Silly things about my UX

Bill Dawes · February 7

I like my 2023 UX Takumi but despite being top of the range spec I find a few things irritating.

That dreadful boot cover, a pain to get those loops detached/attached to the hooks on the side. Took me a while to master the folding up technique without it whipping undone and smacking me in the face.

Why only a map pocket in the passenger seat back, other (cheaper) top spec cars I have had two.

Why no rear door pockets, I know there are speakers there but they could have squeezed a small pocket in there.

A boot light in the lid would be useful, on the face of it a lamp each side of the boot sounds good, which it is as long as the boot is empty.

My last car had a sunglasses case obove the windscreen, useful, avoids taking up space in the glove box and easier to reach.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if a car manufacturer bought out a model that copied all the best ideas from other manufacturers and made the complete car.

I do admit that I am a bit of a cubby hole storage nut, maybe others only carry the drivers manual supplied with the car.

Great car that could be a lot better packaged for rear seat and boot room, maybe the next major revamp?

Any other pet hates guys.

Bill D.

Bill Dawes · February 7

I should have said 2022 UX, doesn't time fly, 20 months old already.

Bill D.

fourbanks · February 7

That's odd bill I have back seats pockets and have a light each side in the boot and a sunroof. Mine is just a basic UX with a premium plus pack

Lmafudd · February 8

I put the manual in the boot cubby near the right light cluster, fits perfectly with the locking wheel nuts. This gives the tiny glovebox a chance to be useful. I made a ledge for the centre armrest store and put the wireless dongle for the phone in there. I have no issues with the floppy rear cover.

My 2022 registered UX only has one pocket. That is on the back of the passenger seat. Maybe they think that someone messing about behind the driver is a distraction!

ArneT · February 8

9 hours ago, Bill Dawes said:

I like my 2023 UX Takumi but despite being top of the range spec I find a few things irritating.

That dreadful boot cover, a pain to get those loops detached/attached to the hooks on the side. Took me a while to master the folding up technique without it whipping undone and smacking me in the face.

Why only a map pocket in the passenger seat back, other (cheaper) top spec cars I have had two.

Why no rear door pockets, I know there are speakers there but they could have squeezed a small pocket in there.

A boot light in the lid would be useful, on the face of it a lamp each side of the boot sounds good, which it is as long as the boot is empty.

My last car had a sunglasses case obove the windscreen, useful, avoids taking up space in the glove box and easier to reach.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if a car manufacturer bought out a model that copied all the best ideas from other manufacturers and made the complete car.

I do admit that I am a bit of a cubby hole storage nut, maybe others only carry the drivers manual supplied with the car.

Great car that could be a lot better packaged for rear seat and boot room, maybe the next major revamp?

Any other pet hates guys.

Bill D.

My partner has a 2021 UX300e Premium Plus pack - I agree with you about the boot cover. I gave up trying to fold it up to avoid damaging it (reminds me of a child's pop-up tent that I could never fold away again). The plus points are that the cover is very thin, light and quite stretchy, I assume to avoid taking up too much space. The stretchiness allows larger items in the boot whilst hiding them and preventing them flying into the cabin, thereby gaining a bit more useable boot space with the cover still on.

Our UX only seems to have a single map pocket too.

Car manufacturers all learning from each other in a quest for the ultimate vehicle, that's a very big dream! I suspect patents prevent some of this in reality.

Another gripe of mine is how few options can be selected today when buying new (I noticed this when looking for brand new EVs last year), it is almost always a compromise. For example, 1) buy pack X to get these 13 features (6 of which you may not actually need). and 2) there are very few options for colour/trim e.g. rival manufacturers (both material and colour) and even external paint colour! I assume all of this simplification is to minimise configuration and speed up production in the factory? For paint colour, I was appalled to find one marque doesn't even provide colour samples for their dealers .. so oddly I walked out and ended up at Lexus.

Try and enjoy the 99% of the vehicle that you do like, in those wonderfully comfortable seats.

Don C · February 8

You only get a seat pocket on the passenger side because you can’t get to one behind you while driving safely unless you’re Inspector Gadjet. The light on the back door, yes. I’ve actually got the wire and the light to sort that one fine day. I put the handbook in the accessible back seat pocket and as above have a more useable glovebox. Sunglasses holder, I never use the phone charger so they nest there. Next model for that.

DavidCM · February 8

A seat pocket only on the passenger seat is quite common on other makes as well.

Navnan2 · February 8

I've move to an ES but had two UX's prior. It used to bug me I had to include both Premium and Plus pack to get a sun roof which was important to me. That in turn pushed me into the higher road tax band. It comes standard in the base model for the ES.

PaulWhitt20 · February 9

I miss being able to do a manual wipe of the windscreen without taking it out of auto. The IS had a button on the stalk for auto wipers so you could flick the stalk to wipe the windscreen manually and keep it in auto.

Lmafudd · February 10

11 hours ago, PaulWhitt20 said:

I miss being able to do a manual wipe of the windscreen without taking it out of auto. The IS had a button on the stalk for auto wipers so you could flick the stalk to wipe the windscreen manually and keep it in auto.

I seem to think that if you flick to Off then back to Auto then you get one wipe anyway. I may have to check when I get in the car!

stepppy · February 10

2 hours ago, Lmafudd said:

I seem to think that if you flick to Off then back to Auto then you get one wipe anyway. I may have to check when I get in the car!

Or if you adjust the sensitivity up one, then back does the same thing... single wipe

PaulWhitt20 · February 10

Thanks. Good to know.

Gary H · February 13

I can certainly not my head in agreement to certain things in your opening post @Bill Dawes!

