Rabbers

The ACC in the current RC cuts out at 40kmh (=30mph approx.), accompanied by an acoustic warning and with re-accelaration back to 40kmh being necessary before the original speed can be automatically reset by means of the control lever. Not having tried a full-stop system I am unable to make comparisons, but one merit of the 40kmh system that I personally appreciate is that it enables you - in fact obliges you - to properly re-focus your attention on the road if your concentration has even slightly lapsed after long stretches of uninterrupted reliance on the ACC itself, especially after sudden drops from higher speeds.

I find an effective setting for the ACC in traffic and is 15-20kmh higher than the highest speed at which you think the traffic is likely to continue moving, e.g. 70-80kmh when you think the cars ahead are unlikely to slow from your and their 50-60kmh to below 40kmh. That way, with the distance setting on minimum, you won't fall more than momentarily behind in the event of the traffic temporarily speeding up.

It is indeed strange that the F-Sport in the U.K. does not get the Safety System even as an optional, and I would guess this may have something to do with rationalisation/standardization of production specifically related to the RHD variant. I believe the F-Sport has had the Safety System as an optional everywhere in continental Europe since launch, and few of those of us who bought this version of the RC for immediate delivery from dealer stock were given the choice of not getting (and paying) for it given its presence in almost all the first waves of imports. Its presence was justified as being anticipatory of likely customer wishes - with which I fully agreed.

Yes, I presume I was looking at the same figures, and I note you carefully edited your quotation from my post to omit the clear fact that I was referring to 2016 and 2017 in which the RC/IS unit splits were 720/2408 and 473/1803 equal to 29.9% and 26.2% respectively, which I simplified to 25-30%. As for the opinions you derive from these figures, you are entitled to them while, until I see Lexus U.K. closing its doors because of awful results, I'll stick to mine.

If a "flop" is defined as sales falling dramatically short of a manufacturer's reasonable expectations, I am not sure the term would necessarily apply to the RC in the U.K. I suspect that the 25-30% proportion of IS sales achieved by the RC (inclusive of the RC-F) in its first two full years of market life in 2016-2017 may actually have exceeded expectations despite being favoured by the IS' mid-life decline. After all, with all due allowance for huge differences in relative scale and volumes, there is no way the Germans can ever have achieved similar ratios with their coupés in respect of their saloons with equivalent powertrains. By this same token I would suppose the success or otherwise of the RC within the Lexus range is best judged by the extent to which its sales partially substitute those being lost by the IS and thus contribute to maintaining the marque's overall market share.

The frequency of sightings and proportionately reduced "exclusivity" of the IS300h directly reflects the cumulative total of the car's sales since launch and, until a replacement comes out, will continue to increase. Prospective customers concerned about constantly diminishing exclusivity and who have no great need for useful rear seats might want to take a closer look at the RC ....

I have a love-hate relationship with valve-caps. Years back when such items were a quite expensive novelty I bought a set with the BMW logo and had them stolen after a few days. My next set with a logo, this time consisting of theft-proof ones for my first Lexus - an IS200 - could only be unscrewed with a hex-key and were so fiddly that I went back to using normal ones. Then Pirelli came out with a good-looking design incorporating a colour-change pressure warning that required a special tool as well as a certain amount of manual dexterity for removal. The suspicion of attempts to steal them regardless and doubts about their reliability finally led me to get rid of them and I have used normal caps, usually the OEM ones, ever since. And although I have occasionally fallen into the temptation of buying nicely-machined aluminium or alloy ones, these have the tendency in my experience to become so difficult to unscrew even after greasing (which is essential) as to require pincers and/or risk damaging the valve-stems, so I have usually ended up giving them away.

I have been running iOS 11.2.1 on an iPhone 8 Plus (256GB) for a few weeks now. Usually I connect to the car audio via BT, preferring to do so more and more because of the impressive BT 5.0 upgrade though I still tend to connect via a USB port for longer drives. Before acquiring the iPhone 8 I routinely used an iPod Touch 6th Gen 128GB (containing about 115GB of Music and Podcasts, frankly excessive but nice to have), also recently updated to iOS 11.2.1, which I kept almost permanently connected via USB. I must admit that I have never hesitated to instal updates across all my Apple devices immediately on their appearance, slavishly interpreting notifications of their availability as prompts to do so. I have noticed no differences in the functionality of Lexus audio with iOS 11 in respect of earlier firmware in the case of the iPod or, not unexpectedly, between its use and that of the iPhone, which, of course, has always run only iOS 11. iPhone connectivity has been entirely satisfactory, and only once, immediately after the first update of the iPod to iOS 11 did I have a set of problems apparently similar to Steve's: frozen browsing menus, loss of titles and names or their showing as "UNKNOWN", etc. as well as incorrect playlists sequences. These appeared to resolve themselves after I re-started playing from the plugged-in iPod itself before I drove off, controllability of the system from the touchpad becoming restored after a few minutes' driving. I can't say whether this would have represented a permanent fix since I nevertheless decided to do a complete reset of the iPod later that day, after which I have had no further issues.

