Bill Dawes

Thank you Peter for your kind (barbed) wishes. I would much rather have a Lexus with bells and whistles, within what my budget allows of course. As my current car is the Kia Niro that has to be my benchmark for comparison, I do of course expect to pay more for higher quality not just bells and whistles , that's why I was interested in the Lexus in the first place. My annoyance was as much with myself for not checking more thoroughly before placing order, my Kia has electric drivers seat with memory function and I suppose that misled me into taking as read that a premium brand more expensive car with same electric seat would also surely have memory setting. Interestingly I have just come across a website (a bit late in the day) that has a very comprehensive spec description with a tick chart showing features available on all models, updated October 2021, trouble is I am dammed if I can find it again, don't think it was a Lexus site but such a chart on the Lexus UX site would be useful. So back to the drawing board, yet to decide whether to keep Kia, change to new one, go all electric (still cant't get round the range anxiety thing) look at another make (nothing appeals so far) or persuade my 'chief accountant' to bite the bullet and go for Takumi.🤣 Bill D.

Phil, yes I did consider a Takumi they had there, about 18 months old at about £36k but tax issue stiil the same and it's not just a one off but year on year, and based on original list price as far as I am aware. One of the virtues of the UX was the 10 year rolling warranty which, as you correctly surmise, is a big attraction, this is even better than the Kia 7 year one, the other 'premium brands' still offer 3 years from a quick survey, think I might go into an Audi, Merc, BMW showroom to ask them to explain why they have such little confidence in their cars. 10 years would probably see out my motoring days if I kept it that long. Other virtues as I have said are quality as well as equipment and comfort level, some cars do not offer that in their range, looked at Toyota who do the same 10 year warranty but not the same trim options. I am semi retired now, working as an engineering manager at a company manufacturing high speed turbo machinery so well understand quality and manufacturing costs. Having grown up in a working class background I also understand value for money and have never been easily impressed by badge snobbery. The premium car brands have a lot of competition from the mainstream, high tech production techniques means your run of the mill cars these days are very well equipped high quality machines. I believe Lexus are are a good quality car. Grappling with how to achieve my desire to own one so may well be back on this forum and look forward to more scintillating exchanges with Peter. Have a good Christmas all.. Bill D.

Thanks for your support Maurice, Peter has some sort of problem with me expressing my frustration on this site. £40K is a great deal of money to me (reference to an earlier post, no it is not a company car) my wife and I both decided to move up to a premium class car in our old age from our Kia Niro, not that there is much wrong with it, an excellent car to be honest but we were really looking forward to joining the Lexus club, upped our budget to £40k to get what we thought fitted our needs, put aside the annoyance of no auto fold mirrors on a premium brand car and went for it. I am usually very careful when buying anything and do much research so I am a bit disapointed in myself that I did not realise that the all singing electric seats, mirrors and steering wheel adjustment did not come with a memory function, I felt this was so unlikely that I was sure it must be an error in the spec listing but Lexus sales guy checked and double checked but no luck, he got it and shared my disappointment, so decided to cancel in the end, very disappointed in having to do that but I knew that down the line with my wife and me swopping driving we would be cursing the car for having to reset the seats all the time. Stiil of the opinion that this is a strange marketing decision, or is it, maybe a crafty move to persuade people to go up to the Takumi, even so memory function on electric seats does not belong exclusively to a premium brand car let alone auto fold mirrors , my Kia has them, sensible part of the package I feel, £40k is not a huge amount these days for a car and I don't expect it to buy Jagura or Range Rover spec but do expect it to cover very simple stuff which is old hat these days and yes I know I am aware of Lexus Quality and reliability, the main reason we went for a Lexus in the first place. Anyway, thank you guys for your assistance, back to the drawing board, maybe one day.... Bill D.

