wivenhoe

My RZ renewal quote was about £ 300 more, which is in line with what I’ve seen as general increase for insurance. However, I am thinking that I am lucky, as when I went to other market leading insurers for an online quote I couldn’t get past the page with the model details - presumably because they were refusing to insure. I just hope the insurers get more data in the next 12 months that means they are not so nervous covering EV’s.

Not helped by a much cheaper Toyota looking almost exactly the same - end of that ‘exclusive’ look then - at least the BZ did look a bit different

I’m sorry to be a doom monger but I think the thieves will keep finding ways to defeat the manufacturers as there are now so many functions dependent on chips & wiring. Look how often Microsoft & Apple have to keep updating to keep the hackers out - somebody took control remotely of a Tesla’s CanBus ! As long as used prices remain high, new cars on long delivery and spares costing a fortune it’ll remain a thieves dream - with no real policing the chances of getting caught are minimal and ill gotten gains high - they’ll find a way. With insurance claims and therefore policies rocketing, the government quietly grabs 12% tax, which a lot of people don’t appreciate. It was 2.5% when it was brought in and has doubled in the last couple of years. Yet another stealth tax.

I sold my Range Rover partially because of the insurance hike - NFU now refuses to insure RR’s younger than 5 years. My RZ (possibly confused by insurers as a RX derivative) cost £200 more to insure for next year compared to this one. The renewal was without a tracker. I spent 20 mins going through the whole quote in a call with NFU and the policy new includes my top of the range S5 Tracker from Tracker. The renewal reduced by 50p !

Had a strange, possible improvement yesterday. In the past, if I put the “front” switch on then the fan and ac kicked in and directed air to the windscreen, which made sense. Yesterday, with a bit of misting, I turned it on but this time I didn’t turn it off when it cleared but turned the main unit “off”. The “front” remained lit and the screen remained fairly cleared whilst the side had a bit of misting. With the unit off but “front” lit there was no loss of range (as you say, no fan = no loss of range). Next time it mists I’ll repeat and see if it was just a coincidence yesterday. I finally understand the “auto” switches above the seats. The car reflects the external & internal temp and switches the seat heating / venting accordingly. With “auto” on yesterday with a relatively cold day, the seat heater came on and also the radiant heating. Hours later when the temp went up to about 18, when I drove away the seat cooling came on. I never noticed this in the summer as the ventilated seats never made as much of an impact as the heating does. John & ruds - have you worked out the customisation of the “auto” - there is an option to increase / decrease the setting by up to +2 or -2. I can’t get my head round does that increase the heating and ventilation or just the heating ? IMG_4696.heic

Malc - Thanks for your commiserations but because of the vastly inflated px I got for my Range Rover and intending to keep the Lexus, I won’t feel the loss for quite some time - which helps. Have just got my renewal though for the insurance and for my RZ and wife’s new Yaris on a dual car policy, it’s gone up £ 300 - I was expecting a lot more. I am paying £ 500 less for both cars than Lexus wanted just for the RZ. NFU couldn’t tell me back in May, when I bought the RZ, how much more the Range Rover would be other than lots ! The Range Rover Velar forum I was on had guys saying they were being quoted up to £ 3k, where they could get a quote and add to that servicing was about £ 800 / year. I think the car market is all over the place at the moment - European & Japanese EV’s are still too expensive just as the Chinese are making big moves into the UK with much cheaper offerings. Dealers don’t know how this is going to pan out so are rightly being cautious about bidding for expensive / prestige EV’s. Not at all helped by the government moving the goal post by 5 years. I suspect that if or when buyers start reporting quality and reliability issues, together with a lack of service centres, the value will return to the prestige marques. I for one don’t want to drive a car that could be monitored and taken over by someone in Beijing ! The government banned Huawei from providing 5g equipment but are not stopping Chinese cars full of surveillance tech (over the air updates for instance) to UK buyers.

Whoever - despite my concerns over range I went with the RZ as it had been preordered and was available in May - decided with the insurance rocketing and used car prices reducing my Velar would not hold the px offered so no brainer. I got £62k px - £ 8k less than bought for my 2 year old Velar P400e so something like 10% for 2 years. I put it in WeBuy tonight and it had melted to £ 48k so lost £ 14k in 5 months. Back in May they offered £ 60k. That said, I just put my RZ in and they offered £ 42k which is £ 30k loss in 5 months !

