KingHal

There are always stories circulating about “dirty” and inferior fuel sold by supermarkets. Generally it’s “I was talking to a taxi driver recently …” I can only relate my own experience. I’ve owned many cars and motorbikes and driven a few hundred thousand miles on regular supermarket fuel without an issue, with one exception. That was a 1,690cc Harley with high compression pistons and high lift cams. It needed premium grade. Lexus hybrids are very understressed and generally in a low state of tune. Imo premium fuel is throwing money away. I have a friend who loses sleep over his fuel “going off” if he leaves his motorbike for a couple of months without riding it. I rode my motorbike yesterday for the first time in 12 months for its MOT. It started immediately and ran perfectly. Supermarkets sell around half of all fuel now. If it was bad I reckon there would be emperical evidence rather than bar room stories. Just my two penny’s worth.

Maybe it’s a base model that doesn’t come with nav, but is a cheap option??

Good question and something I’ve also wondered about.

I’ve just checked my Lexus Link driving stats and it seems my maximum speed in the last week was 142mph and my average was 90mph. Shurely shome mishtake! It’s still pretty unreliable. The dealer has twice tried to sort out various problems and failed. Do I bin it?

Likewise, mine needs a wash, but not in this weather. As soon as it gets a bit milder I’ll give it a quick snow foam, power wash and dry. It’s always garaged at home, which helps, and I can easily keep all the windows clean, as well as the interior.

To be fair, when I collected my new UX a few months ago the salesman pointed out the 15 years on the battery.

Thanks.

How much were you charged? Isn’t there a lot of labour with the TPMS?

From cash cow to dead dog?

I’m no expert, but I’ve long believed the long term solution lies with hydrogen cells.

That’s useful advice. Thanks for sharing.

It rains a fair amount in Ireland, so it’s always a struggle. I’m lucky that my car is garaged. I picked up my new UX in early September with a driving holiday 2 days later. Immediately on our return I had a full professional valet, ceramic coating etc. It’s quite easy now to keep it clean but I will, at least every six months, have it professionally cleaned, polished etc.

BTW, I signed up to the service plan when I collected my new UX, having had one for my CT. The salesman and sales manager were present and the salesman reiterated that their service plans are “interest free”. I said very clearly that I was paying in advance and, therefore, it wasn’t interest free. They both just continued without indicating they’d even heard me!

I agree with all that, barring one issue. This service plan is not interest free. It’s a dishonest marketing trick. We are paying in advance. Lexus are banking our money.

In Northern Ireland we’ve only just switched to E10 and with the colder weather I’m seeing my mpg going down by about 5.

I agree. It’s useful to have it now, but it would have more so before purchase.

Dedicated hypermilers recommend that you don’t use cruise control at all. As you’ve noted it tends to be very heavy footed when both accelerating and braking. You are also better placed to know when to manually “force” EV mode based on the road ahead - foot off the accelerator then feather it open to invoke EV.

My gut feeling is that manufacturers will continue with hybrids for some time. The infrastructure for EVs is so far behind where it needs to be that, even without a crystal ball, I can see the government having to put back the date when ICEs are banned in new cars. From memory: 2% of cars are EVs at the moment. There are 32,000 public charge points and the “experts” estimate/forecast that we need 320,000. How are we going to generate the necessary electricity? I spent a great deal of time in my working life preparing forecasts, and the only thing that’s certain about a forecast is that it will be wrong.

I’ve pumped the tyres to 2.6 bar. Slightly harsher ride but better fuel consumption.

Lancastrians vie with Yorkshiremen for who’s more tight with their money. Specifically, my father was a Mancunian and when he taught me to drive way back in 1970 drilled into me all the habits about smooth driving and anticipating traffic that are now purportedly specialist driving techniques. Notwithstanding being a boy racer in cars and on motorbikes I’ve always obsessed over my mpg. When I took on a high mileage job some years ago I bought a Honda Civic hybrid and became interested in hypermiling. I saved a lot of money over 80,000 miles. So … tyre pressures. Does anyone else “overinflate” their tyres? From memory I ran my Honda on 40+ psi (front tyres lasted 50,000 miles and rears 60,000). I’m currently inflating to 38 psi. I checked the pressures manually the day after collecting the car from the dealership and they were at 39 psi, which surprised me. I’m on Bridgestone run flats. [Anyone here remember the Bridgestone motorbikes in the 70’s?]

It did, but not good for air quality.

Does anyone else miss the good old days when you could put Redex directly into the carburettor and blow out clouds of white smoke? (New Pope elected)

I wonder how fuel additive at the annual service is going to last all year🤔

I’m having the same issue with Lexus Link in my 2022 UX. The app also shows my home address incorrectly. Even the dealer has given up. He has the same issues with his company car, which is an ES. He eventually said there’s a major upgrade coming in November and he can’t fix the problems I’m having☹️

The UX is a great car 😉😂