My Is300H In-Depth Review

rayaans · May 28, 2015

So, having given my RX450h F-Sport to my dealer for servicing and MOT, I was given a complimentary Lexus IS300h Premier to drive around. This was a fully loaded vehicle with blind spot monitor, the 15 speaker Mark Levinson Surround Sound system and the blind spot detection (whereby the car alerts you when reversing out of a parking space if a vehicle is approaching.

First things first - the keys:

I particularly like it - its soft touch plastic, akin to the material found on the upper door panels on the IS. It felt nice and solid in the hand but its small enough to be unobtrusive. If you're like me, and you like keys then its certainly a nice key fob. It seems to follow their design language too which was interesting.

Now onto the looks -

IMO its a lovely looking vehicle. It look classy, especially in the Premier spec with the 18" wheels on. I prefer the F-Sport as I think it is the best looking car in this segment with a cohesive design language from front to back (unlike the new Jaguar XE which looks brilliant from the front and rather dull from the back).

Im especially fond of the side profile, it looks fast even when standing still and has a great coupe-esque look to it, one that simply trumps the new Mercedes C-Class (I think it looks like a Banana, no hate please) as well as the BMW 3 series which almost looks like any old car from the side. Now these are my opinions and I understand some of you may prefer the looks of either the Merc or the BMW so we can agree to disagree on that one if you prefer! :). In this exact spec though, I think the grill was slightly weird. It had horizontal slats on the top and then merged into a hexagonal type design underneath. Maybe it would have been better to just keep the horizontal slats all the way down?

As for the lights - I thought they looked fine in person. Nike swoosh, arrows, call them what you wish - they look a bit different that's for sure.

I particularly liked the finish on the wheels - they were rather shiny, almost chrome-like but they do look quite good!

Paint finish (Arctic/Starfire pearl) was impeccable as is mostly the case with Lexus paint. No blemishes I could see bearing in mind this is a 6 month old demonstrator and no orange peel which is great if you're like me and hates wet sanding.

Now onto the interior:

No doubt about it - a lovely place to spend time. I'll talk about the seats first - superbly comfortable, no complaints in over 100 miles of driving and adjustability is great as they are full electric with lumbar support for the driver. They fit like a glove (im 6 ft 1) so I doubt most drivers would have a problem with it. In fact, they were so comfy, I didnt really want to get out.

The driving position is great too, no awkward offset pedals or steering wheel, they were both bang on centre which I liked.

The door panels were of good quality, a step above BMW and dare I say it Audi (Slightly unfair - due for a refresh). It is clear though that the Merc C-class is the benchmark in this segment but thats not to say that the Lexus IS is bad quality as its not - everything closed with a solid thud (doors are bloody heavy) and everything felt as it should, somewhat better than in a car of this price bracket.

Now the leather had me fooled. It felt like the usual super soft Lexus leather. After a brief look in the brochure, it appears its actually faux leather, referred to as Nuluxe. Its similiar to Mercedes Artico but is softer and it wears better than real leather apparently. Of course, the car only had 6k miles on it so that's untested so far.

Something slightly off about the interior was the grey headliner. There was no grey evident in the rest of the interior so I was slightly confused about why the headliner was grey, when the seats are black.

The audio system was fine. The 15 speaker system excels in clarity but needs to be tweaked to get the best out of it. However, for an updated system with 800+W, it sounded worse than the 300W system in my RX which was slightly odd. I found that the sound quality was heavily dependent on the source and it tends to sound better if listening through the USB or through an IPOD rather than CD's. An issue I found was that the USB needs to be taken out and put back in every time you get in the car to ensure it is recognised, I dont know if this happens on all IS300h's or if a previous driver had done this (please let me know in the comments)

The temperature gauges are a nice feature. They're a talking point but not really any easier than buttons or knobs. However, they were nice to touch

Onto the driving experience:

What can I say? Lexus has done a great job on this one. The handling was great on this particular Premier version, I can only imagine its better on an F-Sport. Turn in was crisp, it handled curves like a boss. You wouldn't be left wanting for handling, in fact, its a better handler than the 3 series (isnt it supposed to be the benchmark?) which in comparison feels a bit mushy. It certainly feels sportier than the C-class but handles about the same I reckon. Its miles ahead of the A4 but obviously, not totally fair as that's getting a refresh soon anyway. I cant comment on the Jaguar XE as I havent driven that one.

Steering was slightly numb but it was very accurate and pretty surreal. It felt pretty sensitive to every input and having driven Lexus for a long time, I can say its probably their best steering setup yet (apart from the LFA of course). Brakes were strong too but dust like mad. I washed the loaner (im crazy I know) and wheels were already dirty by the time I had gone to the supermarket and back.

