LenT

Thank you, John. And you are absolutely correct. The Accord ended up in front of the Iveco, straddling the lane and projecting out into the adjacent lanes on either side. So either end of the car could have been hit by the still fast moving motorway traffic. We were also fortunate that the Accord stayed in the lane and didn’t spin out to hit the centre divide and involve other vehicles. Speaking of dashcams, when I got out and confronted the Iveco driver, I pointed to his cab and said “Dashcam?” He replied “No dashcam.” I thought what are the chances of that- to be hit by possibly the only HGV driver not to have a dashcam! One other annoyance was that two days earlier I had had fitted a new set of Michelin CrossClimates. My insurers wouldn’t take that cost into additional consideration as they maintained it was simply part of my maintenance responsibility as an owner. One puzzling aspect is that none of the airbags deployed. This may have been because the initial violent spin reduced the final impact? Changing lanes is, apparently, the most common cause of incidents involving lhd trucks on UK motorways.

I suppose it’s no surprise that Honda owners turn up on a Lexus owners site. As the two marques that regularly topped the Owners’ Satisfaction Surveys, they would have a lot in common. I too came to Lexus via Honda. However, I have a Romanian driving a Spanish Iveco truck to thank for that. But my first Honda was a new Prelude in 1997. Over the years I kept thinking about replacing it, but could never find an alternative that attracted me enough. Eventually, after 15 years and 120K miles, it was coming up for its major service - and my wife was finding the big passenger door difficult to open – so I dealt it in for a new Accord 2.2i ES GT in 2011. I thought this Accord would probably be the last car I bought – and it very nearly was. In November 2017, on the M25, the aforementioned Romanian, whom I’d already passed once, undertook and then dropped back to pull out into my lane. He hit the rear wheel, spinning the Accord in front of the truck and then pushing it along the M25 for about seven seconds like a new grill ornament. Now such is the expertise on this site that I imagine many of you could sort it out with a bit of filler and a couple of spray cans. But unfortunately it was declared a write off. It was at that point that I discovered the Accord was no longer on sale in the UK, as I would have ordered a replacement the next day. So it was purely by chance that I strolled into the local Lexus dealer, knowing nothing about the range at all. Incidentally, although the Iveco driver admitted responsibility he stated, via Allianze, that I had driven into his ’blind spot’, which gave his insurers the opportunity to question the claim. Fortunately I was able to extract the files from my dashcam that clearly showed, first, my overtaking the Iveco, he clearly then undertaking my car, before dropping back to pull out. Once presented with the videos, the claim was settled in full within days. Which is why I think everyone should have a dashcam!

I thought I’d try to get a definitive answer regarding catalytic security for my Lexus, a 2015 IS250. So I asked my local Lexus dealer from whom I bought the car. The After Sales Manager of the Service dept. confirmed that my model had three cats but Lexus did not have any security system for them. The first one is pretty hard to get at anyway, but the other two are further down the exhaust system and, I would have thought, vulnerable. However he stated as reassurance that they had not had any such thefts from IS250s to date. Whether that was Lexus UK or just Lexus MK, he didn’t clarify. Or comment on why criminals might ignore the IS250. So I might get some security etching done, as with my other cars. And maybe consider an aftermarket product.

I think I see something of a trend here. We too have a Bosch - a dishwasher. It had an attractive selection of wash programs printed on the top of the door edge. Above it was a handy sticker describing those programs. Well, that was the first to peel off. I contacted Bosch in MK, supplying photos, and they eventually sourced a replacement sticker from Germany. Naturally that didn’t last much longer than the original. But by then another problem had surfaced. The printed programs on the top edge, which related to the touch sensitive buttons under the metal, were also fast disappearing. So apart from already knowing where the On, Rinse and Start buttons were, the other 11 program buttons had become a kind of lucky dip. So back to Bosch who, after more pictures, offered to send an engineer round with a replacement door frame, FOC. Engineer duly arrived and left having fitted new frame, resplendent with fresh, printed programs. Unfortunately he’d left his mark in other ways. The combination of his work boots and heavy metal tool box had left a lattice work of scratches on our polished laminate oak floor. So back to Bosch. They immediately sent someone round to assess the damage - which turned out to be the same engineer who’d caused it. But credit to him, he accepted liability and Bosch then contacted me to arrange repair. Four months later, after several companies had turned down the challenge, a French Polisher (not a Polisher who was French, you understand) sourced by me, turned up and removed the scratches. To prevent the problem recurring I fashioned some strips out of screen protectors and stuck them over the printed lettering. Now, six years on, some of the lettering is showing signs of giving up again. I should add that throughout this saga, everyone at Bosch was helpful and concerned. But really, how hard can it be to devise a method of marking stainless steel that steam won’t remove? Or to train engineers to wear soft overshoes and put their tool boxes on protective mats - as other visiting tradesfolk usually did.

