baxlin

First night drive, and the lights in the door handles were a pleasant surprise.

David.

Ditto, and only last night I noticed footwell lights!

Bad, I tried in vain to find a way to adjust the sensitivity of the auto headlights, mine go on and off like the proverbial whore's drawers

If you are going to leave the door opened for such a long time with the sound system on, should you not have the car in READY mode anyway, to prevent battery drain? - I know that this issue is probably more specific to the RX400h, but still.... You could leave it in READY mode, and turn the screen display and the aircon/fan off to prevent the engine from starting up, but at least you would protect the battery.

But would it solve the door chime question?

Mmmmm, tyre pressures all over the place, 32psi DSF, 37psi DSR, passenger side ones in between. None at the recommended 36psi. Have to admit, I'd not checked them before, but what price PDI, unless I have a slow puncture in the DSF.

Anyway, the warning light is now off.

Oh, I just hate TLAs!!!

Malcolm

Thanks, both,

I've finally got a minute, so I'm off to check the pressures!

Driving to work this morning (long commute of approx 1 mile!) I noticed the tyre inflation warning light was on. (car is I month old IS300h) I stopped and did a visual check - couldn't really do more as was suited and booted for client meetings - and switched the power off, waited the computer-fix 10 seconds before starting it again, to see if it would cancel. It didn't, hence this post.

I can check the pressures at lunch time, but if OK, and the light is still on, the manual says something about 'initialisation'. Unfortunately, it gives no guidance as to where to find how to initialise, or what this process entails. Anyone help, please?

The manual also says refer to a dealer, but I'm off on holiday on Friday, in the car, and can't get to a dealer (nearest one 25 miles away) before I go. Location/dearth of dealers was my main concern before choosing a Lexus, was I right to be concerned?

Reassurance needed, chaps and chapesses!

Malcolm

Unfortunately the Advance spec doesn't have either auto folding mirrors, or comfort access. So I'm reliant on brain power!

I'll have to get used to a mental checklist, parking brake on, gearbox in Park, seatbelt off, SWITCH ENGINE OFF! And fold mirrors maybe.

Steve, how could you lock the car with keys in it? Aren't they in your pocket? Unless they are in a jacket pocket which you leave in the car, I suppose.

Malcolm

OK, I've had the IS300h for a month now, and am loving it, overall that is.

But what I don't like is the (lack of) visibility, particularly to the passenger side, because of the A and B pillars.

The A pillar - as well as being wide enough to contain the airbag, is more than doubled in size by the positioning of the passenger side door mirror,

The B pillar - when the passenger seat is back far enough for decent passenger legroom, is also at least doubled in size by the passenger headrest. When pulling out of a side road, it's almost like driving a van, you can't see to the left if you're at an angle.

Is it just me?

This bit's not a grouse, just a Doh!! moment. Yesterday I parked the car, got out, got stuff out of the boot, tried to lock the car, by both the remote key fob and touching the door handle, but the thing wouldn't lock, and it was constantly beeping.

I only realised what I'd done (or actually hadn't done), when I looked inside and saw the warning lights on the dash - yep, I hadn't switched the car off, I'd come to a halt in EV mode..........................

I put it down to my age.

Malcolm

I've had splatter from Megs Endurance, I'll not rule out having put too much on, of course!

FWIW, I would never have an address in my Satnav as "home", whether it's to be used by voice command or button press. Unless of course you put another address as home, say in the same town. Why? If the car gets nicked, away from home, all the thief has to do is dial in 'home', and go straight to possibly an empty house. Neighbours won't be concerned, as the home owner's car is there..

A bit convoluted, maybe, but why risk it?

Looks good, I love to see well dressed tyres, but for me, it's not only how long it lasts, but how well it stays on the tyre. Nothing worse than tyre dressing splatteried on the paintwork, particularly on a white car, which it seems we both have.

There's a thread on the MB Club forum saying how ugly the new Lexus NX is, and it's sort of spread to the whole range.

I have to say, the NX is not the most un-noticeable car, but I really like the IS, otherwise I wouldn't have chosen one, but have Lexus got it wrong?

Thanks for the reply, I suppose that's what it had to be, but it is the first 'feature' listed on the brief spec for the Advance, hence the question.

