Thackeray

I had a look at my 64 reg car and found that the metal looks clean and the paintwork undamaged. The bolthead is showing a bit of corrosion but the main structure looks ok. However, the benefit of a forum like this is that you might be able to find others who do have the same problem. For a start it might be worth joining forces with sheamus to make a joint complaint. As there are at least two cars that have this problem, it could be helpful to start a new thread to attract the attention of others who may have skipped over this topic. For example, you could head it "Joint complaint to Lexus - Please check for rust in engine bay". You could also put a poll at the top of the thread asking people to vote yes or no if they have rust in this location in the engine bay. That would help give an overview of how widespread the problem is.

I don't know anything about the RX but I was attracted to the hybrid system because there's a lot less tech than on many other modern cars. No clutch, no torque converter, no separate starter motor, no gearbox, no diesel particulate filter, no turbo, no separate alternator. A few years ago, I was initially surprised that as new technology the Prius managed to come close to top of the reliability tables. You might have expected there to be lots of unproved stuff that would go wrong. On looking closer, I realised that if you eliminate all these parts that might otherwise fail, you have a lot less tech to go wrong. The main hybrid battery was a bit of a concern in the early days of these hybrids but it now seems to have proved itself well enough for Lexus to increase the length of warranty to 15 years, if checked annually.

I'd forgotten that I was also impressed by this simple idea when I first got my IS300h. It's a small detail but it shows that someone has thought about the problem of losing coins down the side of the seats and actually gone to the trouble of coming up with a solution. Or maybe they've copied it from another car though I've never seen it before on other makes.

Any luck with getting the DAB radio to work?

I'd guess this isn't about the car. It could be about all sorts of things. A lot of it may be about what the neighbours think (their neighbours not yours). It could be about nationalities - their daughter married a non-German, who doesn't understand the need to support German industry. (If you're British that might excuse you to some extent.) It could be about war-time legacy. Some older British people would never touch a Japanese car on principle. I don't know what Germans think about Japan. It could be about the need to conform in small-town Germany. It could be because it looks too extravagant and money should be spent carefully to protect the future of the grandchildren. I'll be tuning in regularly to hear the next episodes!

I've quoted that scene more than once for the benefit of people too young to have seen the film first time round. Nowadays I suspect that a lot of people don't fully get the joke. The point was that most cars were unreliable and often wouldn't start. The Beetle by contrast was renowned for its reliability. Owners knew that even 200 years later it would start first time.

I was pondering whether the DAB setup is as poorly designed as I thought it was, or whether I'd just missed something obvious that makes things easy. It turns out it's just badly designed. On this pistonheads page there's a comment half way down that explains that the setup is modelled on early DAB radios. To quote Tobeman: So that explains it. You have to pick an Ensemble (Multiplex) first and then choose from the list of stations. As I understand it an Ensemble combines several radio stations into a single stream of data. I've never come across a DAB radio like this. The one I have at home just displays all available stations from all Ensembles alphabetically. I can't thing why you would want anything else. To leave the Lexus design in its current roughshod form is just unfinished programming. It shouldn't be allowed on a car that has the most elegantly designed transmission on the market. The solution to this bad design, however, is to use Presets. Once they're set. this saves you the effort of switching from one Ensemble to another. There are only six DAB preset slots available, which isn't many. But there are another six on FM. In total that's enough for most day-to-day requirements. And most of the rest of the car is a delight, which makes it worth tolerating this bit of poor design.

