Phil Catterall

Like Paulrnx I have also sold my 2020 Lexus NX.  I didn't find the Hybrid side of the vehicle particulary economical so I've now gone plug in Hybrid by buying a year old Ford Kuga ST First Edition PHEV plug in hybrid in a similar metallic red colour as my Lexus.  The Kuga will do 25-30 miles on a charge fully electric and has some advantages over the Lexus. However I know I will miss having 4X4, the reliability and the super luxury offered by Lexus.

I would not have changed my car but I was tempted by getting more more for it from Cazoo than I paid for it in March from Lexus Cambridge.  The used market was depressed then but it's red hot at the moment for several reasons, not least the waiting time for new cars to come out of the factory.

I can't rule out returning to Lexus but if I do it will be a plug in or a full EV model, when I can afford to buy one used, so I intend remaining on the Forum. 

If anyone is interested I have a nice Lexus NX REZAW-PLAST boot liner listed on eBay with a start price of £15+£5 postage. 

Best wishes

Phil

Worth checking if their is any additional Brexit duty / courier customs clearance costs for UK purchasers if anyone buys from this EU based company. The cost of the towbar is above the £135 import threshold. 

Regards

Phil 

10 hours ago, DanD said:

Would you have the option to source the windscreen from Lexus and then get Autoglass to fit it?

Also, if Lexus have offered to foot the bill, do you need to go through your insurance?

Lexus won't foot the bill, I have to go through my insurance. 

Thanks for the information Noddy. If I can't get an assurance that a Lexus branded screen is available within a week on Wednesday I'm going to request they fit an after-market equivalent such as Pilkington or St Gobain manufacture. 

Goodnight

Phil 

Thanks for you report on your windscreen problems Chris - I scrolled back to last year. My car does not have the HUD fitted however I am have stated a preference for a Lexus windscreen which the insure has agreed to pay for with the normal excess of £140 applied which I am hopeful will be met by the dealership from whom I bought the one year old car.

Best wishes 
Phil

Dear All

As avid readers of the Forum will be aware, last month I purchased a Lexus NX-300H Premium Sport from Lexus Cambridge. I used the click and collect facility to buy the car due to Covid restrictions, paid for the car in two days prior and then went down to Cambridge by train,collected the car and drove it back to Yorkshire.  Under Covid regulations there was no chance of testing driving before purchase unfortunately.

It's a brilliant car and I've now put around 700 miles on her over the space of a month, so mileage now approaching 7000 miles. On the day I collected the NX as I was driving out of Cambridge, I noticed there was some screen damage on the passenger side of the windscreen, right in the passengers eyeline. When I got home on closer inspection this was proved correct.  After speaking to the sales executive at Lexus it was clear they were not aware of the damage to thewindscreen but would be happy to make a contribution to its repair or replacement whichever was required. I was told that he car had been on a PCP scheme before I bought it for one year and the former keeper had exchanged it for another brand new NX of the same spec but in a different colour. 

I contacted my insurer who put me through to Autoglass, their recommended windscreen repairer and after describing the damage Autoglass felt the damage could be repaired.  The damage takes the form of a 1.5cm long internal crack with marks around it caused by the impact of whatever hit the windscreen. An appointment was made for the Autoglass technician to visit my home to repair the screen that week. I thought a repair was far better than replacement and this would cost just £20 excess. The cost of a replacement windscreen was £140 excess. When the technician arrived to inspect the damage he confirmed that a repair had already been effected (he could detect the resin around the damage with a small hand tool) and that another repair would not be possible. He could also see that the 1.5cm internal crack was stretching which was a sure sign he said that it would get worse. Therefore I will need a new windscreen and I asked that a Lexus original screen be fitted rather than an after market one.  

My insurer has agreed to the fitting of an original Lexus screen and I am now waiting for one that Autoglass have ordered. I've been waiting almost two weeks and will be chasing this up again on Tuesday with Autoglass to see if they are any nearing to getting one from Lexus. I am considering having an after market screen fitting if there is a protracted delay in obtaining a Lexus branded one as driving a car with a damaged windscreen which might open is worryingme somewhat, as I have a long drive down to Cardiff planned in the near future with the birth of our grandson there imminent. 

My question for anyone on the Forum who has had a new windscreen for their NX fitted, either Lexus branded or after market - would they like to recount their experiences. I know Autoglass, York will need to have my NX for a half day at least, for the camera and driving aids to be correctly set up and aligned to the manufacturers specification. 

