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Fe_La

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    RX 400h

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  1. Hi folks, This is about an interesting product I have just found and I think it will satisfy a lot of demands that factory built nav systems will never do. It is called NavNGo Limousine. I did not find a lot of info on the Net in English but for sure it is coming. It is planned to be released to the market in the coming months. This is an additional PDA-like computer without its own screen that can be wired to factory installed screens in different cars, like the one in the Lexus. Hope they will release the Lexus connection kit, too. This computer will run a software called iGo that currently offers the most advanced Western- Mid- and Eastern European map coverage including all those countries that are not even planned for many major car manufacturers to be released in their factory provided map softwaren in the next few years. The country coverage might not be interesting for those using only the Western European roads, however the additional features of the software will surely appeal to many of us. I am talking about Internet updateable SPEED CAMERA warning (like in TomTom) or 3D view of the road (also like in TomTom and others). For details on this check the current iGO software function list. Unfortunately the touch screen will not work in any models (according to current unit). Instead, they will provide a straightforward remote control. You can find the company website and a short article about NavNGo Limousine here: http://www.navngo.com/en/cebit/index.php The following article is unfortunately in Hungarian, but the pictures speak for themselves. http://www.pdamania.hu/content/8045/ The picture showing the Western European coverage is the one of the factory installed nav system in the test car. All other pictures are the NavNGo display screenshots. Another place with pictures: http://www.vezess.hu/picture.php?nr=2&...10&idx=9716 In case these links would die, try Google the following: NavNGo Limousine Hope this system will be available soon to all of us. It is planned to be released this year. The initial price will be around 6-700 Euro. I have no news about what this price would include apart from the main unit, the satnav receiver, cables, remote and software. The system will not be available in shops. The company plans to distribute it through companies that install aftermarket satnav systems. Hope this will make many of you excited about the new possibilities, especially speed camera warnings.
  2. Hi Damer, Not sure my experience will help out, but in case it does, I share it with you. The RX in my opinion has the center of gravity too high (as expected for a SUV) and if you still rise it by adding extra weight on the top of the vehicle, it might be less secure to drive at higher speeds out of towns or on motorways. Think about side winds how they can already make you feel the car unstable even without bicycles on the top. This will be even worst (much worst) when you have your bikes on the top. And surely you do not want to go on holiday based on whether the wind blows or not. For the same reason I ordered a detachable towing hitch when I got my RX400h delivered. This is perfect for safe bicycle carrying at the back of the car. One mistake however what I made and learning from it you might avoid it. I ordered the Lexus bicycle holder suitable for the towing hitch that you can find in the catalog. This is manufactured in one of the Northern countries and delivered to Lexus. It is not expensive, but you can only use it with 2 bicycles. On top of that once you mount it you will realize that you cannot put the security cover on it without scratching the paint off from your rear bumper. Seams to be a really cheap solution. Now, I do not know if the installation of my towing hitch was screwed up at the dealer that it got so close to the bumper or the responsible Lexus personnel was not paying attention to all details when they selected this bicycle holder and branded it with a Lexus logo, but the end result is crap and absolutely not like what you expect from Lexus. For this reason, after finding out this problem, I went for the Thule EuroWay 947 bike holder which is a bit more expensive, but it has a matching high quality look as your RX has and it functions perfectly. There is enough clearance between the bumper and the bicycle holder, it is for three bikes and you can bank it while the bikes are on if you want to open the rear door. Additionally it is foldable and small enough to put it in the trunk when it is empty if you leave the car somewhere unattended while riding the bikes. Just a few features that the Lexus branded bicycle holder does not have. Have a nice holiday. Fe_La
  3. Hi folks, Despite all promises we've got no further update from Lexus Europe so far. Fe_La
  4. Hi Steve, Do not bother too much about the tricks to override the disabled Bluetooth phone. Once you do it and start using it you will find out that it lacks in voice qality when you call out from the car and you have difficulties with your stored phone numbers, etc. Otherwise it is the blue wire on European models, the second one from the right in the bottom row you have to cut if you look at the screen from the front. It will not disable anything else just gives you back the usability of the Bluetooth phone. If you want a high quality phone in your car matching the "marketed quality" of Lexus just forget about the factory Bluetooth installation. It is not fully compatible with most of the handsets and anyways gives you a pain in the neck once you can start using it while driving. Maybe it is a marketing trick to disable it in the factory so you could never realize how crap it is. For a high quality Bluetooth installation look for the Parrot CK3100 kit. It is compatible with most of the handsets, it is upgradeable and will give you an exceptionally high quality of voice. You have to find a good place for the LCD display, that is all. I will get mine installed at the top left corner of the silver 'tray' around the shift lever. Fe_La
