THE WORST CAR TO WASH IS …..Lexus UX Electric Takumi

[Yorkshire Lexus]

Hello everyone, I got my Lexus UX e Takumi about 12 months ago, like many others the 12v Battery has failed, eventually got a new one under warranty, but that’s the only major problem I’ve encountered.

Also the front tyres are not looking good after 12,000 miles , this seems odd and disappointing, MICHELLIN tyres.

My main gripe is it’s an awful car to hand wash yourself, so much curved plastic and edges, im an ex retired car dealer and I’ve washed thousands of my cars in my time , THIS IS THE WORST 😂

I love the smooth ride, the handling is really nice but the sound system is very poor Mark Levinson is believe .

The Heated seats are very very poor, also the heated steering wheel is not that hot either, my girlfriend has a Hyundai I10 and her heated seats are fantastic ,  one on Lexus you can do better !

I got a great deal when I bought it brand new, circa £7000 of list, I decided to lease it, 36 payments , £1500 deposit, £500 per month on 8000 miles per annum, a bargain I think 🤔 

Lexus seemed to have about 50 Lexus UX e at their Head Office at the time , all with Takumi Packs, so £54,000 is allot of money for this car in my opinion.

I’m still disappointed with the range in winter, but love the power, I might buy it after the lease runs out, depends how the figures are in relation to Cap and Glasses guide !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CT200h-TL]

Whats the range in winter?

[Lmafudd]

I am a regular car washer and always have been. Whilst I haven't cleaned as many cars as a dealer of course I can say that the UX is no worse than any other. Black plastic trim can always be a bit dodgy especially if one like to polish a vehicle but since I have discovered Meguiar's Ultimate Black Plastic & Trim Restorer I haven't looked back! Meguiar's stuff all seems pretty reliable and this polish really does bring most plastic trim back to a near new look. It can't deal with bad interior scratches, (how the hell do they occur) but I find if I fill-in the marks with a sharpie or permanent marker then polish with the Ultimate Black restorer they are almost invisible.

[Las Palmas]

There are many ways to wash cars.

This is one of the ways how we do it:

Also, some drive through with personnel washing the wheels so they almost get clean.

[Yorkshire Lexus]

Lol but Lexus do I’m afraid use cheap plastic materials, it lets them down .

they need to look at Porsche or Audi for quality plastics etc. 

[Las Palmas]

20 minutes ago, Yorkshire Lexus said:

Lol but Lexus do I’m afraid use cheap plastic materials, it lets them down .

they need to look at Porsche or Audi for quality plastics etc. 

Lexus made their reputation with the older models. The newer ones are being made in competition; and unfortunately, not in competition of quality.

Porsche was once the sports car brand, but now they stupidly and greedy are corrupting their image with the clumsy SUV cars.

EV cars are a dead end and will stop when material for batteries no longer is competitive. Then the cars can be used as donors for fuel cell power plants.

[Gary H]

Hi Ian! Welcome to the forum. 

Yes, as someone who does enjoy a clean car and very much a ‘car washer’, the UX isn’t the most forgiving of body shapes to wash! After three years of ownership, the areas which tend to get ‘missed’ if you’re not careful are the bottom of the front doors (below the door mirrors), the rear bumper section which is covered by the bootlid and the very narrow channels on the outer edges of the roofrails which can conceal a surprising amount of dirt. 

£54,000 is indeed a lot of money. Too much for any UX in my opinion. I paid a fraction under £40,000 for my F-Sport (although mine does have the Tech & Safety Pack and the Adventure Pro Pack) and I thought that was pretty ‘heavy’ going considering the size of the car. What I paid was about the top-end of what I was willing to go to for it. 

I’m still on my original tyres and have done 23,800 miles. At it’s first MOT almost a month ago, I still had 5mm on the front and 6mm on the back. With any luck, they’ll see out my ownership of the car.

With regards to the heated seats, I’m not sure if they have some sort of secondary thermostat in them or not, but there are occasions where you can put them on maximum (and removing/overriding the auto function) and they’re little more than warm regardless of how long it’s left on for. However, they do become notably hot on colder days on exactly the same setting. It’s never bothered me as such, but it’s a quirk my particular UX has had from day one. I’m not sure if others are the same. 

I can’t comment too much on the heated wheel. I’ve only used it about a dozen or so times and even then, I’ve turned it off after about five minutes!

[Las Palmas]

On 4/30/2023 at 8:56 PM, Yorkshire Lexus said:

I love the smooth ride, the handling is really nice but the sound system is very poor Mark Levinson is believe .

I admit that I have no idea about the audio quality in the UX as I have never been in one.

The ML audio in the CT is above the quality in all the cars I have been in not costing more than 5 times the CT.

Have been installing audio in cars in competitions and some of them were close to as well in tonal range but none above as long as volume was kept below dangerous level for our ears (100db in my opinion). Have installed audio equipment costing more or less as much as a car. Was now and then using Fujitsu Ten (favourite brand of Toyota)

and though it is long ago it was one of my chosen as well. What may be the weak point in the ML in our cars is lack of a super-size capacitor (2F) for the sub, but as long as not trying to make discotheque sound levels in the tiny volume of our cars it is not critical.

 

[Gary H]

I don't have the Mark Levinson sound system in my UX – just the standard equipment. I can’t say I have any complaints about it though.  It's fine for my own needs.

Having said that, I’m not the biggest listener of music. Occasional radio is about as far as it goes. Ten years ago I had an Audi A4 with the upgraded Bang & Olufsen sound system, whilst my father had the standard system in his own A4 (which was a few years older – but still the same generation/shape). Neither of us could tell much in the way of difference at all!

[Lmafudd]

I'm very pleased with the audio in my UX and listen to all kinds of stuff from radio to rock. If only Android Auto would play the actual song I ask for I may listen to more music!!!

[neilrobbo]

I've got to say the Mark Levinson sound system is fantastic in my humble opinion, maybe you might need to adjust some settings?

[Las Palmas]

If source is Spotify the sound is terrible due to very low quality and high compression. MP3 in 320kbps is close to acceptable, m4a in 512kbps will be good for most of the older generation. Unfortunately, Lexus is not interested in lossless audio and therefore does not play that in the ML without a direct Line-In. Maybe in the newer cars there are later Bluetooth modes that can transfer better quality, as having wires seems a bit old fashioned. The 2017 model we have will not accept anything better than m4a. But on a DVD, there can be 20 hours of music on one in 512kbps, so will be enough for most tours. Wine gets better with age, unfortunately it is not the same with ears.

[Don C]

On 5/1/2023 at 9:13 AM, Yorkshire Lexus said:

Lol but Lexus do I’m afraid use cheap plastic materials, it lets them down .

they need to look at Porsche or Audi for quality plastics etc. 

Porsche, Audi, BMW and Merc need to look at Lexus for reliability.