baxlin

I leased a 15 reg IS300h from new, and I recall being very disappointed with the mpg, not seeing more than mid 30s over the couple of years I had it..  Mixed driving, including a short commute, but 1 hour plus trips at least once a week.

The week before it went back, I ‘needed’ to burn off fuel, so had it in sport mode, with a heavy right foot.  Made the OP’s mpg look reasonable, but oh, so enjoyable!

Thread revival!!

I have a Novotek A118/B40, but I can’t access the menu.  Pressing, holding, or jerjiggling the menu button doesn’t change the screen at all.  Any ideas please?

Thanks in advance

Malcolm

I was lucky to get 36 overall from my 15 reg Advance, quite disappointed (in the mpg), really, as I’d previously had a couple of diesels, and expected the hybrid to not be far off, but it was a good 10mpg down, on similar, conservative driving.  OK, I only did 10k miles in it from new.....

BUT - at the end of the lease, I was told it would be collected on a date a couple of weeks ahead, so I visited a petrol station.  A couple of days later, the lease people phoned to say they’d brought the date forward.....

At that point, no longer bothered about mpg, I discovered Sport mode, and realised what a quick car it could be, but no 36 mpg, of course!

Having said all that, though, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it had to go back when I retired.

On 7/2/2018 at 3:58 PM, Hadrian said:

Latest in this saga.

I went to my local service centre and managed to speak to someone who knew what he was talking about.

Although cameras are fitted to the newer models of is300h,  to try and fit one to mine would mean a big job, which would be economically prohibitive,

as so much would need to be changed.  So I guess the independent dealer wouldn't be able to do it either.

Understand yours is a 2015 car?  FWIW, my May 2015 reg Advance spec IS300h had a reversing camera.....

Thanks for the reply, Dan, but I wish you'd answered  the question, rather than just beat around the bush......

Hi Dan,

Quick question, what was wrong with the Chrysler Crossfire?

I've never even sat in one, let alone driven or owned one, but I have always liked the looks of the soft top version, and, as shown by my list, particularly the JZR, I tend to go for 'not quite mainstream' cars.

thanks

Malcolm

Edit.  The Lexus was a company car, (my choice) now I'm retired I have a Volvo C70 folding hardtop

Can't really help here, but have to say my 2015 IS300h Advance had both front and rear sensors fitted as standard, so changing the grille design seems a case of style over substance, and a backwards step.

I like Lexus thinking. On my car, even though there was no spare wheel, nor for that matter really room for one, they still provided the heavy duty polythene bag, fully labelled, to put the dirty road wheel in while you drove on the spare..........

On 23/12/2016 at 10:07 PM, marrat said:

I'd never touch a diesel, but that is a great car. I hope one day I'll be able to comfortably afford a convertible for the summer weekends.

Why just for summer weekends?  A few cars ago, I had a Saab 9-3 vert as a daily driver for business use, which was kept outside, through three winters.  No problems, or inconvenience that any two door car wouldn't have.  If it wasn't raining, top would be down, heater and hat on, lovely!

i chose a folding hardtop rather than soft top this time because I'm now into detailing, and I can get more satisfying results on paintwork than I could on a soft top

Had this in my IS300h.

Check the 'transmit volume' in the phone menu in the car settings. (I forget the actual process as I no longer have the car).  Mine was set at the maximum, and it caused the distortion.  Reducing it to around half solved the problem.  

Hope it's as easy as that........

3 hours ago, Wallace said:

Went to Halfords and had a Nextbase 321GW fitted, so I think this post is finished now, thanks for all the input.

As a matter of interest, where did they take the power from?

OK, if TFR is a no-no, and I don't have a snowfoam lance, what should I use for, and how do I apply it, as a pre wash?  Usually I give the car a good hose down with a spray attachment, I don't like the thought of a power washer.  

The car has Poorboys Black Hole, AG SRP, followed by AG UGP.   I used to use BH Autobalm, but found it harder to work with, so reverted to AG.

I use Megs Last Touch as a drying aid, (and watermark remover if necessary as I live in a very hard water area) after each wash.

The Satnav on mine froze/crashed on mine once, just at a critical time unfortunately.  And I agree, it was not the most user-friendly system, the Amundsen  + in Mrs Baxlin's Skoda  Fabia is much better.

