Steve44

Map updates are by replacing the micro SD card in the central console. Fold down the flap behind the gear lever, under the stereo. check eBay as the Lexus prices are astronomical. Is yours a premium or std Nav? Round knob or mouse?

I think you can change the colour of the general screen background from brown to blue or grey in the settings. General settings if I remember correctly. Have you checked to see if the sw version is up to date? Post what the version is on here and someone will advise. Later versions fixed some of the bugs and usability.

This is encouraging and is similar to the way Alfa Romeo has handled Guilia/Stelvio upgrades. They released a newer hardware build at or just after the MY19 release of the cars, but the software followed later and in some cases was a dealer retro-fit free of charge. However, there is a specific chassis VIN and hardware firmware version that is needed for the software upgrade to work, as these cars have the hardware which acts as the licence key for the software. The hacker community in the East of Europe has perfected a mod to earliercars, but it involves having to retrofit a modified USB hub into the car, amend the software and firmware of the infotainment and set a code in the dealer computer against the VIN to show it was allowed. All not particularly easy to do and of course you needed a friendly dealer to do it!

Highly unlikely to be a simple software upgrade to enable this. I believe Apple require a hardware key of some sort to be installed in the technology which serves as the licence for the solution. I can’t see this being a retrofit by dealers. More likely an upgraded infotainment package rolled out across models at facelift/update points.

Bear in mind there is far more people drive the German cars than Lexus. I also suspect the average punters expectation level moving from a non-premium to a premium car is higher and not met by the Germans than the average Lexus punter, thus the satisfaction levels are lower.

Stelvio Milano. Went with 2.2D, couldn’t justify the petrol with the mileage I’m doing. Quadrafoglio Guilia was very nice but boot slot smaller than IS and running costs just too much.

I'm exactly the same, 2 IS's, UX too small, didn't like the ES or NX drive, rest too expensive. I think it is still a few years till the EV range develops enough, the charging issues are improved and the early adopters iron out the teething troubles. Polestar2 and Tesla Model 3 could be future ones for me. As a result, for now I've gone left field and I've bought an Alfa Romeo......

WBAC was lowest, by a country mile. Pretty derisory offer really. I had no intention of using it, but it gave an indication. To be fair though, all the dealers offered more than WBAC. I also had searched what Lexus dealers were displaying as sticker prices for similar age/mileage cars as approved used cars, so you have an idea what kind of margin is in it for them. They need to make a profit, but some were extracting the michael somewhat. As I said pays to shop around.

I've just traded my IS and got top book against a new car. Range of pricing from dealers was huge though, over £6.5k from lowest to highest. Pays to shop around, I did the final deal over the internet/phone with a dealer 180m away.

Not behind a paywall https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cars/article-6834267/New-rating-reveals-models-no-anti-relay-theft-security-measures.html Also https://www.thatcham.org/relay-attack/

AVS is part of tech pack on the FSport. Cant disagree it is expensive at over 40k fully loaded though, when compared to other models. isn't CHR a class below in size?

Ah, that’s good to know. Does it fill the screen and does the resolution look better then on the other setting? I didn’t have an issue with where the drive controls are. For all the times you change them. And with my other observations, there is even less need to change to Sport mode etc, as the character of the car is virtually the same. Set and forget.

The damaged wheel I got back with the original tyre and they put a rubber valve in it as stated above. It will do as a spare for me for now, or could be repaired in the future (would need welding and turning and repainting) and the valve replaced. lexus said it is easier to swap the valve than recode it. However, if you don’t have a valve in place I guess the car still throws up a ⚠️ sign? Which would be a MoT failure now too. Can that be coded out? How much is a new TPMS valve to buy now? Guessing £60-80 each?