Clearly you must sit in and drive it before buying. I’ve only known one person who bought a car without even driving it and that was a business partner who bought a Saab on my recommendation. Fortunately he loved it and enjoyed it for some years! The first time I saw the IS250 was on the dealer’s forecourt. It looked exactly what I was after, but it was replacing a Honda Accord which was, I discovered, about 4cms taller. So I was worried about feeling cramped inside, and I’m shorter than your good self. To my surprise it actually felt roomier in the front with more headroom. Maybe the seats - which are very comfortable - sit lower on the floor pan. It also felt wider, although it was actually a couple of cms narrower. I should add that the seats have three ranges of adjustment and the steering wheel two. My BiL is just about 6’ and finds the back cramped but the passenger seat is adjustable enough to give him the head and leg room he needs. So it’s true that some taller folk may feel the back is less spacious - but I don’t sit in the back! And neither will you! My very first impression when getting inside was that this is a very pleasant place to be. And I still get that same feeling every time I do it.

This is neither the worst nor best appliance purchased because it’s one we inherited when we bought our house - a Worcester Danesmoor oil boiler. Now 32 years old and regularly serviced for the last twenty one. Looked after by the same small family business who provided the same service for our previous house, every year I expect to be advised to get a modern replacement. But no. After a good internal scrubbing and the occasional jet replaced, it’s pronounced good for another year and they refuse to try and sell me a replacement. Similarly a 10 year-old Honda Izzy lawnmower became difficult to start up one Spring, so I thought it time to replace it. I called the lad who’d been regularly servicing it about buying a new one from them. He was horrified at the suggestion and insisted that they give it another service. He said the modern Izzy is much inferior in quality and I would regret it. Another service was all it needed! And so it proved. So more examples of they don’t make ‘em like they used to! And that possibly applies to the traders too.

Better still, get a Jaguar.

Could be my fault, but I’ve slightly lost the thread of this thread! Hugh, are you still basing your purchase decision on the tyres this car has? As I - and probably others - have pointed out, tyres will be the easiest element of the car to replace. What you really should be worrying about is everything else! I don’t know how experienced a car buyer you are, but overlook potential problems with bodywork, engine, transmission, seat condition and so on - and you could end up with a lemon on a great set of tyres! If you like the darn motor, enjoy driving it - and the price is right for you - then if you don’t have it, someone else will. To reiterate, as you can see, I have a 2015 IS250 Premier which came with the 18” wheels. Which meant that Michelin only did one of the two specified tyres. Fortunately Goodyear had introduced the Asy 5s and they have proved to be an excellent fit as far as I am concerned. Frankly I am not sufficiently qualified to depart from the Lexus recommended tyre sizes. Are you? If I had bought my car from new, I would have specified the 17” wheels, because at 76 the marginal improvement in handling offered by the.larger wheel is irrelevant compared to the marginal improvement in comfort from the smaller wheel. But the best decision I made was to buy the x!?xing car in the first place! I hope this helps! 😊

“Many cheaper brands nowadays cannot be fixed at all.” And not so cheap brands too! But this is a very good point. After replacing the Dualit Jug Kettle mentioned earlier, I had occasion to contact Dualit about it. I had discovered that Dualit manufactured this specific product in such a way that not even they could repair it! I pointed out that this was wasteful of resources and morally questionable. Indeed it might even be in conflict with the regulations that require manufacturers to maintain stocks of spares for several years. Pointless if the spares can’t be used in the product! Maybe. In response Dualit offered me a substantial discount on a replacement. Unfortunately I had already bought ii! There’s a lesson there somewhere....

Not any more, possibly. I may have the only example left in captivity. I will entertain any serious offers. Used twice, only shaken never stirred, one owner, black with white ball. 😊 Re: Dualit Toasters. Our current 4 Slicer must be at least ten years old and in regular use. All I’ve had to do is replace the heating elements. Also just replaced four year-old Dualit Jug Kettle with similar. But I do agree that some buyers don’t seem to have the same experience with these brands.

A Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker! A practical demonstration that sometimes the old ways are still the best! Fortunately not bought by me but a friend who knew I liked cooking. Used a couple of times and now lost in some far cupboard. Simply not as effective as my fifty year-old large pestle and mortar from Habitat. Unsurprisingly, no longer available on Amazon. Should serve as a warning to any inventor who tries to reinvent the wheel. You’d better come up with something better than a wheel.

As a fellow oldie, Phil, I appreciate your reasoning. It's the sort of purely indulgent purchase that pensions are for and that one deserves to celebrate a life well lived. Best of all, it's not just a car purchase, its become a project with all the detailed examination that that deserves. All the very best and many years of just enjoying it.

Many thanks Paul. You've highlighted the warning signs of a scam very clearly. OK, so fundamentally it's the old 'if it seems too good to be true, then it probably isn't!' scam flag. I can understand a seller wanting cash. It's a feature of that TV show 'Wheeler Dealer' after all, to mention but one of the several car restoration shows. But I agree that attempts to bypass the EBay security transaction system (such as it is) should itself be a very clear signal. I've rarely bought cars privately or off an ad. (Or indeed anything off EBay.) But I do recall one piece of advice for when answering a car ad. over the phone. You only ask about 'the car you have for sale' which helps to sort out the street traders posing as private motorists!