John yes, it’s the misting which is the major irritation. I can only demist by either losing 40 miles or keep turning the ac on and off. Really poor design. When I complained to Craig about it he said precondition the car - I pointed out that is only good for about 10 mins - he said he would lodge it as a fault. As there is an ac on/off switch they intended the fan to work without the ac (otherwise no point having the ac switch) but the software needs updating as it is clearly wrong. As you say, if you have to have the heating on to demist defeats the advantage of the radiant heaters.

ruds - that was my indicated range before using a lot of dual carriageways at 70 but shows about 45 loss with the ac on full blast. Next time you’re in if you can, please turn the ac and fan off, then turn just the fan on and see what the indicated mileage is. In mine, fan on ac off it still drops and the ac is on. I have changed the “ac on with On” dozens of times and it doesn’t make a difference.

Appreciate that. I have a feeling if you turn the fan and ac off you’ll show about 235 miles !

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There has been a lot of criticism on here, particularly about the range. I did my research and so wasn’t deeply disappointed about the range, except the loss of range using the ac - we were ‘promised’ an update in Sept which would significantly improve this - nobody now knows when this will be. Burning question for me is - can you have the fan on without the ac / heater. I can’t, turning the ac off makes no difference- on a full charge my car shows 220 miles (this is reliable), if I turn the fan on and ac off the range still goes down to about 175 - what does your do ?

ruds - I think there are only 2 others on here with a RZ. How long have you had yours and what’s your thoughts on it ?

ruds - my RZ had a flat battery and the electronic doors wouldn’t open, even with the manual key. AA sorted it using the manual key after a real struggle so that error is nothing to do with a flat battery, as you say. Then I had a “charging malfunction” message and I found the AA much more helpful than the dealer - they came and disconnected the 12v battery to reset the system (Lexus doesn’t give them access via the computer port) That sorted the error so I could drive and charge using DC only whilst it took 6 weeks to get the AC charging module changed. I very much doubt this will work but give it a try - the manual has emergency starting of the EV - good luck

John. Just some more info please. Are you showing say 220 miles on a full charge with the ac on ? Mine does 220 without ac but only about 175 with.

John. That’s really strange. As you know, I can’t have the fan on without the a/c coming on. But if I use the off button to turn the heating / aircon totally then my range increases by up to 45 miles.

You’ll also know if whilst parked and a full charge turn, the ac / heating off. Range should be about 220, turn the ac on, without the update the miles will dive to about 175. With the update it should reduce but to nearly 200. I have to ask - can you have the heater fan on just by itself to push air through the vents or when you turn the fan on the ac comes on and range dives ?

The only defence I would make is beware when looking at range and charging. There is a very good reason all manufacturers state 20% to 80% charge times - it can take as long to get from 80% to 100% as 20% to 80%. Ranges quotes are always max range with no heating or a/c so when the car reported say 165 the ac was probably on. Turn the ac off and as John says, probably 200. I’ve just charged mine and driven it a lot of motorways and it is saying 217.

Recent ‘update’ from Customer Service - no timescale for my second for for my RZ bought in May. No answer why my wife’s Yaris delivered the same time came w8th 2 keys.

Interestingly though they are using a residual of 52% after 3 years but only 18,000 miles.

What’s really ironic is that my wife’s new £ 21k Yaris (with keyless entry) came in June with 2 keys without asking and Lexus Customer Service put a special order in for my second key (allegedly jumping the queue) about the same time but nothing yet. John - my car is in having the AC charging unit replaced - they said the 12th and kept to it. They then noticed the wrong coolant had been sent with it so hopefully that’ll come tomorrow and I’ll get my car back. They told me they don’t have a date for the September update but are sure it will be soon. They said it definitely significantly reduces the plunging range with the a/c or heating on but doesn’t significantly increase the range. They gave me a petrol UX as a curtesy car - it was quite a smart move as I now think the RZ is exceptionally quiet. Are you any happier with the car and / Lexus

A long time ago, I was at an auction and really wanted a 2 year old Aston Martin Vantage. Great condition, low mileage. Was with a trader and he said no more than £30k as it was dodgy as there was no V5. It went for £ 31k online with few bids because of the lack of a V5 and no ownership known. A week later I saw the dealer and he said everyone was really cheesed off - the guy that bought it online bragged that he knew why there was no V5 - the car was being sold by Buckingham Palace and they had taken the personal number off of it and the V5 was awaiting a replacement reg. He had it up for £ 50k !

£ 40k list price EV’s (almost all of them) will attract the luxury tax from 1st April 2025. As EV used prices have dropped it’s likely you’ll pay the £ 400 supplement on a car bought way less than £ 40k due to the historic high list prices. If in the future the car market returns to normality, the supplement will become another stealth tax as they’ll leave the £ 40k list price threshold although inflation will increase new car prices.

My wife’s Yaris uses My Toyota which looks very similar, except it has send destinations, and has been totally stable and reliable from day 1 of its release (it replaced My T). Why they couldn’t just add to that for the RZ heavens only knows.