Harrier Man

I use to get this quite a lot when I picked up my NX is September but lately the occurrences have been far fewer. Coincidently, I have just returned from a trip, parked up and removed my hat and gloves from the rear seat. Closed the rear door and it looked fully closed with the door flush with the rear panel; however, when I pushed on the door, it went in and then sprung out. Still on the latch but no longer fully flush so clearly the door hadn't closed fully. I wonder if my early experiences with this warning were genuine and I hadn't been closing the door properly. Maybe, I am now more use to the Lexus doors and the amount of 'force' need to overcome the air pressure from the good door seals.

Hi Adam, I'm confused (easily done) by some of your figures. I thought that the main 18.1kW battery didn't discharge itself below about 30%, ie approx 13kW, and this is the most that I have ever put into the car. My experience here is very limited because I don't have a smart meter so most of the time I don't know exactly how much electricity I'm putting in. Also, if I want to travel 45 miles (simplifying the figures here), I could use a full battery which I would calculate at 13kW x 0.33p/kW = £4.30. Or, I could put in one gallon of fuel (4.55ltrs) that would take me the same distance at 45mpg. 4.55 x £1.60/ltr = £7.28 Hence, still much cheaper to use electric at the moment.

Small sample from me too. Three frosty days where I have preheated the car plus a couple around the zero degrees mark. Travel about a mile to reach the A road for most of the journey, no dual carriageway, only a couple of roundabouts so steady speed with little acceleration or braking is the norm. Then reach the town to complete the last couple of miles. Two roundabouts, 3 sets of pedestrian lights, traffic generally moves quite well. Heating is set to Auto, 20 degrees. Driver's heated seat on but quickly turned down to one bar; same for the heated steering wheel. Rear screen heating switched on as required. Pre-heating really helps I think and, of course, lovely to get into a defrosted, warm car. Although it doesn't impact on my range experience, I should mention that in the last month, the car has decided it needed to bring in the ICE for a portion of the journey even though I had pre-selected EV mode (I don't use ECO mode). On another cold day, I deliberately used HV mode for the main A road section (around 10 miles) for various reasons. I haven't included these ICE usage in my overall experience.

You're welcome John. For interest, I haven't had the update yet because it is a 330 mile round trip to my dealer! Luckily, touch wood, fingers and toes crossed, I haven't had a problem with my filler cap not opening yet.

For me, the predicted EV range hasn't changed much, it's still around 47 miles without A/C. What has changed is the predicted range with A/C; in the summer, it was very similar, around 45/46 from memory but now the predicted range with A/C is around 42-43 on a full charge. These estimates seem pretty accurate. I can get from home to work and back (29 mile round trip) with the app still showing 13 miles range remaining. I'm impressed with the accuracy (given the status of other app features) and the technology (that makes the difference between summer and winter as small as it is). I don't think all manufacturers are as good. Out of curiosity, before ordering my NX, I asked the Ford dealer about their Kuga PHEV, "36 miles on a good day in summer mate, about 20 miles in winter" was his reply.

Lane Tracing Assist software update (keeps vehicle's position in the centre of a lane). Recall letters issued last month.

Great news, pleased for you. Shame you had to go through all this though.

My bad experience was with an Audi dealership. They were more interested in watching football on TV than attending to customers. I won't say that I will never but an Audi in future, but I will never ever buy from that dealer, even though it was 20 years ago! Good reputations are hard to win but very easily lost.

Vehicle manufacturers (or their finance divisions) have always set their own rates. There can be different rates on different models depending on those they wish to push. For example, they often offer 0% finance on certain models. Of course, international financial market conditions also play a part. In February this year, Lexus were offering 4.9% on the NX but with the new RX models coming soon, older RX models were, for a time being offered at a lower rate. Recently, all rates have gone up because Lexus have a waiting list for most models and the base rate has risen significantly. It's just market forces at work.

The NX software has similar issues. Whilst the units are user selectable in the car, they aren't in the app or the Lexus portal. Even more confusing is that the app and portal display in different units or at least they do when displaying some information. Personally, I find this lack of selectability and the failure to correctly convert between metric and imperial inexcusable. Period.

My post on 11th October and several others around this date.

Just to round out my experience ... After calming down and re-evaluating my options, I was torn between the comprehensiveness the Lexus insurance offered and the poor systems and agent attitude that I had experienced. I was going to swallow my pride and go for it but kept asking myself why I would give my business to a company that had riled me so much. If life was this difficult giving them money, how would they be if I needed to make a claim? I made a last minute phone call to my current insurers and spoke to an agent who was not only very helpful and pleasant but was also able to offer a reduced renewal price that made the whole package the best on offer. No prizes for guessing that I went with them. Direct Line, one; Lexus Insurance, zero.

Awaiting quote from Chris Knott. Meanwhile, Lexus insurance just come back with an increased price over the quote previously given. Not impressed.

Has anybody else had problems with trying to insure a newish car with Lexus? My NX was registered in September and my insurance is coming up for renewal so I went online and obtained 7 quotes from different companies. Over the weekend the Lexus website crashed and I couldn't complete the application but all was well on Monday. It wasn't the cheapest quote but I liked the idea of all genuine Lexus repairs so today (Friday) I decided to accept the quote. I hadn't been able to enter my registration number online but I was able to manually enter the details to get the quote. When I came to accept the quote online, I was once again asked for my registration number and again this failed so I phoned Lexus Insurance. Spoke with an agent who just made loads of excuses and wouldn't listen. None of the other 6 companies had trouble with the registration number but this agent was insistent that the problem was caused by my current insurers not registering the car properly. It is with their special operations team at the moment but I am wondering if Lexus Insurance is the right decision if their systems don't work and their staff so unhelpful.