Ok so the real talking point of this car - the hybrid powertrain. 2.5L inline four cylinder with electric motors - total system output, 223hp. 0-62mph 8.3s?!! What?! :egads: I was pretty disappointed when I read that....... :uh:

....but then I actually drove it. By no means does it feel slow or lethargic. Even in normal mode, the car goes pretty well and in-gear acceleration (aided by instant torque) was very enjoyable. Sport mode tightens the steering up a bit and improves throttle response while keeping revs slightly higher. It was a great car to drive, I thoroughly enjoyed it - certainly felt faster than the IS250 anyway and from a rolling start, it goes pretty well.

Don't be fooled by the 0-62mph time, It doesnt mean much when it comes to hybrids! I had the car almost exclusively in Sport mode (just because) and pretty much milked it nearly all of the time. Result - 35.4mpg. I did however, see if I could get the 61 mpg claim. I failed, but managed 53.2mpg in normal mode with some dedication though! woohoo:

So that is my review of the IS300h. If you're looking for a competent vehicle in this class I doubt you could go wrong with any of the vehicles mentioned, but if you want something different, or with a petrol engine then perhaps it could be the car for you?

Its certainly worth a test drive anyway, and I liked it quite a lot that the Merc is being replaced later this year with an IS300h F-Sport :D Going to be having sleepless nights for a while I think.

stevet · May 28, 2015

Nothing to do with the review (good by the way)but key ring from Lexus Stockport and car from Lexus Bradford or did Stockport pinch it from Bradford as I know they are selling loads at the moment and can't get enough stock in to meet demand.

rayaans · May 28, 2015

Nothing to do with the review (good by the way)but key ring from Lexus Stockport and car from Lexus Bradford or did Stockport pinch it from Bradford as I know they are selling loads at the moment and can't get enough stock in to meet demand.

Car was serviced at Lexus Bradford - closer to me than Stockport is and under RRG group so I just used my RRG service plan. The keyring is from my RX which I put onto the IS keyring :)

I think they've had a blunder with some of their ex-demos in all honesty. They're in specifications that no one really wants - ie the IS300h F-Sport in blue - it doesnt have leather lol. They dont have many F-Sport's in at all.

Steve44 · May 28, 2015

Good review and I agree with most points.

I'm pretty sure the leather is mostly leather in the UK though. Nuluxe is for the US market. Some panels might be fake leather (I think my door panels are) but pretty sure my seats are leather, the car smells nice enough. I'd expect the premier to be too.

rayaans · May 28, 2015

Good review and I agree with most points.

I'm pretty sure the leather is mostly leather in the UK though. Nuluxe is for the US market. Some panels might be fake leather (I think my door panels are) but pretty sure my seats are leather, the car smells nice enough. I'd expect the premier to be too.

Yeah it smelt pretty nice. Still had the new car smell but the car itself was a tip. it'd been given out for a test drive the day before, it'd had 2 wheels scraped pretty badly, a scratch in the rear corner, rubbish inside the cubbies and scratches all over the interior.

The IS only has Nuluxe in the UK. It's only available with leather on the top grades in the US

Anyhow, the fact that this is being discussed means the Nuluxe is very good, it'll fool anyone who doesn't know better

Steve44 · May 28, 2015

Sorry Rayaans, I disagree. The Lexus UK brochure states leather seats, not nuluxe, or artificial leather.

The F-sport std seats are cloth centers with "Tahara" bolsters, which is effectively vinyl.

The seats on the Exec and Premier models are stated as Leather, as are the options on the Luxury and the F Sport. If they were fake, they couldn't call them Leather. it says that in the UK brochure, the price list and on the UK website.

ganzoom · May 28, 2015

Good write up, but you need to try harder on the mpg front...

Saw this today on a gentle 100 mile cruise fronm Leicester to London. 40 miles of London start/stop traffic dropped it to 68.8 mpg :)

Have also seen sub-20mpg, on a F Sport I had on extended test-drive after a 'spirited' drive.

rayaans · May 28, 2015

Good write up, but you need to try harder on the mpg front...

Saw this today on a gentle 100 mile cruise fronm Leicester to London. 40 miles of London start/stop traffic dropped it to 68.8 mpg :)

Have also seen sub-20mpg, on a F Sport I had on extended test-drive after a 'spirited' drive.

I live in Yorkshire mate lol. No chance I'll be getting almost 69mpg over here. Way too many hills, the engine has to run overtime going up lol.

Besides, i only had it for a day!!

Something I forgot to mention was the suspension on the IS. Its bloody good! A perfect balance between smoothness and handling, even with the 18" wheels. No word of a lie, the IS with 18" wheels and low profile tyres rides and handles better than my wife's Mercedes C220 CDI Elegance with 16" tyres and 215/55 tyres! That's some achievement.

rayaans · May 28, 2015

Sorry Rayaans, I disagree. The Lexus UK brochure states leather seats, not nuluxe, or artificial leather.

