Impressions of a borrowed IS 200t F Sport

Shahpor · June 29, 2016

Hey all.

Apologies if this has been covered before, but my searching skills are not good

Anyway, my IS was in for a service yesterday and they gave me the 200t as a courtesy car for 2 days (couldn't get back to the dealer before they closed yesterday). So I just wanted to share some thoughts with you and see what peoples opinions are.

First, the good stuff:

Lovely looking car. It was Sonic Titanium and the dark wheel finish was fantastic.
The interior on the whole was good. I liked the dash display that shows the boost pressure and oil temp and pressure.
It had some nice mid range grunt to it.
Lots of toys.
Cornered very well.
Quiet, especially on the motorway.
Nice size boot and good rear leg/head room.

But there were a couple of niggles:

A bit too much plastic on the inside.
Equally, the centre console felt too big and high.
Need to read the manual to figure out what all the button do!
The automatic gearbox seemed to get caught out a few times.
Managed to get 25mpg over 150 miles (Although I wasn't exactly taking it easy, but it was mostly motorway driving).
Anyone else have a problem with the drivers right base seat bolster getting in the way with your leg on top of it? All the others were fine, but that one made for an uncomfortable driving experience.
Speaking of uncomfortable, personally I think the F Sport suspension is too hard. Granted, this was on London's infamously bad roads, but it felt a little jarring. I am sure others will disagree on this one though.

So, that is pretty much it. Most of the niggles were just that, and overall it was a good experience, but perhaps not as good as I had expected. Strangely, I felt hemmed in with the 200t, so it suddenly seemed so light and airy when I got back into mine.

Sorry for the long rambling post, but like I said, it was an interesting experience, and overall a positive one. Now if only I could afford one!

rayaans · June 29, 2016

The new IS is more driver focused hence the feeling of sitting in the car rather than on top of the car like in th old IS

The sports seats are heavily bolstered which is why the leg support is how you describe. It softens over time. I presume this was a car with less than 5k on it?

The auto box has AI tech. Its supposed to "learn" how the driver drives and it may need time to do that. It's great for spirited driving though but not great at low speeds.

Maybe it's just me, I'm getting quite old but I still find it pretty simple to use. More so than other cars I've been in but maybe that's just because all the new ones are on the same system.

Also I don't think the IS has any more plastic than any other cars in the class. The BMW 3 series, Merc C and new A4 all have a lot of plastic. The new a4 has much more than you'd expect! I believe the older IS actually has more plastic in it!

Shahpor · June 29, 2016

Yep, the car had 5,800 miles on it. Soften over time is all good and well, but wouldn't that mean that that bolster will wear out more quickly over time? One thing I forgot though is that I loved the seat ventilation. You can really feel it, unlike in mine.

Oh, absolutely nothing wrong with the gearbox when accelerating hard It was when I lifted off and let the car drift down in speed then press the accelerator again that it seems to struggle.

I am not that old! It is just that the car has a lot of functions. I liked the way the selection 'mouse' moved, however, for example, I had no idea the dash display could be changed until several hours after I drove it. No doubt if I owned it I would quickly learn where and what everything does. I am just not used to getting in a new car and being confused.

I agree most modern cars have a lot of plastic, which is a shame. It just doesn't add itself to the 'premium' quality of the rest of the car. Yes, mine probably has more plastic, but I suspect it has something to do with the dash layout and larger centre console setup that makes it more obviously, well to me at least.

rayaans · June 29, 2016

39 minutes ago, Shahpor said:

Yep, the car had 5,800 miles on it. Soften over time is all good and well, but wouldn't that mean that that bolster will wear out more quickly over time? One thing I forgot though is that I loved the seat ventilation. You can really feel it, unlike in mine.

Oh, absolutely nothing wrong with the gearbox when accelerating hard It was when I lifted off and let the car drift down in speed then press the accelerator again that it seems to struggle.

I am not that old! It is just that the car has a lot of functions. I liked the way the selection 'mouse' moved, however, for example, I had no idea the dash display could be changed until several hours after I drove it. No doubt if I owned it I would quickly learn where and what everything does. I am just not used to getting in a new car and being confused.

