Sagitar

While we are on the subject.... has any one got their tyres filled with nitrogen?

One well known garage over here do this as an option and say it is more consistent as its not as easily affected by differences in meteorological conditions....

I'm abit skeptical about it.... but open to suggestions

Nitrogen will be the assassin to compressed air, a progressive step forward for the Motorist.

It's a scam. Air is 78% nitrogen anyway. The coefficient of expansion of nitrogen is about 80% of that of air so the difference in the change in pressure for a fixed rise in atmospheric temperature will be tiny.

The use (and extra cost) of compressed nitrogen instead of compressed air is justified in high pressure systems where it gives significantly reduced risk of fire, but for the pressure and volume of air in a car tyre I can see no point other than to relieve the credulous of their cash.

Can i remind you we are talking 'dry nitrogen' so not susceptible to the reaction of moisture in compressed air! or maybe i'm wrong? Nitrogen inflation is mandatory in the muti-billion pound aircraft industry and used for absolute inflation in the muti-million pound F1 industry.. all wim centres would use nitrogen at £0 additional cost to the customer, many other companies already follow that example.

The thing that the two examples given have in common is high cost. I worked in the aircraft industry as a designer for a long time and nitrogen is used for the safety reasons that I have already quoted. Typical aircraft pressure systems may operate at around 1500 psi and it makes all kinds of sense to ensure that any gases within them are inert.

I have yet to hear a single good reason for putting nitrogen, as opposed to compressed air, into a normal car tyre. The idea that the use of nitrogen is cost free is at least questionable. All the costs of running a business are passed on to the customer in some way, otherwise the business goes broke. Offering a fancy but uneccesary service may of course attract custom and generate business, but it doesn't make that service essential.

The moisture content of compressed air is important in applications that pass significant volumes of air through the system e.g. in the "windy" tools used in industry. But the air inside a tyre is to all intents and purposes a small fixed volume in which the water vapour remains suspended and is a tiny proportion of the total volume of gas. I can see no reason why it should give me any concern as a motorist.

While we are on the subject.... has any one got their tyres filled with nitrogen?

One well known garage over here do this as an option and say it is more consistent as its not as easily affected by differences in meteorological conditions....

I'm abit skeptical about it.... but open to suggestions

Nitrogen will be the assassin to compressed air, a progressive step forward for the Motorist.

It's a scam. Air is 78% nitrogen anyway. The coefficient of expansion of nitrogen is about 80% of that of air so the difference in the change in pressure for a fixed rise in atmospheric temperature will be tiny.

The use (and extra cost) of compressed nitrogen instead of compressed air is justified in high pressure systems where it gives significantly reduced risk of fire, but for the pressure and volume of air in a car tyre I can see no point other than to relieve the credulous of their cash.

Just wondering what tyres people are using...

My car came in with Bridgestone Potenzas all round but ones on the back are now worn down to the minimum

Trying to decide whether to go for the same again or try Toyo Proxies, Goodyear F1s etc

Any recommendations???

(Grip in wet is essential seen as we're comin into sh1tty winter...)

goodyear f1's on my 18" tho i am getting some rubbing on corners

My recently delivered IS 250 came with Dunlop SP Maxx - replacement costs look a bit eye-watering

Palm Treo 650 works fine.

I do not know the LS400, but on the IS250 there is a switch in the glove compartement that disables all the unlocking mechanisms on the boot i.e. it is impossible to get into the boot unless that switch is in the right position.

Is there some similar arrangement on the LS400?

Don't forget folks, the Yorkshire Ripper was caught on a routine stop by traffic officers...........

CPO's round my way are not visible after say 4 o/c in the afternoon but if you go into the H/Street they are everywhere and have never been down my rd ever not even in d/light hrs.

The Community Support Officer business is all a bit "Groucho Marx" isn't it?

The people who want to be Community Support Officers are likely to be exactly the sort of people who should never be given such an appointment . . . . .

person

hole

I race my house regularly . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . and beat it every time . . . . . . .

And also, why is it that when you do see people driving with no lights on and you flash them nine times out of ten they take offence :o

Supprisesd you find the new system hard, ive used an old GS430 sat nav and it was great!

Then why does it need a 100+ page manual?

My Tom Tom 910 manages with 17 pages of only two thirds the size of those in the Lexus manual and using it is so obvious that you hardly need to read them anyway!

More importantly, the route calculation software on the 910 leaves the Lexus stuff standing, and it includes a speed camera data-base.

I tried to use the Lexus navigator on two obvious routes today. choosing the "quickest" option - on both occasions it ignored the by-pass around our local town and tried to take me through the town centre. Either it's map data-base is ancient or it's algorithms are crap.

The manual for the TomTom 910 is 80 pages long while the Lexus is just over 100 and a lot of that is screen shots.

With the Lexus the actual "this is how you enter a route" is about 40 pages long, the rest of it is how to personalise the system. At the end of the day I guess it is what you are used to. I picked up my car and set my destination as home without even reading the manual. I've used the Tom Tom and while it is a good piece of kit, for a portable system I personally do not like having these devices on the windscreen. And it seems to take forever to calculate a route.

I guess we must be looking at different manuals . . . . . :)

The Lexus navigator is my fourth - and on initial imression, by far the worst. Perhaps it will grow on me.

And also, why is it that when you do see people driving with no lights on and you flash them nine times out of ten they take offence :o

Supprisesd you find the new system hard, ive used an old GS430 sat nav and it was great!

Then why does it need a 100+ page manual?

My Tom Tom 910 manages with 17 pages of only two thirds the size of those in the Lexus manual and using it is so obvious that you hardly need to read them anyway!

More importantly, the route calculation software on the 910 leaves the Lexus stuff standing, and it includes a speed camera data-base.

