Ken Timbers

Since I haven't encountered a VSC problem in the few months I've owned my SC430, I thought I'd better look it up. I found the following article helpful: https://mechanicbase.com/brakes/check-vsc-system-light-toyota-lexus/ Having read it, I now know what initial, simple checks to do, but the bulk of the advice seems to be to take the car to the experts, who are used to sorting out what the particular fault is—there are too many possibilities as far as I can see! Good luck!

What sort of de-misting do you have to do to yourself, Roy? Sounds an interesting concept. Do you start with your glasses and move on to your eyes? You could try switching on the seat warmers, too—a warm rear end is a great help when it's that cold. 😀

My car was heavily iced yesterday morning, but I had to get to a medical appointment. I started the engine, set the blower to max and fetched my trusty ice scraper. I was amazed by how quickly the car's heating system de-iced the glass—I was expecting a 15-minute job and it was all done in five. If we're in for more of the same, as the forecasters predict, I'm glad I've got such a good system!

Hi Bob, Given that it's a specialist oil, is there a problem when topping up—i.e. does it have to be exactly the same type of oil? It's obviously a bit of a difficult question for the new owner who may not know which type was used when last filled.

Hi Steve, welcome from another near newbie (bought my blue 07 model in August). I see that you're already conscious that these cars can be a bit thirsty—mine certainly is, given that it's averaging about 18mpg on the eco setting. I'd expect a better figure if I were doing some longer journeys, but zipping about on shorter journeys in London's suburbia is inevitably going to keep that figure low. I'm sure you'll enjoy your 'driveway queen'—especially when you can get out with the roof down!

I thought it was time I updated on my experience with the car. I'm glad to say that, on the whole, it is all going well, but on Tuesday this week I had a recurrence of the random horn sounding. It was only about three fairly quick hoots, but since my hands were nowhere near the button, they were due to something other than my input. I was on the M2 motorway, just after coming out of the 50 mph zone and beginning to accelerate gently in quite heavy rain. I drove on to my destination in North Kent and, about an hour later returned home, by which time the weather had cleared up. I tried varying speeds and both gentle and aggressive accelerations, but the fault didn't repeat. On a short run today, again there was no repetition. I'm not sure how best to proceed. When the car was in Lexus (Sidcup)'s hands, they had an old hand who was about to retire, but he took time to have a long look at the car. He well remembered the SC430 and he did every test he could think of, including of course a check of the fault codes, and found nothing wrong. In fact, he said the car was in great condition. I know they don't have that same mechanic any longer, and if he couldn't find the problem there's not much chance of anyone else finding it. At the same time, it's a bit like a 'sword of Damocles' as far as I'm concerned. I know now that I can stop the horn sounding by simply disconnecting it from the battery—the leads pull off quite easily. But that would leave me with an illegal car. The alternative is to put it back in their hands and refuse to have it back until they've sorted it out—after all, it came to me with that fault, and although it didn't show up for some weeks after I took delivery, it still occurred during the short warranty period I was given. Does anyone have an alternative suggestion, short of giving up the car and finding something else?

Hi Neil, The GS I had was a 450H and the first Lexus I bought. I was thinking of selling my third Porsche, but wanted to look at hybrid technology, encouraged by my brother's championing the Toyota breed. I was shown the GS and offered a test drive—and, as they say, "the rest is history"! The acceleration and power more than equalled the Boxster 3.8 Tiptronic I was selling. A Q car indeed! I only parted with it when I wanted to reduce to a single car and it was too much of a handful for my better half. Now that she prefers not to drive, I'd look seriously at a GS if I were to change, but I'm sticking with the SC pro tem.

It looks as though you really did have to make a long search! It's been a while since I had a GS Lexus, but I assume that's the car you show in your picture? I really enjoyed mine. I've had ten Lexus cars, including four RC 300 models, and enjoyed all of them, but I'm hoping my SC430 is going to be a keeper. So far so good...

We've had almost nothing but sunshine for weeks in SE London—I've been hoping to see some rain to give my garden a chance of surviving! With a hosepipe ban making car washing a tedious chore and most car wash facilities closed, I'd also welcome a few deluges, mostly at night, of course. But isn't that typical of British weather—there's always someone with something to grumble about.

Many thanks to both Russ and Anthony—especially Russ, who described exactly where to find the relevant info! I'm all set now to find out what the consumption is like. It can't be worse than my Porsche 928S4, which was usually around 16 mpg, and I ran that happily for some seven years. That alone probably defines me as a petrolhead!

Anthony, how do you calculate your mpg? I know how to do it theoretically, but that involves getting accurate fuel consumption—not easy unless you've got a widget that tells you what you've used?

