Mincey

That's just nuts - £183 for a mirror after all that detective work? I'm off to buy some cotton wool to wrap my car in.

Having been relieved of £700 for a replacement back exhaust section for my IS250, I shouldn't have been surprised. This was surprising though (I haven't checked all the details, but it looks ok at first glance). Roll up, roll up. For the price of just over two single wheels from Lexus, you can have, wait for it, not one, not two, not even three, but four, yes four new wheels which look pretty much identical. With tyres. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AC-Winter-Alloy-Wheels-Snow-Tyres-18-For-Lexus-IS-300h-Mk3-13-19/392495922169?fits=Car+Make%3ALexus|Cars+Year%3A2018&hash=item5b62947bf9:g:WrAAAOSwCB1dsFxw It was a search for winter tyre fitted spares which prompted all of this.

Ouch!

The 3M tape suggested by @C Mclean has arrived. As long as it's not sub zero tomorrow (I've got Man Flu - not far off that Coronavirus thing I'm sure) I will wash the car and put some on the three so far pristine handle recesses. I also wondered whether there were any spare wheels on ebay to replace my wounded nearside front. It has gone now, but the Lexus ebay store had an 18" F Sport wheel at a price which indicated it was £480ish for one. I naturally assumed that this was a mistake and it was for a set of four, but umm..... was it?

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Here is what Highways England told me: Grantham has roads which form part of the Strategic Road Network. This means that Highways England can accurately calculate the travel time to the centre in real time and display this on the Travel Time Variable Message System (TTVMS). The next TTVMS is between junctions 34 and 35 which gives travel time to junction 41 which is the M62 junction for Wakefield. I will now be lobbying my local MP to make Peterborough part of the Strategic Road Network.

Logged onto https://www.lexus.co.uk/my-lexus/dashboard/vehicle-information/ and I can't see anything about any recall. I had hoped there would be one - one regarding a problem with the left front wheel being liable to scuffing against kerbs in shopping centre car parks and Lexus were going to replace it with a radical new design of wheel with collision avoidance to prevent such incidents. I can dream....

I have found out why Grantham appears on the overhead signs. It's not quite as good an answer as yours, but it is interesting in other more technical ways. I'll post the solution in the morning.

That's the bunny!

I think you're onto something here. I've had it less than two months and I'm not treating it very well am I?

My week gets worse. The alloy eating kerbs in the Peterborough Queensgate Centre car park claim another victim. When I got my first Lexus in 1999, I made a vow to never take it into the Queensgate car parks. 21 years and 4 Lexi on, I thought perhaps I could manage without clouting a wheel on the kerbs. Alas no.

That would be a good use of the signage - I'll give you that.

Every time I drive north up the A1 home, I'm informed about how many minutes it is to Grantham by the overhead signs. Why Grantham? Is it because it was the birthplace of one Margaret Hilda Thatcher, or is it because there is (or was) a parcel depot up there to which all my undeliverable parcels for a certain carrier were taken to? Is there something even more special about Grantham which I am not aware of? Someone must know.

An excellent idea - thank you, especially given the poor reviews which the Lexus offering gets. Order placed - for £11 it's worth a try. I'll go down the wrap route if I'm too inept to protect the other doors with this while I repair the scratch on my door.

Just my luck eh 😞 I shall give it a go anyway. I don't think I got any touch up paint with the car so a jaunt to Halfords this morning could be on the cards. From now on, I'm not leaving the car where I can't see it!

I like that idea!

Some scrote has tried to get into my car. It looks like some ring-wearing oik from where the scratches are. They say the first scratch hurts, and whoever came up with that wasn't wrong. Why oh why oh why didn't I shell out £40 for the door handle protectors?

I keep seeing a Mazda 6 here. Do I need help?

Mine receives texts without any trouble - I did have to make sure that all my contacts were set up as +447955.... and not 07955... though before "Wife" or "Mistress" (joking!) came up on the display. I've not given emails too much thought yet, as I didn't know that was possible. However, I did find this: https://www.lexus.co.uk/multimedia/onboarding/cy17/receive-an-email which might get you going in the right direction. When I have a mo, I'll see if I can get mine showing emails. @olliesgrandad is correct - the system is complicated. I work in IT and am expected to know how all this works without reading the instructions etc, and it is quite hard work. I'm still trying to get mine to display jpgs off a USB stick (done the FAT32 thing, they're not too big...)

Yes @royoftherovers - you are correct (I just ran down to the car and back) - thank you. I had convinced myself that it just covered my car. I shall give them a ring in the morning. Virtual pints all round! I shall put my car breaking and entering training on hold for the moment.

Oooh!

It's a bit of a tricky one. I think the step son who is going to have the car is in the AA, so theoretically they'd come out for him. He doesn't want to pay for a call out though. If I can get into it myself for 20 to 25 quid, then great. The chances resorting to the AA etc is very high though. My Lexus AA doesn't appear to cover other cars and my soon to be cancelled Green Flag doesn't either.

Sadly I think you're right. The chap on YouTube made it look "fairly" easy though https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxjvRcpUi28

Thanks Herbie - I'm sure a more skilled person than myself would have been able to get your suggestion working. A car stealing kit from Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/YOUNG4-Universal-Window-Airbag-Emergency/dp/B07X94LPYB/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=airbag+key+kit+car+door&qid=1579439427&sr=8-8) is only around £20-25 which I'm sure is way less than calling a locksmith out, so I'll try this first. One of my step sons lost the key to the postbox in a flat he once lived in, and to avoid a charge of £90 to have the lock replaced, I picked it with a set of lock picks from Amazon (£8) and replaced it with a new lock from Screwfix (£12) so I do like the challenge of learning new and nefarious skills! I will report back on progress. The MOT and service on Tuesday is looking very unlikely now.

Update time: "Satan the iQ" is still resisting all my efforts to get in. I thought Herbie's tip was going to save the day but I can't get to the starter or alternator. I know where they are, but my poor mechanical skills and limited access to the front and underside mean it's not possible (for me anyway). Following a tip about another make with a similar problem, I sprayed some Silicone spray into the lock. After leaving it for half an hour, I went back to it praying that this had freed up all the tumblers and the door would open. I was disappointed. So, my next plan is to buy one of those kits from Amazon where you carefully drive a wedge into the top of the door frame, then use an air bag to create a gap to get a metal rod in to operate the door lock. Before I do this though, i'm going to sign up on the iQ forum and ask if anyone there has any ideas.

Thanks Herbie - I'll take a look. It's parked right up against a wall which could make things interesting....