andrewcoxgm@gmail.com

Well I don't think I have soft close doors - but the glass is pretty thick. Don't do any opposite steering. Just use the brake pedal. Works a treat. LS430 - identical inside.

Car is great - reliable, comfortable, powerful. Luxury sport. Does my car have those features? Not sure. It's supposed to be the same as a lexus 430, so if they have it I should to. How does the soft door close work? Do you press the door button? One feature I can confirm is missing from the Crown is the valet lock. I know the LS430 has them, but I can't find the button in the crown.Perhaps I don't have those other features either. Brisbane has some very steep streets. When I'm in the city, I release the parking brake with my left foot hard on the brakes - then use that to do a hill start. Once moving, remove left foot and you are back to normal auto driving. Works but always feels a little odd. Never owned a lexus. so can't say. But the step up from the 400 to the 430 was a big one. I love my crown and it cost me less then half of a previous generation lexus with more mileage. Crowns are good!

Thanks, I will watch the vireo and check availability etc...

Hi, I have imported a Crown Majesta S180 from Japan (basically a Lexus LS430). My previous car was an Avalon which was rear ended by a P plater at a roundabout. I want to install front and rear cameras in my new car. Can anyone recommend a decent system that works well and is easy to use? I have checked on the web and they seem to get very mixed reviews. I also want it fitted so there are no loose wires dangling about. I want the wires hidden as much as possible. I know that supercheap and autobahn (major stores here in Oz) say they can do this but are they any good? My understanding is that they would have to install an electronic box or a usb extender (and of course snap out panels to put the wires inside). Are the staff in these chain stores up to this or should I use a qualified auto electrician to do it instead?? Thanks Andrew 

Hi, I tried this but it doesn't work. If I pull the lever and the foot brake hits my foot, the park brake stays on regardless. I have tried raising my foot to different levels but the result is always the same - ie, on or off. There may be a sweet spot I haven't been able to find, but for now I am using my left foot on the brake pedal as this is simpler (but v annoying). Thanks for the suggestion though. It made perfect sense.

I have a bad knee and drive with my left foot resting above the dashboard - so it's not really an option.

Yes but horses don't roll downhill. They dig their hooves in to stop that happening. Just saying it is a stupid setup.

Wish mine would but it doesn't, and the TS controls for fuel usage don't either. I spent ages trying to figure out a way to reset it then came across some US Lexus forums and they were complaining about the same thing. It only resets when you fill the tank up. Minor thing nut v annoying.

That works for resetting average speed/trip distance etc, but it won't reset avg fuel consumption. Just to be clear, that is (in my crown) kms travelled per litre. No way to reset that unless you refill the tank. Maybe your lexus is a later model?

I do, but it is annoying and I don't understand why Toyota rolled this out when they had perfectly good set ups in other cars. It is an annoyance I wanted to tell potential buyers about.

It is a Lexus LS430 for the Japanese Domestic market. 4.3L V8. Luxury Sedan.

Of course, and I will keep them away from the boot!

Thankyou - I will give it a a go and let you know. That solution never occurred to me. By the way, I also find that big clunky noise very annoying when I pull the release handle. Sounds more like a tractor than a luxury sedan.

Don't do it! I checked out the cubes they had in the compliance shop and they are awful. You would be better off with an Austin Maxi or a Morris.

Really? How? Have been told on other forums it isn't possible.

Wow thanks! Presumably I can test this by locking children inside and hear if the alarm goes off?

Hi. I think that's an S170 Crown, the previous model to my S180. They upgraded the engine to a V8 in the S180 Majesta plus a few other things. Still looks very nice though!. Had my Majesta for over a month now and am v happy with it, but there are some minor niggly issues that I wasn't expecting.. Firstly, there's no way to manually reset the avg fuel consumption reading. In any other car you can press a button or choose an option to set this reading back to zero (ie, how much fuel am I using from now on). In the crown (and lexus ls430) you can't do that. Instead, the reading gets reset to zero (whether you like it or not) when you fill up the tank. Considering the effort Toyota made to make this car better than it's European rivals, this oversight is v strange. Secondly, the boot release mechanism is rubbish. You press a button under the boot lid and and it pops open. Then you have to gently lift it up about an inch until the motors engage and open it fully for you. So it sort of opens automatically but it doesn't shut itself. You have to do that yourself! You push the boot lid down and just before it's shut the car sucks it down the rest of the way with a viscous thump to make sure it is secure. I have checked and this isn't a fault. It's just what crowns do. I think it is specifically designed to eat fingers and a real child hazard. It reminds me of the snappy cash till they had in 'Open All Hours'. The worst one though is the park brake. It's not a handbrake, it's a footbrake, but that's not the problem - my Avalon had a footbrake and it's easy to use when you get used to it. You park and press the lever down to engage it, then press fully down and gradually lift off to disengage if you are on a slope etc (just like an old handbrake). My new Crown also has a foot pedal to engage the park brake, but you can't disengage it with the pedal. Instead there is a big lever under the dashboard and when you pull it the park brake is completely 'off'. I have a steep driveway and this isn't a problem when I set off in the morning because the engine revs higher until it reaches working temperature. However, if you drive about a bit and park the car on a slope, when you pull that lever to drive off the car rolls. The park brake is either on or off and you have to do some fancy footwork with the brake and accelerator to avoid a ding. Have no idea why Toyota went with this. The footbrake in other models worked fine. Other then that it's all good. Great car, great price. Should have done it sooner! . . . .

Hi, Here is a photo of the mystery button in my crown. It's located in front of the air purifier controls above the rear view mirror (sorry if the photo isn't very sharp). It's basically a car icon with beams coming down inside from the roof and the only option is 'OFF'. If I press it, nothing seems to happen (no lights on dash etc). Can you help? Thanks