Mark Woodward

We have a new (Dec 2016) GS450H - very pleased with it but some of the plentiful features seem a bit 'half-baked'. We had a top spec 2012 Volvo S80 before, this had most (but not all) the GS450 features and they all worked well e.g. the road sign recognition system worked 100% whereas the Lexus equivalent misreads abut 40% of speed signs (Lexus admit that here may be n issue with this). The radar/detection system for the adaptive cruise control doesn't seem to 'scan' as well as the Volvo system and misreads traffic a little resulting in occasional un-needed heavy braking etc. As I was driving last week, I thought I'd try the voice command system by saying 'Go Home' - I was quite impressed when the satnav seemed to respond correctly but I couldn't understand why guidance hadn't started - a brief glance at the screen showed that I needed to select which route to take (avoid motorways, tolls etc.) - I wasn't in position to start messing around with the 'mouse' device to select the on-screen options thus the whole exercise was a waste of time - is there a 'work-around' for this?

We've now owned our new GS450H for a month and are very impressed. The instrument displays are a little confusing as they seem to change 'on their own' e.g. one minute the HUD is showing the perceived speed limit sign and then will switch to 'lane-keep assist' for no apparent reason (I'm sure there is a reason though!). I commented recently on the inaccuracy of the road sign monitoring system i.e. display of speed limit signs - our old Volvo S80 had this feature and it worked perfectly. I took the car to the main Lexus dealer we had bought it from and they checked to ensure that it had the recent modification comprising a heater inside the camera 'pod' to alleviate condensation which, apparently, had caused some issues with this feature. They confirmed that the car did have this modification and that the seal around the pod was OK. They tested the system for a few miles and could not find a problem. I must say that subsequent to this visit to them the system has seemed better. One thing I do find strange is that upon stopping the car and parking up, upon returning and starting, the car won't display a speed limit until it 'sees' a new sign - this seems a bit daft as surely the last limit the car detected prior to park-up will still be relevent upon restarting - again our Volvo worked in this way.

Ref "Is there anyway to disable the sign recognition system and use the satnav/GPS for speed data, which I suspect may be a better option" I've waded through the manuals (both paper and online) and the system gets scant mention - there is nothing in 'customisable options' suggesting it can be altered in any way. I've yet to hear anything from the Lexus dealership we bought the car from (rather dissapointingly).

Hello chaps and thanks for the replies. The light switch issue is now sorted (thanks to your help). Ref the traffic sign (speed limit) detection system, I can only conclude that: a) It's just not as good as the Volvo system - my last Volvo read every sign perfectly without fail = the Lexus today misread 20mph as 90, failed to read 50mph several times and nearly always failed to read the 'end of speed limit' (national speed limit) - the diagonal bar sign. b) The system is faulty/needs adjustment - the car's only a week old thus I might take it to the dealer to see what they say.

Thanks fo the replies.

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Many thanks for the replies.

Hello all, I'm new to Lexus having owned numerous Volvos for the past 35 years. We have just taken delivery of a new Lexus GS450H. We're very pleased with it but I've found that the user manuals (both the large 'online' - circa 600 page and the paper version supplied with the car) are not too good.There are two issues I am stuck with at present: 1) The light switch(es) - the left hand stalk has two rotary knobs - the outer is the normal light selector (as far as I can tell) and there is an 'inner' rotary knob with three positions - the first two have detents and the switch locks in one of these two positions, the last position (three) has no detent and the knob returns to two when the knob is released. Neither manual mentions this knob or shows it in any illustration - what is its function? There is also a push button near the driver window side of the dash with a headlight symbol worded 'Auto', again, what is its function? I cannot find out how to switch on the rear high-intensity foglight either - this too is not mentioned anywhere. 2) I'm used to the (very useful) speed limit detection system - my last Volvo had it and it was very reliable. The system on the Lexus seems less dependable and often fails to detect roadsigns. When it does it then seems to stop displaying this information at random (this also occurs in the HUD). I've also noticed that when the vehicle is stopped and parked-up, upon returning to the car the speed limit display shows nothing and will only re-display after it has 'seen' a valid speed limit sign - this seems rather strange as if there's a speed limit when the car is parked-up and left, then the same limit will surely apply when returning to the car and starting-up. Any comments please? Regards, Mark Woodward.