H3XME

to be honest with you, there isn't many options for these cars at all. Especially the hybrid version. You can get aftermarket exhausts for 200t, 350 and the RC-F but I haven't come across anything for the 300h. Those eBay tips will be all universal and nothing will be an easy fit. I think they look quite good on this car, but if you're really that bothered your only option seems to be a custom solution by your local exhaust shop. Tips only will be cheaper than faffing about with a full exhaust system/mufflers, so I reckon you're looking at ~£250.. go in and see what they offer, but I'm confident in saying there is nothing "off the shelf" for this. Not yet anyway.. still a new car

That's a very minor thing to do.. There's plenty of Install videos on YouTube.

Well yeah that's the thing. Us enthusiasts like to keep the car in a good shape and make it better and sometimes even safer. I'm not far from putting GS450h brakes on, so that's my safety upgrade... the insurance should be cheaper technically 😉

I get stopped fairly regularly 😂 They normally just ask about the car, or question my number plate but never got into any trouble, touch wood. That being said, my car sticks out from the crowd, so how often a regular Joe in a stock car would get pulled over, who knows. I don't think I know anybody who got pulled over who hasn't got a stupid car like me.

I'd start with perhaps training the police force.. It seems like everywhere else in the world, Australia, Europe, Canada, USA.. coppers are actually educated about cars and can do certain checks themselves etc. Here? You get pulled over on a suspicion, get sent for an MOT re-test which you can pass with £50 in your hand and the "right" tester.. nothing will change because that person won't touch their car but will pass the re-test.

People are incredibly lazy and uneducated so they go for an MOT to be told what needs doing rather than caring enough to fix it before hand. You're ultimately setting your cash on fire because anything that will be done by the MOT garage or any garage at all will cost you more than doing it yourself. I'm talking about simple things that anybody can do now e.g. bulbs, wipers.. Part of getting the license should be learning how to fill up your tyres, top up your screen wash etc.. those two things alone can fail your MOT. I know people, mainly females that can't even put tyres in their tyres.. it infuriates me. Their dads should've taught them better! I just the other week had to show my girlfriend how to put air into her tyres and where the screen wash goes.. and how to even open the bonnet. You can imagine my face when I found out about this. 😑 I feel like everybody should know or at least be taught how to do these simple things, like changing your tyre etc... but I suppose they don't so others can capitalise. Welcome to 21st century.

You're telling me that a car has rotten that much in 1 year? Sounds a bit fishy! How does it go from "fine", "no advisories" to a failure within a year? Sounds like whoever tested the car prior to the last MOT didn't do a very good job. OR of course, it was purposely "missed".. Some of the MOT rules are stupid anyway. You won't pass if you have lights on your dash.. I for example have the bucket seat in, which means the factory plug is empty and results in a lit air bag light on the dash. However, if I put a resistor in OR even tape over the bulb inside the cluster it passes. Same for a different steering wheel. I can take my wheel out, put an aftermarket steering wheel in without an air bag and as long as the dash light is off, it passes even though it's very obviously not standard and if you can put 2 & 2 together you know it's got no air bag now, so why does it matter if the air bag light is on or not in this case? Obviously it's a different scenario if you haven't modified anything and your air bag light comes on.. then it's on because something is wrong as opposed to having the light on by "choice", not by some unknown fault.

Okay so.. picked up the seats this morning. Took the passenger seat out last night so i can test fit the 2014 IS300h seats and they fit! Over the moon. i’ll do the other this weekend. They bolt right in, just need to transfer the belt buckle as it doesnt fit. its a bit dirty, but other than that its in a good condition.

I'll have it off you for £4k 😉

@imgo just out of curiosity, if you don't mind sharing. How much are Lexus offering for your part exchange? I'm just curious to see what they value a 9 year old, 200,000 mile IS300h at. Given it's been serviced by them all its life, it should be a reasonable amount of money? Although it'll go straight off to an auction anyway. I don't see them having a 200,000mile car in the front yard.

Yes.. they've been doing up a new roundabout by my work, near the NEC and I always see about 10 guys just standing there watching 1 that actually does work. 😂

Yeah exactly - F-Sport look alike. Like Sean said, 2009-2010 cars have a different grill & 2011+ have another variant and sadly they aren't interchangeable. My friend has a 2009 (Facelift) and bought pre-facelift "F-Sport" (05-08) grill thinking she will just swap the grill while retaining the surround but it's a different shape.. won't work. See the vid she sent me. IMG_9655.MOV

Yes, we know. Insurance is a f*cked up business and the way it works in the UK makes no sense. Generally speaking, off-line quotes are 90% of the time cheaper even if they are from companies listed on Comparethemarket etc.. They have to pay to be online, and therefore inflate the online price. Not every insurance company is being an*l about mods, but obviously if you know you are going to modify your car to an extent of putting an aftermarket bumper on (not talking about little things like painted calipers), you should look for specialists.. and why wouldn't you? Yeah, eSure might insure you for £600/year, and they might not charge anything extra for declaring your bumper, but because they aren't specialists, they will not insure your modification like for like, so if you crash your car, they look at it as a standard car, regardless of mods. Specialists will look at your car as it is, so I crashed my IS250, the value of the car is so and so, but the parts come up to £4000 - and that's insured. And also, just because you're going to a specialist, it doesn't mean it will be dearer. When I was shopping around, I tried 7 different companies over the phone, 4 of them didn't want to insure my car because of the mods, but even if it was standard, they were dearer than my quote from specialists..

