dipstick

Godfathers! Forgot the damn thing!

It's marvellous when it works and toss when it doesn't, eh? Mine actually got lost for the first time this morning. It might have been cos the wheels were spinning all the time in the snow, but it didn't even know which way I was facing, and the map showed me as being in the middle of nowhere. But at least on the DVD version you have the option to switch between shortest/quickest, unlike the cd version. Allegedly.

Six inches of the stuff on the car this morning, an hour to get to work (8 miles) as we all do 20. Little orange light on the dash every few yards as wheels spin. Yuk. Cambridge.

Yep, 3.7.

Ta; tried the prioritisation. Just had a confirm from Lexus GB; system will now always choose shortest, not quickest, hence problem. I could put in waypoints but would have to do that every time I think. Don't think if I do that and then choose "previous destination" next time it will remember the waypoints, but I might be wrong. Will play! Unsurprisingly, Lexus GB agree I should upgrade the car! :)

Glitch is: Using the main road out of Cambridge leading to the A14 and then home. I've always gone this way. With the older version of the CD, all was well, directed me along this road. It;s the sensible choice, and the way everyone goes. With the newer version of the software it wants to to turn off at every single junction along the road and go back the way I've been, and then go through loads of little villages instead of the main A14 to get home. I've checked. The point at which it wants me to go that weird route rather that the sensible way it used to recommend is precisely one tenth of a mile shorter. So in the new version it seems that it thinks that a shorter distance is much more important than road classification; it will ALWAYS prefer little tiny roads to major ones, if the route is shorter. The old one didn't do that. The obvious thing to do is "recalculate entire route" at a point after the routes diverge, but - and here's the glitch - it sticks with the "weird wiggly nobody in their right mind would go that way but it's shorter" route, even if it's now longer becasue you have to go back on yourself to get to it. Not sure I was very clear there, but I know what I mean!

I do hate writing to Lexus GB. Mailed them about a problem with the latest CD Satnav to which I've just upgraded. Got a very helpful response back listing all the things I could try - none of which are on the CD. They're on the DVD. I had no IDEA there were options to force an "Adjacent Road" or a "Required Road", along with quicker/shorter route options. Fiddle. Going to have to ditch a perfectly good GS and buy another just to get the dvd version of the damned satnav. Mind you, I was impressed with the speed of their response and their suggestions, even if it does just confirm the latest CD version has a nasty gotcha on (at least) one specific route.

Updated my CD last week (Still 3.7). Improvements: knows about some newer bypasses etc near me. The opposite of improvements, must be a word I can't think of pre-coffee: Now has a lunatic route on my way home from work that it used to do fine. INSISTS at every junction along the road I do a U-turn to go back the way I've just come, making it a 12 mile journey instead of 8. Then at a certain point it gives up and redirects me home the correct way. There is no detour or point to avoid set. I wouldn't mind but this is the major route out of Cambridge leading to the A14, not a squiddy side road. Weird, and doesn't enamour it to Mrs Dipstick who thought the idea of an update was a waste of money anyway. ("£130 and it's WORSE!, yada yada...").

Amazing amount to spend on mats, although I'm sure they are lovely and I'm kind of tempted. I confess that for utility reasons I have two small carpet samples in my GS. They are the same colour as the car carpet and do the job of protection against mud etc just fine. They have no Lexus logo. Or pegholes. On the other hand, they were literally twenty five pence each from the local carpet shop, so they could be replaced new once a day for the next 600 days before they cost me as much as Lexus mats. They've been there six months so far with no sign of wear. Just a hint for any skinflints like me who don't care that much!

Ooh hang on - you ARE gold. Didn't you claim your discount mate?

Ouch! Go Gold. Had mine done at Lexus Cambridge a month ago for somewhat less than that! Would have paid for Gold membership, if that's a clue how much less...

Had mine in for new brake pads last week at Lexus Cambridge. Job was to be £101, if that helps apportion your costs. (In fact when they took it apart they said the pads were virtually new and didn't need changing so job got cancelled).

My SE is in group 16 with my insurance company. Can't see that group matters that much, as there are so many other variables anyway. I might pay more for a group 16 than you for a group 18 because of my postcode or driving record for example. FWIW I pay just over £500 fully comp protected no claims, which is quite enough ta.

Wouldn't be without them. If I have to go around moving fingers I want my money back.

Already got one... :D

Interesting. As next car might be be LS or Mercedes S Class, reckon the answer is S class!

Nah, the apostrophe here is indicating an abbreviation, so Lexus' is short for Lexuses. I think it's because of the sound of the final s that there is any question anyway. You wouldn't dispute the plural of Mercedes to be Mercedes, but that's because it sounds like eez not ess at the end. We never say Mercedi.

Prefer Lexi cos it sounds posh, but it's not a real word so you can't really have that. The first is correct I guess but the second is neatest, so that's what I voted for. You could argue that more than one is a munificence.

Stop that, tempting though it is. Eats shoots and leaves?

In one hundred bites, sharp taste on the left?

Colin, 1) Bet it's a bug. It doesn't restart if the guidance is cancelled. However, it can be quite s****y when someone who doesn't know the system is in the car. You drive along and all of a sudden it says "take the next left". To the question "how does it know that???" you say it has a thought transference interface coupled with artificial intelligence of a high order to do with road sign recognition etc, until bored. 2) Nice idea, but in that case it would chime at every marked point. I have a lot, mostly nice coffee shops and garden centres we discover on our travels (*** I'm getting old - it means when we have a day trip out and fancy a quick coffee there's always somewhere nearby we know will be good) and it only does it at those two! It's 3.0. Thanks for your comments mate, as ever.

Oxo crisps release 1 (1960-70s). They were re-released about five years ago, weren't so good as the originals, and were withdrawn. Existing Marmite crisps a very poor too sweet substitute.

Two queries, not really problems (undoubtedly to be answered by Colin!) CD based V3 satnav, GS. 1) If I don't put in a destination, and drive home, at a random point it will start directing me home. But not every tiime. How does it know where I'm going, and why does it start at a random point, and then only sometimes? 2) JUST before I reach one of two destinations, one being my home, the other my mother's home, the system will give three pairs of short beeps. Always at exactly the same point (I guess about 0.5 miles from the destination). BUT it ONLY does that with those two destinations and no others ever. It will do it even if I haven't put a destination in but am in fact going home or to me old mum's, ie am running without guidance. Just curious if anyone else has experienced these things, or has any ideas as to why?

Well done Steve; we discussed, you promised, you delivered. Appreciated. Ok, couple of links for possible addition: www.honestjohn.co.uk for discussion and advice www.sniffpetrol.com for fun www.aapetrolbusters.com for cheapest petrol in a given area and indeed www.theaa.com for route finding and traffic news

First sensible post. Rest are good fun but mostly patently ridiculous. Favourite conspiracy theory; I quite like the "one of JFK'S bodyguards in the following car had his gun go off accidentally". At least it's possible to base that one on some kind of positive empirical evidence, rather than the "no real evidence but it sounds like fun", as much of the previously mentioned theories are. Illuminati are quite interesting, but only in a self evident way; obviously power concentrates. Look at the Opus Dei, for example.