I had a day with a ES FSport Takumi pack yesterday whilst my IS was in having work done. Here are my thoughts, compared to my IS FSport Premier Pack MY17. Pros - Ride improved (19"s with AVS) compared to my IS (18"s with AVS) very smooth, noticeably so despite bigger wheels. NVH improvement too, road noise and tyre roar another step lower (was running Bridgestone tyres) and wind noise not really an issue, though there was some from the sunroof, which shutting the blind helped with. Braking feel is better, much more progressive, though can snatch a bit still. Seats are even more comfortable than those in my IS, supportive and pillowy soft. Amazing amount of leg room front and back, even with the front seats set right back. Despite being larger, it seemed easier to place on the road and to manoeuvre, which I put down to the design. In the IS you sit quite close to the centerline of the cabin and there is quite a wide door trim, then the outside of the door curves out and then the wheel wells sit out again. In the ES this is much less, so the wheels sit where you expect them to be based on what you can see and perceive out of the cabin. FSport dial stays in the position you select, doesn't reset every time you turn off! One of a number of things I wish my IS did. Can see actual tyre pressures! Another one I wish my IS did. ECO mode auto glide control makes progress and economy easy. Proper indicators and wiper stalks that physically move and return, rather than the one-touch ones on the IS. Cruise control buttons on the steering wheel now rather than the odd stalk at the 4pm position on the IS. HUD - weird, my first one I've used, but pretty good and found more and more things it showed up, like volume adjustment on radio, track listing on stereo etc. Easy to read and not too distracting . Though it shows the RPM meter which seems a bit of a waste, not sure if that can be changed. Kick sensor for the boot opening worked fine, you didn't have to stand and waggle dance to get it to work! Auto handbrake works well and is a good step forward from the foot brake in the IS. Climate auto options are good, including switching between outside/inside air, auto heated seats and even turning off the passenger temp control when no one in the seat. Parking sensors come on automatically and you can mute them with the OK button on the steering wheel if you get a bit close to the car in front in queue or at a McDonald drive through! Much easier than turning them off and forgetting in the IS. Cons - Performance is a bit anodyne. It picks up speed fine, but it is a complete non event. In the IS on full throttle in sport mode, you get the sensation of a mild push in the lower back, in the ES, nothing. There is no "Kick-down" point in the throttle travel ,which isn't really a con I guess and no fake engine note or control either. I tried the paddles and S+ mode too, but no fun to be had at all, something I can't say about my IS. Those who say you can't tell the difference front wheel drive to rear wheel drive, I'd say you definitely can. No mistake. Hustling the car along a B road, it is clear that is not its primary strength. Running at 70mph on the motorway or creeping through town is IMO. It is definitely a wafting car and it does that very well. Even with the AVS and sporting suspension improvements, I didn't find anything to suggest it should have an FSport badge. If it wasn't for the horrible "Wood" trim on the steering wheel in the ES and Takumi trims, I'd be going for those. Tried the Hold button to see what it did - what a pain in the backside, turned it off again after 2 junctions. Can't see the reason why anyone would want to use it! Equivalent specs between this ES FSport Takumi pack and my IS FSport Premier Pack, yet some glaring things missing. No ventilated seats, no leather trim (its fake leather), no Blind spot monitoring or rear traffic crossing alerting (only std on Takumi or with pack on ES, not available for some reason on the FSport even with Takumi pack). Additions were heated steering wheel, HUD, rear sun blind, card key and adaptive headlights. HUD and headlights the only things I could say I want. The extra safety equipment and real leather is unforgivable and smacks of price engineering to get it to a reasonable pricing level. Visibility out I found a problem from my driving position, as the B pillar and seat is just at the wrong position to see out of junctions etc. Rearwards visibility is pretty poor too over C pillars. Also the door mirrors seem very small in area compared to the IS. Rear view camera - don't know what Lexus are smoking, but I almost crashed it in the dealer car park trying to use it. For those who haven't seen it, it is now a fisheye lens and looks like it is about 0.5MP resolution from 2001. It only uses the centre portion of the lovely 12" screen too. So trying to place the car I found extremely difficult compared to the higher res wide angle one in the IS, as the corners are all rolled out in the image and the centre is all distorted. Just weird and wrong. Despite the seats being very comfy, i did struggle to get a good position. I thought I sat quite high in the car, despite the seat being all the way down. And I couldn't get the steering wheel to come towards me far enough. Head room with the sunroof is OK, but nothing more. In the rear loads of leg room, but little head room for anyone more than 5-11. Boot aperture for loading is no bigger or different i found to the IS and basically the boot being roughly similar volume and with no back seat drop, it is less practical overall, despite being far larger. I think they should have made it a hatch/fastback. the profile suits it, the C pillars are thick enough and the usability would have improved 100%. Overall its a fine car, but I won't be buying one. It's no fun when you want it to be, isn't practical enough for me and doesn't move on enough (in some cases steps back) from my IS. Search continues........

