michaelH

Many audio makers have stopped supporting DVD-A high res audio, because nobody makes the discs any more. although I think the discs may still play after a fashion at lower resolution . I think that is true even of Meridian Audio, who were heavily involved in designing the format so it would not be surprising if it ceases to be playable in cars etc. As Meridian guru Bob Stuart once said, "in the format war between DVD audio and SACD... the iPod won" At home, my Oppo BDP-103 disc player still supports DVD audio, as well as CD, SACD , DVD video and Blu-ray, which is just as well as some of the old DVD audio discs appear to command high prices second hand. Modern in-car systems hould perhaps start to support blu-ray, although the sonic benefits are largely lost with even a slight background of road noise.

According to Matt's VW emissions crisis-inspired cartoon in this morning's Telegraph, the owners of hybrid or electric cars may now be up to 22 times more smug than was originally thought.

from the New York Times: Volkswagen have now admitted that up to 11 million cars were affected, but have declined to say where the 11 million affected vehicles — more cars than Volkswagen produces in a year — were. But analysts said that as many as 10 million were probably in Europe, where Volkswagen is the dominant manufacturer, with more than double the market share of any competitor, and where diesels account for more than half of all vehicles sold. “There really aren’t many diesel cars outside of Europe and North America,” said Philippe Houchois, head of European auto industry research at UBS in London.

Shouldn't this thread now be in the owners club lounge, rather than on the IS mark 3 forum? Nothing much to do with the Lexus IS any more

you might want to consider some of the latest all-season tyres if you need to use it whatever the weather. But you would have to get a complete set of them, I think, on the basis that different types can't safely be mixed. If you go for ordinary summer tyres, the car will be almost useless in snow.

Yes, Malcolm, i've done that. I don't think its anything to do with getting old, but ... wait a minute, where did I put my teeth?

and better control on twisting or steep descents

I would also see 'old man's car' as a complement. Nothing wrong with being an older man (except for a bit of decrepitude and selective deafness). We are more discerning, and usually have more spending power. As I once saw on an old guy's T-shirt, "Why choose Westlife when you could have Beethoven?"

I don't know whether the mpg figures quoted above are actual or displayed. There is always a difference and sometimes quite a big one. If you assume it is optimistic by about 3 mpg then I doubt if you would be very far out. If you are getting 50 mpg from a brim-full tank then the range counter should hit zero at about 650 miles. At that point you would probably refill the tank to the brim with about 60 litres, in which case you had just over one gallon left in the tank after all (or enough for at least another 40 miles) but the consequences of running dry are more serious than for a simple petrol or diesel car, or so I am told, so best not to risk it. If you have to fill up at 600 miles then you are getting closer to 46 mpg, but I bet the display says 50. You will not get that in cold weather running winter tyres. Here are some figures I measured for previous runs: Three night time trips on original 17" summer tyres over the same 173 mile route - a mix of town, motorway, dual carriageway and single carriageway A roads, the last of these including lots of Welsh hills and bends: the ave speeds are as calculated by the car. The roads were largely clear but with some lengthy speed restrictions and cameras on the M6 and M54. I used to think the 'ave speed' display always read too low, but it exactly matched the time/distance elapsed, so is clearly accurate over distance, unlike the speedometer, which always (and perhaps deliberately) provides readings that are a few mph too high. '70' is nearer to 66, and so on. The IS300h can be a very economical car when driven gently (I have had readings of 64 mpg (60 actual?) over long journeys when driving a passenger with spinal injuries), and isn't too bad even when you 'press on' with no regard for economy, as I did in run no. 1. 1. Ave speed 60 mph; display = 45.0 mpg (= a real 42.0 approx.) - getting an ave of 60 over mixed roads required a speedo reading of 80+ for most of the dual carriageway/motorway sections and hard acceleration elsewhere 2. Ave speed 53 mph; display = 49.5 mpg (= a real 46.5 approx.) 3. Ave speed 50 mph; display = 57.2 mpg (= a real 54.0 approx.)

I went from the 200 sport to the 250 SEL with Mark Levinson sound system and then to a 300h lux without ML but with the same sound system (premium nav) as yours. I recall the ML system on the 250 being a decent improvement on the old 200 and the system on the 300h being only a little inferior to the ML on the 250, so it may be a question of adjustment and of getting used to a different set of limitations and foibles. I have never heard a car system that was genuinely hi-fi but plenty that sound OK within their limitations, and I would put the 300h premium nav system into that category. I wonder what the top end systems in Jags and Range rovers sound like? I use high end Meridian kit at home and I think Meridian provide the sound systems for them. One advantage of the 300h is that it is quieter on the move than a 200. That should help a lot. I tend to use the radio or plug in my iPhone rather than use the CD. I know that the files on the phone are (usually) stored at a lower resolution, but in the moving car environment, I don't think this matters as much as it would on a big home system. A clean undistorted recording is useful, but the delicate nuances of sound and atmosphere that matter so much on home hi-fi tend to be lost at 60-70 mph anyway, even in a quiet car like the 300h.

