martin geden

Anyone see the Lexus theme on Top Gear - 03/01/2010

Generally slating the company with the vehicles accross the board

Just taken delivery of new IS220D. Very pleased, though just spent 5 minutes this morning trying to work out how to operate the rear windscreen wiper before realising that there isn't one. Don't know if that's a Lexus peculiarity or just that I'm used to hatchbacks rather than saloons. Anyway, more relevantly, I made the mistake of buying the Lexus Ipod integration kit with the car. I've got the problem described here of no playlist names etc. showing up. But it looks like it's a pretty poor product even if I get them to fix that. The Vaistech sounds like a much better solution. I'm loath to start taking things to bits myself, so wonder if anybody has any information on competent UK-based fitters for this kind of kit? I'm in Stoke/Crewe area, but motivated enough to travel. Cheers, guys.

I have a 08 RX400h and also had the factory fitted Ipod kit. I recently purchased a Silverline Ipod kit for £200.00 supplied and fitted froma company called 12 volts in Southend, Essex. It works on the 6 CD selection buttons as follows :

1. Select song

2. Select Playlist

3. Select Artist

4. Select album

When you select button 3 you can then select button 4 for an album within that artist. When you select button 3 you can then selct button 1 for a song within that artist. It all works from the head unit and the steering wheel as well. It displays artist name, album name, playlist name and song title, very good unit and if you google the product you can see screenshots of the display

Had a guy from 12 Volts in Southend visit yesterday and fitted a DICE Silverline ipod kit to replace my factory fitted Ipod kit. Total cost plus fitting £200.00. It is conected to the front screen and the 6 DISC buttons as follows

Do you know if this is the old one (Silverline) or the new one (Silverline Pro) which you can use both the nav screen and the ipod screen without having to switch modes?

If the new does it work reasonably well in this dual mode?

Does it allow you to select artists/albums while in motion?

rgds

Stephen

Dont know about what model it is, have to look at the manual as it only states Silverline on the front. Once you plug the Ipod in to the cable in the glovebox the control is done via the front screen and the steering wheel. It tricks the console into thinking that it has a MP3 player. It uses the 6 CD option buttons, button 5 is used to select the ipod or another auxillary connection (dvd etc....) and button 6 is not used.

You can select albums,artists,playlists and songs whilst in motion. If you press button 4 on the front screen it selects album by artist or you can scroll through all albums, wait 2-3 seconds and then if you select button 3 you can select the album for that artist, wait 2-3 seconds and then select button 1 to play the songs for that album. You can do all this by pressing the front screen or the steering wheel in motion or at a standstill.

The front screen lists the artists name and the album name and the song name. So if you are selecting albums it will display the album name, if you are selecting an artists album it will display the artists name and album and if you are selecting songs it will display the artist, album name and song.

Also you can conect your ipod on shuffle and connect the cable it will shuffle all of your songs in your library and display artist and track name.

I think Steve's post there covers all the possibilities to look at.

FM transmitters work, but sound quality is pretty poor. Bluetooth won't work as the car kit will not support A2DP (the stereo profile) - on the off chance it does play it will sound horrendous as it will be using the profile that phone calls come through on and will probably sound worse than listening to an AM radio station :)

Had a guy from 12 Volts in Southend visit yesterday and fitted a DICE Silverline ipod kit to replace my factory fitted Ipod kit. Total cost plus fitting £200.00. It is conected to the front screen and the 6 DISC buttons as follows

Button 1 : selects song within an album or artist

Button 2 : selects playlist and then press button 1 to play the songs within that playlist

Button 3 : selects album and then select button 1 to play ALL songs for that album

Button 4 : selects artist, press 3 for album within that artist, press 1 for songs within that album

Basically stick your ipod on music and you can select artist then all songs for that artist and you can control this via your steering wheel or dashboard controls.

Next thing is connecting the PS2 to the rear of the drivers seat (already have the connector leads, red, yellow, white,), quoted me approx £100.00 fully fitted.

Would highly recommend the company and the guy who came to my home and fitted the kit, Andy

Hi

I've just bought a RX400h which as a bluetooth application to enable me to use my phone hands free.

