Wass

22 hours ago, rayaans said:

Yes I get mild car sickness if looking downwards when a car is moving, perhaps at a book or something. I don't get it if my eyes can see what my brain knows is going on!

Nausea can be caused by a few things, check the windscreen is clear for a start. Some valeters tend to clean the windscreen poorly and instead leave smears which cause the eyes to strain, hence can cause glare and eventually nausea.

It may be due to the relatively firm ride and poor road surfaces as well, especially if you're previous car was more cossetting. Other factors could be claustrophobia. The CT is fairly enclosed and has relatively poor visibility compared to something like a VW Golf for example as they have lower shoulders and hence larger windows. 

 

I agree with Rayaans. Possibly the reason for seeing this from hybrid owners is the temptation to fixate on the economy gauges a little more than one would look at the gauges on a conventional car. I also agree with the valeters comment and would add that some of them use a masking odour of some type which I find particularly nauseous. My wifes BMW Mini was valeted using this stuff and I couldnt travel in the car for any more than 10 miles at a stretch until the odour subsided after some months of ownership. I call this perfume "lady on the bus" since the only other place I recall such a sickeningly cloying odour was whilst travelling on public transport during my school days.

 It seems most likely that this tyre/wheel was transferred from the front axle quite some time after the tracking had started to toe out. Either that or the car has been whacked and not properly repaired. Take a chance only on the strength of a big big discount. Who sells a car with such a seriously shot tell tale tyre? Surely it would have been worth a few quid to have bought a part worn to disguise the issue?

On my CT which has the 16" wheels with higher profile tyres, the road noise is still noticeable. This is principally because the engine noise is less noticeable than a conventional vehicle. Many people find the car to be loud at motorway speeds and complain about the noise during acceleration periods. I personally think that the car is very quiet for a small car. I dont expect big car noise levels. Expecting hi fidelity sound from any moving machine seems to be an unecessary waste of time since vehicles are designed to make a ticking noise when the indicator is left on, beepers to be heard when a fault or speed camera is detected and they are all designed to allow in the sound of other vehicles and their hooters in order to allow the driver to be just that little bit more aware of other road users.

55 minutes ago, doog442 said:

If i was looking to get one of these in a few years time, would an extremely low mileage of 2-3K a year suit the hybrid system ? Often my car will sit there for 4 days and then might do a trip to Tesco...do these cars need regular runs to keep the battery charged or shall I just stick with a full petrol until Lexus eventually go EV. 

Any low mileage owners out there ?  

It appears to me that with such low mileage you would quite easily be able to take advantage of a 100% electric car with a solar cell Doog. Your fuel bill would total nowt including electrical.

I have never heard of a hybrid Battery problem with any toyota derived system. Honda used to have problems with traction batteries and I think that some of the other companies ( like Renault ) have Battery problems since they dont want to risk their reputations by selling batteries and will only hire them ( also having the advantage of factory controlled obsolescence).

I probably use cruise control for every journey. The main function which I use it for is staying within the speed limit in 30 , 40 or 50 limits. For high speed cruising I use my foot to regulate the throttle because cruise control doesnt react to traffic conditions as I would want it to and I end up fiddling around with the lever in order to ease off or edge the speed up a bit meaning that I use my fingers to operate the throttle rather than my foot. Travelling at 70 to 75 wont get you in trouble with speed cameras on the motorway because this translates to about 63 to 68 in real terms. However, you will find that you have a fair amount of lane swapping to do because of the people who like to travel at 77 to 83mph ( 70 to 75 mph in real terms on my speedometer) I guess that driving an old car with manual controls will be ok in years to come when driverless cars become popular. 

Three children and two large cases puts you into Prius or Auris estate territory really. As recommended earlier, take the kids and the cases for a test drive in a CT. I have long legs which means there is very little space for passengers to sit behind me. There are just two of us with a small dog and we wouldnt want much less space than there is in a CT. Five person travelling would not be very feasable. 

17 hours ago, 200h said:

its ok to have the car set on recirculate but only use this mode for a short period of time,

using this mode to demist with AC on is good,and in the summer having recirculate turned

on will help to cool the car quicker, the tell tale signs that recirc has been on for too long

is that your windscreen will slowly start to mist at the bottom and  / or the rear window will

mist up as soon as you see these signs turn the recirc off.

I agree, irrespective of cabin filter, fresh air seems to cure the issue.

16 hours ago, Cianotico79 said:

Hello every one.  I ended up on this thread as I want to do the opposite, get rid of the spare wheel and use compressor plus goo to get more cargo space. I can't find the plastic bin here in usa, any of you guys willing to sell yours if you don't use it anymore ? 