David I see you went for the Takumi pack, I am trying to see what justifies the extra £3k for the Takumi over the Premium Pro pack, 360 degree camera and cooled seats as far as I can see, have I missed something else substantial (leaving aside the extra buttons for seat memory, must be all of a tenner for those) Bill D.

You've missed my point Peter, I didn't cancel it because of lack of folding mirrors, I had already said that although annoying it wasn't a deal breaker, the lack of seat setting memory is. I take your point that you pays your money........ I really didn't want to be paying £480 a year tax rather than £145. My real issue is that I am paying for all the gubbins that costs the money, electric seat motors, same for steering wheel adjustment, switches, relays, cabling, chips etc, why not the extra few quid to include memory buttons, it should be part of the package, it just makes no sense at all to me, spoiling the ship for a ha'porth of tar scenario. Bill D.

Well guys after much Lexus site searching to say nothing of heart searching, discussions with sales at my Lexus dealers, I have reluctantly cancelled my order so won't be joining the Lexus club after all. It still leaves me utterly bemused at what the thinking was on the part of the Lexus marketing bods that made them think that premium brand car with a £8k package upgrade including 8 way electric seats, electric mirrors (albeit no auto fold) electric steering wheel adjustment, smart door entry, didn't deserve a couple of buttons for seat setting memory. The only pack with this on is the Takumibut that incurs a penalty on road licence fee of £335 making it £480 per year instead of £145. A heavy price to pay for a couple of buttons and a software change. My wife and I decided we would go to one car between us earlier in the year and we have very different seat settings so I know it would drive us mad resetting everything every time we swop. My lowly Kia Niro solves this admirably with a two memory feature. Does anyone from Kia UK read these forums does anyonyone know? Ah well maybe one day when the marketing team have detoxed from too much Saki they will see things a bit more clearly. Bill D.

My Kia Niro has electric drivers seat that has easy exit, ie.seat moves back to aid exit and entry. Anyone know if the UX electric seat is the same. Bill.

As I have said, it is more an annoyance than a major fault although countless times I have looked back to see if I had locked my Niro and reassuring to see the mirrors folded in but it's just totally mystifying to not include it on the Lexus, does not make sense to me on any level. It did take some heart searching to change my Kia Niro to be honest which is an excellent car. Some ingenious packaging design by Lexus has managed to cram less space into a bigger car, poor legroom in the back and a smaller boot than the Niro. Premium brand and 10 year warranty won me over, also styling of the UX although a bit marmite, I wanted something that didn't look like a clone of every other small SUV type on the market. Bill D

No unfortunately it is nbased on list price, I could have bought a low mileage used Takumi at £36500 but tax still based on original list price. Bill D.

Peter, I did buy the model that suits me, the UX Premium Pro which is one step down from the Takumi but does not incur the over 40 grand higher road fund fee of £480. The premium pro is very well equipped including electric memory seats, for this reason for the logic behind the omission of auto fold mirrors totally eludes me, I have them on my Niro 4, a very good car but not a premium brand. I would love an explanation from whoever at Lexus made that decision but then car manufacturers marketing decisions over the years frequently does not have much logic in my mind. My Niro is a case in point, when I bought it I would have preferred a plug in hybrid but the trim level only went up to Niro 3, my self charging model is a higher spec Niro 4, baffling. Think I will try a letter to Lexus UK to see what response I get. Maybe Lexus will include it on the spec before mine is due next May, we can but hope. Bill D.

Hi all, my first topic on this forum, just ordered a UX Sonic Titanium with Premium Pro spec. Excellent levels of kit except one perplexing ommission, auto fold mirrors. It's not a deal breaker but as I have it on my current car, a Kia Niro 4, I am truly staggered that it is not on a premium brand and one down from top Takumi spec. I know I can just press a button to fold but what totally mystifies me is that the mirrors are motorised, as is the door locking so I am sure a line of coding in the software is all that's needed. Totally baffled. Otherwise looking forward to delivery, predicted next May. Bill D.