Steve44

I was quite liking the new ES as a potential replacement for my IS next year....... right up to “front wheel drive”. Not sure if Lexus have dropped a clanger here. I see they won’t offer an AWD option either.

Snap! Is it Graphite black or the other one? can’t remember name but less metallic. Pity you’ve been stung with the extra tax. Mine was registered 25th March last year and is £10/yr. The new rules are nuts. If you have premier pack, like mine , then the car will have Premium Nav and Mark Levinson stereo. Sport+ mode on the dial, AVS, electric leather seats with memory, blind spot monitoring and rear traffic alert and the very special pressed aluminium inserts with a diamond textured finish. I don’t think it does as the under bonnet shot shows std damper tops not ones with the cover and wiring for AVS. Even a std FSport with metallic paint is just over 40k list. Premier pack took it to 45k ish.

Friend has a Diesel C300h AMG Premium Plus hybrid. Was similar in spec and colour to my old F-Sport IS300h - Grey/Red leather and similar spec/toys. Merc looked OK, IMO and the interior was alright too, but the growling diesel engine spoilt the drive and the auto box wasn't the best. It was quick though, much faster than the IS, sub 6s 0-60 and with decent diesel shove mid-range. Seats were OK, but the "Leather" was very grainy and plastic feeling, and that was the Cranberry leather upgrade! I still don't like the stick on screen on the dash either. And he had loads of issues getting phones to work with it. Ride was poor IMO, very stiff and crashed over any imperfection around town (better on smooth motorways) and that was on the std 18" wheel. Couple of things it has, which I liked/wished the lexus had. Electric boot open/close. Adjustable thigh support for seats. Memory seats on passenger side. Biggest benefit was that it would do an easy 55mpg+ on motorway, even thrashing it, it wouldn't get below low 40's. drive lightly and it would top 60mpg+. I'd love for the IS to get anywhere near those figures in F-Sport spec!

My tuppenth worth Heated seats aren’t powerful for me, though they do warm quick, they could be a touch hotter. They are extremely comfortable though and vented option is surprisingly effective. Never had an issue with rear Demister, just leave the aircon on auto and Sflow off. When needed it works well. Front demist is also very good. In car satnav and media, not the best, could be better. Some small software tweaks could make it so much better, but it’s not bad and no worse on routing and traffic than an equivalent BMW or Mercedes, they all use the same data after all! Sound quality is good. Auto cruise, for me is too cautious and quick to slow down/get confused, it also doesn’t slow to a standstill and resume, though I believe the new NX facelift does this now. Headlight tech. Lexus behind the Germans here with the latest auto/dynamic LED Systems. Again I think the new NX has only just offered something as an option. LED lights are bright , but headlamp design still gets dirty too quick and really affects light output. Battery size/ Elec performance, I’d like a slightly bigger/higher density energy pack for around town. I don’t want the faff of plugging in though. Fake sound - I quite like occasionally having a blast in Sport+ S mode with ASC turned up ( I mostly like wafting on motorway in silience too) but I wish they could keep the sound in sync with the paddle gear changes, it isn’t and spoils the experience. I like having a car with 2 different personalities. Ride comfort with AVS is perfectly fine. Handling is very good, better than expected and as good as its rivals. Alloy wheel protection is rubbish and there is something about driving the car that makes me struggle to position it sometimes. I’ve kerbed wheels in stupid situations. Can’t put my finger on it, steering too quick or just difficult to judge where the wheels are in relation to where you think they are. Lastly, all the clever tech in the car and still a horrible quartz analogue clock which doesn’t auto set/ sync or do anything fancy. Why Lexus...why!

These are photos of the drivers seat of my 2014 F Sport the day it went back to the lease company after 3 yrs and 70k odd miles. I was impressed about how well it had held up. Other than some creasing in the side bolster, and slightly shiny and discoloured it looked great. The thick stiff band around the base really protects the bolster on the Fsport models. Lexus have changed the leather (pleather?) material on the outer edges of the facelifts I’m sure. It is softer and already is marking up worse on my new one.

From cold, if you press the EV button as soon as you start the car, it will run in EV mode as long as the battery has charge. Turn off the fan and AC as well, as the demands of heat and ventilation is what keeps the engine running/demands it starts. keep the power meter in the 1st eco bit of the meter, above the first quadrant mark will give you the message. It does take a light right foot and patience of a saint as acceleration is very steady. Anything other than flat or downhill will probably mean you cant get above 5mph without engine start or take 15-30secs to get up to 20-30mph on electric.

