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You didn't miss it - you quoted it right there! It will indeed be a 3.... a 3 SR+ in Deep Blue Metallic. Anyone wanna buy a Leaf? I've never bought a new car in my life before, and making a mad stretch to get this, but knowing what I know (I'm an electronic engineer working in the automotive field, so I'd like to think that that's quite a bit)... the only other car out or coming that interests me is the Model Y, and that's not going to hit the UK for another couple of years at least.

I had a hire car last week with a DSG. I've previously related my poor opinion of the DSG here, and it didn't improve any, although stop-start added a new level of hell (t-junction on a country road - come to a stop for just a moment (literally less than a second) and the engine stops. Press throttle and chug-chug-chug Vrooom.... eugh). I did try sport mode and paddles and i think the DSG is great for driving a car at 10 10ths - fast shifts, blipped downshifts, smooth... It's just the whole concept of being an automatic (ie in drive rather than manual mode) that it fails at with slow kickdown, propensity for holding on to too high a gear for too long, etc. Anyway... as stated, the NX300h might just be far too sedate for coming from a TT. It's a much heavier car for one thing. I guess you're looking at replacing the rav 4 and the tt together into 1 vehicle? If so, it might be worth a look at the new RAV4 hybrid - this is what the NX300h's replacement will be based on (platform and drivetrain) in a few years time. Also, depending on budget if you want a properly FAST hybrid small SUV then there's the Volvo XC60 T8 (400bhp!).

What are you coming FROM? This also has a bearing. If you're used to a diesel, particularly a big diesel (5, 6 or 8 cylinder), then yes, the hybrid system will feel a bit flat - that's because you don't have the huge slug of torque that propels you forwards hard like a diesel does. However, the difference is that while the diesel is building some boost to start giving you that peak torque the hybrid has already responded and is already accelerating, before the diesel has woken up. The peak acceleration of a diesel will be more, but in terms of time-to-speed (from throttle command to reaching the speed you want), they're much much closer than you think - the hybrid simply does it smoothly and linearly while the diesel takes a second or more to wake up, then plays catch-up with harder acceleration. (Yes, if you're used to the car and its response time you can push the throttle earlier to mitigate the lag - thus a diesel can feel faster on the road) Sport mode makes it feel a bit more lively, but it's not a night-and-day difference. I came to the GS450h from both a diesel (Volvo V70 D5 Polestar - 225bhp, 470Nm) and EV (Nissan Leaf - 80kW, 320Nm), so I'm well used to drastically different drivetrains. The Lexus HSD drives much more like the Leaf although not quite as instantaneous or predictable, but it offers similar linearity and constant acceleration (not backing off for gearshifts). I think that the Volvo had more peak punch when you got it spooled up and full torque, but deploying it through the front wheels was a hair-raising affair accompanied with huge amounts of fuss - the GS simply gains speed without drama. It will be interesting how it holds up when my Tesla arrives next month.

Yikes. I've just ordered a new car that comes only with card keys. A replacement key card is..... $33. Not quite sure where Lexus are getting off at £512!

You might be surprised - EVs are extremely "zippy", and my Nissan Leaf is considerably more engaging for spirited driving (especially in a commuting, in-town, zip out of junction, quick merge, etc kind of way) than many an ICE vehicle. The very low centre of gravity and 50:50 weight distribution (properly within the wheelbase, not by having big heavy bits at both ends, aka the BMW method) mean it grips well and is actually really good fun to drive. There's also very much the element of surprise with that car. It's also up for sale 🙂

A point to note about the sat-nav screen on the GS250. The 12" screen and the 8" screen are the same size. I know, that made no sense... On pre-facelift (ie 2015 and earlier, ALL GS250s) cars with the 12" screen, the screen is split into 2/3rds and 1/3rd sections. The actual sat-nav map is NEVER bigger than 2/3rds of the screen, whereas on the 8" display it takes up the whole display - ie basically you get the same sat-nav display regardless. On the bigger screen you can have your trip computer, music or climate panel alongside the sat-nav, but you do NOT get a bigger map display. Only post-facelift cars get "full-screen" satnav on the larger display. In other words, don't limit your choices by demanding the bigger screen only to be disappointed. Personally I don't find the "second panel" thing in the large display particularly useful, because you have to pull the panel into the primary panel to do anything useful (eg browse a list of artists on memory stick can not be done in the secondary panel). I think the smaller display gives away less in functionality than you might think.