I agree most modern cars have a lot of plastic, which is a shame. It just doesn't add itself to the 'premium' quality of the rest of the car. Yes, mine probably has more plastic, but I suspect it has something to do with the dash layout and larger centre console setup that makes it more obviously, well to me at least.

Not really, the foam will soften over time and won't actually affect the leather itself, although you might see wrinkling of the leather which is completely natural.

I think what you mentioned about the lifting off and then accelerating is due to the 8 gears. It probably gets confused about which gear it wants. I drove it in manual mode and its much better IMO. Or using auto and then just using paddles when you want a burst of acceleration

All the new cars are generally on the same system so if you work it out on one, then you can probably do everything on the rest of the lineup.

I believe the facelift is getting rid of the plastic centre console and adding brushed black aluminium in its place too!

Chris.S · June 29, 2016

Cant fault my Is200t fsport so far, getting 28mpg around town

Shahpor · June 30, 2016

I'm sure you are as it's a fine car

Well, like I said, the MPG result is probably a little skewed since I had a heavy right foot, but does that mean it is less fuel efficient than the IS300h?

@rayaans Well, if they do replace the centre console, then I am sure it will look much better. One of the bit I love about my interior the most is the maple wood, which I think adds a nice touch.

rayaans · June 30, 2016

57 minutes ago, Shahpor said:

I'm sure you are as it's a fine car

Well, like I said, the MPG result is probably a little skewed since I had a heavy right foot, but does that mean it is less fuel efficient than the IS300h?

@rayaans Well, if they do replace the centre console, then I am sure it will look much better. One of the bit I love about my interior the most is the maple wood, which I think adds a nice touch.

There you go, as you can see the screen is much bigger 10.1" now I believe, the remote touch has some nice stitching on it now and the centre console is now inset, rather than sat on top along with dark brushed aluminium in place of the plastic. Cant see properly in the picture above but the cupholder has been changed too and its subtle, but the steering wheel is different - now has square buttons in place of the round ones.

Can't tell for sure but it seems the IS F-Sport might also be coming with the Naguri trim from the GS F-Sport:

Zotto · June 30, 2016

... does that mean it is less fuel efficient than the IS300h?

Absolutely yes, IS300h makes at least 35 mpg with heavy feet.

rayaans · June 30, 2016

1 hour ago, Zotto said:

... does that mean it is less fuel efficient than the IS300h?

Absolutely yes, IS300h makes at least 35 mpg with heavy feet.

Nah it doesnt - it can hit 25mpg. The other half has had a consecutive 6 month reading of 27 +- 2mpg on the IS300h

Zotto · June 30, 2016

Giving a look to spritmonitor evne the worse mpg are higher... With my GS300h never succeeded having an average below 13,5 km/l on a full tank.

niloc · July 1, 2016

I've had my 200t for a week now and had a 500 mile round trip to Blackburn so I had a play with the three driving modes to see what the consumption was like. Here are the results

ECO mode Driving inside lane M6 at 60 mph (sorry that's not normal but was early so driving slow) but I got around 50mpg! at 70-80 that dropped to 42/44 after Reset

Normal mode Just driving normally 70-80 getting about 37/38mpg varied as I was in traffic

Sport mode well its fun but consumption does get hit 26 mpg ish

Shahpor · July 2, 2016

Interesting stuff chaps.

I did forget to mention that the car was pretty much in sport mode all the time.

@rayaans That is a nice little upgrade for the interior. Also, I do like my screens big

Shahpor · July 2, 2016

Interesting to see the difference:

DanD · July 5, 2016

Very subtle!

juicestop · July 6, 2016

The recessed centre console is the way it should have been in the first place. I always thought the current one stuck on top looked awful.

rayaans · July 6, 2016

4 hours ago, juicestop said:

The recessed centre console is the way it should have been in the first place. I always thought the current one stuck on top looked awful.

It does look better recessed but I think the 2015 models came with the matt black plastic which looks worse IMO than the shiny black plastic that used to come before.