2 potential GS450h cars I'm interested in.

[Britprius]

I think as far as seat heating/cooling goes the colour of the seats does make a difference. In the summer dark or black seats can become unbearably hot, and in winter although cold outside a little brightness soon warms up the seats a little for when you entre the car. Cream seats suffer much less from the burning temperatures attained by dark seats in the summer, but are cooler in the winter. 

My car has cream seats "something I sought after when looking for the car" I find although subtle in use the heating is adequate in winter, and the cooling very comfortable without that sticky seat feeling in the summer. They do draw cold air from the AC system, but never get to the that's really cold feeling.

John.

[AmbroseJohn]

The silver one list a manual transmission. I may be but I didn't think a manual was available with hybrids.

[Shahpor]

29 minutes ago, AmbroseJohn said:

The silver one list a manual transmission. I may be but I didn't think a manual was available with hybrids.

It wasn't, so it must be a mistake on the advert.

They only came with E-CVT transmissions.

[GS450hNavy]

7 hours ago, Britprius said:

I have had no hybrid issues with my GS or the Prius that it replaced. The Prius I had for 10 years 128,000 miles, and in that time the total repairs amounted to one front wheel bearing. The Prius uses exactly the same battery modules as the GS, but 28 of them instead of 40 in the GS. 

 

Thanks John, will be picking it up at 1 tomorrow, hopefully all goes well!

[mrdoofa]

The one I'm going to see tomorrow has just passed its MOT with no advisories.

[Ace8800]

I wouldnt touch another BMW tbh.. last one i had was 5 series  (e60) top spec. I had to take it for a blast on the motorway for 40 mins every month to make sure it regens.. bloody joke.

Im so glad im back in a Lexus, no more mandatory sprints and the hybrid give me more MPG with less racket and headache locally.

Keep us posted how you get on.

[Ace8800]

2 minutes ago, mrdoofa said:

The one I'm going to see tomorrow has just passed its MOT with no advisories.

Sound like a Lexus 👌

[royoftherovers]

27 minutes ago, mrdoofa said:

The one I'm going to see tomorrow has just passed its MOT with no advisories.

That`s very good new Martin.

It would not however stop me from taking it straight round to my local Lexus Dealer and asking them to spot anything that would prevent them from putting it onto a Lexus Warranty.

In that way you have an independent assessment on the integrity of the vehicle and can return to the Dealer promptly should there be a need to .

Hope all goes well.

 

Regards

John

[mrdoofa]

1 hour ago, Ace8800 said:

I wouldnt touch another BMW tbh.. last one i had was 5 series  (e60) top spec. I had to take it for a blast on the motorway for 40 mins every month to make sure it regens.. bloody joke.

Im so glad im back in a Lexus, no more mandatory sprints and the hybrid give me more MPG with less racket and headache locally.

Keep us posted how you get on.

My current car is a diesel Vauxhall Insignia and although nothing seems wrong at the moment I do know it has a particulate filter which is a constant worry along with the dual mass flywheel, turbo, injectors, EGR valve and all the other problems which seem to plague modern diesels, not to mention that the government are going to start making life more difficult for diesel drivers. Also, no matter how good a diesel is it will always sound like a tractor!!! I do get good fuel economy out of it though.

I'm so excited about seeing the GS450H tomorrow, I really hope it's a good one!!! I'll post on here as soon as possible when I've seen it.

[Spacewagon52]

9 hours ago, mrdoofa said:

 Also, no matter how good a diesel is it will always sound like a tractor!!! I do get good fuel economy out of it though.

 

My exact sentiments. The good fuel economy is the only plus side. My diesel is a liitle older, so I do not have the DPF, or EGR to worry about ...... I think!

[royoftherovers]

26 minutes ago, Spacewagon52 said:

My exact sentiments. The good fuel economy is the only plus side. My diesel is a liitle older, so I do not have the DPF, or EGR to worry about ...... I think!

Mine is an e class estate 2.2 cdi, with 200,000 plus miles and an engine made by Massey Ferguson, I think.

Still it is economical and as Spacewagon says it does not have any of the modern paraphenalia to worry about.

 

Regards

John

[mrdoofa]

15 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

Mine is an e class estate 2.2 cdi, with 200,000 plus miles and an engine made by Massey Ferguson, I think.

Still it is economical and as Spacewagon says it does not have any of the modern paraphenalia to worry about.

 

Regards

John

I actually like a good old school diesel!!! A proper diesel should be noisy, unrefined, smelly but still economical. I'm personally a fan of the old Rover L series diesel, they just keep on going.

[mrdoofa]

Went to see the GS450H today and all I can say is WOW, WHAT A CAR!!!