The F-sport std seats are cloth centers with "Tahara" bolsters, which is effectively vinyl.

The seats on the Exec and Premier models are stated as Leather, as are the options on the Luxury and the F Sport. If they were fake, they couldn't call them Leather. it says that in the UK brochure, the price list and on the UK website.

I don't think it is actual leather though. They don't feel like the leather in the RX, GS or the previous IS.

What's odd is that the red interior is stated as being nuluxe in the US but leather over here. I highly doubt they're using 2 different materials

Anaplian · May 29, 2015

Thanks for taking the time to do this Rayaans. My IS300h is still around 3 months away so I am vicariously experiencing it through others till mine arrives :-(

DJP · May 29, 2015

Great review Rayaan, and for me reinforces the need to go and test drive a car before dismissing it based on an "experts" review. Glad you enjoyed the experience!

rayaans · May 29, 2015

Great review Rayaan, and for me reinforces the need to go and test drive a car before dismissing it based on an "experts" review. Glad you enjoyed the experience!

Very good point!

After the rave reviews the Merc C-class got, I had a test drive. Its good, but as a package, its incomplete. The one i tested, C220 CDI AMG line, with the artico leather and standard sport suspension, not the air suspension that journalists get lol

Bear in mind that my wife has an 04 C220 CDI so I sort of knew what to expect. The engine was worse, yes it had more power than her car and yes, fuel economy had improved over her car but the engine is so unrefined, its bordering on industrial.

Ride quality was crap, I dont intend to spend £850 on air suspension to make it better, it should have been good in the first place. The IS300h Premier rides just as well as one on air suspension so I cant imagine how nice the ride on Luxury and 17" wheels are.

Quality of the interior was great - but, it wasnt as good as its made out to be. Some of the materials in the IS feel superior especially the leather seats and the steering wheel. Not to mention that the offset driving position is an annoyance.

MPG wasnt that great either. In town it does about 30mpg - same as my RX. And honestly, I think the IS would smoke it in a straight line when rolling. It has tonnes of torque but it has a tendency to cause the rear wheels to spin and runs out of puff. Even the gearbox was pretty jerky.

Rabbers · May 30, 2015

There is no doubt that you need to test-drive a car before you buy it. What continues to surprise me, though, is just

how far ahead the 300h objectively is in respect of any or most of its closest competitors in terms of ride comfort,

materials and build quality, good looks and also, in the case of high-spec models, price. All in all, I cannot fault any

of Rayaan's conclusions.

As a Lexus loyalist, I was already pretty much sold on the 300h on the strength of claims made for it at the pre-launch

stage but, before signing on the dotted line, I dutifully tried out some other cars in and around the same price range.

These included a Mercedes C250 and a 220d 4Matic, and an Audi A4 3.0tfsi, but even though I would have been

happy to own any of them (despite one of the inside door-handles of the Audi coming off in my hand, no doubt a

freak occurrence but a worrying one nonetheless), my broad lack of enthusiasm has been consistently confirmed

every time I have again driven any of them or others in the same ranges, usually as hire cars. My opinions have less

to do with adequacy of performance, by which I mean the cars' ability to get you to your destination as speedily as

you might ever desire, than the simple all-round refinement and ease of handling that makes every drive in the 300h

something to look forward to.

My only concern, which I have so far managed to keep far back in my mind, regards long-term maintenance costs

when the mechanicals start going wrong.

ColinBarber · May 30, 2015

good to see you have some quality door locks/keys

rayaans · May 30, 2015

good to see you have some quality door locks/keys

Yep, keeps house insurance down and for peace of mind that some idiot won't try drilling the locks out lol

Rabbers · May 31, 2015

Rayaan: Looking again at your pictures (externally the car is the twin of mine), I noticed that the top of the

rear bumper is fitted with some kind of covering in black. I was previously only aware of the existence of

transparent protective film but not of this device. I'm not sure I like the look of it. What do you think?

rayaans · May 31, 2015

Rayaan: Looking again at your pictures (externally the car is the twin of mine), I noticed that the top of the

rear bumper is fitted with some kind of covering in black. I was previously only aware of the existence of

transparent protective film but not of this device. I'm not sure I like the look of it. What do you think?

Yeah its a plastic protector which comes in the protection pack along with the rubber floor mats.

It doesn't look great on white but you could get away with it on black. Problem is, I don't think it's necessary as the boot has a lip so you wouldn't be able to slide something in there anyway. Whereas, I have one on the RX, but it looks better on an SUV and actually needs to be there as the load lip is relatively flat