Greenfield

From new I have always been frustrated that you can’t terminate a traffic announcement mid-way through, if listening to FM I perfected a technique of briefly changing pre-set stations with the steering wheel control but if listening to CD, USB or BT this doesn’t work and you are forced to listen to whole announcement and often some dribble afterwards before it switches off. This morning I was using the CD (yes-old fashioned) and the central screen was left to 100% Audio rather than my more normal 50% Nav, 25% Audio, 25% Energy and a dialogue box came up with the option to terminate the travel announcement, can you get this function with the Audio at 25% screen size?

I too would like this function as it's great when returning to the car on a hot day, on my previous generation IS250 the dealer needed to do this but on this model surely there must be a way of enabling without a dealer visit?

I don't use DAB as in 6 months of ownership it has not broadcast any local (TP) traffic news and yes I do have it selected!! FM transmits TP many times in my daily commute,

I ended up with silver and the light grey interior as the car (new) was in stock so instant delivery and I could actually see the car, not sure I would have chosen this however seeing it for real I was very taken although silver could be considered a bit yesterday compared to Sonic T which would have been my first choice. After 4 months of ownership I have not seen another silver one so makes an exclusive car more exclusive! I purchased a space saver from ebay along with a nice zipped cover and keep it in the boot although it takes up a huge amount of room in an already small boot howwever.

That's a real shame and a big oversight in my opinion by Lexus as it will stop me considering the CT, this is also a problem with other cars from Japan including the new Mazda 3, Honda Civic and Toyota Auris but is a standard feature on any VAG car except the very bottom of the range. My Wife's is quite short and cannot get comfortable as a passenger without raising the height of the seat almost to maximum, looks like we will be sticking with a Golf or A3.

From a painful experience the 12V battery is in the boot (left hand side behind a removable panel) and if it comes disconnected everything stops working, the AA jump started it via a connection in the fuse box under the bonnet therefore I assume you can charge or trickle charge from this point as well.

Hi, Thinking about buying a CT however it is not clear from the Lexus website if any of the models have height adjustment for the passenger seat, the information states 4 way adjustment which i take to be forward/backward and back rest angle. Does anybody have this height function fitted to a CT?

Do these cars get shipped from Japan with the battery disconnected? in which case it must be re-connected at the dock side to enable the car to be loaded on the transporter and then checked as it part of PDI which with the battery now hidden away in the boot is perhaps why the UK Lexus dealer didn't bother the check. Or does it arrive with the battery connected and in my case the terminals were not tightened in the factory and not checked at PDI?

I fully agree with Carl, Lexus have been a bit tight with equipment on the new model and I was not happy going backwards so was "forced" to the Premier to get the electric memory seats, reversing camera and Levinson with the added bonus of the blind spot monitor which I think is excellent. Although I did get a good deal by accepting a new vehicle they had in stock which was in Satin Silver rather than my preferred Sonic Titanium, now that I have had the car for a few months I have grown to rather like the Satin Silver and didn't have to wait many weeks for delivery.

No doubt the BMW is a fast car and if you want a fast car it’s a great choice ( I tested the 335i) If you don’t then other factors influence your choice of car, perhaps it’s my age (55) but outright performance no longer interests me especially these days of camera’s and congestion. My commute involves a few junctions on the M1 which I tackle on the inside lane in a gap between the trucks at about 62mph (they don’t catch you up and you don’t catch them up !!), turn on the cruise, turn up the Levison and watch all the others cars ducking and diving in the outer lanes – great fun. But seriously the IS300h suits my driving style, I love the exclusivity, the engineering quality/thoughtfulness and the fact the hybrid system is different, interesting and potentially very economical. We are all different and it depends on what you want most from your car.

I ended up with Premier primarily because the dealer had the vehicle in stock (new) with a great discount and the general feeling that if I didn't have the extra goodies I would regret the decision as I am intending to keep the car long term, in my opinion: Pro Nav is only good for the reversing camera as I have no idea how all the connected services work and don’t own a smart phone which apparently you need to make it all work. The Levinson music is fantastic now that I have got the hang of it. The Blind spot monitor is also very good on the motorway and when you then drive a car without it you really appreciate it. The Blind Spot monitor is also good when reversing out of a car parking slot as it alerts you to traffic approaching (although I do tend to reverse park when I can). The auto dipping mirrors on engaging reverse are really useful for reverse parking. The memory seats are not really essential as I'm the only driver however I am extremely fussy about my driving position and it can take several months in a new car to find the optimum, I tend to save 3 slightly different settings and keep swapping between them to find the final one (said I was fussy!!). The main down side of the Premier was the standard 18 inch wheels which were not to my taste, they have a slight chrome finish and too few spokes which all seems out of character for the car, I opted to have them changed for the standard 17 inch wheels from the Luxury (which are a factory option). Having moved from an IS250 Advance I was also not happy going backwards in terms of equipment especially when spending this much money, so again the Premier was the ideal choice. Hope this helps.

I also drive much more calmly and find I get far less frustrated than with my old IS250 which must be helping my blood pressure! I find the whole driving experience extremely relaxing and love it, rather than racing away from every set of lights I'm content with keeping the gauge in the eco area and watching all the BMW & Audi drivers disappear into the distance with high blood pressure – very satisfying. Similarly every now and then I change to sport mode, slot the gear lever into S and have great fun with the paddles and ASR and find the performance more than adequate for my needs.

