First_Lexus

Ziebart, certainly do remember that. A little yellow ‘shield’ sticker usually on the rear window and lots of rubber plugs in the sills and door shuts where holes had been drilled and the rustproofing gunk sprayed in!

I seem to remember that part of the deal that saw FIAT/Lancia sell the old 124/125 production lines to the Soviet Union and Poland (to become the Lada 1200/1500/Riva and FSO 1300/1500/Polonez) was for Soviet steel to be sold to FIAT/Lancia for car production at a knock down price…although Wikipedia suggests this is an urban myth! …unfortunately the steel was sub-standard, hence the rust issues for Italian cars in the 1970s, which ended up with Lancia withdrawing from the U.K. market following the ‘Beta’ rust fiasco. Wikipedia notes; “Unfortunately the Beta gained a reputation for being rust-prone, particularly the 1st Series vehicles (built from 1972 to 1975). A widely circulated rumor states that the cars used Soviet steel supplied to Fiat in return for building the Lada factory.[20] However, these claims have never been verified. The steel problems are more likely due to poor rustproofing techniques as well as the prolonged strikes that plagued Italy at that time rather than the metal's origin.”

I do remember the annual school fete (which back then was held in the middle of the Summer holidays, outside of term-time) was a veritable smorgasbord of cars, all parked on the lower playing field. Much fun was to be had running around at our own motor show looking at all the cars and ignoring the fete totally 😂😇. Speaking of school, our minibus changed from a very decrepit Comma to a shiny new Sherpa while I was there. Many trips to various locations in those, always driven by one teacher or another, no seatbelts and often children sitting on the floor depending on numbers. I seem to recall the Comma had a front bench seat with the engine under the floor and plenty of fumes in the cabin. Despite that, sitting next to the driver in the front was the prime spot, and being allowed to change gear was a positive privilege! Children today have no idea…🤣

Expanding the topic slightly, but cars back in the 60s and 70s just seemed ‘cooler’ than now, perhaps because they were more fragile but likely because they were more different to one another and there were more distinct marques. Nostalgia plays its part as well, obviously. A school friend’s parents owned a Capri 3.0S in bright metallic green and a metallic purple Mini 1275GT (with white door stripes). Another friend’s Mother had a Lancia Fulvia. They seemed impossibly glamorous at the time. One of our teachers had a Peugeot 104 in flat brown, while another had a 504 Estate, both of which I remember well as they parked in front of the classrooms! Another teacher had a pre-war Riley of some sort, complete with running boards. I seem to remember he often used to work on it during lunchtimes!

Really sorry to hear about the theft. Lexus aren’t denying the issue at this point. Additional security is available to be fitted FOC as per details in this thread, and many have had it fitted in the last 2-3 months.

I’ve owned two NX and now an RX. For London use specifically I’d have an NX300h just because it’s smaller and easier to park / navigate through congestion. Quality is about the same - RX is superior but not by much - NX is just an easier thing in tighter spaces.

I feel the need to post this…😜

Totally agree. We need to resist the idea that just because something is electronic that it automatically must represent ‘progress.’ I just find a printed book far easier to manage through using the index and flicking to the relevant pages. This also has the benefit that you can find things you didn’t know you wanted or needed to know! Technology? Bah, Humbug!* * not including this forum, obviously 🤣 By coincidence, I attended a lecture last week which outlined the immense environmental damage caused by the move online, due to all the servers needed globally and electricity needed to power them. You wouldn’t believe the impact of ‘spam’ email!

Worth asking Lexus if they do still supply the paper ones. I’ve certainly received - completely free of charge and very quickly - full paper sets for both my last NX and current RX. I agree with you - if a small number of people still want a paper manual, then a premium priced manufacturer should be able and willing to provide that for their customers.

Yes * * well, what I’ve always believed anyway!

I think it’s down to environmental considerations, albeit if those also cut costs…well, we all know how that goes! My RX in 2021 also only came with one small manual with the rest online. I emailed Lexus Customer Services and they sent me a full set of proper paper manuals.

