Mincey

Thank you!

(why are they called "murder" wheels?)

I have no complaints or worries about ooomph so far. Pulling out onto busy roundabouts does not require a drop into S for assurance as it did on my 3IS. I think my wife saying "oooh, this doesn't hang around, does it?" as I gave the accelerator pedal it's inaugural (for me) meeting with the floor mat as we entered the dual c/w section of the A47 near Peterborough earlier this week says it all (and I can only imagine what it feel like to do the same in a bigger engined Lexus).

A lovely looking car - it is interesting to see that you're another owner who has followed the IS through its evolution like I did. I am sure you will have many happy, trouble-free miles ahead of you. Enjoy!

I'm putting together a list at the moment. I'm not going to publish it now as i've still got the "New Car Blinkers" on but I'll comment as follows: Newer Hybrid generation which has considerably less lag than IS. I've noticed this when driving a current-shape Corolla - have you also noticed this with the ES? Yes - definitely. When I accelerate there's no noticeable lag. No need to put it into S at roundabouts. Economy (I'd expect the ES to give up to 10 MPG more) Watch this space Refinement - noise. It is extremely quiet inside. I must ask someone to stand outside when I try the horn, as from inside it's almost inaudible. Ride Quality. My IS F Sport crashed and banged over bumps and scars in the road. The ES F Sport is significantly smoother and quieter Ergonomics and infotainment usability. Will return to this. Cabin Room. It's enormous inside. I do miss the snug racing car/fighter jet driving position of the IS though. It's probably the lower/narrower console due to a lack of a transmission tunnel though. Lookbackability - are you more inclined to sneek a quick look as you walk away after parking up, for example. Yes. I have to make sure that the mirrors are tucked back so I know she's locked and safe. There's also a nightly (at the very least) check to make sure that I have deactivated the keyless entry!

And here's the advert: https://leicester.usedcars.lexus.co.uk/en/used-lexus/Lexus/IS/300h-F-Sport-4dr-CVT-Auto-Premium-Navigation-kmb2gzj Given the mileage and mpg figures, I reckon they've used some of the photos from the original advert (should have downloaded those at the time - see me after class Mincey)

A wise head on young shoulders!

It is better isn't it 😁

I'm not convinced it's worth an 80 mile round trip to get Lexus to fit a dashcam to my ES so I'm looking at local options, one of which is Halfords. A Nextbase 422GW front and rear plus fitting is £293. Nextbase will do it for £281. Club discount of 15% (£43.95) at Halfords takes it down to £249.05. Halfords are also close enough to go back to if they screw up. Decisions, decisions....

Thanks for all your kind words everyone, I spent an few minutes (about 30 to be precise) last night in the car with the manual on my lap working things out. The radio stations are all sorted, I've used Carista to change the number of indicator blinks from 3 to 6, got the phone all connected and loaded up the sat nav with a few destinations. Typically I haven't got the correct cable to use Android Auto but Amazon will come to the rescue there no doubt. I wasn't able to change bar to PSI for the tyre pressure read out but I believe that might not be possible. I'll have to remember all about bars now.

It's the best I could do this early in the morning....

I didn't really think that one through did I? I could possibly have framed that shot better or had I not been so hasty to post it, I could have photoshopped the Waitrose logo over the top of Aldi's.

Lexus Leicester should be held up as an example of how parking spaces should be marked out - it makes parking a doddle for me 😁

That's a good point! It was a victim of the pandemic. Before I'd have been putting about 10,000 business miles on it a year but thanks to Teams and Zoom, I don't get out much now.

Ah yes - almost forgot. There's no dashcam. I thought that as it was an ex-dealer car, it would have had one fitted, but no. I'm not sure I want to go all the way back to Leicester to let them fit one so I'll be looking locally for an auto sparky who can put one in.

Looking at it now, you could get a bus through that gap....

I must admit that when i took that photo alarm bells did ring...

Well that was a long three weeks. Thanks to Covid, there was no handover so I'm going to be taking the advice of the very wise@royoftherovers and will be spending this evening reading the manual. No gifts sadly, and only 45 miles worth of petrol in the tank (a bit mean!) but never mind. I had a rear bumper protector fitted while we waited - I was expecting it to be £170 as on the Lexus site but they only charged me £145, which was nice. Had a pleasant drive back along the A47. The first three figure blast has been done. It's nice to get things like that out of the way. I was rather puzzled that the usual way of disarming the keyless entry didn't work. I was about to Google it until I realised that when I tried, I had the spare key in my pocket, so no matter how many times I tried to disarm the key I was holding, the door would obviously still open. I blame excitement.

Farewell faithful friend, I didn't really get to know you too well over the two years and 4,000ish miles we spent together but my first taste of hybrid was a good one. I hope your next owner treats you kindly. They'll be paying more for you than I did 🙂 )

V5 found? Done Insurance sorted? Done (sadly) Spare key found? Done Wheel nut lock found and code put back into box? Done Glove box emptied? Done Boot clear? Done Cubby holes emptied? Done Gaffer tape on the numberplates? Done Old plates blu-tacked onto the inside of the front and back windows? Done I think we're good to go 😁 (In case anyone's wondering about what on Earth I'm doing with the number plates - given the hassle I've had with getting scratches fixed, would you pull stuck on number plates off? No, I didn't think you would)

Ed did a cracking job - from this: to this: I am well chuffed.

Wheel done! Ed has done an absolutely cracking job and the wheel looks brand new. Assuming that I don't stuff it on the way to Leicester tomorrow, someone is going to get a very tidy car.

This is a struggle. At least I have Ed coming from Chips Away shortly to attend to the NSF front wheel of my IS to break the agony!

22 hours 59 minutes to go...