[dileepcm]

Quick note: After posting the above update on my car ownership thread, I received a couple of PMs asking around details of Visa requirements for Morocco, Car import permit etc. I am working on a detailed write up which I will now speed up. I will update this thread with the link once the article is up. Thanks for waiting.

[dileepcm]

Originally Posted by dileepcm

Quick note: After posting the above update on my car ownership thread, I received a couple of PMs asking around details of Visa requirements for Morocco, Car import permit etc. I am working on a detailed write up which I will now speed up. I will update this thread with the link once the article is up. Thanks for waiting.

I have a separate article up on NL to Morocco trip.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...s-morocco.html

[dileepcm]

Update: 200000 Kms up!

200000 KMs up of which 23000+ are under my ownership [Feb 2023 onwards].

Key updates
- The damaged back bumper from Morocco trip (Solo road-trip from EU to Africa (Netherlands - Morocco) in a Lexus NX300h) has been fixed under Insurance.

Lexus showroom (Louwman Exclusive Cars) is what I opted for as they had a direct tie-up with my Insurance [ABN Amro] which meant all cash dealings would be done directly.
Louwman also arranged a replacement car [almost new Lexus UX 250h] that my Insurance offers.

Few pics of UX250h

While its got all the tech to match what is latest in the industry along with typical Lexus build quality etc, It felt the interior to be way too cramped - I mean I know its a smaller car, but its too tight even for that sized cars around. My kid could not stretch her legs properly while being on her car seat. The excitement of a new car went away just in a day and I was just looking for the NX to get back. It took 4 days to have the damage fixed.

After getting back from Morocco trip, there hasn't been anything major in terms of events / trips. Home - School - Work - Home is what is going on.

Some updates on numbers:
- Daily average: 87.2 KMs
- Monthly average: 2302 KMs
- KMPL overall: 14.38
- Next service: after another 6k KMs.

What's coming up?

Nothing much in plan really. I may do some short trips during Christmas week and probably will get in for service early Feb or so. I will keep this thread updated.

Now have done about 23k KMs, here are updates to things I like [Addition to the earlier list]
- Settings such heated seats stay turned on until they are switched off. As the temp is below 10 these days, It's nice to have heated seats on all the time. All the other settings also follow the same idea.
- Doors extending all the way down to the bottom of the body ensures that clothes remain clean, especially given it rains a lot these days.
- No issues so far. Hope that the reliability factor continues.

Things I don't like [Addition to the earlier list]
- As it's been raining a lot, I noticed that the wheel arcs are collecting a lot more dirt than I'd like. It's not that easy to clean properly.
- I also see that the window glasses and mirrors are water drop magnets. It needs some solution.

As usual, signing off with another pic.

Thanks,
Dileep

[dileepcm]

Lexus NX300H Year-end update 2023:

• As we close 2023, though I did not own it for a whole year, it was close given purchase date was 11th February 2023.
  
• Time flies before I realized it was getting almost a year!! In 2023, we did a few trips – To Black Forest (South of Germany), Paris and most importantly my best and longest ever so far – EU Africa solo road trip (Solo road-trip from EU to Africa (Netherlands - Morocco) in a Lexus NX300h).
  
  
• Overall, as one would like, Lexus performed brilliantly. As I mentioned multiple times earlier, the ride is very smooth, seats are very comfortable, and economics of daily driving are very good.
  
  
• No complaints, hick ups, rattles or other issues seen so far besides the small annoyances that I had already listed earlier – It gives a lot of joy in owning it and in being able to build more and more trust. Having said, I am well aware of the fact that it’s a 200k+ driven car, has complex internals including a hybrid drive train etc. Let’s see how far it goes further as a trouble-free partner.
  
  
• Odo stands at 202099 as of last refuel.
  
• That means that I have driven over 25k kms in 11 months.
  
• This leads to having an average of 83 kms per day, 2500+ kms per month.
  
• Experience of services: I had to be a service center [Louwman Exclusive Cars] twice – one for 190k periodic service and the other one for getting the rear bumper fixed after a small crash I had during Morocco trip – the experience has been excellent.
  
• Next service is getting closer – probably It will be getting scheduled next month.
  
• Not an update on car itself, but the app that I was using for expense tracking had to be replaced. My office decided to move from Android phones to iPhones - I did not realize it at the beginning but soon I came to know that the Fuelio app that I was happily using in my Android which provided all sorts of metrics has a very basic version for iOS. This was very disappointing and frustrating. After tons of research, finally settled for My Car app - I really liked it and wanted to recommend to folks here if you are searching for a good app that does the basics and numbers really well. The screenshots below are from My Car app. App is really nicely designed, information captured and displayed are well organized and there are tons of insights that you would get into than what one would normally need. App also has a paid version that allows storing the data in the cloud which I did not opt.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Finally, took the car last week for a detailed wash. Since I do not have a driveway, I cannot wash it at home, so no real options besides self-service wash stations [or automated ones which I don’t particularly use]. Probably need to get a good interior clean as well some time.
  