It might be that your radio is broken. But you might just have fallen into the maze of commands for the radio that is so confusing that it would put the Hampton Court maze designers to shame. I've had the car for quite a while and still don't understand the logic behind the menu structure. And yes, I have read the manual - I find it unintelligible. However, on seeing your query, after a bit of experimentation I managed to get to a screen that showed a list of stations and a message saying "signal unavailable", while at the same time no sound came out of the loudspeakers. Having got to that point (the Lexus equivalent of the centre of the Hampton Court maze) I then managed to work out how to get back to the list of working stations. This might be what you're seeing or it might not. In case it is, I'll describe the steps I took to escape from the maze. I should add that I normally use the DAB stations successfully, conveniently and without any problems, even as I travel from one end of the country to the other. So first of all, is your radio working? Turn on the radio and then press the small button marked Radio, next to the one marked Media. The radio should cycle through FM, AM and DAB. If the FM or AM is working, the radio is probably not broken. But if you still get "Signal Unavailable" when you get to the DAB screen, you could try what I did to escape from this screen. Bear in mind that I have the standard audio system, not the premium one. So yours may not be the same as mine. But here's what works on my car: Using the Audio Controller (that's the one to the left of the gear selector), starting from the DAB screen, move the Controller wheel to the right and then select "Manual". Instead of the list of stations, you should now see the name of one station, preceded by the name of an "Ensemble". You may already know what an ensemble or a multiplex is - I didn't before I had to grapple with this system. More on this later. If you still see "Signal Unavailable" this means that this "Ensemble" or group of stations is out of range so you need to switch to one that is in range. On the radio itself, press the small button labelled with a right arrow (I expect left works just as well). This should take you to the next Ensemble, where you may have some reception. Give it four or five seconds to decide whether it's working or the signal is still unavailable. If it's also unavailable, press the arrow button again to try the next one until you get a working station. If none of the stations work, the problem is elsewhere but if one of them does go on to step 3. Move the Audio Controller to the right and then select Stations. A list of the stations on this Ensemble should now appear. You can select from them using the Audio Controller, the arrow buttons or the tuning knob. In my case, the reason I had a screen saying Signal Unavailable was that the Ensemble was out of range. The reason for this is that it was a local rather than national ensemble. Obviously, you can easily get out of range of an Ensemble that is only transmitted in part of the country. But national Ensembles are available..... nationally. So you're much less likely to lose the signal for a national ensemble and its list of stations. Sorry this has been so long but I'd be interested to know if it was of any help.

I didn't know you could get a discount on servicing with LOC membership! How much discount does Lexus Guildford offer?

Many thanks for the helpful comments. My car already had Michelin Cross-Climate fitted when bought so I've had nothing to compare them to. But they seem comfortable and quiet. They seem to wear well too. I think they've done about 25,000 miles and are still on 4-5 mm. I'm inclined to stick to the same when they need changing.

How do they compare to your previous tyres? Are they still more comfortable than the previous tyres when you have them at 36 psi? Are they quieter or noisier? I'd like to work out which are the quietest tyres but it's hard to find out when tyres are changed so infrequently. On first impressions, would you buy these again?

When you take delivery of the Lexus it would be great if you could write a comparison of the two cars. I imagine they are aimed at the same market segment so it would be nice to hear what their good points and bad points are.

Moscow phone-in radio presenter calls up hardy seasoned Siberian resident: "We hear it's really cold up there just now. Around minus 40!" "Are you sure?" says doubtful babooshka. "I'll go and check." She comes back after a few moments: "No, it's only minus 14." Radio presenter is puzzled. "Is it really only minus 14? The weather forecasters here were saying minus 40." Babooshka realises why the presenter is confused. "Oh you mean outside," she says.

That certainly seems right. Earlier today I came across the NCAP report on the Lexus ES, which has been given Best in Class for 2018. The IS also got Best in Class for 2013 when it was launched. It's interesting to see the videos of the crash testing to see how they perform. It's on this page - click on Videos about half way down. You can find the IS report and videos by clicking on Best in Class on the left and then 2013.

A while ago, there was a thread by an American RX owner listing the faults the car had had since new. It made me wonder if there was any difference in quality between Lexus cars made in Japan and those made in the US. Same question arises for Mercedes cars that aren't made in Germany - are they all of equal quality? I think I read the RX was made in Canada. But I wonder if that's just for the North American market. Is the RX that's sold in Europe made in Japan or somewhere else?

It's so poor that I routinely keep the left indicator on so that I get a better chance to see potential hazards as I reverse. And it's just occurred to me that I could use hazard lights to greater effect as the lights would flash on both sides! But it's a puzzle why they specified such an inadequate light that you have to improvise like this. Surely they must have tested it in the real world. Or maybe not?

How do you find them for road noise? Noisier or quieter than what you had before? What were your previous tyres?

