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That is so true, I’ve been doing bits underneath the car after work and really felt the effects yesterday😫 I gave myself an evening off to recover a bit, back on it at the weekend though putting it all back together.

Tesla model 3 review We've had our Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus (SR+) for over 2 months now, and covered over 2500 miles, so here's some thoughts, strengths, weaknesses, etc. The SR+ is the base version of the Model 3 (other than the very limited availability USA-only SR), with a 55kWh battery pack and rear-wheel drive. It weighs in at 1611kg, almost exactly the same as an IS300h. The Model 3 is similar overall size to the IS (Model 3 is 30mm longer), but sits on a longer wheelbase (75mm longer - longer than a GS or ES) Body and interior quality, fit and finish Starting with what is widely considered to be an area of weakness for Tesla, for the most part it’s actually fine. Definitely better than my Leaf was. No, it’s not Lexus good, but even our GS isn’t perfect - if you’re looking for misalignments on any car you will find them. I find Merc C-class estates very noticeable when the taillights on the body don’t line up with the ones on the tailgate (and usually they don’t!). Certainly our 3 is way better than a Jag XE I put an eye over recently. There’s one door that could do with a slight tweak (about 1mm) to sit a bit more perfectly. As for paint, it’s mostly good but for a few dust nibs. I’ve never bought any other new car before, so I’ve no idea what others are like in this regard - our GS has plenty of paint flaws now (stone chips and bird lime damage caused lacquer crazing), and even within the first 1000 miles the 3 picked up a stone chip. I’ve since been over the car with Carpro essence on an MF pad and the paintwork has come up very nicely, so I’m satisfied with it. Interior quality is very good - you interact with very little in the model 3, so there’s much less opportunity for things to creak and flex than in other cars. I recently had a VW hire car that I was shocked by the plastic creaking cacophony that accompanied pressing any of the buttons. The screen on the model 3 is very solidly mounted and extremely responsive so you are not left feeling like it is cost cut. The window switches feel very solid, very close to those in our GS and better than any other car I’ve had (2011 Volvo V70, 2003 Honda Accord, etc). Material quality in the cabin is good with regard to the plastics. Carpets are a bit cheap. The “Vegan Leather” is what it is…. Similar to Lexus Tahara or Mercedes Artico. I prefer the real leather in the GS. Seats are very good (and suit me a bit better than the GS Premier seats do - I can’t get my back comfortable as the driver in that car. Key point: seats are a personal matter). Overall I find the perceived interior quality to be better than our neighbour’s 2014 BMW 330d GT or our 2011 Volvo V70. Specification and equipment The SR+ comes with the “Partial Premium Interior”. Our car is absolutely base spec for the UK, with the only option we took being the blue paint. So, what did we get? Front seats are fully electric (12-way, inc 2-axis lumbar) and heated, with driver memory for each profile (not sure how many profiles you can have, but lots!). Steering column reach/rake is electric. Full glass panoramic roof. 15” display with sat nav (free updates), reversing camera, good music system (very close to the Mark Levinson in the GS), 18” alloys, LED headlamps, foglamps. There’s very little missing, and the “full premium” option only adds heated rear seats and a subwoofer, and some data connectivity add ons. Autopilot is included as standard - this consists of Traffic Aware adaptive cruise control (which will keep pace with traffic down to a stop), Lane centering autosteering (ie not like LKA which will simply pinball from side to side, this will drive itself down a motorway lane), all of the expected emergency braking and rear collision mitigation (scoring by far the highest score on euro NCAP for such systems). We did not take the “Full Self Drive” option. The base spec would require significant trips to the options list for a 330i or C300 to match the Tesla. Even a base IS300h with premium pack (to match the powered heated seats and power steering column of the Tesla) and metallic paint comes in at a higher price (£38670, compared to £38290 paid for the Tesla). Driving Starting with the downsides - this is not the quietest car there is. The 4GS is one of the quietest cars there is (not as quiet as an LS600h, but in the top 10), so it’s a harsh comparison. The model 3 has significant body-borne road noise and you hear the suspension working (thumping on pot holes), and bits of wind flutter (frameless windows don’t isolate as well). It’s better than typical C-seg hatchbacks, but not up with the D-seg class leaders. Up to about 20mph you can hear a bit of drive unit noise, but it’s not annoying and quieter than the drivetrain in the Leaf. Suspension is firm. It thumps, but it’s not jarring. It’s not as brittle as an M-Sport 3 series, but nothing like as fluid as the GS450h. Putting the GS into Sport+ brings them closer, but the 3 is still a bit firmer than that. However, it’s not just wilful firmness trying to hide a poor chassis (Volvo R-Design, I’m looking at you) - the suspension setup is extremely well designed (double-wishbone front, multi-link rear) and connected with an extraordinarily stiff body (the battery construction under the floor makes it extremely rigid, and combined with bonded glass roof and rear screen adds stiffness above too). The ride definitely improved over the first 1500 miles, and while it’s never going to be considered a magic carpet, it’s very accomplished. One thing that it does highlight is that on an A-road the GS always feels like it's moving, up and down. The 3 does not. EVs in general should handle well because the centre of gravity is very low and the mass is centred in the