  
  
  
  
  

[dileepcm]

Lexus NX300H 1 year ownership, ~205k kms, major annual service updates


Its been a couple of months and time for another update.

A year and a month of ownership has passed and I got major service done last week, together with mandatory fitness/roadworthiness check [APK]. I was expecting this to be an easy one, but that was not the case.

Major service (205k kms) included below.

• All scheduled fluid and filter changes
• Hybrid system check
• Wheel alignment
• Fitness [Its free when major service is done at the same time]
• Exteriors wash
• Front break discs and break pads changed
• Water pump changed (It had a small leak that was slowly expanding).

With that, car including the hybrid system has another year of guarantee and free road side assistance.

The last two were a bit of unexpected ones and overall it costed way more than what I was hoping the annual major service to cost. But on the other hand, its a 2 lakh run car and wear and tear replacements are to be expected - its also good to see that no other parts including hybrid system had any issues so far. I also confirmed that break discs and water pump were first time replacements - so life of 205k kms seems reasonable to me.

Just like previous times, I went to Lexus showroom [Louwman Exclusive Cars] and obviously that is more expensive than other garages, however their customer service is best in business.

They treated with nice coffee, a super luxurious lounge to get some work done and a free replacement car. Last time was UX 250h which I did not like as such, however this time, it was a brand new ES 300H. Wow, what a car to be in! Let pictures talk.

Louwman Exclusive Cars is a multi brand showroom and there are always some nice cars worth a walk around.

Time for some numbers:

• Total Kms run: 204955 as of last refuel.
• Overall fuel efficiency: 14.27 KMPL
• Avg Kms per day: 75.4

What is coming up:
Two trips are coming up.
April last week to May first week: Destination not decided but for sure we will have a break as it is school vacation time.
May second week: including two holidays + weekend, we have 4 days, planning to head to Dresden which is a nice German city. Idea is to spend a day in city and rest at nearby hiking trails.
Another minor update is about Dashcam. After some 10 years of service across all the cars I drove so far here in NL, I decided to retire old but trusty Transcend a few months ago and replaced that with a Red tiger f7n. However unfortunately it had some sensor issue and I had to return it. I have now just bought another one - Viofo A129 Pro 2CH Duo - I need to get this installed.

That is all what I have for now. See you later!

Thanks,
Dileep

[dileepcm]

Originally Posted by dileepcm

Two trips are coming up.
April last week to May first week: Destination not decided but for sure we will have a break as it is school vacation time.
May second week: including two holidays + weekend, we have 4 days, planning to head to Dresden which is a nice German city. Idea is to spend a day in city and rest at nearby hiking trails.

Time for another short update.
We finally settled for a short trip to Italy/Vatican for April last week to May first week break. Now I also know that May second week (this week) trip is not happening anymore due to a few other tasks I need to get done.

I was thinking of a bit detailed travelogue but Italy is a well documented destination, so let me take the advantage of me being a bit tired and lazy . If you happen to have any questions, please let me know.

Back to Italian trip - We kept it sort of simple this time.
Drove straight to Pisa, Couple of days in Pisa, A day to visit Saturnia hot springs and rest of the days in Rome.

Let the pictures talk.

Leaning tower of Pisa obviously is what is to be seen in Pisa. Its a nice small city worth a day or two.


Vatican City, a state surrounded by Rome is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. It's home to the Pope. Vatican square and Vatican Museums are the must visit attractions


The Pantheon is a former Roman temple that later got converted into a church. One of the most visited spots. It has the biggest (or second biggest) single dome in the world.


The Trevi Fountain, built in the 1700s, is perhaps one of Rome's most iconic structures.


The Colosseum. One of the most visited sites on earth. It is the largest ancient amphitheater ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheater in the world, despite its age. If you plan to visit, book tickets weeks if not months in advance.


For centuries, the Forum [or Roman forum as its known today] was the center of day-to-day life in Rome. Next to the Colosseum, Its been the heart of ancient Rome. It has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history.


I have not seen a lot of interest over internet on National Roman Museum / Borghese Gallery and Museum, but they are must visit places in my view. Every artifact, every room you enter, every sight you see are for there to stay in your memory for a while.

