First_Lexus

Mine are excellent (2021 model). If anything they’re a bit too bright, as I sometimes get flashed by oncoming traffic who think they’re on full beam when they aren’t. On full beam on a dark country road it’s almost like daylight…

I shouldn’t laugh…but I have family in Melbourne, who emigrated in the 1950s. Late last year two of their grandchildren (plus one partner, they are mid-20s) came to London to live and work for two years (initially). One is a newly qualified lawyer, one a translator / language lecturer. I met up with them in December, noting that they must be crazy to leave the Australian lifestyle and weather behind. They couldn’t wait to get away, as “…the opportunities there are so limited compared with Europe, and London in particular.” Whether they’ll stay long-term is another matter, but it is fascinating to see and hear the different opinions. They love how cosmopolitan London is, and from a career perspective they reckon they’re better off being here, at least for now.

^^ Funny thing. I’ve got a friend with whom I used to work. She went to work in Australia and ended up working alongside their Government (for a contractor). She came back to the UK, after ten years, in 2018/19. She got fed up with their Government, especially in relation to women’s and minority rights. She thought their attitudes were like something from the 1960s! She says the UK is years if not decades ahead of them, as is New Zealand in her opinion. I think the lesson is that access to those in power, regardless of where they are or whether Government or other business nearly always leads to one feeling. Disappointment! Sorry to hear the meeting didn’t go ahead.

I think that’s referring to the government not renewing the energy bills support scheme once it ends (the scheme that Liz Truss implemented that gives us all £66 per month or thereabouts). As I understand it only ‘the most vulnerable’ will continue to receive support. I heard a piece on radio yesterday noting that the actual cost of energy should start to fall, but only to c£2200 annually against a cap of £3000 currently. It’s politically and ethically tricky for a government to be doing that in the face of BP and Shell record profit announcements…as the politicians say, “…the optics aren’t great.” You can say that again! I’ve been lucky up to now, as I had a long term fixed rate with Eon. That ends in March. I’ve already had the message from them that my energy cost, which was c£700 for the last twelve months will rise to c£2700 for the next twelve! Yikes!

I keep being tempted to buy an air fryer…you’re not helping Malc!

My last new build house came with a built in induction hob. I had to change my saucepans as has been noted, but… …I hated it! It was a NEFF and it did heat up instantly, but it was very difficult to control. It seemed to be either ‘on’ and really hot or not hot enough to keep things simmering. Accepting I was used to a gas hob - and having moved again I have gas again now - but induction wasn’t for me I’m afraid. I lived with it for five years and never found it very user friendly. Perhaps they’ve improved, but the (very expensive) one I had wasn’t great.

^^ Really? I’d never have called the NX an “upmarket Yaris.” 😆

To be clear, emissions have increased because of people working from home vs working in an office according to the research I saw. If those emissions have risen then my simple mind says that overall must have also risen because of that factor, but I’m sure there’s another six page essay coming telling me why that isn’t the case…😆

Most railways in this country are already powered electrically. Trams in other cities are the same. Even buses, powered by diesel, must be (massive assumption here!) less polluting than all of the people using them using their own vehicles instead? I saw some numbers the other day noting that the shift to home working has increased overall emissions so I’m assuming similar logic. That said, I agree with your point. Less harmful propulsion methods are needed across the piece. I guess my position is shifting towards public transport. It is easy to forget that the explosion in ownership of private cars has only really happened within the last one hundred years. In the grand scheme of human history that’s a footnote, and will probably end up being seen as one in a few hundred years from now. Regardless of all of the above, I’m clear now that EVs will only ever be a small part of the solution to emissions and global warming. Unless the whole planet acts together - and places like China stop fossil fuelled power generation rather than expanding it - we may as well not bother other than to make a point and to try and encourage others through our example.

This is a very interesting thread with some fascinating links. I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that the ‘answer’ to pollution isn’t the EV, or hydrogen…but is actually greater availability and use of public transport. The more I think about it, the more I think that - cities and large towns especially - would be so much nicer without traffic. I’m increasingly using the train whenever possible as driving has rather lost its appeal. Railway worker strikes notwithstanding! I really do think that a political party who genuinely invested in affordable public transport across the country might get quite a lot of support. The sort of system this country had up until the mid-1960s and before the explosion in private car ownership.

I still buy an actual, physical, newspaper three or four times a week as well as a couple of printed magazines monthly. I’m always surprised how many other people I know do too, as registering for numerous online platforms is tiresome and nowhere near as easy to read as the printed article. Am I a Luddite? Hopefully…I take such labels as a compliment!

I saw something strange yesterday - or perhaps not so strange. And I swear I’m not making this up for effect. On a small section of the M4, between Hungerford and Reading, two broken down Tesla a few miles apart… It was very cold yesterday morning, and foggy. There could be any number of reasons for the two breakdowns - although they didn’t appear to have punctures - but my mind could only go to expired range. I’ve noted previously the numbers of EVs I now see on motorways trundling along in lane one at 55-60 mph to conserve range. With more EVs and poor infrastructure I can only imagine how many more range breakdowns we’ll start to see… Both Giles Coren and Helen Skelton were on radio last week noting how they had broken down in their EVs because of unavailable public chargers. Giles Coren has since abandoned his EV and written about why in The Times (I think).

Off topic but worth a watch! 😆 Younger members should note that ‘Nationwide’ was a BBC light news programme, broadcast every evening…sort of a 1970s version of ‘The One Show’ albeit I’m sure it was prior to the evening news rather than after it. Could be wrong, my memory isn’t what it was in 1973… I was at school at the time of the change over, and my Headmaster (who was a genial old chap, very old school) refused to teach the metric system. I can vividly remember him telling the school, after questions from parents, that “…this foreign nonsense will never catch on, and there is no need to teach it.” Quite. Different times!

