stewartshine

Thank you everyone for your interest and your replies. What a great bunch you are ! I hope to get my hands on the demonstrator for much longer than my allotted 2 hours next time. I'll check out your comments/theories and suggestions. Strange, I did mention the "wake up" problem to the dealer when I took the car back, and he didn't know you could press the start button without depressing the brake. Big black mark there. That was without doubt my biggest, and most-difficult-to-live-with gripe. Between you, you guys may just have cost me nearly £40,000.

Hi, I'm new to the forum Ihave never owned a Lexus, but today I was lucky enough to test drive the new GS300 SE. The car was stunning, and may just be the best car I have ever driven BUT I have some concerns I want to share with you, and I wonder if anyone has any comments. 1) Because the car doesn't "wake up" until you start the engine, unless the engine is running, wasting valuable fuel, you can't:- a. Set a destination in the SAT/Nav system. b. Listen to radio/CD - so if you leave someone in the car, they can't be entertained. c. Read in the dark d. etc. etc. 2) There is no indication that the "Cruise Control" is set. There's a light telling you it's switched on, but not if it's set. The new BMW 3 series (apologies if that's blasphemous) has a "flying needle" on the speedo AND a digital speed setting readout. 3) Sat.Nav. voice instructions don't mute the radio/CD, so if you're listening to radio/CD, you can't hear the instructions. (My current car (Rover 75 - sympathy please) mutes the radio/CD when instructions are given). 4) You can't set a destination in the Sat.Nav. system while you're moving. So if you're on the motorway, because it's illegal to stop, you'd have to pull off and stop to set the destination. Now, I'm told this is a safety feature, but:- a. This could easily be done by your passenger. b. There are plenty of other distracting toys that you CAN play with on the move, so what's the diff ? 5) The voice command button doesn't mute the radio/CD so if they're on, voice commands will be misheard, or not understood. Now I came up with these items in a 30 minute drive. They're enough to put me off parting with my hard-earned pennies (very many of them are required) - which is a big shame, because it's an impressive motor car. I would love someone to tell me these are all programmable items which can be SET UP as I want them, but I wonder.

Hi, I'm new to the forum Ihave never owned a Lexus, but today I was lucky enough to test drive the new GS300 SE. The car was stunning, and may just be the best car I have ever driven BUT I have some concerns I want to share with you, and I wonder if anyone has any comments. 1) Because the car doesn't "wake up" until you start the engine, unless the engine is running, wasting valuable fuel, you can't:- a. Set a destination in the SAT/Nav system. b. Listen to radio/CD - so if you leave someone in the car, they can't be entertained. c. Read in the dark d. etc. etc. 2) There is no indication that the "Cruise Control" is set. There's a light telling you it's switched on, but not if it's set. The new BMW 3 series (apologies if that's blasphemous) has a "flying needle" on the speedo AND a digital speed setting readout. 3) Sat.Nav. voice instructions don't mute the radio/CD, so if you're listening to radio/CD, you can't hear the instructions. (My current car (Rover 75 - sympathy please) mutes the radio/CD when instructions are given). 4) You can't set a destination in the Sat.Nav. system while you're moving. So if you're on the motorway, because it's illegal to stop, you'd have to pull off and stop to set the destination. Now, I'm told this is a safety feature, but:- a. This could easily be done by your passenger. b. There are plenty of other distracting toys that you CAN play with on the move, so what's the diff ? 5) The voice command button doesn't mute the radio/CD so if they're on, voice commands will be misheard, or not understood. Now I came up with these items in a 30 minute drive. They're enough to put me off parting with my hard-earned pennies (very many of them are required) - which is a big shame, because it's an impressive motor car. I would love someone to tell me these are all programmable items which can be SET UP as I want them, but I wonder.