The replacement mirror - a complete unit - was fitted this morning and it has been nice to have a silent one again. An inspection of the original provided no ready explanation for the clicking, the only noticeable anomaly being the presence of a tiny residual strip of badly- removed protective factory wrapping (not used for the replacement, supplied boxed in a plastic bag) which had become twisted around the pin connecting the mirror's housing and arm. It is possible that this bit of plastic, which had not been visible before disassembly, was causing the housing to swivel very slightly off-axis, but since there were no signs of friction on the paintwork, it is unlikely to have been responsible for any kind of noise, let alone loud clicking. So this remains something of a mysterious episode, fortunately now past.

I received a pair as a gift when I had an IS300h and then transferred them to my RC. TBH I originally thought them a bit excessive since the IS had illuminated door sills but, although they would have been easy enough to remove, I never got around to it. I have grown quite fond of them in the RC, which does not have the illuminated sills, because they invite you to look down when getting out of the car and therefore act as an extra aid to not stepping into puddles and holes (and maybe other things) in badly-lit places.

I have just started my second winter with Pirelli Sottozero 3 (?-W270) tyres, and did 7200km with them last winter. I bought them for no other reason than they were the only readily available premium brand in the right sizes for the 19" alloys, paying exactly €1000 for the set, fitted. TBH I have never been too bothered about reviews of winter tyres from premium manufacturers, having had Continentals, Michelins, Bridgestones and Goodyears as well as Pirellis in the past and found little to complain about any of them even in the worst conditions. Last winter was pretty mild, but the present generation of Sottozeros seemed perfectly good on icy patches and thin snow and noticeably better in the wet than my summer Dunlop SportMaxxes. Also, they show very little signs of wear, and, as is traditional with the Pirelli brand, they look good. If you can get them for an acceptable price, I would recommend them.

Glad you are enjoying your RC (same colours as mine and well suited to the car). Unless the spec has changed since MY2016, the driver seat slides forward only when activated by the relative switch in the base. Unlike the passenger seat, which slides when folded forward and then returns to a single position upon being released, the availability of the memory function means the driver seat can be made to automatically re-position itself within a range of pre-set choices.

Paul: It could well be that the battery is defective, as Rayaan suggests. I once met a fellow IS300h owner who was having his battery replaced under warranty after it had died on him overnight for no explainable reason with only a couple of thousand km on the clock. Apparently the usual procedure is for Lexus to supply and fit the replacement unless they authorise you, for reasons of convenience, to go to another supplier with whom they have an arrangement. Not all Lexus dealers keep stocks of batteries, and I believe that in the above instance the dealer avoided waiting time for the customer by taking one from another IS he had in the showroom. Not, I would think, that most dealers would be so co-operative.

Eminently avoidable paid-by-the-click car reviewers are far from alone on the Web, there being even worse ones in other subjects. Being in the market for a new phone, I have recently been exploring video reviews of the latest crop of iPhones, and have been amazed by the dire communication skills exhibited in most of them, whose viewing I would recommend to no-one without a taste for impenetrable jargon and close-ups of agile fingers and thumbs, usually male but sometimes strangely unerotic female ones with long squared-off nails. Of course, many of these reviewers have an advantage over their motoring counterparts in that they have the technical skill to edit their own work, almost always by eliminating all manner of punctuation from their spiel in order to reduce overall length. By so doing, they convey the completely false impression of being able to talk expertly for 10-15 minutes without drawing a single breath. To their credit I have yet to see this technique among car reviewers.

I suspected as much. Still, the mind boggles...

The nature and tone of motoring journalism have been heavily influenced by Top Gear, in which the desire to entertain became as important as the informative content, with biased opinions tending, not unnaturally, to be more amusing than earnestly expressed objective ones. But where Clarkson & Co., succeeded on the strength of individual talents and personality and generous production resources, few of their many imitators on the Web, exemplified at the worst extreme by the HJ guy inspiring this thread, should be encouraged to quit their day job (assuming they have one).

About a month ago my passenger-side wing mirror started making a loud clicking noise when activated, worse upon closing than opening, and audible from as far away as 15-20m. There was no visible damage and I had no evidence of the mirror having been forced out of position by way of mischief. I reported the problem when I took the car for its 30000km service last week and, after inspecting the mechanism and housing, the dealer declared himself to be mystified and ordered an entire replacement under warranty. Having expected a quick on-the-spot repair, I was surprised. Pleasantly, of course. Out of curiosity, does anybody know what the replacement and fitting costs would be outside warranty?