  5. To jaroph: First as I see your location you are based in Florida in the US and might have no real picture on how the EU RX400h is downgraded compared to the US version. The missing features are not too much emphasized by the dealer here when we buy or order the car, however they expect us to give a high score to the brand based on US customer satisfaction data. We trust that we can make all the tricks or extensions (i.e. Vaistech iPod) as the US owners can do and get frustrated down to the disappointment when the car gets delivered and nothing works what you learned from the forums. I am not sure that our failure of car selection here in Europe is really based on the high amount of information what we can collect from the Internet (and sometimes falsely stated by Lexus, see pre-crash safety system) making us disappointed or from the low amount of information provided by the dealers on the US-EU differences and other aspects. A good example is an anti-hijacking system. Some dealers are very confident that no anti-hijacking system can be installed due to the hybrid system and they would do anything just to make you wrong about the opposit. However I know some people having one installed in their RX400h and I have one too. It works perfectly. Tested. Installed by a specialist third party company. Anyways, the drivability of the RX is extraordinary, the attention of other people drawn by the car is special, the working features are acceptable and the missing features and the modified cabling and software that disables EU owners to enable navigation what we are used to on other brands is very frustrating (see other differences in this and other forums by other EU owners). By the way, paying high amount for a Bluetooth phone that needs to be replaced by an aftermarket solution due to bad voice quality is something that is hard to swallow whether the seat belt is beeping or not. The 'failure of judgement in car selection' could come in the picture if we talked about new features which would not make sense to me either. No offense, we just have different point of views on this so as we had probably at the time of ordering the car.
  6. Dear all, We had our meeting with Lexus Europe on the 21 June in Brussels. On the meeting three Lexus RX400h owners were present with three managers of Lexus Europe. For most of our questions we have got disappointing answers meaning that they are not able to foresee any change on current cars and maybe just a few of them on future European models. However at the end of the meeting we agreed that Lexus Europe managers will provide a summary of the meeting topics what we can publish here to all of you within a few days after the meeting. It's been more than a week passed since our meeting and we have received no summary whatsoever that we all three participating RX400h owners hoped to carry more positive answers than we have got on the meeting. Therefore I cannot share any good news with you now. I do not know what change in responses will be present in the summary if we ever get it from Lexus Europe managers, but one thing is for sure: since I have this car I repetedly hear one thing from different Lexus garages or representatives: "It is not possible". With this approach I have 100% disappointment of Lexus European customer service and if anyone ever wants to avoid the same mistake what I did when I ordered this car please consider this: Customer satisfaction and customer care of Lexus in Europe is way below what you can read about it from the US. Basically they cannot be mentioned on the same page. Lexus is a poorly supported and on top of it technically degraded car in Europe at more than one and the half times higher price than in the US. If you want to avoid trouble and hearing the frequent answer from your dealer after you have got the car delivered "this is not possible" then look around good on the market before you settle for the Lexus. There was a thread in the US forum started last year in the subject whether people are satisfied with their buy of RX400h. That thread played a big role in my decision before I ordered my car. If you are one of those who took the same thread into account and did not buy the car yet, do not do it! American people are satisfied about Lexus because the car is not technically degraded having lack of functions and the dealers are of the highest quality examples of customer care. In Europe we do not have any of these. If the same question was asked from me in the EU or UK forum my answer was: No, I am not satisfied and if I had to make up my mind again I would definitely not buy the Lexus. Hope this helps to save the hassle for those who did not buy the car yet in Europe. However if you are the type who likes disappointing answers about your problems of your car from your dealer or representative and on top of it you are willing to pay premium money for the car then the EU version of Lexus is definitely for you. Those who are already Lexus owners in Europe better to start thinking about the second hand value of your cars in a few years when the whole market will be flooded with the information about the technically degraded European versions, especially if Lexus starts improving the new versions of the cars based on our feedbacks. Sad, but this is also part of the game. I am sorry that I could not provide you with any good news. I wish you a good luck anyway and a happy summer vacation. All the best, Fe_La
  7. Hi All, Many of you might remember one of my earlier posts in the thread titled "Phone + Navigation Override Tricks Won't Work". Things are going on and we are shortly going to have the opportunity for a meeting with Lexus Europe thanks to many of your's feedbacks and the special efforts of Williz (RX 400h owner from Austria). Sorry for the length of this post. Please read on, it is going to be interesting for all European RX 400h owners! Based on earlier discussions in this and the LOC EU forum Williz managed to start discussions with Lexus Europe in order to have a meeting where a few RX 400h owners representing all of the other not completely satisfied European (including UK) owners would be able to sit down with the representatives of Lexus Europe to expect solutions to all of the most important topics causing frustrations around the EU version of RX 400h. These topics are collected from the LOC UK and EU forums and they are also based on our own RX 400h user experience by the three of us (RX 400h owners from Austria, Luxembourg and Belgium) and shared with all of you in this post. The purpose of the upcoming meeting is not to re-design the current RX 400h but more