Harrier Man

Other Makes What Car March 23 ran an interesting comparison article on the range difference between summer and winter for BEVs. Two things jumped out to me: Actual range achieved in July last year and this January was an average of 18% lower for the 3 vehicles on test due to the colder weather. There was a big difference between the claimed official range and the actual range achieved in January. This varied from a shortfall of 16.4% (Nissan Ariya) to 32.8% (Ora Funky Cat - yes that's a real car!). I'm convinced that good design and solid engineering makes a big difference to real world results and hence the enjoyment and satisfaction one gets from their vehicle.

SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY AND MARCH 2023 The number of contributors to this thread dropped off during March but the stats show that range is increasing as the weather warms but perhaps not as much as I expected overall. For February, the two figures were 46.2 and 41.8. For March, the two figures were 46.8 and 42.6. For Feb and Mar combined, the two figures were 46.4 and 42.2 The average range (without A/C) improvement by the top 3 contributors between their best and worst predicted figures is a 6.2% improvement. Our top contributor (thanks Ken) has seen a 6.3% improvement from the beginning of Feb to the end of March (without A/C) and a 13.2% improvement with A/C.

Sorry my suggestions didn't help Ken, I hope they haven't made your situation worse 😞 Is anything in my reply to Andy likely to help? I don't have any inside knowledge, just using my own software/hardware experience and my own experience with my own 450h+ to offer suggestions.

By 'Portal', I mean connecting to your Lexus account through My Lexus on the lexus.co.uk website. My understanding is that either your dealer or Lexus HQ have to initiate the link and then various options, in stages (not necessarily all at once), become available. It sounds like this process is underway, even if it was a little tardy, as you are starting to see some information coming through. Some people (see Ken's post above) seem to have more problems than others; sometimes they persist, sometimes they resolve themselves. Remember, this is software so the rule of GIGO applies (Garbage In Garbage Out). For there to be a coherent, sensible output, the car has to know the correct date and its correct location (maybe other factors too). If it has the wrong date, by which I mean a different date to the main Lexus server date then it is bound to get confused. If the start location is wrong, then there is a good chance the end of trip location will be wrong and the system will be confused because the actual track between the start and end of your journey won't match its internal road map. I don't know enough about the parameters the software is using (eg to what extent it relies on GPS or cell tower triangulation to determine position) to suggest anything definitive; all I know is that it is best to give the system the best chance possible, I recommend ensuring that any parameter you can change is fixed to the correct value. One other thing that may help (or may confuse!). I set my car's location before I picked up my car but I only got one chance at this when I was setting things up. I could easily have skipped this setting and was never offered a second opportunity either to enter the location or correct it. Because it only happened once, I cannot remember any of the questions asked, what options were available or even what application I was in at the time. All I can suggest is to be in you guard and to wish you good luck.

Are you linked up through the portal Andy? Not the app in the first instance. You should be able to see "My vehicle" with your chassis number, it's location and other information. I think you need to be linked here first as that ties you and your new car into the Lexus central database. The Deep Dive tutorial goes through setting up the app in detail (although there are some minor differences for the US model).

I was primarily interested in predicted battery range and how it changed with the weather when I started this thread David. Many BEVs claim fantastic ranges that are way off in real world conditions, especially when the temperatures are very low. That the 450h+ achieves a shorter range in winter is unsurprising but I am pleased that the drop is far less than for owners of different makes of car. Many people were reporting ranges on EV of over 50 miles in the summer, better than Lexus advertise. For myself, I am extremely happy with my car but I cannot be sure of my exact mpg, range, or m/kw for the following reasons: a. I rarely run from a fully charged battery to a fully empty one. b. I do not know exactly how many kw of electricity I have put into the car in any one charge; I can only estimate it. c. The remaining range (according to the instrument panel) half a mile from my house can differ by up to 3 miles when I eventually park up (according to the app). d. My 'actual' mpg since new is 87.5mpg when I last filled up in January but that was a meaningless division of miles covered divided by litres of fuel put in the tank because so many miles had been covered using the battery alone. e. In my experience, Auto EV will run the battery down before the ICE cuts in. f. Examination of the 'Last Trip' map on the App, has often showed the ICE coming on line in cold weather despite EV being selected. g. Conversely, selecting HV mode, doesn't preclude the car moving into EV mode under some conditions. Every owner will have different charging regimes, have a different mix of motorway, A and B road driving, etc. On top of which, the system is very sophisticated and the mode it operates in is not 100% the driver's choice, more his or her preference. I have found that, for my operating style, working out the exact cost of running my car is nigh on impossible but I am not bothered because I think the car does a great job to give me the best combination for the conditions.