I agree Paul and no slatting from me, I agree. Even go further and suggest that many of these so called safety features are actually a distraction to good driving. I know that some are being driven by legislation but do we have to always come down to the lowest common denominator? People should be suitably trained and take responsibility for their driving.

Interesting. My range has always been around 45 miles. Not much change with colder weather except that the gap between with and without air conditioning has widened. Engine does kick in, even in EV mode, if needed for heating or heavy acceleration up a hill for instance. It usually prefers to stay in ICE mode for a couple of miles or so before returning to EV mode. I'm happy that the car knows what it needs to do and that there are no faults.

Another thought ... Three weeks before I ordered my NX in February, I ordered a Toyota RAV4 PHEV with a 2.9% finance deal and an expected September delivery date. On the expectation of my Lexus dealer that I could have an NX 450h+ in May (didn't happen of course), I cancelled my RAV4 order and placed an order for the Lexus. However, I didn't take up the Lexus finance because it was 4.9% even though both go through Toyota Finance. That aggravated me so I took a Nationwide loan at 2.9% instead. One of the reasons we (I) pay more for a Lexus than a Toyota is for the usually more customer focused approach the Lexus brand offers. The experience of the OP leaves me feeling less sure about buying a Lexus in the future. I can only reconcile it to myself to some degree by recognising that the whole car industry is in exceptional times at the moment, Even though I believe some of the contributing factors have been due to bad decisions made by the company, many factors have been outside their control. Whether one considers Lexus should honour the original deal, or whether it is fair for them to wiggle out using the small print, or whether there should be a half way compromise position, is for each of us to decide. It is also for Lexus to wrestle with, given that how they handle cases like this will have an impact on their reputation and potential future sales.

My Premium model operates as Colin explained. The switching is slower than I would do manually (mostly) but on-coming cars don't flash me so I guess it's okay. It occasionally gets confused but, overall, it is one of the few automatic aids that I am happy to have switched on. I would describe the main-beam performance as adequate but, like Paul, I have had cars with better and I would like better. Happy with the dipped beam performance though; that is probably an improvement over my previous vehicles.

I feel for you, devastating and what a let down after such a long wait. I do hope Lexus and your dealer come through for you. Any chance of a car loan from elsewhere? I am definitely no financial guru and have no wish to teach any grannies to suck eggs, but MoneySavingExpert 9 Nov 22 were showing some loans from 4.9% (depending on amount borrowed and duration). Might it be possible to take one of these deals to fund your car? Good luck, hope something comes through for you.

Congratulations on your decision to buy the RX. I have an NX 450h+ and love is mechanical refinement. I was surprised by Nigel's comment as the transitions between electric and petrol are imperceptible to me; I only know they have occurred if I'm looking at the graphic screen. The boot in the NX is smaller than I would have liked so your decision to go for the RX is probably the right one. Enjoy the wait, the two NX manuals total around 1,300 pages so plenty of time to get to know your car!

The link to MB (USA) posted by John clearly states, "The $1,200 yearly fee " and I seem to remember that the original story I read about BMW subscriptions referred to the S Korean market. Manufacturers can play all sorts of tunes with these options, no payment, one-off payment, non transferable subscriptions valid only during ownership, monthly or annual subscriptions. I suspect that what the manufacturers offer us will depend on the country/market we are in and will be based on what they think they can get away with.

I think your question has now been answered but I just came across The Car Wizard's 10 Essential Mechanic Tips (Part 2) on YouTube. Tip 3 explains all!

Thanks Ken. Over 3,600 miles, I have averaged just under 80mpg considering the petrol alone. I've struggled when factoring in the electricity because I have paid everything from 0 pence/unit to 90p/unit (I wasn't paying attention!). Neither do I have a smart meter at home so can only estimate the cost of charging based on the estimated range provided by the app at the start and end of each charge (when I remember to look). A further, minor, complication is that sometimes I fill up at the supermarket and sometimes spend an extra 18p/litre to treat my car to a tank of Esso E5 Super fuel. Hence, my average price of petrol is not truly representative. Whilst all this is of academic interest to me, it doesn't really matter because I just love my NX!

How are you calculating this Ken? My first attempt gave me 56mpg but I suspect this has more to do with my suspect calculation than any material difference between the 2 cars.

No you don't have to use it. I've tried it a couple of times but not generally worth for the reasons given by Ken. Car behaves like a normal hybrid. Don't expect that it will put any significant range in the battery, as the dedicated recharge mode does, when I watch the graphic the very clever system is constantly switching between between engine and battery mode (if the ICE isn't switched in to provide heat on a very cold day). During deceleration, down hills and braking, juice flows into the battery, which then becomes the preferred source of power when accelerating or driving at constant speed. When the battery reaches it's minimum level, the ICE will take over until the next time. The only substantial improvement I can imagine is if the car's choice of battery or ICE was influenced by a planned route being executed. Save the battery for the towns and roads where lots of speed changes are likely to occur and using the ICE for motorways, dual carriageways and A roads where speed is relatively high and consistent. I do this manually but it would be great if the car did it automatically when executing a route. I think I read that this is available in the USA (or in parts of the USA).