Mincey

No photos yet - it was chucking it down and blowing a hoolie yesterday. Amends will be made when the weather improves. So first impressions... The Good: The ride is significantly improved over the F Sport ES as you'd expect without sports suspension and 18" instead of 19" wheels. She's much smoother over bumps. There's a piece of road near here where a channel was dug across the road just on the braking point for a junction and it always triggered the ABS in Betsy - I need to see if Tiff does the same. Road and engine noise is very much reduced. I'm guessing some sound deadening is left off the F Sport models to give a more "sporty feel". Coming down the A47 yesterday though I switched the radio off and it was almost silent. Probably not LS silent, but she's probably the quietest car I've been in. This does however mean that a closer eye needs to be kept on the speedo! After a few failures I got the boot to open by waggling my foot. This will come in very handy as I've often got my hands full of boxes of IT stuff or bass cabinets etc and having the boot open for me without having to put anything down will be very convenient. The centre console layout is much better. Betsy's was a little disjointed with the two cup holders in different areas. My wife hadn't sat in the back of Betsy and was amazed by the amount of room in Tiff and enjoyed playing with the reclining seat. Being able to move the passenger seat using the buttons on the right hand side instead of leaning over to use the buttons on the seat. The length adjustment on the drivers seat is just right for getting under my dodgy knee. The panoramic camera is bloody awesome! I wasn't expecting a front parking camera Having not had the blind spot warning thingies on the mirrors before, I'm really looking forward to my first run back from Royston at the junction where the M11 meets the A14. That's always a squeaky bum moment or two at rush hour with cars joining in my blind spot. The HUD. When I got in to drive home, I had the sinking feeling that I couldn't cope with an analogue speedo anymore and was trying to find a way to display the speed digitally in the big blank square in the middle of the speedo. I then remembered she has a HUD and everything was fine again. The wider touchscreen is great. I just need to remember how to set the order of apps in AA so that Spotify is always on the right. The Sales experience at Leicester. Benjamin who sold me Tiff was a legend. He couldn't do enough for me and very patiently explained several things twice. There were no attempts to upsell Gap insurance (still don't know whether I should get this or not), tyre insurance etc. Having the Dealer Principal come in to try to flog all that is something I've always dreaded. I just want to pay for the car and go, which is what happened this time. I've taken Tiff on finance - it saved me a grand and I liked the idea of a call from Lexus Leicester some time in the future offering me a new car for a slight adjustment in monthly payments etc. The Slightly Disappointing: The ML stereo hasn't quite lived up to my expectations yet. The ML in my IS250 was the dog's bits - I hope I just need to fiddle around with some audio settings which I've not managed to find yet In Betsy, I could use the tuning dial to move between tracks on Android Auto. Tiff doesn't seem to have this feature and I'm not struck on having to tap the touchscreen instead. When I work out how to fix Spotify on the right hand side of the touch screen though, this might be easier. When I fill up, I always take a photo of the mileage and MPG for my records and Fuelly. Is it possible to have the mileage showing all the time or does that just come up when everything's off? The touchscreen. It might be my fingers but some options do take a couple of prods before they're accepted. Lexus Link+ falls over after accepting the agreement for the additional services. I'd like to know what additional services Tiff can offer! Tiff's steering wheel doesn't feel as nice as Betsy's. I'm not struck on the non-F Sport grill if I'm honest. The "look back" in car parks isn't quite as satisfying as it was with Betsy. I think it's a colour thing. The Bad: No wireless Android Auto! I'm glad I didn't rush to put my AAWireless dongle on eBay now. Thankfully the USB A socket is near a long slot where the dongle can be hidden. My wife came out to see Tiff when I got home and immediately noticed a scratch I'd missed. The key "card". Benjamin told me to look after it as it could cause issues when trading Tiff in and that they cost about £600. To be honest, I'd rather not have one and have had £600 taken off the cost of the car. I can't put the card in my wallet as that lives in my back pocket and it would crack in no time. I'm not going to get a new phone wallet thing and put it in there in case I leave my phone somewhere. The card is going to stay where it currently is - in a Faraday Pouch in the safe in my garage. I have a long-ish run to Bletchley coming up on Monday. Parking is always a pain in the butt at the client's site so the panoramic camera will come in handy. I can't see too much changing in terms of mpg etc even with different tyres but I'm happy to be proved wrong. I've had front and back dashcams fitted. I doubt that the wireless link has improved at all but again I'm happy to be shown otherwise. My brother in law had them fitted on his Toyota and agreed that the best way to get footage is to pop the SD card out and stick it in a PC. It was galling to have to pay for new cameras when Betsy's would have been fine. I realise that it's probably impossible but couldn't Lexus supply UK spec cars with suitable wiring so that cameras could be added and removed at whim? The only buggeration about the whole process is (again) the faff with changing numberplates. Why oh why oh why can't V5s be held electronically now? I've now got the wait for Tiff's V5 to endure before I can swap the plates over.

