Tell me about the Lexus 450H

[scousegit]

High five

Just changed the transmission fluid, was pretty straightforward with the right tools.

Drained from the pan and filled what came out.

Went to transmission cooler lines, drained 2 litres and filled 2 liters, did that 2-3 times.

Drained the overflow and all done!

Really love the car and had a compliment not long ago. Admittedly it was just some 10 year old kid that said to his mum to look at how nice my car was !

Was also pleasantly surprised to see the dealer left the engine bay like this after the service.

High Five!

I wouldn't mind getting the tranny oil changed on mine but too lazy to jack it up n stuff haha.

mines a 2001 in a rose metallic colour - it looks silver most of the time and on the V5 it says it's red which is dumb as it ain't even close to red lol.

With yours being the face lift model, is it the case that the rear seats are in fact cooled aswell as heated?. On mine there only heated on the rear

 

[pepsilol]

Mine are only heated aswell.

Oh it's so easy on yours, just drain and fill the fluid in the engine bay like normal.

You need to do it every 60k with it being a pre face.

It looks like there are a few people on here with Lexis then but a mere quiet spectators in the background.

 

[scousegit]

how much oil and what oil did you use?

my car is comming upto 110k and still silky smooth

I've never thought of makin a song and dance about my car on here, as some judge them to be oldman cars - I love the refinement

 

[pepsilol]

You require TypeIV, just buy it from Toyota and ask for the trade price.

Mine is the WS fluid which is the lifetime one, set me back £6.25 a litre.

 

[mayweather12]

Mother has recently (Well I say recently, early 2012) bought a Lexus IS250 Auto, from Lexus, 06 reg, has all the bells and whistles, with the Mark Levinson premium audio system, sat nav screen with DVD player, heated and cooled seats etc.. Has been an excellent car so far, bar petrol a little step up from our old vehicle (Toyota Avensis). Feels great and runs smoothly, came with 1 year warranty from Lexus who have been brilliant, replaced battery when we came to service without even asking, just went ahead and did it.

Brought at 48k miles, currently at 61k, hope it lasts a fair few years, what can we expect to get out of this kind of car? - ALSO if anyone knows, any recommendations on tyres would be great also anyone know where I can search to get some HID's installed a fitters list or something in my area? , bulbs currently aren't great even though we put in the Osram Nightbreaker Plus ,

 

[daveydave]

Very good car, we just upgraded my mother's RX350 to a RX450h SE-L. Cracking car, where is you're nearest Lexus centre?

 

[daveydave]

I can't imagine the hybrid side of this car would work terribly well after 150k miles, I imagine there are better cars out there for the same money

I don't get this. There are first gen Prius and Lexus hybrids out there running well over 250k miles. All working as expected.

 

[Dave85]

There are Gen2 prius with over 400k on original batteries

 

[Nocturne_sa]

On the GS300, I personally wouldn't bother with a warranty.

Are they less likely to go wrong than the 450h? It could turn out to be an extremely expensive exercise if anything pops.

I'm about to pull the trigger on a gs300 but it's last service( a month ago) was done at an indie and I'm concerned that Lexus won't provide the used car warranty because of it. I wonder whether they will agree if I let them service it as soon as I buy and then whack the warranty on.

 

[Nocturne_sa]

Finally went ahead and bought one privately. It's a GS 300 SEL (05 reg) with 74k on the clock and full Lexus service history. It's the SEL version with all the bells and whistles (ML sound system, radar cruise, sunroof, reversing camera, Nav etc). Initial impressions - lovely to drive but drinks petrol like there is no tomorrow (got approx 29mpg on the motorway which is shocking !).

The brakes are also pretty rubbish (even though it was serviced last month and has brand new pads). I think its a GS thing rather than just my car as I've heard other owners complain about the brakes.

Overall I think its a lot of car for the money (paid £5,800) given it was approx £40k brand new.

Now the question is whether or not to get the £1,850 2 Year Lexus warranty. I'm dreading a massive bill if something goes wrong (which could potentially be more than what I paid for the car !). Thoughts?

 

[Axeboy]

Great price.

Fuel seems worse than I get, I average 31 on mixed driving.

I changed my pads to green stuff (i think) and it made a great difference.

 

[iaind]

That's not much different to my old IS200 in terms of fuel economy lol

 

[pepsilol]

Finally went ahead and bought one privately. It's a GS 300 SEL (05 reg) with 74k on the clock and full Lexus service history. It's the SEL version with all the bells and whistles (ML sound system, radar cruise, sunroof, reversing camera, Nav etc). Initial impressions - lovely to drive but drinks petrol like there is no tomorrow (got approx 29mpg on the motorway which is shocking !).

The brakes are also pretty rubbish (even though it was serviced last month and has brand new pads). I think its a GS thing rather than just my car as I've heard other owners complain about the brakes.

Overall I think its a lot of car for the money (paid £5,800) given it was approx £40k brand new.

Now the question is whether or not to get the £1,850 2 Year Lexus warranty. I'm dreading a massive bill if something goes wrong (which could potentially be more than what I paid for the car !). Thoughts?

Not something I would do on the GS variant.

Interesting to see that the brakes are generally cack then on that model. Certainly were on the 450.

I get 30 MPG on the motorway doing 70.

 

[Nocturne_sa]

oh and the one thing I'm really missing is the ipod integration. Lexus do sell a kit but it seems quite steep at £280.

Any alternatives (preferably not the tuner/transmitter jobbies) ?

 

[pepsilol]

Yeah, theres a decent american co called Vaistech. They're pretty decent.

Or you can get a cheapy version on ebay which does the same job, but not too sure on it displaying names of artists etc on the screen.

 

[ZXSpectrum]

Yeah, theres a decent american co called Vaistech. They're pretty decent.

Or you can get a cheapy version on ebay which does the same job, but not too sure on it displaying names of artists etc on the screen.

I dont think any of them do the track/artist listing for the lexus. Mine is the factory one and it just does the first 6 playlists like all the others i can find.

I have a GS450H, had it for about 9 months now. Even with it being hybrid its not great on juice especially in this weather. I am currently getting about 24-25 mpg but its just very short journeys. It has seen 44mpg on the motorway. I love it to bits. Looks great, goes like stink when i want it to, mega comfy and quiet. Oh and the ML audio is fantastic.

 

[Nocturne_sa]

Yeah, theres a decent american co called Vaistech. They're pretty decent.

Or you can get a cheapy version on ebay which does the same job, but not too sure on it displaying names of artists etc on the screen.

Vaistech does look pretty decent. Do you know of any UK sellers/installers?

 

[mick4545]

The official Lexus iPod integration unit is not that good. Although you can have as many playlists as you like, you can't name them. They show onscreen as Disc 1 to 6. I have lots screens of them and keep a printout in the car with descriptions of the screen number and playlist description.

From what I've read the Viastech is cheaper and better.

 

[pepsilol]

Found myself an aftermarket one on ebay usa, but I need someone in America to forward it to me

 

[Nocturne_sa]

Has anyone tried these guys?

http://www.caraudioexpress.co.uk/lexus-vaistech-model-sl2i-up.html