car, within the wheelbase. The Model 3 uses that and the suspension design to offer amazing levels of grip. The steering is 2 turns lock-to-lock, so this is go-kart like. Very incisive handling, but not at all nervous or twitchy. It is an absolute hoot to punt down a twisty A-road, and can be placed very precisely and confidently, and it doesn’t bite back (mostly! At the very beginning I got a couple of wags of the tail in the wet, but that was down to a combination of incorrect tyre pressure and brand new tyres not scrubbed in yet. Once settled in it’s been very secure). It’s not all perfection - the steering offers absolutely zero feedback or feel. It absolutely goes where you point it and doesn’t react to or get put off line by cambers and bumps, but the steering wheel won’t feed you any information about what’s going on underneath the tyres. Performance is typical EV - immediate, responsive and very very fast. The 0-60 time for the SR+ is 5.3 seconds, which is a bit faster than the GS450h. However, because of traction limitations, it doesn’t feel amazingly quick from a standing start. The real party piece is how it responds to throttle inputs to change speed from 30 to 50 mph for example - Autoexpress tested it at 1.9 seconds for 30-50. For reference, they recorded 2.0 seconds for 30-50 in 3rd gear for both the Porsche 911 992 Carrera 4s Cab and the Mercedes AMG GT Roadster. One thing that is more noticeable with the 3 than was with the Leaf is the performance variance with State of Charge (SoC). The Leaf was always slow, the 3 is noticeably less peppy at 30% than at 90%. Just last week it was announced that the next software update (which downloads over Wi-Fi, doesn’t require visits to dealer) will bring an additional 5% power increase. Charging For the most part charging happens when you’re doing something else so it’s simply a non issue. However, one key thing about the Model 3 is that it’s a Tesla so road trips can actually be a thing. We just took a 1000 mile trip around scotland and spent a total of £6 on charging. The most significant day of driving was from Dumbarton to our home near Rochdale, a distance of 240 miles. Having come from the Leaf where this would have been annoying, involving hypermiling and numerous charge stops I was unconcerned - we started the day with about 85% charge, spent the morning in Glasgow then departed down the M74. I was tending to set cruise on 80 (unthinkable in the Leaf!) and just go for it. We stopped at Abington (just long enough to pee and get a takeaway cup of coffee) and Tebay (for 20 minutes, but we didn’t actually need that much - could have done less than 15). With Supercharging on a long journey from 100% charge you will need 20 minutes of charging for every 2 hours driving after the first 3 hours, which seems to line up with bladder endurance. The LR or P versions of the 3 would be 15 minutes charging for every 2 hours after the first 4 hours. If the thought of spending that long stopped on a long journey is too much for you, even in the face of thousands of pounds of fuel savings then this probably isn’t the car for you. Again, the software update announced last week will boost the Supercharging speed from 100kW to 150kW, reducing the times I quoted above. Infotainment Absolute brilliance. Extraordinarily simple to operate, brilliantly responsive and you rarely need to mess with it while driving. Voice commands are extremely accurate - during our jaunt around scotland I was stunned when it completely correctly understood the phrase “Navigate to Aberlour Distillery”. It will look for landmarks, businesses, postcodes, addresses, etc and doesn’t require speaking slower than you would in normal conversation. The functional voice commands mean that you don’t have to mess with the screen for sat nav input at all, and things like seat heaters and AC temp are in fixed locations on screen such that they might as well be buttons. Overall it is actually less distracting on the move than the setup in the GS. The screen is very clear, high resolution and responsive, with excellent contrast and a very low black level - at night it doesn’t cause annoyance through too much lighting (the car switches into night-mode where things are white-on-black rather than black-on-white) The car has a 4G data connection that allows streaming through TuneIn and Spotify, USB playback, DAB and FM. No AM or CD player. Random Stuff Your phone is your key, so you can add/remove keys as you choose. There are also passive RFID cards as a backup or Valet key - a replacement costs only £20. The passive RFID, and encrypted nature of bluetooth means that the model 3 is generally much better protected against relay theft than other keyless cars. It also has a second layer of protection with the option to enter a PIN number before you can drive the vehicle. The phone holder/charger is very neat and saves the installation of ugly “cradles” or having wires trailing around the place. The autopilot cameras can also be used as a 4-channel dashcam (front, left side repeater rearward facing, right side repeater rearward facing, Rear) as well as CCTV when the vehicle is parked (Sentry Mode). The panoramic glass roof is quite a revelation for those sat in the back, as there’s no cross-beams behind the B-pillar - just glass from B-pillar to deck lid. App works very well (unlike the one from the Leaf), allowing control of charging, remote climate control, unlock, opening/closing things, as well as showing the car’s location (and speed…. I keep getting home and being told off by my husband for that one!). Boot is huge and the seats fold down - far more practical than the GS450h! There’s also the Frunk under the bonnet. Overall The Model 3 is the least flawed car that I’ve ever driven. The strengths of its design, drivetrain and interface are amazing. All cars have their flaws, but this has fewer. So many people are getting hung up on the window dressing of perfect paint quality and panel gaps while ignoring the meat and bones.