The parcel shelf - well, boot cover, is indeed flimsy. Nothing more than a flexible frame with a thin fabric covering. I'm assuming that's down to a lack of boot space, so loads can still be at least obscured as bags e.t.c. 'push up' against the fabric from underneath. If it was a solid shelf, I'd imagine that would worsen the already poor boot space. I agree that the attaching loops are incredibly fiddly things. Fortunately, I found myself only having to remove it a couple of times when I had it. The NX still doesn't have a solid parcel shelf, but is certainly an improvement over the design of the UX one.

Yes - I also thought it was very odd that were were no pockets, even small ones, in the rear door panels. Mine was a 2020 model (so fairly early) and I'd imagined it would have been tweaked by now (like the gearstick was, removing the touch pad gubbins e.t.c...) but was surprised to see that's still the case. Obviously it never really effected me as I was driving it upwards of 90% of the time, but it did feel a bit impractical on the few times I found myself in the rear.

Otherwise I do think it's a neatly packaged and stylish car. I did overall enjoy the three and a half years I had with mine. The only thing which did bother me during my ownership was that poor boot space. It was absolutely fine during weekday commutes but when it came to weekends, days away or holidays - the back seats regularly had to become an extension to the boot.

Rizzoe · February 15

I understand why the boot capacity may seem poor, but in my case it could be conisdered "too much". More than fine for weekend trips where i don't need to load more than a few backpacks and other misc items. Length wise it seems about as long as my old S3, maybe just not as deep, but as Gary mentioned the flexible parcel shelf doesn't limit nearly as much as i thought it would.

My main complaint is that my UX (maybe all?) doesn't have the audible feedback (beep/beep-beep) when locking/unlocking

ColinBarber · February 15

1 hour ago, Rizzoe said:

My main complaint is that my UX (maybe all?) doesn't have the audible feedback (beep/beep-beep) when locking/unlocking

I assume you don’t have smart access? But you should still hear the doors lock though? Personally I dislike vehicles that make an unnecessary noise when locking/unlocking.

Rizzoe · February 15

2 hours ago, ColinBarber said:

I assume you don’t have smart access?

Is "smart access" that credit card looking thing, or does that include the standard "keyless" key fob?

You can hear the noise i'm referring to is in this video at 2:14. Allegedly other models (NX, RX etc) have a setting in the "Vehicle Customization" menu called "Lock/Unlock Feedback-Tone". It should be configurable, so if you don't want it you could always turn it off. I don't have this setting in my infotainment screen, i do have a power boot which does beep when opening/closing but i guess it's not the same speaker used for locking/unlocking.

Sometimes i forget if i locked the car so it just would've been a more convenient way of making sure if it's locked 😁

ColinBarber · February 15

2 hours ago, Rizzoe said:

Is "smart access" that credit card looking thing, or does that include the standard "keyless" key fob?

Smart access is keyless entry - where you touch the door handle to lock/unlock. If you use this then you shouldn't be in any doubt if the vehicle is locked as you are standing right next to it when it locks so you hear the actuators.

2 hours ago, Rizzoe said:

so if you don't want it you could always turn it off

it's other people using it that is the problem - neighbours in the middle of the night in summer when I have windows open etc 😉

The UK law actually prevents the use of horns/sirens for stationary vehicles - it is inferred that this also includes alarm activation beeps which is why it isn't available when it might be in other countries. Most manufacturers don't allow this anymore because of the law. The beep on the tailgate is a safety warning and so it seems is allowed.

Bezzer · February 15

Easiest thing is to have the wing mirrors on auto so they fold when you lock it, obvious to see then it's locked/alarmed.

ALAW · February 18

Regarding the floppy Tonneau cover I've never used it took it off and its in its bag that came with it.

Don C · February 18

35 minutes ago, ALAW said:

Regarding the floppy Tonneau cover I've never used it took it off and its in its bag that came with it.

It’s nasty tat really Brent, not at all worthy of a Lexus in my opinion. There are much better designs than that on very ordinary cars. I use mine most of the time and can fold it dead easy now.

Lmafudd · February 19

11 hours ago, Don C said:

It’s nasty tat really Brent, not at all worthy of a Lexus in my opinion. There are much better designs than that on very ordinary cars. I use mine most of the time and can fold it dead easy now.

Tat? I think it's a very clever design. Seems well constructed, weighs almost nothing, easy to hide away and looks good. Only my opinion of course!

ALAW · February 19

23 hours ago, Don C said:

It’s nasty tat really Brent, not at all worthy of a Lexus in my opinion. There are much better designs than that on very ordinary cars. I use mine most of the time and can fold it dead easy now.

I remember when i bought the car Don i had watched lots of YouTube vids and i watched Melissa at Northfield Texas show you how to easily fold it. I've never had it out of the bag since i put it back in it. Lol.

Don C · February 20

16 hours ago, Lmafudd said:

Tat? I think it's a very clever design. Seems well constructed, weighs almost nothing, easy to hide away and looks good. Only my opinion of course!

If you like it that’s good but I’d rather have something a bit more substantial like the moulded things you get in most other cars. There’s a lot of noise comes from the boot and it would help keep it out.

Lmafudd · February 20

When I had an NX I certainly noticed a sound difference when the shelf was out but usually that meant the back was down too. Even with the seats down the noise levels are not that different in my UX but the UX is much noisier to start with!

Of course the seats are down much more often in the UX for obvious reasons.

Rizzoe · February 20

On 2/15/2024 at 7:17 PM, Bezzer said:

Easiest thing is to have the wing mirrors on auto so they fold when you lock it

Unfortunately the "Midnight" trim doesn't have that option. I have to close the mirrors when entering the garage anyway so it wouldn't cover my use case 😁