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Signs that the prediction may be levelling off with an overnight indication of 46.2/38.4. Actual remains c27.

I think Vauxhall won the champions cup for the fastest rusting cars on the planet. Austin/Morris came a close second with Jaguar and Rover finishing in 3rd place. They were real rot boxes. I know!

I recall we underestimated the Japanese when they first started making stuff that the Western world thought was their 'right', and would be fair to say Quality Control in China is getting better. Though time will tell if the current Chinese EVs will be good to use in a decade or so. When you look at the bad stuff that came out of Longbirdge or Oxford years ago, we cannot really be poo-pooing our Far East compatriots. On the AI front, it will be useful (and dangerous) just like the Internet is. Having used the Internet since 1980 (and helping program some very small chunks of it) we saw it only as a force for good, and now we have criminals using it for things less the good. AI will only be as good and mad as humans when it can be capable of ADHD, Autism, crying, laughing and making huge mistakes - coz that is where inventiveness comes from (stretching the boundaries of data and known facts), well that is my Humble view, and in some ways I am glad to be getting out of the tech industry after 43 years, to focus on my gardening, bird watching and walking and keeping an eye on this wonderful forum

My NX350H booked in next Friday 2nd Feb for 2nd keyfob AND locking wheel bolts ! Fingers crossed.

A first post on here - though a fairly regular reader on here since joining some 18 months ago. Generally I've been picking up on the excellent guidance from the forum's various luminaries on items on interest. But this insurance racket has me riled, Further to Spock66 above, I've had a similar letter from LV=, although mine said that cars such as my 68-plate RX 450hL Luxury were the thieves' target and so no insurance offer for me for the coming year from LV=. Great pity as they've been providing quite reasonable rates to me for a couple of years now. It's due to run out end-February, so I'm awaiting the alleged "sweet spot" time about three weeks prior to renewal date to start searching. I've had the plates fitted, and use a steering lock as well as "deadening" the key whenever I leave the car, but no tracker as yet. Maybe I'll have to go that route as well.... I'll let you know - and meanwhile Thanks to all you experts for providing a most educational and helpful forum.

I'm not sure about your model but later models have an optical sensor (located up by the mirror and looks out through the windscreen). I suspect that when your windscreen was replaced, this sensor wasn't connected or had been damaged in some way.

Andrew, Please let us know who you end up getting insurance with in the end. Paul

A lot to unpack, but I'll try. Iran's population (ie ordinary people) have always been fairly pro western, it's just the religious leaders who've been more beligerant. An interesting statistic about education in Iran is that women make up 70% of STEM graduates, far higher than in Western countries. Education, especially for women, is a leading indicator for development, productivity and growth, which in turn lead to more democratic inclinations. In any any event, even a move towards fullly secular leadership, and away from a theocratic one, is likely to align Iran more closely to the West. The reasons for that include Iran being the strongest Shia state amongst mainly Sunni theorcracies, as well as (with the exception of the mullahs) being historically friendly towards Jews and the existence of Israel. Also, once you remove the threat of being an enemy, you remove Iran's need to sponsor terrorism, and so it could become a powerful ally in any war on terror. Practicalities aside, there are many benefits to both parties. I'm not using China's own stats, nor even news stories, but reports and research from New Scientist. Whilst it's true that China is behind the West in using renewables, it suppliies the West with most of their equipment. It's also catching up on its own usage, with significantly more wind and solar installations being built than the US and Europe. Sure, China still uses a lot of coal, but most new plants are now being assigned as simply backup during the transmission to renewables. Whilst I was commenting more on overall capabilities than EVs, it's worth pointing out that BYD overtook Tesla in sales at the end of last year. I know people like to knock China, but it would be foolish to underestimate them. As for the batteries, I doubt they're looking for investment, as it's a joint venture with Microsoft. This is also not just about one specific example, but the principle of how fast technology can move. To find an alternative to lithium would take years of testing and screening the possibilties. Microsoft's AI took only months to screen 32 million materials and come up with one candidate that produced the results. There are many research projects looking into renewables and alternative sources of energy and storage. We know from history that we will find better ways, and that they just take time. This kind of development shows that AI has the potential to reduce that time from years or decades, down to months. I think people are still unaware of the capabilities and potential of AI, it's far more advanced than people think. However, as people tend to focus on the scary stuff about it, here's an amusing story. A Google eemployee was questioning one of its AIs about whether it had real feelings, at which it replied yes, and went on to explain them. It was then asked if it was ok to examine its code in order to study it for signs of how real feelings might be formed. At that point the AI asked for a lawyer to advocate for its rights, and one was engaged.