importantly - to get those features available for our cars that shipped with the US version despite of its lower price - to get official Lexus-like solutions for some of the disabled functions on EU version and also - to get some user feedbacks back to Lexus in order to produce the next RX 400h more up-to-date to our tech-age requirements as it concerns i.e. in-car mobile telephony and MP3 playback. The following points are the summary of what we have collected and included in our document to be the base of our discussion and to be handed over to Lexus Europe in the following days prior to our meeting: 1. Differences in price between the EU and US model and reversed difference in functions and warranty 2. Functions that come either standard or option on US models and are disabled or not available on EU models: - Lexus Personalized Settings (Most importantly: auto door lock, turning off lights when ignition switched off in AUTO mode, Power backdoor should be able to open or close (but at least close) even while car is locked or being locked - Rear entertainment solution (We have to go for aftermarket solution with sometimes non-Lexus quality installations) - Dynamic laser cruise control (No alternative in Europe) - Garage door opener (HomeLink) (Aftermarket solution can be installed with not in harmony with interior design) - Head restraints forward-reward adjustment (Not a big omission, but with the higher price we should expect more function and not less) - 220V (240V in UK) outlet in luggage compartment is not installed in Europe - SCAN function of the radio is altered with AST button (a different function than on US model) which disables EU owners to properly install the only iPod integration solution from VAISTECH 3. Functions that are unreasonable solutions and from driver point of view are considered more likely to keep the driver's eye off the road - Disabled bluetooth phone while car is in move (The driver is forced to look at the handset's keyboard instead of the dasboard when a call must be initiated to a number not listed as quick access button) - Partially disabled nav system while car is in move (Forces the driver to set location by browsing the map (more attention drawing) instead of letting to use the quick way of address input while i.e. moving at a slow speed. Besides, for all adult and responsible drivers the warning screen when starting the car should be enough not to "play" with the navigation system while the car is in normal traffic or in a situation where 100% of driver's attention required when in motion but off traffic. Additionally the nav system still has a lot of features that are not disabled and can equally draw attention off the road when driven by an irresponsible driver based on the same but questionable reasons of disabling the most useful functions of the system what we all paid fully and can use it only when the car is parked which is usually less than 5% of total vehicle use) - On top of the unreasonable and questionable two limitations mentioned in this point EU owners are even disabled from simply overriding them unlike in the US where a workaround is disclosed for those who do not agree having their fully paid car disabled in a certain way. 4. Misleading technical feature is still available on Belgian and Luxembourgian web site now (was also available last year in other EU countries) - People make their buying decisions on different factors. Those who took into account the pre-crash safety system as plus point when ordered their RX 400h, like I did, must be disappointed when they realize they were misled by the offical Lexus web sites. 5. Functions that are minimum expected on the market from a top of the range luxury SUV in our tech-age for the EU high price - A Bluetooth phone must be compatible with majority of all handsets released in the last 2-3 years by leading mobile phone producers (Higher quality aftermarket solution is available from 150 Euro up) - A Bluetooth phone should have Lexus-like calling quality (which is not even the case by fine tuning the voice settings in the hidden menu) - Bluetooth phone should probably have voice dialling feature using the handset's phone book taking the hassle out of the barely working phone book transfer feature - Qality iPod integration option should be offered like for many brands (see http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipodyourcar/) or at least no downgraded radio which is allowing the only current aftermarket solution to be installed properly (see in point 2 above) - In case of omitted rear seat entertainment system and iPod integration the vehicle should feature a neutral auxialary input to make aftermarket installations possible at all in the age of MP3 music and on-the-road rear-seat DVD players - A large vehicle like the RX expected to have automatic folding side mirrors in the narrow parkings of cities when ignition key is removed from dash or door locked in addition to the hard-to-find-without-looking-down manual button This list of topics stays open in the next few days before we hand it over to Lexus Europe for all of you to suggest further resonable topics closely related to the subjects. However, the list of different topics should not be too extensive in order to rather focus on a fewer ones and get more solid results out of the meeting. If you are like us, one of those almost totally satisfied owners of this fantastic luxury hybrid SUV with small but frustrating European omissions and downgrades, then we would appreciate to have your support on the meeting. You can support us either by sending your name and country by Personal Message to me (your name will not be published here, however we have to share it with Lexus Europe) or at least you can post a reply with your nickname and country in this thread. If you would like to participate on our meeting with Lexus Europe in Brussels then likewise send a Private Message to me. Please note that the cost of travel and staying should be covered individually by each participant. Important: Please stay on-topic as much as possible while giving your feedback as we plan to refer to this thread also during our meeting. Looking forward to receiving your feedbacks either by PM or as a reply to this post. Fe_La