I guess most of us have played the game, using the DVLA web site, looking for childhood cars. Sadly all bar one of mine seem to have long gone to the great scrapyard in the sky. Both the 1983 Cavalier and 1971 Cortina made twenty years or so (until they weren’t taxed, anyway). Some seemed to die quite early, the Renault 25 only made six years but could have been written off I suppose. That Russet Brown Maxi didn’t live long either, registered in 1980 and not taxed since 1987… Only one seems to survive, albeit on SORN. My 1989 Mini Mayfair Automatic, previously owned by my Mother. That was my first University car, taking me the 200 miles from home to my place of study full of stuff! Different times…anyway, it must exist somewhere as it is listed as SORN, but I guess like yours it has been butchered and modified. To be fair, that’s why original spec and condition classics are worth so much now, especially Minis.

@Spottedlaurel Some lovely cars there, where have they all gone? One moment Datsun Cherry were on every high street…it must be years since I saw one like that. I also couldn’t help noticing the Allegro registration was ‘RCF’ 😁

I remember attending a Motor Show (Birmingham) or Motor Fair (Earls Court) and being shown around the new Talbot Tagora. Dad wasn’t impressed! A neighbour had an orange Alpine (hatch version of the later Solara) and my brother had a Sunbeam for a while. Both essentially French Simcas with weird tappety sounding engines. The later Chrysler/Talbot were nothing compared to the original Rootes cars, especially the Hillman Avenger with those ‘hockey stick’ rear lights.

I don’t think any exist! Photographs of family members at various events and holidays were taken, but my Father wasn’t a really a ‘car man’ so I don’t believe the cars are in any photos…☹️

The Luxury doesn’t have the hard wooden parts, just a soft leather wheel all around that is heated. Believe only Takumi or Premier spec had the wooden steering wheel.

Personally I’d always go with the newer car and lower mileage, but it depends a lot on condition as well as these cars - as you know - take miles without effort! If it is a Sport rather than the F-Sport then I think it has standard suspension and seats, so should be little if any difference in ride comfort (I found the F-Sport too hard for my taste). That does sound like quite a lot for a 2018 car though. Looking on Autotrader you could be into a 2020 Luxury model with 20-30k miles for about the same from dealers (not Lexus I should add based on what I’ve seen). The Luxury spec was the same as Sport as far as bells and whistles went as far as I can remember from buying mine - get a Luxury with tech and safety packs and you get most things, such as pan roof, heated steering wheel, heated and ventilated seats etc.

As the title suggests, just a thread to remember favourite (or not!) cars owned by your parents. I was lucky growing up, as we had a family owned company so my Father always had company cars, as did other members of the family who worked there. Looking back I can see that the car choices often depended on the relative health of the firm, and sometimes cars were swapped around depending on who needed what and when. They also depended on the position you were in, obviously. Once they’d lived their company lives, cars also often ‘retired’ into ownership of various siblings, uncles, aunts and cousins, albeit by the time I was old enough to drive the company had been sold so I was never lucky enough to benefit. My brother ended up with a BMW323i at about aged 19, Sister got a Toyota Cressida, other sister a Golf…but nothing for me 😪. There were also ‘pool cars’ knocking around and those driven by other employees which would often turn up for one reason or another either just for a day or a couple of weeks when people went away on holiday. A Mini Traveller estate automatic from about 1970, a Fiat Strada (yikes!) and various Fords and BMC/BL models of different types and sizes were usually knocking about. Anyway…to the best of my memory; 1966 Cortina 1600 Deluxe Automatic 1971 Cortina 1600XL Automatic (in Daytona Yellow, the first one I really remember) 1973 Granada Ghia 3.0 1976 Toyota Corona, this one I remember vividly and absolutely loved. It found its way to a family friend after it was ‘sold’ and I’d see it around the town for years afterwards which always made me slightly sad. Last time I saw it, it was for sale on a garage forecourt in about 1982, looking rather…well, knackered! 1978 Toyota Cressida Estate, also a brilliant car which lived on with my Sister for a few years after she got married, but essentially rusted away to nothing. I always remember the Toyotas had three horn buttons on the steering wheel, which was something very different for the time! 1980 Rover SD1 3500. Beige velour, metallic bottle green paintwork. I seem to remember it was rubbish, but I rather liked it. 1980 Maxi 1750HL. Not sure where this fitted in as it was around at the same time as the Rover but I have vivid memories of it in Russet Brown with beige velour. It was also the only manual transmission I ever remember my Father having. I assume the Rover was being used by somebody else for some reason, but for a couple of years they seemed interchangeable! 1983 Vauxhall Cavalier CD 1800i. This one had detachable ‘handbags’ on both front doors. And headlight wipers, which were very cool at the time. What ever happened to those? 1985 Renault 25GTX. This was awesome, with the digital talking dashboard. My memory says it went wrong - a lot - but my elder Sister also ended up with it for a while. I remember loving the extreme comfort, it was like being driven on a motorised sofa. Company then sold, Father retired. Nothing especially exciting followed, Peugeot 205 Automatic, Maestro Automatic, Montego Automatic, then a couple of small Hyundai and finally a Daihatsu before he finally gave up driving. Over the years my Mother didn’t drive much, but had a couple of Mini Automatics (which I ended up with!) and a Nissan Micra automatic. When I look at cars today, how reliable they are, the tech they have, their rust resistance - we really have come a long way. Thing is, I don’t remember my previous cars with the fondness of those when I was growing up, for all their faults.

