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I picked up my 2019 MY RC300h on Monday this week and I’ve used it for the daily commute and a longer run over the Humber Bridge and across the Lincolnshire badlands. I was initially worried that it wouldn’t be as practical day-to-day as the Volvo V90 I swapped for it and that the idiosyncratic infotainment system would be hard and annoying to use. Turns out that one really shouldn’t pay too much attention to reviews… This is up there as one of the best cars I’ve ever owned. It’s a synthesis of many of the cars I’ve had before, all blended perfectly together into what I would consider the perfect GT car. From a practicality point of view, the back seats are actually usable (maybe just for short trips, admittedly), the folding seats allowed me to get a large garden storage unit home from Wickes and a quick test proves that I can easily get my guitar, amps and keyboard in for when I’m gigging. OK, there may well be better infotainment systems out there but the one in the RC is as good if not better than the one(s) in the various Jags I’ve owned and, apart from the voice control, way better than the awful Google Car thing in the Volvo. I also like being able to configure three screens - map on the main screen, audio on the smaller screen and map instructions on the screen in front of me. Brilliant. Ride quality is superb, easily as good as my 2015 XJ, and the handling is excellent; a great combination on the pot-holed cart tracks we call roads these days. I daresay that there are faster cars to take round a track but, on real roads in real conditions, I think the RC can make progress as well as anything I’ve driven. I daresay that little grumbles will appear over time but, so far, the RC is just a pleasure to drive. I think my search for that elusive blend of looks, handling, comfort and practicality is finally at an end!

Took our IS300H down for its year MOT. Another pass with zero issues. 8 years old now, still on original factory fitted brakes and 12V battery. I must have been feeling generous as its 2 years in a roll I've booked it in for an oil change at the same time...will skip it next year as current millage is under 4000k PA. Still returning 40mpg real world mileage, £10/year VED. A very very cheap, but also comfortable car to own.

My good friends I am happy to report that I found a subframe for £120 via Synetiq, but I’ve bought one for £300+p&p from nipponautospares.com who, as steve2006 helpfully pointed out, import breakers from Japan so the subframe will never have been exposed to road salt. This, various bushes, the fuel inlet pipe and a new set of tyres and the old girl will have a new lease of life. For the last few weeks I’d been noticing every time I drove it how smooth the drivetrain was in operation. I’m very pleased to be keeping it. Thanks to all of you for your help and interest. 😊

Serves you right for gloating! 🤣

My wife would go mental if I spoke about her like that!🤣

Lexus Seem Very Popular In Dubai Particularly The High End Models But When Chatting To A Local Guy He asked me If i Knew The Cultural Differences Between People In Dubai And Abu-Dhabi To Which I Could Not Answer .So He informed Me That The Locals In Dubai Never Watch The FLINTSTONES But The Folks In Abu-Dhabi Doo ..!! Interesting.....

huh?! How did I got involved into that? But as I was summoned I will use this opportunity to put my 2p worth opinion... 😄 First of all, I think there is difference between "lying" and being biased. So VW is biased on this topic and therefore cannot be trusted, because what they say will be filtered trough half-truth, economical-truth, cherry picking facts etc. It is true that lithium batteries can be reused, but as well that they are very difficult to recycle. Yes examples you provided are possible considering they are currently niche in automotive market, but if they would ever become the only way of propulsion this simply not going to be true anymore. There are simply limited amount of unique uses for used cells and they will inevitably clog landfills. I mean current "re-use" cases are equivalent to those people who have build hotel in old 747... or some university campus in California used old wind turbine blades in their exterior design. Likewise - old car engines were used as a table stands etc. Point is - these are niche use cases which are only sustainable for the niche waste problem. There are simply not many people who will have skill, time and desire to break old BEV packs to convert them into Solar Power storage facility... this is niche of a niche of a niche use-case. We can't use all old planes for luxury hotels in the jungle, and we can't use all wind turbine blades as exterior features, and we can't use all old engines as table stands... likewise when we have large enough pile of lithium cells we will not be able to just to turn them in jewellery or back-up packs for solar panels. And by the way - using the cells that way only prolongs their useful life for couple more years, they still die eventually and need to be dealt with. Yes - many different industries use lithium batteries, but car manufacturing requires ridiculous amounts of it and of the batteries, so lithium consumption is up 5-fold since 2010 and 30-fold since 2000. And yes sure Panasonic, Samsung and Toshiba may be some biggest manufacturers of lithium batteries... FOR CAR INDUSTRY... That Samsung made lithium battery - it does not mean it goes into smartphone. Panasonic is Tesla supplier for example. I don't think it is doom and gloom like John suggested, but it isn't rosy either... I think it will be OK if BEVs remains ~10% of car market, but anything more than that and we will have huge problems to deal with. As such I always said we should prioritise Lithium for small city cars, no more than 100 miles range, small batteries i.e. use BEVs where they are most beneficial. As far as I am concerned - long-range 200miles+ (or maybe it is better to cap it at the battery size) BEVs should be BANNED, because in my opinion their use does not benefit the environment and they operate in the environment where they have least benefit. Honda E + grant to install charger within London congestion charge zone is great idea, Tesla Model X Long Range Tri-Motor monstrosity in Shropshire is a crime against humanity.