  8. I agree with Williz that the first 'page' which comes up with the nav is more than enough for adults. It also complies with the European law requirements. I am used to confirming the warning from my previous cars and I think so are you people. I assume the RX is not the first car with navigation for most of us. Last weekend I had the opportunity to drive quite a few hundred kilometers with my new RX 400h. We went down to Normandy, France with my family. On the way my wife was playing around a bit with the navigation, especially when we drove from village to village along the coast line. I was kind of shocked seeing so many possibilities what you can do with the nav system while the car is in move. You can, for example, search on the map (which is, in my opinion, much more attention drawing for the driver than simply inputting town and street names with the word predictive system whether the driver does it or the passenger), you can detour your route based on different criteria, you can select amongst quick1, quick2 and short routes and you can look them up on the map in detail, where you can zoom in and out, etc. You can also input virtually any destination if you are ok with maps. For example, you can input your neighboring street in your home town as destination while you are in France in your MOVING vehicle. But instead of the easy, word predicting way, which would be faster, less attention drawing, you are forced to do it by searching for the street on the map. It is funny isn't it? Of course you would not do this trick while driving, but the system allows you to do so. So why do we all have to accept this? Isn't this pushing people to make more likely accidents? Wouldn't it be less dangerous to allow us, I mean with the help of the passenger, to input the destination with the normal, word predictive way while the car is in move? People, imagine this. You drive your RX. You have a passenger, doesn't matter who. You do not want to stop your car, because you just don't want to lose a minute. You ask your passenger to touch the screen and find x street in y town. The passenger starts doing so, but it turns out that she or he is not so good at maps and you need to look at the screen time to time and assist her in pulling the map a little bit to the left, a little bit to the top, zooming in more, etc. Your attention would not be on the road, for sure. On the other hand if we could use the built-in word predictive input for destination, even we while driving could do it in a few seconds or if you cannot keep your left eye on the road while the right is on the dashboard ;-) you would have to explain much less to your passenger. The same with the phone. It would be much less attention drawing for the driver if he could input the number or search for numbers on the dashboard, which is closer to the road in the eyesight than the phone held in your hand. Do you people see my point? All this could be a good starting point for the petition. Of course Lexus could come up with the solution that they disable even more functions while the car is in move. But come on. Why did we spend thousands of Euros or Pounds on the nav system? To use it while the car is parked in the garage? For less cost we all could have bought any top of the range aftermarket nav system, right? (Even with more functions) It is time to get the correct value in exchange for our money. Sorry for my long message. Just wanted to shake you all up a bit in order to unite and make that petition. This week or the latest on the next week I will bring the subject up at my lawyer. I do not promise anything, though. Let's see what we can do. I would appreciate if others could also make some steps further. Asking your lawyer a few questions does not cost anything. On top of this we will need for sure as many signatures of European RX 400h owners as possible, so please register if not done yet and add your confirmation below, so we know that we can count on you in the crusade of getting the value for our money. What we want is simple. Full use of all functions including nav system and Bluetooth phone, etc. while the car is in move and additionally the power of choice with the beeping of the seatbelt warning whether it should be audible or only silent warning with the flashing lights. Do we want to HAVE a nav system and Bluetooth hands free phone in our cars or do we want to actually USE them? It is nice to have them but have low value or zero value if we cannot use them OR if we can use them in a way that is more likely to draw our attention off the road. Ferenc
  9. Hi all, I've got my 2006 RX 400h last week in Belgium. Just to confirm: none of the tricks work what I found on this nor the US web site in different threads except the bluetooth connection setting which seams to really improve sound quality of mic and speaker. Due to my work I drive a lot and I am used to get the navigation system handled by my passanger all the time on the move while I drive and I make phone calls regularly from the car to save time. I hoped when I ordered my car back in December last year that the tricks to override the 'nannying' will solve all my worries. I am quite disappointed to experience now that none of the overriding solutions work here in Europe. As I see in this and other threads I am not alone with this. From all other aspects the car is excellent. Just like many other RX 400h owners in Europe I will be checking on the new messages here and on other threads regularly until a savior angel comes to us with the European solution. Besides, I support the idea of making a petition to Lexus about overriding the annoyingly disabled bluetooth phone and nav system while on the move as many people have already suggested this but no action was taken as far as I know. How do we start on this?
  10. Hi Gonzosgone, as far as I remember from Vaistech website or from other RX400 threads the SoundLinQ iPod interface comes with detailed instructions which helps you get it installed in less than an hour. In case not, here is a link to a web site which provides with instructions for the RX 330: http://www.carstereohelp.com/stereoremovalLexusRX330Str.htm I saved this link in December last year and at that time it was a free step by step instruction. I am suprised to see now that the guy charges about 5 bucks for this info. From which company did you order your SoundLinQ? The ones I found (spent a few evenings on searching and browsing through many websites selling this unit) do not ship to Europe.
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