decided I'm probably best served keeping my current IS 300h for the foreseeable future to see how things pan out over the next few years - so a reprieve for now.

Lexuspartsdirect is a Lexus franchise dealer based in Swindon owned by Fish Brothers - they are the only dealer who appear to sell online though (and at a slight discount) so no difference in many ways to buying through a local dealer. Very useful however when the part can be posted at a reasonable cost but large and relatively inexpensive parts will work out cheaper getting through a local dealer unless you live within a sensible distance of Swindon. I've always found them very helpful when needing parts (they also have other franchises and I've ordered Toyota parts from them too).

Yes, I think the number of Lexus being nicked may be having an impact on insurance renewal premiums. My Lexus IS 300h insurance has gone up 37% over last year despite no changes whatsoever on my side. I have run quotes on the comparison sites and none of them is coming in less than my current provider (Tesco Insurance) has quoted (i.e. 37% higher than last year) and so it's not the usual insurance games of putting up the renewal premiums. On the other hand my wife's Toyota Yaris renewal premium (also with Tesco Insurance) has come in the same as last year (again with no changes year-on-year). So IMHO something going on with Lexus cars and premiums. So yes, even though I don't have such a worry about my car being nicked I really hope that Lexus sort this for new cars to make sure we are not all paying a higher insurance premium that we need to.

Agreed that the IS appeal is to a limited audience but the sales of BMW 3 series is still (relatively) strong. I came from a string if BMWs (3 and 5 series) looking for something different (I'd got quite bored of them) and the IS drew me in for the reasons it was different (and I liked the points you mention, incl the e-cvt), it pleasantly surprised me when I test drove one and it has continued to grow on me ever since, making the lack of another (refreshed) IS to trade up to even more frustrating... the ES just doesn't pique my interest in the same way - I'm sure it does a lot of things very well, as the IS does, but the ES seems to appeal to an even more limited audience IMHO...

I suppose the question that will always go unanswered is would the refreshed IS have sold in greater numbers than the ES. I for one would have bought the refreshed IS but have have no intention of buying an ES - I am now running my IS 300h for the foreseeable future until I see how the whole industry starts to shake out or it become uneconomical to keep on the road.

When I had German cars the headlights coming on with the wipers was an excellent idea. However on the Japanese cars I have had, including Lexus, this feature has never been implemented. I was just discussing it last weekend with my daughter who has a Kia and they also do not have this feature so it seems to be something the far east marques do not do.

I don't think so as they weren't at all pushy about it - just went through the report and told me the cost if/when I should decide to have them done. I've never found my dealer trying to sell me what wasn't needed - in fact on a couple of occasions they actively suggested not doing some things I'd enquired about and was happy to pay for.

I always speak to the dealer to book a courtesy car for service or mot etc and usually have no problem with a few weeks notice. This was the first time I've not been able to get one without waiting such a long time (over 6 weeks).

All seems very hit and miss as just had 130K service and fuel vent tube recall done at Lexus Reading yesterday and have no complaints with the service I received - very courteous and attentive as usual. Only negative was I couldn't get a courtesy car even with well over a month's notice. Not a big problem this time but I hope it's not a regular issue. I did notice a distinct lack of cars in the showroom though (just two of them).

There are changes happening for quite a few dealers by the look of this: https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/exclusive-constellation-forced-to-put-toyota-and-lexus-marshall-dealerships-up-for-sale/277398

Yes, I will have an MoT in September so I think will leave it until then and see what they report on the rear discs at that time.

Agreed, though with past non-hybrid cars I had two pad changes at the rear before I had to change the discs - that's why I was quite surprised when they said they recommend rear discs to be replaced when the original pads still have so much life left in them - so wondering when others had changed the rear discs on hybrids.

Yes agree - for the front discs it's ambiguous just to say lipped without any measurement. The fact that they say "will require replacement at next pad change" when there is still 9mm left on the pads means that replacement is either a long way away or more than likely when the discs reach minimum thickness which as you say should be a red mark at a future service. The last set of discs/pads did 80K miles (and weren't actually worn to minimum) so given I have been driving the same I expect to be looking to change the fronts around 160K miles. The rears were more interesting since I've had the car from 2 years old (when it had 40k miles on it) and I've put 90k miles on in just over 6.5 years (which includes a lot of motorway driving, so not so much use of the brakes) so it's been well used and never sitting for long and the discs themselves are bright and evenly worn where the pads contact (and there is a lip which I'd expect) and I've not had anything like a sticking calliper. The rest of the disc (other than the contact area) is however heavily corroded and in the contact area there are dark spots which I understand are corrosion in the disc material. Given that the pads are original and still have 8mm remaining, it means the rear disc condition itself based on age rather mileage will be the deciding factor of when to change rather than the disc thickness or the pads being worn out. In previous (non-hybrid) cars I have generally got through two sets of pads per set of discs - so the pad thickness was always the leading factor for changes. Being a hybrid I can understand that the pads can last longer, but I was surprised that I don't still get through two sets of front pads before a disc change, though your experience of 1.5 sets of pads per disc concurs with the discs and pads being changed together on the front for an IS. More understandable that the rears having much less use in a hybrid means they last a lot longer, but interesting that it has got to a point where there is plenty of pad life left but the discs become the deciding factor. As for the pad thickness left front and rear, this is as measured by Lexus at the service - it did surprise me they said there was so much pad thickness left given the mileage, but I haven't personally checked that myself.

