Mike_B

I think the plates the monster and Steve are talking about are issued in Northen Ireland, rather than the Republic.

Really? Are you sure about that? I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'd be surprised if that was the case...

No worries. Remember to let us know how you get on with it! Good luck getting it sorted, I think it's one of those things that could be nothing, or could cost a packet. Unfortunately you won't know until it's been looked at though...

It's conceivable that it had an effect, perhaps (for example) the very low fuel meant that the gunge in the bottom of the tank concentrated around the pump and filter which could have meant it was having trouble pulling fuel through. I wouldn't have thought that to be especially likely, though... The ECU should have recorded what caused the light to come on. Is it still doing it, or has it gone off again now?

I used to live in Epsom, but took the car to ABM (Albin B Motors) who are in SE London. It's not especially close, but they are good and reasonably priced. I've been using them for servicing for 3 years now and intend to carry on doing so - and would certainly take it there if mine started showing lights like yours is. ABM

I would like one of these too - so if you find one, please post here where you got it! :)

I understand the concept that people like different things (for example, some people like Land Rovers but I wouldn't touch one with a bargepole) but in layman's terms why would a Mac be better for my needs? I am curious because this discussion has raged for a long time but PCs still seem to be more popular to the general public. Redsteve. it wouldn,t neccessarily be better for your needs ! bit like saying i need a car to get me from a - b . do i buy a datsun or do i spend the extra and buy a lexus. basically you pay for what you get, but both do the job. i just thort that most lexus owners would be mac owners. macs are expensive but not so sure in the long run. for example apple just released snow leopard operating system, and most macs (apart from the very old) could run the new operating system. but with windows 7 most computers need a hardware upgrade first ! thats before anti virus, spyware and adware software ! That's completely untrue. Snow Leopard requires an Intel based Mac, which means there are some Macs out there, less than 3 years old, which can't run it. And worse, the ones which can't were the most expensive ones, since the lower-end models changed to Intel first! Windows 7 has no greater hardware requirements than Vista and if a machine can run Vista, it will probably run 7 faster than Vista anyway.

Take the new job mate. Sounds far more interesting and working for a small company is more fun than working for a larger one - and if things work out you could be very high up there in a few years as it grows. You will also find you are more motivated, because when things go well it is self-evident that everyone benefits. Also because it is a small place you will find you get the chance to get involved in side projects, increasing your experience and thus your value to future employers. You will go nowhere in a school/college position doing the sort of thing you're doing, because it's not part of their core business. All you will ever really do is keep things ticking over and every few years replace a bunch of workstations. The apparent safety of working there is only an illusion anyway - your job is only guaranteed for as long as your notice period!

Fildigger - your avatar picture... some of us read this at work. Please remember that images like that get logged in caching proxy servers and so on! I think that's borderline 'NSFW' (Not Safe For Work)...

Good luck with your recovery mate - sounds like it was painful before!

The Transporter has it spot on with the cause. I bought a can of aircon cleaner from Halfords - it was about 6 quid if I remember rightly. The instructions are to turn the aircon system on full speed, with recirculation set to on (so it uses the same air rather than drawing in fresh from outside) and stand the can upright on the floor and press the button. It takes about 5-10 minutes to completely empty out the can into the air inside the car, and the recirculating air will draw the cleaning gases right through the system. Obviously all doors and windows need to be shut while this is going on, while you stand outside the car too. Worked very well for me - no more musty smell after I used it about 3 or 4 months ago. Recommended.

I don't know what else they might add to it. They are clearly not interested in improving the camera, and it's hard to see how they could do that anyway given the lack of depth in the casing. Phones with half-decent cameras are usually much thicker than an iphone, which gives them the necessary room for better optics. Now that the latest software versions have removed many of the main shortcomings in the device (ie missing features compared to other high-end phones) I'm not sure where else they can go except increased memory capacity - at least not without changing the physical format of the device! Better reception might be a good place to start - it stinks compared to my old (and also on O2) K850i!!

According to The Telegraph this morning, Orange isn't the only new UK operator to gain rights to sell the iPhone in the UK. See this link...

Can you not remove it from the car, get some 1000 grit wet'n'dry from Halfords, and polish it back up yourself? If it's scratched to heck anyway, what are you going to lose by trying it?

100w might help, but blue certainly won't. White light is made up of all colours of the spectrum, so limiting the output of your headlights to just blue means you have *less* light, not more. Blue is a cold colour light and gives the impression of being brighter, but that is mostly psychological because generally we associate 'dim' with a yellowish colour headlight. To be honest the car you have was purpose built to drive a couple of thousand miles in a few days, so use the standard ones unless you want to go to the effort and expense of putting HID bulbs in, which will probably take you longer than the 5-10 mins you want to spend.