Queues out onto the road at Costco Reading yesterday evening. Took about 15 minutes to get in, at £1.37 a litre for unleaded.

Slightly off topic, but there hasn’t been much coverage on the SNP and their bid to make private car use ‘unnecessary’ in Scottish cities. They have said that the “…era of unconstrained private car use is now at an end.” They're both the most left-wing governing party in the UK and seemingly the most committed to suppressing personal freedoms that most of us have become used to. As was noted in an article I read somewhere, the power of COVID regulation over citizens has rather gone to their heads…they now think they’re able to interfere in other areas of people’s daily lives. I do think making public transport more accessible so that people CHOOSE not to use a private car is laudable. But I fear the aim of the SNP is to make it almost mandatory and I doubt they’ll be the last Government to do so.

What I’m about to write is in no way scientific, but it is based on personal experience… I get this on my windscreen in very cold weather only, when the car has been left unused for a couple of days with frost on the windscreen. I always use the climate control, can’t remember ever turning it off in any recent vehicle. The thing is, I got the same effect with both of my NX, and previous Honda CR-Vs. It doesn’t happen often, perhaps three or four times each year depending on weather.

Blimey, it must be impressive if it’s a “massive improvement” in terms of materials. My current RX is superior in terms of quality to any other comparable car I’ve been in, including BMW, Mercedes and Range Rover SUVs. I will have to go and have a look…what makes it so impressive compared to the current version?

Having owned both a 2017 NX300h Sport and then a 2018 Luxury I can’t say I ever noticed anything.

The cost is an issue for some, accepted - but one I was prepared to live with. The grip with Winter tyres when the weather was cold was so much improved it was scary to think people were still on Summer tyres. All Season are likely a more pragmatic solution though. I don’t have a second set now as my mileage is much reduced with working at home. In terms of storage, both Honda and Lexus store for free the set not in use. Change over is with an annual service - bolt off / bolt on - so no charge there either. They don’t take up much garage space if dealers are unwilling to store. From memory the second set of wheels from Honda cost about £400, with tyres on top. The second set of Lexus wheels were a free gift when I bought my new NX as the experience had a few glitches…and I sold those onto a member here when I moved to the RX.

My family and I have had Avon tyres on many cars over the years, including on my NX and Honda CR-Vs. We’ve always found them to be rather good… I’ve never had all season tyres, instead preferring a set of Summer and a set of Winter tyres on two sets of wheels. In terms of Winter tyres I found Vredestein to be very poor (despite good reviews) whereas Falken Eurowinter on three different cars were exceptional. Bridgestone Blizzak also good, but not as good as the Falken.

The The. Genius then. Still genius now.

Don’t get me started! Not just the monarchy, but the various religious organisations too. Lots of pontificating (no pun intended) about the poor and how society could be improved while sitting on billions of pounds/dollars/euros of assets that would go a long way to solving the very problems they say they’re so concerned about! Politicians are generally self-serving wherever they are as well, look at the EU-Qatar corruption scandal or the secondary earnings scandal just breaking in the UK. Leader of the LibDems with a private company for additional earnings in order to avoid tax, Labour politicians with huge payments from Trade Unions and Conservatives with inherited wealth or lucrative second jobs. The establishment - whether that be the monarchy, the ruling class, a military dictator or junta, big business, organised religion - will always look after itself. It will never change. Even revolution generally ends badly as one ruling class is simply replaced by a new one, eager to profit from power. I find it easier now just to ignore the news. It’s better for my blood pressure!

They were talking on the radio just this morning that there’s an initial proposal (at the drawing board stage) for people in certain cities to give up their driving licences and, if they do, they’d receive free public transport within their city…but as was pointed out, that doesn’t resolve their issue when they want or need to travel further afield and then they couldn’t even hire a car! I’m sure schemes like that will come eventually though, in one form or another.

To be fair, when I moved house in 2021 I looked at a few new builds and ended up buying one. All the ones I saw had proper EV chargers, and the one I eventually moved into has a PodPoint installed. My development is only 18 houses. All have a PodPoint and there is also one for visitor use at one end of the cul-de-sac. That’s pretty impressive imho, but still doesn’t solve the problem of charging when away from home given the (generally) restricted ranges of EVs when used at motorway speeds especially in Winter, or when competing longer journeys.

I registered to hear about the Subaru Soltarra a few months ago (the Subaru version of the Lexus RZ). They’ve been chasing me for a test drive, but I’ve declined as I don’t think an EV will suit me at the moment, mainly because I have a regular 200+ mile journey and have no confidence in a) public charging if needed and b) real life range at motorway speeds in Winter. Both of these issues are well known and accepted, and yet there are those - including on this forum - who claim there are “no compromises” in EV ownership. Sigh… Anyway, I’ve told Subaru I’m not interested, and they offered a substantial discount on list price. To me that can indicate only one thing…they can’t sell them. Likely for the same reasons I’m not interested. Anybody listening to Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 yesterday would run a mile as Giles Coren and then Helen Skelton outlined their nightmares with EVs. A relative wanted to buy an EV as a company purchase. Last year he couldn’t get one without a huge delay and paying full list. He’s now ordered one with a BIG discount and virtually no delay. I think that tells a story. If this is going to work Government need to properly invest in infrastructure and prices for the cars need to reduce significantly. There needs to be confidence. Without confidence, early adopters can say what they like to try and convince the rest of us, but the market will determine the outcome. I’d say that either of the major political parties brave enough to kick petrol / diesel new car bans into the long grass would gain significant vote share…