Buying my first Lexus - reliability of the IS 300h model?

[PedroCZ]

Hi all Lexus owners! ☺️

I'm hoping to be part of your club soon as I'm about to buy my first Lexus (and actually my first car ever). It's the Hybrid, IS 300h Comfort. My friend warned me that the warranty for the Battery is only within 5 years or 100,000km. The model I'm looking at has 1st registration from 03/2014 and the millage is 66,000km.

So I would kindly like to ask the owners of this specific model (it doesn't have to be the Comfort, but same model) if they could share their experience with the reliability of the car, what is the age of their car and the millage, and also what services it needed so far.

Also has somebody had a problem with the Battery? Has anybody needed to replace it? At what millage?

Thanks!

Petr

[Zotto]

Making prescribed services every year you may have warranty till 10 years on hybrid components, anyway don't worry about reliability, Lexus is one of best marques. A major service had to be done probably at 60 k (I don't live in GB so it's possible there are some differences in service intervals), and before RS I had a GS 300h being very satisfied. So, compliments for your IS and have fun with it.

[Thackeray]

If you want to know about reliability I hope the The Consumers Association (which.co.uk) doesn't mind me quoting a couple of sentences from their report on IS reliability:

Quote

The Lexus IS saloon gets five out of five stars for both 0-3 and 3-8-year reliability. Simply put, it is a car you can rely on. 95% percent of owners with a car aged less than (three) years old said theirs remained completely fault-free in the past year. That’s the lowest fault rate of the hundreds of cars we’ve collected information on this year, an extraordinary achievement and the reason the Lexus IS has the highest 0-3-year reliability rating of them all. Later in life, the car remains extremely reliable. Among owners who have a version of the car aged between three and eight years old, 77% of them remained fault-free in the past year. While that’s an increase from the first three years, it’s still incredibly good for its age group, where the fault average is actually 36%. The only complaint voiced more than once in this group was with battery-related issues. But affecting such a small amount of people, it’s certainly far from being a concern. You can count on the Lexus IS to be dependable. It’s deft at avoiding the mechanic’s wrench in later life, and near impervious to it in during its formative years.

And when they mention Battery reliability, they're almost certainly talking about the small 12v Battery in the boot, not the main hybrid Battery.

In the UK the hybrid system is guaranteed for a further year each time you have the annual service up to 10 years. I'm also pretty certain I read recently that this had been increased to 15 years as there are so few failures but I can't find confirmation of this on the internet.

Just reading through this forum should give you a feel for what problems come up. Just to compare, you could look at the forum for the Mercedes C300h. 

[reeac]

Check the thread here regarding corrosion around the driver's side front suspension fastening. Mine was in perfect condition but I smeared the area with oil as it's tucked away and won't subsequently soil any clothing.

The 12 volt Battery has a 5 year guarantee but is usually an AGM design and so expensive. Lexus replaced mine free of charge at 3 years of age as it had failed but the replacement also has the 5 year guarantee

[olliesgrandad]

I had a 2014 is300h and covered in excess of 20,00 trouble free miles in 9 months. Since i have done 30,000 miles in a 2015 GS300h and now run a 2015 RX450h which has covered 44,00 miles.without any issues. My dealer tells me they have cars on original batteries which have covered 250,000 miles.

[wharfhouse]

My IS 300h is a 2014 model and done 72,000 miles - serviced by Lexus according to schedule (every 10k miles) and other than a replacement washer bottle sensor completely reliable. When mine goes in for a service I get a new IS 300h as a courtesy car and mine doesn't feel any different to drive. Only a few more toys in the latest ones. 

[Dealkent]

Had my 2014 for nearly 3 years , nothing needed doing at all . My one complaint is the cream leather seats , they mark and scuff too easily , had drivers seat changed under warranty . 

