route66

I think that's your problem. When I got my IS300H first, I set the microphone to maximum and people complained - just like your experience. The trick is to set it to more normal or even lower values and then all be be well. Or, was in my case anyway!

This assumes that a flat 12v battery is a normal everyday thing but it's not. If your 12v battery is regularly flat, then: * It's old, can't hold a charge and needs to be replaced (n/a for you) * It's new, can't hold a charge and is probably faulty * There is something draining the battery * You regularly use accessory mode and sit in the car with the lights/radio on - all of which draw from the 12V battery if you haven't started it up fully. Top tip: start it fully and leave the engine to kick in and out as it desires. This does not draw from your 12v battery The problems you refer to with the Prius and other Toyota hybrids are caused by one of the above. If you're used to sitting in your turbo diesel (with comparatively huge 12v battery) with the interior and outside lights on listening to the radio then you may be surprised when you encounter a Toyota hybrid for the first time. Even Matt Watson from Carwow had a flat battery when he tested the new Yaris. The bottom line is, start the car fully if you're doing anything that requires power. If the battery still goes flat, then you have something hidden drawing power that you need to get checked out.

My first car was a Panda - it was the most square car I've ever owned making it very easy to park. Mind you, this man is taking parking up to a whole new level !!!

Equivalent of Ireland's Motor Tax. We call it Motor Tax and not Road Tax for 2 reasons: 1. To make it clear that it's a tax for having a motor (car, van, truck, motorbike - anything with a motor) that is used on the roads. 2. To dispel any thoughts that drivers of motor vehicles may have that this payment gives them greater ownership of the roads than pedestrians or cyclists have. Over here, we pay €190 PA for our IS300H's (one of the lowest rates)

That's not just his name - it is also listed as the manufacturer which suggests not Denso. But that's not to say they are definitely not Denso, and as you say, the store has a great rating - although its actually 99.3 and not "just" 93 as you mentioned. Whatever, I'm very keen to hear how you get on!

Not sure if these are OEM or just compatible - the manufacturer is listed as "Good Rain" ... Would be very interested to hear how you install them and how they perform!

3 weeks ago, you asked "I am trying to fing the proper spark plugs". You got 2 correct answers on the same day you asked the question, and 1 correct answer the day after. You now also have an additional, 4th, correct answer from our resident expert Colin, above. Seeing as you could have got the answer yourself by just looking at your manual (your paper one or freely available online and in this forum if you have a look), I don't think you are being very polite. You would also have found the answer to your secondary question about the engine output.

I'm from Cork myself but living in Dublin now. You'll have no problem with the Lexus in Cork - as "Beamish" has outlined above. Infact, Beamish is the local stout which you'll have to try (I have and hate it ...) More importantly, you'll have to learn how to speak Cork. Some think it's the same as the regular english language and that's a big mistake. Click here for more details:

The Corolla has a newer gen hybrid setup which is much nicer than the older setup in the IS300H. Not faster, but better, much better. It suffers none of the significant transmission lag that frustrates any attempt at spirited driving in the IS. The rest of the car isn't bad either. These have come on a long way since even the last gen Auris which was a huge yawn in every respect. They have latest gen infotainment, are very economical and even drive well on the Toyota/Lexus TNGA-C platform. This is very stiff so you don't get the the baggy feel of older Toyotas. Even the interior is a big step up from older Toyotas and I don't think you'll feel too badly done by. As you've found, it also a lot bigger than the IS. The Lexus is obviously a car from a few classes up and looks much better than the Corolla. Having said that, I don't think you should be too devastated with your "downgrade"! All the above from my own experience of regularly driving a new Corolla, a 2014 Prius Plus and my own 2014 IS300H. Others' views may differ 😉 I'd also love to hear how you get on.

A long shot, but if you have the car in sports mode, the steering is heavier. Compared to lots of other cars, I've never considered my steering (out of sports mode!) to be heavy, so if it's not something simple like pressures or mode, there could well be a problem ...

You're not exactly giving us much to work with. If you start a topic, you should be clear about what help you need - or indeed, what comment you want to make. This forum also has a search facility where may find an existing topic that you can add to - much better than everyone creating a new topic for something that has already been discussed. E.G. A quick search for your topic would unsurface this recent thread:

It's not the first time I've disagreed with you Linas about tyres. The last time you made some ridiculous comment that a car with "400hp needs 20inch wheels". When anyone with some engineering knowledge knows that that is simply not true. But I should probably know better than to argue with someone who always wants to get the last word in. And someone is always right. Other have tried and either failed or simply got wound up. I remain happy with my Bridgestones and do not accept your - now confirmed in my mind - "highstool" commentary / conspiracy theory about how manufacturers select tyres for production cars. As I suffer from "ignorance", a lack of "nuance" and seem to be accepting of things "mediocre", you should probably not bother wasting your time with follow-up mud slinging.

Well, it is unfortunately true sometimes - "Tesla Cuts Car's Range By 30%, Demands $4,500 to Get It Back": https://futurism.com/tesla-range-reduce-remote

Yes I do. Despite the (I suspect) "highstool" commentary above, I have not noticed anything about them which is worse than the Dunlop's. And this is based on my experience of using both types on my IS300H. Back-to-back. Over 1,000s of miles. Generally, manufacturers do care how good the tyres they fit as standard are - why wouldn't they? Waste billions of r&d by saving a quid on some mediocre rubber? I do accept this view isn't very controversial. To be clear, as I said, the skipping I'm referring to is caused by manoeuvring on full lock, not "when on full lock and turning wheel when stationary".

There is another consideration - tyre "skip". Something the IS300H suffers from along with some other RWD and AWD cars. Mine was so bad, sometimes passengers could ask me if I had driven over something when, say, pulling out of a parking spot on full lock. I know what causes it (tyre blocks being stretched because front wheels are not parallel on full lock and then "releasing" suddenly when they can stretch no more, worse in winter when tyres are cold and less flexible than in summer, worse on worn tyres where the blocks are shorter and less flexible, etc, etc) and had just learned to accept it as a characteristic of the IS300H. And then I swapped my Dunlop Sport MAXX rt2 for Bridgestone Turanza T005. Night and day transformation !!! Looking at pictures of the 2 tyres, I don't know exactly why the Bridgestones are so much better, but they are - no more tyre skip. I can't say I have noticed any of the negatives mentioned above with the Bridgestones for fuel efficiency, comfort or noise - although they are too new for me to see any age-related cracking ... Perhaps suffice to say that these cars came from the factory in Japan with Bridgestones fitted (Autocar test of the IS300H in 2013 had Bridgestone Turanza T001 fitted) so I very much doubt they are as mediocre as some may suggest ... Dunlop Sport MAXX rt2: Bridgestone Turanza T005: Some advice I would go with is to avoid "ditchfinders". Tyres are a boring purchase (you're not going to invite your friends to have a look at your new tyres, whereas you might if you spent the same money on a new phone for example) but that is no reason to try to skimp by buying rubbish. Some of the cheap asian brands are cheap for a reason and can give dangerously low levels of grip in the wet. Do a google and you will see how some of the poorer ones perform.