Chris UXe

I agree with your response to Lexus David. I got my UXe last July and really appreciated having a paper brochure. As you say, it helped decide the colour etc- it was just so useful. Can I ask, how did you sign up to 'Support Talk to Lexus'- was it via the Lexus support centre? Hope you're enjoying your UX too.

Thanks for this Barry. I agree, it'll be interesting to see the performance, range details and price. I guess it will start somewhere around £55K, taking into account the competition as well as the UX electric and bZ4x prices. This link shows a different dashboard to that Toyota with what looks like a head-up display and a centre console similar to the new (and very nice) NX. Not sure about the steering wheel though! 2023 Lexus RZ Will Offer Yoke-Style Steering Wheel in the U.S. (caranddriver.com)

Hi All, I cleaned my car yesterday and although the colour (Mercury Grey) hides dirt pretty well, it was noticeable in the areas highlighted in David's photo. I also used a hose pipe (with a Draper spray gun with about 12 different settings) and it was effective. The grille is also a bit difficult to clean. It's still the best car I've ever had though! Hope you're enjoying your car David and that you do too Bill. Chris

Hi Colin, after getting the flat 12v battery on my UXe Takumi sorted, I had the same message as you and found that after driving it for no more than a mile or so, it disappeared. After returning home and putting the car in the garage, the rear sensors sounded so I had confidence that things were back to normal. I think the car may reset it automatically but needs a short drive to do so. I hope this helps.

Dear All, I saw this quite interesting article on the Lexus EU media website: ALL-ELECTRIC UX 300e HERALDS NEW MILESTONE IN LEXUS’ SILENT REVOLUTION I've found the noise levels on my UXe on 18inch tyres (the Michelin's Rayaan mentions) to be really low, including at motorway speeds. I had a 2017 Prius with 15 inch alloys before and it was much louder, even when it was in 'EV mode' around town. I'd agree with the ID3 comment too. Having driven a UXh Premium Sport with 18 inch run flats, it wasn't as quiet but would imagine that Lexus spend a lot of attention on ensuring good refinement and noise levels compared to their competitors. I think their new EV the RZ450e (the Lexus version of the Toyota bZ4X) may be imminent- it'll be interesting to see the tyres used on it.

Hi James, I hadn't been able to get the gesture tailgate option to work on my UXe Takumi either. I then saw these posts below which were helpful, especially the one from Nick posted yesterday at 08:44am. I did as he suggested and it worked which was great. Hope this is helpful and that you're happy with your UX too.

I've found the 12v battery to be going every 4 days or so. I drove 52 miles, then left the car for 4 days. The next time, it was driven for 20 miles, then the car was left for 3 days. I've now disconnected Lexus connected services and 7 days later, the battery still has a full charge. I've bought a Ring Lithium Ion charger as the need to make appointments means a flat battery is not ideal to say the least. Both flat batteries happened during pretty mild weather and the car is garaged.

I've also just recently experienced 12v flat battery issues in the UXe. One thing that appears to have helped preserve the 12v battery charge is disabling in the car lexus connected services and not use the app. Hope this helps. Chris

Thanks for your replies all. I agree with Peter about the accuracy of the brochures. The UXe one seemed better than the hybrid but guess that's only because it has less option packs! That's interesting to hear about your car brochures Ed- you're right about how to get hold of them in days past. I remember asking my Dad if he could visit the Jaguar and Daimler showroom near his office, it must have been the mid 80's and they gave him some lovely hardback XJ and Daimler Double Six brochures. I still have them and quite a few others too. Mercedes brochures up to around 2010 were good as well- really detailed and high quality. I agree with Bill, they were works of art. The cost of producing them must have been high. Also, I hope all goes well with with your UX Takumi. I have the same grade on a UX electric and the attention to detail is brilliant on both I think. I also agree with Brent, I was trying to find something in the owners manual the dealer handed over without success only to find it in the online one!

Dear All, I see the option to receive any model brochures in the post appears to have been removed from the Lexus UK website. You just have the download option now. I guess I may be showing my age here, but I liked looking through 'real' car brochures with a cup of tea or coffee- the ones you received by post or got from a dealer. I appreciate it's more environmentally friendly to move everything online (less paper etc) and easier for the car companies to update the specifications and much cheaper I guess too, saving in printing costs, but I miss the 'old fashioned' brochures. The current Lexus ones aren't very user friendly I find and with respect to Lexus, not all of the specification details seemed to be 100% accurate. When I was thinking about my next company car, it was great to have the paper UXe and UXh brochures along with some of the 'competition'. Maybe I need to get into the modern way of thinking though! I wondered if Lexus dealers still have paper brochures or do they provide print outs instead? It would be interesting to hear your thoughts. Best wishes, Chris

Hi All, I've never had any issues with power delivery either and also saw the Autogefuhl test where it performed well on the autobahn. I've looked through the uxe online owners manual to see if there's anything re: repeated 'full' acceleration without success. I agree with Rayaan about the programme providing further details.

