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Interesting - the LEDs are definitely very rare in the UK though. No offence to you if you like it, but I'm glad ours doesn't have the wood steering wheel - always preferred leather myself. However, like you we'd have LOVED the bamboo interior - again, I've only ever seen one GS for sale with that here. I think the real problem the bamboo had here was that it was so totally different to what the germans offer that no one was brave enough to order it (and yet the new volvo interiors with their matte woods are much closer to what lexus offered with the bamboo - and people are liking those). I like it precisely because it is so different to what the germans offer. Still, as I said elsewhere, colour is usually the thing you don't get to pick on a used car, when you find the one that is right. In this case the spec had us and the exterior colour was husband's first choice colour (mine was meteor blue), so we'll live with the black interior.

I have not. My current preferred route after polishing is Carpro Essence topped with Collinite 476 or 845 (I started with 476 and still have some left, recently got 845 and it's so easy to use, but not sure yet on durability). Prior to Essence I used a combo of AG SRP (for fillers), topped with EGP (for some durability) topped with 476 (for more durability and beading). This worked pretty well, but Essence gives the fillers AND with much better durability than SRP. Sometime in the spring or summer I will do a proper strip down (a more caustic snowfoam, farecla G3 body prep shampoo, clay), see how the paint is under that. I suspect some light correction (no more than G3 Paintwork renovator I think) followed by Essence and collinite will be the order of the day. My last deep detail of the V70 used that combination, and the 476 was still just about hanging on after 6 months through winter.

It's not that unusual for the time.... my 1998 Mitsubishi Galant 2.0 had the same setup (albeit 2 packs and 2 ht leads). It's called "wasted spark" ignition. The coil pack is energised and fires both plugs attached to it once per crank revolution - for one cylinder it fires at the end of the compression stroke (as expected), and the other cylinder fires at the end of the exhaust stroke (the "wasted" spark) - each coil is attached to the two cylinders that move together. In other words, if you look at this animation: Then a wasted spark ignition would have one pack for cylinders 1&6, one for 2&5 and one for 3&4. The wasted spark is harmless - there is no fuel mixture in the cylinder to ignite (in fact, as it occurs at the end of the exhaust stroke, there's very little at all in the cylinder), other than it halves the wear life of the spark plugs (but given that platinum and iridium spark plugs were becoming commonplace at the same time as wasted spark ignition, this was not problematic). The benefit to it, of course, is that it halves the number of expensive coil packs required, while still offering a distributorless ignition. The very short HT leads employed on wasted spark setups tended to better reliability than the longer HT leads of a distributor setup (to say nothing of the poor reliability of distributors themselves). These days individual coil packs have become commonplace and commoditised such that there's no point in the wasted spark system anymore, but it was not that unusual in the 90s into 2000s.

Hence unicorn.... On my thread, have a look at the interior picture I posted, you'll see the reflection of the hud projector in the windscreen.

Errrr.... hate to say this, but our 450h has HUD... but it is a 2015.

It came to us with quite a lot of wax on it, which had not really been properly taken off - lots of bits of excess wax left on it. We picked it up in Exeter and drove it up to yorkshire, so had to clean off the grime of the journey along with take off some of the excess wax. For that it was just a quick wash - ValetPro advanced neutral snowfoam, followed by Chemical Guys MaxiSuds for 2BM wash. Dried, then second stage dry with a little spritz of AG Aquawax. Lots of more stubborn watermarks and contamination marks showing up in the paintwork, but it's smooth and not hugely swirly, so not sure whether I'll machine polish it or just a gentle cleaning polish by hand. Probably I'll go through a couple more wash cycles just to get familiar with the nooks and crannies before a full decontamination and protection. As Colin said - all of it is LED, except for the indicator bulbs.

Indeed. I always say that you don't get to pick the colour when you find the used car that you want - I've always wanted a blue car but never had one. However, Red is my husband's favourite colour and he's describing this as "his" car. Getting the right outside colour with the options we wanted (mainly sunroof, im also a sucker for LED lights (my day job involves designing such))... well, the black interior is hardly unpleasant.

Our preferred interior option was Cream leather with the matte walnut wood. Sadly this one has black leather with black/brown wood (not totally sure if shimamoku or linear espresso). And yes, it's not clean inside!

That may also be to do with where the car was ordered/delivered in Japan. If the car was ordered for southern Honshu or for Shikoku or Kyushu islands then many people would forego an option like heated seats as the winters are mild. Some vehicles in those regions are even delivered with less/no undersealing (was the case with some mitsubishi models), as they are unlikely to encounter salt. Conversely, a car for northern Honshu or Hokkaido would be more likely to have heated seats specified as winters are much colder. However, we'd be less likely to see such a car imported here as a grey import as it wouldn't have the low rust that we'd be looking for to bother bringing a used car over.

