ColinBarber

It's worth given the brakes a workout once a month in that case. The rears tend to stick due to lack of use, which is more of an issue with a hybrid as light braking is performed by the electric motors. 60 to 10 mph as hard as possible two or three of times in quick succession should do the trick (when safe to do so).

Buying a used one from a breaker is the best option. I'm sure it is possible to clone a Toyota ECU but they aren't as programmable as European manufactures, so I wouldn't go down that route if at all possible.

I should have been clearer as I implied that WBAC held stock. What I meant was they don't want to auction a vehicle that is expensive/highly depreciating and niche as the bidders know if may take time to sell and therefore will only put in low bids.

The system has an AV input - the leads are tucked into the driver's seat rear pocket - standard three RCA connectors for PAL composite input + stereo. The fact that the DVD drive itself isn't reading discs shouldn't be an issue, just change the input and the screens will display the external source. You just need to find a device that will take your phone output and convert to standard definition video - which may be more difficult than it sounds these days 😉

Agreed and you should be in the most appropriate gear for the junction/corner/roundabout before you enter it, but there is no need to go 4 > 3 > 2 if you have clear slight of the approaching junction, with no immediate hazards present, 4 > 2 is fine.

It's true for the majority, and the engine in discussion here, but not all; the GS430 engine uses shims.

Partly, though more a manufacturing philosophy of continual improvement. The culture of the workforce is one of a team, everyone is responsible for quality and if an issue is seen then production must be stopped and the problem resolved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Production_System

Yes it would use whatever controls the vehicle has - remote touch pad/joystick, steering wheel controls, touch screen etc. Obviously not on the CT though, as it isn't available, unless you installed a third party device similar to Herbie.

Garden

Direct Line are worth getting a quote from.

It replaces the Lexus infotainment system with an Apple interface which is better designed and easier to navigate, gives you a choice of Navigation apps to run (Apple maps, Google maps, Waze) which are always up to date and have a cleaner interface, and also gives you direct access to other apps on your phone such as Spotify, text messages that get read out correctly, audio books etc without having to access them directly from the phone. https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/apple-carplay-android-auto/

mpg should improve as the weather gets warmer. You also need to drive a certain way to get the best economy out of a hybrid. It's worth having the energy view on the little display at the bottom of the speedo you want to accelerate to your cruising speed, say 30 mpg, lift off the accelerator for a second and then gently press down again so you give just enough power to maintain the speed without accelerating - on the display you should then see energy coming just from the battery and not the petrol engine. When you brake you should do so gently, when possible, so the power meter doesn't go all the way to the bottom, try to keep it within the blue area - that way the energy is being recovered into the battery. Once the meter goes to the bottom, maximum energy recovery is achieved and any further braking effort is done by the mechanical brakes where that energy goes to waste. In this pic below the needle is right at the bottom of the negative power range. One thing to check is that your mechanical brakes aren't sticking, which is common with the RX400h. After a journey of at least a few miles, place your hand very close to the wheel/brakes to feel the heat coming off them (don't actually touch anything in case it is very hot). If one wheel is particularly hot that could indicate is isn't moving freely and will affect economy.

Unfortunately Lexus don't offer CarPlay on any CT200h of any age and I don't believe there are any plans to offer a retrofit upgrade.

Even with the limited range of the UX 300e, you probably wouldn't need to charge up more than once every two weeks if you lived on Jersey 😉

Two iPads in holders that hang from the seats? The old ICE system wasn't that great in its day, now it is extremely antiquated.

I'm totally with you that it is mainly a gimmick, and most owners hardly ever use them. But that is different from calling it out as a negative point on the vehicle, as if they are badly designed and the vehicle would be better off without them. The real use of engine braking is to stop your brakes from overheating and fading - typically used for descending steep inclines and/or when towing. Just using it to help braking in normal driving isn't really useful and I don't believe is taught anymore.

The actuator under the glove box is for the recirculation, the air mix actuators are on the central heater matrix unit.

Welcome John 🙂

Why is this a minus? If you don't find a use for them then you just don't use them - you haven't paid extra for them or they don't get in your way. They are there to give people a more familiar 'geared' driving experience if they are coming from a conventional, non-hybrid, vehicle. It also allows for a faster, safer way to overtake by having the engine already spooled up beforehand, and you can use it to achieve 'engine' braking when descending inclines as the alternative to B mode found on the Prius/CT/Auris hybrid system.

I don't see why you can having to go through your insurance. The Lexus dealer should be fully arranging and paying for the repair, otherwise threaten to reject the vehicle. If they are asking you to go through your insurance then that isn't right - it is a pre-existing fault that your insurance should not be paying for, and is borderline fraud. You are also adding a claim to your record.

Just to make you happy: The recon stage is exactly the same whether you have flooded or AGM, but the standard charging voltages are different. You can select AGM and Recon together - bottom row in the above chart.

The price is there or there about with Lexus dealers, maybe a little high as you could probably get a Sport+ for similar money with a few more miles on the clock, and if you get one from a Lexus dealer you would get a 1 year extended warranty which will be better than any third-party warranty on offer. At this sort of price the difference between forecourt and trade-in is going to the £6k+ so that goes some way to the £20k difference but I've always found WBAC do give very low valuations, especially on a niche vehicle such as this - they don't want the risk of having a high depreciating vehicle that can be difficult to sell.

Welcome; congrats on your new vehicle 🙂

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