B1RMA

I agree I've tried to get on with the sat nav in the car but it is crap, my TomTom is instant has speed camera warnings etc etc and with placing a small self adhesive disc in front of the existing screen keeps it in place' job done.

Indeed it must have been, according to my research a UK press release from Lexus in December 2016 stated that all cars will be equipped with AVS. It would be so embarrassing for the chap if it was older and didn't have AXS.

You would really but I guess we all have to earn a buck. Trouble is these days with the internet we can with a little effort become an anorak on most subjects.

I agree sounds a bit like salespeak (bull****) to me. I agree, once these cars have reached a certain age they are a good buy.

I know the review is a very positive one for both the RCF and GSF but I think his conclusion is spot on. He too drives it in manual mode most of the time as I have found I prefer it . The other review by Chris Harris on the RCF is pretty good too, I don't think the RCF is a track fiends vehicle either but I do agree with his final statement about the car growing on you over a longer period of time.

That seems a bit low mileage wise to have worn out the discs, my last car an AMG with 600+ bhp and being a bit of a heavy motor lasted in excess of 50K so maybe they use a very soft metal on the RCF. Considering how big they are too I'm very surprised at them needing replacement at half the mileage of my last car.

Hello and welcome, I'm from Hampshire too. What sort of mileage has it done to warrant disc replacement?

Going slightly off topic and any excuse for a photo of some of my previous cars here is my Alpine along with my V8 Esprit, I ran the two of them for about a year and preferred the Alpine. Back on topic the Alpine was covered with a Covercraft Weathershield HP most of the time and it never marked the paintwork.

Such words of wisdom, do you get out much?

The Weathershield HP is rated as one of the best outdoor covers. It is expensive but is made from a rather high priced fabric. You can get it custom made to the shape of your car. I think Ultimate Finish sell them. When I had too many cars to fit into my double garage I bought one for my Alpine A610 it really was worth the money.

It really isn't that good in my opinion, the other thing going for the later TomTom's is the fact they have a very good speed camera alerting system that's as good as the Road Angel products.

Small world indeed I did, apart from them not wanting to do a deal the paint-work was diabolical in bright sunshine.

Well I’ve had my RCF for a year now and the fact I’m writing this is a real turnaround for me. Being a serial car changer I have rarely kept a car longer than a year due to boredom with the same old same old. Although my V12 twin turbo AMG did last for 14 months, my V8 Esprit only lasted 11 months despite ploughing an eye watering amount of money to get it in tip top shape Having seen one in the flesh at my local petrol station then watching the Chris Harris video of the RCF I was hooked In the 12 months I’ve had the car I find myself liking it more than when I first bought it. Although it has only done 8000 miles it has never missed a beat or caused any concern despite me going overboard with buying a car with the AVS suspension and the TVD. In fact I felt so confident in Lexus build quality/engineering I was quite happy to buy the car with these items, something I would never have contemplated with any of my past car brands. The navigation is crap so I keep my current TomTom for journeys, the sound system is pretty good for a car environment and the fuel consumption is really 20 MPG. After about the first month onwards I drove the car in mostly the manual setting as I feel the car a bit sluggish in Auto. because it has so many gears in auto it seemed to be in top gear a few hundred metres down the road. There is no doubt about the fact these cars are crying out for an aftermarket exhaust the standard one is just far too quiet and doesn’t inspire you to drive enthusiastically. Despite what a few people have said I like the ventilated seats and for a person who ‘runs’ hot in a car they are a God-send in the summer months for someone like me. They make any long trip on a hot day a pleasure as does the AVS suspension setting which is softer by default. I can think of a few cars I’ll probably replace it with, I’ve always lusted after the AMG SLS and of late been very tempted to place a deposit for the new upcoming mid engined C8 Corvette which actually fits in my plans quite well as it’s due mid 2021 so I may just keep the RCF until then.

I'm lucky I have a 'rent a ramp service' 2 minutes from my home, it's dead cheap and if I ever want to do any little fettling (which is about my pay grade) i use them. Used it to fit the Quicksilver exhaust to my RCF and have fiddled about with my Mini on it too. If like me you feel the main dealer may not be quite so anal about mechanical things it gives you piece of mind.

I agree there about the warranty company trying every method in the book to avoid paying out.