@Matt1280 there is a few options in terms of grills & lips in america.. You can have a look at my car. In terms of 3IS bumper conversion.. can be yours for ~600 quid delivered + paint. EASY. I'm tempted to do it myself, but I put my new lip on the car and I'm happy for the time being. Bumper from Latvia: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114770964320 And attached is my car with the front lip. @Linas.P telling the insurance is not a problem and it is worth doing so, just in case. Many insurance providers, such as BRENTACRE who I am with, charge £0 for declaring modifications. It's better to be covered. + They covered like for like parts.. with my list , should I claim, I'll get everything paid out for its full value - this is why they have a detailed mod list from me.

No point messing about with the tyres. Chances are it will still be wrong. I can't imagine the look of 225/60R18s on IS250😂 That's a Volvo XC60 tyre! (Well technically 235/60R18) I don't think it would fit lol But yeah, like others have said. The car is over reading. I notice that a lot when I occasionally use Waze instead of Google Maps as Waze shows your speed.. I'm doing ~78mph when Waze says I went over 70.. so 10% makes sense. Still, I got flashed for less before, so I'm sticking to speedo reading because I cba to appeal this at court if another fine comes.. and following this logic, since you can go over by 10% + 3 legally, your speedo will be reading ~88mph and that's your legal motorway speed.. technically.. I'm not testing it, that's for sure.

FIY pre-facelift " f sport " grills are ~£80 on eBay. 2009+ are much more expensive.

Not the smell, but mine also does this sort of 5000rpm+.. it doesn't like you being aggressive when changing to that gear. I wouldn't worry too much about the gearbox oil either. Made no difference when I had mine done.

I have no idea. I don't see why not. Should be the same thread M12x1.25

It's that time of the year.. I had an itch for doing something to my car and an idea.. The idea was "hmm, wonder if I can fit IS300h seats into my 2IS.." and the answer is YES I was lucky enough to find a breaker near me, who sold me half-leather front seats from IS300h SE for £60 each. I already have a "bucket" seat on the driver's side, and I don't miss the heated or air conditioned seats, so for me these will work just fine. I really don't like the look or the feel of the stock leather seats, so the 3IS seats will be a nice upgrade. And I'm glad I could find these, as they are VERY rare.. 95% cars have leather seats, so to find these "peasant" spec half leathers, was just perfect. 😂 I'm going to be fitting them on Wednesday. They bolt right in, but two plugs are different. These aren't power seats anyway, so no hassle there. I'll report with pics in on Wednesday

There is another big silencer.. just after the back boxes. so we have 3 silencers & 4 cats. You never know what those weird amazon mufflers will do to your system in terms of sound.. risky game. I've got HKS mufflers as I knew muffler delete would be too annoying, so I would recommend those but not everyone fancies spending £800 on that. In comparison though, you are getting a high quality product. Great sound when you want it, and no drone. I say when you want it because it's like stock until 2000rpm

I've had mine for a year now. Passed MOT without any issues at all. Don't worry about it. The way these plug in to the fuse box to get DRLs working is so easy that if you were stressed about the garage failing you you can just unplug it and the lights will work as normal minus DRLs.. I have never heard of anyone failing MOT with these and I personally know 2 people with them. People worry too much!

Better yet.. call Lexus to verify. Simplest solution

What does the log book say? It's weird because here it says it's an F-Sport and the spec checks out.. Where did you find it says SE-L?

@JC12 I had a similar issue.. My car does have M&L system with the rear sub though, but I was looking into installing a big boy sub in the boot. I've got an aftermarket sub, but the stock amp isn't right for any sort of aftermarket setup as I found out the hard way. Which I reckon would be your case also.. and like you said, M&L amp plays big a role in the whole infotainment system working properly so the only feasible way to run an aftermarket setup is to have a car without this M&L bolloc*s - like yours. . I made my peace with the fact I'm stuck with stock sub because I don't fancy spending money on an amp & and whole lot of wiring to get my screen working as well just to get a little extra bass. However, if you decide to go down the route of aftermarket amp to make everything work for you, I'm happy to swap my box subwoofer for the stock M&L sub you've got..

If it's already in the country, all you need is DVLA registration with a proof of MOT. Registering a car is like £55 IIRC. You only pay VAT etc upon getting the car from the ship yard. So it's not gonna be a lot of money, just a lot of paperwork. Yeah lol, I can imagine the MPGs are similar to 370z.. 19 in town and 34 on the run. Almost 10mpg less in either scenario.