PhilipK

Did this ever get resolved?

You cannot take more power from the socket than the socket can provide. Those eBay figures are very, very inexact - the actual current drawn could easily be out by 50% or more (I have measured the current draw for a number of Qi chargers using a USB ammeter). I also think that you'll be lucky to use those sorts of charging pads in a car - the registration between the coils in the phone and in the charger needs to be fairly exact (even with 3-coil chargers), and the vibrations in a running car - even a Lexus! - would be enough to dislodge the phone. This is what I'm using in my IS250, and it works well: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Qifull-Wireless-Charger-Windshield-Qi-Enabled-black/dp/B00NICHY88

The Distance Selling Regulations haven't applied since June 2014, when they were superseded by the Consumer Contracts Regulations. http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/distance-selling-regulations

I think that the problem with having rear lights permanently on in daylight is that there would be reduced contrast change when you are braking. I know that some cars (BMW) have 2 levels of brake lights, depending on how hard you are braking, to emphasise to following drivers whether you are braking hard. I'm also not convinced that rear DLRs would add anything to road safety - if you can't see the car in front of you in daylight without it having its lights on, then perhaps you shouldn't be driving. I'm (personally) not that convinced that front DRLs are that effective, either. If I recall correctly, much of the research into DRLs was done when only a few cars (SAABs and Volvos) had them, and the daytime accident rate was found to be lower for such cars. However, I suspect that the reason that the accident rate was lower was because these cars were different to all the others, and stood out. Once every car has DRLs, there's no longer any differentiation, and, as a driver, you now just have the distraction of a range of weirdly shaped LED lights on the front of all oncoming traffic No problem with the idea of lights coming on with wipers. I'm sure that I've read of at least one manufacturer doing this.

Not sure that I'd agree about parking. In London and other affluent areas you see plenty of £50k+ cars parked on street. I live in the centre of Winchester, and houses with garages sell at a huge premium - a single parking space (with no possibility of building a garage on it) recently sold for £40k - so off-street parking is often not an option. But the elephant in the room for me is the 170 miles per 30 minute charge. I mean, my cars take 3 minutes to fuel and will run for 300-400 miles until they need refueling. How would you use a Tesla on (for example) a run to the south of France? Or even London to Edinburgh? Stop every 2.5 hours for a 30 minute break (assuming that there's an appropriate recharging point available at just the right place)? The recharging technology would need to improve by orders of magnitude before I'd even start to consider one.

I have no time for able-bodied people who park in disabled spaces, but just because somebody appears to be able to walk away from their car unaided does not mean that they do not have a disability which requires them to park close to their destination. Disabilities come in many forms, and there are many medical conditions which mean that a person has no obvious mobility problems, but that they may have very little energy and are unable to walk any distance. Prosthetic limbs have also improved hugely these days, to the point that it may not be obvious that somebody is using one. Heart or lung ailments may reduce the distance that somebody can walk. And the list goes on. OP: have you posted the photos on YPLAC? (Sorry, it's NSFW so you'll need to search for it if you don't already know what it is!)

That's fine if you have a driveway or garage to keep the car on overnight. How about all the people whose cars are parked on the street at night?

Did the brake pads require replacement as a result of the seized caliper? If so, they should have been covered under the extended warranty. http://www.lexus.co.uk/img/Terms-and-Conditions-Lexus-Extended-Warranty-for-Vehicle_tcm880-1309714.pdf says: "4.3 Where the Mechanical or Electrical Failure of a Protected Part directly causes damage to another part of the Protected Vehicle (which is not a Protected Part) when the Protected Vehicle is in a Specified Territory during the Warranty Period, then We will pay for the cost of replacing or repairing that other part in addition to the cost of replacing or repairing the Protected Part subject to the Repair Limit, provided that the cost of such repairs are reasonable."

I'm not making excuses for Lexus Oxford, but are you certain that their technician actually did do anything wrong? We're talking about a 9-year old car, with 148,000 miles and an uncertain service history here, and some evidence of bodging under the bonnet. Who knows what might have happened to the car in the last 9 years. Perhaps your expectations are a little unrealistic and you might have been better off buying a newer car from a dealer which would have been covered under Lexus's used car warranty?

I've also had good experience with Snows (Lexus Hedge End). When my car was in for the IS250 recall, they told me that my coolant level was slightly low and that they had topped it up, free of charge. Then, when they were servicing the car, I had a call to say that the water pump was leaking. I mentioned that I had an extended warranty, and the reply was "Oh, you have an extended warranty? No problem, sir, I'll just raise the claim now, and I'll let you know when your car will be ready." Something of a contrast to BMW, where you have to fight tooth-and-nail over every warranty claim!

The description of the Extended Warranty on the Lexus UK web site: http://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/warranty-and-insurance/#/LexusCareExtendedWarranty specifically includes both "Electrics" and "Air Conditioning". If your IS-F is like my 250 SE-L, then the screen is an electrical component, and it is not possible to adjust the air conditioning (or stereo, etc) without it being operative. My personal definition of "Trim" is something which only affects how the car looks, but does not provide any functionality. There's no way, in my book, that the screen should be classed as "Trim". (I had a long argument with BMW Warranty Services once over the glass in the door mirror on my M5. They said that it wasn't covered under warranty as it was "Glass". I said that, as it contained a heating element, and auto-dipping functionality, it was an "Electrical Component" and should be covered. The glass part alone - without the housing, etc - was £265, so worth arguing over.)

