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m'ladys husband

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Everything posted by m'ladys husband

  1. Hi All, Some news hot off the press as they say. My wifes car is being borrowed by LGB for a day or two next week when they want to try out a new version of the ECU in it. Apparently, we will not be left with the new ECU, they want to test it in a car thats known to have the problem and then go away again and make a proper version before they issue a beta test version in due course. :D The good news for us all is that it seems the issue is ongoing and that things are happening pretty much on schedule. :D I will post again as and when I have any feedback on these initial tests. Meanwhile, dont forget to let me have your contact details if you have not already done so - its the only way that you can be added to the database I am collating for LGB. My address is michael@imperial-motoryachts.com Best regards. Michael.
  2. Hi All, Dont forget to let me have your contact details if you have not already done so - michael@imperial-motoryachts.com Please send your details so that you can be added to the database I am collating for LGB. Best regards. Michael.
  3. Hi Mike, Thanks a lot for all your help and support. Please send your details so that you can be added to the database I am collating for LGB. Best regards. Michael. michael@imperial-motoryachts.com
  4. Hello all, I have been away in Holland on business until today hence the delay in posting again. Many thanks for all the kind comments, it really is very good of you but to be honest, like everyone, we just wanted the car to be as it should be. It's good to know that if we work together we can achieve a result. I will collate a file for Lexus to have and then they can contact everyone directly. Please, if you want to be included in the lists for LGB, email me at michael@imperial-motoryachts.com with your name, address and phone no together with car reg and local dealership and I will make a database for LGB to have when they are ready to make contact. I undertake to traet all the information in confidence and only pass it to Lexus - no mailshots from us!!!!! :D I will monitor the forum and post again as and when there is more news but until then, we have to prepare our boats for the boat show next week.......happy days! If you are at the Southampton boat show come and say hello - we are on berths 114, 155, 119 and 121. (Oh yes, bring your cheque books with you, we can be very persuasive!). Best regards to you all. Michael.
  5. Good day to you all, I have been looking at all the recent posts and have at last some news - To quote John, Well, there we have it. Someone must have been reading the quote above from John! I have this morning received a letter from Lexus GB which I copy below for you all to see - :D I have to say a big well done to Lexus for recognising the problem does exist and for taking notice of those of us who find the fault an annoyance. To those of you who have yet to suffer the fault, I say it now looks hopefully that it will be rectified before your car develops it. For our part, we will happily await the new ECU and hope that it does finally make this otherwise great car EXACTLY what it should be. Many thanks to all of you who have supported our efforts to gain awareness of the problem and who will no doubt want to be in on the testing stage of the new ECU. Maybe you could let me have an idea of who and where you are so that I can send a confidential contact list off to Lexus when they ask for it? Not sure of the etiquette on the forum for letting me have your contact details but if you want to email me directly I will happily post my email address.....answers please! Good result for us the end users shelling out £39k for our cars and a good result for Lexus and their Customer support - it does pay to talk! Happy motoring to all. Michael.
  6. Hi All, Guess what? Its now a week past the date when I was promised some feedback after the global get together of technicians from LGB, Belgium and Japan...........................just what I expected. I cannot help but think that Lexus imagine that if they leave us alone maybe we'll give up and go away. Wrong on that one. COME ON LEXUS - TALK TO US. Perhaps all you other owners of these otherwise great cars can call your dealerships and ask if they know what happened in the wotld talks on 18th August and if they say no, ask them to call LGB and find out for you. Lets try and raise awareness again. Michael.
  7. Moring Bhives, AlexU and King off the hill, Yes, we tried using Super Unleaded and found that here is a difference especially when you use Shell Optimax as I do on my own car. M<uch better performance, ssmoother and also better fuel efficiency but of course at a higher cost. BUT the problem is still there and on the current car we have used both normal and super unleaded. Our dealer said normal is absolutely Ok and this was conmfirmed by the two Japanese engineers that looed at th car. BUT the problem is just the same..the car lurches whatever petrol one uses. So, we decided to stick with Lexus recommendation that normal cheap(!) unleaded will do the job. Amen to the Lemon law - how do we get it here other than try and raise awareness. Michael.
  8. Hi all, Complaint now done to Watchdog and also another one to Top Gear again addressed to our chm on the research team. Watch this space for news of contacts. Off to pack now! Michael.