My daughters want to play their ipods through the car stereo. The dealer can fit a FM transmitter so that the ipod can be put in the glovebox and plugged in, which I am sure is fine but expensive, or I can buy a FM transmitter for £20 on the internet (although I am told some of these don't give good results).

I wondered whether anyone had tried using a bluetooth adaptor with an ipod - such as bluenext or i0? The dealer reckons they won't work but I wondered if the RX400 would recognise them as a telephone and could be fooled into broadcasting them through the speakers.

Would love to hear from anyone who has tried this or has managed to get one of the adaptors to work.

Alison

If it's any help, I bought an FM transmitter for my ipod and it wasnt great. The signal was at best poor or kept on fading out and you had to keep re-tuning - not great when you are driving. I opted for a Lexus fit ipod adaptor, thats fine, sound quality good, although you have to have your music selected and organised into playlists. I have my daughters old ipod in the car permanently, i can choose to listen to this or change to radio/CD/DVD very easily. You can get other kits which could even work out a little cheaper, I think Vias do a very good kit for the ipod (there is quite a lot of information on this form anout them) but i think you need to fit that yourself or get someone to do it for you.

I also had the Lexus factory fit Ipod kit put into my 08 RX400h and it is quite limited to how you use your Ipod. As above you have to put your song selections into playlists, you cant just play a random artist, random track etc. I have a company coming to my house this afternoon (12 volt from Southend) to fit a new style Ipod kit. Basically my front screen will act like an "Ipod touch" where I can select artist and then song or album then artist or browse my entire song list and pick a random song. I have been told that my ipod will appear on the front screen so I can easily navigate between Ipod functions. All this for approx £250.00 fitted. I could have the video option bit this would set me back £800.00 (this is in the RX450h apparantly)

Okay managed to finally get round to calling someone out to repair my rear screen. I bought my RX400h in April 2008 and opted for an Alpine system with the screens fitted in the rear headrests rather than the over the headrest system as I think these look as though you have bought them form Argos and strapped them to your seats with some velcro.

One of the screens was showing "no video" for a while. Called Lexus Woodford who got the firm who fitted the system (12 volt in Southend) to come and have a look. It was past the 12 month warranty but the guy said it was Alpine so not to harm their company name they would replace it free of charge (booked in for next week)

I was chatting to him about the options with my Ipod connection that was factory fitted when I ordered the car and explained that it was very limited in how I could use it only by creating playlists etc. I said I had seen a system where it could play Ipod video on the front screen and he said that is what the new RH450h has and it would cost about £900.00 to install (ouch!)

The other option is to trick the car and have the artists, track name, album name appear on the front screen so that I could select single songs or albums rather than only playing it via a playlist. He quoted me £250 - £300 fully supplied and installed

My question is worth the money ??

I hadn't noticed before and someone pointed this out to me at the weekend. The bottom plate for my rear shocks are about an inch or two from the tyre but the first spring is well clear of the plate. When I "bounced" the car the plate didnt move (good) and the shock slightly moved down and up (good again)

Is this because the shocks on an RX400h 08 are hard and not soft like a normal saloon car. Im just worried that with the car fully laden that the bottom plate will touch the tyre but then if the actual coil spring is well clear of the plate then there is nothing to worry about. I will post a pic and shoe the evidence

Seen in The Sun today,

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/...Lex-appeal.html

In my quest for a Lexus, one thing I am finding difficult to establish is what model/model year did the RX come with the cooled/ventilated front seats?

Cheers.

None I think they only come with the new RX450h put this year. My 08RX400h comes with heated seats but not cooled (something my old Mondeo Titaniumx did !! )

Okay spent an hour polishing an Astral Black RX400h and it looks good but wondering if it could have looked better

Used turtle wax liquid and Im seeking advice on any other polishes or specialist sprays, liquids, wax to use

Got an email from my dealer earlier today telling me about the new RX450h, and some of the stats are pretty impressive. CO2 of 148g and BIK of 14% should have all the company car drivers pretty interested as nothing else really comes close to that - I'm sure everyone will be having a rant about real world fuel economy when these things hit the road but a combined of 44.8mpg is pretty good too.

