If there are enough people that complain about the bad design
decisions, maybe Lexus will pay enough attention to fix them in the
software (where applicable). I apologize in advance for the rant.

1. The passenger seatbelt indicator - It is louder than for the
driver's side. If my dog sits there, or I have my bag on it, it goes
off uncontrollably and very loud. I end up buckling the seatbelt to
shut it up.

Suggestion: Make it lound and obnoxious for the first 30 seconds or so,
or so that you can turn it off. It's enough of a warning to make
someone (or something) think twice about not wearing a seatbelt, but
does not force it

2. Disabling the Nav/Phone/etc controls while in motion - I support
this feature for safety, but you have to be able to turn it off. I
have seen ways to enable the options on a Prius, through pressing
obscure combinations of buttons. However, the only way on the IS 350 I
have seen involves opening the dash and clipping a wire, which will
undoubtedly void the warranty. Lexus forgot one thing . . . the car
can carry passengers!! The BMW iDrive is looking better every day.

Suggestion: Allow the feature to be disabled, and if necessary, couple
it to the incredibly annoying passenger seat weight sensor.

3. ID3/info tags for media files - The car has the capability to read
ID3 tags for MP3s. Why would you want to see the file name when there
is an MP3 tag? Does the track "Various Artists - Soundtrack - " strike
you as being very descriptive?

Suggestion: Configuration option, choice between the ID3 or the file
name. Debatable: ID3 by default.

4. Auto-recirculate does not stay selected after the car turns off,
other climate settings do - I do a lot of crowded, stop and go highway
driving where the fumes get pretty bad. The feature is there to detect
hydrocarbons and "automatically switch to recirculate", but it will
never "automatically" kick in because someone has to put it to auto
first. It's annoying, but I do see how it could be bad. Recirculate
in cool and humid fogs up the interior easily. It's a not as bad a
hazard to have a few fumes than it is to not be able to see.

Suggestion: Not software, unless the sensor is already there . . . add
an interior humidity sensor to switch if it gets to foggy.

5. Bad auto climate handling - At first I thought that the temperature
calibration was off, but it was checked during routine maintenance.
When I paid more attention, the switching between AC and non-AC is very
bad. I turn on my car and the external temp is 50, then internal temp
(set to auto) is usually ~74. It turns the AC on when it passes the
internal setting. Cold air should not be blown unless it is much
hotter in the car than it should be.

Suggestion: Wider temperature threshold when the auto climate control
temp is reached. Use the setting as a "ceiling" and turn the air off.
Do not blow cold air unless the car is X (5?) degrees hotter than it
should be (and it's cold outside), and don't blow hot air unless the
car is X degrees cooler than it should be (when it is hot outside). It
doesn't sound like a good feature, but the point is you don't want cold
air blowing on you if you are cold, and you don't want hot air blowing
on you if you are hot.


I'm probably not thinking of everything, but I welcome anyone to post
additional annoyances, or even to tell me that I am way off base and
provide a reason why.

Thanks,

-b

You asked so here:
You sound spoiled rotten, have too much time on your hands and I would
never want to do business with you :-)
there are you now happy ?!

"Brett" <bretton (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

On Thu, 23 Nov 2006 02:35:23 GMT, "Neal Hudson" <nealwh (AT) sbcglobal (DOT) net>
graced this newsgroup with:

I say he should of just but an LS430. Everything he complains about
is corrected in the LS (even overriding the Nav controls).

The LS 430 being a bigger car has more problems. I could list them for
a month. Lexus is not a luxury vehicle, but close. And it is cheap. As
to whether or not you should complain about problems - YES YOU SHOULD
!!!!!!

On 22 Nov 2006 21:45:31 -0800, "mcbrue" <mcbrue (AT) aol (DOT) com> graced this
newsgroup with:


uh..I have an ES, a GS and an LS. I don't have problems with any of
them.

Brett;
I have a 2007 IS 250. I agree with you on them items. None of them
make me like the car any less, but they are little things. BTW you can
turn off the seat belt ding. See the clublexus forms for the buttom
combination to disable it.

Brett wrote:

I'm guessing you have never done business with a Japanese company like
Toyota. Every fault needs to be explained and in many cases apologies
given to affected parties. Do I expect that, not at all.

The purpose of the post was to give full disclosure. Before I made a
very large purchase, I did research and compared products. What I
looked for was honest opinions of the cars I was comparing, not "oh, I
love my car SOOOOO much. It's SOOOO much better than a BMW."

I don't regret my choice, and I'm glad I have the car. There are
little things that I can live with, but someone that travels a lot for
business in their car and relies on their Nav system to redirect them
may not purchase the car because of the design decisions. Out of
everything on my list, not ever being able to use the Nav system while
in motion is the only thing that may possibly prevent me from buying
the car again or recommending it to a friend.

My post was very whiny, I'll admit that. I could have done it with a
little more tact. However, in whatever way you do business, I hope for
your sake that you listen to both sides of an argument when making a
major decision.

The company where I do work, and the people that are willing to do
business with me, monitor user forums very carefully. We discover
product flaws, security vulnerabilities, and other things we could be
doing better. The unfortunate fact of these forums is that the
complaints of the alarmists are the ones that get addressed more
quickly.

-b


Neal Hudson wrote:

On 23 Nov 2006 11:17:25 -0800, "Brett" <bretton (AT) gmail (DOT) com> graced this
newsgroup with:


...I think you can thank the lawyers for the restriction on the Nav
system. I also believe that most, if not all, nav systems in other
makes have this restriction as well.

It's all about the dumbing down of everything to the lowest common
denominator.

Welcome to sue happy America.

NAV is also disabled in motion, in all makes I have used on this side of the
pond.

<amstaffs (AT) home (DOT) com> wrote

Well in this forum it seems that the users are all perfectly happy with
their perfect little cars. And they darn sure do not want anyone
pointing out the glaring imprefections of the marque. Something about
the king or somebody wearing no clothing comes to mind.

In point of fact, the engineering on the Lexus is almost entirely for
show. It sure is NOT engineering for go ! The Lexus Marque had two
things going for it - dealer integrity and reliability. So far, it is
reliable. Of course at 7300 miles, the trunk closer is squeaking. But
that is not enough to leave me stranded by the side of the road. Merely
requires one extra stop at the drug store to get some ear plugs so I
won't go deaf next time I open or close the trunk. So ... still
reliable as it jerkily accelerates and then bumps and grinds to a stop
.... all just normal performance.