-
Posts
2,285 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
27
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Store
Gallery
Tutorials
Lexus Owners Club
Gold Membership Discounts
Lexus Owners Club Video
News & Articles
Everything posted by LenT
-
Well this is a surprise. If the bulbs are marked as ‘road legal’ then I fail to see on what grounds an Insurance Company can refuse them..They may well be brighter but they may also be of a lower wattage, so electrically safer. I would check with the retailer that these specific bulbs are indeed road legal and if so, then ask why insurers can object to bulbs that make the car safer. In any case, it’s not as though parking/reversing lights present a continuous hazard to other motorists!
-
In the slightly distanced past, I would occasionally commission articles from motoring journalists. Very few made enough to rely on it as their sole source of income. And they did indeed rely heavily on the Press Pack - and probably still do! But it was a symbiotic relationship. For example, a writer would plan to take the family away for a week by the coast so a call to a suitable company would get a new Estate delivered for a review. Which they would then describe how excellently it performed this task. But what they all had in common was that the journalist didn’t own the vehicle and didn’t necessarily drive it the way an owner - who had paid good money for it - would do. If you’ve just raided the family piggy bank for a new motor, you’re not inclined to indulge in flat out, engine torturing revs just to determine its ultimate 0-60 time! Or trying to determine its ultimate cornering ability by seeing how quickly you can wear out a set of tyres. In the real world, taking a couple of seconds longer is all that’s needed by most motorists in most circumstances. I think that motoring reviews should just be regarded as an interesting background to taking your own test drive. That’s when you make your buying decision.
-
Glad to hear this problem is now resolved. Did you get a trickle charger so that you can leave the battery in situ and keep it charged? I don’t think of mine as a ‘sports’ car but as a very comfortable cruiser that can be safely driven briskly in a rewarding fashion. Mine has the excellent V6 up front and it sounds quite entertaining when given some encouragement. He’s still at it! He was rather sniffy about the performance of an ES 300h F Sport in yesterday’s Sunday Times magazine. But he did still laud Lexus build quality. I suspect that some adverse comments regarding performance are down to expectations based on styling, price and brand image. Although some Lexus models are clearly high performance, I suggest most are in the comfortable saloon bracket. And that suits me just fine!
-
No - it was a BUZZ Word Generator!!! Apologies for poor tipping.
-
This took me back several decades to when I was a young writer at a large American advertising agency. I was invited to attend meetings, but rarely to venture an opinion. So on those occasions on which I was, I amused myself by making use of a Buss Word Generator. This consisted of three columns of words. Any word from the first column could be followed by any word from the second and the phrase completed with any word from the last column. Thus it might create such as: Socially Integrated Dynamic Multiple Rated Approach Organically Targeted Format I would then introduce the phrase a few times into my comment. Naturally my elders and betters were not inclined to admit that they had no idea what I was talking about. On more occasions than I could have reasonable hoped for, my invented phrase would later turn up in other documents or meetings, giving me the glorious opportunity to admit my ignorance and enquire as to what it actually meant. But the true Advertising Account Executive is never lost for words and I was always impressed at how what had left me as a meaningless phrase had now acquired a meaning which they could now patiently explain to me. Oh, such fun!
-
In such circumstances James, you can console yourself by considering the possibility that the cheaper version may in fact be being knocked up in old oil drums in some obscure Chinese village. Or is that eBay? To avoid such disappointments I follow a basic rule, rather like Wilkins Micawber. Having found the product you want, buy it and stop looking. Result: happiness. Continue looking to see if you could have bought it cheaper. Result: misery.
-
An entry from my ‘Should know better’ department. I see that Tim Davie, the Director-General of the BBC, is quoted today as saying that he wants “less people on its books”. Well I can’t agree with that! Surely he wants “fewer” people? Now that might lead to some worthwhile improvements.
-
Not something I’ve been aware of myself, but it could well be the tyre skipping previously mentioned. Apparently this can occur on full lock in very cold conditions at slow speeds with worn, summer grade tyres. It’s been discussed before on this site so it’ll be worth doing a search for the subject. Apparently it’s down to rear wheel drive pushing tyres with reduced flexibility over the road surface when the steering is at an extreme angle. In brief…probably nothing to worry about, but check tyre tread, looking for uneven wear, and consider having the tracking checked. But as John mentioned earlier, these are faults that the selling Lexus dealer should have rectified before you bought it.