Malcolm

Just browsing through the Lexus website, it says the Advance has "navigation with remote dial". Does this merely mean you dial in via the menu button, as opposed to a touch screen?

Or have I missed something?

I agree, on my IS, I was all ready to run a wire from the one reversing light to what I thought was the matching, but blank, reversing light lens on the other side. That is until it was pointed out this was the (red) LED rear foglight......................

My grouse is that Lexus use white-when-off, but red-when-on LEDs in the rear fog, yet amber bulbs in the indicators back and front, when chrome filament bulbs lighting up as amber are available, as I'm sure are LEDs. I just don't like the "fried egg" look of amber bulbs in white/clear lenses, but changing the indicator bulbs looks like a full day's job.

Sorry for the mini hi-jack

Washed and polished the IS, and Mrs Baxlin's Skoda this morning, no problem with the Skoda having the radio on with the door open.

But with the Lexus I couldn't silence the door open chime, unless the ignition was on, which I didn't want to do. Is there a way to do this? I eventually just had the window open.

Thanks in advance

Malcolm

Without wishing to get into an audio debate, I'd suggest saving your money and giving DAB a wide berth. The bit-rates are simply too low for acceptable audio quality.

I agree completely. I used a PURE Highway DAB unit in a previous car, it's sat in a cupboard in my garage for several years now, I didn't think it worth installing again, but I was looking forward to getting the IS, which has it OE.

While it's nice to get stations out of area when you can get a signal ( I enjoy Magic, a London station which I can't get on FM near home) I find for national stations, FM sound quality is much deeper, more pleasant to listen to, as well as being more reliable. The DAB signal is very patchy, I dread a full changeover, as has happened with TV

Success at last :) I finally managed to get the music videos playing on the NAV display from my iPod touch. .........

All I need now is to be able to override the parking brake inhibit so my passenger can watch vids on the move grrrrr!

Ok you can see the Satnav maps etc, but you are not constantly watching that.

I'd love to do this, but my Arctic Pearl car is leased, and I don't want a bill in two years' time.

Just had confirmation from Aviva that they welcome my dashcam, no premium discount, but never mind.............

Malcolm

Gadzooks - ganzoom's said something adverse about his Leaf.....................

(only teasing, and I couldn't find an appropriate emoticon)

Malcolm

Hi I was talking to a guy at work about getting one of these as he has one. He was told by his insurance that this is classed as a car modification and advised him to remove it. Any one have any thoughts? Had a look on google and all the results seem to suggest that a dash cam could reduce your insurance? which I'd thought to ask him which insurance company he was with.

Having said that, any mod, such as changing the alloys should of course be declared, the question is, what constitutes a mod!

Ok, so just a simpe wire in to the ignition and the power/negative and just rely on the cameras own small screen for set up

If you don't want to use the 12v/lighter socket on the car, you could hard wire (ign/earth) a trailing ciggy socket to plug into, then hide that behind trim. That's the way I've done it for dashcam, Satnav etc on various cars.

HTH

Malcolm

Well, fitting it took all of 15 minutes, although as it's raining, and the car's kept outside, I haven't yet fixed the cable up under the dash, but as soon as I can kneel outside in the dry and lean in, that'll be a five minute job.

Two comments, I was a bit wary of teasing the top of the A pillar airbag cover enough to tuck the cable in, and I used black insulating tape rather than Fablon on the screen, as the only black Fablon I could find was Permanent fix, or so it said on the blurb, and I want to be able to remove all trace when the car goes back!

Otherwise, very pleased!

Another question, Ed, if you don't mind, which won't mean anything to anyone else, unless they have bought this camera.....

The camera was delivered yesterday, and first impressions are that it's going to look good! Thanks again for the initial post.

The question is, what is the piece of string and the tiny screw for? (Braces himself for the usual flurry of 'helpful' answers)

Thanks

Malcolm

Re hard wiring, the Novatec B40 A118 can be bought in two types, with the 'normal' ciggy lighter lead, and a hard wired version, according to listings on eBay.

I didn't want to risk the warranty on my lease car, so I chose the normal version.

BUT, what I did on mrs Baxlin's Skoda, was to hard wire a trailing lead ciggy socket using a piggy back fuse, and plug the dash cam into that. There was room behind the fuse box to hide/lose the plug& socket. So best of both worlds!

HTH

Malcolm