Paradroid

My car came with a badly scuffed chrome shifter. So I first changed it for a small leather TRD one. It was more practical and comfortable to use, but I just didn't think it suited the interior of the car, and I decided the chrome one was the one that Lexus intended, so bought a new one of those and have had that ever since. I prefer it now.

Ah hahahah, look at that computer club. It's scarily similar to the one I used to visit every week to get my C64 & Amiga warez :) Sometimes I got so many games I had to overwrite them the following week with new ones because I couldn't afford to keep buying floppy disks There is one advantage to US iPods, they don't have the stupid low volume limit of European ones. If you buy fancy headphones that take lots of power to drive, you will be able to listen to them at normal volumes. Note that for most kinds of headphones the EU iPods usually have enough volume.

I've never bought from a really posh dealers like Lexus/Merc/BMW so can't say if they're any better, but the others I've dealt with have almost all been lying bastards. The guy I bought my Lexus off in particular, he knew something about the expensive problems which I had to get fixed. But then I guess they get stitched up the other way, people trading knackered cars in etc. so they have some justification for being like that. The only exception was my Gen 3 Hyundai Coupe, the car was a disappointment but the dealers were excellent to buy from, and their service department was also brilliant. It was Bramwells in Wigan but they have now closed.

What were your stand-out moments from retro computing and gaming? I think mine were both on the Amiga: - The first time I saw someone pull the workbench screen down to reveal another program running behind it I was speechless. The thing was you could even do this when the programs were running at different resolutions and colour depths. How?!?!? - seeing Dragons Lair for the first time. OK it was rubbish playability-wise but was incredible to watch!

can you tell me know much more the Tesco 99 is than normal unleaded at the moment mate, I might give it a try :)

I don't know if the newer ones are better but years ago those screens used to bother me with nighttime driving, when I got the headlights of oncoming cars I could see the elements in the windscreen and it distracted me. So I've always avoided Fords. Shame because it is a great feature :)

Sorry that was a bit confusing. I mean the Tesco 99 RON really, that's supposed to be a good one. I heard this 2nd hand from a guy who does those 300bhp upgrades for Focus ST's.

I've heard the high octane fuels are better than V-power too.

You know those kitchen knives you get with serrated edges and two sharp prongs on the end? Well about 1/2 an hour ago I was putting the cutlery away but some of it was scattered everywhere, so I went to move it back and caught my finger on a prong of the big kitchen knive. Of course natural reaction was to jerk back and get my hand out because I didn't know what happened - ouch! It's stopped bleeding now but you can see a dark line beneath the skin where the cut is deep! But that's nothing compared to the above, scary stuff.

It depends on the tyres. As I said above 41psi is the recommended level for my tyres on the IS200. They are wearing perfectly even. I think it's generally agreed that 35psi is more sensible a starting point than the 32psi the manufacturer recommends. That's WIM's recommendation I think.

I thought it was the other way and they stopped fitting them to the very late models (wikipedia article says this). Mine is a Sept 2004 registered model and it has an LSD though.

Sounds bad but you'd probably have had similar problems trying to drive out front ways in a front wheel drive car, sounds like your driveway was the real problem. Best to reverse on the drive, then your car is trying to push away from the garage door, not pull itself away from the back.

The thing with getting a quicker car is it's exciting for a while but then you get used to it. I'd look into keeping the IS and getting a project car like an old Pug 205GTi or something like that. Only trouble is tax and insurance makes running two cars expensive.

I wish everone thought that way. Today I was following a van and an Astra estate. The Astra was right up the back of the van, it was a narrow national speed limit road with no overtaking opportunities, and the van was doing 40mph because the road was icy. I thought the Astra was stupid driving so close, but then he went for an overtake!!! The nutter had to abort his move too because someone came the other way. All this and it said -5 on my car's outside temp gauge.

Driving to work today, my car said -6 at one point. But I found the windscreen much easier to clear today than yesterday, because it was just frost. Yesterday it was frost, then rain/hail on top which had frozen over again! Getting that stuff off was a nightmare.

When did you change your tyres? My IS200 economy has dropped with the weather being cold. In summer I'd get 210-220 miles from 1/2 a tank, now it's more like 180. Just wondering if it's a coincidence. The other possibility is to play around with the pressures. I have Vredestein tyres on my car, and their web site recommends 41psi for their Ultrac tyres on the IS200 (they have specific values for lots of makes of car). At first I thought they were insane and kept it at 35psi. But steadily I increased the pressures and 41psi definitely feels right, the handling and stability is spot on and wear is completely even. I'm not saying everyone should go and put 41psi in their tyres right now, different makes will need different pressures. But in your case you've got tramlining and bad fuel economy so it could be underinflation. What pressures do you have in now?

I checked my manual. Mine's a 2004 car. It definitely says that one click turns on the anti-theft system, a second click deadlocks the doors in addition to turning on the anti-theft system. So for my car the double-click is right. I guess they changed it to seem more logical, double press = double locked. Interesting to see the point made about deadlocking meaning if someone smashes your window they have to climb in the car. I've heard of this happening, and what you probably end up with is scratched paintwork on the top of the door as they clamber in. They'd probably mark the interior too. So is deadlocking worth it?

Glad I read this, I've gotten into the habit of always pressing twice too. I had a car a few years ago where the second press did your deadlocks so assumed it was the same!

Mk6 Fiesta? I can understand that being suitable for tall people. My missus has one and it is a tall car. I struggle to reach all of the roof when cleaning it. Doesn't handle like a tall car though, good roadholding.

Nice - I like that :)

Well that's really intelligent. The police now want to use the kind of tricks internet criminals use such as keylogging, viruses and trojans. Great, we spend time and money trying to stop crap like that getting onto our computers, and now the "good guys" are using it too. I bet this gives Norton and the other antivirus writers a bit of a headache, what do they do when they scan your computer and find this state-sponsored spyware/trojans?

That's interesting that breaker is down the road from me. I might have been interested in a few parts but it seems they want to sell the car whole rather than break.

That's happened to me and it's not that obvious where the option is to change it. I think it happens if you find a post on this forum through a Google search. When you view the post it sets a cookie which changes the way you want to display threads. You then have to change it back again.

If you move to another marque it will be AT LEAST as bad!!!! If you've found a car you like with the Lexus, that's a real advantage, keep the car and just shop around to find a good dealership.

Well it sounds like it is possible to get good economy on a run. My average speed was 70-80 on the motorway, but there was such clear sections of open motorway I got my foot down a bit more in places. That's probably what got the economy tumbling! I'm hoping to go to WIM soon with my car, when I do go I'll have to drive more economically