I had a search - UCF20 Celsiors did indeed have cornering lamps, but UCF30s make no mention of it. The best description is "Bulb, Rear fog lamp" (yes, I know it's not a rear fog lamp - it means rearmost bulb in the foglamp, since JDM don't have fog lamps on the back of the car): https://www.megazip.net/zapchasti-dlya-avtomobilej/toyota/celsior-38230/ucf30-53948/ucf30-aetgk-902843/fog-lamp-17665333#

Cornering lights? Many Japanese cars were fitted with cornering lights from the late 90s onwards - a feature that didn't make it to the european market until quite recently.

Just a word of caution. The paint on the 4GS isn't the toughest out there - Claying is a good thing to do, but be aware that on the GS it WILL leave marring (regardless of soft/hard, lubrication, etc - this is the nature of clay, it is an abrasive process). A couple of weeks ago I clayed our GS followed by a machine polish. If you're not going to polish the car afterwards then I'd recommend just using Iron-X (or similar) and Tar remover (or try carpro TriX as a both-at-once product) to clear the contamination without introducing marring.

Yes. In fact, even 0g/km vehicles (ie EVs) over £40k attract the "luxury tax" of £310 per year for 5 years. Tesla in particular are affected by this. When the Tesla 3 arrives here later this year they need to be sure that the standard range model is offered at under £40k. With 2020 company car BIK rates then it will destroy the 3 series (because a 20% taxpayer would pay £1800 per year BIK tax for a 318d compared to about £150 for a Tesla 3. Those numbers double for a 40% taxpayer - who wants to pay over £300 per month tax for a slower diesel BMW?).

Hello from a fellow Leaf owner! Welcome. By the way, pics are obligatory.

Personally I feel that sequential indicators are a good thing, if implemented properly - for example, if hazards come on bright then fade away but turn signals sweep then they convey more information than by colour alone. This would also help in the circumstance where three cars are parked on double yellow lines - does the middle one have its hazards on or a turn signal and is trying to pull out? In terms of peripheral vision, I have very poor colour vision in my periphery (everyone does to some extent due to rods/cones on the retina, but from what i can gauge mine is worse than most), and if I am in a queue of traffic with a lane of cars to my right such that a car's rear lights are in my peripheral vision through my side window then I can not tell the difference between a brake light and and indicator without looking across - I perceive that the light comes on, but I can not perceive what it is - dynamic indicator provides a differentiation. Anyway, back to the OP's actual question. I have, in the line of my work, disassembled a few dynamic turn-signal light clusters. On the Audi Q7 cluster it's trivial to enable/disable the dynamic turn signal (and audi charge £300 extra to enable it) - it's simply one of the 6 pins on the connector. However, on the PSA DS7 rear cluster it is totally baked-in - there's no way to disable it without delving deep into the electronics inside the sealed cluster (ie cut into the plastics and the resulting lack of sealing after that... bad news). The OEM (magnetti marelli) is the same in both of those cases. Hard to know how the Lexus clusters are implemented and I don't know who the OEM is (but likely Denso, Stanley or Mitsubishi). I'd say there's a pretty good possibilty that there is an easy way to defeat the dynamic indicator in any Lexus model because the US is their biggest market and the US forbids dynamic indicator (sort of - we're all familiar with it on the likes of Mustangs and it was all the rage on american cars in the 70s. However, the way that the US regulates it requires that each element that lights up in turn must have a minimum area that is pretty big - each one of the big 3-segment tail/brake/indicator segments on the mustang is big enough, but each step of an audi or Lexus dynamic indicator is not big enough. Not a problem for the DS7 cluster mentioned above as PSA have no presence in north america). It might be as simple as pulling a wire out of a connector, but how willing are you to risk damage to your vehicle/light clusters should something go wrong during the experimentation/implementation?