  9. Hi Damian and King of the Hill, As you know we have been to trading standards and also sent an email to Top Gear where we do have an insider who is a researcher for the program. They have the full history in an email from my wife (who actually owns this car!). To date nothing much has happened with JC but we will be trying again as they are now researching the new series of the program. I will get another email off to Top Gear and also to Watchdog and ask them to look at he thread here and contact me if they want to take this any further. I like the NCAP suggestion....it si a real safetry issue and it does seem to get worse - clever these intelligent learning gearboxes aren'y they! :D Damain, sorry to hear of yoru drive last night. It always seems to play up when you really dont want it to. It must be a real pain in the neck in heavy traffic like you have in London. We ahve an apartment in town and tend to trake the DB7 when we go up as it is a much better drive than the Lexus is in traffic - it should not be but it is. Am off to France for 36 hours but will try and get a mail off to BBC before we go, if not then on Monday for sure. 'Pursuit of Perfection' my backside! Take the money and say 'its a characteristic of the car' is wehat actually happens. Its a shame they dont tell us about it when they try to sell the damn thing to us - we could then make a balanced decision. Best regards. Michael.
  10. Good morning all, I have today received the official line from Lexus re our complaint about the gearbox lurching issues. remember that his is our second Mark 2 RX300. We changed to the 05 model year because we were told the ECU had been remapped and the problem resolved. The letter is from our dealership after consultation with LGB. It reads - "Thank you for your recent involvment with the survey team, in demonstrating your dissatisfaction with the gear selection and subsequent drivability of your RX300. As you are aware from conversations with both myself and Steve Settle, the survey team is collating more data from the network and will be meeting to discuss a proposed action plan in August. Whilst Lexus are prepared to investigate the gear selection further, your gearbox and the performance of your vehicle remains within the design specification of the car. Therefore I am sorry to say our position has not changed from that stated on 8th June in that I am not able to accept your vehicle back under terms set out in your letter and subsequent email on August 1st." You will recall that I was promised an answer on the 1st August. This was not forthcoming and it was only because I pestered them all week that Steve Settle did chase the issue up and come back to me with the fact that there is a meeting on the 18th August at which the technical group and the Japanese technical team will meet (via a conference link (I think) and decide WHAT, If ANYTHING, will be done about he issue. It may then take a long time before any fix is in the user domain. This car is now becoming a liability on the road as it cannot be relied upon to accelerate smoothly when needed. We have had a number of near misses in it and are totally fed up. Either we will rear end someone or we will have a side impact on a roundabout. Drove the car for 275 miles yesterday and ended up in rush hour stop/start traffic in Plymouth. The car was a real pain in the neck - literally - it jerked and jumped all over the place and then when you wanted it to move forward briskly it did not want to be bothered..................PLEASE GIVE ME A THICK GEARBOX. INTELLIGENT ONES ARE OVERRATED. As there seems to be a very open ended possible fix, if ever, to this problem we will be taking the matter to court to get the full money back on the car. If LGB fix it in the near future we will be delighted to have a car that finally works as it should do. We have spent so much money on these RX300's over the last three years that it is crazy! Lexus experience - it isn't that good! Anybody else out there prepared to consider sending a complaint to TV's Watchdog about what is I believe a major drivability and safety issue on a luxury high spec product? Michael.
  11. Latest news- form a very angry Michale and wife!!! I have just had a call from our dealership saying that LGB are surprised that we do not want to wait for the outcome of the meeting between LGB/Belgium/Japan on the 18th. Strangely enough, we want some action now not promises that someone might do something at some time in the future. I may even accept this if we had some idea of how long that period may be but as we were told by Mr Settle, it is not until after that meeting Lexus may or may not do anything and even then it will take some time, if they do decide to anything before its a field fix (see my previous postings). What does it take for them to realise that this is not -as they maintain to this day - 'A characteristic of the car having an intelligent gearbox' or the other popular expression we are often faced with is 'The intelligent gearbox does not suit your driving styles'. We love the car, that's why we bought it, and the two previous ones, but this is not how a £39k car should drive. The upshot of todays call is that we have had enough and as Damian says in his last posting, this problem is a real safety issue. I have asked that the decision be put in writing to me and am promised this early next week. As soon as I have the official words I will scan them in and post them for you all to see. So, as of Monday we are putting the matter into Solicitors hands and will be demanding a full refund on the car. To be told that they are not prepared to discuss a refund or buy back until after the 18th is an insult...........its just a clever way of playing us along and then we are time expired on our right to reject the goods. Nice try! Does anyone else out there want to join forces? Best regards. Michael.
  12. Hi Damian, Now that is interesting! It does seem that the forum is looked at and monitored - great. Come on Lexus lets sort this out properly shall we? As for our decision - we are awaiting a call today (Friday) to say if we will get a full refund or a 400h instead is a possibility but this is a VERY different driving experience. It goes very well unless you pull away hard from a standstill when there is a distinct torque steer effect (this is due to the electric motors on the front wheels I am told by the dealership). I also found it was not as easy to turn in to a left hand bend at any seed over about 35mph as the 300 is. This may just be a different handling characteristic that you soon get used to but it was quite different. Apart from that it certainly overcomes the lurching problem. In short the 400h is a nice car BUT so is the 300 apart from this Bl***y gearbox problem. Off to look at a Cherokee (i know, I know) and a Cayenne today to see if they are any real opposition or alternatives...any thoughts anyone? Michael PS. Yes Tony, 10 is the magic number!
