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I couldnt find anything good enough to fit an iphone 5 dock into my car so i decided to design my own dock that would fit in the ashtray. I used 123desidn to design the dock and sent the stl file to a company, who 3d printed my design and delivered it to me. I used plastidip for the finish and a glue gun to secure the cable and dock into the ashtray.

Last week I traded in my IS250 for a 300h "Luxury", this being the name of the top spec in Italy (corresponding, confusingly and with some slight differences , to "Premier" in the U.K, "Executive" and "Executive Line" in France and Germany respectively, and "Plus" in Spain). The 250 was the second I have owned, the first having originally replaced a 200 which was itself the second of two. Thus, the new third-generation is my fifth since the series was launched. Considering that the three generations bear little or no technological resemblance to each other, my loyalty to the brand firmly rests on what Lexus has continued to offer through the years, namely, high quality and proven reliability, good dealer service, and the choice, within the given segment, of not owning a German car. This latter factor does not mean that I begrudge the Germans their commercial success. It merely reflects the feeling of exclusivity synonymous with being one of a small number, and this, in its turn, reflects my own personal vanity rather than any conscious wish to inspire envy or curiosity. However, now that Lexus is way ahead of the Germans in hybrid technology in the saloon segment, there is finally one more reason to prefer the brand. Having been attracted by the prospect of a good deal and immediate delivery, I bought my 300h straight out of the showroom, and while the pairing of an Arctic Pearl exterior with Ivory leather would not have been my first choice, it is elegant enough. It will brighten up the murky winter days before coming into its own in the summer. Reviews of the 300h in the Italian specialist press have generally been very good, with opinions differing little from those I have read from the U.K. and elsewhere. The main criticism concerns the unresponsiveness of the CVT gearbox, although this, for those of us who rarely hurl their car along deserted country roads, is compensated by its graduality and smoothness. Almost all reviews have been based on the F-Sport as the result of Lexus' somewhat unsubtle targeting of younger drivers in order to widen its customer base. While I understand the need for this, I feel that commercials featuring Jarno Trulli driving around the inside of an aircraft hangar in the guise of a videogame character, not to mention excitedly enthusiastic utterances from another retired F1 driver like Olivier Panis, are less likely to attract new customers than alienate old ones. Be this as it may, I admit that I would probably have preferred an F-Sport at parity of equipment had there been one in the showroom. My decision, however, would have been almost entirely based on aesthetics since, during a test-drive, the claimed virtues of the Sport+ mode and adaptive suspensions were not readily apparent to me. The F-Sport in full-frontal view is undoubtedly sexy (though the splendid design of the grille cannot help being marred by a numberplate), and the LFA-inspired instrument- panel is a remarkable technical feat (though its novelty value is probably destined to wear off). The black roof-lining is also a nice touch, and although the sporty seats may not be to everybody's taste, they are perhaps the most comfortable in the entire Lexus range (and there can be no higher praise than this). There are a few surprising blemishes and omissions in what is otherwise a superb cabin (or should we call it a "cockpit" as the Lexus marketing people would prefer?). The door-pockets do not open outwards as in the 250 and are flimsier to the touch. Storage space for small objects towards the front is practically non-existent. Strangely, the front door-sills in my car are plain satin-finish metal strips and lack the back-lit logo to which I have become accustomed. The dealer was as surprised at this as I was, and has asked for an explanation that has so far not been forthcoming. My own suspicion is that the proper components were not in stock on the day the batch of cars including mine came off the assembly line. Another conspicuous absence (that will discourage prospective purchasers of the exorbitantly priced Cool Box in the Accessories list) is that of a 12V socket in the boot. And, speaking of the boot, the swan-neck lid-hinges are downright ugly and do not hide away upon the lid being lowered as in the 250. They may also prevent the lid from shutting properly when the boot is loaded right up to the top. The Mark Levinson sound system is so good I wish I could take it into the house with me. It gets scant mention in the promotional brochures and none at all in the handbooks, which means that anyone wishing to know more needs to research it online. If I understand it right, the system's 15 speakers deliver twice the intensity of sound of normal ones without increasing the consumption of energy. Can this mean that the previous-generation 14-speaker ML system equipping my 250s was constantly causing me to pollute the planet while squandering money? The ASC synthetic- sound device, of which I fail to see the usefulness, is no more than a piece of acoustic bling, and I have switched it off. Some journalists with an over-fertile imagination have suggested that it could be made to provide a choice of supercar snarls and howls at the driver's whim, but I cannot imagine that Lexus would ever inflict this idea on its customers unless the company's quest for younger buyers extends to the juvenile market. I have yet to come to grips with the Navi system, which I am at this stage eyeing in much the same way as a mountaineer gazes at an unconquered peak. I certainly miss the user-friendly touch- screen of the previous system, and the 400+ pages of the handbook are more than a little daunting. The only audio problem I have so far encountered was a blockage of my iPod Classic a few minutes into its first use, and, after a moment of panic, a simple resetting of the iPod resolved the issue. Fuel consumption is looking remarkably good (not surprisingly compared with the 250) even though I have not yet done enough kilometers to precisely quantify it. Generally speaking, the almost dutiful aim of keeping the needle within the ECO limit has had the effect of disciplining my style of driving, which, the 300h has made me realize, was occasionally somewhat lacking in dignity. Indeed, the car is so extremely well-mannered and unruffled in any situation I as to have made me a better road user - and therefore a happier one.

I don't see the point in having a tv in a car anyway

Sounds interesting, but I can honestly say I have never wanted to watch tv in a car (as a passenger or driver!).

The Cotswolds and LS made for one another, but then is Exmoor, Lune Valley (M6), Heads of The Valley (Gwent), in fact any part of the country is made for cruising in an LS. Enjoy your trip around, and enjoy some of the good pubs here about. If you get a chance to get down to Minchinhampton Common, which is near where I live, and sample some WInstones Local Ice Cream on a nice sunny day, well worth doing. Mind you keep an eye out for the cattle roaming around, they are not bothered whether your in Kia biscuit box on wheels or a Bentley, they just wander right in front of you.

Im surprised that 1 . you do not have tracklistings showing as you have the sat mav screen and 2 it sounds like you have a pre 09 Model year facelift car with the Sat nav and no Mark Levinson. My reasons for this are the following. a) to get the sat nav option on a pre facelifted car, you had to opt for the MM (Multimedia package) which gave you the Mark Levinson sound system (14 speakers) reversing camera and sat nav. B) The sat nav was available on the 09 model year facelifted cars with the reversing camera, but without the Mark Levinson sound system. This is known as the Full Map package (FM) . HOWEVER these cars then came with the USB input aswell as the AUX jack in the armrest box. SO it sounds to me that you have a 09 model year facelifted car with the FM pack but without the USB socket. This is very odd. Does your car have the side indicators in the wing mirror?

Unfortunately it doesn't take much to run a 1.5K repair bill up on an old LS400, 2 front bottom ball joints and 2 top wishbones from Lexus and fiting will reach this figure. Ok there are after market parts but we all know these are often of dubious quality and short lived alternatives, I was recently in the position of needing a replacement upper front arm but at £521.00 from Lexus I was considering aftermarket until an OEM one was found at Japparts for £120.00. I have also broken an LS400 and made more money than selling it as a complete car but you need the space to do this and accept it is a long term operation plus the flak from the other half. The thing is you could sell the car as it is for basically scrap value or spend the money gaining an MOT and then trying to recover the repair costs in the selling price but whichever way you are still parting with a car with treasured memories.