Bill Dawes

The other inexplicable thing is that P&O stopped compulsory Covid testing, just saying they recommend you do a test but with no requirement for submitting results, a waste of time in other words, how many people would test positive but still went because they felt ok. Bill D.

Just to clarify what I said about inadvertently answering yes, the question, one of several, was something along the lines of, have you or are you suffering any of the following. There followed a list of symptoms covering every known ailment know to mankind, eg coughs, sneezes, aches pains, sickness, headache etc. As I was recovering from a mild cold the previous week and bearing in mind the advice in these matters is to be honest, I said yes, fully expecting further questions but no, bang, end of cruise. So substitute inadvertently for naive, should have just said no. My wife and I were stunned, staring at the screen in disbelief. What do you do if you suffer from hayfever as I and millions of others do, the honest answer would be yes of course, hayfever isn't contagious but your cruise would have been cancelled with no opportunity for further explanation. Bill D.

We booked a cruise way back in 2019 for our 40th wedding anniversary in 2020, well we all know what happened in 2020. Eventually rebooked it for 2022, doing our medical declaration a couple of days before cruise on 08 October I inadvertantly answered yes to one of the questions and it immediately came up on screen , cruise cancelled you will not be allowed on board, immediate phone calls were in vain. they (P&O) just said claim off your insurance. Did just that and had verdict today from insurance provider (Staysure) , guess what, claim off P&O. Anyone of a certain age with pre existing medical conditions will be aware of the eye watering amount cruise insurance costs, we had the expensive comrehensive option even so living up to insurance companies reputation, look for a way out rather than pay up. So back to P&O, followed by ABTA followed by credit card people followed by BBC rip off Britain, any other ideas guys, we don't do social media, perhaps we should. Bill D.

Susan, from my experience you car might already be on the ship, I looked at ships that were uk bound around the date you had message, I found Virgo Leader had left a couple of days before my message date, a bit anoraky but I quite enjoyed tracking it around to the Suez canal and up into the Med. it will probably stop off in Livorno. Unless dealer gives you the actual ship its a bit hit and miss to start with but I narrowed it down by looking at the ships specification and ruled out anything but vehicle carriers. I ordered my car on 6 Jan and picked it up early July but I assume your will be the 2023 spec. Bill D.

John, ordered my Takumi in January, took delivery early July, I thought that was a long time but think now I was really lucky. Bill D.

Having enjoyed my UX Takumi for nearly 3 months now I am gradually getting to know how things work. Following an earlier post, found the setting that enables the driver to open their door without the rest, couldn't find one for doing the same with electric boot, but will check with dealer when I have time. Also getting used to the media system, not the best I've ever had but tolerable. One annoyance which I remember from my original test drive but had forgotten about was the row of buttons for heated seats, steering wheel etc, I can't see the buttons clearly lurking as they are below the aircon panel. No illumination unless mine isn't working, lights on the buttons when you have found and pressed one but it's not the best idea bending down and peering at the panel to see what's what. Typical of every car I have ever owned I think, all the countless hours and miles they spend developing cars, did no one ever think 'this is not great is it' Now the nasty weather is with us found a drawback with the leather on the door pull, on mine I had the White Ash interior, the door pull is White Ash/Black but unfortunately they decided tho make the White Ash the bit you put your fingers around and in this weather your fingers pick up dirt from the door handle and mark the white leather, your fault for having this colour I hear you say but I just wanted a change from black. Will have to get used to using left hand to open, right hand to close, or vica versa. On this point love the way the doors wrap around the bottom, keeping the body clean where you step out. Overall love my Lexus but with some redesign could make a nice car into a great one, poor space utilisation a major flaw compared to other cars (My Niro was smaller but had more interior/boot space) On this subject, exploring settings I found I could change drivers seat to partially withdraw when switching off rather than default full movement which I would guess is a bit scary sitting in the back. Love the 360 degree camera when manouvering. LED adaptive lights amazing. Bill D.

Can't find any way to stop doors opening when boot is opened, seems a strange security ommission. Even my wife's 2007 Seat Ibiza you could open the boot and drivers door without opening other doors. On my UX I tried double locking to see if that did the trick but all the doors still opened. (Does double locking have any advantage.) Never will understand how car makers think, why for instance only the drivers seat has a pocket in the back and no door pockets in the back doors, this on a premuim brand and top Takumi spec. Still never had the perfect car yet, otherwise love my Lexus. Bill D.

That's how I tracked mine, ship was Virgo Leader, a bit anoraky but quite enjoyed following it on its trip from Japan to Portbury. Bill D.

From when I first started looking at changing to my first Lexus I found their specification data quite erratic, I commented at the time I hope the famed Lexus attention to detail was better on the cars than I found it to be on marketing info. One item that springs to mind is the indicators are described as sequential, well as confirmed by several other owners at the time, my Takumi indicators are certainly not sequential unless Leus have their own idea of what sequential means (as seen on cars such as Audi) Bill D.

Still getting used to brakes on my UX, I think probem is sensitivity, difficult to brake gently ( a Rolls Royce stop) at low speed I find but then all cars are different in feel of brakes, steering and clutch if you have a manual box. Bill D.

