First_Lexus

Lemonade

Tennis

Ship

This just goes to show that, regardless of media reviews and countless other factors, all that really matters is whether a car exactly fits the criteria of the purchaser. In this case, going down to one car with two regular drivers makes the memory seats a very desirable feature - and to have to go above the £40k road tax threshold in order to get it is quite a big price to pay!

I can’t help feeling that David Mitchell was ahead of the curve on COVID…

I had the Pfizer booster and it affected me quite badly for three days. Really REALLY tired, swollen and painful under my arms…never had that with AZ. Still, didn’t last that long and far better than catching COVID. I think we all better get used to having a booster of some sort every 3-6 months in the medium term…

As far as I can tell, your risk of catching COVID is directly connected to your political opinions. Right of centre = Government restrictions are going too far (it’s a police state etc); Omicrom is mild, I know because I saw it in The Sun. I’ll be fine regardless, this is all scaremongering. See Daily Express, Daily Telegraph. Left of centre = Government restrictions aren’t going far enough, we should all be locked down forever; Social gatherings for people who were already working together anyway are the end of civilisation as we know it. Everybody is going to end up catching COVID and will be in hospital or dead, and it’s all Boris Johnson’s fault. See The Guardian, Daily Mirror. Centre = Totally confused, as I keep hearing and reading different things depending on whether I read or listen to the left or right-wing media! Looney = global conspiracy, it’s all a myth, I’m not getting vaccinated etc. I get all my information from Facebook from a bloke who clearly knows what’s going on…Hang on, I’ve just developed this really odd cough…

I’ve moaned about the Americanisation of our language before, but stumbled across a discussion on radio last night which has reinvigorated my anger! The debate was about COVID restrictions. The contributors repeatedly used the phrase ‘STAY HOME’ and it reminded me that’s the slogan that the U.K. Government used during the first period of lockdown. What would have been wrong with the correct British English (i.e. English!) phrase ‘STAY AT HOME’ - after all, last time I checked we don’t live in America! This is a slippery slope. I’d love to know why that American style phrase was used rather than the correct English version?

Webb

The coverage on F1 this week has been really interesting, as has the debate on this thread. From a purely personal perspective I watch F1 to be entertained. The period when Vettel was so dominant in the Red Bull and then when Mercedes took over saw me watch the sport far less - most races were simply a boring procession, unless there was rain involved. The last three or four seasons, with the re-emergence of Red Bull and the emergence of Verstappen have added excitement and genuine competition back into the sport. For me, that’s been a blessing. I’m not so bothered by the technical aspects, or the regulations. I want to be entertained. I know from reading this thread that others have different reasons for watching and that’s fine. Ironically I’m a huge cricket fan and I’m not a fan of the increasing focus on the short-form of the game, much preferring the five-day format. I’ve got no idea why my approach to the two sports is so different - I’m just strange I guess! In terms of the result on Sunday, from everything I’ve read and listened to the ‘better’ thing for the FIA to have done would have been to ‘Red Flag’ the race, clear the accident and have a 3 or 4 lap race to the finish after a re-start. What they did instead was set a new precedent. I do think allowing the race to finish under the safety car would have been unfortunate. I also think it was unfortunate that the messages from the team managers were broadcast publicly - it doesn’t feel useful to me or to F1 to hear that sort of gamesmanship openly, even though we all know it goes on. I’m glad that Mercedes have stepped back from legal action, as that would imho simply have dragged the whole thing through more unnecessary mud. A French friend, who lives in the UK and who follows F1 opined that this was “…just another example of you Brits being bad losers.” I do think a legal challenge might have firmed that opinion up outside of the UK, leaving aside the irony that Mercedes is German albeit it based in Brackley… I’ve read that there is quite a lot of nervousness in the paddock about the new cars for next year. Nobody seems quite sure how they will fare. From Hamilton’s perspective, he can’t possibly have anything else to prove in the sport. I can’t see him being like Vettel and running in a midfield team, and perhaps this is the right time for him to step away. Better that than being like George Best (different times acknowledged) and ending up as a faded star at Hibernian… I think we’re seeing a natural changing of the guard. The future is now about Verstappen, Norris, Russell and other younger drivers. How F1 decides to manage the sport now will be fascinating. My money is on engineering more drama and excitement where they can, with a more fluid rule book for races and increasingly strict regulations for the cars to try and level the playing field more (if the regulations can become stricter!). Hamilton has had a great career, but the sun will inevitably set on it and this season ending is as good a reason as any to step away. I can see a career in politics (in some form) in his future.

Bar

Hitch

Cromwell

That’s a fully valid moan! When I was growing up, Volvo cars had their sidelights illuminated when the engine was on, but also the rear light lamps. For the life of me I don’t understand why DRLs don’t include the rear lamps as well!

Slow

I went to a historic racing day at Silverstone a few years ago, with access to the pits. A truly memorable and fantastic experience. Goodwood is definitely on my post-pandemic ‘must do’ list!

Has everybody else noticed how clear Verstappen’s skin is? I guess it must be the Max factor… I’ll get my coat…

^^ Agree totally @LenT and with most of the other comments too. A properly applied ceramic coating - following professional correction - won’t prevent scratches caused by poor wash technique or anything else for that matter. As others have said, the majority of ‘dealer applied’ coatings thrown in at the time of purchase will likely be applied by non-experts. Far better to have a real professional sort it, as I have on my last two Lexus (NX and RX). The results are amazing, and make for much simpler ongoing maintenance in my experience. I collected my new RX following it’s ‘beautification’ earlier today…

I've had a couple of days by the seaside in Weston-Super-Mare while Chris at Summit Detailing corrected and applied a Gtechniq C1 Crystal ceramic coating to my new RX. He also applied Gtechniq Leather & Vinyl Protection to the interior. I chose to travel to Chris as I've used him three times before and he is fantastic at what he does. If anybody is in the South-West and is considering a coating, I can highly recommend his work - he's a really nice guy as well. https://summit-detailing.co.uk The Sonic White paintwork looks amazing, especially under the lights in his showroom. It's got far more 'pop' than you could see before the treatment, most of which will be down to the correction rather than the coating, albeit Chris said the paint was in really good order as you'd hope. Lexus Swindon hadn't tried to machine polish it or anything that could have inflicted (well intentioned) damage. The car also hadn't been standing around - it went from docking at Portbury to being in my possession in just ten days. As with my previous NX, the coating will mean far easier maintenance with a quick spritz of Gtechniq c2v3 or perhaps CarPro Re-Load which are my two products of choice (having used 'a few' over the years!!). Glad to have it protected before Winter really sets in. I'm VERY happy...😁 *Note, as with some other members I can't upload photographs from my iMac 🖥 for some reason? Never had this issue before, can the Admins have a look please as something has changed! iPad seems to be fine.

Tykes

^^ My new RX has the switch hidden down to the lower right of the steering wheel too - hardly convenient! However, I could have sworn that on my 2018 NX you could simply disable or enable the auto function by moving the stalk forwards or backwards? It always seemed to work for me as far as I can remember (and unless I’ve finally lost the plot!)

Winfield

Woolwich

Submariners

Faster