Roscobbc

The irritating thing is that incomming text messages only have a phone no. to identify the call - doesn't link with the Galaxy's (in my case S4 Mini) 'address' book.

Saw the Carbon Edition of the RCF in my dealers - very nice looking - liked the black Alcantara seats - its very expensive though, right up there at the starting point price of a number of other 'performance' cars.

As a V8 enthusiast you may like this - take before engine pulled out and bottom end re-build to replace a failed conrod. Best listen on 'phones. ~ all repaired now, just waiting to arrange transport to collect engine and re-install.Open headers ~ ~ poor quality video a few years back ~

Talking about (or not) 'sporty' cars - they had a RCF (if thats the name) in my Lexus dealer in 'carbon' trim. Looked nice with the blacked out wheels and carbon bonnet (hood) but kind of odd with the carbon insert panel let in to the boot (trunk) lid. Nice interior - not a very nice price though. Hope they don't plan on selling too many - at this price 'other' alternatives are close in price and probably better in terms of residual S/H values.

I agree to a point about the the lack of 'sport' feel when selecting 'sport' mode. Main issue as far as I can see is an over enthusiastic electronic traction control which cuts in all too easily and unwantedly if you are trying to make a rapid getaway. You actually need to be very careful with this feature if trying to pull out in to moving traffic. Yes the 'rubber band' feel is alien to many - I am OK with it - 'floor' it initially and 'back-off' to match speed. Not really 'sporty' - but its not a 'sporty' car is it?

Yes for 'daily' use I agree with you 100% - modern multi-valve engines always seem to have a horrible 'drone' - whereas 'old school' 8 valve non ecu based engines always had thier own individual sound. Compare a 4 cylinder bike engine with open exhaust to a V twin Harley on open headers! - no contest IMHO. As a young kid in the 1950's I would stand outside our house with my dad and watch all the cars streaming past our door on the way home from a Sunday drive out - we would recognise a make of car from the sound of its engine. I still need that 'fix' from an 'old school' engine - the only real 'music' is that of a finely tuned multi-cylinder large cubin inch engine. If the level of sound is 'right' you won't be able to hear the audio anyway!

When I had my Bluetooth issues late last year to be honest it seemed that the local Lexus dealers were out of their depth. A call to the National company who we lease our vehicles eventually put some pressure on and my intermittent bluetooth issue was 'sorted'. I really think that you should be 'escalating' this with Lexus customer services direct - I certainly wouldn't accept the situation!

Hi Tony - I'm SW Essex where you'ld least expect to have dab issues - but dab issues I di have and in a big way when I got the car last October. There is series of earler postings on this. The issue with mine was intermittent audio - irregular cuts in outputs for 4-5 secornds initially noticed on dab (as that is what I listen to 90% of the time). However this was on ALL audio outputs, so AM/FM/DAB and especially irritating the Blue tooth hands free phone link. After three trips in to dealers and two days away (with CT200 loaner with perfect audio) it was traced down to a dodgy connection on the audio system. It has been fine since. It still can often take a couple of minutes to 'recover' signal when exiting M25 tunnels in Essex however!

All too often the typical response from the police is just what you have experienced. My last company car (a 120D Sport) was only 3 months old when the perhaps 'financially priveleged' 18 year old son of a local resident and motor factor owner was texting a message in his Fiesta. Problem was that he was driving at the time - and he drove head first in to my BMW whilst parked outside our house.. Three months later and £12K worth of repairs and £10K's worth of hire car it was returned. I always remember the PCSO's words "oh, we don't usually persue these cases unless there is a serious injury - and most importantly the driver was insured". What PCSO Plod didn't know that that the young driver in question was driving on his fathers company commercial insurance. He was 18. The minimum age with this insurer was 21 years old! A few year previous to this a local Subaru driver let his friend drive the car. He lost control at 80 mph+ (this is a residential 30 limit) and spun off the road down the front wall and railing of our property, totally destroying it. The police response was the same i.e "no one was hurt, youre' covered by insurance, we don't need to take any further action"