Our Model X is still great but I have no regrets about cancelling the Model 3 order years back and keeping the IS instead. Just purely based on finances the IS is going to give the Civic it replaced a run for its money interms on 'value'. The Civic was only £16k new and we put nearly 90k on it before selling it for £5k at 6 years old, so around £150/month depreciation. We claimed back 90% of the fuel costs at 45p/mile for business travel so it actually came close to turning a 'profit' overall. We paid £31k for the IS brand new, so at 8 years old that's around £166/month depreciation, add the good mpg, very little servicing costs, £10/year VED that isn't going be effected by the 2025 VED changes and it's quickly turning into one of the cheapest cars we've owned ever. Given its a 'excutive' saloon and fully of gadgets, that's pretty amazing. Cannot see us selling it for a while to come.

If you're confident about the rest of the car then this definitely sounds like they way to go, especially given the price of a replacement vehicle (and might that be suffering the same issue or other significant issues?). Last year my daughter's boyfriend was lucky to find a good replacement subframe for his 1990s MR2, he was lucky to find it in a local scrapyard. He got it blasted and powder coated before installation, might be worth considering in your case?

Just reporting back. Car in and out of the dealership. First class service, picked up, repaired, full tank of fuel, professionally valeted and returned back home. No squeaking or squealing, infact no sound at all except for the occasional front battery charging, at least for now.

I'm sorry but this is a very strange reply to my post. Firstly, Carwow are interested in selling you cars through their site - In fact, I bought mine via them - and as far as I am aware, aren't pro or con anything in particular. Second, your view that anything VW says is automatically untrustworthy based on one example is complete nonsense. It also doesn't take into account the very obvious fact that they are building it right now! https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/07/volkswagen-breaks-ground-on-first-of-six-battery-factories/ As for asking for examples (in your previous post) of current recycling/reusing EV batteries: https://www.hydro.com/en/media/news/2022/europes-largest-electric-vehicle-battery-recycling-plant-begins-operations/ https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/08/ev_batteries_solar_storage/ Lastly, you keep going on about how EV batteries are going to be an ecological disaster when the fill up the landfills, but you haven't made mention of the fact that Lithium Ion battery have been used for decades on all sorts of other applications, so where are all these batteries going? https://ecotreelithium.co.uk/news/lithium-batteries-uses-and-applications/ As you can see, 14 different industries currently use these batteries with cars being only 1. Also, 3 out of the largest 10 producers of Lithium Ion batteries are using them for personal technology devices (including the phone you are using): Panasonic, Samsung and Toshiba. Now, I know this is going to come across as a Linas type post (sorry @Linas.P 🙂) but I do feel that your post demonstrates an unwillingness to accept anything that doesn't align with your point of view and is somewhat insulated in its thinking.