I don't get a notification but the App does tell me that the car is charged; it doesn't continue to show 'charging'.

I don't have FCTA on my car - unless it's a feature I haven't discovered yet!

Ken, if you go into Settings (in the car) and select 'Navigation', 'Other' and then 'Position/Direction'; does it show the position of your car accurately? If not you can move the map so that the correct position is shown (Press okay) and then do the same for Direction. Having reset the car's position, it would be interesting to know if your car then starts reporting the correct location more reliably. Is the front camera software update you mention related the LTA update do you know? My app shows only two recall updates are required, LTA and DCM, but I know that non-safety related issues (fuel filler door for example) do not appear as recalls.

It's horses for courses and thank goodness that we are all different. My choice of model was the best for my circumstances but that doesn't make it the best choice for everyone. Likewise for the charger; most of the time, I charge from the domestic wall socket and it suits me fine but every now and then I really appreciate my wall box and being able to turn my car around in a couple of hours before going out for the evening. Certainly not an essential bit of kit in my case but in different circumstances or with a different vehicle, it could be.

When I lived in Germany, over 25 years ago, if there was a traffic accident, the police would turn up, take statements and measurements and would issue each driver with a 'blame' statement (my words, not what they were called). This statement apportioned the degree they considered each party was responsible from 0% to 100%. The German insurance companies accepted these police statements and were therefore able to settle claims within a few days. None of this arguing with one party saying one thing to their insurance company and the other saying something completely different to theirs; which of course leads to delays as drivers and insurance companies argue between themselves. I found it so much better than the UK system which has only got worse as companies race to the bottom to offer the lowest renewal prices, which they do in part by trying to wriggle out of (or delaying) paying claims.

Interesting info Michael has unearthed but since most has been translated from the Japanese site and manual, who can say which of these new features will find there way onto European cars. US, European and Asian models have always been slightly differently specified.

Hard to do that as it depends on so many factors. Read some of the contributions in the General Discussions/Insurance thread for ideas. I went with Direct Line because I was already with them and they offered a good deal to stay with them. I liked the idea of Lexus Insurance because repairs would always be done at a Lexus dealer, however, their website didn't work and staff was unhelpful when I phoned. Other owners are happy with other companies so my best advice is to shop around for the best deal 5hat suits you.

My home insurance renewal from Nationwide came through at £70 more than last year (already a big rise over year before). Always been happy with the company but price was off-putting. Did a comparison site and Tesco came in at just over £300 (compared to NW's £468). I don't like comparison sites so I did a Google search for 'best customer service' and 'companies with good pay-out records' and Tesco were very near the top. Went to their website direct and, with Clubcard discount, the quote came in at £164. This didn't include Home Emergency cover at £44 but otherwise the policy had equal or better terms than Nationwide. Sorry Nationwide but this year my business goes to Tesco Bank. Certainly pays to shop around when it comes to insurance of any kind.

I don't know about the 350, or other mild hybrids, but in my 450h+ PHEV 'remote start' and the climate control pre-conditioning (used to defrost the car and warm the cabin) are two different things. The 'remote start' is described in the Deep Dive Tutorial Part 1, 35.02 minutes in (watch?v=B6S21RoEq2E). It is not available in Europe as far as I know, just the USA. It does allow the engine to be started remotely from the app. My app has a Climate Control feature that I can set for 10, 15 or 20 minutes of cabin pre-conditioning; including: front screen, rear screen, heated seats and heated steering wheel. AFAIK this doesn't turn the engine on but uses either battery power (if sufficiently charged) or mains electricity if plugged in. This uses the heat pump HVAC system (watch?v=mXFipAaMEQI) to provide warm air, not heat from the gasoline engine. Heat from the HVAC system is not as hot as from the engine. That combined with the vehicle needing a certain level of charge before it would operate and software issues meant that over the coldest days of this winter, I couldn't rely absolutely on having a defrosted car and climbing into a nice warm cabin. This was a shame and quite annoying as the NX doesn't have a heated screen, not even a strip to defrost the wipers, but hopefully a future software update will improve the reliability of the system.

The manual says 7.5 hours in UK (other countries vary). My experience is 6-7 hours depending on the starting charge level. 7kW charge time is around 2 hours 30 mins to 2 hours 40 mins for a full charge.