It surely has to be worth the risk at that price, all four drop links delivered for £67!

My Range Rover Sport was terrible for muck collecting on the rear screen and camera. I used RainEx to good effect and this keeps the lens clear for a much longer stretch. (Memo to myself. Why haven't I treated the cameras on our NX and LC...?).

Hello Jay. Thanks for trying to find the differences between the two engines. I did note only the GS is listed as having dual injection the RX does not. Whilst the compression ratios are listed as 12.5:1 & 13:1 these are the theoretical calculated compression ratios "bore times stroke". This is rather than the actual where compression starts with the valves held open on part of the compression stroke reducing the figure significantly. It is likely however that the RX does have a lower compression ratio. The GS also has maximum power at 6500 RPM against the RX at 6000 RPM. Although only listed as generators in those specifications all of the electrical units are motor generators meaning they perform both operations. This means the GS has 2 motor generators, and the RX has 3. The "generators" in question also act as starter motors. The GS also has a two speed reduction in the transmission to reduce the speed of MG2 not listed in the RX. This enables the use of lower RPM in MG2 from around 70 MPH increasing it's torque output. The torque in electric motors falls off as it's speed increases. Maximum torque is at zero revs. Somewhat opposite to the petrol engine. I also noted the towing capacity of both vehicles is the same at 2000 KG. John.

If you don't smoke, simply replace the cig lighter with a USB charger socket like I did in our RX300. I think the socket was about £6 or £7 from eBay and worked brilliantly, giving a fast charge at 2.1A

MOT time again and another pass - no history on this car of any failures still and it is almost 14 years old 😊. But, had an advisory on it this time for a deteriorated rear number plate but still readable (plate is starting to de-laminate) .... bummer....., a bit harsh , and there goes the clean history, at least its not a fail !!! Also, i dont know why i checked, i checked the info on the Gov site and it stated the car was on 85k miles, i dont think so... its only on 35k so i took it back to be updated - i am amazed at how easy it was to do. Good job to check the info after an MOT to save a lot of hassle in the future.