Shame about this - as its taking the edge of the nicest car I've ever had, but it just shows that if you cannot test drive the car you buy you need to go over it with a fine tooth comb before you leave the dealership, so buyer beware!  I'm sure Lexus Cambridge will ensure that I am not out of pocket as they have kindly asked me to forward them the invoice for the job when the windscreen has been replaced. 

Best wishes 

Phil 

1 hour ago, SteveH said:

 I just picked up my 2019 NX300h, set up WiFi and Lexus Online. Now what?

Is it registered post October 2019 Steve? If so changes were made then to the parameters of the My Lexus system and connectivity. Last month I bought a March 2020 NX Premium Sport so no point me trying to explain what I have done with Lexus online myself in recent weeks unless I know you are going to be singing from the same hymn sheet.

Phil 

And the car tax payable for a Premier Sport edition registered in March 2020 is now £145 per year WEF 01/04/2021 as it falls below the £40,000 threshold and the Co2 is measured the old way - coming out at 137 G/KM (Band H). For the same car registered after 01 April 2020 using the WLTP figures the Co2 measurement becomes 174 G/KM Band J). Therefore the first years tax is £860 falling back to £145 from the 2nd year tax renewal as the car cost list price is below £40,000 new.  BUYER BEWARE!

Phil 

3 hours ago, Spacewagon52 said:

What is the easiest way to navigate car tax for post April 2017 Lexus NX cars?

The Lexus salesmen I spoke to at three different dealerships knew all about the luxury car tax and how it can affect the annual running costs for the different models in the NX range. It should be incumbent on them to advise you of the rate, but you may have to ask the question...

However, I believe Parkers website is a reliable source of information. Its what I used in determining which model in the range to purchase:

https://www.parkers.co.uk/lexus/nx/4x4-2014/car-tax/

Good Luck and choose wisely....

Phil 

I agree the Premium Sport Edition is the best value model in the NX range, new or used. I think this is down to the added value in the extras you listed that make it more attractive and because it just falls into the under £40,000 DVLA luxury goods car tax bracket.

From April 1st the tax is £145 per year for the Premium Sport.

Phil 

Not quite as bad, but my wife's 2017 Skoda Fabia has only done 6300 miles in just short of 4 years. Whoever has reserved this Lexus GS450H has probably bought a future classic to be proud of...

On 4/9/2021 at 3:16 PM, serbarry said:

it would be really too expensive to import it: 6,700 euros on top of the price of the car.

I feel sorry for serbarry being unable to get it over the water to Ireland for a reasonable sum as he was in promptly showing interest...

As an aside I got a call this morning from Lexus Tesside advising me that their showroom is now open for business under the revised Covid trading rules. I had to tell the saleman I got fixed up with an NX300H the week before last from Lexus Cambridge.

Cheers

Phil 

1 minute ago, First_Lexus said:

1. Join motorway

2. Set radar cruise to 70mph

3. Listen to music and relax, while making sure I’m aware of what’s going on around me

4. Allow navigation to indicate when to leave the motorway, and leave as required.

It all seems pretty relaxed to me. Comfy too. And very little overtaking to worry about apart from the odd lorry. I tend to leave the outside lane to middle management photocopier salesman in their company Audi or BMW...😁

And you will likely achieve 40 MPG Ed, as I did when I drove the same way on a 200 mile trip from Cambridge to North Yorkshire last week - headwinds allowing of course....

Phil 

I noticed today when going through the menu to reset the TPMS (after lowering my tyre pressures), there was a menu item that allowed turning off the power to the tailgate.  Mine is a March 2020 Premium Sport NX model. 

Cheers

Phil 

21 hours ago, Rabbers said:

Like the body, the cabin will be extensively revamped in 2022 according to media leaks, meaning that potential customers should wait

before buying.  Maybe their patience will be rewarded by substantial improvements, but my own instincts, which are admittedly those of someone

I didn't wait for the updated NX in 2022, and even if I did I couldn't have afforded to buy one until around 2024 as a used car - too long to wait that, which is why I bought a 2020 Premium Sport model last week.  If it's over £40K when it is released the higher Luxury Goods motor tax will be levied for its first five years of life - making ownership very expensive indeed - completely unaffordable to many.

Cheers

Phil 

1 hour ago, royoftherovers said:

Phil,

are you going to give us a full report on your new acquisition ?