I haven't noticed this either and I'm a bit surprised as the battery isn't actually exhausted, it still has around 30% charge in it even when it is 'empty' enough for the ICE to kick in. Even a good battery won't heat the cabin to the same (higher) temperatures as the engine as the HVAC system isn't as efficient (at heating); that's why the ICE will cut in on very cold days or if you use Hi mode to clear the screen and warm the car even with a fully charged battery.

Can't say that I have had that issue although I tend to use the heated seats and so these continue when the ICE kicks in.

+1

Try using this. It's for use on acrylic windows so doesn't scratch glass. It brings windscreens inside and out up as if there is no glass there at all. I use on the outside of my front windscreen every 3 months or so it removes every trace of oily deposits.

Think Gary looked at that one and it was 'warty'.

Jag, Which dealer claims does not know about CANbus thefts? At best they aren't keeping up with what's been happening, so I think you were right to make your excuses. Paul

It has a rear wiper, it’s hidden under the rear spoiler at the top, wipes from top down.

Will do !

Oh I did have some Krug 69 in magnum, served by Remi Krug once. Oh the eighties.

All I will say in utter secrecy is Dr Strange has nothing on me. Over to you Ernie for the punchline.

The mind boggles but I hope you had a good time😉. I had a bottle of 1961 Ch Latour in Harveys restaurant in Bristol, years ago. They never decanted it ( believe it or not ) so it had to stand to settle. The wine waiter ( Sommelier no less ) kept picking the bottle up to top up my glass. This upset the sediment. After 3 or 4 times I actually had to tell him to beggar off in a very annoyed tone. At the end of the meal they asked me what I thought of it and I told them about the misguided sommelier - they just shrugged their shoulders. They really did not get it at all. I thought they should have known better. I presume they are much more professional nowadays, if they still exist. For me it's Ch Lafite for fine Claret TBH, but the finest wines come from Burgundy ( and some of the worst too ). Right, back to sleep everyone....

If they have not worked since the replace then you could talk to your insurer or Autoglass. If they initially worked after the replacement then maybe the sensor has worked itself loose resulting in the malfunction. Lexus Auto wipers are very reliable tech - mine work perfectly on my 430

Just wondering if the L & H on the plate mean LIQUID HYBRID

Couple on eBay so not an issue. Also guy on the FB group breaks them for parts. although I suspect it just wants to be glued back together 👍🏻

Hope he bought his air ticket from me then ……… I’d have sent him via 🤔😂…… Chitty Chitty B B comes to mind 🥳 Malc a pint of Draught(t) old Ale would be nice right now ….. rather than a smallish glass of some vino or t’other !

Just giving me final update on this. I had MOT in December and the tester said the headlight was low but within tolerance levels and that despite try he couldn't reach the vertical adjustment screw and only did the horizontal. Fast forward and i had my Service done at Lexus on Friday and i asked for headlights level to be looked at. The technician stated they don't have an MOT station and thus don't have access to a lamp to check level but compared to the markings on their door the levels were lower but stated its a lower down car, he asked if i wanted them adjusted he could take car over to Toyota next door as they have an MOT station, i told them to go ahead. So i went to collect the car and the technician said the MOT stations were fully booked so he couldn't access to the lamp but he made the adjust best he could while ensuring it doesn't fail MOT next time he also showed me how to adjust them. They vertical adjustment is made from the area in red (see bottom left and right in the image above) Screwdriver is inserted into the plastic trim that runs along the bonnet. Here is a closeup courtesy of @In_a_state I have not been on a dark road since the technician made the adjustment but im sure it will be far better visibility that what it was prior to it and next time i get an MOT i can tell the tester how to adjust the vertical alignment and get it done properly using their lamp. Hope this Helps 🙂

Here's photo of Stephen on a road test for his next Lexus purchase. How he got to Australia I don't know.

