Steven Lockey

Check with lexus if its still eligible for the Lexus Hybrid checks, if it is, you'll have the battery covered for £60 every year. So if it goes, Lexus pay for it. Yep the shocks weren't cheap, that did include labour. One of those things that goes with mileage so shouldn't be a worry if this is a low milage one. Worth watching out for through before you purchase. There are cheaper options like the non-adjustable ones available as well. From what I've read, the shocks tend to start going between 120k-150k miles so you may have a way to go before you have to worry about that.

Yep. Exhaust from just before the resonator back (cats were all fine) Shocks only, the rest of the suspension is fine. Traction battery I could of got repaired but decided a new one was better given the longer warranty. Given I got it for £1700, then they refunded £700 when the traction battery was confirmed faulty (after much pushing by me) I can't complain, it's still a very nice car for the £5500 I've effectively paid for it over the last 3.5 years. (not including MOT, servicing and tyres)

GS450h got top marks for reliability multiple years in a row so you aren't going to get that much better. You do have a few things likely to fail: Traction battery - Around £700 for a refit for £2200 for a replacement. Either will come with a warranty but avoidable if your car is eligible for the lexus hybrid checkups which guarantee it. Exhaust - This is going to rust from the cats back. Fortunately you can get the entirely exhaust system replaced for £500ish. Just don't go to lexus as the front section includes the cats where as an exhaust specialist can just chop of the bad section and replace it instead of replacing the cats as well. Suspension - Well it's a heavy car and that takes its toll on the shocks. Costs around £2000 to replace all 4. They are going to go at some point 🙂 Other than those bits, it's probably one of the most solid cars on the road mechanically. Generally even if something does go wrong, it'll give you more than enough time to get home before dying at the very least. Basically everything is engineered with a much higher margin/tolerance than most other cars so even after a long time its still unlikely anything will go wrong. Mine is 2007 at 190k+ miles and other than the 3 bits above and normal wear and tear components its still in perfect running order (touch wood) and mechanic reckons it's good for at least another 100k minimum.

If the car has been sitting in the sun, the internal heat sensor may have been over-heated by the sun so thinks the internal temp is over 24'. I get this quite often till I've been driving 5 minutes or so and the air has had a chance to circulate and cool the sensor down.

When my shocks went, it went 'bouncy' rather than stiff.

Yes but heavier car means the same movement has more momentum that needs to be dampened to have the same effect. Its not a matter of taking the load. If the shock is functioning fine, don't replace it cos of 'misting' Mine had misting on the last 5 MOTs before it actually failed. Even if it completely fails, just means the ride is a bit 'bouncy'. Won't cause the car to be undriveable in any way. Only problem I can see from going to adjustable to non-adjustable is the car handling. Fairly sure the computer automatically stiffens the shocks when cornering, accelerating on rough roads e.t.c. I had zero warning lights with dead shocks so you shouldn't get any with replaced shocks either. I spent the £2k replacing all the shocks with originals. Honestly, unless you get a good deal, I think enough of that was labour, the few hundred £ difference is worth getting originals IMHO.

Sport 100% adjusts the throttle response as well. Its noticeable more responsive. I get 32ish on normal motorway travel.... always obeying the speed limit of course.... not constantly 20+ mph above it 😉 I get 35ish driving conservatively. More likely the direct control of the car, going faster will never make you more fuel efficient except in very rare circumstances (and I'm talking like 1-2mph ranges due to aerodynamic shockwaves forming like when you approach Mach 1, which is unlikely in most cars 😉 ) If you've driven a car with no automatic assists for a long time previously, you are used to feathering the accelerator, with sports mode off the car does it as well, so you get kinda a double effect, also the car is kinda trying to guess what you are about to do so ends up revving the engine more as you have to put your foot down harder to achieve the same response, but it doesn't know if you are just going for a blip of power or sustained acceleration.

Both Apple and MS have been caught trying to sabotage Google products on more than one occasion. MS made hotmail not work with Chrome at one point, they proved it was deliberate from MS by simply having Chrome send the identifier saying it was IE or Firefox and it mysteriously worked. Several things 'not working' right on Google maps after Apple Maps came out as well, until they admitted it was really poor by comparison.