Yes, in due course John!  Just driving it home is not a sufficient journey on which to report in fully. Trouble is, the NX is now garaged until the V5C comes through - thankfully DVLA are pretty swift these days. I have a personal reg plate and last week when I insured the car I got the insurance company to send me a certificate for the personal reg starting from today when I assumed I would have it switched.  It turns out that while I have a retention certificate I need the full V5 in my hand to do the online switch. So its a bit risky taking it out until I do the reg switch insurance wise. So we'll run about in the Skoda Fabia until I get the admin sorted.  There are several things I need to check and change in the NX's menu this afternoon - one being the radar cruise control which is not to my liking as the 3rd step on the scale is too great a distance to the vehicle being followed. I think the 2nd step should be a more suitable distance gap.  

No, didn't back up or use the camera. I parked it myself like that purposely, to the left side of the parking bay - end of a row with a Mercedes on my offside, so allowing them Merc people plenty of room to open their doors not onto the side of my new motor!

The car is a minter with no marks on the bodywork or wheels and with a perfect interior, however there is a 1 cm long scratch on the windscreen on the passenger side, from what appears to have been a flying stone or some such. Not serious. I'll get a windscreen specialist to look at it to get an opinion. 

Cheers

Phil 

The NX-300H I just bought came from Lexus Cambridge is a year old. I noticed there were some stones trapped in the treads of the Yokohama Blue Earth Tyres. Looking closer I realised there were a lot - with more stuck in the offside tyres than the nearside.  I started removing them, realising then that the small stones were flint - see photo of one below... I must have removed over 100 in all!  Most were trapped in the grooves of the tyre, however around 20% were acutally embedded into the outer surface of the tyres. I used a small electrical screwdriver and a fine pair of pliers to extract them from the treads. Took me around an hour! 

I guess it's a problem in some parts of the country, were flint is part of the strata. I believe if I had left the flint in the tyres it may have eventually LED to punctures.  Do any Lexus drivers from East Anglia find this is a problem?

Best wishes

Phil 

On 3/11/2021 at 10:54 PM, Martin J said:

NX as soon as the Yokohamas wear down a bit more. I was thinking Michelin Cross Climates but I feel they’ll be too much of a compromise for 90% of my driving.

Yes, my 6200 mile NX Premium Sport has the original Yokoham Blue Earth E51 225/60/R18 tyres. I guess I will stay with them for the next two years until they need replacement. The ride seemed quite hard on my 200 mile drive north from Cambridge on Thursday - sure enough I checked them today and the pressure was set at 2.7 bars. I never drive at anything over 80 mph so I just reduced pressure to 2.25 bars.  I guess I won't achieve 40 mpg now from the NX....

Happy Easter one and all, 

Phil 

On 3/28/2021 at 10:49 PM, Steve Oliver said:

2. Boot opens so slowly. Wish there was a way to speed it up.

Got my Lexus yesterday, drove it 200 miles home mainly M11/A1(M)... Loving it - I think it may take eons for the "newness" to wear off on me, car is just one year old...

Slow tailgate not an issue for me - 4.5 seconds up, the same down. Never had an auto tailgate before on any vehicle.  Photo taken yesterday at Blyth Services on my way back up north. 

Cheers

Phil 

58 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

Sure

https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/about-my-lexus/my-lexus-portal/lexus-link#features-table

 

That's really good news Colin. I have the app on my phone ready to go on Thursday. So I'll try and activate / authenticate it as the new owner before I drive it back home.

Phil

On 3/25/2021 at 10:48 AM, LenT said:

As a fellow oldie, Phil, I appreciate your reasoning.  It's the sort of purely indulgent purchase that pensions are for and that one deserves to celebrate a life well lived.

Best of all, it's not just a car purchase, its become a project with all the detailed examination that that deserves.  All the very best and many years of just enjoying it.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and mindful comments - very useful indeed. It seems like I could be another Lexus driver who turns the lane assist function off as well, but I'll give it a go before making a decision on it. 

Best wishes

Phil 

1 hour ago, Whites said:

This one in the picture you have taken, does not look the same as the link to ebay from andyb

Yes - you are right. I shoudld have said the link was that from silver salmon:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TM-TAILORED-RUBBER-BOOT-LINER-MAT-TRAY-for-LEXUS-NX-since-2014/143514851405?utm_source=LexusOwnersClubUK&utm_medium=ForumLinks&utm_source=LexusOwnersClubUK&utm_medium=ForumLinks&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5336640300&toolid=10001&customid=2061X563690Xb92bcb7604aa10be84bbfd290101b89c

Mine was supplied from the same seller and is not compartmentalised, and was a little cheaper here is a link to the very item:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TAILORED-RUBBER-BOOT-LINER-MAT-for-Lexus-NX-300h-since-2014/121805641986?epid=2020180867&hash=item1c5c2e9902:g:RJ4AAOSwqHNgM5l6

Delighted with it...