With the recent bad press about high end Range Rovers, Audi's and BMW's being stolen easily due the weakness of the Keyless system I have not seen any mention of Lexus being targeted. Is this because the Lexus system is better or because we all drive more discrete cars in much lower numbers that they are not attractive to the thief's?

Yes my power cut problem was obviously the start of the problem I guess the earth lead clamp had just been resting on the battery terminal before finally falling off. At least the symptoms of the system rebooting and the climate system turning off are now understood. First time in all my motoring years i have had this fault. Thanks for all the help, great forum.

That did cross my mind as I have not yet got round to putting my private plate on the car and the number it has is not very memorable!! As kindly suggested I did try the mechanical key and it opened the door but that was it, no alarm and no starting, AA arrived and diagnosed a flat battery and started the car with a battery pack and then traced the fault to the battery earth terminal in the boot which had come off the battery terminal so at least the fault makes sense. They replaced it and tightened the nut and all seems well.

Just leaving the office and nothing happens with the remote or touching the door handles - can't get into the car, only 8 weeks old and 1000 miles, currently waiting for Lexus Assistance to arrive. Tempted to try the mechanical key and work out how to disable the alarm but then rather Lexus witnessed the problem.

On returning to the car I noticed the air conditioning system was switched off and all the radio pre-sets lost along with the telephone favourites - it really does look like the car decided to re-boot, can it also do this whilst driving?

Just parked the car and turned off the ignition and noticed the internal boot release not working then noticed nothing worked including the key fob, pressed the start button and a message appeared on the central screen to the effect “do not turn off, system re-booting” and then all was well. What happened?

Hi, Just played with sports mode after having the car for about a month and 1000 miles, very impressed with the responsiveness however having moved the lever to the S position and using the paddle shifts it seems to shift from 2 to 3 at around 5000 rpm without me touching the shift paddles, I expected it to hang onto 2 all the way to the red line or until I told it to change. Seems to do the same going from 1 to 2 but not tried 3 to 4 yet as the speed involved would be quite high!, it was quite disconcerting as I was anticipating changing gear and then it did it's all on its own.

Can you tell the approximate age of the car from the software revisions? My car was registered new 3 weeks ago (Sept 2014) although was "in stock" at the dealer and I wonder how old it actually is. The software is VC030101D (thanks to the excellent posts about how to find this) and the satnav SD card is 53241.

Hi, Is it me or is the IS300h a bit hard of hearing, after 4 weeks of ownership I have not once got it to dial the correct phone number using voice control, I regularly use a Fiat Punto with "blue & me" and that works every time. I have tried speaking slowly, clearly and aiming my mouth directly at the interior light (I guess that's where the MIC is) and it still either comes up with the wrong number or frustratingly says "pardon" and then shuts down before I can repeat my command. Otherwise the car is excellent just needs to be more obedient !!

Yes great colour on a great looking car, I was undecided between Sonic Titanium and Mercury Grey so I ended up with Satin Silver!! (it was in stock and a good price) - actually I'm very pleased with it as it shows the cars lines very well although could be considered a slightly dated colour due to its popularity over the past 10 years on all makes of car.

Many thanks for all the responses, I can now mute the music system using the play/pause button but still can't turn the traffic info off mid bulletin, still I don't seem get traffic announcements using the DAB so that solves that!! The ML now sounds much better having found the bass/middle/treble controls and using the USB input - quite impressed now. Thanks to the link above I will buy a space saver and a case/cover and just carry it loose in the boot, I notice a jack is fitted in the battery compartment and a wheel brace under the boot lining. I don't wish to enter the BMW debate but I did test drive a 335i petrol the same day as the 300h and wow did that perform however I just preferred the laid back relaxing nature of the 300h and the performance is more than adequate for my needs, the 300h just feels special every time I drive it.

Hi Thought it was worth listing my initial likes and dislikes after few days of ownership (IS300h Premier), just my opinions! Like: Refinement,so relaxing to drive Great handling Very comfortable driving position and seats Electric memory seats Feels very special & high quality Feels alternative (to 3 series, A4, C class) Heater slide controls Reversing camera Blind spot monitor Performance more than adequate (despite press reports) No issues with CVT gearbox (despite press reports) Auto wipers & lights Promising fuel economy Folding rear seats Not Sure: Mark Levinson seems no better than standard system (perhaps it’s my music selection) £10 road tax is satisfying but not important in relation to cost of the car (private not company owned) Complexity makes me nervous about keeping it beyond 3 years (despite the additional Hybrid warranty) Connected services (with premium nav) seem very complicated & fickle, suspect I will never use them Dislike: No spare wheel Unable to turn off traffic news part way through broadcast No sound mute button for music system No digital speed readout Unable to undo windows from remote (needs setting by Lexus) My left elbow falls into the central cup holders Not enough interior storage Summary: A superb car, highly recommended especially if you can stretch to the Premier

Just worked out that my new 300h does not have a space saver spare wheel, I'm keen to at least keep one in the garage as an emergency aid and possibly in the boot for long journeys (just come back from the Outer Hebrides), will a space saver from the previous IS250 fit the 300h as plenty seem available on Ebay? Ebay also have some CT200 space savers but I guess these would not be compatible.