wivenhoe

£ 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.

Luckily I can see if it getting low by my Tracker app. Shouldn’t have to but I really didn’t want the ES curtesy car for 3 weeks until the AC bit arrives. when I drove away in the ES I thought the handbrake was still on !

John. Just sent an email complaining - typical, the address is Toyota. I’ll receive some generic response ….. we are working hard ….. The main functionality you need on an EV app is it reports if the car is charging, what the range currently is and how long to complete. Really basic. I collected my car after the flat battery. They said they didn’t find anything draining the battery but had no answer when I asked what fault codes were seen after the car refusing to open and my Tracker app reporting the battery at 8v - this after the car being in for diagnostics. I showed them the AA report. They couldn’t say.

John - I found you have to refresh it a few times. I do this by going into the range screen and sliding down a few times and then return to the Home Screen and slide down again. Have you got anything in the Status screen. I just have a message saying no data received. It worked when I first used it. I never understand why IT gurus insist on so called upgrades that bring nothing new and are far more unstable than what they replace.

Just tried to use it and had to log in again. Car status is no longer available. This is far less stable than the previous version

John - I’ve just noticed that the Link+ main screen reports the range for full a/c whereas the previous one reported the range without. Let’s hope that is because the Sept update will considerably narrow the gap between with and without a/c.

I understand it better now. I definitely can’t find send to car. I suppose they are thinking if you want this then use Google Maps or Apple Maps. To update the charge state you slide down as other apps. Initially it looks like the app has crashed as the screen goes black and a spinning cog (in IOS) appears. Leave it and then the screen is updated. There is a bit of a lag but not too much. Car location is now in the Map. As I said above, it is perverse that when you select navigate to a charger you are offered Google, Apple Maps & Waze. It may not VE a coincidence that you are offered the same options in Zap Map. The car status is a bit more detailed as it reports open windows - handy in the rain but my previous Mercs automatically closed the sunroof and windows if the car was locked and it started raining. So, in my view, very little improvement and they should have spent the time implementing the Remote Park app available elsewhere and not banned in the UK.

In case other do buy a RZ I thought I should share my experience with the tyres on the RZ Takumi. When I collected the car I thought it felt a bit ‘firm’ but thought that was the weight of the battery effecting things. Took it a tyre place I have used for years and they said the tyres were well overinflated. They were all 3.0 bar rather than 2.6 and 2.4 bar. Reducing them certainly made a difference. I thought the car wasn’t as quiet as it should be, particularly the ‘tyre roar’. My ‘expert’ researched the Dunlop Maxx 060 fitted (a Far Eastern tyre not surprisingly) and said they were only 68db so one of the quietest. Decided it was me. At 3,000 miles, as recommended, I had the tyres ‘rotated’ and bingo the car is much quieter. The ‘expert’ has no explanation. As the RZ Takumi has different tyre widths at front and back the tyres could only be swapped from near to offside - so if there was any balance issue he didn’t think it would make any difference ‘rotating’ them. Could have just been my imagination.

It’s a so called new app - Lexus Link+ not Kexus Link

Used the app and it now requires an update. You would expect the update to be an improvement. It isn’t. They promised ‘Send to Car’ would be in it - I can’t find it. Also see below regards the charging map The previous version had a refresh icon in the battery status section whereby you could force the app to refresh - it was mostly out of date until you did that. That’s been removed. Find my car seems to be in the map section along with the useless charger locations. It is perverse that in the charging location when you select ‘navigate to’ it offers Apple Maps, Google Maps and Waze not the incar Lexus one If you select Google then you don’t get the nav in the HUD but you do get it in Apple Maps. Google Maps satellite looks excellent, Maps doesn’t display satellite and the resolution is awful. Strangely, in notifications I have those from the wife’s Yaris and none from the RZ. As is the norm for Lexus at this time, the update isn’t really an update and is very poor compared to the apps from the likes of Merc & BMW

I agree with John - the build quality is excellent and everything feels like it will last in the Lexus tradition. My problems may well not be representative and you have to look at other manufacturers and they all seem to be having issues - pure EV’s are new to them and whilst BMW & Merc have been building them for some time,they have their issues and are far more expensive for similar specs. The Takumi is worth considering as the dimmable roof is very effective although the increase in price is a bit ott, although the ML sounds and more sophisticated dampers seem worthwhile. When looking at charging, you quickly understand why all EV’s spec the time for 20% to 80%. Like most others, no matter what speed charger you connect to, at 80% the RZ charge rate plummets to about 10kw / hour, so the last 20% will take over an hour. I have found on 150kw chargers the 20% - 80% time is about 30 mins so the same as the brochure. Tesla doesn’t protect their batteries by severely restricting the rate at 80% but then you do risk having ‘sub optimal’ build quality ! Good luck with the demo. Whilst I too are bit old for road racing I picked up a ES today as a curtesy car and I honestly thought the handbrake was half engaged when I took off. Looking now the 0 - 60 for the ES is near 10s but the RZ is near 5 so I was being unfair in my expectations of the ES.

Looks like that as 2 dealers staff have said the same thing I’m sure those with Toyota BZ will be finding the same. I’m taking mine in again - getting an ES curtesy car. They are saying they think the Tracker is draining the 12v battery - I pointed out to them it was fitted 3 months ago and the 12v battery was fine until the day after the car was with them for diagnostics. If they try to tell me the issue was caused by the Tracker then I’m leaving the car with them and talk to Customer Service about rejecting the car for constant defects on the car.

Kevin - I listen to the Car Dealer podcast and one of the guys is always disparaging about Genesis. A different guy seems to like them and said they have now agreed franchises with some of the big dealers as they recognise having only 2 Showrooms and no local service facilities was a problem - what do you think Genesis need to do because if I do reject the RZ then that is a brand I would look at they have availability - or is that a really bad sign ?