That is a very good point regarding what some main dealers do attempt to charge. When I had my AMG SL63 I took it to my local main dealer in Portsmouth. I'll cut a long story short but basically they reported that all four tyres were almost 'bold' yes bold not bald. My wipers needed replacement and one or two other small items. I declined their offer of £1200 for the items they said were required and said I'll sort it myself. Basically I am a bit of a fanatic with my cars and I knew the tyres were okay and a quick wipe clean of the wiper blades sorted the other matter out. So I never darkened their doors again. There is no doubt some independents are very good at what they do, locally again when I had my CL65 I used MB World for the main servicing for the stamped book but gave all the other replacement work to a local independent as they were more on the ball. I think in many ways it's down to the value of the car, if it's an expensive specialist car then you do have to keep to a main dealer schedule. My experience of this is as someone who generally changed his car every year and when advertising it the first question from buyers was 'does it have a main dealer service history' I've not had any problems in the past selling my cars and I'm sure the re-assurance of a main dealer does help, as to whether that is justified is debatable. Having said that I have had no reason to question Lexus servicing in fact my local Hedge End dealer seems to be pretty good so far.

Compared to many of the cars I've owned I find Lexus servicing costs very low. As others have said there may be a problem selling it on later, I think that's a decision only you can make after hearing from other more qualified long term owners. Again from what I've heard from other owners the Lexus Warranty is something I wouldn't turn down. One, because again it's real value for money. Two, the no quibble reputation Lexus seem to have is something I haven't experienced with other cars in the past. Personally I certainly wouldn't stray from the Lexus system umbrella.

Nice touch.

You should be able to get your deposit back because the car was not as advertised i.e. the mileage. For the record speaking as a complete and utter gadget freak regarding the AVS. When I tried the first RCF without, then drove one with, my thoughts were that the non AVS drove perfectly fine but when you drive a car with AVS very shortly afterwards it became apparent to me that in the standard setting the car is a lot smoother, when you select sport + on an AVS car it tightens up in a way that gives a ride similar to the standard car without AVS. So my conclusion was that I'd rather have it as an option than not. If Tein ever make an EDFC system for the RCF like they do for the ISF that will change the whole ballgame.

It is very good value for money, my last AMG (a V12 twin turbo) was £1900 for a year. The Lexus warranty according to some members with experience of it is remarkable in this day and age. You either have manufacturers warranties costing an arm and a leg or third party warranties like Warranty Direct refusing to pay out as in the case of Lord Flasheart on Pistonheads. For those not familiar with the case it makes very sobering reading.

I had the Michelin Alpin's on my Phaeton they were very good indeed and lasted forever. You can get Sotozero's that are not run flat, personally for a high powered car they are good.

That's the best plan if you have another car to use during the bad weather, I've found the Pirelli Sotozero winter tyres to be superb on high performance vehicles. I remember one year when I had my nice shiny new car I got completely covered with that grit s**t they put on the roads then to add insult to injury it got me going again the other way later in the evening.

The car does have a snow setting so I guess that would help, I ran my RCF last winter on summer tyres for the odd day I took it out. I guess if you are doing a daily commute in it winter tyres are probably a good idea, although there is no accounting for the idiot behind you without winter tyres to plough into you. There is a long running debate raging about winter tyres, my take on it is if you live up North they are essential, down here on the South Coast it rarely gets so cold as to justify them. If I remember rightly I hadn't bothered to put them on my daily for the last two winters. I'm lucky enough to have a few cars so I use my Minivan if it gets really bad and leave the RCF at home. The main advantage of winter tyres is the braking distance improvement at low temperatures, but as I said in the first paragraph its no good if the car behind doesn't.

I'm really surprised that a Lexus dealer would consider such a thing as putting cheap low rated tyres on a 470 BHP car that they surely know well. When I bought mine it had the factory fitted Michelin PS4's so luckily being very low mileage they hadn't been changed.

I had Michelin PS4S's fitted as part of the spec on my new wheels, can't say I've noticed any difference over the PS4's originally fitted on the car from the factory. According to the driving Gods and other better experienced testers there is a difference between the PS4 and the PS4S. One thing is for sure skimping on tyres is a false economy, although part of a raging debate I am in the pro winter tyre brigade purely for the better braking distances in cold weather. Just to qualify that, on the South Coast we rarely get extremely low temperatures.