Desmond

Great post Herbie. Most informative. Just one question, I am considering getting a trickle charger but like Bristol I am reluctant to keep dismantling the boot every time I use it. So I did think of getting something like a CTEK MX5 with a socket lead. Using the fuse box charger point would be easier especially if I rigged up an inboard socket. You imply that charge point is effectively universal so would any suitable charger work on it?

Sounds like a good idea. Thanks for that. Not far off what I ended up doing this morning in fact. People might talk even more though about that odd bloke that sits for an hour in his car every Monday morning reading Playboy!😄

True enough Herbie but it is an Achilles heel for a hybrid if you can’t leave it a fortnight. To be fair though, my mileage was well down before that in view of the virus restrictions so perhaps lack of mileage did not help the situation. Unfortunately I am not able to drive for very long at present so getting in some distance runs is a bit problematical. If I just do lots of laps of the village, that might work but people would start to talk!😄

For the first time ever in over 35 years of Toyota and Lexus, a car has let me down. I was in hospital for a couple of weeks, the car in the garage. Came to start it today and battery flat. Admittedly the mileage has been considerably lower of late like most people’s but 2 weeks seems a poor effort.

The road noise reduction from the factory Yokohamas was considerable and the ride appreciably more relaxed. I doubt if the handling is ultimately much different to factory fit but this is not really a push on sports car so that was not a factor. The road holding seems better than standard but that could just be subjective. I was fed up of swapping wheels in winter, this seemed a reasonable compromise though as yet I have not tested in snow. I did have them on the CT though and that revolutionised the grip in winter. Having experienced them before made this less of a risky purchase too. I understand there is now a version 2 of Cross Climates. It is still a relatively expensive thing to do I suppose if your tyres are not needing a change but I figured that if I was buying a car like this and going to spend a lot of time driving it then it was worth that bit more investment to make the improvements.

The NX is not the answer to all prayers but it is a very good motor, particularly for me here in East Anglia. It cruises very quietly at 60 on A roads, it rides and road holds quite nicely on B roads and cycle lanes and is no bother in the city. Fitting some Michelin Cross Climates made a big difference. To be fair I do very little routine M-way driving nowadays but when I do, the only time I notice the scream is when joining the motorway. Once at cruising speed it is very quiet. On an A road it is the same, only severe right clog causes excessive noise and I find in this motor I rarely need to do that anyway. I am average size but I do agree there is insufficient adjustment on the seat and steering wheel to find an ideal position. If it was a manual car and I had to operate a clutch it would be deal breaker but I can manage with the CVT. The seat itself is comfy enough though it shares an annoying Lexus trait of a hard cross piece right at the base of the spine. It is not quite as prominent as it was in my CT but it is disappointingly still there. More padding needed on the seat or my backside. On credit side it is very easy to enter and exit which for me is a big plus point. we all comment on the infotainment. It is poor but I’ve learnt to live with it. A big playlist on the iPod works well and I just leave it to play, it is a pain though that you have to re-select the iPod if the car stands for more than a few hours. You need a magnifier to read the map as well. You would think somebody at Lexus would have realised a bigger screen is useless if you still have miniscule text on the map. Overall it does about 42 mpg and is dead easy to drive. Just as well as it is a tight squeeze in the garage.

I would agree. To be honest I rarely even look at the screen now except to sort out some music. The map is useless and will not stay on the same zoom setting, the sat nav itself is untrustworthy unless you are on known A roads which rather ruins the point of it. The other week it wanted to send me through the centre of Lincoln at rush hour. None of the optional routes was the best and I ended up using my own instincts. I don’t know if this is a hardware or software problem and I don’t care or feel like wasting time to find out. That job belongs to Lexus and Lexus should be sending customers some advice and offering help with something virtually everyone finds a very weak point. It is certainly a big drawback to an otherwise excellent motor. I managed for decades without a sat nav so it won’t bother me, but it will be a factor if and when I change the car.

I have had the car a few weeks now and found my way around most things but I do find the map text hard to read.I thought it might be just me but passengers say the same. I know the whole map can be pinched to enlarge but this doesn't really solve the issue. Road numbers for example are virtually impossible to read at a glance on this screen. The colours don't help and the only display options seem to be contrast and brightness which don't improve matters either. Is this a common cause for complaint and has anyone found a solution or workaround for it?

