gjm 3192 Report post Posted February 10, 2022 In my search for a company car at a reasonable price, the potential for a Lexus IS350 has come up. So many are Japanese imports (it would be thoroughly, independently checked) and that means the dash and centre display are going to be in Japanese. Does anyone know of a sensible and economic approach to changing this, other than buying replacement NZ market items and fitting them? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Palazzo 427 Report post Posted February 10, 2022 https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/575013557242167/ he does Mazda, but may know someone? It’s a start… Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Palazzo 427 Report post Posted February 10, 2022 Or better yet. https://www.caraudioworkshop.co.nz/lexus-conversions 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gjm 3192 Report post Posted February 10, 2022 34 minutes ago, Palazzo said: Or better yet. https://www.caraudioworkshop.co.nz/lexus-conversions I had quite literally just found that one. Takes car of infotainment (TV doesn't work, but I don't normally watch TV while driving...) Leaves the instrument cluster to be sorted. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GorGasm 561 Report post Posted February 10, 2022 IS350 and GS350, nice choice! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aja540i 1896 Report post Posted February 10, 2022 17 hours ago, gjm said: In my search for a company car at a reasonable price, the potential for a Lexus IS350 has come up. So many are Japanese imports (it would be thoroughly, independently checked) and that means the dash and centre display are going to be in Japanese. Does anyone know of a sensible and economic approach to changing this, other than buying replacement NZ market items and fitting them? Learn Japanese? 😉 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dirtydoogle 383 Report post Posted February 10, 2022 The system UI is very easy to use in Japanese. But you can get it converted to English, was around $600 when I looked for our GS and I never got around to it. Even in Japanese it's better than early iDrive 😁 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gjm 3192 Report post Posted February 10, 2022 2 hours ago, aja540i said: Learn Japanese? 😉 It's an option! May even be useful or interesting. 1 hour ago, dirtydoogle said: The system UI is very easy to use in Japanese. But you can get it converted to English, was around $600 when I looked for our GS and I never got around to it. Even in Japanese it's better than early iDrive 😁 If I do go for a Japanese import I may give it a chance in it's native language before getting involved in changing stuff. Would be nice to sort bluetooth music - many of the slightly older cars have bluetooth phone calling, but won't play music. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dirtydoogle 383 Report post Posted February 10, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, gjm said: If I do go for a Japanese import I may give it a chance in it's native language before getting involved in changing stuff. Would be nice to sort bluetooth music - many of the slightly older cars have bluetooth phone calling, but won't play music. You're welcome to try ours out. Pretty similar functionality to the IS There's very very little real world use of the touch screen system in a GS, push one button and adjust the fan speed on screen. Push another to see how bad the fuel economy is. Stereo and calling is separate. I'll find what brand bluetooth adapter Katie fitted to ours, it's got canbus support, so all works like OEM We have a drive-pro unit Edited February 11, 2022 by dirtydoogle 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Palazzo 427 Report post Posted February 11, 2022 https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/353658929712425/ another one 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sammo 2476 Report post Posted February 14, 2022 I was looking at one of these a few years back - great value, great power and reliability and still a good looking car today. IS-F is even better The interior plastics however are made of putty and literally melt and as you've found, the Japanese is heavily integrated. You can get big vertical 10" Tesla style screens to replace the centre console, but you need to deal with suspect GUI and touch screen climate controls... People do sell english conversions with stickers to go over the Japanese buttons as well. But still paying a fair bit for a 15 year old infotainment setup. A facelift NZ new car would solve these issues but then it won't be the same value for money. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002930958867.html?_randl_currency=NZD&_randl_shipto=NZ&src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=494-037-6276&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&albagn=888888&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&albcp=9444695485&albag=99457316601&trgt=1459734606882&crea=en1005002930958867&netw=u&device=c&albpg=1459734606882&albpd=en1005002930958867&gclid=CjwKCAiA9aKQBhBREiwAyGP5lcOYJMMYf_vazpsJpeiOb2SytZ_w6R-asJStByTNBJNEmYM126iT6hoCtuwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&aff_fcid=01730485b1774a19ab6d2d4351407114-1644822164507-04477-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=01730485b1774a19ab6d2d4351407114-1644822164507-04477-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=2544b2356ece45f28c7e338cb0dd325c Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
