Mr_Groundhog

Oh man 😀 can you read that again? You say funding goes to NHS, policing, pensions, etc.. and none of those things is any better now (rather much worse!). Schools literally crumbling above children. The money goes to private consultancies milking the public sector (I know cuz I had to work in one of them, it was disgusting) + the oligopolies of privatised-but-subsidised things like Rail companies ("free money" said the Rail fat cats on their powerpoints). You are drawing this strange line between motorists and the Tories when we are in this situation after suffering them for 13 years; but you still believe they would care "if..."? They only care about themselves mate. Whoever still believes them deserves to have them elected for another term... Talk about cognitive dissonance! Yes Labout have sadly turned into Tory-lite, I know. They distinctly haven't run the country the last 13yrs though.

I had this one saved in bookmarks from when i was thinking of doing it (now i think like @Notamech and just use the native sat-nav and/or my phone): https://carlinklife.com/products/wireless-carplay-android-auto-module-for-2014-2020-lexus-nx-rx-is-es-gs-rc-ct-ls-lx-lc-ux-with-android-mirror-link-airplay-functions

How much is it to replace by the way? parts + labour

Don't mind him. If we were slaves he'd justify not only the whipping but slavery itself. "Give up moaning and accept it" he'd say.

Don't you have double measurements on your speedomenter by default? When I go to France I go into the menu and change the miles per gallon to liters per 100km , and that changes the other measurements on the displays to kms.

IMHO there are two things at the root of all this decay: The austerity mantras + a broken, failed local finance model: shifts the burden of social care (and too many other things) on local Councils, so Council Tax keeps increasing and it's easier for central Gov to make their books look good. If only there was a party running on these real-world things!

I'd gladly pay more if I saw things improve as a result. Again, it's not a zero-sum game. Services can be provided if there is political will todo so because we have sovereignty over our money supply. Nobody said we can't afford to bail out the banks in 2008. I totally agree.... so many small-ego managers who need to see bums on seats for no reason! And often you go to the office to talk to people who aren't there! You're a hero. I try to do the same but in some places it's impossible to take pictures (motorways for instance). Again, that's doing their job for them on top of it all.... it makes my blood boil because at best they patch, not fix (repave).

It's worse: they paid good money to buy that land and they'll now sell it to party donors at a discount. @Lmafudd @LenT Not for the Bengals he wasn't: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943

Yes, infrastructure is dreadful even though we pay our share of tax... I wonder why! 🤔 For those stuck on false dilemmas, I would just say: cross the channel and take a look. France has great roads (even the "bad ones" are good by comparison + have you compared their motorway resting areas to ours?) AND a high speed train network since (drum roll)... 1981! They didn't privatise strategic parts of their economy and now WE pay into their public sector (see EDF for instance). Oh and their councils are NOT bankrupt (one in three are, in the UK). 👉 Surely some will have plenty of whataboutism to add to this, but remember: China built 25,000 km of high speed rail in the last ten years, while our pundits kept parroting the austerity lines and built zero.... To this day, some still parrot the same lines. It's the definiton of insanity. It's not a zero-sum game as they have us believe. If you invest in infrastructure you're not poorer as a result, because you have an asset. You're not poorer because you own a house; with the difference that the BoE can print all the £ we'd need to finance these things. Why I don't live there? Well once you have family and mortgage and job etc in one place it makes a bit harder to move.

Are you sure you didn't actually mean to buy a Tesla?

Mine is an Advance and has Tahara (synthetic) leather....

Only that ? consider yourself lucky. It's freaking scary these days, the insurance thing.

Agree with @Bounce75: those are the MPGs I get (17 inch wheels), and I love the sound system (not sure what you meant @ColinBarber as my Advance has the 8-speaker stereo) The extra card I find my IS300h has on a lot of competitors, apart from the very comfy seats, is the reduced level of noise inside the car. The suspension is something I also find nicely tuned and balanced in my opinion. The inner trye wear can be eliminated swapping the front arm bushings and tuning the toe. This said, I think the only other car Id consider nowadays is the new Honda Civic...

I agree!

You quoted me over £2,500 when I'm paying £750 with my current insurer for comprehensive. I ain't even trying again with you.

Just in case it helps you, there is a dedicated section of the Forum for users selling and buying 🙂

I found a good garage in my region with Hunter alignment that was willing to do it (not all of them do, when you offer to supply the parts b/c they don't get a cut, which is shortsighted as they didn't get my business in the end), and they've been my garage of choice for this type of stuff since (apart from annual service which i do at the dealer to keep Lexus Relax going). They charged for the labour of fitting the bushings and the alignment and everyone was happy: 1.5 hours (at 85 quid per hour) and a 100 for alignment plus vat were 273 quid in total. This was in January 2023. I'm leaving you an image of the most recent specs I got from them a few weeks ago (the image shows the before and after) when i went for alignment. I hope it helps.

Haha, that was last year! 😀 The bushes got fitted just fine and the car's steering felt a bit firmer and tighter in a good way. I also had the toe corrected through alignment and so far after a whole year had not problem with uneven tyre wear...

Hi there, I got them in Amayama and they didn't take long to arrive. I'm pretty sure you can also get them from Megazip. In this video you can see the right Lexus/Toyota part numbers to order 🙂

I had the UX as a loan car last time I went in for annual service and I really liked it, except for the tiny luggage space. I don't think I would be able to comfortably travel long distance on such small boot... Other than that the car was cool.

is there a link to an anti-rattle tape you'd reccommend?

Makse sure you can pass your MOT with those or you may end up paying up big money every year....

Ah that's great to know, thank you! 😀 And it's our Lexus puncture repair kit made with Tyreweld?

I would like the look more if they had a tiny bit more clearance. I guess it is a question of taste since some people pay to have their cars lowered instead..... to me very low cars look like they're heavier so it's just an image in my head and I cant be bothered with modding the suspension anyway. But I think a bit more clearance (front and rear) would look good.

I reccommend people to get wheel alignment every one or two years. Normally you'd need it only every three or four but given most UK roads are not worthy of their name and should be called cattle paths, it can seriously mess your wheels. Of course this is a payment that comes out of your pocket, in addition to the council tax (that evaporates into nothing seeminlgly) Here are my results from last week. I was unaware of the stuff on the rear wheel.