EvilRacer329

I see that someone has already posted the Autocar review! One question: are the ES300h's tyres run-flats? I find the Bridgestone run-flats on my UX very noisy, and apparently regular tyres are quieter and slightly softer due to having software sidewalls. Perhaps you could could look into a change there? I don't believe Lexus change the size of the brakes on their F-Sport models - it's just styling, bigger wheels, and in some cases, adaptive dampers. Can the adaptive dampers be switched to a softer mode than standard? Alternatively, I'd see about snagging a set of 18" wheels; you'll have no trouble reselling your 19s. I'm about to trade my UX250h F-Sport in for a new one that also has the Takumi pack, and I'm going to insist that they ensure that I have something other than the Bridgestone's fitted my current car came with. I did actually test-drive a regular Takumi before buying my original F-Sport and have even driven a couple of base-model UX's while mine was in for repairs, and I was never able to notice any difference in the ride quality between the F-Sport and regular models. It sounds like perhaps the ES is a different story... I hope you find a satisfactory resolution! I'm an outlier who would absolutely like the option of switching into some sort of super-stiff, high-power sport mode and blasting down a few quiet mountain roads, but I don't think that's what most Lexus customers are looking for... Nick

Oh, got the phone call - my car has arrived at the dealer! I'm going to go in tomorrow and negotiate; it's been so long since I ordered the car that I'm expecting the numbers to work out differently, and I want to confirm they ordered the right bits. What's interesting is that my ordered car has now disappeared from my account on the Lexus website and Lexus Link app. August -> February! That's a pretty long lead time... Nick

Now that's interesting...myself and others have found the Bridgestone Turanza run-flat tyres to be quite noisy...which tyres did yours come with? Nick

I've kept a record of every fuel up for every vehicle I've owned for over ten years, and without fail all of them get better fuel economy in warm weather than cold. Motorcycle or car, it's all the same, with 10-20% difference completely normal. Engines run rich while cold in order to compensate for fuel vapour condensing on the inside of cold engine parts rather than getting sucked into the cylinders and burned cleanly. The longer they have to run cold, the more extra fuel is wasted. As other commenters have mentioned, the hybrid system will also fire up the engine in order to meet the demands of the climate control system. On a cold day, after stopping the car, you can literally watch the engine temperature gauge plummet as the heater matrix gives up its heat to the cold air being drawn in by the cooling system. To help, you could set your climate control to recirculate or even switch it off entirely and rely on heated seats/steering wheel if you have them. But the worst is if you fire up the engine and let it warm up for minutes on end while you scrap the ice off the windshield. Yes, the hybrid system means that some of that energy will be recaptured in the battery, but modern engines don't need to warm up before you start driving, assuming you're not going to bury the throttle and thrash it right form the get-go. Get in the car, switch it on, and hit the road. Nick

When I test-drive the UX300e compared to my own UX250h I found it very easy to spin up the front wheels, even under normal driving. Electric motors deliver 100% of their torque right from a standstill, and accelerating on damp tarmac out of a roundabout had them lighting up. The traction control will do its best, but it's a reactive rather than proactive system - it'll spot that the wheels have lost traction and will do their best to override your throttle inputs and bring things under control. Some manufacturers are better than others, and this is Lexus' first effort. That being said, in cold/wet weather even my 250h spins its wheels pulling out of junctions at moderate speeds. I seriously doubt any serving police officer would give me a hard time about that. As for traction control itself, I think you have to press and hold the button to turn it off, but yes - by default, it's always on. And as for the range...that number is generated in ideal conditions on a warm day at low speeds with no traffic. It's artificial, and you'll never achieve it in the real world, never mind in cold weather when the batteries are far less efficient. Nick

I've got it on my UX and it can be operated in three ways: There's a button on the lower right, next to the button that releases the fuel filler flap. Pressing and holding the boot release button on the key fob. Making a slow 'kicking' motion towards the underside of the car. On cars without it, pressing the release button on the boot lid opens the boot and allows you to lift it manually. You can't do this on UX's with the electric function, you have to press the button and let the motors open it up. It's actually slower... Hope that helps! Nick