The small boot size is the main reason why one would choose a 300 over a 450h. Plus of course people have concerns over the long-term reliability of the battery packs and electronics that go with it. It's a real shame if the 460 is going. They are a really rare car, and it is still the one I will probably choose when my 430 does eventually reach the end of it's working life. Assuming I can find one that is - it's rare to start with and people who are 'in the know' will probably buy up all the good ones for the same reason I will, a car to keep for years and years!

I thought I had a problem with mine when I first got it - but there is a feature on these cars where it detects if you are going down a hill, and it will change down a gear to help keep your speed in check. This is not dependent on the cruise control, but works all the time. You can provoke it a bit by braking - watch the rev counter and you will see it jump up as it changes down, then if you press the throttle a bit it will change up again as it thinks you don't want it to assist in limiting your speed. Assuming you're not actually going down a steep hill when it starts playing up, it could be something to do with the level sensor. I've no idea where it is, it could be in the gearbox, but there wouldn't really be any need for it to be tucked in there; since they are electronically controlled it could be anywhere really. Just a thought!

Just enjoy it and try to live with the fuel bills. I guess it depends how far 'trebling' is - going one 2 miles to 6 probably won't make much difference, but going to 20 to 60 will increase your bills by a lot. You say you don't want your car to get wrecked - but by selling it, you're denying yourself the pleasure of having it at all, which is surely worse? I used to commute to work and park in a busy street, to be honest it didn't really make much difference. I never really got any damage to it, beyond the occasional kerbed wheel which was my own fault anyway!

Can I ask - why did you get the 99 ones? They have a much stiffer sidewall to enable them to carry a heavier load, which will decrease the ride quality. Unless you routinely load the car to it's maximum weight and then drive at 3 figure speeds (and some people do!) I can't see why you might have wanted this higher rating?

if you are really finding it hard to borrow wheels you could always phone a breakers or visit one and find a toyota avensis with 5 stud hubs and buy some steel wheels with tyres run about on those(but for a giggle you have to put spinning wheel trims on them )then throw away when finished. No. Don't throw them away - instead, keep them and stick some proper winter tyres on them. If/when it starts snowing and getting all frosty and icy again in the winter, you'll be an IS200 owner who can drive around with confidence instead of nervously tip-toeing around just waiting for the back end to suddenly overtake you on a roundabout...

I got a Fujitsu-Siemens one, but it was about 18 months ago. Since then it's not put a foot wrong, and the price for the spec was pretty good - much better than most makes. The screen is especially lovely, very clear and bright. I've not really looked at the market since then though. But on my present experience, I certainly wouldn't have any qualms about buying another one when the time comes...

I think the membership (at least in terms of who makes frequent posts) changes all the time - so there are bound to be periods where the level of chat that revolves around you goes up, and periods where it goes down. Since you used to work in a Lexus dealer, and this is a Lexus forum, I think it's pretty understandable that people will tend to have communicated more with you in the past than they do now you are a VW man professionally. I don't post as much as I used to - I bought an IS200 in mid-2006 and changed it in early 2007 for the GS430 that I have now. So naturally after 2 1/2 years I have less questions to ask, and there don't seem to be so many people asking questions that I can answer at the moment either. General traffic does seem less than it was though, I would hope that it's not related to the various wars between one or two senior club people that were going on - a lot of long-time members got involved and there seemed at the time to be some bitterness around that. I am sure it will pick up again as time goes on... I rarely get any PMs, I don't take it personally. No-one wished me happy birthday a few weeks ago either - but hey-ho.

The biggest problem with the Met Office is that they keep on spouting all sorts of bulls*** about 'global warming' and 'climate change'.

Drugs aside, he got in trouble for not maintaining his car properly - the OEM settings might be far from perfect, but if you let it go so far that the wires poke through then it's your fault, not Lexus'....

AIUI if you are named specifically on the policy then the full cover available applies to you as well - it would normally only be reduced to 'third party only' cover if you were covered under a 'any driver with the permission of the owner' type clause. That assumes, of course, that the policy was comprehensive! As to whether you get a courtesy car etc, that depends entirely on the wording of the policy. You should go back to the scene as soon as possible and have a look at the road (assuming you can safely get close) - there may be oil or something on it. You don't really go into specifics of the accident but if there is diesel all over the road, or a carelessly positioned manhole cover, you may have a case against the local authority for failure to maintain the road in a safe condition. However, since you were the only vehicle involved, no you won't get a flipping payout! I assume it must have been a pretty big tree, if it's damaged the car enough to write it off but not sustain any damage itself?