Only the styrofoam one are available. 

Agreed the spare wheel is better but now with 2 kids when we travel that space is exactly what I need. I guess If I have a flat I'll call road side assistance that is included in the insurance anyway. 

Thanks in advance. 

 

 

My early CT left the factory with a styrofoam insert which takes up just as much space as a space saver tyre plus the insert for the space saver too. I run my car with a space saver but no insert whatsoever. I would say there is more space under the boot board than with the pump and insert. Maybe just forget about the insert and place the pump under the boot board? That would make a significant space saving.

21 hours ago, stormchaser said:

On the US Prius forum for the Gen 3 they suffered with this problem. One guy decided to investigate it and found out it's only a worn bolt on the shaft and has replaced this himself and it's cured the problem. It's in one of the threads there I have read.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I investigated the issue on my car. At the time I posted details of it on one forum or another. I suspect I probably posted it on the american forum since the UK forum is quite a bit less interested in DIY. The issue on my car was caused by the stock bolt being low tensile instead of high tensile. The stock low tensile bolt simply stretched in service thereby allowing the top steering shaft spline to move inside the intermediate shaft. I have a lot of spare high tensile bolts and simply threw the factory bolt away and replaced it with a high tensile bolt. This was about 2 years ago and I have not had any problem since. I do recall the american dealers telling similar stories involving great expense. If you would like to err on the side of safety, don't spend £880, I would recommend taking the vehicle to another specialist for a second opinion. The job I did solved the problem in 15 minutes and most of that time was spent in finding the right spanner for the job!

Hmm.. I wonder why the Lexus technicians feel that it isn't possible to check the fuel level and  to pump out the tank to a suitable level prior to starting their task (where necessary) and pumping the fuel back in again on completion of the task.

On 10/31/2016 at 9:47 PM, 200h said:

try and buy one with a full lexus service history if possible at least you know its been serviced by people who know what they are doing

 

I don't think they all actually know what they're doing but they all say they know what they're doing. Lexus full service history means that there is little room for warranty quibbles from Lexus though.

I have a 2011 with 60k  so far, one new front strut due to a leaking old one. Traction Battery not a problem. Never hear anyone complaining about them.

The lexus factory state that in the absence of the correct but expensive 0/20 oil it is permissible to use  cheaper 5/30 oil. This increases fuel consumption dramatically. After my car has been serviced I have started to routinely monitor fuel consumption very closely before and after the service over the same journey. On two occasions , I have changed my own oil and found an immediate improvement of fuel consumption. I have challenged the Lexus garage about this phenomenon however they confirm that the oil used was within Lexus specification...... just as you might expect if they used the 5/30 which is specified by lexus as an alternative. I  routinely buy the right oil and prepare to change it post service. This way I maintain my valuable serviced by main dealer service record and the self funded oil change repays me within 5000 miles. I have now come to regard the service oil fill simply as flushing oil. I have also most recently carried out a routine cold viscosity check of my oil by timing  the flow through a full tundish and have confrimed that the Lexus supplied oil passes through the tundish slower than the 0/20 which I replace it with. I have mentioned it to the dealer once and i now know what to expect. I really dont have the time or the inclination to make any more of an issue of it. This has just confirmed my already low opinion of the motor trade in general. Its nice when I dont get ripped off;nevertheless I do expect to get ripped off all the same.Turning the clock back a couple of decades; In the case of jaguar cars, I would happily buy a car from a jaguar specialist but learnt not to buy one from a jaguar dealer at any cost.

59000 miles and still have the original pads and discs. I guess it is how one drives the car and of course, where and when one drives the car. IE salty, gritty, muddy roads will wear out brake components at an accelerated rate compared to dry and dustless roads. How one uses the deceleration aspects of the vehicle also depends upon how busy the roads are and the types and number of hazards. Whilst one person may be able to coast under light braking to a halt, another will have to be sharp on the braking system due to sudden manoeuvres by other road users such as other cars, cyclists, school traffic, HGVs etc. There is also the chance that Toyota have changed the disc and pad material specification and design to provide better brake performance at the cost of accelerated wear.

So long as you have a test drive, you can judge the ride quality for yourself. As regards the other things you need to look out for: erm.... there's the boredom of waiting for something to go wrong, there's the sport model which has exactly the same performance as the base model, there's the sat nav which never is to anyones liking in that it takes an age to update to 3 year old data and is easily outperformed by stand alone Tomtoms, Garmins etc. There's hours of happy confusion caused by your own telephone and its interactivity with the car. There's the nasty pedestrians and road workers who make such a noise that you wont fully appreciate how good the standard sound system is.Oh yes... the other problem is that the engine and gearbox are so quiet you start to hear creaks and groans from your own self and mistake them for a fault with the car.