Excellent, I shall try that solution Thank you

Thanks to those who have contributed and researched. The electric motors and Atkinson Cycle where employed add further possibilities to the variables that enable an engineer to tailor a basically similar engine/transmission system for different models. I appreciate that even with all the refinements that enable modern engineers to optimise performance, the timing is normally set at maximum advance and only retarded where circumstances require as lower grade fuel would be an example. Something that was not available years ago before management systems is the ability to gain more performance by having you car 'chipped' . I wonder if anybody will admit to having this done and if so what difference has it made?

Use Rainex or something similar on the lens?

Another Plus for Toyota/Lexus (From this weeks Honest John). Reader writes I had my Prius serviced this week, and the service manager told me a woman had bought a new Yaris with a manual gearbox. Around 6 months later the clutch went, so she took it in for a replacement under warranty, was given a courtesy car and was told they would ring her the next day. They did, she was told they had checked for driver errors and there were none, but Toyota GB were apoplectic because the car had been fitted with an obviously faulty part, so would she mind continuing to use the courtesy car while Toyota sorted it out. Toyota then sent an engineer and translator from Japan to inspect the faulty part and oversee the fitting of the new one. Can you believe that? I thought it worth telling you because you have often commented on some manufacturers only warranting their clutches for 6 months. It would appear when it comes to Toyota there is some degree of integrity. HJ's reply That's a nice story. But it indicates to me that Toyota must have had several reports of failed clutches so that's why they wanted to get to the bottom of the reason why this one had failed. Your friend simply presented them with a live opportunity to find out what was wrong with it. But that's Toyota for you. I'm currently driving the new Camry hybrid. Excellent, sensible, big car, for sensible money, and 50+ mpg.

Lol,the eager mot tester probably keyed it in wrong,at least it's now sorted 😁

I emailed HJ a while ago saying that I was firmly opposed to left foot braking (having tried it once and owning both auto and manual cars). He maintains that it's safer as your left foot has less distance to move to get onto the brake pedal. I think that that's outweighed by the advantage of your right foot having its position calibrated by the accelerator so that in an emergency you can be sure of moving it accurately onto the brake. There is the other aspect that if you drive both manual and automatics then your left foot is trained to use the clutch pedal which is a quite different action from the brake pedal.

David and Herbs Definitely don't smoke! Thanks I'll have a look at both those ones.

good luck Malc

Yes, I have seen that before but my bushes are fine. The fact that the car bounces badly in that corner can only be caused by a bad shock. In fact it had the same problem at the rear when I bought it so I replaced that one with a used unit. I've talked for ages about getting some from the US so assuming they come up with a sensible shipping cost I'll be ordering them today. Nothing ventured and all that.

@i-s thanks for the review, wonderful and very interesting to read! Seems like a very good car, only road noise would upset me (I am being spoiled by GS).

Hi John, Well the RX450h has quite a high compression engine which means that with a higher RON petrol it can run with more advance without pinking, thereby producing more power. Conversely, if you lower the RON the engine will (automatically be retarded and produce less power). I once had a fuel injected Mercedes where you could manually retard the ignition to help cope with lower octane fuel, higher octane not being available in some countries. I remember on a BMW forum some years ago there was an in depth discussion on fuels and it was considered that the Shell V3 high octane gave slightly more power and ran cleaner and many members ran it from time to time due to the better ability of the additives. Clearly, there is greater advantage in using higher octane fuel in cars with higher compression engines. I think this puts it reasonably without being technical - https://www.moneysupermarket.com/car-insurance/articles/is-it-worth-paying-more-for-premium-unleaded/ "Higher-octane fuels suit high-performance engines where pressures and temperatures are greater and it can therefore be used to boost the amount of available horsepower and improve performance." From what I have read the RX400 had cam belt but the RX450h chain. Not aware of the method of fuelling the RX models but happy to learn.

I've recommended this one below many times on here and other forums. This guy has reviewed about 50 or 60 dashcams and this is the one he chose to use in his own car, so if it's good enough for him..... Actually, if you have an interest in any technology and/or gadgets, his other videos are well worth watching. Very informative and entertaining. My own dashcam is a Viofo A119S (which is very similar to the Aukey one) because I hadn't seen the review before buying mine.

