wivenhoe

Have an enjoyable holiday and well pleased you were pleasantly surprised with the range. My car grows on me even after 1.500 miles.

Even if they changed their mind about protecting the battery I can’t seem them going through all the testing again for say 30 miles more range. A couple of weeks ago, I read that Lexus was warning the dealers against exaggerating the range but explain why it was more accurate than other marques and stress the 90% after 10 years. I am definitely finding that even in the hot (for UK) weather and a lot of 70 mph driving that the 220 miles / 180 miles is accurate and doesn’t plunge like some others. As I said in an earlier post - it may not be the best range but it probably is the most accurate !

I do hope you’re right but are sceptical. The battery is 74kw but usable is 64kw. Even if they open it up to 100% as Tesla then it will improve by about 30 miles. Good but they kept the 10% back so they could warranty the battery 90% at 10 years. As I say I hope you are right - any chance of fettibg that from the dealer in writing ?

I’ll look forward to it. Your latest numbers are ones I recognise. Today I did 34 miles mostly with the a/c and 70 mph all the way there and back. Tonight I have 188 / 150 which is 222 / 184. I took mine down to about 15% and the range remained accurate all the way down. I do use the S Flow and Concierge, so I suggest you try that Tuesday. I have read some British articles and there seems to be a lot of cars that despite what the brochures say the real range is around 200 so maybe the RZ isn’t to far adrift.

John. That is disappointing and sounds a bit strange. When you say it showed 195 that must have been with the a/c going full blast ? Did you turn that off and see the range go to about 230+. In all my journeys the loss for the a/c is max 45 miles. apologies for the really stupid question - was it at 100% when at 195 ? Good luck with the drive the hols.

John - hope all goes well and you enjoy the drive tomorrow - looks like you’ll be seeing what the minimum range is as you’ll have the vented seat and a/c on full blast. Ask the handover guy about the Concierge function - my dealer didn’t have a clue how it worked !

John. Really sorry to hear this. If you haven’t paid for ‘protection’ it may be worth asking for it free as they have plenty of time to arrange and least they can do in recompense. That said, I recently read an article saying the RZ received special treatment in the factory so maybe that why some of the dealers are throwing it in for free ! I do think you’ll be happy with it when you finally get it.

I wonder if this type of key is the reason that new cars are coming with only 1 key with the promise of a second key when ‘chips’ are available ?

John. Hope you have an enjoyable handover with a fully charged car to have a relaxing and uneventful journey home. Make sure you get the guy handing over to turn the warning bongs off or down. I think you’ll have about 90 miles left when you hook up at home. “Hey Lexus” make my journey enjoyable !

When I first got the car it was reporting 2.7 miles / Kw but I was getting 220+ without much aircon. Having done 1k the car now reports 3 miles / Kw with a good percentage being at 70 mph. He quotes 196 miles which with aircon on is about right. You’ll see in one of my earlier posts that the actual miles / Kw seems to be better than reported in the dash. My view is predominately 70mph without aircon is 220 and with aircon Concierge about 190. which at usable 64Kw equates to 3.4 and 2.9.

When I saw it he must have changed his mind as he increased it to Shortlist ! I think that is one of the fairest reviews I have seen. I think he understood the market it was aimed at and reviewed accordingly. Thanks for posting it

I’ll leave it to John (when he gets his car next week) to give % readings as I use screen 3 which has the % as a small bar so not accurate. If you use screen 1 then it gives the % accurately. I prefer screen 3 as it gives me the info I want. The % and the range is very sensitive to whether the aircon has been used rather than just the cooled seats and or Concierge

John. My range indicated was about right when I collected the car but it took a bit of time to settle at 2.9 indicated but it was achieving that or more. The radiant heaters only should really help in winter. Enjoy the drive

Actual range after first 1,035 miles. In reasonably hot weather, 70mph for more than 50% of the time, with aircon on high for about 70% of the time I have used 336Kw which equates to consumption of 3.08 miles to the Kw. With a usable 64Kw = 197 miles which is what the car reports, so it confirms the range indicated can be relied upon. Not the best range but maybe the most reliable one !

Seems to align with Jeremy Clarkson talking about “the full Audi”

Wise guys in BMW & Audi said why don’t we install options but shut them off if the initial purchaser doesn’t want them and then we can charge the second owners to turn them on and pay subscriptions. Apparently fleet purchasers don’t want to pay for options so BMW & Audi realise this and so you can pay for over the air subscriptions that open up the options - things like heated seats, heated steering wheel, M suspension, Driving Assist, High Beam Assist, safety cameras in Nav etc

I should also have said that it’s a waste of time and money using rapid chargers above 80% as the input drops to 7kw !

