wharfhouse

In the past I found my local Autoglass helpful in rectifying an issue - I guess if they aren't then you can involve your insurance company as they will be the ones paying the lions share of the bill (less your excess).

I had a broken windscreen once from a stone thrown up by a local gravel lorry coming towards me and that was travelling way too fast around a bend (in a 30mph zone) through our village. I contacted the MD of the company and nicely put it to him that he should "have a word" with the drivers about speeding through the village and that it was only a few weeks since I have replaced the windscreen and so this was going to cost me another excess. The company replied offering apologies and said it would talk to drivers and sent me a cheque to cover the excess. I was happy with the outcome given the circumstances.

Thanks - good to know the instructions were good and easy to follow as of course it's not a "user" update as far as Lexus is concerned. Useful to know how long it takes as thinking whether to do this update on my car. I don't use the internal sat nav much these days as use Google Maps on my phone, but occasionally turn to the car sat nav in a few circumstances.

Could you briefly describe the process and how long it took please?

My IS 300h brakes sometimes squeal a bit when reversing - done it for many years - going forwards no noise though and so not an MoT problem unless there are other issues with the brakes.

Yes should have added Jemca bodyshop did a superb job on mine - I inspected it meticulously and there is no way I could tell it had been repaired. They also didn't cut corners - it was an expensive repair but everything done as a new car would be built.

Might be a bit far for you but the Jemca group (who have a number of Lexus and Toyota dealerships in the south) have their own bodyshop in Bracknell - it's where I had my Lexus repaired (arranged through Lexus Reading). I would also speak to your insurer as well and advise them of the circumstances. When I had my accident I did that and then the 3rd party insurance took over and organised everything and so my insurance company then closed the case from their side. The 3rd party insurance were happy to handle it according to my demands as it was much cheaper for them that way than if I had used my insurance claims management company. They provided similar spec hire car etc and kept me informed as to progress.

Yes it's most likely their insurance will be invalid and so you may have to claim on your own insurance - depends on how they handle uninsured drivers - sounds like time to talk to your insurance company as likely may need legal assistance too.

If the 3rd party that did the damage is at fault then just take it to Lexus and let them handle it. You have every right to have Lexus repair it and the other insurance company can't deny you that. Get a claims management company to handle it if they start to put up barriers - your insurance company will likely direct you to one if you report it to them anyway. I have been through this and had no issues having my car repaired at Lexus - the 3rd party insurance sorted everything out and provided like for like hire car for the whole time the repair took. Mine had more damage but took 6 weeks to repair (mainly due to getting parts) and cost £13,500 over 5 years ago. The cost of doing a repair to the same standard as a new car can be eye watering for what looks like a small amount of damage.

Totally agree about the price of drinks - if I find they are charging crazy prices i simply won't stay there again!

I have always adjusted my tyre pressures to the temperature - that usually means when the cold weather comes in I will checj and add some air - which I did a couple of weeks ago. When warm weather comes that might also mean letting a little air out again.

If you want to break a car window (to get out) I think you are supposed to hit it at an edge rather than in the middle, so that makes sense for your cracked windscreens.

They do have self levelling headlights as HID but I think the screw shown is to make an adjustment to the base level and they self level from there to that base level - so if used I would assume you need to make sure the car is standing on level ground first before making any adjustment. I've never adjusted mine though so can't say for certain.

This is from a previous post on the same topic - courtesy of @ColinBarber

The other issue with hotels is that they change their pricing almost daily with no relationship to how far ahead one books. I stay in a hotel about once a month on business, usually to a pre-agreed schedule and usually use Premier Inn. As such I book up to 12 months in advance (for each month) using a Flex booking (so I can cancel at any time) and then every month check the prices for all my bookings - if they have come down for any month I rebook at the lower price and cancel the old higher price booking. I have been doing this for a few years and using this method generally manage to get a price for a room that is actually quite low. In fact I often get Flex prices lower than a Saver Rate I would have booked. I also do it for any other bookings I need to make for business or leisure - always book flexible and watch the prices regularly and rebook if it comes down. It's a bit of a pain but that way I avoid paying ridiculous high prices for a room.

Costco E5 for virtually all my fuel - I have tested E5 and E10 quite extensively (as I do the same journeys a lot) and using E5 definitely saves me money over using E10 so long as the price difference between the two is around 6/7p per litre (some supermarkets have a similiar price differential). The price difference between E5 and E10 of the branded fuels (like Shell and BP) is much higher and so I don't think E5 using those brands would save money. The car also runs quieter and smoother on Costco E5 over any E10 so an added bonus.

Yes, the very low mpg is no surprise if you are only doing a few miles with all the electrics on as the car will be using ICE all of that time, especially in cold weather. I use Costco E5 all the time as it gives a decent uplift in mpg over E10 for just a few pence more per litre more and easily pays for itself in better fuel economy. My mpg on a decent run (according to the car computer) is generally between 48mpg and 52mpg (at least for journeys that are over about 20 miles - I have seen 60+ mpg from time to time on A roads doing around 40/50mph in ambient temperatures). On the motorway I am generally one of the faster cars as I'm often traveling on business or long journeys and so have places to be and so don't dawdle but still see 48mpg+ regularly.

Yes, cold weather hits the fuel consumption on short runs/ low speed journeys quite hard as the ICE has to run longer to get up to heat and run more to keep the cabin warm. If I understand it correctly, the traction battery will also not deliver so much power when cold, I believe it's warmed from the cabin air so until the cabin is warmed up and the battery has warmed up it won't deliver so much power as warm days so the ICE has to do more until ambient temperature is reached. On runs of a few tens of miles in cold weather economy will fall some 10-20% over warm weather. On long motorway / A road runs (a few hundred miles) then it's much less noticeable as once everything is warmed up it stays there with the ICE running all the time the cabin stays warm (waste heat from the engine at this point) and the traction battery is warmed up properly (and so can deliver as per warm weather) and so the first few miles of low mpg are amortised over the remaining hundreds of miles.

Yes - I don't bother replacing windscreens until it's an MoT failure or a significant crack - have two small chips in my current one that have been there a few years now - ironically one happened just after changing it!

Laws of probability - once had three cracked windscreens in just a few months - then nothing again for years.

Yes that's the correct Gen of Sat Nav for the car. I keep debating doing the upgrade myself to the latest maps (mine are original with the car in 2014)but mostly use Google Maps on a phone now. Be good to know how you get on.

AFAIK either port can be used.

If you have Executive trim it will have the standard Sat Nav with the rotary controller. This is updated through the USB port in the centre arm rest using a USB stick. The dealer will charge a few hundred pounds but the updates can be purchased from other places, though I've not tried any yet.

The lexuspartsdirect.co.uk website is run by Lexus Swindon (Fish Brothers) and so it's a normal Lexus dealer that happens to also sell online - they also have a Toyota franchise and have an online store for that too. Their online prices tend to be a bit cheaper than other Lexus dealers but unless you can pick up from Swindon they charge for postage so depends what you are ordering whether it works out cheaper than your local dealer.

Just run your finger tips around the tread grooves and feel for the tread wear indicators - they are at 3mm and so it's fairly easy to judge the amount of tread left and whether the tyre is wearing evenly across it's width. A tread depth gauge will give you more accuracy of course but for many years I've just used my finger tips and replace tyres as they reach the tread wear indicators.