Thanks for all the replies folks. I am sure the NX will be enjoyed. I agree First_Lexus, there is plenty of criticism of the navigation/audio system and to my mind no Lexus I've owned has ever seemed able to compete with the other top players in this field. Bearing in mind that at some stage an NX driver is likely to need to use or adjust the system while on the move the operations are over-complicated and physically difficult to operate. I can only assume the designers expect us to set up the system each time before driving off and then leave it alone, but that is not always going to happen. The trackpad does not bother me as much as some people because I use one daily anyway but the high res screen means that targeting on an option on the media screen for example is akin to the Golden Shot. (Younger viewers please Google!). It can involve taking your eyes away from the road too long. I also find the hi-res screen to be less effective for daylight viewing especially in sunlight and some "white" roads do not show up against the background. The night screen works better for viewing, at least it seems to for me. The problem is the same as the the system in other Lexus motors, it is design over practicality and not recognising that something like the nav/audio has to be used by all sorts of people from tech savvy to non-tech. It ends up pleasing no-one.

Well, after 5+ years with a CT and the same before that with an IS, I have succumbed to the dreaded SUV. A mercury metallic 2018 Luxury has stolen my wallet. It is the first used Lexus I have bought since a not great experience with an IS220d that used to stink of exhaust on the motorway and had a gearbox like a truck. In fact it was from a Toyota truck. However, time passes and my agility is not what it was. The CT is a very good motor but getting in and out had become a chore plus the fact that while I appreciated the economy and cruising around Norfolk is OK, the CT performance is lacking in acceleration on anything like a hill if you want to safely overtake a push bike. The other factor is the CT ride which although it has improved a lot and the car now has better seats, no-one can say it is really good. Let’s be honest, all good valid excuses for looking at a new motor.😀 So, the NX got a test drive. It really is super to drive isn’t it? I just got in and felt right at home straightaway. Dead easy to get in and out and, for an SUV, very comfy especially the seats. I have not mastered the widescreen TV yet but it looks basically similar to the CT Premier screen but in high res. I have never been a great fan of SUV styling but the NX is as good as you will get. The detailing is well thought out. I like the wheel arches for example, they don’t bulge and make the car unnecessarily wider just for fashion. It is BIG after a CT but on the move from behind the wheel it doesn’t feel it. When you get out and have look though - there is a lot of metal and plastic there. I can hear voices saying “Silly devil, why didn’t he get a UX?” Well, the only UX I could get for a little more that the same money I paid for the NX Luxury would have to be a base model. To get this Luxury level of trim on a new UX would be outside my price range, hence the used NX is very good value with less that 10k on the clock even if it is probably a size too big. One other factor is that UX is a brand new model and I have always liked to give a new model at least a year for obvious niggles to be ironed out, even on a Lexus. The ride is good, I love driving it. The steering is light but well weighted. I soon realised this is a very heavy car. It takes a good squash of the pedal to stop the forward motion. Once you know that though it can work to your advantage as a hybrid driver. The coasting distance when you lift off the pedal is huge on a flat road and it goes on forever down even a slight gradient. All that time that little green light is on but you are not holding up the driver behind like people did in a Mk 1 Prius. Economy so far is low 40s, we shall see what happens over a period of mixed Norfolk use. The cruising is quiet at 70+ apart from the tyre noise. I cured this quite well and improved the ride in the CT with some Michelin cross climates. Might try the same here eventually. The acceleration, particularly mid-range, is good too. There is bags of power there to swoop past even an electric bike on the hills. So far I have only done one cross country trip and the car just did absolutely everything a driver could want. Even sitting in a roadworks jam in an NX is a pleasure. 😄

I like adaptive cruise and have used it a lot on M-Way and A roads. but I have come across a problem with it. Where do you put your right foot? if you leave it flat on the floor you are away from the brake and accelerator if you need to restore manual control. It is only a little way but it could be an essential split second. The alternative is to keep your right heel on the floor and your foot sort of hovering in position near the pedals ready for action which soon becomes uncomfortable. This problem isn't so bad with light traffic but in heavy traffic where the control is quite active I find it a bit more worrisome. Maybe it is just me being ultra sensitive about leaving control of the car to the unseen hand or foot! Another point is that we might assume the adaptive cruise gives better fuel economy but I am not convinced this is the case. In adaptive cruise there are constant small adjustments and readjustments to settings that are simply not made by the driver in manual mode. The economy is therefore good but I find I can do better without the cruise control on.

Thanks for the confirmation Paul. I have a set of 4 cheap 16” alloys with low mileage Yoko winter tyres currently in a local tyre hotel and decided to sell them if I can. So I thought I remembered something about VWs which might widen the market if needed!