That's ok and yes, I don't see those odd screen shots so it looks as if there is something causing erroneous data. So a temporary fix could be to disable connected services. That way, if odd data is being generated all the time, it will never 'wake up' the car. Fingers crossed you get your issue sorted ASAP and I hope Lexus provide a permanent solution. Despite this issue, I also hope you're enjoying your UXe. It's my first Lexus and overall, I'm very pleased with it. Regards, Chris

Hi, yes, things like the parking sensors calibration (Parking Assist) and the Lane Keeping Assist will display initial warning triangles (yellow) for a few miles or so following a complete system shutdown due to low 12v power. Last time it happened, I drove to the supermarket (about 5 minutes or so!), when I started the car up again, everything had recalibrated and the warning triangles disappeared. So that'll be fine. And yes, I use the Lexus Link app. I think you're onto something there. It should do a final update of date / time / battery / climate status when the vehicle is parked. That's what I get -- if I leave the car parked unused, the date/time and status info get more and more out-of-date. And if you want a more up-to-date set of info, you click on "wake the car" in the app. This does, to be fair to Lexus, display a warning that frequent "waking" of the car will deplete the battery. But if you resist the temptation to keep getting new data sent to Lexus' Big Brother, then it shouldn't do anything more, apart from infrequent automatic wake-ups (which should be set to not cause too many problems, but it will eventually discharge the 12v battery, but not for a week or so). However, if yours has got it's electronic brain scrambled and is stuck in real-time updating mode, it'll be constantly using the WiFi / Bluetooth to send climate unit communications (or something similar). It won't take too many days (maybe not even a day) of that to deplete the 12v battery. Disabling Lexus Connected Services definitely worth a try than, I reckon. Hopefully Lexis will then be able to say if it needs a trip to the dealer to reset the infotainment to stop it's, erm, over-zealous electronic twittering!

Hi Mark I also own a UXe and I have noticed a tendency for the 12v battery to drain, not super-quickly or anything that would indicate a fault, but I can't leave it for more than a week without the 12v battery getting too low on charge to "boot up" the car and let it start the EV System powertrain, enable the electronic parking break etc. and get the car ready to drive. That's from a fully-charged 12v battery. If it's low on charge, I can find after three days or maybe even less, there's not enough charge in the 12v batter to bootstrap the car into "READY" mode. Having had to call the AA out (before getting a trickle charger and a Li ion starter, just to get me out of trouble!) for this reason, I was advised -- and I checked this out myself -- that to save weight, the 12v battery is as small as they could get away with. Which means that it doesn't have the biggest charge in the world. So there's very little margin for anything that drains the 12v battery in the background. I've a hunch that I have (through no fault of our own!) contributed to the basic design issue by enabling Lexus Connected Services on my UXe. Have you also done this? If so, it maty well be a place to start. When you enable Connected Services -- which you also have to enable both Bluetooth and Wifi connectivity -- you in effect (and the implications of this aren't really spelt out in the manuals, which are aimed at the layperson) give the car permission to, periodically, switch on the wireless transmitters on the Wifi and Bluetooth systems, plus the GPS receiver and then scan and "handshake" (as we say in IT!) for any in-range networks. It doesn't say in the documentation exactly how often it does so, but from what I've observed, it seems to be every few hours or so. Now, normally, this wouldn't cause any issues if the car was driven for, say, half an hour every day. Then, the 12v battery would get recharged enough to give it sufficient charge for the next day (or so's) network scanning and GPS activations as part of the Connected Services background data transfer and updating tasks. But if the 12v battery is already fairly depleted, say through only a couple of short journeys being done and the 12v battery not getting properly topped-up, then just a day's lack of use -- coupled with the small size and the Connected Services waking itself up every so often and sending out "are there any networks in range?" packets and "where am I?" GPS checks -- means I get exactly the same problems you've had. I have to either trickle-charge the 12v battery (if I'm not in a hurry) or use the starter power pack. So, first off, have you enabled Connected Services on your UXe? If so, it'll be doing that periodic waking-up of the Wifi/Bluetooth/GPS. If it's in range of your phone or Wifi networks (e.g. in your driveway or garage or whatever device/network you connected your car to), it'll send the charge status, location data etc. If you're happy to live without Connected Services, at least until Lexus UK come back to you with proper technical support advice, it might well be worth giving that a try. You have to delve into the infotainment configuration settings to get it to "forget" any devices or WiFi network(s) you've set it up on. There's also instructions in the FAQs ("How can I deactivate Lexus Link Connected Services?") on the app https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/about-my-lexus/lexus-link-connected-services/#lexus-link-app-questions which should have the same effect (but it's more robust to remove any networks or devices you've registered or set up on the car's infotainment system itself). Hope that helps, let me know if you need any clarifications -- it is rather complicated! Best wishes, Chris.