You can’t deliberately run down a traction battery to zero, on the display it will show 10 or 20% but in reality the battery will be holding more than that. Conversely when the display reads 100% it isn’t fully charged When the display reads 20% the engine will kick in and start recharging so as keep the 12v system running, that’s why if the 12v battery is dying the traction battery will cycle from full to empty frequently and a lot quicker than normal. The reason being the traction battery will be topping up a battery with faulty cells. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you, I will give it a try this weekend... weather permitting! The GSF is addictive. It has way too much performance for the road but it’s nice to have it there. I wanted a V8 before everything went electric and the noise is wonderful. The box works well with the paddles but I mostly leave it in auto for my daily commute.

Colin. I have already spoken about the steady downward slide in the quality of service provided by Lexus. So sorry to hear about your problems. Who is the dealership involved so the rest of us know to avoid them in future. Have you read the Consumer Act so you know your rights regarding possible rejection of the vehicle. Sometimes a solicitors letter gets things moving.

I'm surprised that Lexus Customer Services haven't been responsive. When I dealt with them they were exceptional. I understand how frustrated you must be having been in a similar situation. Above all, stay calm, reasonable and polite. Keep records of conversations and promises made. As stated above, involve the Dealer Principal. It doesn't sound good currently, but hopefully it will get sorted and you can move on to enjoying your new car. Good luck!

You could replace with lexus coils and shocks. I tried coilovers in a 430, didn't last long. I posted about it.

Woah slow down phil . . . . . I don't think you will be happy with coil overs if that's what you are thinking. I would have it investigated properly by a garage and if it is the strut then . . . . . . . I would replace with air strut.

Have they at least given you a courtesy car in the meantime? My next course of action would be to ask for a meeting with the dealer principal. Prepare a list of questions for the meeting and be very clear on the outcome you intend to reach and what you are willing to compromise on. When you meet, make it clear that you will minute the meeting. I'd suggest you take a third party with you as a witness. At the end of the meeting go through your notes with the dealer principal and get him to sign them... although he may refuse to. Alternatively, send an email with your typed up notes to the dealer principal and your third party. If you are not one for confrontation, I'd suggest you send a letter recorded delivery, requesting a response within x working days. You could also tell them that you are in the process of contacting the motoring press for some advice (Top Gear, WhatCar and other manazines all have consumer pages where letters are of complaints are published and commented upon. A company like Lexus which is consistently at the top of surveys for customer service will not want to see their reputation questionned). This approach has worked well for me in the past (no, it wasn't Lexus!) You could also try and contact Lexus via their twitter feed: they are usually very responsive. If you go to the bottom of the Lexus UK website, you will find links to their social media pages. You will also find a link to their Legal pages: this contains some advice on how to complain.

I agree the H J web site is the best by far. But left foot braking is not for me. I tried it for about 10 days and was a danger to myself and every other road user with 100 meters of my car.

It wasn't that bad at all to be honest but still a challenge, it's a big car so there is more space around the bolts and carrier brackets to get a breaker bar or a buzz gun in. I have a pretty cheap corded buzz gun which I'm sure I bought from Netto or Aldi years ago for £20 iirc. Once cracked off, ratchet was fine. The worst bit was constantly up/down, under the car then out from under the car, getting spanners, sockets and wrenches. I am still aching from it all, I woke yesterday and my body was complaining but once I got cracking it was fine (plus I had to crack on and get it done) The caliper bolts were tight which I expected but it took some force to crack them off. Being on axle stands I had to apply gradual pressure but soaking them in Plus Gas for a couple of weeks helped a lot. The problem camber bolt will need to cut off and replaced, I can't spend a lot of time on it now all for the sake of 1 x bolt (not cheap but worth it for the time alone) But, you never know and I might have a flash of inspiration...............doubtful though. I've made a couple of mistakes, I drilled the heads off the brake disc retaining screws to get the discs off (rushed at it really) and should have bought an impact screwdriver so need to drill them out and re tap. Snapped 3 out of 4 bolts holding the disc back plate - securing bracket on, pretty annoyed with myself but the first one came out ok with Plus Gas and gradually moving it in and out more and more. The rest I thought I had 'moving' but they weren't and stupidly I carried on!!! I should have stopped and got some heat on them. Not the end of the world though, I will probably remove the steering knuckle (only bit not not scraped and treated now....) because it's easy to remove it now while everything else if off and drill them out from the back then use some nuts and bolts. I have a 2001 Audi A4 2.5 Tdi quattro sport which needed all the front lower suspension arms replacing for the MOT earlier this month, that was more difficult than this as there wasn't as much room to get in. Removing some of the bushing bolts wasn't easy for the same reason, the bolts were hitting the body and it took some persuasion.

