Lexus Main Dealers

[dutchie01]

2 hours ago, Phil xxkr said:

Bernard the correct spelling is ladder. It's a device for getting somewhere unaided! You can use it to give people a hand up not hand out, as the saying goes. 

42 years ago my Ladder brought me to Spain for a well deserved socialist holiday where i drank socialist beers met socialist girlfriends discussed socialism with French students and spend 2 weeks in civilised drunkenness before driving all the way back. In those days everybody seemed "red"  At uni, in politics, in my neighbourhood. All those years later only the French seem to keep it up!

The ladder by the way was not in the best of shapes. Steering was a bit off... let the wheel go meant in instant left turn. Cant remember what happened to it but likely changed for a 2CV.

[Thackeray]

17 hours ago, Phil xxkr said:

17 hours ago, IanA2 said:

I looked into the hybrids, our mileage is so low these days, and hybrids not given a regular run about can be problematic. So a nice wee Rav4 it was. Still need to dispose of an elderly GS430 and a geriatric Gelandewagen 🙂

I agree vis a vis mileage but I wasn't aware about regular runs for hybrids? I shall look into that, thanks

This sounds more worrying than it is. As Herbie describes above, the 12v Battery is not used as much as on conventional cars - it doesn't start the engine, only the computers. This means that Lexus have installed a smaller 12v Battery. Just like any other car, if you leave it unused for too long it will go flat from keeping the alarm and the clock etc running. A quick glance around the forum shows multiple threads where the 12v Battery has gone flat because no-one has been driving their car much over the last year.

So whereas a conventional car with a Battery capable of starting the engine might stand at an airport unused for maybe two or three months, the smaller 12v Battery in Lexus hybrids might go flat within two or three weeks. This is irritating but not a major problem.

If this ever happens and you have breakdown service they will come and jump start the car. If you don't want to risk having to wait for them to come and help, you could keep a portable jump starter (about the size of a mobile phone) in the glove box. I got one about three years ago but I've never had to use it.

Or if you know you're not going to be using the car regularly, you could trickle charge the Battery if you have somewhere to plug in a charger.

So I think this warning about being "problematic" is just referring to the size of the 12v Battery. The main high-voltage Battery appears to stay charged for several months without attention. When the car is turned off this Battery is completely isolated so it's not draining power while the car is unused apart from its inherent natural loss of power.

Incidentally, the high-voltage Battery is kept in the range 40-80% charged. The bars on the meter don't represent 0-100% charged. Two bars is around 40%. It can slip below this but the engine will start to get it back up to 50%. Eight bars might be as high as 80% but the normal range is around 50-60%, represented by three to six bars.

 

[IanA2]

4 minutes ago, Thackeray said:

This sounds more worrying than it is. As Herbie describes above, the 12v battery is not used as much as on conventional cars - it doesn't start the engine, only the computers. This means that Lexus have installed a smaller 12v battery. Just like any other car, if you leave it unused for too long it will go flat from keeping the alarm and the clock etc running. A quick glance around the forum shows multiple threads where the 12v battery has gone flat because no-one has been driving their car much over the last year.

So whereas a conventional car with a battery capable of starting the engine might stand at an airport unused for maybe two or three months, the smaller 12v battery in Lexus hybrids might go flat within two or three weeks. This is irritating but not a major problem.

If this ever happens and you have breakdown service they will come and jump start the car. If you don't want to risk having to wait for them to come and help, you could keep a portable jump starter (about the size of a mobile phone) in the glove box. I got one about three years ago but I've never had to use it.

Or if you know you're not going to be using the car regularly, you could trickle charge the battery if you have somewhere to plug in a charger.

So I think this warning about being "problematic" is just referring to the size of the 12v battery. The main high-voltage battery appears to stay charged for several months without attention. When the car is turned off this battery is completely isolated so it's not draining power while the car is unused apart from its inherent natural loss of power.

Incidentally, the high-voltage battery is kept in the range 40-80% charged. The bars on the meter don't represent 0-100% charged. Two bars is around 40%. It can slip below this but the engine will start to get it back up to 50%. Eight bars might be as high as 80% but the normal range is around 50-60%, represented by three to six bars.

 

"So I think this warning about being "problematic" is just referring to the size of the 12v Battery." Yup, it was.