Many thanks Gary for mentioning Zap Maps. I've now got the phone app and it looks really good.

We did another c130 miles at the weekend and so far, the real life range is 175-190 miles. Most of the time the a/c is on 22 degrees. There was more A road and motorway driving at 60-65mph but we did a few miles at lower speeds in 30mph limits. I haven't used the public charging network yet but will report back if I do and hope the Lexus Link app is updated with charger locations in more detail. Has anyone else found it a little lacking in features? I agree with rayaans about the estimated range with a/c being more than the app shows which is good. If Lexus made a compact saloon EV I'd certainly consider it. It's a shame the UK doesn't have the latest IS which looks great imo. Regards, Chris

Thanks all for the comments which I'll reply to ASAP. In the meantime, yes Colin, I have checked things and made sure all is ok. I work in IT security so there's no excuse really for not doing this!

Hi All, As I've had the UXe just over 3 weeks, I thought I'd share my impressions after 300 miles: The estimated range on the (ok) Lexus Link App is 201 miles without a/c and 190 with which I'm pleased with. The majority of journeys have been on (very busy) A roads and motorways to Bournemouth and back, average speed around 60-65 mph in Eco mode and the air con on. I did pre cool the car on one hot day to the 21 degrees C the Lexus app suggested and will do that again. The Hypervolt charger I've had installed is excellent as is the app- we have Economy 10 electricity so schedule charging where possible at the cheaper rate. We charged the car in the mother in law's garage using the 3 pin plug- I reduced the current draw to 8 amps using a configuration setting in the car to reduce her worry over it! Also, I wondered if another owners have their car in 'Eco' mode? I just assumed that would be the most efficient but may be wrong! The ride on 18 inch wheels is overall really good and there's no suspension noise or 'clanging' over expansion joints unlike my last company car, a Prius. Having test driven a UX Premium Sport with 18 inch run flats, the ride on the 18 inch non run flat 'UXe' seems a little better but appreciate ride comfort can be subjective. The 'e' could be considered relatively expensive when you compare it's price and range compared to the competition but the overall quality is great- like the paint finish and the interior controls. The seats are very comfortable and there are no rattles yet- fingers crossed that continues! The overall refinement is very good- it seems like they put in a lot of sound deadening material. Overall, I'm very happy with my first Lexus and hope the above is of interest- please feel free to ask any questions. Regards, Chris

Thanks and you're right about the tyres and can of gunk. We went for the Hypervolt as the app seemed really easy to use which I'm finding to be the case. The Lexus Link app suggests the current range based on the driving to date is 190-200 miles which I'm pleased with as I think the range on the Takumi model is 190 miles.

Dear All, as promised, a picture of the UXe. I'll send more when the sun goes in as it makes getting a good glare free photo more difficult. The 360 degree panoramic view monitor is really handy for parking. We've done a mixture of shorter town and longer dual carriageway drives so far, averaging 3.4kw/h, including today in hot weather with the climate control on. The ride on the 18inch run flat tyres is better then expected and seems more composed over expansion joints and potholes than the Prius which had 15 inch alloys. The UX also has a good turn of speed when asked! The home charging wall box is a Hypervolt. Regards, Chris

Many thanks for your replies all and you're right John, I am lucky to have the car. It was delivered by Lexus Hedge End who have been so helpful and provided great customer service. I drove just a few miles today and averaged 3.5 kw/h driving at a steady 60-70mph on the A303. It took some time to configure the (many) settings but the initial impressions are that the quality (paintwork, interior trim, panel gaps) are great, the ride is excellent and it just feels so solid. The Toyota Prius I had before had really thick door seals but the Lexus is even better. The doors thud shut too. I'll send some photos tomorrow. I hope to start reading the handbook later! Regards, Chris

Hi All, further to my first post a few weeks ago, my UXe is due to be delivered tomorrow by the local Lexus dealer. I'll try and send some photos of it. The home vehicle charger that's been installed is a Hypervolt- am awaiting the government grant 'refund' now. My previous company car was a 2017 Prius which was great but I'm really looking forward to the UX which will be my first Lexus. This forum has been so informative about other's experiences with the UX hybrid and EV, am glad I found it. Best wishes, Chris

Hello All, This is my first post on this forum. It's been really interesting to see all the comments about the UXe- especially about how it drives and the battery range. I have a Takumi Pack model on order (as a company car) and decided on Mercury Grey with a black interior in the end. There were many other EV's available but I went for the Lexus because of their reputation for quality and excellent dealer service. I'm currently investigating a home charger and will post some pictures when it arrives, which will be another 4-6 weeks. Best wishes, Chris