That is good - and encouraging. Were you using the heated seat and steering wheel?

In the first couple of months after picking up my car in September, the difference between with and without a/c was minimal. It was only after the weather got colder and I started to use the heating more did the gap widen. From this, I conclude that the app 'learns' the driver's preference for a hot/warm/cool interior and calculates the 'with a/c' range accordingly. I don't use the Hive app, and I can imagine that it can accurately show how much electricity it has supplied, but how does it know what that kW equates to in range? I would have thought that it would depend on the efficiency of the charging system, which will vary between manufacturers and models. Does the Hive app know that you drive a NX? Also, I understand that when charging is initiated, the system in the NX doesn't immediately start putting juice into the battery but it first pre-conditions the battery to warm or cool it to a level suitable for charging. A car sitting on a driveway on a cold December night will need more pre-conditioning that a car sitting in a relatively warm garage. The stats collected here have only been running for a month and collect only a fraction of the parameters that influence the system. It's not that we are comparing apples with oranges here but we are comparing Cox, Pippin, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smiths, etc as we all operate our vehicles in different ways. Hopefully, over time, we will see some trends emerging that will be useful and we can learn from each other how to perhaps subtly change what we do to increase the range of our own particular vehicles.

I like the Dark Rose interior; not so 'black hole' and reduced my concern that a cream or hazel (whilst looking great when new) might show up marks more readily.

SUMMARY for February 2023. The overall average predicted range for all results is 47.9 miles with no a/c and 43.4 with ac. The outstanding result is from The_Doctor (one return) who had a predicted range of 56.2/52.8. If this result is considered a statistical aberration and removed, the overall average for 'no a/c' drops by one mile to 46.9. All are seeing an improvement in range, most by around one mile but a couple have seen around a 4 mile improvement over the month. Generally, and not unexpectedly, vehicles with less than 5,000 miles on the clock have reduced range over those whose vehicles have been run-in and cycled through the charging more times. Actual range is less than the range predicted by the App. Owners experience of this varies and is to be expected given that some cars will be garaged over night; the use the heated seats, heated steering wheel and the overall cabin temperature setting will vary according to users preferences, etc. I would expect to see the improvements continuing and the difference between 'no a/c' and 'with a/c' shrink as the weather continues to get warmer. Thank you to all those who have contributed. Keep those results coming in!

I was finding the same but someone posted a tip along the lines of making sure you step well back (not sideways) after pressing the button. This is explained in the Deep Dive tutorial as a feature; however, why the closing starts when I press the close button but not the close and lock button, I haven't worked out. However, the tip works for me (most of the time).

You might want to watch this youtube video, /watch?v=PI5YskUPEyg On the other hand, it's pretty scarry so you might just want to close your eyes!

Does anyone know what version of the software they had and what it is after the update? I ask because I have had very few problems with the app showing the incorrect location or not recording journeys. Since my car was built in June last year, I would have thought that it would have had an early/earlier version of the software than the people experiencing problems with more recent builds.

I posted this on 29 July last year in the NX 2022 Delivery Date thread. Shame that Lexus are still causing confusion through their poor wording and definitions. "I can't be sure about the accuracy of what I'm about to say but true or half true, the wording used in the Lexus Link app is misleading. If it were changed, I think there would be a huge improvement in the perception of the communication with Lexus. What do I mean? Well the first step is 'order in progress', not too misleading but it would be better if this period was split with the second phase being, 'awaiting build'. Next is 'build in progress' before it moves to 'left the factory'. I believe that the reality is that the app doesn't change until its on a ship. Hence the reason why some cars are 'in build' for a few days and others for 2-3 weeks. Best if 'build in progress' was split into, 'your vehicle is being built' and 'your car is awaiting shipment'. Once the ship has left port, it should say, 'your vehicle is at sea en-route to you'. 'Left the factory' is misleading/incomplete information. The next step, 'In transit' is a terrible phrase because the car has been in transit since it left the port in Japan. Far better to say something like, 'Your vehicle has arrived in UK and is on its way to your dealer'. You probably get the idea by now. Would be nice if Lexus UK could make some simple wording changes to reduce the confusion experienced by many customers. That's my two penny worth."

Have you tried going into the app, selecting "Account" (right hand icon at the bottom), then "Settings"? What does it show under the "Security" heading? Can you adjust these to give what you want?