Here we are, a year down the line, and I have just completed a tank full to tank full fuel usage  check since the service in July. I dont use the car much in the summer hence the time gap. Sure enough, the fuel consumption has  risen by about 10% again and so I shall change the oil myself to ensure the car runs on 0/20.I shall monitor the fuel consumption having changed the oil.

 It will take a week for the oil to arrive but hopefully, I will get this work done towards the end of my holiday.

It doesnt seem so long ago that I sold a car which was 5 years old and 66K miles to the scrap merchant because it had rusted through and the engine and gearbox had worn out. It was a Talbot though. My current CT is one of the oldest in this country and has 56K on it and shows no sign of wear other than a new nearside front strut damper.I have seen CTs with over 100K on them but i have no idea what they drive like.

I can't say that I am overly impressed with either version. Ostentatious is not something I look for in a car. However, if that is the look they want, then spinners and gold anodised trinkets should help complete the bling look.

to each their own...enjoy

One has to assume that the sales figures of the slightly bland Avensis are the reason for the Camry not making a return to UK in any form , hybrid or not.

Does the F sport have a badge which says "sport"? That would be the only thing which would make one CT more sporty than the next.There was some talk about cross bracing but to be honest, the CT is an eco motor with all the trappings of the luxury hybrid auris derivative it is. Given the choice, I would go for the Premier too simply because it has all the whistles and bells on it. 

 This forum seems quite well populated with comments and queries about the sat nav and the phone system. I didnt use the sat nav of any of my cars because they simply still arent as good as my 7 year old garmin ( which allows my wife to re-programme it as I drive and has a lifetime update facility) The hands free telephone operation is ok so long as I don't ask it to do tricks. It will answer the phone when I press the button and it will phone home when I press the button and ask it to.... and it works hands free if there is a signal. I believe people have some issues with the phone system when they try to ask the system to carry out slightly more sophisticated operations.

 The sound system is the same as any other vehicle sound system. Its a sound system and it is built into a car which isn't completely sound proof and so you hear the pedestrians shouting at each other, you hear the crunching noise as you drive over gravel etc. So perfect sound reproduction will never be attainable despite the best efforts of Lexus.

I like the Lexus seats. Heated seats would be nice in the winter ( premiers have this option)

Lighting is well up to the job for all but the vitamin deficient drivers who simply must drive on full beam.The reversing camera is a little gem and well worth it since the back window is a bit small. Lexus dealers are a mixed bag. If you don't like one, then go to another. There are some extremely good dealers out there... read this forum for saints and sinners!

Carrying 5 adults is a bit uncomfortable. Carrying 4 adults with baggage requires light packing all round and a roof box.

 Our CT carries my wife and I , our shopping, baggage and a small dog very comfortably.The ride quality increases with the weight being carried ( within reason). 

Forget towing anything. CTs don't tow; it can fry the inverter and that upsets Mr Lexus himself since he is so proud of the high group reputation of the hybrid system including batteries.

On 7/8/2016 at 11:24 AM, Linas.P said:

I think it depends on individual employee in the dealership.. there are some total d***s. At the same time there are great people as well.

I can definitely say I was not impressed with Lexus Woodford, but it doesn't mean all Lexus dealerships are the same or even all the staff in particular dealership are the same. Same goes for other makes.. 

In Cambridge, I think that our BMW dealer is excellent. For Lexus repairs and service work, our car will never go to Lexus Cambridge, instead, it goes down the A1 to Lexus Hatfield who have been very very professional, helpful and honest.Their sales and their service team depth of knowledge for their product is most impressive. This does illustrate that it is very much the individuals and the business attitude which can make such a huge difference. By the way in a previous post I mentioned a £200 compensatory M&S voucher from our BMW dealer, as the one who spent it, my wife has reminded me that it was actually a £250 voucher.

1 hour ago, rayaans said:

Right so does the car already have cruise control fitted but it's just a matter of sticking a switch in? 

I would have thought insurers would be very wary of cruise control retrofits

Yes it does have all the necessary  cruise control stuff already fitted..... all the CTs  do.... just the base model sei and some of the early SEL arrive without the switch.....didnt you know?

7 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Just out of interest, although its using OEM parts, does this not count as a modification and hence, declarable to the insurer?

Yes it does and it doesnt make a ha'peth of difference because the insurance cost for a model with or without the cruise control is the same, I'd guess. The cost of my insurance remained the same when I declared the ahem "modification" detailed accurately as "fitted a cruise control switch and bevel"