ColinBarber

Well we know who to blame if there is 😉

All electric cars are too expensive. £30k for a Corsa, but Vauxhall won't make any money from it, and Lexus are unlikely to either from their UXe - and for this reason they aren't projecting to sell many, and will actively restrict the number they sell. They need the low CO2 to help offset the other vehicles to bring their average down to within the 2021 European targets. The main reason for the UXe is China, and appealing to its younger demographic there to build the brand awareness.

if your crankshaft sensor isn't working then the ECU won't send a signal for the ignitors to generate a spark. It needs to see a crank signal when cranking the engine before it starts ignition.

The link provided is a discussion for the first generation of nav system found in the early series IV GS. The procedure should be somewhat similar but the seller doesn't appear to offer maps for the HDD based system found in the late series III GS.

I state further down that regen braking will stop if the battery gets full - and yes the needle will return to 0 indicating that fact. If you apply braking beyond what the hybrid system can generate then the mechanical brakes work in conjunction with the hybrid braking. The electrical force generated is related to how fast the generator is spinning, due to the electro-magnetic forces at work, so yes if you keep the same pressure applied you will start to see the needle move back towards 0, at which point you can apply a bit more pressure and still be within regen braking. Your last paragraph is incorrect. The mechanical brakes will operate once you max out the regen capabilities of the hybrid system at any speed. If you were to slam on the brakes at 70 mph the relatively small electric motor/generator cannot slow a 2 ton vehicle that quickly, and it is further limited by the batteries because they cannot take the full charge current that the generator could produce. In that situation it is probably 99% mechanically braking that is doing the work. But at even quite low braking requirements you will see the needle max out and the mechanical brakes take up the extra requirement. This is all controlled by the skid control ECU on the 400h: At around 5 mph, the regen braking system is completely disengaged, the mechanical brakes then do all the work. You can sometimes feels that as the timing may not be 100% accurate during the transition and you get either a slight feeling of acceleration (actually less deceleration) or greater deceleration for a split second. It is rare to feel this on the modern generation hybrids but the first and second gen Toyota systems you sometimes can (Prius I and Prius II RX400h, GS450h series II).

There are different refrigerants out there and the correct one must be used however it is the oil that is extremely important on a hybrid as the compressor is electric and conventional oil is conductive which will cause energy leakage and a shock hazard. ND-OIL 11 must be used.

Two parts to this. Technically yes, it will provide some regenerative braking to provide a braking effect which charges the traction battery. But you don't want to do this because in B mode it can also engage the petrol engine and turns it over without fuel/ignition as additional load so you are wasting energy - using B mode is less fuel efficient than just in normal mode. You also don't really want to be concerned about the charge level - just let the vehicle worry about that. It will try and maintain it around half charge, so it has the ability to store any energy you save through braking and have enough to provide extra power should you call for it. If it gets too low it will charge it via diverting some of the engine power to the battery, or even starting up the engine if it wasn't running. If you want to be most efficient with recovering energy then you should apply the brakes gently so only regenerative braking is used. If you come off the accelerator when moving you will notice the power meter go slightly negative - this is the hybrid system simulating the braking effect of a standard automatic transmission vehicle by applying a small amount of regenerative braking. If you lightly press the brake pedal then the needle will move further into the negative. If you apply too much then the needle with max out at the bottom of the gauge, at which point additional braking effect is being provided by the mechanical brakes. You can use this technique to maintain speed down a slope unless it is too steep for just regenerative braking to stop acceleration, or unless the slope is slow long that you completely charge the traction battery at which point the regenerative braking will stop. In these two scenarios you can use B mode to give you additional braking.

Probably the opposite in fact. Not sure what 12v battery they use in the 500h but typically Lexus hybrid vehicles have a smaller capacity 12v battery than the petrol models because it isn't used to start the vehicle so they can save weight and cost. The downside is it doesn't last as long when the vehicle isn't being used.

you can view the wiring diagrams online here: https://www.lexus-tech.eu will cost you around €4 for an hour.

The RX450h and other newer hybrid designs (e.g. IS300h) have a simulated gearbox when put into manual mode - this is really there to help people who are used to conventional vehicles feel more at home and can be useful if you know you are going to overtake and want the revs up so the acceleration will occur without delay, but you can also drop down a 'gear' or two when going downhill to give you that simulated engine braking.