  13. Make that £39k - unles LGB want to send us the extra £300k as a sorry for the hassle ex gratia payment!
  14. Hello All, After a very frustrating 300 mile drive in the car on Tuesday, I called LGB and spoke with Steve Settles office and was promised a call back. This duly happened this morning and I am assured that as a result of our efforts Lexus Japan are now looking seriously at the issue - it seems that they now have 10 dealerships who have had customer complaints on the matter This is the magic number to get the ball rolling. I am told that there is a meeting on the 18th August at which time Lexus Japan will decide what and if anything is to be done about it. There may well be no action taken as it is still called a characteristic of the vehicle. IF they decide to do something it won't happen quickly, as being a manufacturer they will have to have any modifications type approved and tested by the relevant authorities. Frankly, we are not prepared to wait any longer and have asked for our £339k back by next Monday. I have taken the car to the dealership this afternoon and left it with them as it is now slipping between gears rather than changing gear and is extremely vague about putting the power down - only when you need it of course, such as joining a road from a slip road or accelerating out of a roundabout! They have lent us a Hybrid 400 and I must say it is really very nice. Maybe I misssed the trick and should have changed the car for a hybrid.........should have asked m'lady for her opinion and then changed it. Will post again when more news, meanwhile A BIG THANK YOU to all of you who have taken the trouble to chase up your dealers and supported the issue. Iam told that LGB monitor this site to keep up to date with our comments. Best regards to all, Michael.
  15. This is a well documented mk 1 auto known problem. We looked out for it when test driving our Mk 1 before purchase and it does exist. On our Mk 1 it was a bit of a flat spot and this onmly happened under certain driving conditions, at about 40 mph as I recall, just as it changed up from 3rd to 4th Lexus said had been ironed out in the mk 2 by fitting a 5 speed box. We changed the car...............look at the thread on Mk2 lurching and you'll see why we wished we had stayed with the Mk 1! At least you knew when it was going to happen and by selecting manual or by kicking down to get ghe revs up it did seem to be a way aroiund the only real minor hitch on a good car. Enjoy the Mk 1 its a good machine Hope this is of help. Michael.
  16. My GS seemed to "perk up" when I reset the ECU, they may have done the same. Incidentally, it seems to have cured the sharp gearchange I was getting. If that's what they've done you should find it'll settle down a bit once the car gets used to your driving style. ← Yes, been there, done that! The last SEL had the ECU reset no less than five times. Its a quick fix for Lexus but it does always come back as soon as the gearbox re-learns the driving styles. The last car was changed at very little cost with LGB's help as it became so bad. I am sure that this isas a result more of a remap to the ECU as the car really is VERY different to how it, or either of the last two, have been. I have been back to the dealer and asked what was done but so far have not had a proper answer and am simply told, 'they say they did not change anything'. However, we are still awaiting the final verdict from Belgium. This is due and promised to me by Monday so will post again as promised when I have the considered opinion and verdict of the technicians. Michael
  17. Dear Alex, Good to see that your dealer is aware of the problem as well. Yesterday, we sent an email to our dealership saying that whatever the techies did to the car has made it most unpleasant to drive. My wife said it was not right the day after we got it ack and when I drove it for two and a half hours on Sunday it was truly terrible. It is now quite agressive when driving slowly around built up areas to the point of being dangerous - one foot over the throttle and one over the brake is needed! It seems to slide into gear slowly rather than change smoothly. My bet is that the engine ECU has been re-mapped and possibly the gearbox pressures altered. Yet, on the open road, it does sem to have more grunt and a different exhaust/engine note......not quite like my DB7 but still quite a good sporty feel. I have asked for comments from the two techies as to what they did and to tell them it did us no good at all but just exacerbated the situation. Watch this space, 1st August is soon upon us and I am assured we will have an answer by then. Best regards to all. Michael.
  18. Hi Damian, Alex, Tony and Mike, Thanks for your continuing support. As you know, Baz and I had a good meeting and as soon as there is any news I'll post it straight away. Have only just driven the car myself since it was returned to us and the Techies seem to have done something to it...my wife noticed it first when she drove it the next day. It seems to be very harsh on acceleration and a little worse if anything. So as soon as the dealer manager is back on Monday I shall ask him what they did to the car. It sounds like it has more power from the exhaust note but it is certainly not as smooth as it was before they 'looked' at the car. I note the comment on the X5's - tell me, has anyone seen one on the road here that does not have an X5 ??? plate on it? Best regards to all. Michael.
