LUXOBARGE (sub5k) of the week/day

Indeed but electronically controlled. Pull towards you and shift it up or down to select the mode. Press the button on the end for park. Works extremely well, very convenient.

Everyone likes what they have, but it makes perfect sense having it by the steering wheel. You could argue reaching down to change drive mode (just because the gearbox is underneath) is as archaic as changing gear itself.

I think merc have filled the centre console with the controller etc for command pretty well.

More people seem interested in hybrid Lexus's recently. They are supposed to be great cars and the battery from what was mentioned her le are quite good and a relatively cheap fix if a cell stops working.
Cant remember 100% though

Do a check on this thread for I believe it was around December where some guy in cork got an error on a cell not working and hence triggering the eml.
Think Lexus quoted thousands or something so he tackled it himself. In the end it cost him a couple of hundred euro and away he went.
Find the lad who did it if you can and contact him for more details but I remember his thread was very detailed.

RichyX wrote: »

I've been keeping an eye out for them myself.

According to the Irish lad who fixed his GS450h, if an individual battery cell is gone it's 45€ for a replacement. There are 40 odd cells if I recall, so if the car's old enough there's potential for a lot more expense.
Not sure what other issues can arise.

Link

Always amused at how people fixate on the battery costs when it comes to running a hybrid, choosing to ignore that there is a very complex car and conventional engine attached to it. Higher up the Lexus food chain there can be ruinous expense that has nothing to do with the hybrid technology.

unkel wrote: »

Seriously? Nearly all conventional issues with most luxobarges can be fixed for reasonable money once you go to a decent indy. Up to recently (when your man found you can easily and cheaply fix battery issues) a dead battery (costing €4.5k + labour) in a €5k car meant the car was pretty much a write-off and certainly not economical to fix

It's night and day really. I would not have considered a Lexus GS or LS hybrid before, but I would now...

Says everything about the power of the engine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWP5l2_G4W8

Stallingrad wrote: »

Always amused at how people fixate on the battery costs when it comes to running a hybrid, choosing to ignore that there is a very complex car and conventional engine attached to it. Higher up the Lexus food chain there can be ruinous expense that has nothing to do with the hybrid technology.

The engine is always a concern but the battery bit is foreign to most of us hence this is the bit I for one have most concern over.

I read elsewhere that the 450h battery is pretty much the same as that in a prius.

RichyX wrote: »

I've been keeping an eye out for them myself.

According to the Irish lad who fixed his GS450h, if an individual battery cell is gone it's 45€ for a replacement. There are 40 odd cells if I recall, so if the car's old enough there's potential for a lot more expense.
Not sure what other issues can arise.

Link

Fantastic Richy!
I'd not attempt it myself but it's good to know it can be done!

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I saw a 2000 LS400 late last night on Donedeal, it had just gone up. It was from a dealer in Cork looking for a whole €750, it was NCT'd up to the end of this month and taxed until end of April, I would have payed asking for it all day long, the one that got away.

If the car was in good order, you could have made some nice money from that.

They're going around for around 2,500 pounds in the UK, and there is demand there for sure.

Very bizarre - thought it was just coincidence and all but!:D

daRobot wrote: »

Yep, it's a bizarre fact. Just a ton of LS's are Cork regs, including the one I owned.

https://www.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for-sale/jaguar-xj-series-xj8-auto/10761830



Change from two grand. A lot of car for the money

Yes I did mean to mention its the same car but reduced

Its getting very cheap though. Is it because nobody wants it or what?

I posted it myself a month or two ago. Same price as now. I probably wasn't the first one posting it either

Lovely car. Some car for the money. I guess there is an almost non-existent market for a car like this.

A long time ago I sold a luxobarge to a fella who had a lot of very nice high tax, relatively low value cars like this and he never bothered to tax any of them. Lived in the midlands and he rarely got stopped. He paid a few pounds in fines over the years and one car was confiscated, but he saved himself over 10 grand a year in motor tax. Not saying this is right, but I can see why he did what he did...