Hard to imagine now, but when I was growing up our neighbour opposite replaced his Rover P6 2200 with a new Wolseley 2200, which was a badge engineered ‘wedge’ Princess. I guess that was 1975. At the time his new car was seen as cutting edge, even bleeding edge, as the styling was so different and modern. Inside there was luxury but also moulded plastics in all sorts of funky shapes. It was like he’d bought a spaceship, and we youngsters were very jealous. At the time my Father had a Granada Ghia from memory, but shortly after even he switched to a Toyota Corona and then a Cressida, before a dalliance with a Rover SD1 3500 followed by a Renault 25. Back to the wedge, the Wolseley grille and light up badge remained. Move on fifty years and the P6 is still (rightly) seen as a beautiful and desirable thing, with a great following. The wedge Princesses not so much… The original question here reminds me of one thing. My Father had always had big company cars. I was used to that growing up. I was at University when he retired, and came home at one point excited to see what he’d bought for his retirement. I expected a big Mercedes, or possibly a Jaguar. What I saw was a bright red Peugeot 205 Automatic 3-door! “It’s my money now, this is all I need.” It was certainly a life lesson, and I should add it was a brilliant car. He later gave it to my (then) wife, who ran it for years.

Either a Wolseley Hornet (with the light up grille badge!) or a Riley Elf. Both were based on the Mini, with different front and back treatments and luxury interiors, essentially the predecessors of the Vanden Plas 1300 (based on the BMC/BL 1100/1300 range) then the Vanden Plas 1500 based on the Allegro, and finally the Vanden Plas Metro, Rover 216, Maestro, Montego etc. Later MG/Rover used the ‘Mayfair’ tag on Mini, Metro, Maestro and Montego for the same effect, but things had declined even more with velour replacing leather as standard (with leather as an option). By the time the last Honda derived Rover 216 had arrived they’d even dropped that, with the GSi being the top model (from memory). Fashions had simply changed. As time went on the real walnut dashboards, picnic tables and deep pile Wilton carpets were replaced with fake wood, bling and ‘extras’ as standard, much as a Fiesta Ghia or Astra CD was in comparison with a standard model. The BMC/BL idea was to appeal to the customer who had owned a Jaguar or Rover (P5, P6) and who wanted similar levels of luxury and traditional treatments in a smaller car - much as Alan asked right at the start of this thread. The problem was that the German brands were already prioritising the ‘driving experience’ over tradition and younger customers in the 70s preferred the break from what they saw as the staid vehicles of their parents and grandparents. Shame, as there could have been room for both had BL not imploded with strikes, terrible build quality and general mismanagement. I think the last company to really try such an approach was Renault with the Clio Baccara, perhaps also the Peugeot 106/205 Gentry. Anyway, back to the original question. There are smaller cars with nice interiors, and there are smaller cars that are reliable and well built. The UX is one, Audi A1, BMW 1-Series etc. However, in my opinion none of them try to match the ‘quality’ of materials in the larger models in their respective ranges. They are all perfectly fine in isolation, but if you sit in an Audi A1 and then an Audi A6 (for example) the plastics feel more dense, there is more soft touch treatment, more leather, ‘surprise and delight’ features and so on. I don’t know if the plastics used are actually different, or how they may be different, but the perceived quality is certainly greater based on my experience. Same with UX vs RX, and that shouldn’t be a great surprise as companies need to justify (or try to) why customers would want the larger and more expensive model (apart from the obvious ‘because I can’ factor!)