So sorry to hear your story. I hope the police are able to track down the criminals. I have seen a similar pattern in a scam I was nearly involved in. This one was about renting a flat. The similar features are: The seller (flat landlord) couldn't meet as they were "overseas". Without prompting they send some form of ID apparently to give you confidence. In the case I saw it was a picture of a stolen passport, that had been used in a number of scams. I expect this is a picture of a stolen driving licence. Michelle Precious is probably a real person who has had her purse stolen and is now getting a bad reputation on the internet. But in my experience sellers never send you pictures of their ID. I'm sorry it's too late for you, but if anyone else reads this, I'd suggest that being sent some ID from a person "overseas" before some sort of cash transaction is a possible warning sign. In the email, the sender signs themself Precious Michelle Tina. This is what it says on the driving licence but most English speakers don't sign their names like that. She would probably put Michelle or Michelle Precious. They don't put all the names (like a Russian would) or surname first (like the French do on official documents). Another warning sign. In the case I saw, the pictures of the flat they were "advertising" were copied off another website. Of course, the scammers didn't own the flat and probably weren't even in the same country. It would be interesting to know if there were any pictures of the inside of the car (pictures copied from a dealer's website?) or just the outside (picture taken outside someone's house?) The money will probably have been transferred straight out of the Nationwide account. But maybe Nationwide can help. Again, so sorry this has happened to you.

That's interesting. What about the IS300h? Is there any documentation about whether it works in the same way as the RC300h? It doesn't have an Auto option for switching between recirculated and outside air.

Do you mean it is used to turn the lights on, as well as sense the strength of the sun? Are these the two functions? Does it work in collaboration with the sensor by the mirror?

That's interesting. Didn't realise it had this sensor. The climate control is more sophisticated than I thought. I went and had a look to see if my car has this and sure enough, there's the little dome that I'd never noticed before next to the demisting vents. I assume that when the sun is intense the air from the face vents would be made cooler than usual to compensate for the heat of the sun. Maybe the air conditioning would be turned on, too, if it was off at the time.

I'm glad you asked that! I've been wondering about this very question myself recently. I'm sure I've seen it switch on occasions and the manual says it may switch in some circumstances. But recently I've been trying, without much success, to pin down when it does switch. Recently I've seen it switch to outside air when I pressed the demist button and it went back to recirculate when I turned off the demist. But I feel it would make sense for it to switch more often than I've seen recently. For example, I've read elsewhere that it may switch from outside air to recirculate when in slow traffic; presumably this is to avoid taking in exhaust fumes from the car in front. I've even read that it might switch to recirculate when in a tunnel; but how it would know it's in a tunnel I don't know! Maybe a sudden switch to darkness instead of a gradual onset of night; but that would require a fairly sophisticated measurement of darkness against time. It might make sense for it to stay on recirculate when the gear selection is ECO as this would mean there was less heating or cooling required. But in normal Drive or Sport when would you expect it to switch? What's your experience?

I checked what happens on my car as I set off this morning. Outside temperature 13C; inside set to 21C. Air conditioning on and air intake set to outside rather than recirculated air. As I set off with the engine cold there was a trickle of cold air from the central vents - enough that I could feel by putting my hand over the vent but not enough to be felt on my face. After about three minutes the cold air changed to a trickle of warm air. Again I could feel it if I put my hand over the vent but there wasn't enough force for the air flow to be felt significantly on my face. After about 15 minutes of driving, the trickle of air stopped completely. I assume this was because the cabin had warmed to the set temperature. I expect that if the outside temperature was higher than the setting for the inside, there would be cold air coming from the vents. This sounds like a good thing to check if the fan speed is too fast on Auto. The setting labelled Fast/Soft changes the fan speed when Auto is used. I checked my settings and found that I also had the fan speed set to soft. I tried changing it to fast but it didn't make a lot of difference when I tried it, probably because the car was already warm and the system didn't need to use the fastest speed.

I didn't mean you should wait while the car warms up. Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I always drive off straightaway - more so in conventional non-hybrid cars as idling cold engines is supposed not to be good for them.. I just meant you could press the climate control Off button initially as you drive off and then press Auto a minute or so later and see if you still get very cold air. If it was me, I'd want the temperature a bit higher too! Especially as you're finding it too cold.

This is a bit of a mystery. The manual says when you switch to Auto: "Air outlets and fan speed are automatically adjusted according to the temperature setting." So the fan speed and vent directions you set previously should be ignored. If you've set the intake to outside air. you could try switching it to recirculated air. As another experiment, when you start the car you could press the Off button for a minute or so while the car warms up and then press the Auto button and see if you still get an icy blast (either on recirculated or outside air.) I assume you've got the temperature settings at a comfortable number, say, 21 or thereabouts. If you've still got a problem, maybe there's a fault that you could get rectified under warranty.