-
Indeed so, James, a point I made earlier. Another great opportunity for the ‘Crash-for-Cash’ merchants.
-
And another thing….. I meant to add that where dedicated cycle lanes have been provided their use should be compulsory. This was also a point that the cycling organisation representative I heard didn’t seem to agree with. And yet the value of such dedicated lanes has been demonstrated for decades. I can recall as a lad cycling from London to Southend almost entirely down the cycle lane - and often speeding past the slow moving traffic on the main road. One danger, as I recall, was remembering the location of a rather significant pothole !
-
I did wonder, John, if some of this new thinking originated from the same giant intellects who thought that Smart Motorways were a clever idea? ”Let’s divert motorway traffic down the emergency lane designed for stationary, broken down vehicles. What could possibly wrong?”
-
As a dashcam advocate I would rather have the possibility of video evidence to support, for example, my contention that the errant pedestrian dithered, ignored my halting at the junction and then stepped out when they had apparently rejected my offer to cross. And then there are the pedestrians who just seem to like to stand at such corners apparently to admire the traffic. I can also envisage situations in which there are collisions involving following traffic in congested situations who are simply caught out by sudden stops. But equally concerning is the attitude I heard expressed by someone apparently representing a cycling organisation. He maintained that a cyclist should now occupy the centre of the road, ostensibly to make them more visible (!) and to prevent the motorist attempting a potentially dangerous overtaking.manoeuvre. This seemed to be a flawed argument on many levels. The concept that all traffic now proceeds at the speed of the slowest cyclist is surely not tenable. Self-evidently, the overwhelming number of motorists are perfectly capable of safely passing a correctly positioned cyclist. I suspect that those errant few who get featured on cyclists’ Go-Pros are unlikely to be deterred by a cyclist in the middle of the road.
-
To slightly paraphrase H L Mencken; No-one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the Public.
-
Thanks Herbs for this comment. Let me establish that I am still astonished that a solid state device the size of a finger nail can store even one full length movie – and for years apparently. So I’m sure you know how it works better than I do. In fact, probably almost everyone does! So, as far as regular formatting goes, my explanation may sound a bit lame….namely, that’s what Blackvue recommends! Actually, they state every month, although as has already been noted, every 2-3 weeks is also mentioned elsewhere. My slight query regarding that is why is it calculated in calendar time rather than, say, running time? Or is flash memory affected by age as much as usage? Mostly, reformatting seems to be analogous to ‘wiping the slate clean’ so that fresh files can be written to the memory. I appreciate that you say that the original files are not deleted, but I have two formatting apps and when I use them I have to negotiate stern warnings to back up important files because everything will be deleted. Frankly, I’ve never felt that hoping I can use some recovery operation is worth the risk, so I take it seriously. For example, here’s a comment by a professional photographer explaining why he downloads and reformats his SD Card after every shoot: ‘When an SD card is formatted, all the data is wiped clean and replaced with a new folder system for your camera or device to write on. You could think of it as an easy way to start fresh with the card. No files, no space taken up, just a blank space for you to fill with data. At some point along the way, you’ll likely run into some issues with the SD card, and formatting it is usually the best problem solver. Before I get into the specifics, remember that formatting your SD card will erase all its data. Before you pull the trigger on formatting your card, make sure all the files have been safely backed up.’ (Original emphasis retained). Even if the memory itself isn’t literally blank, then I presume that what happens is that the new files overwrite the old files. As the Card reaches its capacity, so the frequency of overwriting increases. As I understand it (the extent to which has already been established) it is this very process of overwriting - and reading - in effect the constant transfer of data, which provides the opportunity for writing errors to be introduced. Over time these accumulate and create ‘bad blocks’. Undoubtedly a bad thing! On the one occasion when I had to rely on my SD Card to provide evidence when my Accord was written off, I was grateful that I could access and supply those videos without having to even consider the possibility that they might be inaccessible for any reason.