No complaints about my local dealer although they seem to be moving to a more hands off model (booking online and key drop facilities etc.) however the service and recall I had done yesterday was still a pleasant experience.

Had my 130k mile service done yesterday on my 2014 IS 300h. On the health check it was noted: - Front discs worn/lipped - will require replacement at next pad change - pads 9mm remaining - Rear discs are heavily worn and badly surface corroded - recommend replacement with rear pads - pads 8mm remaining I had my front discs and pads replaced at 80k miles as the front wheel bearings had to be changed and so made sense at the time as the discs were quite close to minimum thickness. The rear discs/pads have never been replaced though. It's interesting that given the 8/9mm of pads remaining (which is some 80% of what they start off with when new I believe), particularly on the rears, it appears the discs are actually what seem to wear down or corrode (with age) before the pads are worn out. In previous cars one could usually get a couple of pad changes out of one set of discs. There was no hard sell from the dealer to change the discs - just pointed it out on the report (as did the tech in the video they sent) and let me know a cost should I want it done. The fronts I will leave for the time being (as the last set did 80k miles) but will need to consider if I get the rears done - can't complain at 130k miles but just wondering if others have done their rears on the IS 300h and if so what sort of mileage?

Had the fuel tank vent tube recall done yesterday on my 2104 reg IS 300h along with it's 130k mile service. Everything handled smoothly by the dealer and completed on time for me to pick up. The car was washed and cleaned as usual. Didn't get any free fuel or other goodies as some others have at different dealerships but not too concerned as the overall experience was positive.

Over 130k miles the rears do 20k miles and the fronts 40k miles as regular as clockwork

Lexus now fit wiper blades branded as Toyota Optifit Uniblades covering all of their cars (and Toyota cars) - both as original fitment to new cars and as replacements. I had these fitted last time by my Lexus dealer to my IS 300h a couple of years ago. They are a bit different to the Lexus OEM ones I had on previously and so don't know whether these new style blades are still manufactured by Denso or not - certainly no Denso branding on them. However they have performed well.

That's a shame - thanks for the update and trying it out

I've driven quite a few cars in my many years, from new or nearly new to high mileages, and only ever serviced them according to the manufacturers schedule (mostly at the manufacturers dealership) and none of them have caused any major problems. Personally I don't subscribe to all these self-declared YouTube experts (many of whom are based in a the very backward looking,when it comes to car technologies, USA) claiming how wrong the manufactuers are despite those manufacturers spending many millions of pounds on R&D and who have a reputation to protect. IMHO YouTube is largely full of people more interested in building their audience through trying to be controversial and who are mainly interested in the revenue they will get from that. Just my opinion, but I do speak from real experience of actually running my cars at mileages in a way these people say it should have failed ages ago. However if anyone wants to change fluids and whatever else before the scheduled mileage, it's a free world (well some is anyway!) so no problem with that.

Yes, although I get the LRA as part of the Lexus 10 Year Plus Extended Warranty if it wasn't included I would still go for the LRA separately for my circumstances. I have compared the minimum I need (so my wife and I covered to drive any car with breakdown, at home, recovery etc. in the UK) and no other provider is cheaper (if only one person cover is needed then it could be done cheaper I think) - however if Euro cover is also needed then there is nothing at all to touch the LRA cover that I could see.

You could be right about only being mileage - because I do about 15k miles a year I only tend to think in mileages. Not sure how they tested it though.

Lexus / Toyota coolant in our cars is 10 year / 100K mile life for the first fill - at least from 2014 which my car is. When my 100K service came around (the car was about 6 years old IIRC) I was on an Essentials Maintenance plan for which there was additional cost for replacing the likes of coolant. I said to Lexus I'm happy to pay for the coolant change but they tested the coolant and said no need to change it yet - I'd have happily paid for the change in addition to the Essential Maintenance plan so trust they did the right thing (and I have an Extended Warranty that I will be maintaining until 150K miles). The 150K service says to change coolant again (as after the first change it should go to 50K miles, presumably because they don't get all the old coolant out). The inverter coolant is also scheduled to be changed at 150K miles too and so I will ask them to do both at the 150K mile service.