That’s exactly what mine does when plugged in a 7kw charger. It just keeps clicking - I’ll mention that others have the same problem, but in my case it doesn’t charge. I hope you don’t get the Charging Malfunction error - if you do, disconnecting the 12v battery rectifies it but I do wonder if the 3 times I was forced to have this done then caused the battery draining I now have, or even the failure of the charging black box. They are replacing the large black box on top of the motor - looks very expensive. If I were you I would tell them you know of a failure of the black box which had the same clicking issue before it totally failed. The wheels falling off and the low temperature charging issue on the BZ caused a reputational hit to Toyota. I think the RZ could go the same way for Lexus. When I had the problems with the Range Rover the dealer said they would back me in rejecting the car but said as the defects were manufacturing ones, there was a good chance the replacement would have them too. At the time any new car was 9+ months wait so we decided to keep the car and the dealer was excellent in immediately sorting out the issues as they arose. The service manager left and I lost confidence in them sorting the probs - I am feeling the same way about Lexus as the 2 technicians that have worked on the car said it was all new to them and they hadn’t experienced the issues before, so were starting from scratch. I really like the car but to me it’s in the same league as the Range Rover - when it doesn’t have any faults, it’s a great car but the faults / unreliability start to outweigh the good drives. Like the Velar, I don’t know with confidence when I get in it (if I can) all will be good. With the miss-selling of the remote parking, the App not being as described and now the unreliability issues, I think Lexus have totally dropped the ball with the RZ.

Thanks for the advice. I’ll use it in my discussions with them.

Unfortunately it is 3 months old so rejection isn’t as easy. I have said it is not fit for purpose so I’ll see what they say next week.

I was told by the dealer and customer service that the RZ is on a different security ‘platform’ and so no need to plate it. I just hope the insurers realise there is a difference between say a 2021 RX and a 2023 RZ !

No info on key - I’ll chase. I think I may have a ‘Friday’ car. The AC charging has failed and replacement part is due 12 Sept. I can’t charge at home but the DC is ok so paying about 80p / Kw rather than 30p / Kw. They run diagnostics last Thu to find the charging problem - unfortunately something is now draining the 12v battery so today the car wouldn’t open, even with the mechanical key. The doors have electrical switches so flat battery means they won’t open. I have a Tracker fitted and had got an alarm notice early this morning but thought it was just wrong notification - found out since the Tracker monitors the 12v battery in case thieves disconnect to try to overcome any tracking software. Hence the battery was flat The dealers couldn’t help but Lexus Assist / AA were superb, arrived within 15 minutes. Much fiddling and a bit of brute force on the door with the mechanical key they managed to open the car and bonnet. Put a mobile charger on and the car started. The guy said he couldn’t replace the £ 150 battery as it was warranty and wouldn’t anyway as something was draining it. He said this would be ongoing until Lexus sorted it. I went for a drive and charged the car. Everything fine. Since the diagnostics I couldn’t access the car in the App - it kept saying that there was a system fault meaning the car couldn’t be ‘woken up’ - now know that is confirmation the 12v battery is flat. I’ve got the ‘cannot wake car’ again in the App so now know the car is not drivable. Senior guy in the dealers said they would sort collection and curtesy car Monday. it is so ironic that I switched to Lexus because the Range Rover was unreliable despite only being 2 years old. The AA guy was amazed that a Lexus was having this trouble - he also knew I had to call them out when the AC charging failed the night before our 240 mile drive - I had an error message saying Charging Malfunction and the car refusing to charge at home. It was this that resulted in the diagnostics last Thu that kicked off the 12v battery issue. I don’t think the technicians really know the RZ systems.

John - I was in the dealers yesterday and sat in a RZ with ‘leather seats’. I know Lexus do make it clear that they are not real leather but if I had bought the car I would have been mightily disappointed with the ‘synthetic leather’. It felt ‘slippery’ and plastic - I have to say the Ultrasuede definitely felt better !

At the dealers today and was told that the free insurance on a new car whilst permanent insurance was arranged after registration has changed. The dealer now has to provide all the drivers details to Lexus insurance ahead of handover and a fair number of them are ‘referred to underwriters’ and then rejected. The dealer then has to keep the car until the buyer has arranged insurance and so doesn’t get the payment and buyers are disappointed they can’t pick the car up as promised. The guy wouldn’t say whether the massive hike in insurance costs are effecting sales but I do wonder how many deals are done and then the buyer finds out the insurance cost and pulls out.

My dealer matched the Motorway amount which was £ 4k higher than WBAC Shame they couldn’t make the cost to change work. Good luck finding an alternative.

John. I had 6 Merc’s and each one had a more advanced infotainment than other marques. I don’t find the Lexus Charging network any use whatsoever. I use Zap Map which in CarPlay is excellent. Before leaving you can filter the speed of chargers, types of locations, % charge etc and save a route with chargers in it. As you near a charging site it will tell you how many are available, those which are out of service etc, choose one and then you can use Maps or Google Maps to navigate to it. You can also pay on a lot of the charging site using the app. I looked at the EQC but to get a similar spec it was about £ 10k more than a Takumi and the charging speed was a bit slower and the real range about the same.

If it had been an option on the Takumi I would have selected leather. Strange thing is, everyone I have had in the car say they prefer it ! Mine is the strange sounding Orage but is mid-blue. I do wonder how it will age but the Ultrasuede website says it has superior durability but I’m not sure about trumpeting it is flame resistant - I’d rather not test that in an EV

Thought this may be of interest - a very positive review by a journalist who has driven the car for more than 1,000 miles, rather than 1 hour.