We had Crossclimate+ on our V70, and I have them on my Nissan Leaf also. They are a SUPERB tyre. They are supremely quiet, extraordinary in the wet and capable in the snow with a good ride compliance. Wear life is excellent. Downsides? The wet weather performance comes at a rolling resistance cost - slight in the dry, but significant in the wet (and really noticeable as a range impact on the Leaf) - expect to lose a bit on mpg in the wet. They occasionally "sing" when they hit a particular type of road surface, make a peculiar "squirming" or "rustling" noise in dry/hot conditions (but you'll only notice with windows open) and have a slightly unpredictable side-slip behaviour (noticeable in wet/snow on significant cambers (meaning about 20-30% camber) at very low speed. If you are a Costco member then there are often deals on sets of crossclimates there - I got £60 off the set for my Leaf. Other manufacturers are starting to catch up, with strong offerings now from Continental (Allseasoncontact) and Bridgestone (A005). However, the Crossclimate remains a superbly strong choice. Our GS450h will be getting a set when the current tyres wear down (but it came on a brand-new set of P Zero Nero GT, so not binning them!).

Your car is after the HUD update so it might have the slightly newer SatNav system that uses a microSD card for update, rather than USB. The switchover is sometime in 2014, so it's worth a check. In your car, look at the centre console - look at the mark levinson logo below the CD slot. If the maps update through microSD then that logo is actually on a little flap that flips up to reveal the microSD slot. Check on that and if it is microSD then I can send you a link to the correct mSD to buy (ie that worked for ours).

Yes. The rear steer and variable ratio (ie change of number of turns lock-to-lock) are indeed F sport only options (in the uk). However, our car increases the steering weight in sport+ mode (ie the effort required to turn the wheel). It does not alter the ratio.

Others have answered already, but we have a 2015 (pre-facelift) with all 3 options so can maybe provide a little more info on top of what everyone else has accurately given you. We bought ours used in december, and it is on a 15 plate. We believe that this car (2015 premier with all options) is so rare that we have determined it to be a unicorn: Indeed, a rare option. You're looking for something called "PCS" in the spec (Pre Collision System) which gave the car the radar, ACC, driver monitor system, Lane Keep, etc. The most obvious physical signs that this system is fitted are the driver monitor module that sits on top of the steering column and the additional buttons on the steering wheel for LKA and radar distance. If you look at the interior picture I posted in the thread I linked above, you can see the driver monitor module. The red car that you mention doesn't have it (assuming that you're talking about YA64 FNX). I'm not sure if it's a model year difference to what Shahpor's car does, but our Premier does the following: Sport - Changed throttle map. Sport+ - Same throttle map as sport, damping stiffened, steering weight increased I agree that the GS450h doesn't feel particularly quick. In fact, our 2011 Volvo V70 D5 Polestar (225bhp 5-cylinder twin-turbo diesel) felt like it had more "kick". However, I think it's a matter of perception. I do believe that peak accelerations on the Volvo were greater (with 470Nm of torque, that wouldn't be entirely surprising), but I suspect much of it was psychological - the Volvo's performance was delivered in that typically diesel manner of a big slug of torque that tried to snap your head off (and the front wheels from the ground), accompanied by harsh gearshifts and a whole bunch of noise. I suspect the fact that the GS450h does everything with such smoothness and linearity and quietly means that the lack of drama is mistaken for being slow. It's more a case of you won't realise the speeds you're doing. However, I'm also used to the instantaneous nature of driving electric. See my fuelly sig below - click on it to get more data. We are averaging at this point 37mpg overall. Motorway cruising at 75-80mph indicated returns around 40mpg, and small amounts of stop-start driving don't particularly change that. Overall it is competitive against our previous Volvo V70 D5 diesel (38.6mpg). Obviously it depends on your driving style, your exact route, etc, but I think I'd expect mid 30s. In effect, the small-screen and big-screen options are the same size in pre-facelift cars. The map is the same size and shape on both, just on the big screen you get the secondary information pane. I have to say I don't find it all that useful, since to actually do anything useful (eg browse to a different artist) you have to pull the secondary pane into the main pane and do what you want. There IS a change to sat-nav in the pre-facelift cars, however! 2012-2014 (and by the looks of it, YA64 FNX is the OLD system) used the USB port in the centre console to update the sat-nav maps. Those vehicles also have a little display of the bluetooth status at the very top-right of the screen (looking like a 4th tab in the secondary display). Our 2015 vehicle has a microSD slot for the maps, hidden under a little flap that has the Mark Levinson logo on it for the audio system, just below the CD slot. We purchased a new SD card off ebay that successfully updated it to the latest mapping (a notable change in our area was that it now has the new A556 - the original 2014 maps had the old A556). I doubt that there will ever be a software update that brings pre-facelift up to full screen maps like facelift cars - I suspect that the hardware underlying the system is different, and no car manufacturer (other than Tesla) bothers updating software of cars that are more than 2-3 years old. As a general note about the firing up of the ICE - it does do it more than you might expect, especially when the engine is cold. However, I'm coming at it from the point of view of my daily drive commuter car being a Nissan Leaf, so I'd love if it was permanently fully electric (and in a few years time I might convert it - it would actually be a relatively easy vehicle to convert, as it already has ~150kW of electric motors). Once it is warmed up, however, it will kill the engine quickly in stop-start traffic and actually the MPG tends to go up in those circumstances, relative to motorway cruising. The nature of the lexus hybrid system means that stop-start is FAR less annoying than other ICE vehicles, as there's no engine-start lag to pull away, and the use of MG1 as a "starter" means that instead of the usual ICE crank-crank-crank VROOM start, the ICE of the lexus just goes from not running to instantly running at a fast idle (~1000rpm) with nothing in between. Note that the hybrid idles fast because if it needs to idle then it uses the engine to do something useful (ie charge the hybrid battery), and it can do so more efficiently and cleanly at 1000rpm than at 600rpm. If it doesn't need to idle then it doesn't. Never apologise for asking sensible questions!

