24hr test drive - some thoughts - some questions

jumbojake · September 11, 2019

Very happy to be given the chance of a 24hr test drive, in their F-sort... overall I thought the car was very nice ... didn't blow my socks off, but equally was a pleasant surprise in a few areas

Coming from my IS200d, I found the ES drove well, but was a bit gutless when trying to overtake... lacking the mid range torque I'm used to, which was a bit disappointing, given the additional bhp, but I guess the nature of a hybrid (my wifes Rx450h is ok, but that does have a 3.5 v6 to help it along!). Otherwise it drove very well ... actually surprisingly well for a front wheel drive, if you don't push it, it felt very good. The " Infotainment " drove me nuts... not just the lack of apple carplay, but also that mousepad ... it's even worse than the mouse in the Rx450h .... I still much prefer the touchscreen in my IS200d ... why can't they use the dial system other cars do, so much easier

Some odd things ... would appreciate thoughts from the new owners,

- How do the new owners make of the touchpad... are you coping with it ? The dealer told me it can support handwriting ... does that actually work, in the real world?

- I found the doors open really wide, which I found a pain to close again when in the car... perhaps I'm getting old! Adaptive cruise control was nice, but could only select in 5mph increments... can that be tuned to 1mph, like older cars?

- USB for media looks to be directly underneath a cover... how do you connect a memory stick to that, and still close the cover? (or doesn't anyone do that any more?

- side mirrors looks really small ... what are they like in real life?... are you finding blind spots on motorways?

- found the voice to navigate to be very frustrating. limited to only full address... is that configurable, can you use it to find POI locations? (as I can on my IS200d ?)

- sat nav.... looks like a tomtom mash-up ... but traffic info seemed to be intermittent. stuck on a motorway for over an hour, it didn't know about it... but then told me of traffic on another stretch of road when there wasn't ... is it reliable when commuting, or are you all still reliant on phone apps like Waze? and waiting for apple CarPlay to come along?)

Linas.P · September 11, 2019

I will try to avoid making much noise here, but it seems what you have pointed out is exactly in line what I have experienced with Lexus hybrids and sat navs... and in my limited spin in ES.

Not exactly owners experience (luckily):

Mirrors are smaller on all new Lexus IS/RC/ES compared to mk2 is, but they come with blind spot and cross traffic alerts as standard, so I would not see that as an issue.

I used to use usb stick on my old mk2 IS, but in new cars I tend to use Bluetooth, cannot think of any benefit using stick - port is probably more useful for charging phone or something. Although ES have wireless charger if I am not mistaken.

Eldavo · September 17, 2019

I had a 24h test drive from the dealer and then Toyota UK gave me a press car for a week (admittedly it took them a month to process my test drive request and I’d already ordered it by then but still accepted their offer).

The touchpad was a bugbear at first but I got used to it, counter-intuitively if you turn the sensitivity up to the highest setting then it is much easier to use with just a flick of the finger rather than a wave of the arm.

Doors open very wide, that was a concern and consideration for me as due to my job I’m always parking in different public car parks with their worryingly narrow bays.

USB was annoying underneath the front cover, I tend to stream Spotify via Bluetooth so just left my phone on the wireless charge pad in the armrest and the car interface was actually pretty good once you get used to it.

Grumps · September 17, 2019

On 9/11/2019 at 10:08 PM, jumbojake said:

Adaptive cruise control was nice, but could only select in 5mph increments... can that be tuned to 1mph, like older cars?

In my NX the adaptive cruise control only works in 5mph increments. However you can use cruise control that will increase (decrease) in 1 mph increments, but this is not adaptive and old fashioned. Why Lexus choose to have the two systems alongside oneanother is a mystery that someone on here can answer.