Rabbers

I habitually change from carpet to rubber floor mats at the same time as I change from summer to winter tyres, and vice-versa. This change is also a good opportunity for giving the mats a thorough clean before storage in readiness for their next use, the rubber with applications of dressing, generously on any discoloured or spotty areas, and the carpet with shampoo if necessary. The greater likelihood of bringing in mud and wet dirt makes rubber mats a more practical winter choice and, obviously, the life of the carpet ones is lengthened correspondingly. Not that I have any complaints about the durability of the latter. The only problem regards the inevitable tendency of the driver's mat to develop a concavity where the heel rests and swivels, but this can to some degree be remedied by placing a loose piece of under-carpet netting or webbing underneath.

The speed camera add-location feature, identified by an icon of a camera-and-+sign, is standard in the CY17 nav system adopted for the RC with the 2019 facelift in most European markets including Italy. It adds, if requested, the location of speed cameras not already included in the data base. The alternative Coyote alert system, identified by the company logo consisting of a stylized green C with a central dot, was offered free-of-charge for three years in Italy and some other markets through the in-car Store app, and can be activated and de-activated at will, with the system reverting to the standard add-location function in the latter event. I haven’t looked recently so I don’t know if the three-year Coyote option is still free of charge or was an introductory deal.

I’m guessing some kind of titanium alloy. Never had the slightest corrosion or aesthetic issue otherwise occasionally experienced with apparently good quality aluminium or steel ones.

The other day while my winter tyres were being changed back to summers, I examined the OEM F-Sport valve caps more closely than I ever previously did, appreciating their nice quality and design. Out of curiosity while waiting I looked the caps up online and saw them offered by Lexus Parts Direct UK at £7.58 each (discounted from £8.24!), meaning upwards of £30 for a set. I long ago ceased to be surprised by the high price of Lexus parts, even minor ones, but on this occasion my mind truly boggled.

Yes, that’s the one.

When recently planning to consult the RC owner's manual online, I came across the attached tutorial produced by Northside Lexus of Houston, Tx. Experience has reduced the usefulness of most of the content but I would certainly have valued the video as a supplement or substitute for the manual during my first weeks of ownership. 2020 Lexus RC Full Tutorial - Deep Dive - YouTube.webloc

The RC I currently drive is my seventh consecutive Lexus. An important factor in my original decision to switch to Lexus after a succession of BMWs and Audis was the simple desire to try something that was not German. Then as now, I had no prejudice against German cars and I would readily have switched back to one had experience not led me to acquire a strong quality- and service-motivated loyalty towards Lexus. Although I would like nothing better than to have an eighth Lexus for my next car, this has now become less likely because of the exclusion from the range of the RC and the IS, which are the models I personally most favour in dimensions and price. Sticking with Lexus would therefore require me to buy either the ES, which I frankly don't much like, or the NX, which would require me to overcome a general lack of enthusiasm for SUVs. At the time of its launch, I hoped that a "luxury compact" SUV conceptually represented by the NX might have overcome my prejudices, as indeed it did - and still does - in terms of style and general level of comfort. The level of performance, by which I mean a degree of responsiveness that enables it to share the road on an equal footing with most of the competitors in its category, which are German, regrettably does not.

I had an NX300h as a courtesy car for the second time when my RC was in for service earlier this week. The previous time was four or five years ago when its unusual design made it a newer and more exciting addition to the Lexus range. While the design remains striking I now find that time and familiarity have reduced its appeal somewhat. As before, I found the ride choppy on roads that are less than good, imagining that the adaptive suspensions on the F Sport version would suit the car better. I was also once or twice taken by surprise, though far from alarmed, by a slight loss of rear grip when accelerating away from tight corners. The NX is sufficiently punchy at low speeds to make it good though not excellent in town traffic, but the placidity of the mid-range response occasionally caused me to think twice or even hesitate before overtaking on faster roads. In fact, you are always conscious that it is not a light car. Despite this, it is easy to drive and, no doubt, relaxing to live with unless you are often in a hurry or impatient by temperament. The cabin is well-appointed and a nice place to be in the best Lexus tradition, though F-Sport-type seats hug you more comfortably. The layout of the dash is rather fussy and the overall appearance a little dated despite improvements made with the facelift. Like the body, the cabin will be extensively revamped in 2022 according to media leaks, meaning that potential customers should wait before buying. Maybe their patience will be rewarded by substantial improvements, but my own instincts, which are admittedly those of someone not fond of SUVs, "luxury compact" or otherwise, tell me that it might well be better to first look towards the Germans before deciding on the NX.