My logic for the ever increasing deployment of A. 24 hour bus lanes on routes whre buses do not operate over same 24 hr cycle B. blocking inner city short cut roads ('rat runs') C. widening pavements/reducing lane widths/removing lanes altogther D. introducing one way routes/chicanes/raised kerbs to impede vehicular flow E. inner city congestion charges F. 24/7 20 mph Boroughs where peak times 20 mph is unachievable - and at other times not needed G. negative reporting of HGV/cycle accidents My 'consiracy' theory is that the 'lefty' regengade local authorities want to 'fleece' the motorist of as much money as possible and will actively look to force all cars and commercials off the road and replace with cycles and buses (hybrid of course!) They and all the supposed 'expert' road and traffic planners ignore the fact that all these actions actually increase pollution and cost per mile for the user. The idea of trucks delivering to businesses and shops after hours will be a further nail in the coffin for independent retailers and smaller business who won't be able to afford the costs of employing night workers to unload vehicles. UK truck drivers will be forced out of work as employers (unwilling to pay additional wages for night workers) then employ even more eastern european drivers. Inner cities will become no-go areas. The joke of course is that our national and local government will ultimately run out of 'cash cows" to fleece. No one will bother or be able to afford to run a car in cities - where will they get their money from? - bicycles? ha!

Reality says to me that as more people 'take up' electric 'only' vehicles their owners will struggle to find a 'empty' charging bay anyway! - and also presuming that the charge point isn't one of the many inoperative ones!

I've had my IS for 9 months now and the menu's/sub menu's for DAB still confuse the hell out of me. I had the same issues this weekend having inadvertedly pressed an incorrect 'button' - you need to search for the 'next ensemble' of stations - in you case 'National' - its all there just tricky to find!

During the intensive years of ever increasing horsepower and performance in the 'States (60s & 70's) it was a commonly accepted fact whilst a 'younger man' would never buy an 'older mans' car - the 'older man' however could always (and frequently) buy what was considered to be a 'young mans' car - partly one would guess because of spending power - but also due the far greater driving experience of the 'older man'. Didn't ever figure whether 'older man' actually drove 'younger mans' vehicle like 'younger man' would! - I am sure the same analogy holds true now.

Gunk doesn't help you with a hole in the tyre. Just accept that the tyre is knackered and continue driving slower (illegal perhaps but you stand a chance of getting home) I had 17" runflats on my previous 'daily' a 120D Sport - I thought they were fine in terms of ride and really any car manufacturer should be more than capable of optimising the suspension for comfort and handling - however, and this is a big however - run flats are very heavy compared with non-runflats owing to the steel reinforcement in the sidewalls. The wear pattern on the rear tyres on the BMW was such that the innermost part of the tyre thread would wear down first unnoticed and would easily break in to the canvas. Fact is that run flats are no more use than non run flats - the reason? - they are supposedly rated to take you some 30 miles at a maximum of 50 mph. What you are not told is that if you do this it will ruin the tyre - tyre places will refuse to repair the tyre. I didn't think that the BMW tyre sensors worked quick enough. The sensors work off the ABS system and only pick up potential loss of pressure by comparing wheel rotations against each other. It was only really when cornering or running through potholes did it work quick enough. In one case the sensor only indicated that I had a pressure loss on the offside rear wheel at exactly the same moment as when (at high speed) I entered a sharp bend and the deflated tyre caused the rear end of the car to 'hang-out' (luckily saved!)

I have had my IS300H for 8 months now and done 16K miles. As other have said parking sensors are a must. Whilst I have electric folding door mirrors - mirrors that 'dip' when selecting reverse would have been nice to enable parking closer to kerb. Having said that even without them the car seems less prone to rim scrape than other cars. Hybrid system is foolproof.

Sounds like you gave-up too easy!

I'm 65. By way of contrast my 'fun' car is a 1968 modified 528 bhp 8 ltr Corvette. Is this an 'old mans' car too?