Did you actually read the OP's question? He said that we wants to put LEDs in them and to use them as DRLs, not as fog lights!

I thought that you were going to point to this :-) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-33556908

Zager and Evans actually sang about 2525, so unless you have a time machine, it's a bit difficult to know how prescient they were. And while 1984 didn't happen in 1984 (or in 1948, which was Balir's original title), my whole point is that it is happening in 2015! We may all have responsibilities - but they don't necessarily involve acting as snitches for the state, especially in cases where nobody and no property was damaged....

Am I alone in being concerned that the "surveillance society" is now creeping to private citizens, with dashcams joining CCTV in recording everything that we do. Perhaps we should all re-read 1984 to remind ourselves where that path can lead to. (I'm not condoning somebody jumping a red light, and I haven't seen the footage or know the junction in question, but it may not actually have been an unsafe manouever and/or put anybody in danger ...)

Why do you do this? I'm sure that Lexus (like just about every other manufacturer) recommend that you should just start the car when you are ready to drive it. It's not like the old days, where a car needed to warm up before you drove it.

As far as I know, the "Shift Lock" button (which I guess is what you're referring to) is an override which allows to move the shift lever out of the "P" position without the engine running/foot brake on - for example, if you have a dead battery and need to push the car, or if the feed which tells the computer that the foot brake is on is broken. I don't think that it has anything to do with which gear range the car selects. I don't know whether the pre- and post-facelift cars are different in terms of using the paddles when the car is in "D", though. Hmmm.

I am much more used to Manual transmissions (this is only my second ever Automatic that I’ve owned), so please bear with a basic question. I understand that the “manual” override on the IS250 gearbox doesn’t actually change gears, but only constrains the highest gear which the car can choose. What I don’t understand is why the additional “S” slot is needed on the gear lever, given that you can change the setting using the paddles while the car is in “D”. Let’s say I’m in 6th, but going steeply downhill and want some more engine braking, so I decide to select 4th gear (or, to be pedantic, only allow the car to choose 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th gear, but not 5th or 6th). There are 3 ways that I can do this: Put the lever in “S” and push it in the “-“ direction twice Put the lever into “S” and use the “-“ paddle twice Leave the lever in “D” and use the “-“ paddle twice Is there any difference between these 3 methods (and if not, why bother having the “S” slot?)

All that "written off" means is that the repairs were not economically viable for the insurance company (who will use all new parts and bring the car back to original spec) to carry out. In some cases, Cat D damage may not even affect the driveability of the car at all (imagine an older classic, where the interior leather got badly damaged - say a cabriolet that had left the roof open in a heavy rain shower, or somebody's dog chewing it), but the insurance company would still write it off. Cat D is actually the lightest damage category, and both Cat C and Cat D cars can be put back on the road, taxed and insured (although any future seller must reveal that the car has been CatC/D). Only Cat A and Cat B cars cannot be returned to the road. Cat A won't have much left and can only be scrapped/recycled. Cat B must have their shells crushed (although even with Cat B's, any parts can still be sold).

You love your country so much that you are planning to buy a Japanese car?! In my book, anything that Lexus and Channel 4 can do to persuade people NOT to vote for the ideologically- and intellectually-bereft racist loons of UKIP can only be a good thing!

I've had my IS250 since last July. In that time I've done 5,965 miles at an average 29.86mpg (calculated from actual petrol used, not from the car's computer). My best tank was 32.43mpg and my worst was 26.37mpg. Most of the mileage has probably been motorway (weekly trip from Hampshire to West Midlands) with the rest around town. I've mostly used either Shell V-Power Nitro+ or Shell Regular Unleaded petrol in it, which has worked out (with petrol prices falling) at 18.83p per mile overall.

Spare wheel - no compressor. Why do you ask? (Is it so that I could look for a sender unit on the spare?)

I have just checked and adjusted (to 35psi front / 38 psi rear) the tyres in my 2008 facelift (2009 model year) IS 250 SE-L. I had assumed that this car would have the TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System) fitted, but when I went to re-initialise it I couldn't find the option on the satellite menu. I've also checked the 2009 MY brochure and it makes no mention of TPMS. Am I right in thinking that my car doesn't have this warning system fitted? (Seems strange, as it has just about every other electronic gizmo known to mankind!)

I've had my IS250 since last July. In that time I've done exactly 5,000 miles (to the exact mile!) at an average 29.79mpg (calculated from actual petrol used, not from the car's computer). My best tank was 32.43mpg and my worst was 26.37mpg. Most of the mileage has probably been motorway (weekly trip from Hampshire to West Midlands) with the rest around town. I've mostly used either Shell V-Power Nitro+ or Shell Regular Unleaded petrol in it, which has worked out (with petrol prices falling) at 19.31p per mile overall.

Could it be the switch in the driver's door not making good contact? What happens if you open the passenger door?