Anyone else having issues with controlling an iphone to play music through the car since the upgrade to ios 11? I have an iphone 7 and since the upgrade to ios11 the car has real trouble browsing and bringing back the artist info text, album text, song text and artwork. Browsing between albums/tracks, skipping tracks etc are all problematic. Lexus bluetooth compatibility seems to say that it is compatible with ios 11.1.2 - at least on an iphone X - the 8 is still on 11.0.1 and the 7 on 10.3.1 - but since they are all the same....... I've tried deleting all the music and resyncing with itunes but still same issue. Phone is on latest 11.2.1 firmware. Calling features are fine, just music has issues. Car has gen2 Premium nav (10.3" screen) , I will be asking about a firmware update at dealer in new year - anyone else had one yet?? American forums also saying there are problems, but since they are on the enform system, its not much use. Any other issues anyone else has noticed?

New MY17 IS with Premium Nav, iPhone7 on iOS 10.3.2 and connected by Bluetooth with personal hotspot and gets traffic updates fine, also can stream Amazon music or iTunes fine. No wifi enabled on Nav or phone. It has always just worked, nothing special or different needed to be done.

True - but J henderson didn't say which Michelins or which 3rd Gen IS model he drove - his profile shows a IS250 from 2011 which is the previous generation! For added complication, both my FSports had/have Adaptive suspension (AVS), so aren't as firm as non-adaptive ones and thus may have an impact on perceived noise. I can agree the Bridgestones were very noisey generally, but they did last for ever - I got 50k out of the rears and 70k out of the fronts! However, tarmac quality has the biggest impact on noise, more than any tyre. drive on the continent in france and you'll see which tyres are worse. Also the dB ratings on the tyre are measured from the outside of the vehicle as it drives past at a fixed speed/distance. It can only be taken with a pinch of salt if it translates to a quieter time in the cabin, though common sense would say it should be! Be careful with some of the square shouldered models of tyre (Conti SC5, Mich PS4 etc) as on the rears on the FSport, the inner edges wear much quicker due to the camber on the rear wheels. All the factory fit tyres have a much more rounded shoulder and profile. Also good luck trying to find tyres with the same load/speed ratings, the IS uses some strange figures for this as standard and getting aftermarket models with the same setup can be tricky, if that thing is important to you.

The Dunlop SportMaxx that are factory fitted to mine now are pretty good. I had Continental Sport Contact 5 on the rear of my previous Fsport and they weren't bad, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 were very good. Factory fit Bridgestones were rubbish but they lasted for ever!

You need to put the ID code from the car Sat Nav unit into the multimedia box on the website to connect the portal to the car for sending travel maps and locations etc. i think I used the login ID not the email address. the portal is the same other than the language.

No issues with a iPhone 7 using Bluetooth and personal hotspot on, using connected services. Traffic updates etc all work fine. Have you tried creating a brand new account on Lexus website?

Must check my tyre pressures, haven't since I collected it! Ave speed roadworks is the only place I'd agree the radar cruise works well, I've taken to turning back to normal mode in quiet to moderately busy motorway now. Yes brakes also seem better modulated too, less noticeable difference between regen and braking.

Overland, I've got the same setup on my car and the menu being displayed when the map screen is on is a 'design feature' I think, as Lexus assume you will want to set a destination rather than just look at the map! I guess there are as many people who would say "why doesn't the menu just come up automatically to save me having to press the menu soft key....." if they hid it. Anyway it doesn't bother me too much as a quick press of the backup key on the console clears it. Ive not found the system slow at all, far from it the performance is very good and apart from a few crashes and hangs especially on iPod functionality using my iPhone, it's been fine. Both occasions I put this down to the iPhone bit failing as unplug/replug fixed it. For those with the old Premium system, the home screen feature is no more and the default is full screen map with the side bar available to view other features. Or you can have other functions full screen with the sidebar as well. Gone is the triple setup on the old car, but it is possible to setup the Nav to show 3 different views of the map splitting the screen into thirds! Functionality and viewing of info is generally better I think, I prefer it.