As with 'my' IS300H 'perception' of supposed 'ownship' is different from reality. Effectively being a company rep my employers best and simplest choice for sourcing vehicles is to contract hire them for 3 years. Fixed monthly expenditure except for fuel and not worrying about a depreciating asset allows us to concentrate on 'business' rather than fleet matters. My colleauges have a mix of Passat, One Series (as I used to have) and Audi A3. We have a monthly figure for contract hire. Obviously, despite the relatively high purchase cost of the Lexus (compared with other choices) there must be good deals/good residual values/maintenance costs for the contract hirer. In 'perception' terms the IS300H 'punches above its weight' - customers and clients believe is that we are a forward thinking company and utilising green and 'cutting edge' vehicles. For me ? - I get a classy car that is tax efficient that has most options I would want as standard all for a similar cost to a Passat or Mondeo - no contest really!

However - if you were to set yourself up as a 'bona fide' 'parking organisation' and a member of one of their very dubious member associations (and I use the term Bona fide' very loosely here) and then be prepared to pay the DVLA for personal information related to who a vehicle is registered to - then, yes the information would be readily be availabel to you!

Hmmmmm - Stoat is an interesting thought! - we are urban, albeit with plenty of trees and greenery. Do rats feed on mice? - Squirrels? - one things for sure something feeds on snails - find plenty of thse in odd corners c/w Hazel nut shells.

Even more weird! When off out to work in the IS yesterday morning I got a few yards up the road and started cursing some of the 'locals' again, thinking that someone is burning dead animals, judging by the smell. Drove on a mile or so, and with the smell much the same I pulled over and popped the hood. This time these was a sticky glutinous mess burning-off on the exhaust heat shield with a very dead mouse lying upside down on the passenger side suspension turret! - the mouse's entrails were hanging out. So how did a dead mouse get from being cooked at Regulo 8 on the exhaust heat shield to being on the suspension top. Did its guts 'explode' and throw it on the suspension top - or was there another mouse on the shield that fell off. Can't logically see a 'live' mouse remaining on the head shield during start-up. If already dead - how did it die, wouldn't have thought that a cat (or Fox) would be able to kill a mouse (or mice!) and 'store' it (them) in th engine compartment. Bizarre or what?

Hi Rabbers - initially it reminded me of Squirrel activity - i.e leave a car in the garage over winter (or so for matter out in the open) and they will get in the engine compartment and store Hazel nuts etc inbetween the inlet manifold and carb in the 'V' of a V8 engine. Not a real problem just a pain to clear out in spring. I remember years ago when I had a 205GTI, collecting it in from a service and the service team all coming out to see me and talk about the remnants of a Hedgehog that had somehow become wedged inbetween the exhaust manifold and the engine block and the difficulty they had removing it! - the rather rich (and appetising) smell inside the car from several thousand miles ago was then explained!

One would presume that because the 'starter' battery doesn't actually operate a conventional starter motor as such (which can be quite a power consuming accessory) the power requirements are less (size of battery certainly bears that out)

Might just urinate in the engine bay - do that outside the perimiter of the house regularly and it keeps the foxes and cats from evacuating their bowels and bladders outside the back door. ADVISE. Only do this at night - neighbours may call the men in white coats in!

IS300H 'Escargot' - why the title? - went out in the car to work yesterday morning - 3/4 miles of suburban traffic before getting on M25. After first 5 minutes of use I noticed a smell inside the car of what seemed to be burning paper or cardboard - wasn't too sure if it was from inside or outside the car (from one of those industrial pollutant clouds driftiing over from Europe), so opened drivers window and ignored it. Didn't notice it the rest of the day - nor today. Came back from an 80 miles round trip, parked the IS in the drive, walked around the front end and heard an odd crackling sound. Opened the bonnet and there were scores of 'cooked' snail shells on the tops of the suspension turrets and some discoloured marks where there must have been a good may more on the exhaust heat sheild. How weird - must remember tonight to put some garlic in the engine compartment and have a French gastronomic experience day tomorrow!