Works for us - at Touchdown cafe or at the wellesbourne market on the airfield?

I confirmed in the other thread, but we will be there.

Touchdown looks good to me as a backup plan. See you all next weekend.

Can we have a backup plan in case of not being able to get in at the target venue?

Prices have gone silly lately, but it wasn't always so - A friend of mine bought his 63 plate Leaf Acenta off the forecourt, brand new, for £15k. I bought my 15 plate Leaf Tekna at 2 and a bit years old with 13k on the clock for £11k in November '17. Now, with 23k on the clock it's worth..... £11k. The new Leaf doesn't look like an EV - it looks like a bigger micra. The Kona and Niro electrics are not distinguishable for most people. The Zoe doesn't scream EV (and actually is a nice looking little car). There was a tendency to weird (Leafs like mine and the i3) where they did look weird but I think manufacturers are giving up on that. The VW Neo will be one to watch, as they're targeting a £22500 price point. However, it will look different to ICE cars because they're making use of the benefits of EV packaging - it will occupy similar space on the road to a Golf but offer a cabin and load space more akin to a Passat. This will become an industry wide trend - pushing the wheels out to the corners, longer wheelbases and a more "monospace" profile - the descendents of the Renault Avantime, Audi A2 and original Mercedes A-class.

A very good and sensible post for someone who (I assume) doesn't have an EV (I mean by this that you've not fallen for the "but charging is rubbish" crap spouted by many, and have an accurate view of the situation). You're right with what you say. The situation is rapidly improving but sadly an app is regarded by the government as acceptable provision of "ad hoc" use - the ideal is contactless payment of course. Tesla and proprietary however.... not so much. That is true in so much as no other vehicles can use the Supercharger network (despite it being open for them to do so and Tesla making the patents available to all for free), but remember that Tesla vehicles can use other chargers - either through an adapter (for Chademo and a forthcoming CCS adapter for Model S and X) or natively in the case of the Model 3 - it can use CCS. In other words, the model 3 can use not only CCS networks (rapidly growing in mainland europe, particularly the likes of Ionity and Fastned) (and CCS are the ONLY chargers that can be used by various competitor vehicles, like Polestar 2, I-Pace, E-tron, etc) but it can also use the Supercharger network (where superchargers have been upgraded to dual-head). However, the real truth is that the overwhelming majority of people don't drive hundreds of miles in a day with any regularity. The average mileage per year has now dropped to just over 7000 miles (7134 in 2017). If that takes place entirely within the working week (ie the car doesn't get used at weekends - obviously not realistic) then over 260 working days a year the car averages less than 27 miles per day. Many 2 car families would be perfectly well served with an EV as the second car - and that's exactly where we are, with the Leaf and the GS450h.