Prices are as follows:

RX450 SE - £41600

RX450 SE with Full Map Navigation - £43570

RX450 SE-I - £45250

RX450 SEL - £50460

RX450 SEL Finesses - £55505

Met Paint - £580

DAB radio - £345, standard on SEL and SEL Finesse

Seeing as the old SE-L sits between the SE-I and new SE-L prices haven't risen too much.

I was sent this link last night

http://www.lexusinessex.co.uk/

All,

I was very pleased to see a 2 grand price rise as my dealer predicted; makes the residuals on my 4 week old 400h better.

Question is, given the RRP on the 400h is enormous, how much is this slightly disappointing 450h going to be?

Thoughts?

Jon

I'm with you on that! Got a great deal on a 400h and had it ten days. Not that I am planning to sell it already, but it makes the deal sweeter than ever.

Dealership told me that the base RX450h will be £45K, and the top of the range £55K. This helped crystalise my thoughts to purchase the run out model, as I don't feel that the introduction of the 450h series will harm existing 400h residuals when there is such a hike in the pricing.

Ouch! Thought they might price the 450h lower than that. Might be keeping my 08 400h a while longer then

One of my rear screens is showing "no video" when turned on. I have an 08 RX400h se-l and opted for the factory built rear screens rather than the newer ones where they sit over the head rests and half way down the rear of the front seats.

Any ideas, fuse, loose wire ?

My first RX was in Brechin Slate. Lovely colour IMHO and a bit different. The shade is not disimilar to the med-blue colour on these web pages infact, if only they were metallic.

Bonus is that the colour hides dirt and swirls well as it is neither dark or very light. Mine had the beige interior and it looked lovely. I don't think it would be good with black. Personally, I would pay the extra £2K and get the higher spec car, more choice, more goodies, and get a little more back for it at trade in time.

I would pay the extra as well, got a 08 RX400h se-l with memory seats and powered tailgate. The powered tailgate comes in handy in supermarkets car parks and other areas where you are the envy of everyone when you remote operate it and people turn around trying to see whose car it is.

I don't know if this topic has been raised before...

Firstly, Hi and welcome to the LoC :)

Secondly, may I [politely] suggest that 'if you don't know' something that you use the SEARCH button on the top right before posting? in this case it would have revealed that this question has come up many times before; but seeing as you're here, the answer your question is, in a word, no. The 400h doesn't provide you with an estimated run down counter of fuel left as the petrol RX does.

I think this has been covered before and the RX400h cannot calculate the distance to empty as it is part electric part petrol. If you are crawling through town using the electric motor then you are not using any fuel so the only time you would get a distance to empty figure would be when using the petrol engine. Dont know if the computer could switch easily between the two engines

I have an 08 RX400h with the Mark Levinson system and rear screens. Is there anything on the market to have tv or freeview linked up to the front screen or the back screens or both?

I had the same problem with the seat on mine after only a few thousand miles from new. Lexus Birmingham replaced this under warranty without any fuss and the new seat is still fine 12K later. This is a problem I have heard about more then once on this forum and elsewhere.

Well my car has gone in today to lexus in Woodford and they are keeping it until the weekend. They will be looking at the following

1. Drivers seat leather rucked up

2. Rear drivers side DVD screen is showing "low voltage" on some journeys and cannot produce a picture

3. Slow punture in rear left tyre (they offered to replace the tyre with a new one not just repair it. The pressure should be 31-32 and i checked it last night and it was showing 18!!)

4. They have identified the brake problem as they had on other RX400h come in with the same problem

Seems though the more you spend on a car the more problems can go wrong with it !

Ill keep the forum posted with the outcome

PS. One thing the salesperson did say that in Sep 2007 they had 108 cars sold with the new reg, this Sep 08 they had 3 !!!. Sign of the times

Okay, all problems fixed.

1. Brake problem has been fixed, one other model had the dame problem.

2. They have taken a photo of my leather on the drivers seat and will call me to replace it

3. Rear DVD screen fixed

4. Slow puncture turned out to be a full puncture. So £150.00 for a new tyre !

I had the same problem with the seat on mine after only a few thousand miles from new. Lexus Birmingham replaced this under warranty without any fuss and the new seat is still fine 12K later. This is a problem I have heard about more then once on this forum and elsewhere.

