First_Lexus

A new moan this morning - Google Maps. Always useless in my experience - proved to be so as usual this morning!

But that was my point - the surveys show they are far more reliable than you’d think. Not to Japanese levels, but above most German or French brands when they last appeared in the surveys.

Collaborative

As a bit of a left-field choice, what about a 5 door Jeep Wrangler? They’re seemingly on the agricultural side, but also seem to be quite rugged and reliable. They don’t sell enough to feature in the most recent surveys, but back in 2018 Jeep were placed eleventh out of 32 manufacturers. Clearly nowhere near Lexus levels, but worth a look?

+1 from me for proper, hard copies of brochures. Lexus did have these available for my RX when I purchased in November. Back in the 1970s when I was growing up, collecting car brochures was a hobby of myself and many of my peers. All you had to do was either visit Motorshow/Motorfair, or fill in and post the request slips from newspaper advertisements or motoring magazines. I’ve still got loads of them, and I’m sure I used them to help me to ‘influence’ my Father’s next choice of car!

I’m sure lots of us have seen the viral picture of a ‘Beware of cyclists’ road sign where somebody has added some *ahem* rather rude graffiti describing what he or she thinks of them… …obviously I won’t be adding the picture here as I’d end up moaning (to nobody in particular) that I’d been banned from this place! In all seriousness, 90% of cyclists are like 90% of motorists, being entirely sensible and not wanting to cause anybody any trouble or inconvenience. As usual with life, it’s the other 10% who are the problem.

Having owned a couple of CR-Vs, I have to say that the practicality is on a different level to the NX and the RX, despite their larger size. I find that Honda put a lot more thought into making the CR-V easy to use than Lexus does, although the emphasis with the Lexus is clearly on comfort and luxury rather than practicality.

Collage

Having now completed almost 1000 miles in the RX, I thought it would be a good time to review my initial impressions. In terms of what I really like: - the screen is excellent, and having touchscreen capability as well as the mousepad is a game changer for me; - the general sense of peace and quiet is exceptional, even on poor road surfaces; - build quality seems a step up from my NX, and I didn’t think that would be possible; - the available power and smooth delivery of that power is fantastic, albeit I had to be a little careful at the amount of speed I carried into bends initially! What I don’t like: - the size, often debated on these pages, can be a drawback in specific circumstances. My local Sainsbury car park simply doesn’t have spaces that are wide enough to park AND open the doors! Easy enough to park in a quiet corner, as I usually did anyway, and easier still to shop elsewhere… - the heater controls and the parking brake are a bit low down on the dashboard, meaning I have to momentarily take my eyes off the road to adjust them (not that they need adjusting often when on the move) I preferred the higher position of the NX controls. I would use the voice control, but… - in common with my NX, the voice control refuses to co-operate with me. Asking for temperature 20 degrees usually results in BBC RADIO WALES being played on DAB! Not a huge issue as I don’t really use it anyway, and Siri via Apple Car Play allows access to Spotify and Waze which is all I really need; - it really isn’t as practical as you might think given the size. With the seats folded there is a big gap, even with the rear seats in their forward position, between the load space and the front seats. In addition, the sloping rear screen steals a lot of space. Not an issue for me (I don’t even carry passengers very often) but worth noting. I’m still very happy with my choice, especially as the price offered to change was very strong. It’s a great car, and others who have seen it are impressed and surprised by it. I still think I’ll keep this for about three years, and then switch to a smaller EV as I enter the retirement phase of my life…but very glad to have the opportunity to own a vehicle like this at least once!

Cod

Grace

It’s hard to think of anything to moan about at the moment. I mean, obviously there’s the ongoing risk of war in Europe as Russia stands ready to invade Ukraine, but as the news media seem to be ignoring that it can’t be worth worrying about… Then there’s the continuing pandemic but I think we’ve just got used to that now. Partygate? Not great, especially as it seems Kier Starmer was doing the same (spoiler alert, they really have defended themselves this morning by claiming their drinks party was a ‘work based event.’ I’d like to think they were being ironic, but…). Could be worse for Labour, at least one of their MPs hasn’t been employing a Chinese Government agent while accepting almost £500k in donations from her. Oh, wait… Prince Andrew dragging the Monarchy into the gutter? Pretty bad, but is anybody really surprised after the last couple of years and his car crash interview? As I said, I can’t really think of anything to moan about. Everything in the garden is boozy…sorry, I mean rosy…or do I?

About the third or fourth time my VW Tiguan broke down (it was so regular, I forget) I asked the RAC who attended what I should buy. His advice was simple. Buy Japanese - it doesn’t matter what, just make sure it’s Japanese. He went on to say that modern German cars, especially those from BMW and VAG were the most common call outs he had, and that Mercedes seemed to be the best of a bad bunch. Shortly after that experience I bought a Honda Accord and I’ve never looked back… High Peak worth a watch at this point. Is anybody here surprised?

Ahhh, you have the tiny plomb. Sorry, I thought you meant the more common giant plomb… [insert iconic Sid James laugh here]. Always remember Lt. Gruber only had a little tank… 🤣

Blimey, it must be big…a bass, a guitar and a plomb. Plombs are massive - round here anyway…

Have to say the leather seats in my NX - although not tested to that extent - were as good when I traded it in at almost four years old as they were when brand new. No wear, no creases, they hadn’t gone shiny - very impressive. A previous Honda Accord, although good, didn’t have the same quality with a few creases visible at four years old and some wear on the driver side bolster.

I’d definitely like an option for high quality cloth or velour as an alternative to leather. When I was growing up I remember my Father had his Rover 3500 SD1 with beige velour…and a later Renault 25 GTX too. They were both fantastically comfortable cars from memory. When did leather start being a ‘default’ choice for ‘luxury’ cars (as well as for things as varied as the Metro Vanden Plas and Ford Fiesta Ghia!) - assume it was an eighties excess thing?

Mercedes have been using ‘Artico’ - Artificial Cow - since the 1960s… …but agree, I’ll be enjoying ‘real’ leather while I can!!

January 😔

Witchcraft

Jinx!

Lyle

Modern

Miami

I can’t believe Walter the Sprayer let you down…