-
Excellent news, James. In my book, every extra dashcam makes us all a little safer. Now I don’t know if you’ve had one before, so forgive me if this is stating the obvious. But it’s important to regularly reformat the microSD Card, rather than let it fill up and overwrite the old files. The constant overwriting can introduce errors and, for example, make the files unreadable or affect functionality. Also, although you don’t name the camera, you may well find that ensuring it’s powered so that it’ll work in Parking Mode could prove to be a very important benefit.
-
As I suggested, Malcolm, I couldn’t find an authoritative single source for road traffic incidents at this specific Junction - although I’m sure someone has them! So the context is based on such scant details as I’ve been able to glean from various local newspaper items, such as the one I link to here. Like much of Local Press reporting, they are often light on detail and can be ambiguous in construction. But in these specific instances it’s pretty clear who the offenders are. If anyone is interested enough to delve deeper, I’m sure the extra detail would prove interesting. https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/regent-s-park-cyclists-and-pedestrians-criticise-dangerous-traffic-cutting-3632036
-
I recall seeing these videos some time ago. I may be a lone voice here, but the only villains I see are the motorists who are blatantly breaking the Law because they feel entitled to drive on the wrong side of the road rather than wait to turn correctly at the junction. Stats seem hard to come by, but what I can glean from the local paper (the Ham&High) is that at this junction in Hyde Park, a cyclist was killed last year by just such a driver. Also in the first quarter of 2020, the Police successfully prosecuted about 40 drivers for this very offence. This traffic island that some motorists feel entitled to ignore is also a pedestrian crossing. They might not look left, under the impression that their only danger is from traffic to their right. I gather that collisions between other motorists, let alone cyclists, at this junction are also common, resulting directly from the arrogant actions of the few. Although most of us rarely exercise it, it is a Citizen’s duty to report a crime when they see it. Thanks to what I presume is his Go-Pro, this Dutch cyclist is doing for local Londoners what they could be doing for themselves. Namely, obtaining unarguable evidence of blatant, irresponsible and potentially life-threatening behaviour by the sort of driver whose contempt for basic road safety endangers all road users. It’s one of the reasons why I also have a dashcam!
-
I’ve never been aware of the heating/aerial elements in the rear screen being visible in my dashcam recordings. I would think the focal length of the lens is far too long for that! But if you want reassurance just fit the camera temporarily with scotch tape while stationary as a test. Similarly, all my cameras have been fitted by using 3M pads. In extreme heat situations what has (rarely) happened is that the camera has fallen off with the pad - which simply pressed back on. It’s usually recommended that the screen is carefully cleaned with, say, an isopropyl alcohol wipe, before fixing to the glass. I think that it’s generally advised to avoid the dotted areas on front screens because the dots reduce the contact area. Also it’s usually sensible to wipe screens parallel to any visible wires, rather than across them. I’ve never had cause to remove a pad, but if I had to do so I would first use dental floss to saw between the pad and the mount. This is unlikely to affect any screen-mounted wires. I would then use the usual solvents to soften and remove the remaining adhesive and pad. For example; lighter fuel, isopropyl alcohol, acetone, nail varnish remover - even turps will soften it so that any residue can normally be rolled off the glass. Finally, if yours is a new camera kit, it’s possible that all these points may be covered in the fitting instructions. Of course it may be that you’re fitting a system previously in another car, and such instructions are now long gone!
-
My BlackVue dashcam is powered by what they call the Power Magic Pro. Basically it supplies current while the ignition is off, but meters the consumption so that the battery charge level doesn’t fall below a preset level. I see no reason why it wouldn’t work with any dashcam - provided the camera connection is the same. Alternatively, they also market independent battery packs that takeover when the ignition is off and recharge during normal driving. https://blackvue.co.uk/products/power-magic-pro/
-
It obviously depends on what business you’re in, personal temperament and a host of other parameters. But it can be the best advice and a life-changing decision. And once you’ve had a taste of running your own business, it’s almost impossible to go back to working for someone else. At least, that was my experience!
-
Indeed so, Philip. Of course, it could be argued that Hunt’s memory lapse simply demonstrated how unimportant her nationality was to him. 🙂 And Thatcher was - and still is - the only British PM with a science degree. She also worked in industry as a chemist. I do recall ministry officials finding that this background enabled her to dissect their proposals with a logical and analytical clarity to which they were very unaccustomed.