I have mentioned about my interests in ruins in previous posts. Like Athens, Once you realize the fact that pretty much every building in Rome is standing on top of ancient ruins dating back thousands of years, you can never unsee it. Wherever you walk, whatever you see are all ruins. It’s strange but beautiful. And I don't think I can even try explaining Italian food. Obviously its one of the bests. Overall we really enjoyed the
much needed break.

Now the usual stats and updates about car.
In fact, for Lexus, this was very uneventful trip. Obviously we did not use the car while we were in Rome, public transport was our best friend.

We did 3290 kilometers with no events. Car kept munching miles and meeting if not exceeding our expectations. As such, no incidents to report.

Total kms on odo as of last refuel: 212267 kms
Daily overall average: 82 kms
Economy kept ranging around 14 per liter while most of the cruising.

Some stats to close the update for now.

[aneezan]

Nice short log. I have been planning Italy for some time but hasn't materialized yet. How long did it take you to drive to Pisa from Hilversum. Did you stop for a stay somewhere or was it a straight drive to Pisa?

[dileepcm]

Originally Posted by aneezan

How long did it take you to drive to Pisa from Hilversum. Did you stop for a stay somewhere or was it a straight drive to Pisa?

I didn’t stop for overnight. I think it was about 17.5 hours with breaks. A bit of stretch but definitely doable.

[dileepcm]

Update after another ~5 months, a few small trips taking odo to 222222kms and to another periodic service:

There is actually nothing significant to update, however its good to share a nice odo milestone. As of yesterday (2nd Oct 2024) odo passed 222222 kms (of which my contribution is 45337 kms).

There has been a few smaller trips, most are work and short vacations combined. Car has been to Paris, Cologne, Antwerp etc and then there are the daily regular home - school - office runs.

I also got periodic service including hybrid system check [that gives another year of warranty] done at Lexus Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago. No issues reported and thats it. Car runs about 78 kms a day averaging 14.4 kmpl.

All set [hopefully] until mid March which is when I need to get the mandatory annual inspection [APK] done. Signing off with a few photos.

Odo as of yesterday!


As usual, the stats.


A few random pics from recent trips.

[dileepcm]

2024 Year end update [1 year 10 months of ownership so far]

Last update was back in October 2024 - so not a lot changed since then, however I thought its worth creating a summary of year 2024.

• The biggest update since last one is about me completing 50,000 kms, now taking the overall odo to 227195 (more detailed numbers below).
• Car has been munching miles as you can imagine with daily routine of school / office runs.
• Had a bit of short trip to Brussels to catch up on Christmas vibe.
• The only issue to report was about the wiper assembly part getting damaged as the auto wiper kicked in when the glass was covered with snow last week. Bought a new pair and replaced it myself as it was plug and play. Lesson learnt: Keep auto mode off during winter

There are no now findings. I still love every bit of what I liked during initial days and I still continue to get annoyed by what was annoying in the beginning. [My earlier posts have all the points already covered].

As a daily commuter for someone who spends quite a bit of time in the car, I think this Lexus which has run more than 2 lakhs kms continues to impress me a lot. As I said several times before, its comfortable, has most of what one would need for long cruising, stable, powerful, silent cabin, very fortable seats and ride - list goes on.

What is coming up?

• Next service is somewhere in March which will be combined with annual mandatory inspection (APK). I am expecting another 6-7k kms to drive before the service.
• Tires are nearing its life. About 2.5 mmm left, 1.6 or before, I think, is when I need to change.
• Planning to go for all seasons next time - again that is likely to also happen around the service time.
• Kid has two weeks off towards end of April and I have my vacation booked and I wanted a roadtrip to a new destination this time - Now need to find a good location. Research in progress

Time for some numbers as usual (As of Dec 26, 2024):

• Total odo : 227195
• Kms under my ownership of 1 year 10 months: 50260 [25508 in last 12 months]
• Average Kms per day: 75
• Average per month: 2302
• Average fuel efficiency: 14.40 kmpl (at high level, there is a drop of 1.5-2 km/l in winter)
• Average fuel price: 1.911 EUR/L (Primarily Netherlands rates)
• Total number of refuels: 102 (all full tanks) which is a total of 3528 litres, leading to 497.7 km on average / refuel. Max was 646 km / refuel.

And finally time for some pics.



There is a lot of nature where I live and its a pleasure to drive around during fall/early winter days.


A few picks from Brussels (Christmas season visit)


Another click from fall / early winter time.


Click from last days of summer 2024.

As usual, thank you for reading and I wish you all a very happy new year 2025!

Best,
Dileep.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by dileepcm

2024 Year end update

Thats some miles you do in a year. Sounds like the daily commute alone is a fair bit.