I've been happy enough pootling about so far in the 'economy' mode, aware from past experience with Porsches that a big engine is liable to mean high fuel consumption. There's so much traffic in the London area that I've been content with taking things easily. This thread made me think I've been far too easily pleased and totally lacking in curiosity. I haven't had much occasion to drive on busy motorways anyway since getting behind the wheel in late August, so I wasn't being prompted to try the power setting. I had a short trip to do today and, with this thread in mind, pressed the power switch before starting out. What a revelation! The car seems much smoother and clearly more responsive, with vastly better acceleration—much more in keeping with its looks! I don't expect to find any drop in fuel consumption, but since I don't do a lot of mileage anyway, I shall continue in power mode for a while and see how things go.

I know what you mean and I've experienced quite a lot of that in my career, but little of my technical knowledge transfers into practical help with my subsequent life—especially car electronics! I won't bore you with the detail, but as an example, there's little call for the know-how of an international project manager of artillery weapons in retirement! Fortunately, it left me with sufficient funds to pay for my needs. There are times when I'd like to have hands-on know-how, but I've left it a bit late to start now!

Thanks, Anthony. If I had the sort of skills that you and Glyn can bring to bear, I wouldn't have had to pay for four hours of the installer's time, but that's life and he did a good job. The fault that occurred was down to his trying to save me money by using a previously fitted camera instead of the one from sc430mods. It's too late for me to start to learn your skills, but hopefully I won't have to do anything else that needs such knowledge.

Update I went back to Bromley Audio today and was able to sit in on the work so that I could be sure that my main concern—the "always-on" reversing lights—was sorted out without losing the reversing camera facility. I was amazed by the amount of work needed to get at the electronics in the boot and by the speed at which that was achieved. The power system was dismantled and reconnected so that the equipment now works properly and the reversing lights only operate when in reverse—job done. The whole thing took only one hour, which I found astonishing, given the work needed, but I'm very happy that it's all now okay.

Count me in, Anthony. I'll give some thought to what info to register, but I wouldn't have thought there needed to be a long list!

Good news, Anthony—I wish the insurance companies used logic rather than relying on 'tables', but at least some drivers benefit. I got no better offer from LV than from Admiral—in fact, it was significantly worse, despite the fact that I'd had LV insurance for several years during which I ran my Porsches and made no claims. Now it's clear that being an old git really does affect the premiums.

It's Alan, and I also like cats, preferably Siamese chocolate points! 😀 Did you notice the "32V" - I don't recall checking how many valves there are in our cars. ???

I must admit that worried me, too, but I kept it for 7 years and really enjoyed it. Fabulous looks and performance in a comfortable package—what's not to like! Oh, yes—fuel consumption was a bit fierce, but that's surely to be expected in a 5 litre V8, and it gave me a taste for another V8—hence the SC430.

Nice-looking wheels, Paul, and I think they go well with the car. I'm not looking to change my wheels, which are the original set, but may I ask why you're selling these?

My thanks to all of you for your kind and supportive comments. I realise I must seem a bit odd to all you youngsters—87 and still driving in a sports car, at that! I've begun to find people raising their eyebrows when they find out I'm that ancient, but—like all of you, I suspect—I still feel I'm the same person inside this old frame. While I still have my marbles, I don't intend to stop doing what I can to enjoy life. I reckon I'm still a reasonably capable driver, with quick reactions and eyesight recently refurbished (new cataracts, no need for glasses). Only one significant difference—I don't feel the need to drive constantly at (or over) the speed limit, which was a feature of my 15 years of Porsche ownership (I had three of them, including a 928 and a 993 Targa). I need a walking stick and don't walk very far, but I can still cope with everything except cooking, which I hate! Sorry for banging on—garrulous old men do that kind of thing, I'm afraid!

I have an unblemished driving record of over 60 years. I've made three claims during that period, but each was for no-fault accidents and the last one was 15 years ago. I tried a lot of insurance companies, including the one I've been insured with for the past 10 years. I live in SE London in a quiet street. The car is on my driveway. My wife is on the policy, as she has been on all my past policies and has the same length of unblemished record and made no claims. I wouldn't have thought I was a bad risk, especially as I expect to do less than 4K miles/year. I guess it all comes down to my being 87 years old.

And for the record, I've now spoken with my insurers, who were content with the information and said that they hadn't based the quotation on the question of Thatcham Cat 1 or any other such level. I was told that my information was now recorded in my policy documents and I need not worry about it. I'm glad not to have any increase in cost! £1350 with Admiral

Thanks, Colin. I'll talk to my insurers and hope they don't decide to charge me a lot more—I have to say that I was amazed when I found out what comprehensive insurance costs for these cars. I decided to give up buying new models of Lexus simply because the depreciation made little sense when I'm doing so little mileage these days, but my insurance doubled, which didn't seem to make a lot of sense. I bought the insurance, of course, but I'm not sure that I'd have bought this car if I'd realised the cost at the time. I think it's a great car and I'm in no hurry to part with it, but the insurance feels like a rip-off, even though I did my homework in looking for a competitive price.

Thanks, Colin. I think you've just put a bit of a twist in my knickers! I'll have to check with my insurance what level of security they've got me down for! I don't recall any requirement to have a Thatcham approved Cat 1 alarm, but it's obviously something I've got to check.