After a couple of months and 3k miles, moving from a 2014 F-Sport (AVS, Leather,Nav) to a 2017 F-Sport(Premier Pack) here is my views. First Impressions - car looks classier than before and even more distinctive (I know it is subjective), interior is more refined than before too, but completely agree the key is step backwards and I pointed it out to the salesman, who hadn't noticed. I did try and unpick my old keyfob and try to change the innards over, but I couldn't do it without destroying it. This is a cost saving measure I reckon, pure and simple and the worse for it. Exterior - On the f-sport, the grille surround is smoked chrome and I like the effect, but why did they not do it on the rest of the car? On my specific car, the graphite black really pops the metallic flake when clean , which isn't for long . Interior - the Premier Pack is by far my favourite feature. The seats are slightly softer I think, but still as comfortable. The extra toys, the big Nav screen and the proper (pressed? who knows!) textured aluminium trim really makes the car and has had many favourable comments from passengers. The new mouse controller with extra buttons is OK, the back button the best feature, the side Enter buttons I don't really use. It has introduced an annoying buzzing/rattle though and I need to get them to fix it, it is the whole mouse unit/wrist rest area, if I press on it it stops. Tech - still no peers on what you get as standard against the german cars. The new Nav system is much better, the screen layout so flexible now (you can even have 3 sections of Nav maps simultaneously if you so desire!) but bits look not quite finished again, some screens are stretched to fill the 10" display, others not. And they have jiggled some features around, such as SMS msgs are now buried in the info section , not in phone?!? But generally all good. The ML stereo has taken a bit of tweaking, but the level of controlled and deep bass is a revelation and it does sound good across the range. It does need volume though to really sound great and I've taken to turning off the Surround function as it seems to introduce weird harmonics on the centre speakers at certain frequencies and volumes. It could do with a more featured equalizer and speaker tweak system though. As £1000 upgrade on the Premium Nav system from Pioneer, it is a hard sell. The sign recognition is hit and miss, easy to confuse and seems to be overruled with what the Nav thinks is the speed too. The auto cruise is similar, good as a toy, but unless the road is fairly quiet, it is too easy to confuse and begins to annoy. Driving - ride and comfort is subtly better (still AVS), it rides potholes and cats-eyes with less thump, but parallel ridges and expansions joints still cause a crash. Road noise is a little less. The drivetrain is better at modulating the battery and EV modes now too, it is keener to hold onto EV than before and to move into it in town than my old car. Can't say I noticed any difference in the driving modes though or throttle response. I do like the Custom mode feature that allows me to choose which throttle setting and suspension setting combination I can have. Steering is virtually the same too, thought it doesn't wander as much on the motorway and is easier to keep straight without correction. Overall for me - better in most areas that count and pretty easy to get the Premier Pack added for virtually no added cost to a std F-Sport, so a no brainer why you wouldn't.

"Loads and loads of checks" They aren't one of the most reliable cars for nothing I suppose......

They do use country wide fixed pricing for services, but you can still negotiate I've found. I ended up with a service plan for 2 minors and 1 major with a 10% discount from the old prices and 0% interest paying monthly. the pricing generally is higher because they can though!

The amount of data used for the traffic/parking info is tiny, a few Kb's per update. The other info could be more, but compared to streaming a video from youtube, not worth worrying about.

I know what you mean, I'm guessing he's done it a few times before........ wonder how many he broke.

Watch this vid, shows how the console comes apart. The silver side pieces are bolted in at the top, long clips at the bottom.

Some phones once connected require an action to be completed first before Bluetooth DUN will work. It says this in the Lexus Phone compatibility list. try making a call first, then see if it connects? Im using an IPhone 7, personal hotspot on connected on Bluetooth, with the new premium Nav system and it works very well, no issues encountered.

Surely be easier and cheaper to get an upholstery company to cover the existing side pieces in suitable covering?

Lex Autolease aren't interested in selling vehicles themselves, they just want a quick return. The supplying dealer was RRG Bradford, but they source from wherever they can get it cheapest. The guy that collected it from me, took it directly to a BCA auction house for prep and then sale to other trades people. I imagine the dealer paid circa £13-14k @ auction for it. I wonder what deal they did to source the car. I know what my company was paying for the car monthly. They didn't lose out even at list price! My previous car (a Vauxhall Astra) also ended up on Autotrader eventually, but mysteriously had 20k miles wiped off the clock in the process. Glad to see this doesn't appear to be the case this time.

I handed it back to Lex at the end of March and it is now on Autotrader at an independent dealer in Sheffield - http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201704084215481 It scrubbed up well, though some of the text in the ad is dubious. It doesn't have a pano sunroof, but it does have AVS, though I doubt the dealer would know that as it isn't obvious.

I got 55k out of the rear Bridgestones on my previous IS300h, and 70k out of the fronts! Just do lots of long motorway miles. Plus the Bridgestones are so hard.