I have a MY17 CT and over two and a half years of ownership average 55mpg with max of 68 on long trips. Driving a Hybrid requires a different driving technique to get the best mpg. There are vids on YouTube about this.On short journeys mpg will be low particularly in cold weather. In town, the trick is to use as much reg braking as possible.I use the Hybrid Assistant app in conjunction with a Link LX OBD. Shows the workings of the car in more detail. Worth considering. Enjoy the car any queries we are here to help.

Hi George, thanks for your post, it prompted me to join the club also. Took delivery of our 2015 ct200H earlier in the week and am just getting used to the controls having driven a v50 Volvo SE Lux for the last 115,000 miles. I am fairly confident we are going to like this car and, having read this page, it seems that Lexus owners tend to be satisfied with their purchase and keep their cars for a lengthy time. Thank you to all who have posted in recent weeks - you have helped me make up my mind which car to buy when it became necessary for me to change to an automatic because of shoulder problems.

hi George and welcome to the forum i like the CT in white the ct's shape suits the colour imo although your white garage door looks really grey now. like any other car to get the best mpg light acceleration, when your going to stop i.e. at traffic lights take your foot off the accelerator and let the regen braking slow you down if you time it right you wont have to stop at the lights and can then use the batteries to keep you moving read the road ahead so you dont accelerate when you dont need to.

I should also have said although a cam might not have caught video evidence it would have picked up the sound of the mirror being hit with the side of the van still in the picture through the screen. John

Have given the latest incarnation a try but found it pretty difficult to get along with. Not quite sure why but it just doesn't connect with me anymore. Not sure they are doing loads wrong although the German lady had the same effect that Jar Jar Binks did in the Star Wars prequels. Ie bloody irritating. Not sure the total change of Guard is responsible either as the final days of Jezza and co were getting tedious in my opinion. Too many smutty, juvenile jokes and a presumption that the average viewer is 15 years of age. Think this show peaked around ten years ago if you ask me. I used to actually prefer it when they reviewed cars a bit more rather an messing around in or reviewing supercars that the majority of us will never own.

Personally I'm a bit partial to some s*x, people's private parts, adultery, lies, hidden agendas, murder, theft, casual s*x, robbery, and drug taking. Luckily I'm also able to follow what's happening in Syria and Eliud Kipchoge's amazing achievement today. Top Gear is ******* though.

My GS300 ones are very quiet. Fitted new ones recently and polished the windscreen.

Are the pressures in agreement with those shown on the driver's door pillar? Tyre light will only come on if the tyre pressure(s) drop below the benchmark set in the system. If you are 100% sure the pressures are correct (check when cold not driven for at least 2hrs) you can reset the warning by pressing the reset button in the lower dash panel (quite hard to see) Check your handbook for location and procedure.

I've tried to like the current series, but most of the stuff they do has been done before (buying old luxury cars and ending with a race? Wow, how very 1997 Clarkson) and as others have said the focus on supercars is tired. Having said that, as presenters Rory Reid is very good and I quite like Matt Leblanc too. Chris Harris grates though. He may be a good driver but his presenting style is awful imho.

@olliesgrandad Setright fan?

On the subject of the magazine, I think that CAR is by far the best motoring publication. This is, of course, a matter of personal choice.

Driving along this morning on a 60 mph road and an oncoming van drifts over and hits my drivers side mirror. Happens in the dark, van does not stop and i get no details 😠 So I have popped the glass back in as it was not broken but the indicator lens in the mirror is broken and the mirror casing scuffed. So I have just ordered a second hand one of ebay (anyone swapped a mirror before) - any difficulties changing? I am thinking of getting a dash cam - though not sure if it would help as would not have shown the impact,,,,,,