Moved to the right place 😉

Maybe getting a hybrid wasn't the best choice then because they're very electrically/electronically complicated. First of all, do what Andrew suggests and look for any OBD codes. Hybrids don't have a starter motor (or alternator) so the startup sequence is very different to a conventional car. The 12V battery boots the computers, pressurises the brakes and gets the hybrid system up and running (as shown by the READY light). Everything else is driven by the high voltage traction battery (288V for the RX but varies by car model). So, you get in, press your foot on the brakes and then press the power button. If everything is working as it should, a few seconds later you'll hear a beep and you'll see the READY light. At that point you can drive away on traction battery alone, but the petrol engine will soon kick in, probably in less than a hundred metres. When the hybrid system wants to run the petrol engine it will energise MG1 (motor/generator 1) and use that to spin the engine up to 1,000rpm, at which point it will open the injectors to supply the fuel and also apply a spark to fire it.

Hi Spacewagon, I’ve just seen you reply , lovely to drive , quieter than the Honda , just one thing coming from a touch screen to using a mouse pointer or whatever there called to change radio channel, sat nav etc seems a step backwards in my opinion besides that I’m happy with it

Welcome Nick. Drive on the right and do observe the speed limits(and don`t even think of arguing with a Gendarme ) !👍🤣

John, they are only located in Derby if you want to collect it?

Does anyone know if the latest NX has a similar chink in its armour.

You're talking of two different things here Vlad, one of them being self-discharge. All batteries of any chemistry will self-discharge but, as you can see by the fact that your old one has been out of the car for a year and only lost a volt, the self-discharge rate is very small and it happens very slowly. When a battery is in the car and connected up there will still be that element of self-discharge, but the rate of discharge is exacerbated by a process called 'quiescent current draw'. This is current drawn from the battery to keep certain systems alive and working, such as the alarm, the radio presets, the seat memory and so on, when the car is parked up doing nothing. It should be possible to get the actual specification for the amount of current draw from the manufacturer of the car, but I've never personally seen it written down anywhere. As a general rule of thumb, it's accepted that a current draw of about 50 to 60 milliamps (0.05 to 0.06A) is considered 'normal' but anything from about 70mA upwards points towards a possible parasitic drain problem and needs to be investigated. This is where the laws of physics come into play. Battery capacity is measured in Ampere-hours (Ah). A 60Ah battery can supply 60A for one hour, or 30A for two hours, 20A for three hours and so on. Given that it's 40 minutes past midnight I'm not going out to check, but I think my RX has a 51Ah battery fitted. We'll assume that it's brand new and fully charged for this example. 51Ah divided by the quiescent current draw of 50mA means that the battery will take 1,020 hours to go from fully charged to fully discharged. That's 42.5 days, or 6.07 weeks absolute maximum time available from that battery. And remember that it will not be able to start the car long before it reaches the fully discharged state, so for the practical purpose of starting the car, you may only have, say, 35 useable days instead of 42.5. Laws of physics.

If anyone else has this issue, as I did, it is repairable although you would need to know someone with a lathe and a milling machine. Basically the moulding had a pin that is offset and can break, so I made a small section out of brass held in place with a couple of M3 screws, nothing is seen once in situ, total time 2 hrs total cost about 10p

Hello All, just finding my way around the forum , I’ve just bought my first Lexus ,a bit of a step up from my faithful Honda crv I'm sure there will some questions from me in the future Dave

Looks a nice car, price is still too high in my opinion though they have dropped it since I last looked, think it was at 15k. I would have thought £13k roughly would be a more fair price. Most of the ISFs on AT have been there for a while so aren't selling, rather they are distorting market pricing. A red ISF sold on here for £15k iirc that was roughly 100k miles late last summer, that was a realistic price. We are further into the financial quagmire than back then and used car prices are finally dropping too. YMMV

Fwiw you can have the directions in the main dash only pop up as you approach a turn/change, leaving that screen available for other important functions such a g- force 👍🏻👍🏻😉😉

Some very interesting points. The one that got me tho is the glue that bonds the carcass of the battery pack. I've not read too much into battery recycling but the way technology is moving I personally think in a few years it will become relatively easy. Now what's wrong with electric cars. Does anyone remember a TV programme a few years back where this Welsh firm converts classic cars to electric? Well I really liked that programme and how it was done. He's got a YouTube channel now and the last one was OMG EVangelistic. He asked the question how long does it take to fill up an EV compared to a petrol car? He first did an average calculation on how many miles a week does a car travel. Then with that figure calculated how much fuel needed at an average mpg. They then went to a petrol station and times how long to put enough petrol in and pay for it. Under 5 minutes. Now then back to the workshop the guy then said start the stopwatch when I first touch the charge lead. 4 seconds later he said there you go. 4 seconds to fill up. The rest of the rest of the time whilst it's charging is free time. Now is that oh so ruddy stupid nonsense or what. Just goes to show the utter blinkeredness of some so called experts.