Its now sitting on my driveway and I couldn't be more pleased!!! It was a strange sensation starting the car and driving off in silence on Battery power and the radar cruise is another interesting experience. Its really, really quick too, this is definitely a car where you can easily pick up speeding tickets because it's so smooth, quiet and effortless. The seats are the most comfortable I've had in a car and the driving position is perfect.  I was quite surprised at how fast the Battery regenerates.  I sat in the car for a while playing with all the gadgets and the Battery ran down enough for the engine to start but once driving it built up charge again pretty quickly, the fullest I got it was one bar off the top with the bars green, the lowest it went on the way home was about 80%. I also had everything running, headlights, wipers, air con etc.

I'm going to take some photos of my own tomorrow in daylight, another cool feature is the reversing camera.

[steveledzep]

Welcome to the Lexus experience Martin.

[royoftherovers]

7 hours ago, mrdoofa said:

Went to see the GS450H today and all I can say is WOW, WHAT A CAR!!!

Its now sitting on my driveway and I couldn't be more pleased!!! It was a strange sensation starting the car and driving off in silence on battery power and the radar cruise is another interesting experience. Its really, really quick too, this is definitely a car where you can easily pick up speeding tickets because it's so smooth, quiet and effortless. The seats are the most comfortable I've had in a car and the driving position is perfect.  I was quite surprised at how fast the battery regenerates.  I sat in the car for a while playing with all the gadgets and the battery ran down enough for the engine to start but once driving it built up charge again pretty quickly, the fullest I got it was one bar off the top with the bars green, the lowest it went on the way home was about 80%. I also had everything running, headlights, wipers, air con etc.

I'm going to take some photos of my own tomorrow in daylight, another cool feature is the reversing camera.

Really pleased for you Martin.

Now you know what it is like to sit on the flight deck of Concorde and man the Bridge of the USS  Enterprise, both at the same time.

Beware the speed cameras as she has Warp Drive!

 

Regards

John

[tonyricha]

Well bought!! Dont spend too much time looking at the Battery graphics, it will almost never show 100% charged, this is quite normal. Most folk new to these get fixated worrying about the batteries! My last GS450h hit 200K still with perfect Battery pack, even the 12V one was never changed. In fact the only Battery issue was in the 🔑. Trust the technology and enjoy.

[Farqui]

Well done, I'm glad the trip and test drive went well.

Do watch your speed tho, the auto box and silent running caught me out #sigh

How do you find the eCVT?

[Britprius]

Martin.

Enjoy the car, and Lexus experience. Do not watch the centre display to much until you have got used to driving the car. It can mesmerize you, and at the speed the car travels at you could quickly get into trouble. 

I do not know if you realise the multi CD changer in the dash also plays DVD's through the screen as long as the parking brake is on. 

Well done.

John.

[Farqui]

1 minute ago, Britprius said:

...I do not know if you realise the multi CD changer in the dash also plays DVD's through the screen as long as the parking brake is on. 

Does it? I must have missed that nugget during my research.  Not sure if I'll ever use it but it may come in handy if Le Shuttle has delays again.

[Britprius]

2 minutes ago, Farqui said:

Does it? I must have missed that nugget during my research.  Not sure if I'll ever use it but it may come in handy if Le Shuttle has delays again.

Yes many people seem to miss the fact that it is also a DVD player. You must however have the parking brake on for it to work. This is so you cannot drive with the DVD player operating in video mode you can still hear the audio.

John

[mrdoofa]

Cheers everybody, it's quite easy to get too paranoid about the batteries lol!!! At least until you know what's normal. I wasn't sure if the Battery ever shows full and how quick it should recharge, it recharges very quickly especially when braking going downhill.  Farqui gave me a series of tests to check the hybrid system and it passed them all. The CVT gearbox was a bit strange at first but I really like how seamless it all is, I love it when you put your foot down and the car just launches when the engine and motor come in together!!! It was also a novelty when I hit a small tailback on the A1 and I edged through it without using any fuel. Another thing I enjoyed was all the LED interior lights at night and how they are sequenced.

Anyway, sorry for rambling on but I love this car so much lol!!!

[mrdoofa]

I forgot to ask!!! The sat nav DVD is out of date as it still showed the roundabouts on the A1 which are long gone now!!! What is the newest DVD you can get and where do you get them from? Cheers!!!

[tonyricha]

What date is on your sat nav disc

[Farqui]

Martin, my DVD was out of date too and I opted for a version from LatestSatNav which included all the EU countries we frequent on one disk.  The cost is also less than the official DVD's which come in 4 disks.  Take a peek here; http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/75892-satnav-update/#comment-982538

[Spacewagon52]

This club and forum are a mine of useful information! So pleased I joined trhe Lexus club!