Yup. VAG's MEB development is very promising - they're doing a LOT of things right with it, and I'm seriously considering putting a deposit down for a Neo to replace my Leaf. In 2018 as a whole Lexus sold 76188 vehicles across the whole of europe. That's across 8 models (CT, IS, GS, LS, NX, RX, RC and LC). In 2019 Tesla will come very close to Lexus, if not in fact exceed their sales in Europe, and do so across only 3 models (S, 3, X). Q1 deliveries to europe for Tesla are heading north of 20k. If Tesla overtake Lexus this year, despite not offering the same level of quality, craftsmanship, fit and finish, range of models (especially lacking in the popular compact crossover space), etc then there's got to be a very serious message there for Lexus. Yup Yup. People are WAY too hung up on the range issue. I've done a 150 mile journey in my 80-mile range Leaf with a grand total of 21 minutes of charging stops (of which I'd have spent 10 minutes stopped in an ICE vehicle anyway for comfort and coffee). In everyday use of the Leaf (driving to work, driving home, going to the shops, etc) then it's simply a non-issue. Now that genuine 300 mile range cars are here (Kona EV, e-Niro, etc) then it's simply not a real problem. I've said before, the GS will probably be our last ICE. In fact, it strongly lends itself to an EV conversion since it's already got the drivetrain (and someone in the USA used a GS450h transmission to convert a BMW 330Ci to EV). Simply strip out the ICE and fuel system, add a Li-Ion battery pack and a bit of a controller and done. The GS drive is much more EV-like than other ICE vehicles, but still just doesn't match the instantaneous nature of an EV. I've driven a Model S 75D, and it has a very similar road-feel to the GS - very planted, solid, firm but not unrefined. The GS is distinctly superior in perceived quality, seat comfort and noise supression (road noise, wind noise). The Model S is WAY ahead in drivetrain performance, responsiveness and refinement. An EV GS would be epic.

We will be there.

As a British engineer, I don't actually agree with harrylime. British engineering is brilliant in some respects - we're fantastic and innovative problem-solvers. We're very good at originating clever new ideas. We're terrible when it comes to consistency. There's very much a "bodge-it-and-make-do" approach whereby hand-fettling is an accepted method of finishing the product. The attitude that I've encountered many times over the years in UK industry has been "We've always done it this way and it was fine then so it's fine now". This mindset doesn't allow for making something better over time. (It should be noted, however, that "bodge and make do" actually works pretty well in a war). Meanwhile the Japanese and Americans come up with continuous improvement approaches like Kaizen or Six-Sigma. The death of the British car industry had little to do with government support or lack of. It was because most of the products were lackluster or poor quality or both when playing on an international market. Metro or 205? Maestro or Golf? Rover 800 or Toyota Camry? XJ40 or LS400? Again and again stupid things have been done. When MG Rover became independent from BMW they had a really well engineered car in the 75/ZT, and they had some rather dated but liked cards in the 25 and 45, both of which needed updates/replacements. What did MGR invest their money in? They spent a lot on re-engineering the FWD Rover 75 into an RWD V8, and a bunch more developing the X-Power SV. That left nothing for developing mass-market models, so the best they could do was import the Tata Indica and slap a cityrover badge on it. That car failed not because of carrying a british badge, but because it was expensive for what it was and nowhere near as good as its competition (eg fiat panda). The point about Honda Swindon, Toyota Derby, BMW Oxford and Nissan Sunderland producing high-quality cars in a productive fashion is that the quality and continuous improvement systems are overseen by those companies. The culture of quality is enforced from above and these plants are not allowed to descend into typically british chaos. Should a new car company start up in one of these facilities? By all means - but it won't be easy. Tesla did exactly this (Tesla Fremont is what was formerly GM Fremont (the Longbridge of the USA - a reputation for poor quality and low productivity) and then latterly the NUMMI joint-venture between GM and Toyota, before it was sold to Tesla). If you wanted to make a new British car then it would need to be forward-looking. Most of the components are already there - Take Gordon Murray's iStream architecture. Bring in electric drivetrain from Ricardo. There's a Li-Ion battery factory for sale in sunderland (AESC - owned by nissan but they've been trying to sell it off for a few years). Get some styling from some of the great british automotive stylists currently doing the rounds (Ian Callum, Peter Horbury, even Chris Bangle (who despite controversy at the time did actually pen designs that stood the test of time very well, even if people couldn't see it at first)). Leather and wood and metalwork inspired by the great british automotive traditions - make the car unapologetically british. Volvo have achieved huge growth and success in the past few years by stopping being apologetic and actually being distinctly swedish (thanks to chinese money). There's enough german cars out there, and jaguar made a mistake by trying to be that. Leave techno-bauhaus to audi. Make it distinctive, make it desirable, but above all make it a quality product.