Well my car has gone in today to lexus in Woodford and they are keeping it until the weekend. They will be looking at the following

1. Drivers seat leather rucked up

2. Rear drivers side DVD screen is showing "low voltage" on some journeys and cannot produce a picture

3. Slow punture in rear left tyre (they offered to replace the tyre with a new one not just repair it. The pressure should be 31-32 and i checked it last night and it was showing 18!!)

4. They have identified the brake problem as they had on other RX400h come in with the same problem

Seems though the more you spend on a car the more problems can go wrong with it !

Ill keep the forum posted with the outcome

PS. One thing the salesperson did say that in Sep 2007 they had 108 cars sold with the new reg, this Sep 08 they had 3 !!!. Sign of the times

Car was on the driveway at the weekend. Tried to unlock the car with the remote key, light came on the key but car would not unlock. Tried this several times. Then I unlocked the car with the key into the drivers lock and the alarm went off but still couldnt open any of the 4 doors. After several attempts I managed to open the drivers door with the key and start the engine.

Before all this had happened I applied the brake several times and have a noise that I could only describe as a judder. Then a tapping noise coming from the engine area. This happened every time I applied the brake and came to a standstill. This then dissappeared and I havent had any problems so far. The same motion also happened after I came back from a long journey with both Rear DVD screens on for about 2 hours, when I applied the brake there was a juddering noise/movement as though the car was stalling

I am taking my car into my local Lexus dealer (South Woodford) to check it out and also look at the following since I have owned the car since April 08

1. Drivers leather seat is all "rucked" up and there is folds in the leather

2. Slow puncture in rear left tyre (my fault I know)

3. Rear DVD screen sometimes shows "low voltage" and turns off when I brake hard or accelarate fast

Any comments welcome on all of the above points

I checked my tyre pressure before setting off on a long journey and the rear left tyre was showing 24 when it should be 32-33

I checked it again after a couple of weeks and it was showing 24 again

Slow puncture and if so would it be advisable to take it to a Lexus dealer or just to any tyre place ?? (Kwik-fit, ATS )

Hi .

Mine has the 3 colour cables in the back of map pocket on drivers side , that should do the trick .

good luck .

Jon

Yes mine has those as well, but what power cable do i need for a PS2 to connect to the 12v socket in the boot or the lighter

I have an 08 RX400h with the M/M package (screens in the rear headrests). What cables do I need to connect a Playstation 1,2,3 so that one screen can watch a DVD from the incar player and a dvd/game from the playstation. I dont thinkyou can watch DVD on a PS1 only on a PS2 and 3

I have a RX400h se-l and was wondering if it is possible to lock the doors whilst the automatic boot is closing so when the door finally closes the car doors are closed and locked ?

I have tried it and just get a continous beep until the boot closes and then I have to lock it via the key

Thanks

I just took delivery of a new RX400h about 4 weeks ago.

I had 3 RX300 before this. On Monday this week my husband was waiting for me in the car listening to the stereo with ipod playing through lexus stereo.

After about 30 mins I came back to the car and it wouldn't start. We had to get RAC to jump start the car.

We regularly followed this pattern in our RX 300 . In fact quite often we would listen to the stereo and kept the heated seats on for up to an hour while waiting or picnicking in the car.

Is this a design flaw with the Hybrid and is there any way we can use in car entertainment while the car is stationary and the engine or "ready" light is not engaged

If not why does Lexus fit a Hybrid with dvd player that can only be played while stationary if the battery can't take it for as little as 30 mins

Maureen

I have an Ipod kit fitted on my RX400h and this can be played whilst the READY light is off. The ignition has three stages. Just before the last stage you should be able to play the stereo, use sat nav, ipod, play DVD on front and back screens

Can you suggest any products to remove fine scratches on a 08 RX 400h in Astral Black

The vehicles has been coated with Supaguard but I am seeing more and more fine scratches on the car ( maybe to do with the sponge or chammois that I am using )

Thanks