This is my experience of speed vs economy. Three night time trips on original tyres over the same 173 mile route - a mix of town, motorway, dual carriageway and single carriageway A roads, the last of these including lots of welsh hills and bends: the ave speeds is as calculated by the car. The roads were largely clear but with some lengthy speed restrictions and cameras on the M6 and M54. I used to think the ave speed always read too low, but it matched the time elapsed, so is clearly accurate over a distance, unlike the mpg reading, which always seems to come out about 3 mpg too high, as it seems most other users find. The message is that the IS300h lux can be a very economical car when driven gently, and isn't too bad even when you 'press on' with no regard for economy, as I did in run no. 1. My mark 2 IS250 was typically about 15 - 18 mpg less economical over the same journey, and the cost difference per annum compared to an economical diesel in the same size range is really not that significant unless you do huge mileages. But as Rabbers has found, the car somehow encourages economical driving, which is probably also safer driving. 1. Ave speed 60 mph; display = 45.0 mpg (= a real 42.0 approx.) 2. Ave speed 53 mph; display = 49.5 mpg (= a real 46.5 approx.) 3. Ave speed 50 mph; display = 57.2 mpg (= a real 54.0 approx.)

but don't put in anything that might attract rodents. Mmm, those cables look chewy ...

Rayaan: Indeed. But that in itself not too much of a problem. If your car has been faultless so far and a pleasure to drive then you are not going to give it 3s and 4s all round. The general picture then will not be much different from Ed's. The greater concern must be the size of response per car, which if too small could lead to some results being skewed by just a few atypical responses (BMW 5 series near the bottom of the pile - really? what happened there?). They have included many more cars this time and that suggests the thresholds for inclusion must have been lowered quite a lot. But strange that there were still too few responses to allow entries for (e.g.) the Mercedes SLK or Smart coupe. One last thing: you might give a car some very low scores for things that you don't really mind. or you might have different views as to what is meant by 'practicality'. If the big suburban or country dwelling family swap their huge seven seater people carrier for the single city-dweller's Smart coupe, both parties might end up regarding their new cars as impractical. So enjoy the survey, and the Lexus successes, but take it all with a pinch of salt.

Auto express ought to be more realistic as to the limited conclusions that can be drawn from of this survey. As others have said, it does not tell us which cars have the most or least comfortable seats or which are the most or least practical, of anything like that. The results are highly subjective. But that does not make it worthless. It does tell us something about what owners (OK, not all owners) think of their cars, and it serves as a reminder that although motoring journalists love or despise certain cars, owners may have different views. To be fair to AE, they are not always negative about Lexus, and nor do they always put German cars top. They do however tend to be seduced by high performance cars. Something fast but impractical is more likely to get a five star rating than one that they see as 'dull but worthy'. As to reliability, the Warranty Direct ratings may be more meaningful, although news items reporting on those ratings seem to conflate warranty claims with breakdowns and reliability, when it is more to do with potential costs of ownership. I made a couple of extended warranty claims on my old IS250 (or to be more precise, Lexus Leicester did that on my behalf), but none of my four Lexus cars has ever broken down on me.

Lexus really dominate the ratings this year, especially the IS mark 3. The mk 2 IS250 auto would also have done much better over the years if had not been rated together with the IS220D.

do you have serious issue with your 18" wheels? I would always choose 17s if given that choice, but I had one of the 2005-12 IS 250s on loan for a week or two and did not really notice any difference between its ride quality and that of my own IS250 running 17s.

If these guys had been brought up on hybrids and E-CVT transmissions, what on earth would they have made of diesels with manual gearboxes?

Well said, Edward. I was surprised by that comment, especially when AE have been more positive about the IS in some recent write-ups. Have they simply not worked out how to get the best out of it? The car does makes some noise if you rev it hard for a tight overtake, but the rest of the time, even when going fast, it is very refined and composed. Is it perhaps that the noises it does make are just different from those of a turbo diesel?

why change the wheels, Gaz? I would guess that the 16s give the best ride, are less vulnerable to kerbing damage and use the least fuel, although my Lux rides well enough on 17s. If I ever get myself a premier I will specify 17'' wheels rather than the usual 18's.

Nice. One year old SE ? - an ex demonstrator?

I have used various, some cheap and some upmarket. They all seems to work, but I am currently using Meguairs 'ultimate wash & wax anywhere'. They also do a detailing spray which would be fine if planning a proper wax job after cleaning. same spray as for claying. With care you will not scratch or swirl anything. If you are not careful, then no doubt you could - as with conventional washing. Auto glym do an aerosol spray 'showroom shine' which is fine for shining up a car that is reasonably clean already. old and new car shown here after waterless cleaning. the old one must have had four years of that treatment, and still looked good when I sold it

your 59.6 is probably about 56 in reality, but pretty good for the time of year.

you will probably shoot me for this, but I have used waterless cleaning products or detailing spray on the paintwork of my cars (and those of friends and family) for the last few years. I find they work really well, but sometimes add a wax on top. I have never had any issues with scratches or swirl marks, and when I first started using waterless I used to check for them all the time. Waterless spray plus soft clean microfibre cloths must be lower risk than using a chamois or blade to get hard water off paintwork. Anyway the real threat to paintwork comes from stone chips etc. In winter after a journey on salty roads I take the car to a hand car wash and let them get on with it. Yes, I know they are not ideal, but ...

Never mind, it will look OK once you have cleaned all that dirt off.

Yes, very nice indeed. But don't park too close to the kerb with those dark 18" alloys.