Switches

[Bill Dawes]

Waiting for my wife recently while she went into local chippie it struck me how many lights there were dotted all around the dashboard (it was dark) so to pass the time I decided to count them, getting on for a hundred on dash, steering wheel, doors, overhead panel etc, makes an impressive display when you press the start button, Boeing 747 eat your heart out. Mine is the Takumi spec.

However I do have a grumble, many of these are difficult to see, the panel below the main display that has the controls for heated seats etc and the various buttons low down on the right hand side for electric boot, fuel filler etc particularly so. Case of getting to know them by instinct I suppose but not one of Lexus finest example of ergonomics, probably the worst I have had in my many cars over the years.

I love the car nontheless, my wife less so, the vagaries of door locking / unlocking and lights drive her mad, all having a life of their own, she misses her smaller and infinitely simpler Seat Ibiza, we decided to go down to one car about a year ago as it just stood on the drive costing money for most of the time, as we live in a rural area however there have been occasions when we could have done with our own cars, question of weighing up cost v convenience of course.

Bill D.

 

[Bill Dawes]

I also meant to say the UX is a super car that could be so much better, really all comes down to packaging, the media system on the 2023 model is much improved I understand, not seen it myself, and the boot space could be so much better.

Bill D.

[cur666]

It's supposed to be a luxury car....especially price wise....but in certain areas it isn't so good.

The door cards are really poor...they let the interior down...just one gripe of many.

The whole car is due a serious update....its way behind a number of Toyota models, who are now using the Gen5 hybrid system.

[Ken R]

On 12/7/2022 at 10:27 PM, Bill Dawes said:

I also meant to say the UX is a super car that could be so much better, really all comes down to packaging, the media system on the 2023 model is much improved I understand, not seen it myself, and the boot space could be so much better.

Bill D.

I drove a UX for the second time last week as I was given one as a courtesy car. More impressed with it this time around but agree that the boot space is a major drawback. 

[ColinBarber]

On 12/7/2022 at 10:22 PM, Bill Dawes said:

I love the car nontheless, my wife less so

Many people may feel the same but it's a brave man to state it publicly 🤣

[ALAW]

On 12/8/2022 at 9:21 AM, cur666 said:

It's supposed to be a luxury car....especially price wise....but in certain areas it isn't so good.

The door cards are really poor...they let the interior down...just one gripe of many.

The whole car is due a serious update....its way behind a number of Toyota models, who are now using the Gen5 hybrid system.

I recently had a look at latest prices and they have really shot up since i bought mine in Sept 21 so yes very expensive and the interest has increased substantially if buying on pcp. 

[Bill Dawes]

For many a long decade I have despaired at how car manufacturers get things wrong. I'm not talking about how many goodies there are or aren't on a specific model, this is mainly down to how much you want to pay.

I'm talking about simple things that drive you mad  and you think how on earth did no one spot this problem having spent millions of pounds on research and testing.

I go back to a Renault 12 I had back in the early 70's, very nice comfortable quiet car (by the standards of the day) until it rained, the wiper motor howled with a waa waa noise, "they're all like that said Renault man".

Before that I had a Vauxhall Viva which had a vibration from about 45 mph and got progressively worse as speed increased, several gear boxes, bearings,  Diffs, prop shafts and god knows what else later they said they couldn't do any more, "all like that" said Vauxhall man. I'm talking about brand new cars here.  More recently an Audi A4 Avant that poured water down your neck when rainy and you opened the boot lid. Now you might say Ah but that was then. Well it still goes on, did nobody at Lexus look at the UX and said, hang on how have we designed a car that's bigger than than a Kia Niro, but has less interior and boot room. Talking of boots (trunks) , my Takumi has two boot lights, one each side, excellent I thought but no, they are great as long as the boot is empty, when it's full they are about as much use a an ashtray on a motorbike, one the boot lid would help there. Did no one drive the car and found the hard surface against the left knee (RH dive car) irritating or encounter the knee cracker as you get in the car. Maybe that's just the way I sit or get in the car.

I know this sounds as if I dislike the car, as I said before I really do like it but then never had the perfect car, seems even paying over 40 grand for a 'Premuim' car doesn't help.

Oh and my latest and last grip which arose in the recent sub zero weather (even down here in the tropical South West) why do windscreen washers still freeze up. is beyong mans wit to install a heater coil in the system, you can have heated and cooled seats, heated steering wheel but have to put up with no washers. On a similar note, it had always intrigued me why heated front screens never became standard kit other than on Ford cars, It may have originally been a Ford patent (I don't know) which must have expired long a go, even so Ford could have made a packet in royalties surely or was it never that good, never owned a Ford so I can't comment from personal experience.

Bill D. 

 

[Bill Dawes]

And why oh why having carefully gone through my message for grammar and spelling, as soon as it appears 'in the flesh' I see an error. 

'Washers still freeze up, is it beyond mans wit'.......

Reminds me of the good old days when the technological wonder of the Fax machine  descended on us, always carefully scrutinised the text, perfect, until I pressed the send button and spotted a mistake as the paper wound through the machine.

Bill D.

PS got another one but I'll raise another post for that.

[LenT]

11 hours ago, Bill Dawes said:

And why oh why having carefully gone through my message for grammar and spelling, as soon as it appears 'in the flesh' I see an error. 

'Washers still freeze up, is it beyond mans wit'.......

Reminds me of the good old days when the technological wonder of the Fax machine  descended on us, always carefully scrutinised the text, perfect, until I pressed the send button and spotted a mistake as the paper wound through the machine.

Bill D.

PS got another one but I'll raise another post for that.

I share your pain, Bill. 😊

I suspect you may have fallen foul of the dreaded ‘autocorrect’ - a helpful system with scant regard for the niceties of English grammar.

Worse still is when it decides that it knows what you really wanted to say.  I recall trying to praise a Brasserie on our local website - only to find it constantly being changed to brassiere!

Inevitably, one slipped past me - resulting in my apparently encouraging the locals to enjoy the opening of a new brassiere!

[Ken R]

On 12/19/2022 at 9:53 PM, Bill Dawes said:

Ford could have made a packet in royalties surely or was it never that good, never owned a Ford so I can't comment from personal experience.

Having owned a couple of Ford's with the heated screen I can confirm that this was a superb feature and one thing I really miss on my Lexus. They also had heated washer jets!

[KentColin]

Before I got my UX I had a 2017 Skoda Yeti which was a great car and it had a heated windscreen.

[Nurseboi]

I had a Mazda3 sport model 2012 that had the 'ford style' elements running through the front windscreen. It was very good and very quick to clear and no need to blast window airvents on aircon to remove fog. My current Mazda 3 which is newer and cost more does not have this feature. In that very cold December week my wiper jets froze on my Mazda, but after 5 mins driving they were happily squirting away, perhaps I have washer jet heaters in my Maz 3?