Very much correct. When materials are no longer available reusing the old will be needed. That points to the fact that batteries like they are made now is in no way the solution to store power. When something needed is no longer there something else will be needed. water Ò hydrogen Ò water Ò hydrogen Ò water Ò hydrogen Ò water Ò hydrogen Ò water Ò hydrogen Ò does not seem to me to suffer from that problem. Battery cars are for those having own charging station home and when politicians find out they need tax money some will be taken from owners of whatever is available and if most of what is available in cars will be EV cars, that will be that, then.

Not all VW claim is nonsense. Not all any factory say about their products are 100% correct. I have been in Sahara in a very old Beetle. LiIon have been around a long time and not really a major disaster. Then they were not bonded like the gigantic car batteries in almost impossible to dissolve glue as they were before only used in tiny size and were not made to be shaken around like batteries in a car should be able to. That glue and many other items in the battery packs are not going to be reused.

Say his name and he shall come... 🙂 I stand corrected. Thanks for the info. Whilst I agree with the sentiment in general, there are a few specific changes I would suggest perhaps. First, since ranges are extending quite a bit, I think 200 miles is quite stingy 🙂 Encouraging more urban use is certainly a good idea though. As for banning, I think it should be weight and size limited rather than range. Otherwise, you might end up with this monstrosity which weights over 4 tons! On the subject of lithium ion recycling and 2nd use, this article actually covers the issue well: https://electronics360.globalspec.com/article/18618/why-battery-recycling-is-critical-to-overall-ev-success As you can see, there is a situation brewing wherein the cost of the raw materials will go up to the point where it is commercial preferable to recycle batteries. There is also the geo-political implications, such as the US not wanting to import these minerals from certain foreign powers. Lastly, scaling up production of recycling/repurposing battery plants is significantly quicker and easier than a new mining operation, which, according to the above article, takes on average 16.5 years. So, the question becomes, if it is quicker, easier (practically and politically) and cheaper to reuse/recycle batteries than mine new minerals, why wouldn't you do it? The by-product being that is it helps with the environmental issues as well.

Andy, if by “extra attention to detail” you mean a higher level of conscientiousness in carrying out given tasks than might generally be found among their Western counterparts, I would personally tend to place greater trust in Japanese workers, individually and collectively, and therefore in the products they make. I base my opinion not on any dealings I have ever had with Japanese car factory personnel, which are none, but on the imagined extension to them of the excellent professional memories I retain of their “white-collar” colleagues in the commercial and administrative areas of other industries. Levels of reliability and punctuality were in my experience so high as to be almost taken for granted. Whether these and other related business virtues primarily derived from the local culture or an educational system that fostered receptivity to training in trades and professions I am unable to say, but they were an immediately observable phenomenon in Japanese managers and staff.

Would love to see photos?

Or a Lexus...

I’m sorry, it’s about EVs and what is wrong with them - you can’t mention them without everything else happening can you – ulterior motives as it were. It’s pretty obvious from your comments you are fully behind the science. Can I ask you two simple questions? Lithium Batteries - in what way do you think making EVs full of these things is good for the environment? take your time and give me some reason. keep in mind the average EV has 400kg of batteries, some of the larger cars you are talking up to 500/600kg of lithium cells - that is for a solitary EV. What is your though process that makes them so good and second why do you need to spend huge sums of money to get into EV ownership - forget company incentive schemes and they exclude most ordinary people and most people don’t have access to them

Folding back seats are amazing, I don't understand why they are not fitted to all cars. It is really funny when RC which suppose to be impractical 2 door GT car turns out to be more practical than IS or GS. I could have never dreamt putting the bicycle in IS, yet it fits in RC. Infotainment did improve in facelift cars, it is still mediocre at best and I think comparing it older jags isn't really an indication of it being any good. Things like having directions on your dash was not available before 2018 and they had tiny 8" screen. Anyhow - it is certainly usable system, especially if you have at least premier system with mouse pad (which was optional on pre-facelift). Certainly major improvement over the "nipple" controls on IS/GS. In short - I think reviews are correct, however you got latest and the best iteration of the system which tool Lexus only like 7 years to make usable.