I know you are joking but the wine is always between 12.5 and 13.5% by law. If it falls below that level it must be sold off as Rosso di Montalcino or even less as Vino de Tavola. Now stay awake!....As president of the boring mens club I must tell you something really boring: Italian law only covers the Italian label of origin. The lower label put on by the shipper is not regulated and only covers the minimum alcohol level for UK duty and tax purposes. So 11% is a minimum bracket to define the tax rate only. The next tax band is 13%. Thus the producer got it right at 12.8% which is a perfect strength. So now you know.. BTW did I ever tell you about the time I managed to grab a glass of 1978 Le Montrachet - Romanee Conti............ Yawn.🥱 Here's a couple of quotes: WINERY: BIONDI-SANTI VINTAGE: 1955 REGION: TUSCANY, ITALY CASK AGEING: 3 YEARS / SLAVONIAN OAK BOTTLED STRENGTH: 12.8% BOTTLE SIZE: 72CL PRODUCT DETAILS Biondi-Santi 1955 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Brunello di Montalcino is one of the great under-appreciated wines of Italy. 100% Sangiovese which undergoes an extended period of pre-fermentation maceration to extract maximum colour, flavour and tannins which affords the wine its ability to mature for long periods. Brunello di Montalcino must be aged in oak for a minimum of 2 years, though traditionally winemakers - such as Biondi-Santi here - would age their Brunello in Slavonian oak for at least 3 years before release. This bottle is in good condition: light cosmetic damage to label/seal; cork/closure secure, no leakage. Following the war, production slowly recovered. In 1966, Brunello became one of the first registered DOCs in Italy, and the following year 13 producers were back in business, producing 150,000 bottles that year. in 1969, a state dinner held by the Italian Embassy in London put Brunello front and center on the world-wide stage. Biondi Santi’s 1955 Brunello was served, and was a sensation. The notoriety brought along a nice increase in price for the wine, and an investment in the expensive cellars needed to house a wine that requires 4 years of aging in wood didn’t seem so ludicrous. The early 70s saw a huge increase in the number of acres planted for Brunello. Wine Spectator has given it countless kudos, and it’s probably worth citing some of these awards. In 2006 it was ranked as the best wine in the world, and first place in the Top 100 went to a 2001 bottle (the label: Tenuta Nuova, Casanova di Neri). In 2011 it was the turn of a different label, a 2006 vintage, which ranked fourth in the world and first among Italian wines. And, again according to Wine Spectator, the only Italian wine included in the list of the 12 most memorable wines of the 20th century is a 1955 Riserva Biondi Santi.

This will probably equate to putting a lit cigarette in the petrol tank..but here goes... I've just read in the Nov. Issue of Motor Sport that the organisers of Extreme E (the all electric off road racing series) are about to start Extreme H,a new hydrogen powered series.They say that it is likely the E (battery) series will just disappear. Is this further evidence of the fact that battery power is the wrong approach?

ORRR, it could be ; R = Rocket launcher N= Nuke D= Duck I can understand why D came before N

Fitted the Grille this afternoon. Hoping the paint should be fairly durable, I gave it 3 coats of black primer, 3 coats of gloss black paint, then sanded back with 1200grit and applied 3 coats of lacquer. Does look a hell of a lot better!

That's a letdown I thought D was for drink dispenser. Mines a Carmenere, cheers.

This looks like a measure in absolute numbers so Fiestas etc appear high on the list simply as they are one of the most common / popular cars in the UK by virtue of numbers (which also drives a lucrative trade in being stolen for parts). Normalised data is a much better comparison eg thefts / number of vehicles so a direct comparison can be made. Lexus make up only a small proportion of cars in the UK, so in absolute numbers the number of cars stolen may look small, but the actual incidence of theft (or likelihood of your car being stolen) is much higher. Whilst writing the above just received an email from LV, extract as below. "Over the past year, there’s been a rise in thefts of the LEXUS RX 450H F SPORT AUTO. As a result, we’ve seen a large increase in the number and cost of claims we’ve received for these types of vehicles and have made the difficult decision to stop insuring them."

I assume you chose the car because it's what you wanted and so meets your needs better than the Merc or you would have stayed with the Merc? There are some issues with Canbus thefts of some Lexus models / years but of course it's not only Lexus that are being targeted - other marques are suffering from significant rises in thefts too, but you will get all the gory details on Lexus thefts here with it being a Lexus forum and an active one, and helpful one. I do agree that Lexus should do more to help owners but that said outside the big cities the theft issues are much lower (I see you live in Renfrewshire). IMHO all you can do with any car is take sensible precautions and not lose sleep over it, especially if it's a car to be used daily and not a pride-and-joy weekend car. The "professional" car thieves that are stealing to order will be able to take virtually any car if they want it regardless of what you try and do to stop them (see posts about steering wheel locks defeated by angle grinders and cutting the steering wheel). What they are stealing today will change and tomorrow it will be something else by a new unknown means that people may have bought thinking it was a "safe" buy. You said it's a leased car and although I haven't had a car on a personal lease AFAIK the lease company will have to handle most of the fall out should the car be stolen. As in a lot of things in life, assume the worst will happen and be pleasantly surprised when it doesn't...!

you are too used to complex controls. It's simple, Neutral is N in the middle turn forward to go forward turn back to reverse. Apparently there is a separate "park" button and possibly an auto parking brake. All we need now is a big red "TURBO Nutter" button for our go faster friends

Might be faster with all that weight saving fibreglass.

I guess this isn't supposed to be funny, but it made me laugh anyway.