I wouldn't go for the NX, sorry Jason, I had an NX300h as a courtesy car for a few days, and couldn't wait to get the IS back.  The NX, with the same power unit, seemed so underpowered, presumably being much heavier.  It just didn't give the same driving experience as the IS, although I did like the HUD!

Deleted and will try again

Getting approximately back on topic, I had rubbish DAB reception on my IS, the dealer couldn't sort it.  Occasionally it would work, then cut to 'no signal'.

Thanks to the advice of a member on here, I unplugged my dashcam from the ciggy socket in the armrest.  Result:  virtually perfect DAB reception!

Pity it was only a week before the lease ran out and the car went back.......

7 hours ago, LeeG said:

For anyone piggybacking off a fuse, I do hope you have not just cut the cable from the cigarette plug and wired it straight in. You will eventually kill your dash cam.

 

 

The easy way is to wire a 'trailing' female ciggy socket to the piggy back fuse, and plug the supplied ciggy plug into this.  Then hide this connection either above the fuse box if there's room, or behind fascia/dash trim.

I also went for the very neat installation Edwardo (capese21) showed above.  No problem with routing the cable to be completely hidden, except for where it went into the centre armrest.  But this was between the seat back and the armrest, it was black against a black interior, and therefore invisible and out of the way.  Also, as it was on a lease car I wasn't about to start drilling.......

Now the Lexus has gone (given grade one rating for its condition by BCA) the camera's installed in my Volvo convertible, but I've hardwired it using a piggyback fuse to a female trailing ciggy socket, so the camera's plug is used.  I had to buy new double sided sticky pads to mount the camera on the screen, otherwise a dead straightforward installation.

OK, I'll await the flack.  My (lease) IS300h has gone back, and is replaced by a diesel Volvo C70, manual.

Top of my list was a full 4seater folding hardtop convertible.  Eos, Megane, 308 etc too small.

I chose diesel as the VED is £185, the petrol version has VED of £500, and better fuel economy is a given.

Reading other threads on here, about 'driving like Miss Daisy' for economy, I realised last week that I had been doing this quite a bit in the IS.  But as I had over half a tank of petrol that I didn't want to see go with the car, for the last few days I have to admit I have been switching to Sport mode, and letting the car rip 'a little (!)'.

Maybe it's not totally a wolf in sheep's clothing, but I've certainly seen a different side to the car.......

Yep, the lease on the IS300h Advance is up, so it will be collected early next week.  That was my last company car, so it's out with my own cheque book this time!

We don't really need two cars, Mrs Baxlin has a Skoda Estate, so something a little more frivolous is on the cards!

Opposite end of the spectrum, almost, then.  A bright red diesel, manual, Volvo C70 folding hardtop convertible........... Mid-life crisis about 30 years too late!!

I'll still hover, if I'm allowed, so hopefully it's not goodbye.

Thanks for all the help I've received, including which dashcam (to match the rain sensor fitting), sorting out DAB reception (unplugging said dashcam) etc etc.

Malcolm

On 25/09/2016 at 6:37 PM, sorcerer said:

It'll be a long time before cars with adaptive cruise control come down to my price range but while I wait I have to say that I love the 'ordinary' or traditional version. Along with the auto transmission it ranks as one of mankind's best inventions. Plenty of opportunity to use it on the motorways and I just leave my right foot on the floor and/or stretch my leg as I feel. I can soon get my foot to the brake when necessary.

Completely agree, no probs hitting the brake when needed.

Tony,  assuming the Lexus type A fuse is a generic fit, can you recall if it's a standard or mini blade fuse, please?

thanks

Thanks for the clarification, Tony, that's in fact what I did on other cars, so I might have a go after all

malcolm

7 hours ago, wh05apk said:

  I too have a dashcam, but have hardwired another socket to the fuse box direct for it, and everything works as it should.

I did this on my previous car, but as the Lexus is on lease, I didn't really want to start hardwiring.  Maybe a piggy back fuse might work, I still have the trailing female ciggy socket.

And thanks, Steve, but unfortunately the camera's not suitable to be repositioned, it's one featured on here a year or so ago, with casing shaped to match the windscreen mounted sensor to the left of the mirror.

Once again, thanks everyone for your input

malcolm