Not as prevalent, in fact it is unheard of at this time but whether that is because it is too difficult or just because cats from older vehicles are more valuable, and therefore are targeted, isn't really known. We know the cat is further forward on the series IV, but we haven't seen pictures to tell if the front is still accessible or not. Heard of a few cases with it happening on the series III but no where near as bad as the series II 400h.

The official way is to pay for online access as already mentioned, or alternatively sign up to some service that provides the information which has been obtained with permission from the copyright holders - e.g. alldata Discussions around obtaining Toyota's copyrighted material without permission aren't to be discussed on these forums.

The 400h engine is relatively quite and the noise insulation does a good job. The older Prius models and the other 4 cylinder models are noisier which is where most of the complaints come from.

You cannot use the 12v battery to start a Toyota hybrid vehicle if the traction battery goes completely flat. This is why the AA/RAC will recover your vehicle to a Lexus dealer if you have a flat traction battery as they don't have the ability to get it running. Each dealer has a THS charger, you can purchase one yourself but they are around £5k + the required lead for the vehicle in question. The DC-DC converter that generates the vehicle's 12v system from the traction battery once in Ready state is made from solid state electronics designed to operate at specific voltages. It doesn't work in reverse, nor does it work at lower input voltage which then affects the output voltage. It cannot be thought of as a passive AC step down transformer which could be wired in reverse to step-up.

https://www.lexus.co.uk/car-models/ux-ev/ RAV4 plug in is delayed in Europe and will be very difficult to get hold of in the US this year - the batteries are in short supply. This is where Tesla has the advantage - they have the manufacturing capability and long term contracts with the battery manufacturers that no one else has. I would expect the new NX, which will be Rav based, to have the plug-in option available. Seems the best compromise at the moment, the range just isn't there on pure EVs. Take a look at the range predictor in the middle of this page from Vauxhall: https://www.vauxhall.co.uk/cars/new-corsa/electric.html The Corsa has an official range of 209 miles - drive it at 75 mph when it is 0 deg C outside and that range is 103 miles!

Same engine/transmission but the GS in both F-Sport and Premier have Adaptive Variable Suspension standard whereas it was only an option on the IS300h F Sport. The suspension is only very firm on Sport+ setting due to the AVS being softer in normal modes. The GS300h F Sport lacks the advanced features found only on the GS450h F Sport (rear wheel steering and variable ratio steering).

Illuminates blue, although I thought they appear slightly blueish even when off. Either way the fact that you can store music on the HDD means it has a HDD based sat nav which is only dealer upgradeable unfortunately - and wouldn't be worth the cost IMO because it would be at least £150+.

Correct. C/TR stands for Colour / Trim so your colour code is 1G0. Only go by the colour code, not a name associated with it as names vary between countries and between Lexus and Toyota vehicles.

If you have a blue start button then it is a later 2010 model with a HDD based nav system.

I don't disagree. All the more reason not to assume an update will work correctly. 😞

No audible chirp, just indicators flash and the sound of the central locking working.

If this update were intended for vehicle owners to apply then it would be available on My Lexus, not on a motor industry service and repair website that has disclaimers and warning all over it, including the front page. Things get put up on the site, before Lexus GB and dealerships are informed - in that sense it is not official and your lack of access to Lexus GB and Lexus Europe technicians is one reason why you are not deemed the intended user of the software. We can all agree that Lexus infotainment systems haven't been what people have been wanting for some time but if you purchased a vehicle without the promise of something better then you aren't entitled to new features. User upgradability and OTA updates would be nice, but the systems weren't designed for that - they don't have robust recovery features, store dual copies of firmware etc. etc. and therefore Lexus' model of dealer upgrades makes sense - you may well know more about computers than the average Lexus mechanic, but if it goes wrong for him, he has the backing of Toyota behind him to rectify the issue.

Yes, in the Lexus cars for sale forum using the correct template.

If you use the lock/unlock buttons on the drivers door, is that slow?

Doesn't sound right. Have you tested this at a different location to rule out any interference that may be causing the issue?