In this particular case, the letters in the name of the famous IOM bike race would be more appropriate as the first and last in a word of four letters within which, depending on your level of politeness, an "A" might be preferred to an "I". ....

I reckon Lexus actually sponsored the review as a clever piece of reverse customer psychology, the repulsiveness of the reviewer serving to underline the car's attractiveness.

A facelift for the RC300h in Europe along the lines of the very minimal one for the 2018 U.S. RC350 model would be premature insofar as it would not boost sales or prolong market life or, in most cases, cause the present version to lose its bloom in the eyes of its owners or attract a lesser number of admiring glances from third parties. This is not to say that a decision to go ahead with the facelift would be too surprising since any slowing of sales from inventories of the current version resulting from it would be unlikely to represent a serious financial loss for the company.

Linas, when I first read this, the mere thought that you were being serious made me worry that I might be losing my sense of humour. Please tell me that I was wrong......

Until I try it for myself, I will find it difficult to get my head around the possible consequences, beneficial or otherwise, of not being able to turn off the headlights before the auto system allows me to - if, indeed, this is the result of there being no OFF switch. Not that I am unwilling to accept than an electronic nanny can do some things better than I ever could. Far from it. But I sometimes worry that my ability to decide for myself in situations of perfect normality is being undermined.

Having read Rayaan's post before going out this morning, I thought I would try the -2 setting, which, except for a few times when I forgot to re-set to my habitual "Regular", I have never normally used. Apart from the headlights coming on with a slight and arguably undesirable delay in one or two patches of very dark shadow, I had no issues with it. However, upon entering a motorway tunnel at about 120kmh, the headlights did not come on until I was three or maybe four car-lengths in. Again, this would not be much of a problem in areas where tunnels or long stretches of shadow are few and far between but, generally speaking, a higher sensitivity setting remains my choice. If I understand Malcolm's last post right and Lexus allows the headlights in the new 4RX to be turned off not manually but only via the auto function, I am surprised that any regulatory authority would allow it. But if so, and Lexus extends this to all future models, it would oblige new generations of owners to pay much greater attention to light sensitivity settings than many and probably most of us do today.

There are situations where I find light sensitivity adjustments useful or even necessary. Examples include long series of tunnels where the intervals are mostly longer than the default 30' and the +2 maximum sensitivity setting is preferable to keeping the headlights permanently on, and long stretches of road or narrow city streets and alleys with alternating patches of sun and shade where the minimum -2 setting can be best unless you choose to turn off the auto function altogether. As regards entry into motorway tunnels at high speeds, given that the distance you travel into the darkness will be proportionate to the latter, the activation of the auto function - and your perception of it - may be fractionally delayed if the sensitivity is set to Regular. However, as a rule of thumb I established with an IS300h and have confirmed with my present RC, a +2 maximum sensitivity setting enables the headlights to come on perfectly simultaneously with entry into a tunnel at 100-110kmh without any perceptible delay in respect of lower speeds. With the settings on Regular or +1 or at speeds higher than this I find the activation to be noticeably less "prompt".

Phil: your post is a summary of the reasons why many owners remain loyal after buying their first Lexus. My current Lexus is the sixth I have owned in seventeen years whereas my previous eleven cars, company ones for the most part but all of them personally chosen by me over a period of twenty-five years or so, consisted of seven different marques. Although I admit to having become lazier and more set on my ways than I once was, my loyalty to Lexus rests mainly on a continuing tendency to tick customer satisfaction boxes far more emphatically than I ever did with BMW, Audi, Jaguar and other producers of "executive saloons", my only big regret being that for one reason or another I have never owned an MB or had use of one other than as a short-term hire. Certainly, where I would once never have chosen a car without first testing several alternatives, I have latterly gone straight to my Lexus dealer armed only with a few on-paper price comparisons to help negotiations but confident in the knowledge that I will get a good deal for a good car supported by good service. Maybe I have been lucky, but I have experienced none of the major reliability- or dealer-related problems occasionally described on this and other LOC Forums. I am aware, of course, that quality and reliability gaps between competitors have narrowed over the years, as have prices, and that I may therefore have missed out on a lot of great alternatives by sticking with Lexus. On the other hand, when I continue to see good reviews for competitors alongside poor or tepid ones for Lexus, and knowing from my own experience that many of the latter are rubbish or, to put it more kindly, based on performance comparisons that have little or nothing to do with the practicalities of everyday motoring, my degree of loyalty tends to increase rather than diminish.