Someone told me that the CT offset was the same as on VW. Is that true?

Just looking at the latest UX pics, the interior looks good and all the oily bits and electricals seem to be an improvement along with the ride and handling, according to reports. The exterior styling does look marginally better than the Toyota equivalent but I am still convinced that SUV really stands for Seriously Ugly Vehicle.

That is what I heard. At the moment the UX is touted as the replacement but they are hedging their bets on a new CT to see what sales are like, what Auris sales are like too, and possibly do a CT in 2020.

I did hear an unofficial rumour that the UX may not be the direct CT replacement after all and there could be another model to do that job. Has anyone else heard anything like that?

I agree with you Rayaan but we are stuck with the garage walls we have! I also agree about the width of the IS & UX but actually, in a garage, centimetres mean the difference between getting in and out or even just the ability to open a door without damage. I assure you I definitely would notice it. Funnily enough most garages seem to be reasonable for length, it's width that's lacking. Rather like car park spaces. You probably realise I only put this topic up to give a bit of discussion and there is nothing we can do about it. Fortunately I like my CT and just now there is no likelihood of a change but when the time comes I may be forced to desert Lexus to find what I need.

I was looking at the dimensions of the new UX and noticed that it is a good bit bigger than my CT, notably it is 7.5 cm wider. That may not sound very much, but to me it is a crucial figure as it means that I could just get the car into the garage with the mirrors pulled in but would have to enter and leave it via the tailgate! I am not house proud about cars by the way, mine have usually stood outside in the past, but the geography of this driveway means using the garage is favourite. But if I buy a UX ..... I can't. This vehicle expansion creep is not restricted to Lexus of course but my point really here is that Lexus no longer has a truly compact car. Even my CT is not a small city car, amazingly its dimensions are almost identical to a 2007 Avensis that I had, and it was just pushing past the size I actually need but acceptably so, given that my driving is only partially urban. I traded down from an IS to a CT. Now a UX is too big and in fact wider than the current IS! A compact urban explorer? No ta. What I want is a small hatchback with Lexus quality to carry one or two people and the odd bit of household and holiday gubbins in the back. A really top of the range Yaris/Auris type of motor. But Lexus has gone for the yuppie money big flash wheels design again. I suppose there is more money in Tonka Toy lookalike vehicles these days, can't perhaps blame Lexus when everyone else is doing it, but I am sure there is still a market for a luxury small hatchback. (Preferably one that will fit in my garage.)

I've toyed with this problem over the years ever since manufacturers decided that filling the wheel arches with alloy and a thinner strip of rubber was a nice design feature. My first Avensis had a ride like iron so the next one had smaller wheels at my request and was a cracker both in ride and handling. The same applied when I got an IS 2.2D SE with all the trimmings, it was a lovely car but rode like a go kart. I bought my 2014 model CT with 16" wheels and also got some cheap 16" alloys for winter tyres. When I got a new model in 2016 I couldn't get this with 16" wheels but in fairness the ride is pretty reasonable in the later model even with 17" factory wheels and low profiles. Some of this is down to better seats I think. When I put the winter wheels on it does make a difference though. The extra rubber does cushion the ride that bit more. Having said all that, subjectively, the handling seems more precise with the larger wheels, I don't notice any big difference in steering weight at low speeds either. As far as economy is concerned, I average around 55 overall on the two sets of wheels but bear in mind that when the winter 16" wheels are on the car the ambient temperatures are a lot lower, so perhaps smaller wheels are compensating for this a bit.

I agree with you there but the deceleration seems more akin to changing down a cog or maybe two on a manual box (like I was taught to do when learning many moons ago) . It can be quite sharp and like Floggit I've wondered if there wasn't some actual braking involved with lights showing. CC is very handy, I find it works well on the A roads in Norfolk as long as there's only light traffic but even then you need to be careful and not get lulled into false security.