Cleaned the DVD and it worked again. Sometimes when something went really wrong reading it, whole centre console died. All the controls worked but nothing on the screen even when trying to access AC e.t.c.

I've had this a few times. Whole system throws a wobbler if it can't read the maps DVD correctly.

Pretty sure the laws of physics are the same for everyone 🤣 If you are driving on well lit streets won't be an issue, on dark country roads its a bit different. There is a reason internal lights for passengers in the car try and keep the driver area relatively dark.

Never get a BMW then 🤣

not really true, if the ambient light level inside the cabin is greater than outside, you can create a 'one way glass' effect. Same reason its quite often difficult to see other drivers in their cars. You really don't want this effect the other way round so you can't see out. Also more light in the cabin, the more your eyes will not full adjust to darkness outside. This kinda matters less cos of other headlights. I've already got my console brightness at minimum in night-mode and wish I could turn it down another few notches! 🙂

Or e-mail 🙂 And honestly, if you are just starting to get battery errors, the car is driveable. Mine lasted ~1000 miles from the first error to actually having issues. Plenty for a quick ferry ride and then drive to see Richard if needed. For the price difference, well worth the bit of extra time. There is a nice lake nearby for while you wait as well 🙂

The error codes are pretty easy to look up, there are specific battery codes. Strongly recommend Hybrid battery solutions. Talked to him and got my battery replaced for £2200 (there was a slightly cheaper option) with a 3 year warranty which isn't bad at all. Hes extremely professional and friendly. He also does reconditioning for around the £800 mark. He'll advise which he thinks is best depending on the age of the battery.

Well I guess it's not uniform across all GS as my 12V battery is there 🙂

Yep, I find most garages just check the easy 4 on a service, if all those 4 are fine, not a lot of point in all the extra work for something that doesn't need to be replaced. Also if you are missing firings, the Lexus computer is pretty good at registering it so can provide a pretty good check via tech-stream. If one isn't functioning 100%, it should show up. Of course any damage/build-up on the front 4 or indications of misfires on techstream, then they need to do it 😉 However because of the way the Hybrid system works to keep the engine at more favourable RPM compared to traditional engines (so more complete combustion) I've found they tend to put a lot less strain on the plugs.

On my GS450h, this number resets whenever you refuel. So if you just refuelled, then moved off on electric power the maths says => 000.1 mile / 0 galleons = TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!!! 😉 Or 99.9 which is as high as the number goes ;)

Well, had the front shocks replaced with the MOT a month or so ago, noticed a big difference and thought sod it, lets get the rear ones done as well. Wasn't cheap (about 2k all in for all 4)... but bloody hell does it make a difference, not just in ride comfort either. Car sits a lot more solidly on the road and the TCS seems to be kicking in a lot later when I put my foot down hard and still allowing more power quicker and that was in the wet. Actually looking forward to next time I need to make a long drive instead of just randomly going for a drive round the new forest 🙂

Be prepared to replace the following if they haven't been already: Exhaust (£750 for full stainless steel replacement) - They rust and fall off 🙂 Shocks (£2k for all 4 and fitting approx) - Its a heavy car, the shocks tend to go with age. Battery (£2.2k for 3rd party replacement) - This may last a good while longer but at that age they can go.

Was exactly what happened on my GS450h. When the cells start going in the traction battery, the 'ready' light would just go out and I'd have to stop and restart. Might have just been a blip in one of the cells.

You will get slightly better mpg from it, but not much. Like 2-3%. Maybe 5% max. You aren't likely to notice much of a difference under normal driving conditions tbh, too many other factors that will make a far bigger difference to your MPG, like wind-strength/direction, how stop/start you have to be e.t.c.

Might be worth throwing a pot of that injector cleaner fluid in the tank next time you fuel up. Must remember to do that myself actually 🙂 May be the injector nozzle is slightly dirty meaning the fuel isn't fully vaporised inside the chamber, so isn't fully burnt when the engine is cold. That's just a vague guess through. I'm assuming the smell of petrol goes away once the car has been running a bit which would make sense as once the far wall of the chamber is hot, it will help keep the petrol vaporised.

Yep, had to replace my entire exhaust from the cats back on my GS450h. Also shocks tend to need replacing at some point. Battery is the other one that tends to go. All are replaceable with non-OEM versions 🙂

They aren't easy to get to. I tried lol 🙂