Rabbers

My aim - admittedly a boring one - was to make obvious what to some might have appeared to be a joke. Certainly, it was not my aim to raise the subject of the relative prowesses of Frenchmen and Englishmen in expressing themselves in each other’s languages. But, since the subject was raised, I will offer my observation, as a third party, that the degree of fluency, both spoken and written, of the average French anglophone is higher than that of a British francophone. Why this should be is difficult to say, but, historically, it probably has a lot to do with insularity on the one side and greater commercial and perhaps cultural incentives on the other. Something that has always struck me as odd is the frequency with which British comedians get laughs from their fellow countrymen’s distorted attempts to speak foreign languages, thus selling the country undeservedly short. Linguistic self-satire of this nature is rare in the majority of other countries.

If you scroll down to the last section of the website you’ll find a Country >[Select Language] button. Seeing that all main European countries > [Languages] are listed except for U.K. > [English] one would assume that Coyote no longer operates in the U.K., at least not under that name.

No question about it. And lots of them is even better…. It was mainly the many toys included in the top-spec packages that you had to pay for with other marques that first attracted me to Lexus.

Congratulations on your car, Tony. It’s good to see a new wave of appreciative owners of a rare and beautiful car. My own favourite feature remains the brief pause before the windows gently slide closed, but there are so many other indicators of quality that in time you come to almost take them for granted.

Used to be the remedy of choice for flea-bites, so I guess it was popular in hippie communities. But surely you didn’t use it for that, did you?

Excellent as an example of corks-on-your-hat stryne humour, David. Regrettably I wouldn’t know where to find a cricket bat within a 2000km radius of where I live. But thanks anyway.

Coyote is a French-owned subscription speed-camera alert system compatible with the Lexus CY17 navigation system. A free three-year subscription was offered via the MyLexus e-store app in 2019 on new RC, ES, UX, LS and maybe other models in Italy, France, Spain and also, I believe, Benelux. Renewal was to have been €99 yearly, though I believe the charge actually went down. I didn’t renew on expiry of my own free subscription last November, not because I didn’t find the system useful but because I find Lexus’ own system largely adequate for my own needs. For those unfamiliar with the Coyote system it alerts users of fixed speed cameras and is constantly updated both by the company’s own channels and the community of users who update the data base for the presence of new cameras on one or both sides of the road simply by highlighting the Coyote logo on the car display. You can also alert fellow users about any mobile cameras you might spot but I neither received or issued any such alert in the entire three years of the subscription. The system also provides real-time warnings of accidents, queues, stationary vehicles, roadworks etc., within a 30km radius. Most of the Coyote’s proprietary features were supposedly going to be incorporated into Apple CarPlay but, as far as I know, no deal was ever reached.

Sound advice from a man of obviously liberal views, though some would say old tea bags are best avoided.

I’m guessing an older one would be probably be more cooperative.

Do all the wheel nuts still look to be in good condition and properly tight?

To judge by your photo - and unless you’re looking for the over-glossy surface most tyre dressings give - I would be optimistic.

I have now done 2500km on the Contis, and have nothing negative to report: the ride is smooth and acceptably quiet at all speeds, the grip is remarkably good, so much so as to inspire a high degree of confidence in all non-winter weathers and conditions, and there are no signs of wear (at least to the naked eye). In short, there is no performance- or quality-related reason why I might not want to buy the same tyres again. Next week I’ll be undertaking an all-motorway (mainly autobahn) drive of 1600km>, and will report again if warranted - although at this point I wouldn’t expect the tyres to be any less than excellent.

That’s interesting. We have had a spray-bottle of 303 in the house for quite some time since my wife uses it only once or twice a year to protect the back of a leather armchair from the direct sunlight it gets through a window. I guess I’ll be borrowing some!

As a matter of fact that’s what I’ve always used, generally satisfactorily except for rubber hoses etc., which tend to stay grey-ish unless treated with products like Nextzett Gummi Plege or AngelWax Elixir, both of which I find rather too expensive for this specific purpose.

Alas, John, the meagreness of my descriptive powers prevents me from responding and furthering this thread in any meaningful way. But if you are truly interested in measuring the relative potencies of the smells of cat pee and Vick Rub and blends thereof in terms of residual traces, detection ranges, scales of freshness, enclosed or open spaces etc., etc., you could perhaps buy a small jar of the latter and, with experimentation in view, seek out a cat-infested alley somewhere. The back entrances of fish restaurants would be suitable - though probably excessively prone to additional layers of smell.

Actually, Bernard, it's so miserable and tatty (as well as smelly) an object that I'd be ashamed to show it in public. But I like the entrepreneurial spirit of your suggestion ....

Norman, the picture you posted looked impressive, so I sought out the product online and noticed that the top left-hand corner of the label states that the "Engine Dressing" is "Step 2", meaning, I quickly deduced 🤓 that Meguiars would like you to undertake a "Step 1" beforehand. This, further research showed, is by using another product in the range called "Engine Clean". Would you agree that one can probably forgo the latter unless the engine and surrounding components are really filthy (which mine aren't)?

Yes, if it contains feline body odours and stray hairs.

Indeed so. I must reluctantly admit that the evanescent whiff of menthol I have been getting inside the cabin first thing in the morning has a pleasantly bracing effect on the respiratory tract after the first few sneezes.

After nearly three cat-free weeks my hopes that the offending cat or cats had moved on were dashed by the discovery one morning of multiple fresh muddy paw-prints on my bonnet. Despite my personal olfactory misgivings I therefore decided to follow your advice and try Vicks Rub as a deterrent. After generously smearing an old towel and rolling it tight, I laid it dry side out along the gap between wipers and bonnet before parking for the night. Having now done so for six consecutive nights, refreshing the dose each time, I can report that the local feline population appears to be giving the car a wide berth. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they won’t develop a taste for the stuff, but so far so good.

Interesting post. I can understand a Jewish salesmen not working Saturdays and some old-fashioned Catholics resting on Sundays, but I never heard of a car salesman not hustling his wares on a Friday …😳

I think you’re probably right … and maybe you can negotiate a bit off the asking price because of it.

Try enabling Siri on your iPhone, either by a side switch or in Settings, then toggle “Allow Siri when Locked” to On, then connect your IPhone to one of the USB sockets inside the armrest. Your display should then confirm CarPlay compatibility with instructions for enabling it. No confirmation would mean your RC model is not compatible.

I was wondering the same thing yesterday when reading this thread at my dealer while waiting for my car to be serviced. Being a little confused by the original query I took a peep inside a CT in the used-cars park, and was relieved (though not surprised) to see the parking brake pedal next to the footrest. I think confusion would be avoided if the term “parking brake” was adopted in normal parlance irrespective of foot or hand activation.

When I learned to drive I was taught that using the parking brake (i.e. the handbrake) was in and of itself beneficial because it prevented the mechanism from seizing up as the possible result of corrosion - the exception to the rule being during spells of extremely cold weather when the possibility of freezing means it is better to park with the car in first gear and the brake disengaged. When I came to own automatic cars, I acquired the habit, probably like most people, of simply parking in P, although I still from time to time, maybe once or twice a week, also engage the brake in the hope and belief that I am keeping the mechanism in adequately good shape. It occasionally crosses my mind that I might as well do it every time (as, of course, I always do when parking on a slope) but I guess I’m either too lazy or too forgetful.