Appears so, though the IS one doesn’t have the extra plastic cover, just the clear rubber across the battery and circuit board.

Had a good look around a lovely metallic Green with cream leather UX Takumi spec in Lexus Newcastle showroom this afternoon. Paint was lovely, cream leather a nightmare to keep clean for me. Nice to see the final production ones in the flesh, not too different to the pre-production ones seen last year. Boot probably still too small for me, but interested in how it drives. Test drives offered from next weekend.

I had a damaged wheel which I had replaced today with another, 2nd hand but better one sourced from eBay. It came with the TPMS sensor still attached and Lexus have swapped it for me as easier than recoding the sensor to the car. So I now have a spare sensor and a spare wheel! In case anyone was curious what they looked like or details on them, here it is. Looks completely non serviceable. Battery is sealed in.

The 12v battery in the boot is a compact gel battery. £150 or so is typical.

This was similar for me, took mine out at time I bought my new IS300h, paid for it monthly 0% APR over about 18mths.

not true in my experience, but I'll keep quiet then, nothing to see here..............🤫

iPod/iPhone use with system over USB isn't a bed of roses either. Frequently get "Getting data from device......" when trying to skip tracks and doesn't move on. Can be listening to a playlist happily, then turn car off, come back, iPod/iPhone defaults back to 1st track on device. Podcast listening can hang the iPhone or the media system requiring disconnection and reboot. Bluetooth is better form the phone, seems more reliable and not a big difference in quality, I also get the track restarts thing on Bluetooth. device is iPhone XS.

Have you discussed a service plan with your dealer? I've been offered a substantial discount to take on a service plan instead of paying for services individually. Lexus service prices were a shock to me, but on looking around, I'm not sure things are that different on other brands. Service's for Kia Stinger GT-S (with that amazing 7yr warranty!), every 6k miles. Must be cheap, its a Kia! erm no, 30k miles of services, still over £1100 with a main dealer, actually more than i paid with a service plan I took out when i bought the Lexus. Use of an independent is always an option. No-one forces anyone to use the main dealer.

There is a different philosophy with options from Lexus to BMW/Merc though. It could be the difference between japan and EU arguably. Lexus have packs, always have and a generally higher spec overall. This gives less variety and I guess with the lesser volumes, it is more cost efficient to do this. The EU based brands tend to have had lots of individual options and less packs, though more packs seem to come through now. Given the higher volumes, it is easier for them to build effectively customised cars. The cost of options is not always in proportion to the true cost of thing either. This is usually where manufacturers make huge profits, more than on the overall car themselves. I do remember a time when a radio was a cost option on a BMW, you only got an extra cubby hole if you didn't specify it. in this case I think Lexus may have made a mistake here. or maybe their market research says Auto Wipers aren't important, or that people who buy ES's will buy packs!

Totally agree, the spec decisions on the ES are very strange. But then you look across the whole Lexus range currently and the changes to basic trim levels and packs and it is no different. It seems Lexus believe everyone will want to buy a pack add-on. I assume this has big profitability benefits to them.............

According to the brochure, rain sensing windscreen wipers are only standard on the Takumi trim. Needs a tech pack or premium pack add on on ES and FSport trims. Bonkers!