Damian

I guessed as much but didn't want to destroy my reputation as a newbie on what seems to be a very harmonious forum. Best of luck with your dealer, not based in Surrey I hope D

Not yet experienced this myself as I'm waiting for delivery but this could be exaggerated by the fuel cutoff during coasting as all cars do when you take your foot of the gas. When you then put your foot back on the pedal the fuel supply then comes back on. My brother and I were discussing this with his car yesterday (not a Lexus) which is a manual and does this but obviosuly as the clutch is engaged you don't get the added element of the coupling engaging too as you do with an auto. I would have thought that a revision to engine management would be able to cure the problem. Question is how do you get Lexus to acknoldege it. RXMike seems to be on the case on this so I guess we'll have to wait. Having said that this could result in a loss in responsiveness so may be a compromise which has already been taken in the development of the car. Maybe a case of Lexus having to offer the opportunity to have smoother take up and a slight loss of responsivness rather than jerky pull away. br D

Confirmed my order yesterday and as you may know we've been debating the choice of colours. Before I confirmed the order for our 2005 spec RX we specifically asked that they checked whether there would be any new colours for 2005 spec RX's and expalined given our difficulty in deciding over colour we would not be happy to find on delivery that there were new colours after all. He said hand on heart that there were no new colours and double checked with a senior colleague too. As for 400h he didn't know, but it seem strange to me that they would only offer certain colours on the 400h and not the others. Unless of course as the 400h is coming in May/June? of 2005 perhaps around that time they're going to revise the colour choice rather than October when the 2005 spec vehicles start production. br D

Sorry Easylife I wasn't deliberately trying to make you feel bad and perhaps I should have found a more diplomatic way of putting it, but in my defence I thought firstly that perhaps others may like to be aware of the warning that was given to me and secondly I thought if you were aware of this it may provide you with a little more ammo when trying to get it resolved as you could say something like 'I've heard others have not been happy with the installation' rather than allowing them to hide behind the 'not heard of any problems before with the installation' excuse. Again sorry if I offended you or made you feel uncomfortable, that wasn't my intention. Perhaps it's best if I just keep quiet in future. :( br D

Thanks, December 18th 9.30am. Does it sound like I'm counting the days.Can't wait. I understand the handover is quite an experience, really looking forward to that. Only new cars in the past have been company cars where you get some bod from HR hand over your keys and tell you it's in the car park somewhere. Suspect Lexus is going to be a little more personal than that. Two reasons for the delay. 1st, wanted to wait for 2005 model with the upgraded SatNav and 2nd can't afford it till then! D

You didn't fall for that old one did you ;) :D Well, yes and no. I know she'll be happy but not as much as if I'd agreed to go for the black. Let's just hope that dinner to celebrate our anniversary at Bibendums in Knightsbridge will help to make up for it. Oh well, I can always hope! D

When originally looking at the car we were told by one Lexus dealer that the system which was installed by an independent contractor when the vehicles arrive in the UK was very poor and far superior systems were available for less direct through the dealer but as an after market installation. They also conveyed the very poor installation quality. As a result of this they actively encouraged us not to go for the Lexus ICE package but to have it fitted later. Our two girls are still very young, the oldest so far seems more than happy with a portable DVD player which we put in our current car for her. it cost just £300 and she put it on her lap. But You've already paid out big money so I guess that doesn't help, sorry. As Colin says they should at least sort it out for you though regardless. best of luck D

Thanks to everyone for their opinions. Decided on Platinum ice with oakham interior. How predictable I hear! My wife in the end said she'd be ahppy whichever colour, this is like almost double the price of any car we've ever owned before! The interior was one decision which we at least both agreed on. In the end I put all of the cleaning and stone chip issues to one side and decided on what I felt made the car look the best in my personal opinion. I felt the curves and creases in the body work over the wheel arches and above the door sills in particular were to a degree lost with the black whilst the silver paintwork reflects the light in different ways in these areas therefore making accentuating them more. I also felt that the black paint work, the wheel arch and then the black of the tyres drew attention towards the space in the wheel arch making the wheels look too small, which unbalanced the side profile of the car. Whereas the silver contrasted better here and therefore took your attention away from the wheel arches. Anyway we're all happy and thanks again, this is a really helpful and useful source of information/assistance. br D

Any other owners who have a black example of the RX300 with high mileage who can comment on visibility of stone chips etc? I'm leaning towards the black, just need a little more pushing. thanks D

Wow, what spec have you ordered and who is the supplier? D

Thanks for your reply. Yes I tried to suggest that today but didn't go down well. Black is her first choice with the silver being her second whilst silver is my first and black my second but with the concerns around cleaning and stone chips/small scratches showing up all over the place. We've never bought a brand new car before (company cars with limited choice before now) and have never thought we'd be able to afford something this much but now we've been sucked in the comfort/gadgets and all round great vehicle. But just want to be sure about the colour. br D

I know this is a very personal choice but my wife and I simply can't decide which colour to go for. We're down to Astral Black or Platinum ice. My wife prefers the black on the basis it looks the business whilst I prefer the silver. I really want to go for the black as I know my wife will be very happy but I'm concerned about the following: 1. Resale value 2. Having to constantly clean the car which two young children and living in London currently do not allow 3. As we're planning on keeping the car for at least 5 years how will the black paint finish last So can anyone out there convince me to go for the black or should I stick with my go safe instincts of the silver? Thanks for your help with my crazy dilemma. br D

I heard from October production. We asked for ours (just ordered) to be delivered at end of December as we're still saving :-(

Lexus have informed dealers that prices are going up with the introduction of the 2005 models. We've just ordered ours a 2005 mainly as a result of the improved SatNav system. I understand that the old system will not be upgradeable. Changes are as follows to the satnav system: Traffic Avoidance which works by getting information broadcast from radio stations (not heard of other information sources) even if radio is off and checks this against your route within a 5 mile radius of your location. It will then ask if you want to use an alternative route at which point it wil then reroute you. Other changes include integration with a bluetooth compatible phone including ability to access phones phone book from the nav screen and finally 200 voice commands. The RX300SE will also get the swivelling headlight system. Price for SE model with these changes will go up £1000! Hope that helps. D