wharfhouse

Just tried myself but it's behind a subscriber pay wall so the link works but can't read the article unless subscribed to the Telegraph unfortunately.

Just double check though as if you get a car registered after 1 April 2017 that was over £40K list price at the time of reg (which would include higher/top spec IS 300h) then you will be paying more VED than currently as it will be the standard £140 rate plus the £310 supplemental "luxury" rate (so £450 per annum in total) for the first 5 years of the cars VED renewal (so car is actually 6 years old as the first year is paid on purchase).

I also have the £10 VED but it was only at that level for a couple of years - mine is a 2014 IS 300h. If VED is a consideration some careful selection of a car in the right year of registration will be needed otherwise VED will be circa £140 per annum (or more if list price over £40K).

It's also still under Lexus mfr 3 year warranty at the moment but may not be soon (depending on when registered in 2019) so would make sense to be applying some serious pressure on Lexus to understand what is going on whilst still under warranty if the car is being used in a "normal" way.

Well to be honest I think the dealer is talking BS. Once the car is locked there is only the alarm/immobiliser and the smart entry system polling (which IIRC also shuts down to some sort of low power mode after a period of time - I think a few days). Regardless of the equipment levels /trim that's it. I don't know what that draws but if the car was run for a eg a couple of hours before being left and the battery is in decent condition you would certainly be able to leave it for for 5+ day (as Nemesis said he has left his for 3 weeks and I've left mine over 2 weeks) and start it ok.

I suggest that your car does not appear to be working as designed in that case. The 12V battery will last at least 5 days if it has been properly used previous to that. If it has been depleted before being left then of course it may not last 5 days. To have a brand new battery fitted and if using the car regularly and still not able to leave it 5 days then there is something not right causing a drain. I only speak from experience of my 7 year old (110k mile) original fit battery that will still be fine after 5+ days left standing. My wife's 2+ year old Toyota Yaris hybrid has just started quite happily after standing for 2 weeks and that has much the same tech as Lexus.

But all equipment has to be designed to a sensible operational envelope and to a price within that envelope and for cars that is probably around 10k miles per annum as an "average" mileage for most people. Of course there will be extremes of high and low from this but then it's not unreasonable to have users take additional precautions such as for very low mileage cars ensuring the 12V battery has some extra maintenance care. My car does around 15k miles per annum but our second car does only 5k miles (or less per annum) and so I take some additional precautions with that car to ensure we don't have issues. In reading various car forums it's invariably the very low mileage cars that seem to have the most problems and not the average (or even high) mileage cars.

My 2004 Honda Accord Tourer (a top spec trim) had pretty much the same equipment levels as my 2014 IS 300h Executive level trim. Both cars had/have small 12V batteries (the Honda one was physically about two-thirds the size of what one normally associates with a 12V battery). However both cars deliver(ed) as designed IMHO and with normal battery care (regularly runs of a decent length) both have performed to my expectations and yet both have had their fair share of criticism. Could they both have larger capacity batteries - possibly - would a lot of the problems have still existed - probably - especially with recent lockdown and people driving just a few thousand miles a year instead of the (as designed) mileages of 10,000 miles plus a year. Interestingly with my other cars I used to see many complaints of components failing that I never experienced. The common factor always seemed to be cars that were coverted and did very low mileage. In my experience cars deliver the least issues when running regular 10K+ per annum mileages and especially a reasonable amount of long runs in that (rather than short runs of a few miles now and again). When I bought my IS 300h it was two years old but with 40K miles on it. That was actually something I was quite pleased about as I knew it had been used regularly and mostly motorway use. It also made a lot of financial sense as many people would have shyed away from it so I was able to negotiate a good price.

Echoing much of the above it is not a design fault and works reliably if the car is used in a regular way. My IS 300h is 7 years old and has now done 111,000 miles on the original 12V battery. The car has been left on occasions for a week or two (even recently and in sub zero temperatures) with no issues starting again. I do however use the car regularly. The lockdowns seem to have caused a lot of the issues with 12V batteries as they have been discharging too low on a regular basis and then not had the longer time in use to properly recharge again. Smaller capacity batteries are not a new thing - we had a 2004 Honda Accord Tourer with a similar size battery to the IS 300h and that was a normal ICE. There were complaints back in the day that car had a design fault for the battery being too small but again we had no issues with regular use (the battery lasted as long as any other before needing replacement) other than my wife flattening it one evening leaving lights on and listening to the radio whilst waiting to pick someone up. Lesson learnt. With the IS 300h if you are waiting in the car and listening to the radio etc just leave the car running and you have all the power of the hybrid battery available to keep everything running, the car will stay warm or cold depending on what you want through the climate control, and if the hybrid battery starts to go down the car will simply start up the ICE to recharge everything.

OK - maybe they have changed since I last compared breakdown cover in that case (it was some years ago) - apologies if I misled anyone.

IIRC the AA (which Lexus also uses for its cover) covers the member in any car (driving or not) whereas the RAC covers a single car for anyone driving it. Other providers follow one or other of these models plus there my be add ons of course. So different models and which works for a particular person will depend on their circumstances. In addition, the Lexus breakdown cover for £125 covers the Lexus owner and partner both in any car plus its full breakdown cover (not just roadside assistance) in UK and Europe. That may be more than many people need of course but IMHO it's still good value unless you have very limited requirements. And if you have an Extended Warranty (old type or new 10 Year Plus) it's included in the price of the Warranty.

