1000 Mile Report

[MONTIMAR]

First of all I would like to thank everyone who made a contribution to this Forum. Last Jan I was in Thailand and decided to change my car, the IS300h was top of the list and I knew if I left it until my return in March I would miss the tax change.

The problem was I had never seen, sat in or driven one and the What Car report only gave it a 3* rating with a poor write up with comments like. A  Dated interior design with unappealing Cabin materials. Weedy performance, hard to brake smoothly and the CVT gearbox.

I wanted to find out what real owners thought and one day, sat on the beach in HuaHin, I read through all 45 pages of posts in this Forum. Most were positive with very few problems and on the strength of your posts I contacted Car Wow, ordered the car from Lexus Lincoln, who offered the best deal and collected the car 29th March a few days after my return to England and that was the first time I had seen an IS300h.

I can sum up my thoughts about the car in one word. Brilliant. The build quality is top drawer. handling and comfort is superb, the CVT gearbox sublime and when you switch to Sports Mode it goes like a stuck rat.

I don't know what the guys at What Car were smoking when they tested this car but it wasn't Woodbines. They gave my last car a 5* rating made it car of the year and reading the owners Forum most of the comments are negative with quality problems, bits falling off, CVT gearboxes falling to pieces, engines failing and owners having to leave there cars on holiday in Spain because of electrical problems. Dealers and Customer Service described as inept and not fit for purpose.

My whole experience dealing with Lexus has been faultless and now I understand why they come top in all the customer satisfaction surveys.

[matt8]

Nice feedback @MONTIMAR

What car did you have before? 

[DanD]

Nice feedback indeed, but I can't believe anyone would order a new car without ever having seen, let alone test driven one.

[MONTIMAR]

My last car was a Nissan Qashqai a good car in many ways but let down by quality problems, reliability and poor customer service. Before that a Mercedes C Class and before that a BMW 3 series, both direct competitors of the IS300h so I knew the type of car I was buying. This Forum told me everything I wanted to know about buying the car unseen. Reliability and Customer Service was top of my wish list and I feel comfortable with this car as a long term proposition. If there had been pages and pages of dissatisfied owners I wouldn't have taken the gamble. I'm just glad I did. Another Mag didn't like the car being limited to 125 MPH. Being honest the last time I exceeded 125 MPH was on the Isle of Man TT circuit riding a Honda Fireblade and I nearly s*** myself.

[rayaans]

I agree, some of the reviews just seem like they've sat in a completely different car and thrashed it about.

4 hours ago, DanD said:

Nice feedback indeed, but I can't believe anyone would order a new car without ever having seen, let alone test driven one.

I ordered my 2004 RX300 without seeing or test driving it

Best decision I ever made :)

Although the other half didn't think so - it barely fit in the garage at my old house at the time and she would leave it parked on the drive for me to shove in!

[PaulWhitt20]

Nice review.

 

Welcome to the enlightened minority.

[DanD]

The fact that customers are willing to buy a car without seeing it and testing it certainly reflects well on the Lexus brand and this forum!

I switched to Lexus for the same reasons: reliability, peerless customer service and - to some extent - exclusivity.

[olliesgrandad]

15000 enjoyable trouble free miles in 6months makes me very happy. 

[TechyD]

I've had mine since early April now, I've yet to see another face lift model so feeling pretty exclusive at the moment...the first one I see is going to get a flash and wave from me!

I'm so impressed with the car and wholly agree with others comments about the car reviews being so negative, it really doesn't give the car the justice it deserves

[paulrnx]

Nice writeup and I'm glad it worked out for the OP