Mine's been sat in Derby for a few weeks now, my dealer tells me their own system still reports it as "at sea" and that I should expect delivery middle of this month... He suggested how crazy it was that I could track an Amazon parcel to within a minute of its delivery to my house and every stop along the way, but that accurately measuring the location of a £40,000 vehicle was beyond them...I figure he's more frustrated than I am! 😉 Nick

Very interesting...I did wonder if the fact that the tailgate on the UX is made of a composite plastic material rather than metal might make any difference to its ability to safely hold such loads...looks good in any case! And yes, I can't think of any good reason why a single double-weight bike would be an issue compared to two regular-weight bikes. One thing though...did your dealer stick that horrible badge on the left there?! I'd be furious, and take the hair dryer to it right away! My car is not a billboard... Nick

It's cold! They're huddling together for warmth, and to ward off predators. Nick

Fuelled up on the way home the other night on the way home, very poor fuel economy! It's been cold, I've had to run the engine to help defrosting the windshield (only so much a scraper will do!) and a few short journeys have exacerbated this. The result was 36.24 litres for just 331 miles of running, giving an estimated 393 miles total if i'd run the 43 litre tank completely dry and just 41.52mpg (UK). Of course, I've also been driving with a heavy foot lately (lots of fun hooning around the few twisty roads my commute includes) so I'm partially to blame. But short of a trackday I reckon this probably gives a realistic worst-case scenario for what is otherwise a very efficient car. What's also interesting is that the low-fuel warning light came on with about 20 mile left on the range estimate, and when I fueled up there were just 3 miles left, according to the trip computer. The fact that I still had almost 7 litres theoretically in the tank afterwards tells me that the trip computer and low-fuel light are incredibly pessimistic. We'll need a volunteer to fully run one of these down to empty to find out for sure what the usable capacity of the tank is, though, and that's not great for the fuel pump! 🙂 Nick

I hope this is the same with the F-Sport models, as I was unable to get a straight answer from my dealer. My F-Sport Premium Pro is all-black inside, so I ordered my new F-Sport Takumi with the "Ivory" interior. I'm hoping I'll be getting the white headliner with that one too... Nick

Huh, I'll have to have another look around my car! I don't recall anything like that on mine. How do you open it if that's disabled, is it just a normal liftgate? Nick

Gods, it really does look good in white, doesn't it... Nick

Looks like you might be alone on this one - worth checking it into your dealer, it'll all be under warranty. I'm not aware of any isolation switch, but your dealer will be able to confirm that too. 🙂 Nick

Came across this idea on another thread, could potentially be a solution for you: https://www.premierproductsltd.co.uk/product/lexus-ux-2019-present-fully-tailored-boot-liner Other providers are available, of course. Nick

Easy folks, I really think there's no need for this to get unpleasant. A little empathy wouldn't go amiss, and failure to understand someone else's point of view does not make them - or you - foolish. Whether @Bill Dawes buys a Lexus or not does not reflect upon his character or on anyone else here on this forum. Lexus make nice cars. So do Kia. As it happens, it's irked me somewhat from day one that my ex-demo UX250H F-Sport Premium Pro lacked a memory function, or even an automatic mirror fold, but I also missed a number of other features Lexus relegated to the Takumi pack. I'm sure if they'd shuffled the feature lists around there would still be plenty of people for whom the spec list didn't quite add up. In my case, when Lexus made me an offer to sell me a new UX at an attractive price point to compensate for the issues I'd had with the rattles in my old one, I ordered an F-Sport with the Takumi pack. Yes, I'm going to be paying a lot of money on tax over the next few years, and I've had to reconcile that with myself. But I am fortunate enough, now, to be able to afford the outlay and therefore have the virtue of being able to choose. It seems like @Bill Dawes will be joining us fellow Lexus owners after all, but even if he weren't I would still hope the members of this forum would extend to him the same courtesy they would to someone with the Lexus logo on their keyfob. Bill - enjoy your car. Please do share some photos when it arrives so that we can all vicariously share the moment! Nick

That looks fantastic! My incoming F-Sport Takumi is the same colour with the Ivory interior, what no-one seems to be able to tell me is whether I'll also get a white headliner or whether I'll have the same dark coloured one I have in my current black-leather F-Sport Premium... My partner's car is all white and light greys inside, it's fantastically bright and airy as a result! Nick

