My new car - First impressions

MikeCumbria · November 9, 2019

Picked up my new car a couple of days ago. First impressions are it's better than the previous version I had for sure. How much of that is my imagination and just being a new car, only time will tell I guess.

New Car CT200h F Sport, Mercury Grey, with Tech and Convenience Packs on PCP

Previous Car CT200h 65 plate with Sport Pack, White with Black Roof/Mirrors

I ordered the new car in August, which was due mid November, then 2 weeks ago after I chased the dealer to confirm delivery date, they said .... Oohh its gonna be mid February now we think! Unless I wanted to go from my colour choice of Black, to Metallic Mercury Grey. Hence I ended up with a different colour. Sad times, as I was really looking forward to the black, even more painfully the day I went to pick up my new car, stuck in traffic, there it was, directly opposite me sitting at the lights.... In black! 😭 Anyhoo Mercury Grey it is, which although not as good, I still like, plus it matches the wheels now, which is a bonus.

Going from normal to F Sport I'd expected the ride to be a little harder, if that's possible, and I've noticed that's kind of the case on non smooth roads, so most of them. But it also feels firmer in a good way too which surprised me. The whopping 10.3" display is lovely, the seats again feel a bit firmer and hug better. The new design headlights and rear lights look great, and auto full beam headlights are awesome and so useful! Much brighter than my old quite dim lights. Now I have the reversing camera too which is handy, instead of just the parking sensors alone. The front grille looks really really nice. Back to Yokohama's which is a shame, missing my quieter more forgiving Michelin's. I'm also noticing, and I'm sure this must be my imagination, but acceleration feels a lot quicker. As far as I was aware the F Sport is a sheep in wolf's clothing, i.e just the same engine as the rest of the range, and the same as my old 65 plate, but it feels different, actually better, more responsive.

Some of this may well be down to my smile, and to the fact brand new cars just feel like that at first. Be interested to hear what others think and say about this aspect.

I negotiated what I think was a pretty good price, it's costing me £20 more a month at £280 per month, but that's partly my fault for not trading it in immediately at the end of my old lease. My new deal meant £22k financed after my px. Which on a car costing nearly 31k before discounts, was quite decent.

I had really liked the look of the new Corolla, the mpg was amazing on it, but even though it's around the same price, they couldn't get the monthly payment anywhere near the CT. No finance deposit and GFV would be the issue there I suspect. The Corolla was really smooth to drive, but surprisingly to me, it felt kind of dead, lifeless.

So overall I'd say my new car is quite a lot better than the previous one, I can start to dream what the new 2020/2021 version, if there is one, will be like.

Omg, sorry, I've written an article here, was supposed to be a few lines.

200h · November 10, 2019

hi Mike

enjoy your new CT

keeping to a new car delivery date seems to be a common issue for lexus

you should'nt have to change the colour to get the car that you want,

and yes agree with you over the noisy tyres supplied

why cant they provide a quiet set of tyres on the car like the Cross Climates.

007M · November 10, 2019

Very nice car, am looking to get the CT although can only afford a lot older.

Having had 4 new audi in 6 years as company cars, I can say some of the smoothness is to do with a brand new engine. Enjoy the car!

MikeCumbria · November 10, 2019

4 minutes ago, 007M said:

Very nice car, am looking to get the CT although can only afford a lot older.

Having had 4 new audi in 6 years as company cars, I can say some of the smoothness is to do with a brand new engine. Enjoy the car!

Thanks!

I've always bought older before these last 2 cars. It does seem however buying new on PCP is the way to go, with the £26 pm on the service plan, I'm not going to get any big surprises each year when it goes in for its service. If you can get the finance imo it's the way to go. Was even better on the last car with no road tax! Shame I'm back to paying it now. My advice would be get some quotes on CarWow on a few different types of car (it's quick and free) then ask the cheapest dealer to send you the cost per month on finance, then whatever the price, tell them it's too much by X?, See what they say. By the time they knock of the finance deposit and dealer discount, you can take about £5k off the MRP. More on other makes.

MikeCumbria · November 10, 2019

2 hours ago, 200h said:

hi Mike

enjoy your new CT

keeping to a new car delivery date seems to be a common issue for lexus

you should'nt have to change the colour to get the car that you want,

and yes agree with you over the noisy tyres supplied

why cant they provide a quiet set of tyres on the car like the Cross Climates.

Thank you!

ThomasD94 · November 22, 2019

On 11/9/2019 at 5:42 PM, MikeCumbria said:

Picked up my new car a couple of days ago. First impressions are it's better than the previous version I had for sure. How much of that is my imagination and just being a new car, only time will tell I guess.

New Car CT200h F Sport, Mercury Grey, with Tech and Convenience Packs on PCP

Previous Car CT200h 65 plate with Sport Pack, White with Black Roof/Mirrors

I ordered the new car in August, which was due mid November, then 2 weeks ago after I chased the dealer to confirm delivery date, they said .... Oohh its gonna be mid February now we think! Unless I wanted to go from my colour choice of Black, to Metallic Mercury Grey. Hence I ended up with a different colour. Sad times, as I was really looking forward to the black, even more painfully the day I went to pick up my new car, stuck in traffic, there it was, directly opposite me sitting at the lights.... In black! 😭 Anyhoo Mercury Grey it is, which although not as good, I still like, plus it matches the wheels now, which is a bonus.

Going from normal to F Sport I'd expected the ride to be a little harder, if that's possible, and I've noticed that's kind of the case on non smooth roads, so most of them. But it also feels firmer in a good way too which surprised me. The whopping 10.3" display is lovely, the seats again feel a bit firmer and hug better. The new design headlights and rear lights look great, and auto full beam headlights are awesome and so useful! Much brighter than my old quite dim lights. Now I have the reversing camera too which is handy, instead of just the parking sensors alone. The front grille looks really really nice. Back to Yokohama's which is a shame, missing my quieter more forgiving Michelin's. I'm also noticing, and I'm sure this must be my imagination, but acceleration feels a lot quicker. As far as I was aware the F Sport is a sheep in wolf's clothing, i.e just the same engine as the rest of the range, and the same as my old 65 plate, but it feels different, actually better, more responsive.

Some of this may well be down to my smile, and to the fact brand new cars just feel like that at first. Be interested to hear what others think and say about this aspect.

I negotiated what I think was a pretty good price, it's costing me £20 more a month at £280 per month, but that's partly my fault for not trading it in immediately at the end of my old lease. My new deal meant £22k financed after my px. Which on a car costing nearly 31k before discounts, was quite decent.

I had really liked the look of the new Corolla, the mpg was amazing on it, but even though it's around the same price, they couldn't get the monthly payment anywhere near the CT. No finance deposit and GFV would be the issue there I suspect. The Corolla was really smooth to drive, but surprisingly to me, it felt kind of dead, lifeless.

So overall I'd say my new car is quite a lot better than the previous one, I can start to dream what the new 2020/2021 version, if there is one, will be like.

Omg, sorry, I've written an article here, was supposed to be a few lines.