True, some quite advanced Issignois and BMC / BL designs were let down by poor standards of build. My point was that at least back then when you wanted a smaller car there were genuine luxury additions, rather than now when interior quality is the same across the range just with more gizmos added! My own Vanden Plas 1500 was a special place to sit, and did have levels of refinement not equalled by the competition. The issue was - ironically given the video narration - that it was essentially scrapped at eight years old due to unseen rust. You see, it looked immaculate on the surface but all that lovely under carpet soundproofing got wet - due to leaks in the BL produced body - and the floors simply rotted away… Aware this is now off-topic, but by the standards of the time the BL range wasn’t as bad as urban myth has defined over the years. We need to remember that Fords of the time were terribly old fashioned and unrefined, Renaults were exotic but built even more poorly than BL, Vauxhalls were built better than Fords but were just as staid and unreliable, and let’s not even start on the Fiat/Lancia debacle! What really moved the dial in terms of quality was VW from the Golf onwards (albeit my Sister had a pea green 1975 Golf that was truly awful!) and Japanese marques in terms of reliability.

I was in a new Tesla Model Y yesterday. The acceleration is indeed ludicrous, and much more severe than that in the Hyundai IONIC 5 I was in previously. But… …the car was less than a year old, and the rattles and squeaks from the interior were not indicative of a quality product! The tech is impressive, albeit a bit baffling for me, and I wouldn’t be keen on the central screen rather than dials behind the steering wheel. What I would also say is that the acceleration - apart from being technically impressive - doesn’t really have a point as imho it is unnecessary and potentially dangerous as it is so immediate and so rapid.

One of my early cars was a Vanden Plas 1500, essentially an Allegro sent to a coach builder and fitted with wood, leather and deep pile carpets. The quality of the car was standard BL, but the interior really was special. The ‘problem’ now is that when manufacturers produce a ‘luxury’ or top of the range smaller car, it’s less about upgrading trim - beyond perhaps leather seats - and more about adding equipment. That subjective ‘material quality’ is the same whether you buy an expensive range topper or the most basic option. I’ve had UX a few times as courtesy cars, as well as a GS for a few weeks on loan, two NX and now an RX. I considered downsizing to a UX, and in isolation it’s fine. It drives very well and feels solid. However, comparing to models further up the Lexus range it - understandably - falls short. The real shame for me are the cheap looking and feeling plastic slab door cards which don’t (to me) fit in a car costing that much. Personally I think you’ll struggle to downsize and match that ‘quality’ feeling you have in your GS. I actually found the new Honda HR-V interior to be of higher perceived quality than the UX when I drove them back to back a few weeks ago, but the UX drive was better imho.

I seem to recall David Cameron talking about ‘nudge culture’ back in the mid-2000s, the idea being that Government would try to alter the behaviour of people through positive messaging - essentially doing the right thing - but the key (and what makes it relevant here) was that it didn’t say behaving in a different way wasn’t permitted. “Hug a Hoodie”, “Reuse and recycle” etc. When it comes to the climate debate, we seem to have moved from that approach. People should want to buy an EV, or a heat pump, or to reduce their own environmental impact because we want to be kind to our planet, not because they’re forced to do so. Clearly some people will act like that, but not enough. Behaviour change should be based on positive arguments rather than penalties for NOT complying imho, unless we are past the point of no return… It’s a tricky one though. Without taxation making certain things less desirable - take alcohol or tobacco - then the risk is they continue to be abused by more people than they might be. I’m glad I’m not a politician. For all the criticism we give them, it must be a pretty thankless job.