Thanks for pointing out my error Wayne.

Cheers, Phil

On 3/20/2021 at 9:24 AM, Andy B said:

I have this one in my NX:-

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Novline-Tailored-Rubber-Boot-Liner-for-Lexus-NX-14-20-Pet-Protector-Dog-Mat-Tray/261885160329

It's a perfect fit however it does tend to scratch quite easily. On the plus side it could be mistaken for a Lexus branded one due to the embossed "L" markings that look very similar, if not identical, to the Lexus "L" 😛

Thanks Andy B and others for steering me towards an altenative boot mat / boot liner than the the one offered by Lexus. Mine just arrived within a week of ordering, boxed, well packed and wrapped. Here are some photos of liner straight out of the box. This is the one Made in Poland featured in Andy B's link with my size 10 on it! Its tough and flexible, I rate it. 

Best wishes 

Phil 

HI Steve

Thanks for the very useful tips on the driving aids - much appreciated. I hope I can achieve your fuel consumption with mine when I get it, 37.6 according to your Fuelly script, that's excellent. Will be reporting back after my journey next week. After driving cars for almost 50 years I cannot recall so much anticipation in getting a car as for this one, having said that I've never paid out so much for a car as I have this time. Put it down to lockdown, no holidays, no clothes nothing to spend our pension money on for over a year, so we decided on buying a Lexus.

Best wishes

Phil 

Lexus NX Driver Assist Systems

I’m really looking forward to catching the train to Cambridge in 8 days time to collect my one-year-old Lexus NX-300H Premium Sport. To familiarise myself before driving the 185 miles back to my home in North Yorkshire I’ve been studying the 580-page Manual, downloaded from the Lexus UK website. I haven’t yet looked at the 308-page Navigation and Multi-Media manual.

The extensive driving support systems on this car are sophisticated and significant. I wondered if current owners find these systems useful and vital safety features, or are they a significant distraction, bleeping or flashing up on the display at the slightest indiscretion by the driver or producing false alarms for no apparent reason?  If this is the case, I imagine drivers may well disable some of these driver assist systems. Maybe some just take all the driver assist systems for granted and simply drive the vehicle as they would any other car without these features?

1.    Dynamic radar cruise control – having already had a car with this feature I think its great and will certainly be using it.

2.    RSA Road sign assist – does this function work well?  I am aware it is also installed on Toyota cars.

3.    AHS Adaptive High Beam System – this system seems to assess the ambient light and your speed / direction of travel on the road and then controls the headlight light distribution and intensity accordingly.

4.    Automatic High Beam - if this works reliably it must be very useful. My understanding is on unlit roads you can leave your headlights on main beam and they will automatically dip for approaching vehicles.

5.    LDA – Lane Departure Alert with steering control – something I’ve never had on a vehicle, seemingly the car steers itself without driver intervention when it believes the vehicle is departing from its expected line.

6.    LTA Lane Tracing Assist – Seems to work in a similar way to LDA by following white or yellow lines in the road to keep the car in the middle of the lane.

7.    PCS – Pre-Collision System – A radar sensor is looking ahead of the vehicle and will apply greater braking than the driver applies or will apply the brakes irrespective of the drivers’ actions if a collision is likely, to help avoid it or to reduce the impact. This sounds like a really good safety feature providing that with sensible driving it only impacts on the vehicle when absolutely necessary.  

So - what do NX owners generally find useful and safer to leave on and what do some owners turn off?

I also read somewhere that I may be buying a “Connected Car” sounds interesting and is something else to be investigated….

Best wishes

Phil

On 3/18/2021 at 11:37 AM, Silversalmon said:

I dont rate the lexus boot mat at all. Poorly made and flimsy. Relatively light weight plastic I bought a far superior product on ebay, 

I just noticed this genuine Lexus branded NX boot matt for sale secondhand on eBay at £36 or make offer. Seller lives in Preston if anyone is interested:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Lexus-NX-Boot-Liner/353157079671?_trkparms=aid%3D1110018%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.COMPLISTINGS%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908103955%26meid%3Df425138841a44a3aa4c4c323a528eccd%26pid%3D100229%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D30%26sd%3D121805641986%26itm%3D353157079671%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2053904%26algv%3DOrganicCompBase%26brand%3DToyota&_trksid=p2053904.c100229.m3211

Best wishes 

Phil