In my experience (motorcycles, mostly), once a 12v battery has been discharged that far, it's damaged beyond repair. You can get the voltage back up, but it'll never again hold anywhere near the same amount of charge and will effectively go flat again incredible easily. The symptoms you describe match exactly my own (frustratingly repeated) experiences. My advice would be to replace the battery. Nick

Question: do you get a sore/dry throat in your UX, or is this something you experienced in other cars? One of the things Lexus advertised about the UX was their fancy NanoE humidifier thingy in the vents, designed to prevent this. It could be psychosomatic, but I feel like I suffer far less from the sort of things I normally suffer from in e.g. air-conditioned offices... Nick

This is a very interesting thread. When I bought my UX a couple of years ago none of my friends and family could believe how big it was. Modern hatchbacks, even pretend SUVs like the UX are big cars on the outside, even if they're a little cosier on the inside. It looks massive parked next to my parents 2004 IS300. That being said, travelling with four adults and luggage was a squeeze. I love the space inside the bigger cars, but squeezing their bulk around other cars on narrow country roads is harrowing. My previous car was a Mazda MX5, so I guess everything really is relative. I like the cosy, compact driving position and rarely carry more than one other passenger. At the higher trim level I purchased mine in it's a lovely vehicle, and having looked at a number of other brands recently with my partner no other manufacturer comes close for build quality. "Horrendous" seems like the wrong word. If everyone drove around in tanks like the RX the roads would be even more crowded than they already are. I'm honestly staggered anyone ever finds a parking spot such an excessively large vehicle would fit in. But then I like small cars, and consider the second-row seats in my UX to be a wasteful extravagance most of the time. Each to their own. Nick

The official capacity for the UX250h is 43 litres. I've averaged 47.8MPG over 16k miles of various types of driving, which translates to between 400 and 500 miles to a full tank, depending on weather conditions, weight of right foot etc. A larger tank, and therefore longer cruising range would be nice, as it is I can just about manage a week's commuting if the weather's not too cold. I feel like an extra 20 litres wouldn't make much of a difference to the handling of an 1,580kg car, but would be very useful for folks like me. Nick

Let me know what you end up going with here; I picked up the roof racks for my UX but haven't bought a bicycle carrier just yet. If I pull the trigger and get an electric bike at some point then I'll need another solution; some folks have suggested I simply put the seats down, put down a tarp (or fancy cover) and load it inside the car itself as a cheaper solution to a tow bar + rear rack. Nick

That's...truly Kafkaesque. Well done for catching it, and if Direct Line can't get their **** together then they deserve to lose your custom. 30 seconds of internet searching could corroborate the details and the right person could correct their database in moments. Nick

I watched this episode a few days ago with my partner; my guess would be that either the drive motor or the battery reached a temperature threshold and the car automatically throttled power output to prevent damage. According to the handbook my UX250h has a similar feature, though I've never seen it deployed. I would be interested to know how the top speed of the UX300e is limited. Is it the limit of motor power versus friction/wind resistance? In that case, an autobahn run would certainly test the car's ability to deliver maximum power at a continuous rate, and suggest that he cooling system was therefore up to the task. If it's electronically limited to instead maintain consistent output at a level the cooling system can handle, then it's quite likely that the car is capable, short-term, of making power power in bursts than that. You get more power for overtakes, on the assumption that any heat generated can then be dissipated over time. Another factor to consider is braking. You brake hard in track driving, to the point where you can quickly overheat the brakes. Braking in an electric car also runs the drive motors as generators, and requires the battery to soak up the output energy. That means that, unlike an ICE vehicle, the drivetrain is working flat out during braking AND acceleration - literally no rest for the wicked. It's also known that charging a battery generates more heat than discharging, so I wouldn't be surprised if its this aspect of track driving that cooked the UX300e rather than the power output. All conjecture, of course, and I agree that Lexus should comment officially on this one. Nick

That looks fantastic! I hate the black-plastic cladding that cars are picking up these days. It's one of the reasons I bought my last UX in grey - it minimises the effect (photo attached). To a certain type of buyer it makes the vehicles look more 'rugged', but I think it makes them look cheap. Those of you old enough to remember when black plastic bumpers were the default and body-coloured bumpers an expensive upgrade will know what I mean... Fashion is cyclical, as they say! Nick