Anyone know if you can open the boot without all doors being unlocked. I have a UX Takumi so it has electric tailgate, opening this also unlocks all the doors, other cars I have had you could open boot without the other doors which I think is a good safety feature, stops scallies jumping in unnoticed, particularly scary for a woman on her own (am I allowed to say woman or her or scally come to that!!) Bill D.

Steve, that link is for Lexus USA, does the same apply to Lexus UK? Bill D.

Yes I agree that tyre pressures will change with temperature, increase with increase in temperature and vice versa. Standard spec is with cold tyres and my check was with pretty much cold tyres but will do a 'scientific' check when I have time. On my previous cars I towed a caravan and needed to increase pressures then but don't now, just as well the UX has not got good towing spec. Bill D.

Hi all, playing about with all the settings today on my UX Takumi, came across the tyre pressure monitor readings, all read 2.7 Bar apart from one one which was 2.6. Then decided to check what they were supposed to be, plate inside the door frame said 2.3 Bar. Double checking in manual (not an easy thing, the 'contents' section is far from comprehensive) it too said 2.3 Bar, my tyres are the 18" run flat ones. Now all this doesn't actually surprise me, my previous car, a Kia Niro, always had its tyres inflated well over the official pressure, why do this, it's as if they just have a 'err on the high' side default figure rather than looking up all the combination of models and tyre options. I will give it a try on 2.3 Bar to see what it does to the ride when Iv'e got time to faff about with resetting the monitors, not a simple just press a button job reading the manual. Anyone else found this issue of dealer set pressures. I also noticed that just one set of pressures were quoted, my previous cars gave different figures for different loads. Bill D.

Thanks John, will have to be gluten free beer though I'm afraid or Thatchers Gold cider will do very nicely. Dealer was Lexus Bristol, to be honest I would have been very disappointed if their reaction would have negative. Loving my car, one of the things I am trying to find out is can you unlock the boot without the whole car, mine will not it seems, model is a Takumi so electric boot. Other cars I have had you could unlock the boot separately, a good security feature when loading up in the supermarket, stops a scally junping into the car unnoticed. Bill D.

A few days after picking up my car my son came over to have a look, leaning in the car he noticed scrtatches on the display panel above the aircon controls, taking a closer look myself I was dismayed to see there were indeed many deep scratches, they could only be seen from an angle with the light in a certain direction. Fortunately Lexus accepted my assurance that I hadn't as much as flicked a soft duster over the inside and replaced the unit. I did give the car what I thought to be a good look over on collection but just shows you can't be 100% sure. Worth checking yours. Bill D.

My opinion for what it's worth is that a 12v battery that is reading close to 12v is pretty well dead so don't entirely agree with your dealer that anything above 12v is ok. All cars these days as far as I am aware have a slow drain on the battery for various electronics on moders cars. Brings to mind many years ago someone I know had a problem with his battery going flat, after many fruitless checks by the dealer it was eventually found by chance, touching the door mirror as he was getting in he realised it was warm. Bill D.

Seem to remember a post a while ago saying that the UX did not display miles left in tank, I found this quite disappointing as my then Kia Niro had it which I found quite useful. However playing about with the squillion menus I came across it, Lexus call it cruise range, you guys may already know this of course. Had my first after dark drive last week, the LED adaptive lights are amazing. My wife commented that the high pitched noise from the motor when manouvering on battery alone sounded terrible. Is yours the same? is it a built in artificial noise as a warning. Anyone know if I can change it to an F1 V10 engine noise!!! Bill D.

Ah ok, thought it may have been part of the car software I hadn't found yet. Thanks Paul. Bill D

Paul, is that data something you compiled yourself or is it available off the car? Bill D.

Recent 250 mile round trip up to the midlands, M5, M42, city roads, 57.1 mpg. Bill D.

Still getting used to how the UX hybrid works in terms of mpg but I'm beginning to think I may have to modify some statements I made in the past which were based on my then Kia Niro. This car had a better mpg on short journeys around town, the opposite to what you would expect on a standard ICE car. I put this down to the battery being used for a greater percentage of the time compared to higher speed journeys and assumed all hybrid cars would be the same, my findings so far on the UX appear to be a bit different, so I suppose it depends on how the system is controlled, perhaps a bit biggery battery in the UX, I've noticed the car seems to run on battery a bit more than the Niro. UX consumption is not quite so good but I expected that, bigger engine. heavier car. Bill D.

Thought I had better put this on a new topic rather than shipping time. On a 70 mile round trip today got back home with exactly 61 mpg on the clock. Pretty pleased with that. Bill D.

Finall got round to pics of my UX Takumi. Bill D

I have been driving hybrids for over three years now, mainly in my Kia Niro which I have now exchnged for a UX. Always been well impressed with hybrid technology, excellent fuel economy, 55-65 mpg should be attainable, sometimes more, not affected on short journeys like a conventional ICE is. I did agonise considerably over electric v hybrid but settled on hybrid in the end as it gives best of both worlds to an extents, good economy without the worry (maybe more imagined than real) of running out of juice without a charging point, or finding one and it's occupied or out of order etc. Had my UX less than two weeks but love it. space not as good as my Kia to be honest despite being a bit bigger but for two of us it serves our purpose and love the Limo feel to it. Bill D.