I didn't appreciate that my actions would incur the Wrath of Greta....

All being well, I'm being taken out for a razz in it tomorrow - yay!

That's a very good point Dippo and you make it well! Tiffany was there waiting, like a tart on a street corner. There was no 6 month ordering delay and I suddenly realised that I could do without all the F Sport accoutrements such as the S+ suspension (never noticed any difference) and the sliding dials. I lied - I think I will miss the sliding dials.

It has been a very emotional day. I have taken the plunge and traded Betsy in. Yes I know - how could I? I was overcome with lust upon seeing this temptress at Leicester: So what has this strumpet got which Betsy hasn't I hear you all ask? Well she's Tiffany the Takumi, so a fair bit. She has 5,000ish on the clock and is about 9 months old. Betsy, I'm so sorry - it has been a wonderful two years and 20,000 miles with you. I will ask if they will let you go to a nice owner. The swap takes place tomorrow at midday. Tissues will be required I'm sure.

If it's the Lexus fitted Nextbase 380GW (or 380GWX) here's the manual: https://nextbase.co.uk/help-and-support/dash-cams/380gw-dash-cam-support/#manual

I'm going there on Tuesday to take Betsy for her MOT. If the IS-F is there I'll try to find out more (otherwise known as "have a go")

Oh steady on!

I most certainly do!

Now then........ 😉

It's a bit big! Some of these pub car parks are tiny 🙂 I do like the idea though....

One of my colleagues bought a Sandero - he had no choice at the time as nobody had any new cars (this was Covid time). He seemed to like it. It was finished in that awful Audi-style primer finish thought.

I'd be looking at something for less than £6k - there seem to be some reasonable looking Jazzes, Mazda2's and Yari around for that with lowish (less than 100k!) miles on the clock. Thanks for the advice everyone - much food for thought there.

Good point!!

Learned forum friends, next year I shall be travelling to various hostelries in Cambridgeshire and the surrounding counties in my capacity as the bass player in a local band. Having seen some of the venues that I'm likely to be visiting, the parking is not entirely Betsy-friendly. I was thinking therefore of getting a "Gig-Car". Something smallish so it's easy to park in confined spaces and of an age where if it gets scratched by a drunken punter, I won't go all axe-wielding homicidal maniac until I find the culprit. Any thoughts on suitable contenders? I was wondering about a Yaris, i20, Kia Ceed or something of that ilk. It just need to be able to transport me, a bass guitar or two and two speaker cabinets so a folding back seat would be spot on.

I remember my current wife thinking that she had wet herself when I turned on the ventilated passenger seat in my IS250.

Amen to that! Even a biblical thunderstorm yesterday with sideways rain didn't cool things down much.

It's the very rare IS Stealth Pack. Makes it invisible to ANPR and speed cameras.

I've kept well away from multi storeys after kerbing the alloys on my IS300h in Peterborough's Queensgate car park. I can't imagine taking Betsy into a multi storey - I have a feeling it wouldn't end well. We park in nice end spaces in normal car parks, well away from the hoi polloi.

Might have....

I couldn't possibly say - the authorities would definitely be interested.

Absolutely nothing! She's just coming up for three years old and I think she needs a rest.

Welcome, and that's an excellent choice you've made! Post some photos when you have a moment (it's a tradition in these parts... )

I looked at getting a used ES to the spec I wanted and there is one available but it's almost the same price to a £ as a new one!

Thanks Dippo - that all makes sense.