I tried to use the Lexus navigator on two obvious routes today. choosing the "quickest" option - on both occasions it ignored the by-pass around our local town and tried to take me through the town centre. Either it's map data-base is ancient or it's algorithms are crap.

I still cant figure out the blue-tooth function for the phone as the manual said it only work on most popular phone such as Sony, Nokia...and I got a shap 902 so....

Have you tried it recently? There was a software update a little while ago that appeared to alter the Bluetooth implementation.

I have a Palm Treo 650 which would not connect to the 910 until this update - now, it does.

And also, why is it that when you do see people driving with no lights on and you flash them nine times out of ten they take offence :o

Your not sposed to leave your main beam on Aido :winky:

I took delivery of my new IS 250 SE-L yesterday and I am largely delighted with it. The exception to this is the SatNav system, which appears to me to be very clunky, complicated, old fashioned and totally unintuitive. I had hoped that it would get me away from the need for an add-on system, but I suspect that within a week I will be back to my TomTom 910 . . . . .

It's normal for the fan to stop when you turn the ignition off.

Some manufacturers allow the fan to run with the ignition off, but I've never understood the reason. If the engine is not running then the coolant is not being circulated, so you would only be cooling the radiator - seems pointless.

I had a Nissan Maxima on which the fans continued to run after the ignition was turned off. It was not unusual to hear the fans start up in the garage, some time after I had parked. Presumably because heat had soaked through to the thermostat.

There was a notice under the bonnet that warned you to disconnect the fans when working in there and there was a very simple plug-in connector on the external radiator thermostat to enable this.

Delivery is promised for Friday, September 15th. Looks good.

Hi and Welcome to the LOC Sagitar :)

Chips.

Thanks for the kind welcome. We are really looking forward to trying our first Lexus.

Hopefully by "tagged" he doesn't mean that some youth has been spraying logos down the side of it. Hope your Holiday goes well and you don't get any problems at the airport (if your flying).

We are holidaying in the UK - the Lake District. We will be driving up there on Tuesday in our four-years-old Toyota Camry. The Camry has been a great success and a very enjoyable and relaxing drive.

Quick Post as the dearly beloved needs some attention now

First Impressions.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Love it.

Infinity.............

Nicely done. It's good to hear from someone who is so happy.

Welcome to the club, i hope your car arrives as promised. :D

Thanks; I hope so too.

We actually had yet another call from the dealer today to say that the car had been "tagged" for me and is on its way from Cardiff on a transporter.

We are just about to start a holiday and will not be back for a couple of weeks so it should be ready for collection at the end of our holiday.

I am keeping my fingers crossed . . . . . . . :)

Well in my less than satisfactory experience with my purchase, the delivery date slipped twice, and I ended up waiting over 8 months from date of order/deposit.

I wish you better luck / more honest dealer. My :tsktsk: dealer tells lies...and I HAVE the proof.

I had a call from the dealer yesterday, to say that I could have the car almost immediately if I would accept a black instead of grey interior.

My first preference was for black - my wife preferred grey - we have decided to make the change so should now have the car much sooner.

Incidentally, my preference for a dark coloured interior trim was prompted by noticing the amount of reflection on the rear window from the light tan interior of the test car.

Now; how many people drive Autos with TWO FEET? Safer to brake with left foot, as it saves the split second it takes to shift from accelerator to brake pedal.

Got that from Setright, and once you get acclimatised, you're MUCH more in control of the car.

That's how I used to drive autos mate, left foot on the brake and right on the accelerator.

This was about five years ago and my boss never realised until he sat in the back once and saw what I was doing, then he told me to just use my right foot and I have done ever since in an auto!

Might try it again one day now I'm in an auto all the time!

Given the way in which this alters the position of your feet relative to the seat, is it comfortable for extended periods of driving?

I once drove a Nissan QX in which I could not seem to get my feet in the right place relative to the seat and got terrible cramps in the inner thigh after a while.

Thanks for everyone's participation so far. But has anyone got a GPS based unit working on a new IS250 without the need for an external ariel? It would seem that no one knows whether the new IS250 has a heat reflective front screen or not.

Thanks in advance

I was surprised when I tried the IS 250 SE-L with the Multimedia package to find how unsophisticated the Sat Nav is when compared with devices like the TomTom costing only a fraction of the price. In particular, the apparent inability to do regular mapping updates and to add POI data bases is very poor. There are several on-line Safety Camera data bases that show all the current cameras and the regular sites of mobiles. The one that I use is updated monthly.

Not to be able to input such data bases to equipment that costs as much as this seems to be either inept of perverse.

Or have I misunderstood? Does anybody update and write their own DVDs for the Lexus system?

Welcome to LOC.

This thread may help - Lead time discussion

There are a few comments there on how long people have been waiting but it has varied from immediate/weeks where a car became available to up to 9 months on this thread - 56'rs thread

I hope your dealer sticks to his forecast :o

Thanks - those are very helpful pointers.

well if any one wants ast march 2006 canterbury blue 250 sport with 6000 miles on it includes MM and bluetooth and possibly the wife as well let me know

What kind of warranty on the wife? . . . . . .

Good morning to you all. I joined yesterday and you appear to be a friendly and knowledgeable bunch so I am happy to be aboard.

Yesterday I ordered a new IS 250 SE-L from Milton Keynes with auto box, multimedia package and in Argento Ice with Sussex Grey interior. I have been promised delivery in 8 to 9 weeks (i.e. November 1st deadline).

I am a bit of a cynic, so I tend to take such promises with a pinch of salt . . . . . . :duh:

I have had no previous dealings with Lexus and so I would welcome views from you experienced folks about the reality of delivery performance.

If you have any other advice about things to look out for when taking delivery of a new Lexus I would be grateful for your comments.

I googled.