Herbie

Well, maybe. I've seen a few people on this forum recommend having the car in EV mode if you're parked up for a while and wanting to listen to the radio, so that the engine will automatically fire up to charge the traction battery when necessary and avoid it getting too low in charge. When I tried that earlier today, I was happily listening to Planet Rock and I heard a bleep and got the message on the multi-function display that "EV mode deactivated due to low battery" then about 5 minutes later the engine fired up to charge the battery (from purple bar to 3 blue bars). At least I know that the engine will fire up when needed but why did it deactivate EV mode, especially when other people specifically suggested having the car in EV mode for that very situation?

Our car went exactly the same but we traded it in anyway so I never found out the answer to the question

Obviously a loose connection somewhere in the output from the amp to the speakers. Given that all speakers are affected it can't be a broken wire somewhere from amp to speakers, it has to be where all the connections are common, so find the amp and make sure all plugs are pushed firmly into their sockets.

First of all, even though it's brand new, it doesn't mean that the paintwork is perfect. Many people pick up their cars from the showroom and drive them straight to a car detailer to have the paintwork corrected to be the best it possibly can be and then protect it from there. If you can't or don't want to do that, then I do firmly believe in the old adage of 'horses for courses' so I would at least go to a good, reputable detailer to ask for their advice. There are so many products out there that it's a complete minefield but professional detailers are the ones doing it all day, every day and making a living out of it, so I'd tend to trust their judgement and advice.

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Regarding the GAP insurance, I suppose it depends on if you can afford to lose a few grand or not. We paid £25k for our car but if it had been written off within, say, two weeks of ownership for example, we would not have been able to replace it like-for-like. This is because the insurance would only pay the trade value of the car, not the market retail price that we paid for it. A mate of mine used to be in the trade and still gets all the publications etc. He said that we would have got £22k from the insurance, not the £25k we paid, so to me it was worth getting the GAP insurance for two or three hundred quid.

To take your last point (and easiest) first, yes, of course - just go to any reputable bodyshop of your choice and ask for an estimate. But note, proper accident repair specialist, not Kwik-fit, Halfords etc. As for the insurance, I absolutely HATE car insurance but we have to have it so we just have to get on with it. I don't agree with this particular aspect of it but I do acknowledge that a 'standard' policy doesn't cover the excess and that's why they always encourage people to take out 'legal cover', which is specifically used to chase out of pocket expenses and excess. If you don't have this extra 'legal cover' then your chances of getting your money back are almost nil, but if you do have it then use it. As Steve and I said earlier, that's what insurance is for.

If you're going through insurance then let them find a place and tell you where to take it. That way, any 'liability issues' are taken care of.

That plug is a DVI-D (Digital Visual Interface - Digital only, single link) It worked with your old computer because the graphics card must have been a digital output (as opposed to the analogue of VGA). The single or dual link doesn't matter except in respect of speed of data transfer. A single link has a maximum data rate of 3.96 Gbit/second, whereas a dual link has a maximum rate of 7.92 Gbit/second. The socket on your monitor is a DVI-I (Integrated digital and analogue) Dual Link so should be capable of working at the higher speed with the compatible lead and terminations, but from the picture of that plug, your old computer graphics card was only capable of the slower speed. I'd say that a lead with a DVI-I (24+5) plug on one end and an HDMI plug at the other should work.

You haven't taken a photo of the DVI end of the new cable you bought but if it doesn't look exactly like the socket on the monitor then you've probably got the wrong one. Your monitor's socket is labelled as DVI-I (Digital Visual Interface - Integrated) and has a 24+5 configuration so you need a cable with a 24+5 DVI-I plug on one end with an HDMI plug on the other.

I'd definitely go for 1 and 2 as we did when we got our car earlier this year. However, with hindsight I wouldn't get them through Lexus! I can't remember the exact prices we paid at the Lexus dealer and at this time of night I'm not going ferreting about for the paperwork to check, but somewhere around £299 each comes to mind. It was only a couple of days later that we found out we could have got the same protections for half the price independently so have a look around.

Depends what sort of tester you've got Geoff. If it's a multimeter, that's not really good enough to test a battery properly; you really need a deep discharge tester to get an idea of the battery capacity. I think someone on here recently mentioned that a good battery should be able to deliver about 300A for about 30 seconds without dipping below 10V. This figure may not be appropriate for our hybrid cars because all the battery does is to control the entry/exit systems and the computers to get the car into the READY state rather than supplying a starter motor, but there will be a figure for it somewhere.

I would imagine it'll be automatic won't it? Take summer tyres off, register winter tyres with Techstream and the car will just see a set of pressure sensors and work with them. You won't have two sets of sensors in operation at the same time so there's nothing to choose - the car only sees one set at a time.

I beg to differ. The OP asked for opinions and experiences and got them, albeit from opposite ends of the spectrum. It's up to him what he takes away from this, as with anyone else who reads this topic.

Glad you got it sorted mate and like David said above, it's never a waste of time to help others

Wow! Glad you're OK Syed. It'll be interesting to find out exactly what happened.

OK Ben, being as you asked with the sugar on top, I promise I'll never compare domestic systems with vehicle systems again I understand what you're saying, and Linas too, but my only point is this - yes, if, or when, you notice that it isn't getting as cold as it used to, go and get it fixed, but there is absolutely no point in wasting money on a "service" every two years if it's still working and getting as cold as you want it to. Just my opinion and personal experience of five different cars with AC over the last 40 years or more

Well I'm sorry Linas, we'll just have to agree to disagree. There's only one measure of if an aircon system is working and that's temperature. I've never had any of my car aircon systems serviced or regassed and I've always been able to get cabin temperatures so low (single figure Celcius) that it could become uncomfortable if left on low settings for too long. As long as it's doing that then it's working perfectly and needs no work doing to it. If it loses the ability to provide cold air then that's the time to get it sorted but there's no need for 'routine servicing'. EDIT: Just thought - most people don't have routine servicing done on their fridges and/or freezers but again, our freezer is more than 10 years old and still as cold as the day we bought it.

How can you lose coolant and lubricant from a sealed system? Like I said above, if there's a leak or if seals dry out and cause a loss of refrigerant/lubrication then fair enough, but it's impossible to lose anything from a sealed system unless there is a problem and so a "service" is a complete waste of time and money. At worst, doing unnecessary work on a good, sealed system may introduce problems that weren't there in the first place.

Unless there are any leaks or other problems, an aircon system should never need any servicing or any attention at all. Like you, I also keep mine on all year round and I've never had to have any maintenance/service or other work done on any AC system on any car I've owned in more than 40 years.

I'd pressure test the cooling system. There may be no puddles because the coolant is dripping onto hot parts and evaporating quickly. The fans are probably coming on more often and working harder (hence you're noticing them more) because of the hot weather we've been having but it's the fact that the coolant needs topping up that's more worrying.

I'd take it to a proper auto-electrician (not someone like Halfords or a 'normal' mechanical garage). A very quick Google throws up http://www.mobileautoelectrics.com/ and also https://sites.google.com/site/autoets/ to name just two, but I suppose it depends which part of Hertfordshire you live in.

Sounds like it's not striking the arc so could be the ballast that's gone faulty, or a loose connection that's not allowing enough power to pass (high resistance), or even the bulb itself - just because it's brand new doesn't mean that it's not faulty.

It does indeed seem a step too far and something created just because they can, rather than being something useful.

He's talking about the round toggle switch below the AFS push switch. Other owners have in the past said that the round toggle switch is to turn the front sensors on/off. If it's not working maybe the OP should be looking for a blown fuse or even disconnected wire.