John Hutton

As DanD said in an earlier post it is very easy to disable the key completely by pressing and holding the lock button and then press unlock twice in quick succession. Works perfectly and you can not even open the car with the handle unless you press any key on the fob to disable the lock. John

Hi Vlad Sorry to hear about your knock. As ShaksR said do not worry about the extra excess to choose your own repairer you will get it back but I recommend that you deal with your insurer in case complications arise. I had a similar situation a couple of years ago when I was stationery at a red light and hit up the rear by a truck who had also stopped but was in gear and his foot slipped whilst blipping the throttle! I got a sorry mate but he did what turned out to be about 10Ks worth of damage to my car. Problem was that the car in question is a classic 60's Lotus Elan and there was no way I was going to allow any old body shop loose on it. Was all repaired very well and my insurer and I got full recompense from the other parties Insurance including the extra £500 I had to pay because of my choice of repairer. I was insured with Flux at the time and they eventually put everything in the hands of a third party claims company as there was a problem. Although I had admission of fault from the driver his insurance company refused to acknowledge any correspondence (a common problem apparently) and we eventually had to threaten court action. They paid up in full the day before the court case! Hope the repairs go well John

The Bridgestones are all weather while the Dunlops are normal Summer tyres. Could account for the difference as the tread patterns are vastly different. I have Dunlops on my Takumi and they are very quiet. John

Maybe we should get a petition up to try and get them to give Lucy a West Country vocabulary!! I have managed to get the phone working with voice control - not every time I must admit but generally after a few tries I have got the number I asked for John

I am half way through our first long trip with my UX - covered about 800 miles so far - mixture of fast motorway from Surrey to Lake District tootling around the Lakes then another run to Snowdonia and a few days tootling around this area. Overall have been very pleased -averaging almost 47mpg - very comfortable ride - good handling - adequate power for overtaking etc. However a few niggles some of which have been covered before - The SatNav is awful - a £70 TomTom works better. The mapping is very poor and the contrast awful to the extent that sometimes when on minor roads you can hardly see them. Imputing destinations is laborious and it occasionally takes the most strange routing. The auto tailgate seems to have a mind of its own - sometimes opens with a beep other times just opens without. Sometimes will not open with the touch buttons without a lot of fiddling and as for the hands free opening with a foot movement that also has a mind of its own or maybe it doesn't which is why it invariably does not work! One thing that I miss is a Speed Limiter built in to the cruise control - cruise itself works fine but having a limiter for use in built up areas was a feature I used extensively on my previous vehicles and probably has saved a few points on the licence! I'm probably being over picky with some of the above but after years with various Mercedes, Audi and BMW products my first experience of Lexus is overall very positive and I do not regret my purchase at all. John

I have tried several times on my current trip to use the voice command for postcodes and gave up in frustration every time! May be my West Country accent but could not get it to recognise anything!! John

Does not surprise me - I talked to the dealer about this shortly after delivery and they - or at least the guy I was dealing with - did not have a clue what I was talking about! John

Hi Dan I traded in a 2016 Cooper S Clubman with RunFlats for my Takumi so can offer a direct comparison! The Mini was always harsh riding even in 'comfort' mode (I had the adaptive suspension option) and would crash and bang its way round the potholed roads of Surrey! The UX on the other hand is a revelation even with Dunlop RunFlats - it is probably the smoothest running car I have had and I've had a lot from big Mercs and Audis to the Mini. The Ride is fine as well. Could have something to do with the deeper sidewalls both had / have 18" rims but the UX is 50 against 45 section for the Mini but it is obvious that the suspension travel is greater and softer as well. Hope that helps John

Hi Ady Thanks for the reply - The Turanzas are All Season tyres and was what I was expecting on mine. The mirror question could be very simple - check that the adjustment selection switch is in the middle "auto' setting. If you have adjusted the mirrors and left the switch in either the left or right setting they will not auto fold. The trip was cross-country with a max speed limit of 50mph but mainly 30 or 40. It is trip I do frequently and the traffic this day was horrendous and instead of my normal 35 to 40 mins took about 70 which made it even more surprising for me that it achieved that figure - it was running on electric power only often so that obviously helped. The overall MPG from pick up seems to be around the mid 40's. Not sure about the trip mileage question as I have not looked at that yet. John

Hi Picked up my Takumi in Graphite Black Thursday week ago from Guildford and have just about worked all the way through getting things setup as I want. So far very pleased - very comfortable ride, smooth drive and seems economical - managed 50.2 mpg on one 18 mile commute to the museum where I volunteer! Certainly a major change from my previous Mini Cooper S Clubman and my other run about a 69 Lotus Elan!! Suggest if you have any questions just ask and I'm sure someone will have an answer. One question I have is what type of tyres did yours come with? From reading some of the pre release material I was expecting All Season Run Flats but mine is fitted with Dunlop Summer Run flats. John

Had my test drive today at Guildford and ordered a 250H Takumi in Graphite black and black leather. Very surprised with the delivery estimate of end of March. Obviously struck lucky with the spec as one must be on the boat with that spec! My only reservation was the boot size but at least it will mean the better half carries less rubbish when we go on a trip! John