Is it possible to know the % of Full Engine, Hybrid and All Electric running over the period?

[dileepcm]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Is it possible to know the % of Full Engine, Hybrid and All Electric running over the period?

There is no historic metrics available and It’s tough to capture because it’s a relatively small self-charging hybrid car (and not a plug-in hybrid like some others) and for that reason, the hybrid drive only kicks in at lower speeds (below 60 kph usually). When I do city runs at slower speeds, the hybrid can keep the car going for up to 5 kilometers on a stretch.
Overall, I think the hybrid adds about 1+ kilometer per liter.

[ps_abhijith]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Is it possible to know the % of Full Engine, Hybrid and All Electric running over the period?

Newer Lexus cars provide you this data per trip as well as on an overall level too via the Lexus link+ app connected to the car. For my NX350h, I have driven 2600 miles in the last 3 months and the EV mode use was around 26% of this. I have been getting around 46-48 mpg during this time.

But again, this depends a lot on the driving area, while Im on motorways doing a constant speed, the EV usage is very minimal as the engine needs to work most of the time to maintain motorway speeds. But if Im within the city, EV usage ranges anywhere from 30-50%. Have seen EV usage upto 80% on short trips in and out of town. Hybrids make a lot of sense for using within the city or while in slow moving traffic. The engine on the Nx350h, despite being a 2.5 L engine, seems to be running very frugal most of the time.

[dileepcm]

Originally Posted by ps_abhijith

Newer Lexus cars provide you this data per trip as well as on an overall level too via the Lexus link+ app connected to the car.

Thanks and it makes sense to capture and provide such metrics. Mine was from the era before apps connectivity was introduced. As you mentioned, I have seen newer ones (I had few as loaners during services) being more aggressive in kicking electric drive much more frequently than that of mine. My best is 16.xx kmpl during peak summer (with same 2.5L engine).

[dileepcm]

2025 May update [Car is 8 years, 11 months old, 2 years 2 months under my ownership, Odo at 235870]

Here are the main updates since Jan until now.

Mid Feb:
New tires: Picked Nokian Seasonproof 1 225/60 R18 104W (M+S) All seasons at the local shop closer to home. So far so good.

Mid March:
Annual major service + APK ("APK is the annual MOT/Fitness test here in the Netherlands) at 230235 kms - No call outs, all went as planned and no surprises.

Mid April:
Just came back from a 10ish days roadtrip covering 3626 KMs, visiting the Pyrenees mountains [Mountain range between the border of France and Spain], Andorra and Barcelona.

What a destination! If you are in Europe and looking for something up in the mountains / great hikes / nice roads - Pyrenees is a great alternative to Alps.

We then visited Andorra [Andorra, if you did not know, is a small landlocked country between France and Spain] for a day and finally Barcelona as well before driving back to Netherlands.

It needs a dedicated travelogue, will create a one sometime later. However here are some sneak peaks.

Lxus did exactly what it was asked to do + more. Extremely comfortable highway cruising, no unexpected events, great air conditioning (some days were really warm).

While being in the mountains, I did take it a bit for climbing some unpaved roads and for a fair amount of green-laning and it did surprisingly well to my expectations (New tires helped too). With electric AWD, I was expecting only basic extra grip, but no. I can confidently say that it can do more. It’s not a replacement for a 'proper' AWD tech, but it’s definitely valuable for the type of trips I was into and it can get into places where other 'normal' cars cannot get in.


While driving back from Barcenola to Netherlands, we passed the famous Millau Viaduct. It is the tallest bridge in the world when measured to the top of its structure (not the road deck), reaching a height of 343 meters (1,125 feet)—even taller than the Eiffel Tower.

Below the red mark, you can see a small white spot - thats a car. Just marked it to give you a sense of the scale. Its massive.

Finally, some numbers as usual:

Total odo : 235870

• Kms under my ownership of 2 years 2 months: 58935
• Average Kms per day: 74.7
• Average per month: 2278
• Average fuel efficiency [tank full to tank full] under my ownership: 14.27 (It was 14.40 kmpl during last update, dropped a bit due the trip to Pyrenees and higher speed cruising on French motorways)
• Min fuel efficiency [tank full to tank full] under my ownership: 11.6 kmpl
• Best fuel efficiency [tank full to tank full] under my ownership: 16.5 kmpl
• Total number of refuels: 120 [tank full to tank full] which is a total of 4167 litres, overall averaging 495 kms per refuel.

Now its time for getting back to official durties of school drops, office runs, groceries and so on. Will be back with another update later this year.


On Pyrenees trip, more details will be in my detailed travelogue, I will update this thread once its ready.

Thanks,
Dileep.