As promised elsewhere, here are pictures of our Unicorn (although my husband has named it Priscilla). Why a Unicorn? GS450h Premier aren't exactly a common car, but they're not unique either... but they did have 3 options available, which very few people took. This car has all 3. It has the LED headlights (which although commonplace in the USA, I've never seen on any other UK pre-facelift GS), it has the sunroof and it has the PCS/ACC/LKA system. I've given it its first wash, and of course that's when you start to find some blemishes, but it drives beautifully and once it's had a few washes and I've got it properly decontaminated then a very light polishing (just to clean the paint really) and some proper protection should make her even more beautiful, Pics were a bit of a rush in the fading winter light. Just wait for summer!

Very nice! We just got ours on the 23rd, and still trying to get our heads around it!

Premier is the top spec.

Thanks, that makes sense - we have AHB and LKA, but it is a pre facelift.

Strange question.... Can anyone confirm that this object (which has a lens on the front) is the camera part of the PCS system on our GS? It is too "factory" to be a dashcam (sharing mount with the rear view mirror, no card slot, etc) and yet for a system like PCS it looks rather like an afterthought (compare to the Volvo City Safety camera setup - where everything is masked/shrouded and covered up on the inside). That said, the lump on top of the steering column also looks rather an afterthought too...

Pictures will come, don't worry... My understanding of the LSD is that 3rd gen GS450h had a mechanical LSD, but that the 4th gen uses the brakes to mimic LSD behaviour (ie applies the brake gently to the slipping wheel to push torque back across the open diff). My leaf also does the latter, and with traction control off is actually rather adept at climbing a snow-covered slope (as gentle ev torque gets you going so easily in snow). It's a solution that works well enough in 99% of normal road driving that there's little benefit to an LSD except on track these days.

Well, I have driven a Tesla... And unleashing the full power of an RWD car of this power, on summer tyres, on a greasy, wet midwinters day might not be entirely advisable. Hubby was very patient and convoyed with me in the leaf on the journey back.

Well, sleep didn't happen. 220 miles round trip in my leaf was also rather tedious... And hubby got to drive the GS back. Not quite sure what to say about the car... Let me think... ... ... ... Hmmmmm... Got it! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG 😁😱🚀 So... What we have is a 2015 GS450h Premier with all three options (sunroof, LED lights, PCS) in crimson/Riviera red. It is as immaculate as you could hope of a used car. Pics will follow once we get it home and detailed better...

T-minus 10. Sleep might be a good idea...

T minus 41 hours. 🕔 🦄🚗

I hate to say it... But RainX is your problem. It's fine in warm weather, or for the first week or two after application, but after that, especially in cold conditions (0-5C) it causes very bad smearing. The reason for it is that behind the wiper blade a very thin film of water is left, and the rainX causes it to bead at a much finer level than normal, so it appears as an opaque mist. This state lasts for 3-4 months after applying RainX. I stopped using rainX on the windscreen (and moved over to Gtechniq G5 for the side windows and mirrors), and things improved. The other bit of the puzzle is screenwash. Some screenwashes smear horrendously badly. A few years ago Halford's Double Concentrate did so very badly (not tried it since so no idea if they've reformulated it), and Prestone also. I've found Autoglym screenwash and Volvo screenwash not to do so. Phli mentioned Trico wiper blades - I had a set on my Honda that were great. I bought a set later on for my Volvo and they were abysmal. Also be aware that the clips on wipers wear out - I had a set on a car that made a loud "CLACK" every sweep when they stopped and changed direction at the top of the stroke. I thought they were hitting the A-pillar but they were not. It turned out that it was play in the clip, and a new set of wiper blades solved the issue. So, if you get juddering or noises, replace the whole wiper assembly, not just the rubber. If you get smearing, stop using rain repellant, clean the windscreen, put new wipers on and use autoglym or another good screenwash.

Kumho make some decent tyres. However, they're no more than that. They're better than Chinese ditch-finders, they'll compete in the mid-range and offer decent prices and that's fine for a 1.6 polo or an insignia diesel repmobile. But you're driving an F. Not a repmobile.

Maybe so, but the discussion on page 2 was about 225/45R17 in which you certainly can get both. On my Honda, which was on 225/45r17. I went from eagle f1 asymmetric to pirelli cinturato p7 and certainly noticed the much greater compliance in the Pirelli. The point I was trying to make was that the eagle F1s on Adrian300h's (where he does report skipping) are less compliant than the Yokohama blueearth on wharfhouse's car (who does not report skipping). All else being equal (car, tyre size).

Agreed, I had huge problems with RainX smearing on the windscreen, especially in colder temperatures. I've moved to Gtechniq G5 for side windows and mirrors - better than rainX and lasts WAY longer. However, it takes a lot of buffing off. Car looks great Rayaans. Definitely looking forward to giving our GS a good going over when we get it!

Does anyone else enjoy and/or take great pride in some specific little detail on your vehicle, and making it really stand out? I'll give an example, the D5 & Polestar badging on my V70: So often with this type badging you see dirt inside the lettering because people just run a sponge (eurgh) or mitt over the top of the badge, and don't properly get in and clean it. Badging is often just avoided, with no attempt to make the chrome pop after washing, even if people are giving the car a polish or wax. Sometimes I think people debadge rather than deal with detailing them. Similarly, the very deep Volvo lettering: So what are your proud little detailing details?

A little research into the UK car market would have made this spam distinctly more convincing...