[200h]

Hi Petr

here are the results of a reliablity survey from Spetmeber 2018

https://newsroom.lexus.eu/lexus-again-rated-uks-most-reliable-manufacturer/

[royoftherovers]

On 3/21/2019 at 3:05 PM, PedroCZ said:

Hi all Lexus owners! ☺️

I'm hoping to be part of your club soon as I'm about to buy my first Lexus (and actually my first car ever). It's the Hybrid, IS 300h Comfort. My friend warned me that the warranty for the battery is only within 5 years or 100,000km. The model I'm looking at has 1st registration from 03/2014 and the millage is 66,000km.

So I would kindly like to ask the owners of this specific model (it doesn't have to be the Comfort, but same model) if they could share their experience with the reliability of the car, what is the age of their car and the millage, and also what services it needed so far.

Also has somebody had a problem with the battery? Has anybody needed to replace it? At what millage?

Thanks!

Petr

Is a Lexus reliable is a bit like asking "will the sun rise tomorrow?"

Hybrid batteries are now covered for up to 10,000 miles annually,for 15 years if they are given a Hybrid Health check for free with the Lexus annual service.

Enjoy the car Petr.

[LexusIS300h]

1 hour ago, royoftherovers said:

Is a Lexus reliable is a bit like asking "will the sun rise tomorrow?"

Or does a fish swim..... bullet proof reliability. I have never ever seen a Lexus broken down, AA and RAC make good money out of Lexus customers, all money in, no trips out.

Ok maybe that’s an over simplification, as any car could get a puncture, but mechanically and electrically reliable it is, says Yoda.

Go get one, you will love it, best car I have ever had.

[ganzoom]

4 hours ago, LexusIS300h said:

I have never ever seen a Lexus broken down, AA and RAC make good money out of Lexus customers, all money in, no trips out.

Which is why the AA cover provided directly by Lexus is so good. £125 a year, full home cover, onwards travel cover, and full European cover with accommodation costs. 

The chance of us using it for the Lexus is 0%, but the cover also extends to any car my wife (registered owner on the IS) is also in, which in our case is a Tesla - so £125 for not having to worry about recovery is pretty good insurance given how often Tesla finishes last in reliability surveys :).

[royoftherovers]

1 hour ago, ganzoom said:

Which is why the AA cover provided directly by Lexus is so good. £125 a year, full home cover, onwards travel cover, and full European cover with accommodation costs. 

The chance of us using it for the Lexus is 0%, but the cover also extends to any car my wife (registered owner on the IS) is also in, which in our case is a Tesla - so £125 for not having to worry about recovery is pretty good insurance given how often Tesla finishes last in reliability surveys :).

Never seen a reliability survey in which Tesla finishes last !!

[Mikey B]

1 hour ago, ganzoom said:

Which is why the AA cover provided directly by Lexus is so good. £125 a year, full home cover, onwards travel cover, and full European cover with accommodation costs. 

The chance of us using it for the Lexus is 0%, but the cover also extends to any car my wife (registered owner on the IS) is also in, which in our case is a Tesla - so £125 for not having to worry about recovery is pretty good insurance given how often Tesla finishes last in reliability surveys :).

Yep same in our house - Lexus recovery has had to flat bed the Mrs Merc so its been well worth the money

[Mikey B]

2 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Never seen a reliability survey in which Tesla finishes last !!

https://www.businessinsider.com/survey-uk-drivers-say-tesla-model-s-most-unreliable-car-2018-9?r=US&IR=T 

[ganzoom]

32 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Never seen a reliability survey in which Tesla finishes last !!

Its variable, 30K I've had no issues aside from a flat tyre the otherday. I was able to sort out my self but we do alot of miles in the Tesla, so £125 is not alot to pay for premium coverage even if that's just for flat tyres. 

Some Tesla owners really do have lemon cars though, with things constantly going wrong.

 

[royoftherovers]

37 minutes ago, Mikey B said:

https://www.businessinsider.com/survey-uk-drivers-say-tesla-model-s-most-unreliable-car-2018-9?r=US&IR=T 

Thank you.

I simply must buy a Toyota Taris !!

[reeac]

Or if you need the extra room then the Toyota Tardis.

[BigChange]

Having had two blown turbos on previous BMWs (both on German roads) and resultant hassle, the Lexus breakdown cover is a huge comfort blanket. Cherry on top you might say.   Not that I have had to use it but it also covered our 15 year old Subaru in France. That was an even bigger comfort blanket even though Subaru ranks highly in the reliability stakes. 