John. Only the one trial on an Osprey 250Kw. If you look at the second page on this website it lists the charge rate for each 1% of battery state so you can see the rate you should get at say 50% and how long it will take to get a wanted %. Someone must have spent hours working this out as they have done it for most EV. I treat this as a bible as it was bang on when I did the rapid charge. See the time it takes above 80% which is why all manufacturers quote time only to 80% https://evkx.net/models/lexus/rz/rz_450e/chargingcurve/

I calmed my range anxiety by proving the range indicated is if anything pessimistic. I then put the aircon on full blast and I then know that is the expected minimum. Take 30% off and look for a Rapid charger in that area. Reassure yourself by the fact that 10% - 80% takes the time for a cuppa and then you have circa 200 miles. I did notice yesterday that the front seats go down to horizontal to lie on - probably for when you want to charge to 100% !

John - that’s unfortunate as Lexus would have claimed the subsidy and your address can only have one. That said, as the cabling will all be up to capacity you’ll only need a new box. BUT the Hypervolt box is £ 660 plus fitting. As the Pod Point was ‘dumb’ I did a lot of research before buying the Hypervolt and it seemed to come out as one of the best for the App / data control. Good luck with the 200 mile drive - the charging curve shows if you charge when the battery is over 50% it takes an age. The last 20% I think takes as long as the 10 - 80% so nerves of steel required !

All premiums are going up. I’ve read reports that costs of repairs have rocketed due to increase / lack of spares. Add in the CanBus thefts and very high used prices for replacement costs of stolen cars and it’s easy to see why premiums are only going one way. The other thing is that some donkey in the Government thought it a good idea to ban cheaper introductory / tempter rates to attract new customers - that why whilst shopping around may save a little bit, the days of moving for a big discount has been brought to an end - completion now seems to be coverage offered. I have just part exed my Range Rover - NFU refuse to insure any RR younger than 5 years and other insurers also have embargo’s against them. I fear the RX may be going the same way with all the CanBus thefts.

John - I use Zap Map and it gives up to the minute availability of chargers, when they were last used or out of service. BP Pulse seem to have a lot out of service but they’re not Rapid ones. Looking at the Rapid chargers from Osprey, IONITY, & Instavolt, Gridserve and Shell all seem to have mostly in service Rapid chargers. All are expensive - range from about 65p to 80p per Kw instead of 34p soon to be 30p at home. But even 80p is still in line with petrol. Say 10% - 80% is 70% x 64kw x 80p for say 190 miles = 27p / mile. SUV (doing 0-60 in 5s) say 30 mpg = 23p / mile. I have seen Tesla have opened up some of their charging network to non-Teslas. I haven’t looked into which one in the UK or the cost of an adaptor to fit their hyper chargers. Which charger did you go with at home. I don’t have 3 phase so limited to 7kw - it was my second charger and went with a Hypervolt with a 7m tethered cable, seems to be excellent and does everything needed and has a very reliable App. I have had this over a year. My previous Pod Point was only 3.5Kw and failed after 5 years - no complaint as the government subsidy meant I paid £ 100 for it !

John - range is remaining accurate and about the same as before. As I am writing this the car is at 82% charged and 192 or 155. I tried the radiant heater yesterday - did seem to be efficient and with the heated seat was definitely warm enough. No idea what it will be like in -5c. No new niggles. I’m in exchanges with Customer Service on the second key, locking wheel nut, whether the Keyless is UWB, ‘canbus theft deterrent plate and the Remote Park. Really odd today - Customer Service said the Remote Parking hardware was not fitted - I won’t bore you with their explanation. BUT, tried the Advance Park for the first time today and fiddled about when an image came up asking to select from arrows pointing forward or back. I selected forward and the screen came up saying - Remote Park, exit the vehicle with the key and use the App to control the car (or something like that). I have asked CS if this means the car does have the hardware but it’s the App that needs developing - hopefully that is correct so it could just be a download of the updated Lexus Link App. Similarly the web says the App should have Send To Car (destinations) but it isn’t in the App. On the good news front, I used Sport mode today - I thought it definitely made the car feel ‘tighter’ and ‘sporty’ - didn’t seem to diminish the range more than Normal. I don’t understand the reviewers criticisms of having to delve deep into menus to change the mode - there is a shortcut screen with it on which is accessed by an icon on the main screen. There are loads of shortcuts on there but I can’t find a way to personalise them - yet. The difference between 1 and 4 brake regen is very noticeable. I’m having fun trying to judge it - little things ……… Similarly, the door opening still puts a smile on my face each time I get in I normally use Spotify but thought I would try much higher definition tracks from Apple Music and Tidal. In my Velar it didn’t seem to make much difference on the Meridian 3D 14 speaker system but it certainly did on the Mark Levison ! I’ve cancelled Spotify. Hope everything remains on track for you collecting your car next week.

John - let’s hope you are right. I had a quick look and Toyota said the original buffer was 8% and they were going to reduce that after criticisms. The RZ buffer is 72kw - 64kw so over 10%. If they were to halve it then the unheated range increases to about 240

With the ‘extended’ set on then the car can stop for up to 3 minutes and restart automatically when the car in front moves off. My previous BMW wouldn’t move off if the drivers camera picked up I wasn’t looking straight ahead - hence I thought e RZ would be the same.