While I have no interest in buying another Lexus, or selling the one I have, I’m curious as to what makes this 2008 ISF such an obvious scam. Is it the price, the description, the knowledge that its been advertised before, the history of the advertiser? Or is it something about the conditions of sale? I just wondered if someone had a moment to spell out what justifies public accusations of what would surely amount to criminal activity?

Perhaps our definition of driving hard is very different, but 9500 miles to about halve the tread depth sounds excessive to me. Maybe there were other factors, such as under or over inflation or tracking errors. I don’t know about Hankook Ventus, but that does seem a very high wear rate. Still, if your criteria prioritise a low wear rate and very good wet performance, then you’ll not go wrong with Michelin CrossClimates+. They feature very well in most comparative tests and they provide a comfortable and quiet ride. We have them on a Suzuki 4x4 and handling is very assured in the wet and even light snow. Michelin has a good reputation for high mileage, anyway. I had two sets of Michelin Xs on a Toyota MR2 and got 40K out of both. I would have had them on the Lexus, but Michelin only did one of the two sizes I needed. Fortunately Goodyear had introduced the Asymmetric 5s in both sizes. They too rate very well in comparative all-season tyre tests, while also providing comfortable, quiet and reassuring handling. Maybe not the mileage delivery of the Michelins, but probably far too soon to tell. But, as I’m sure has already been said, all tyre compounds are a compromise. And as this and all the other threads on tyres demonstrate, opinions vary!! One other thought: If you’re a member of Costco they’re currently offering £100 off a set of Michelins until 28 March, I think it is.

You mean....there's a boot release!!!😲 (Just kidding. I'll get me coat.)

I have seen a YouTube video featuring an IS which claimed that the cat on this model is particularly inaccessible. Pictures taken under the car revealed that only a very small part of the cat is visible, shown to be positioned vertically and covered by a heat shield shroud. The rest is only accessible from above - and again only with some difficulty. Perhaps at the next service, if I go along, I’ll try to have a look when it’s up on the hoist, and check if this applies to my version.

Even this simple option isn’t available for my Lexus. It has different size tyres front and rear. On my model this is what you get when you have the 18” wheels. How common this use of two tyre sizes is in the Lexus range, I don’t know. I presume it’s meant to provide handling benefits - no doubt to compensate for the less comfortable ride!

My Manual seems to devote only two sentences to the subject. One tells you to contact a Lexus dealer. The other tells you that upgrades are available...for a fee! Or you could do what I did. Get yourself a Garmin system and 4 free updates a year. Or a smart phone.

Regarding a tyre gauge recommendation, I would endorse Mike’s reference to this previous post. On it I (and others) named the TireTek gauge, supplied by Odyseaco and fulfilled by Amazon. Used it recently and still impressed. I also recently replaced an elderly Halfords inflator with one called Skey. Instead of plugging into what we used to call the ‘cigar lighter’ it has its own rechargeable battery. The accessory connection on the Halfords unit was proving increasingly unreliable. So I thought an inflator with its own power supply was a better idea. Haven’t used it in anger yet, but a quick test showed it was well up to the task.

The Manual of my IS250 does indeed show a tyre rotation schedule for same size wheels all round, and recommends swapping on same axle if two wheel sizes are involved. However many modern tyres, especially if the tyre pattern is designed for better wet road performance or is asymmetrical, are one directional. An arrow on the tyre wall indicates the direction of forward rotation. Some repositioning will thus have the tyre rotating against the tread pattern design, which will seriously affect its performance on that side of the axle. I wonder what an insurance investigator would make of that in the event of a claim?

That’s a relie! 😊 And the next question is....which all-weather/all season tyre will you choose? Which particular aspect of the ‘Super Valu’ would you wish to improve on?

That’s a relief! 😊 And the next question is...which All-Weather/All Season tyre will you choose? Which aspect of the ‘Super Valu’ do you wish to improve on?

An unarguable point, I would have thought. And yet even on this site populated by the more discerning members of the motoring fraternity, I have come across posters announcing their plans to mix tyre types and brands. Sometimes it’s to replace just one or two as funds permit. Now I suspect this has been a contentious point before. And it’s also the case that in most instances that driver will suffer no consequences- unless such a mix is an MOT fail, of course. But accidents are about the unexpected and that’s when the differences will make the difference! Like others here, I suspect, I grew up when tyres were cross ply and had tubes inside them. And then, in 1946 (long before I was driving) it was Michelin, no less, who introduced the radial tyre. And so gave motorists the opportunity to mix cross ply and radials and have an entirely new kind of accident. I wonder if the people who try to save money by mixing tyres would also countenance fitting cheap brake pads of dubious origin to make a small saving? One thought about the video. I would have been interested if the tyres had then been swapped on the axles to illustrate what, if any, difference that would make. .

Strange offer to associate with tyres. In my experience Michelins are not that noisy. 😊