Things have moved on a little. The date for fitting the replacement screen is 19th May. Auto Windscreens are only allowed by contract to use certain suppliers. So while I as a private customer can get a windscreen and ancillaries delivered from either of two main dealers I called within 48 hours, it takes Auto Windscreens 6 working days to do the same. I am indebted to Glasstec_Paul for backing up almost exactly what I said to Auto Windscreens about the customer being given all the options on the first booking. Now here is the key bit - Auto Windscreens have different service level agreements with different insurance companies. For some of those companies (they won't say which) the agreement says Auto Windscreens must fit a factory replacement screen by default. For others, including Lexus Insurance, there is no such stipulation. Under Lexus Insurance the onus is entirely on the customer to request the part, Auto Windscreens are 'instructed' not to mention it at all. The above I discovered by raising a complaint with Auto Windscreens whose staff I must say have been as friendly and co-operative as could be on a personal level. I have also raised a written complaint with Lexus Insurance as I feel the responsibility lies at least equally with them and we'll see what they have to say. Incidentally, does anyone happen to know what the LOC Insurance's policy is on windscreens and replacement parts?

Thank you for the supportive comments. I doubt there is anything I can do to prove that the new windscreen is not going to take 6 working days to find its way to Norfolk. My main purpose though was to warn people to ask about the authenticity of the part from the very start. In fairness to Auto Windscreens I would guess most other windscreen firms and insurance companies do the same thing and if my car was a lot older and dodgier perhaps I wouldn't be so bothered. It makes you wonder though doesn't it? How about those "approved" bodywork repairers that you insurance company directs you to. If your new Lexus needs a new wing or door skin, will it be a genuine Lexus or a pattern one? How will you know the metal is that mm or 2 thinner or needed that little bit of filler here and there? There are people more knowledgeable than me about such things on LOC who could maybe comment but to be honest, nothing would surprise me.

Monday morning, took the car from the garage and there was long crack from the edge of the windscreen to the middle of the glass, just at eye level. It appears a small sharp stone had cracked the glass right at the very edge and the crack had lengthened overnight so it was now about 12 inches or more. I've had plenty of replacement screens over the years though, so no worries. Called Auto Windscreens as I am currently with Lexus insurance. They accept the booking and your excess fee payment, send you an email and then you wait, and wait, and wait. After 24 hours I rang them again and was actually given a time for the appointment. Was a bit miffed that they couldn't attend until Wednesday afternoon but OK. When the new windscreen appeared with a nice chap in the van, it had no markings, in other words not a genuine Lexus replacement. The chap explained to me that unless the customer specifically requests a Lexus stamped replacement when booking the appointment, it will be a pattern part that is fitted. However, nowhere and at no time do Auto Windscreens give you this option! You only know if someone tells you. So I'm telling you lot in advance. The story goes on. I have in the past had pattern windscreens and they have been OK on the whole. A couple have had faults that caused the wipers to judder but otherwise I've been lucky. The last replacement I had was on my IS 250 but that came as a Lexus part. This Lexus CT is less than a year old so it seems reasonable to expect the same and certainly that's what I want after spending my hard earned cash on a luxury hatch. So between us the nice man and I rang Auto Windscreens and Lexus insurance, got authorisation for an accredited windscreen and assurance I would be contacted forthwith and given a new appointment. I waited and waited, no call, text or email came. So I rang. They were waiting for the glass. In fact they had not even ordered it at that time but promised to do so. In the meantime said the cheery lady, you can carry on driving the car. If the law stops you just tell them what's happened it'll be alright. Well, personally I am not too keen on driving with a bloody great crack across my line of vision, distracting and distorting. If a child runs out in the road or whatever, I am driving an illegal and some would say dangerous vehicle. I pointed this out to the nice lady at Lexus Insurance when I got fed up of waiting again for Autowindscreens to get in touch. She kindly donned the footie boots and gave them a kick and I did receive a phone call. The soonest the new screen can be fitted (they say) is 19th May which is 10 working days from my first call to Auto Windscreens. The glass has to come (they say) via the scenic route to Birmingham and then be redirected to Norfolk. In fact the whole operation is a scam for them and the insurers to avoid paying for genuine manufacturers parts. None of this would have occurred if they were honest and open in the first phone call but they won't, because obviously we would all choose the genuine over the pattern part. So be warned folks.

Certainly my is250 ran better on premium fuel and gave marginally better mpg but in the CT it makes no difference at all. (especially on battery ) After 8K I'm still averaging 57mpg so that'll do me nicely thank you.

Definitely stick to Normal mode like others have said. After 7k miles my average is 56-57 mpg but in fairness I am not in city driving every day, mostly A and B roads and a short commute. I never use Eco and very rarely bother with Sport mode. The acceleration is good enough for most overtaking. Even at 60mph the car will happily keep to around the same mpg. The art is in avoiding acceleration unless it is unavoidable! I also use cruise control as much as possible even on A roads. I suppose I could do better if I really tried but I wouldn't have any fun.