bclexus

@alainjc - Or maybe you prefer having fun with your GS 450h doing donuts!

alainjc

Even there are dealerships in the nearby countries, it doesn’t really help so much with repairs and maintenance. Sourcing parts outside the country is not a big concern. I can arrange sea/air freight from US or other countries. I do that with my online purchases from Amazon or other sites. There might be only less than 5 RCF or GS450h here. So the mechanic’s hands on experiences with these models would not be much. I will heavily rely on the online forums and research to sort out some of the problems probably.

I will arrange an inspection on both cars sometimes next week. Then I will see what to do from there. But I do appreciate the responses so far. It helps to know the GS450h is a reliable car. I never had a hybrid before.

bclexus

Maintenance shouldn't be an issue, with most cars there being Toyotas from Japan and mechanics having experience servicing those Toyotas. I would certainly think that sourcing most any Toyota/Lexus part would be easy from any number of places.

The only real or major difference between what you're familiar with is hybrid related components in the GS 450h, but I'm not aware of any hybrid related problems - - and what I find important is, Lexus feels so confident in their hybrid that it gives 8 year,100k mile coverage on hybrid-related components which far surpasses the basis warranty. So, if you have confidence in general with Toyota/Lexus vehicles the hybrid should solidify that viewpoint.

bclexus

@alainjc - Or maybe you prefer having fun with your GS 450h at the drag strip - or just doing burnouts!

alainjc

Thanks for the videos and the comments guys. I am sure the gs would be very fun to drive as well as the RCF. If the condition of the gs is acceptable, I will get that first because of the attractive price. Now there’s a little voice in my head telling me to get both. So let’s see both condition and maybe I will get rid of the Toyota crown 3.5L to free up some space and I bring both home.

amc83

Looking forward to photos of the gs

bclexus

Yes! Must have with some Guyanese calypso music being played in the background!

Lwerewolf

Honestly, you have a 3.5l Crown... which might very well be more engaging to drive than the 450h.

If it were to be one of the cars and for "fun" only - the RC-F. I like the GSh (and drive the previous gen) but while it is surprisingly capable both in a straight line and in the twisties (i.e. even a boat can handle if you know how to make it), it's nothing like an RC-F. It's an e-CVT vs a torque converter-locking auto for starters - throttle response on the F will beat the GSh in all spirited driving scenarios. The GSh's throttle is only better in the city and with very slight high-speed adjustments - the inverter is limited to pulling 35kw from the battery, which fills only so much torque. Then there's the open rear diff vs. the F's torsen (or torque vectoring diff if specced) - forget about getting a torsen on the GSh unless you're very enterprising - you can fit a 3.769 torsen from a supra/aristo vertex/etc, assuming that you swap the axles from them as well and machine out the ABS rings (they're integrated on the newer Toyotas), but the car won't really let you do fun stuff (or be controllable while doing said fun stuff) regardless. The steering feel of the F should be way better - all F-cars don't have VGRS (for a very good reason, I imagine) and solid rubber front LCA big bushings (most common handling mod on non-F IS/GS cars is to get the F LCA bushings). Brake feel is not even in the same ballpark - classic vacuum booster vs. brake-by-wire mixing regen and actual brakes. Aftermarket support for the F is way better as well.

If we're talking daily or one car - the GSh is one of the best dailies period. Plenty of power and very smooth power delivery, very quiet and unoffending, extremely addictive stop-and-go traffic manners and instant torque in the city (seriously, the EV response at low speeds/parking lots/etc is just sublime, I hate regular auto boxes in this scenario), very reliable - its most annoying issue is the almost nonexistent trunk and lack of rear seats pass-through for skis (which I guess is not an issue for you), which they absolutely could've done by, say, raising the trunk floor instead or splitting the battery in two halves or whatever, but... that's Toyota's hybrid RWD sedans for you, for whatever reason. If we're talking fun car - only if it's the GS-F, which is basically a supposedly better (?!) RC-F with 4 doors.

Re: reliability/maintenance - the GSh is, roughly, a RWD Prius with a V6 and a 2-stage auto in the gearbox. Brakes are done the same way as on the prius (techstream is nice to have, knowing the system and how to bleed it properly is a must), battery modules might be the same as on the prius (not sure about 4th gen but if they are - refurbishing the battery, if needed, should be relatively affordable - and SA sounds like a hot and humid place so I'd keep that in mind, just in case), the 2-stage auto's external oil pump has two bearings that can fail over time but can be replaced with a windshield wiper pulling tool, the transmission oil level is checked at 40deg.C with the engine running at "idle" (1000rpm via maintenance mode or whatever) and that's pretty much about it re: "funky" hybrid stuff (actually the LS460, the GS430/460, the actual land cruisers a.k.a. TLC100/200 and some other non-hybrid vehicles also have brake-by-wire setups that are serviced the same way - it's just the only setup on the hybrids for obvious reasons). Nothing too special, but pays to have somebody familiar with Toyota hybrids on hand. On the other hand, the RC-F might need a valley plate seal fix (annoying job but it's a once-in-the-life-of-the-car type of thing - if done correctly) and... that's about it, afaik...?

spineman

I would like an RC-F as a second daily

Just curious, what is a 2-stage auto?

Lwerewolf

MG2 is connected to the transmission output shaft via a 2-speed automatic gearbox mechanism. The rest is vanilla Toyota eCVT/PSD.