You're not the only one who's old. I bet that like me you even remember that the Shadows were previously called the Drifters. Didn't know this tune before, maybe because I was never too fond of Hank & Co with a strings backing and preferred their earlier and twangier Duane Eddy-type stuff.

Spring is in the air so I thought I’d give her a good clean and polish ... 🥰

True that Spaniards have little or nothing comparable to what many Italians visiting Greece objectively but somewhat snobbishly avoid as being no more than low-class grappa ... 🥴

An inspiring vision indeed - and hopefully a realistic one if the good tidings from the UK on the Covid front are confirmed - though surely Granada at dusk with a view of the Alhambra would be a more appropriate setting in this particular case!

The music in my Macbook consists of 1080 albums containing some 13000 songs adding up, so the computer tells me, to a total playing time of 41 days. This represents the entirety of a collection of CDs I accumulated over several decades. To be frank, this is a ridiculously large amount of music to handle, my original intention having been to divide the entire collection into Playlists of a manageable size for storage in an iPod and iPhone and a number of memory sticks. The importation of the music into the Macbook, with the accompanying album artwork, required numerous sessions at an average rate, I would guess, of 7-8 CDs per hour, the boredom being relieved by the occasional re-discovery of items I had forgotten or that had remained dormant for years. Generally speaking, I find that a manageable size for a Playlist consists of around 100 songs in the case of Rock, Pop or Jazz/Blues Vocals, 60-70 for Jazz, and maybe 40-50 for Classical. I keep around 20 such Playlists available at any one time and switch between them according to whim. This is satisfactory enough, but whenever I compile one Playlist under any of these headings or sub-headings I always get the feeling that I've left out a lot of material that I should have included. However, as problems go, this is one I would rather have than not.

Forgot to mention I’m allowed to play the Sketches only when alone in the car because my wife thinks the castanets sound as though there’s a rattlesnake under her seat ... 😳! No such problem with Jim Hall’s less dramatic version of the Concierto with a sextet including Paul Desmond and Chet Baker. The album is itself titled Concierto and is well worth a listen if you don’t know it.

Much too cheap!!!

That’s my favourite “proper” version of the Concierto but any of Narciso Yepes’ several recordings of it come close.

I know the album well, and although Miles’ performance of Gil Evans’ arrangement of the Concierto is superlative, I find some of the minor tracks such as Saeta and Solea even more impressive.

Always liked guitar music in the car, and after neglecting the genre for some years, have recently re-acquired a taste for modern Gypsy Jazz, e.g. Rosenberg Trio, Joscho Stephan, Biréli Lagrène, Frank Vignola et al. Almost brought tears to my eyes to listen again to Diz Disley, whom I used sometimes to catch live on visits to London in the 80s.

I'm not sure if this counts as a "homemade Lexus accessory" but I've become quite fond of the Griot's Garage trunk bag to which I added an embroidered cloth Lexus logo, the black and red of the bag, which contains my car-cleaning products, matching the interior trim of my RC.

I think the diagnosis of a faulty sensor would be included in the cost of service but that you would be charged for the replacement if needed.

This has happened to me twice and was on both occasions attributable to a single faulty sensor replaced, fortunately for me, when the cars were still under warranty. If you don't have quick access to a Lexus dealer a good tyre shop should be able to identify the problem. Safety is not an issue if the pressures are OK, but the permanently illuminated warning light is probably as big a source of irritation for you as it was for me. Based on my experiences, I wouldn't expect a Lexus dealer to have replacement sensors immediately available from stock.

The beaded wood seat covers of the type to which Herbie provides a link were once (and maybe still are) typical of cab-driver seats in hot climates. They were particularly common in North Africa and the Middle East, in rental cars also, and I always thought they were mainly intended to protect the driver from hot vinyl with the massage function being secondary. Given their popularity they were clearly considered effective - but they sure were ugly!

Rather than take half measures based on trial and error It would probably be best for your wife to visit an orthopaedic supplies shop and choose something suited to her specific requirements. There are plenty of orthopaedic car-seat covers available online, but personal shopping is best for this sort of item, and hopefully you can find one that won't spoil the RC's cabin aesthetics too much.

I once had a problem with the alarm of my IS300h sounding off at irregular intervals for no reason that I or an electronics specialist were able to diagnose. When I got into the car later that day I found a dead wasp on the passenger seat and I never had the problem again. I don't know what the odds would be of an insect also being the cause in your own case, but you might want to try leaving the windows open for a while and see what happens.

By far the best-looking car in the improving KIA line-up, even more so in real life than in pictures, and with impressive performance figures. Its long and slim version of the “Tiger Nose” grille looks particularly aggressive when the car comes up in your rear-view mirror.