Steve44

ah - that's quite a commute! 51k on the bridgestones, that's a bummer, was hoping they would wear out quicker so I can get rid!

For anyone still deciding on whether to get an IS (or a CT, RX, GS, but not the NX strangely), and the dealer isn't quite hitting it with the test drive - I got this through in an email yesterday 24hr Test drive offer.

***** - do you sleep in it??

This is the issue I think, I agree my expectations were raised based on all the hype and reporting on how great they were in the media. Reality is, they suffer the same problems other manufacturers have with parts availability, poor comms, mis-informed sales people etc... its just they are nicer at telling you and the environment, coffee, pastries, TV's etc are nicer too. :D They are only ever as good as the people working for them at the end of the day.

yep - combination of lower petrol prices and increasing economy. Used to have a low cc diesel and you were much more at the mercy of fuel costs and average/mean mpg. Vowed if at all possible to keep the biggest engine size possible, but there isn't as many +2000cc diesel models now.

There isn't a reverse gear as such, just the motor providing torque/power in reverse I believe, with the engine running in generator mode if the battery is low. I've not had any issues, not heard of any one else having issues with steep hills or reverse.

CVT - Continuously Variable Transmission, so doesn't have fixed gear ratios as such, instead constantly varies the ratio to give the best it can in performance, engine power, economy etc. The S Mode basically puts fixed points in the CVT variability, so it moves from ratio point to point like a normal 6 speed gearbox, when you pull a paddle or move the stick. It complicated by the Lexus Hybrid drive system, which uses a planetary gear solution to integrate the engine and the motor/generator unit, with the car electronics blending the engine/motor power together. Have a read here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_Synergy_Drive and http://blog.lexus.co.uk/2014/01/perfect-partners-e-cvt-and-hybrid/

I know, saw that, eroding my profit and eating into the car cost. How dare they! Petrol is creeping back up too. Damn you efficient car producers and EU plutocrats!!

The clock is a source of amusement to everyone that gets in the car, with comments usually about it being an afterthought in the design, and how it doesn't really fit with the high tech design etc. I explain it is a special Lexus clock, crafted by samurais in Japan and extremely high tech and expensive!

S mode on the gearbox, puts steps into the CVT transmission and basically creates 6 'gears' to use with paddles and the stick. Combined with Sport mode, it can turn the car into a very different experience, as it will stay in that 'gear' all the way to the red line. Turn up the active sound control and you can have a bit of fun. The car is 220bhp and more than capable of surprising other petrol and diesel compact execs. Even in normal D mode, you can pull a paddle at any time to change down/up, if you want more engine braking or to hold a gear for a reason. Pulling and holding the + paddle puts it back into D auto mode. Weirdly, even in S6 gear, you still get 'kickdown' if you mash the accelerator into the carpet, though it doesn't change down?!? Eco mode changes the throttle pedal mapping so the pedal is less sensitive, but it also uses far more EV mode, so economy is better, Sport mode the throttle pedal is far more sensitive and it tends to keep the engine running most of time and the hybrid is used for extra torque. Normal is a compromise between the two.

July 29th '14 Delivery on 17.5k so far, very happy overall.

Are those reflectors the only ones on the back of the car? Showing reflectors is a legal requirement, mot failure if not present.

No, the Lexus system doesn't mute the satnav voice when on the phone and it is really annoying. You have a couple of options. 1) Settings/Voice adjust the Voice instructions in all modes to off, and then if you change the main screen to show anything other than the home page with Nav,or the actual Nav screens, it won't talk. 2) Settings/voice adjust voice level to off, and set the voice instructions in all modes to on. Then in settings/Nav set popups on. You should get popup junction instructions on all roads except motorways in the central screen between the clocks and full screen motorway guidance on the main Screen regardless of screen selected but the voice will never talk. Not ideal, but better than nothing.

short journeys i think are affected by 8 to 10mpg, longer ones, 3 to 5 by my pretty unscientific analysis. It takes much longer for the car to warm up enough to allow EV to power the car without the engine.

I don't think the wheel wash chemicals have caused this, but have probably exacerbated the problem. The top photo is the drivers front wheel, the bottom photo is the drivers rear wheel. Passenger side calipers are the same condition front/rear. It would look like the front calipers on mine either didn't come with any kind of finish, or only the lightest of dustings of protective paint, which has gone and the alloy is corroding like mad already. All the salt and water over winter isn't helping either. if it was wheel cleaner, then I'd expect the rears to be the same condition. I was going to take it to the dealer shortly anyway to ask them to look at the brakes, as there has been a few times where stopping performance hasn't been what I expected. This is the first car I've had which has a propensity to light up the ABS and stability control under braking, which combined with the re-gen braking and general feel, makes anything more than light braking become a voyage into the unknown of "Am I going to stop in time!". I've had more than a couple of squeaky bum moments.

I wondered that, not had a car as bad as that before. Washed by either the local eastern european handwash team, or Lexus during service, or myself - not very often admittedly, as I'm doing 3k+ miles a month at the moment. Think car has been washed maybe 5 times.

Anyone else's brake calipers look like mine? Front's are all furry - alloy is oxidising like mad already (6 months old). Rear's are ok, not nearly as bad. Pretty poor I think. Looks awful behind the alloy wheels.

I've attempted similar to you, to try and up the average mpg rate by attempting to drive as efficiently as possible. I've had a period over the last few days where I've had a number of long motorway journey's and not been pressed for time, so I've set the cruise control at 68mph indicated, in Eco-Mode and been very economical with the throttle pedal. I've seen the average MPG for the tank climb to almost 50mpg and on a 100m trip to London down the M1 motorway, which admittedly has a long period of average speed roadworks restricted to 50mph, saw the average MPG from start of journey hit 63mpg. So it is possible to get good mpg, but......... god is it boring. Yesterday, when pressed for time, I drove back from Reading to Leicester, up the A34/M40/M69 at a fair lick ( ), with thoughts of fuel consumption out of mind. Average mpg from Start, over 130m - 38mpg. Big difference.

No it doesn't, know what mean my previous car did it too and it was better. Best you can hope for is by turning off "Voice guidance on all modes", if you have a non-nav screen showing, you don't get any voices or graphics either though. Or put the option above on, and turn the voice volume to off, and it will give guidance graphics at every junction, but no voice at all.

I think version D is the one you can download from the portal website. Its the one that enables traffic info. Otherwise, it only takes a few minutes at the dealer to do the update off a USB stick. Version F is pretty stable for me, but some of the features are just plain weird the way they work.

Interrupt? Mine never shuts up!

Autozoom setting is in Menu/Settings/Nav You can check the software version in Menu/Settings/General I think

Full screen lane guidance is motorway exclusive, doesn't work on dual carriageways. Watch for the background though, it changes if you are in a city or in the countryside! ;-)

Think I found it - is it on the Map config option on the main Nav Screen Menu? Either way it doesn't work. Does anyone with a F-Sport model, with premium nav and version V3101F software get the nav pop-ups on the dash display?? If so what combination of settings/selections are you using, 'cos mine doesn't work at all. :(

"intersection"?!? Where do you see that option Ian? Not sure I have that one on mine.