Same Car.. Same Year.. Dave The build Quality is Second To None Consistent Reliable Comfortable Quiet Superb Amazing Piece of Auto- Engineering Cannot Fault it at ALL.. Mine was Made in Japan You Can tell by The first letter on the side of the door starts with a J ..vin no..Best car I Have EVER owned...And I have My Wife,s permission to say That.....

I remember being distinctly unchuffed when I discovered that my IS300h wasn't in the £10 band!

Have a look at the attachment in the last post of this thread below

This is very beautiful, if it was not from somebody that are very much pro EV cars. The mentioning of VW part-recycling is as trustworthy as when VW said that diesel cars pollute very little. Or as when they tried to hide it when revealed. That the black powder is containing the valuable minerals all together mean that somebody competent will have to separate them into useful products. A competent chemist will hardly do it free of charge and who will know how much energy that will use. All the not really needed materials will be dumped as nobody want to pay for something used if new can be bought cheaper.

They are great cars, just imagine if it had been a Tesla!

Sorry should have mentioned that. J for Japan. Quickest way to tell.

Casio with its Oceanus line of premium auto-synchronising watches may well have taken its marketing cue from Seiko with its Grand Seiko line of mechanical ones. The latter continue to be entirely made in Japan and were launched with the declared intent of matching the best of Swiss horology. While their excellence is universally acknowledged (and reflected in the prices), their desirability to connoisseurs is more debatable, mainly, it is said, because of the absence of a long background tradition. I have heard it said that Toyota's creation of the Lexus brand may have been in some measure inspired by the Grand Seiko philosophy, and it is interesting to note that such following as the watches have acquired is also largely in the U.S.

I was concerned that Betsy might have been thrown together by a bunch of Good Ole Boys but after a quick look at the VIN, the first letter being a J shows she's from Japan.

Welcome Dave

Welcome Neil lovely looking vehicle

A referendum is a good starting point but politicians vote themselves into power now - tax payers are just an annoyance When I get my council tax bill, I will ask them (nicely) if they have plans in place like Oxford or other similar ‘Climate’ events and who has decided on these actions and how are these new plans allocated tax payers’ money in the same way its sent to the fire brigades, police, road maintenance etc. – the new climate improvements (lets call them that for now) don’t have any agreement with council tax payers like myself and I assume a large amount of other people. The climate scheme in Oxford, assuming they go ahead are clearly a blatant controlling exercise - they are calling it an experiment but how do you judge that? its more than likely they will continue with it regardless of the outcome of the 'trial' and extend it to other cities

https://www.cashisfreedom.uk/

I’m sorry. I cannot see any meaning in any of this you write. Sounds as if you are angry and have completely lost ability to communicate.

It's the same software diagnostics program that Lexus techs use in the dealer workshops, so it can do anything that they would need to do. As hobby or DIY mechanics we'll probably not need most of what it does but it's nice to have, just in case. If you look at Post No. 14 in this thread, I still reckon the best thing about it is that it gives sub-codes when/where needed as well as main codes.

Stumbled on this thread as I just happened to be going through my newly purchased ISF's vehicle documentation. Mine is an Irish (ROI) import and had the fuel pressure sensor recall completed in 2015. Hope this helps in any way?

Well a couple of well known environmental differences are that in North America it's quite common for ISFs to suffer melting dashboards and eventually valley plate failures, in Europe both issues are virtually unseen.

I have also just purchased the NX 300h. What are your initial thoughts on the car?

Here’s the damage !! worst day !

Even if I live to be a hundred years old I'll never be able to afford a brand-new car, but then again, I'm not sure I'd want to anyway even if I could afford it, given the huge depreciation hit they suffer in the early years. Buying a secondhand car and never really knowing how the previous owner has looked after it, one of the first things I do is to have all fluids changed and that, of course, includes transmission fluid. It may only be of psychological value but I like to know that everything is starting fresh under my ownership.