[Webra]

My 2014 300h has been quite reliable, but not as reliable as my previous IS250.

Issues:

Hybrid Battery failed

12v Battery it’s on its 4th one

one front and one rear shock absorber leaked and failed

Pluses:

Dealership has been superb

High Speed ride

Overall smoothness of powertrain 

Minus:

Ancient Prius hybrid tech means performance and economy well below rivals

No space for spare tire if boot space is needed

Poor steering feel

Engine noise when accelerating 

[NemesisUK]

12 minutes ago, Webra said:

My 2014 300h has been quite reliable, but not as reliable as my previous IS250.

Issues:

Hybrid battery failed

12v battery it’s on its 4th one

one front and one rear shock absorber leaked and failed

Pluses:

Dealership has been superb

High Speed ride

Overall smoothness of powertrain 

Minus:

Ancient Prius hybrid tech means performance and economy well below rivals

No space for spare tire if boot space is needed

Poor steering feel

Engine noise when accelerating 

Interesting.

What was the issue with the hybrid Battery? Why did your 12v batteries keep failing?

What sort of journeys do you do and where are you located?

 

[Webra]

5 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

Interesting.

What was the issue with the hybrid battery? Why did your 12v batteries keep failing?

What sort of journeys do you do and where are you located?

 

The hybrid Battery malfunction warning came on and I no longer had motor support for the IC engine. Dealer reprogrammed the control unit but also suggested a Battery change. That was at 90,000 km. It took a month for the replacement Battery to arrive. These maybe IS isolated cases, but I gather they do happen. Many GS hybrid owners have replaced their hybrid batteries over here.

I am in Asia and the car does a mix of Long and shorter journeys.

[NemesisUK]

15 minutes ago, Webra said:

The hybrid battery malfunction warning came on and I no longer had motor support for the IC engine. Dealer reprogrammed the control unit but also suggested a battery change. That was at 90,000 km. It took a month for the replacement battery to arrive. These maybe IS isolated cases, but I gather they do happen. Many GS hybrid owners have replaced their hybrid batteries over here.

I am in Asia and the car does a mix of Long and shorter journeys.

90k isn't that great a distance and presumably still under warranty? I winder if it may be related to climate? Is it significantly warmer there than here in the UK, having said that most places are warmer than the UK!!  ?

[royoftherovers]

1 hour ago, NemesisUK said:

Interesting.

What was the issue with the hybrid battery? Why did your 12v batteries keep failing?

What sort of journeys do you do and where are you located?

 

And;

did you buy it from new or pre-owned ?

did you buy from Lexus or from a Dealer?

did it have a full LSH?

These and probably others all help to produce a context within which the problems mentioned above can be viewed.

[Webra]

1 hour ago, royoftherovers said:

And;

did you buy it from new or pre-owned ?

did you buy from Lexus or from a Dealer?

did it have a full LSH?

These and probably others all help to produce a context within which the problems mentioned above can be viewed.

I bought the car new. It was from a Lexus dealer and it has a full dealer service history. The dealer service has been exemplary.

[reeac]

Just got another 12 volt Battery problem even though the present one is only 4 months old. The AA man jump started the car and then measured the quiescent current ( Battery drain when everything is switched off. To do this he had to close the boot switch using a screwdriver blade so the car thought that it was entirely switched off but keep the boot lid open so that we could read the meter. The AA meter showed the Battery drain falling over about 30 seconds to a quiescent value which was 240 mA. The only specification that I could find for quiescent current was for various Jaguars which stated that should be less than 30mA. At 240 mA the Battery would lose half its charge in 4 days, at 30 mV this would take 32 days. Seems to me that the drain is far too high. Have the car booked in to local Lexus people who tried the "you need to use the car more" argument but I have to say that if you can't leave a car at the airport for a week because it then won't start when you return then it's a poor show. My old Jag had had the same Battery for 15 years, never needed an external charge up and only did 3,000 miles a year.