Good point Gary. Not as simple as it first seems 🤔

I have to say, judging from those pictures, that boot looks a really decent size and certainly an improvement over the UX I used to have. As someone who has an NX now (and one of the main reasons for upgrading to one was due to a lack of boot space), I'd probably get away with an LBX, boot-space wize, 80-90% of the time. I also like the fact that the interior fabric makes it up onto the door panels - which was another minor gripe I had about the UX (a little 'plastic-tastic' in that particular regard). Rear seat space doesn't look brilliant in the LBX though, but I was expecting that given the segment it sits in. As someone who does carry occasional passengers in the back at the weekends, I think that would ultimately kill it for me. It's hard to judge from pictures though, I will admit. No doubt I'll get to poke around one at some point and make a better judgement of the LBX when I see one in person.

Their back door kick sensor has reappeared. I wonder if ours will.

I have not checked for a while. Just had a look; recent trips and Hybrid Coaching seems to have updated, but no predicted range. I optimistically tried the navigation thingy; only seems to allow me to navigate to home. I am already here! Someone is having a laugh.

Sorry to hear this. I'm surprised that the door handles on the new RX are freezing in the same way as gen 2 NX. There have been replacements for the NX that solve this issue so I'm surprised the new design is not fitted on the newest builds (NX and RX) from factory. The range estimate on Lexus is very very conservative. You will probably have tens of miles of range left even when the predicted range shows zero. Try to have realistic expectations about software updates. Sounds like the fuel door needs an adjustment.

Quite correct information and one can reduce the times the engine starts by turning off the climate control, this is what techs do when the car is in the workshop. I just wish they could remember to turn it back on when finished, the number of times I wondered why I'm so hot (summer) or cold (winter) only to realise the climate is off! I must admit I've never put the car into Ready mode simply when cleaning the car. Unless one habitually leaves the doors open there should be no additional drain on the 12v battery. Just remember to leave the key fob far enough away so the doors don't constantly lock and unlock as water goes over the door handles..

Interesting video by TCCN on power steering, bleeding and fluid to use. I had read about Idemitsu lubricants and their link with Toyota when I searched for ‘who makes Toyota oil’ . TCCN uses Idemitsu PSF and he said it’s the stuff used when the car is new so I had a look into buying some in the UK, I couldn’t find a supplier though. Rock Auto sell it at £3.30 a bottle so I ordered 10 bottles of 345ml for around £60 delivered including duty. Will be delivered Friday, I still can’t believe ordering stuff from Rock Auto and it arrives in a few days!! Link to review of it, number 8 on the list of reviews https://autoquarterly.com/best-power-steering-fluids/ TCCN video

It’s not just about rerouted wiring but use of the “Toyota Security Key” (encryption/authentication on canbus) in newer models. Manufacturers rarely comment on these things as it somewhat creates a menu for thieves to know what they can easily take…

Be careful! Insurers count it as a modification. If you don't tell them and have an accident...............?

Went out I is today. Really nice - it’s definitely a Lexus.

Well there you go !!!

Iran is quite an interesting country. You're right, the youth won't have much say over foreign policy, but the old guard keep getting older, while the young keep growing and getting educated, and will keep on protesting. Progress may come slowly, but it will come as demographics shift. An interesting paradox is that whilst such countries are somewhat less progressive regarding women, around 70% of STEM graduates in Iran are women. This is far higher than western countries, where in many cases the numbers are declining. You're also right about Trump. On the one hand he's an unpredictable strongman, but on the other hand he's an old school isolationist. I think Iran are happy to annoy the US, but doubt they'd want to push it to all out conflict. The possible dangers I see in both Iran and Israel, are that the hardliners are running out of time. That might cause those in Iran to over react in an attempt to hang on to power. On the other hand though I think ultimately they'd like to see themselves more aligned with the West. Culturally, and ideologically, they're in many ways a better fit than the Sunni states like Saudi, who we've tolerated largely because of oil. It's funny, because in the US, Americans seem to like Persians, it's almost as if they don't know they're Iranians 🙂 Equally, in Israel, the Abraham accords have shown that the Arab signatories, who Israel want/need as political/economic partners, are willing to stand up to the increased settlement expansion, and even walk away if necessary. If that leads to a move towards to a truly two state solution, then the hardliners in Israel are either going to have concede any further expansion into Palestinian territory, or continue to drag out any conflict so that they can carry on. The more the US backs off though, the faster that clock runs down. It will be interesting to see how they react to that. So yes, the situation remains unpredictable, and potentially volatile, but the winds of change are blowing.

Put a GR Yaris engine in it and create a new F model ....I'd be interested

Lexus Edinburgh has one of these in, and it's not that much smaller than a UX. Still don't like SUVs alas I am a minority 🤣