In my experience using the Extended Warranty ask your Lexus dealer and they will liaise with the warranty company - no need for you to contact the warranty company directly. If corroded brakes pipes are an MoT failure then I think they may be covered on the Lexus Extended Warranty. Have a read of the T&Cs and let the Lexus dealer know you have Extended Warranty and see what they say (they may already know you have Extended Warranty but in my experience they sometimes don't check before telling you about work that is needed so you have to remind them).

Most rear wheel drive cars (at least all those I have had over a lifetime) wear the inner edges of the rear tyres and the outer edges of the front tyres slightly due to the their setup. My IS 300h is the same. However, it should not be an extreme amount and generally although the edges have worn more then the centres the tyres last until ready for replacement with about 3mm left at the centres. Front wheel drive in my experience wear the rears and fronts a bit more evenly. If you have a lot of tread left in the centre and the edges are completely shot I would get a full alignment done. As above, my front tyres "skip" on full lock in the cold too. Nothing to worry about.

He would have just put your registration number from the photo in https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/ to get the MoT history

On my IS 300h (2014 reg) I usually listen to BBC Radio 2 on DAB. However it has a fall back to VHF and so if it loses the DAB signal it switches to FM. There is no loss of reception and the only way I know it's switched from DAB to FM is the change in "tone" of the music or by looking at the radio display on the dash monitor. I've driven all over the UK and always had uninterrupted Radio 2 coverage that seamlessly switched between DAB and FM (other than some very odd deep valleys where even FM gave up). I'm not sure whether this FM link is switchable - mine has always done it. Maybe something to check assuming you are listening to a DAB station that is also available on FM. I did have a Mercedes hire car a while ago where on DAB it kept losing the signal and so it simply cut out in the same places my Lexus would have fallen back to FM but I never bothered to investigate whether the Merc had the same FM link functionality.

Yes, I think when it needs to be changed I'll go to Lexus - doesn't seem too much more than just the battery on it's own for Lexus to change it.

OK thanks - that's interesting - hadn't come across the radio causing a parasitic drain before - will keep an eye open if the battery starts to give up in that case though all is ok at the moment - although I could change the 12V battery myself (done it lots of times in other makes of cars) might leave it to Lexus for this car just in case and then let them sort out any issues if they occur...

Now you have me intrigued when you say for a 2014 model parasitic drain from the radio. Could you explain more - as I mentioned earlier I have a 2014 reg IS 300h but not had any problems so far and it's original 12V battery and 110K miles and can still leave it for a week unused and it starts OK (well it did last time I left it for a week which was a few months ago).

Mine is a DB Power one that I bought quite a few years ago. Not had to use it on my car but did use it to start someone else's diesel van so I know it works. If you do a search on the likes of Amazon for something like jump start pack there are quite a number. Get one with decent customer reviews and for around £50 and should work especially as hybrids draw so little power to get into Ready mode.

If it's a flat battery due to lack of use you will have exactly the same problem with a hybrid Auris or Yaris for the reasons Herbie listed above. In fact you will probably get battery problems with non-hybrid ones to. My IS 300h is a 2014 reg and has now done 110k miles and still on its original 12V battery but it does do a decent mileage each week so it's not an inherent issue in the IS 300h. For a flat battery you should be able to start the car with one of the Li Ion glove box charge packs (as starting a hybrid takes only a small amount of power). If that doesn't work there are probably some other issues though.

If you are looking at a 4 year old car then it will come with 12 months Extended Warranty from the dealer and if you continue to have it serviced at a Lexus dealer it will have the Relax Extended Warranty applied for up to 10 years or 100k miles old which is free of charge (so long as its serviced on time at Lexus which is every 12 months or 10k miles) and also the hybrid warranty (which can apply to 15 years old and unlimited mileage if serviced at Lexus or can be purchased separately). After 10 years old or 100k miles there is an Extended Warranty that can be purchased annually taking the car to 15 years or 150k miles old (so long as it's serviced by Lexus). All info and T&Cs are on the Lexus website for Relax (though not the 10 Year Plus Extended Warranty). Also on the website (under Owners / Service and Maintenance) if you scroll down that page you can enter a car model and see the service costs for each model. You can also take a multi year service plan that you pay monthly and fixes the service prices for a few years.

As you live near Reading just to balance your thoughts - I have used Lexus Reading (Jemca) for 5 years - purchased a 2 year old 40k mile IS 300h there in 2016 and had all servicing, mot, tyres and everything else done there since (just booked it in for its 110k service). I have had (and still have) Extended Warranty on the car and made a couple of claims. Everything has been handled comprehensively by Lexus Reading and I have no complaints. Of course it's more expensive than an independent but I'm happy with the service vs price provided (and also with the same group's Jemca Toyota next door where my wife's Toyota is looked after). Of course YMMV.

Turn on the parking sensors on the dashboard push button switch and you should get the green tree symbol in the dash lit. As you approach an obstacle (at low speed) you start and get the beeps and yellow lines which turn to red lines and a continous tone when very close. The symbol you show is the one that you are very close to something directly in front of the car (there are similar side indications that can appear too). If this is on and there is no obstruction try cleaning the bumper and grill area where the sensors are. If no luck with that sounds like a sensor fault. Regards reverse the same happens - as you approach an object you'll get yellow lines on the display and beeps and then red lines and continuous tone when very close. Not all trim grades had parking sensors front and rear though so make sure you can see the sensors in the rear bumper to see if they are fitted.

The standard equipment of the different grades on the IS were a little strange at times...

What services are you thinking of - most of the connected services as far as I am aware are for the Premium Nav system - I have standard nav and don't have any of those.