  19. :D Just a thought all you RX400 owners, is there now a case for rubber bull bars here? Could be a whole new sport developing here, I wonder if Sky Sport would be interested in the television rights? Michael
  20. Good day all, Had a good meeting yesterday with LGB and two Belgian techies. They are certainly taking the matter seriously now. They drove the car and agreed that there was a problem. (Honestly!!!!!) They also had a laptop device connected to the ECU which I guess recorded some data when the lurch happened. I also printed all the comments from all of you and left three copies with them. The good news is that I understand the customer services team at LGB are monitoring the forum as well. I had to leave the car with them all day for further invetsigations and it was delivered back to me last night very clean and hoovered (Thanks, Lexus Southampton - saves me a job at the weekend). Baz also joined me so that there were two cars to sample and this they did. Like our car, his also showed the fault. Thanks again Baz for making the long journey, good to meet you and your support much apprecviated. I understand that he techies found the trip of use and that I will get an official response on what happens next by August 1st. As soon as this is to hand I will post the news for you all to see. Lexus may or may not modify the car or the ECU depending on what is found and how many other official complaints are logged by LGB through the dealer network -methinks the solution is obvious! If they dont sort it then I will resort to rejecting the car and maybe get it changed for one of these RX400 car park creepers with the stealth mode. :D Just a thought all you RX400 owners, is there now a case for rubber bull bars here? Could be a whole new sport developing here, I wonder if Sky Sport would be interested in the television rights? Best regards to all. Michael.
  21. Can't believe your selling after 3/4 months, is it cause you are unhappy with the car ← Apart from a couple of things I miss on the RX I'm basically happy with it. I would only sell if the price was right and the main reason would be to get back to a car with a clutch and a gearbox. I've had several times entering an island when the car is having a little think about what gear to be in. I'm left in limbo and feel totally out of control. This is dangerous and may be the problem that Her Ladyship's husband is on about. 'part from that the car is fabulous. ← Hello, yes this is the problem that we are onm about - its a great car except for this vague and silly gearbox problem. See the news on the topic about next weeks meeting with LGB engineers........we may yet get a solution that works. Michael (m'ladys husband)
  22. Hi Baz, Lexus Southampton address is Third Avenue Southampton SO15 0LD tel 02380 707787 Best way there is via M3, M27 and off at j3 onto the M271. At the end of the motorway take the left hand turning, exit one on the roundabout. Stay in the left lane and WATCH THE SPEED - camera in use - You will then come alongside a flyover and see a roundabout. At the roundabout take the third exit (signed to the Docks) and then immediately left (20 yards!) opposite the Harley Davidson dealership into Third Avenue and Lexus are about 250 yards up on the right hand side. If you have a satnav system try to select the lexus dealership facility- it should bring you straight there. See you (all) there on Wednesday. Michael. Damian, I will let you all know what happens as soon as I can. Best regards. Michael.
  23. Dear Damian, Tony, Lexus John and Bartierrx300 (and all you other sufferers!), I have just had a call from a gentleman called Steve from customer relations dept at LGB and we are to have a visit by the technical team at our dealership, Lexus Southampton, next Wednesday at 09.00. I asked if they wanted to have more than one car to try to prove the problem is not peculiar to my wifes car and they politely declined! :mat: ...........I wonder why????? Now the fact is that at 09.00 on wednesday the 20th July at Lexus Southampton if you just happened to be there with a problematical Lexus RX300 then maybe the techies would want to try other cars as well. I do know that they have asked for other RX 300's to be available from the dealership.........why? I am away in Holland Tuesday all day but will be there in Southampton bright eyed and ready for action on Wednesday. I probably will not get a chance to check postings on Tuesday at all so please let me know your thoughts prior to this time. I have suggested to Steve that LGB and Belgium look at this thread........so LGB guys, if you are looking be sure to read all the mailings, there's a lot of us with the same problem. We all love the car but for this stupid and sortable problem. Let's get it all out in the open own up to the fact it does exist, sort it out and make a really good car a really GREAT car! Whatever the outcome I will post again on Wed/Thursday to let you all know whats happening. If you are in Southampton on Wednesday morning, I look forward to saying hello - the car is Dark blue and reg is M1ADY. If the car is not readily apparent I'll be the overweight, silver haired guy with the sad face! Michael.
  24. Yes - we love the car. This is our third RX (a mk1 and 2xmk2) it is just a pity that he promised 'fix' to the transmission was not actually there at all. Its a great car in all other respects. Just want it to be ft for the purpose that a £39k prestige car should be capable of! Michael.
  25. Hi John, Will do - you can trust me to get it sorted out or to get the car changed again, I will NOT go away or give up. My dealership know that already from the last RX! Like you, they diod a deal with LGB and got it sorted - or so we all thougt. The rest as they say is history..funny how it manages to repeat itself so soon though! Best regards. Michael.
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