First_Lexus

Faster

Mother

Spooky

^^ Again I say, WITCHCRAFT! Witchcraft I tell you…😆. As Scotty used to say, “You cannae change the laws of physics, Jim…” (not sure this is actually physics, never understood science tbh).

Took the RX into a multi-storey car park for the first time since owning her today, and not one I’m familiar with. Although quite tight - and ducking when entering 😆 was a reflex - it wasn’t as scary as I feared it might be. Having now competed about 600 miles the extra size is less and less obvious which is exactly what I hoped and expected. @Herbiemy late Father - like many of his generation - actually never did pass a driving test. Instead, he was given a licence while in the Army (in Egypt of all places!) with the only requirement that he could drive in a straight line for a few yards. Once he had his licence, he simply converted to a civilian licence when he left the Army, and continued driving for another sixty years…and in all that time, I was never convinced he really understood roundabouts!

The jeopardy of a safety car is part of the fun. If they go down that sort of route - and they may well after this - it will spoil one of the last vestiges of uncertainty in the sport! Btw, I’m still smarting that I had to listen on the radio rather than watching. It was exciting listening though - well, the final ten minutes anyway! Radio still has a place, and today demonstrated how effective it can be.

I wonder if Lewis has ‘spoken to’ Nicholas Latifi yet…😆 Regardless of the shambles with the stewarding decisions at the end, if he hadn’t stacked it Lewis was home and dry!

I was in the car for the whole race (what timing!) and the Radio 5Live commentators were of the opinion - all of them - that although it was tough on Lewis, not getting the lapped cars out of the way would have been incorrect, and would have been the only time such a thing had been allowed since the rules changed (they said) in the 1990s. Even so, it was all a bit of a shambles and the radio commentators had nothing but criticism for the confused decision making. Whatever the eventual outcome, and I’ve also heard this afternoon that Mercedes are likely to challenge the result, it was a fantastic season and such a dramatic ending was rather in keeping I thought. Let’s just hope that the result isn’t now changed retrospectively as I think that would set an unfortunate precedent.

^^ I can’t help feeling that somebody further back on the grid will enter that first corner too fast and take out either Max, or Lewis…or both! Adrenaline can cause unexpected things on a day like today…

^^ +1 for this! I call witchcraft! No way would I be able to take that particular plunge, I’m too much of a coward…😁 It does look very good though, and you sound as though you enjoyed your dirty weekend together…

@Marlinleg the BH Hydra Wax is a liquid and - as is often the case - less is more. I use fabric foam applicators and have found it very easy to apply and remove. I’ve had less success, despite rave reviews, with the BH ‘Double Speed’ wax - I find it a bit ‘grabby’ on application, even with a perfectly prepared surface. The thing about car cleaning imho is a) not to rush it, and b) to enjoy it. That’s easier to achieve in nicer weather though!

To paraphrase an old Land Rover slogan, they’re usually ‘the best 4x4 by…the side of the road.’ 😇

Romans

I still use some Swissvax products, but only on my show car. They are good, but - as you say - Bilt Hamber also provide excellent products which are great value. I’m a huge fan of their snow foam and wheel cleaner in particular, as well as the Hydra Wax (liquid). It’s an interesting video. I’d never have my show car ceramic coated for two reasons - partly because I like to correct any minor imperfections easily, but mainly as it just doesn’t need it being for dry Summer use only. However, having now had my last two ‘everyday’ cars coated I can say the ease of maintenance makes it worthwhile in my opinion. By coincidence my new RX is being sorted, by the specialist I’ve used previously, tomorrow. I simply don’t have the time I used to have to keep the car in the condition I like, and a ceramic coating supports that choice.

The woman driving the recently deceased Fiesta really wasn’t having a good day! “TURN YOUR PHONES OFF, OR I’LL COME AND TAKE THEM OFF YOU!” I suppose being arrested for theft couldn’t have made her day that much worse…😆

Hard to know if the Land Rover expired in a cloud of steam because of the water, to simply because it’s a Land Rover…😅

Ah, I don’t use a memory stick for music. Pre-Apple Car Play I bluetoothed (if that’s a word) direct to Spotify. I use Siri on my iPhone with 95% accuracy and Google Home with perhaps 90% (it does seem determined to play BBC Radio Wales when I ask for BBC Radio 5 Live - maybe 25% of the time, weird!) but actually I suppose the answer is simply to use Siri rather than the Lexus voice control. That should work, correct?

^^ Thanks @PDM It does work sometimes - perhaps 50% of the time. My frustration is why the exact same commands work sometimes but not others, and this has been common across every vehicle that I’ve used with the function. I haven’t really tried it much with my RX, but the initial ‘play’ indicated it was the same as my previous NX. Should add I don’t have an accent as such. I was born and raised in the Home Counties, and went to particular types of school…maybe it’s not tuned for Received Pronunciation. 🙃 I can’t really be bothered to persevere tbh - I’m happy to use the buttons, touchpad and touchscreen.

Livingstone

I’ve never been able to get voice recognition to work reliably on any car. VW, Honda, MINI, Mercedes and Lexus - all the answer to a question nobody asked and very frustrating apart from the simplest commands.

I know somebody who has one. They love it in some ways but loathe it in others. He is determined to keep it through the Winter, but is finding the range in cold weather coupled with the poor availability of charging when on the move very difficult. Spoke with him last week. It’s supposed to have a c250 mile range, but fully charged it was showing only 170 with air con used etc. He had a 150 mile round trip and ended up keeping to 60mph to conserve range but still needed to stop. There was a three hour queue to use the only two working chargers…he said his patience was severely tested but he is going to plan better and see if he can make it work. I think his main frustration is that - he says - the dealership assured him it would do 200 miles easily even in cold weather and it doesn’t. There’s a lot of ‘Tesla regret’ as he nearly went that way just for the range…

Current used prices are making a lot of people change @Phil Catterall Good luck with the Ford Kuga 🤞

^^ You aren’t thinking of going down the electric vehicle route then…😆

Never really saw this issue on my NX as I had the side-steps fitted and most of the mud collected on the underside of those rather than on the doors. However, my new RX doesn’t have side-steps, so…😕

^^ I hope the two teams aren’t reading this, it might give them ideas…😆