Rc300H

[messi]

Hi I've put my lexus ls400 for sale as I think it's time to upgrade. 

I'm looking into Gs250 and RC300H.

What are the RC300H like, for driving, is it smooth and quiet? How reliable are they and what are the things to look out for?

[Malc1]

1 minute ago, messi said:

I've put my lexus ls400 for sale as I think it's time to upgrade. 

Hope you're not disappointed with your decision ............ 

Malc

[messi]

1 minute ago, Malc1 said:

Hope you're not disappointed with your decision ............ 

Malc

I hope I'm not too lol.

[Littorio]

I really enjoy mine, quiet yes but that can be effected by tyre choice, I run Goodyear Eagle F1 asymmetric on the rear (puncture at 6 in the morning leaving me with not a lot of choice and a 25 mile motorway journey in front of me) mind you they are very good tyres, still have Bridgestones on the front. Check what spec you go for either F-sport or Tukomi are the choice to make but try and get on with the Mark Levison audio if audio is important, however I find the standard audio in mine fine. 

The RC300h will never beat a hot hatch or its like off the line but pop it in Sport+ when your moving and it has got a little spirit under the bonnet, it's best suited to winding A roads running in Sport or Sport+ mode just watch the right foot as it wants to push. Oh and because of the spirit when in S or S+ the fuel consumption does increase. I tend to use S+ for over taking, S for a fun drive and normal/comfort for every day driving, tried Eco and that was terrible, throttle response was slow and fuel economy was worse than normal mode. If pushed on a bend it will understeer.

As far as I'm aware they are reliable cars, except for the Lexus fuel tank filler hose recall (check it's been done) I've not had any issues. The Sonic red (code 3T5) is not any easy colour to spray so if you find one with minor paint damage it may be more expensive than you think to respray, not sure about the other colours.

Oh if you get one looking like mine you do get comments (good), I've had cyclists shout out, some others stare trying to work out what the car is then come up to me and one guy asked if he could have s*x with it!!!! Not sure if the last one is good though.

[messi]

Thank you Luciano.

Yours looks very nice

[Malc1]

4 hours ago, Littorio said:

I've had cyclists shout out, some others stare trying to work out what the car is then come up to me and one guy asked if he could have s*x with it!!!! Not sure if the last one is good though.

possibly the " normal " cyclists pent up frustrated  gesticulation of calling, a normal car driver,  you,  a  " z.anker "   🤣

Malc

[Linas.P]

On 6/27/2024 at 1:10 PM, messi said:

Hi I've put my lexus ls400 for sale as I think it's time to upgrade. 

I'm looking into Gs250 and RC300H.

What are the RC300H like, for driving, is it smooth and quiet? How reliable are they and what are the things to look out for?

Note - before March 2018 RC300h is £20/year road tax (maybe £30 now), after that £180+. GS250 will always be £415 (and will increase every year). So in that aspect they are quite different. GS300h will be same as RC300h. Also there are elusive RC200t, which are smoother and quieter than 300h, but I certainly do not recommend them, you can find very long post written by me about my experience. From the two RC300h, makes more sense than RC200t. But I am just saying RC200t also exist. 

Is RC300h smooth and quiet? Depends - if you really careful it could be very smooth and very quiet, especially if you are just cruising around, then RC300h is very smooth. But if you go above say 50% of accelerator (probably even less... 30%), it is neither smooth, nor quiet in comparison... to say LS400, or GS250, any V6/V8. After all it is 4 cylinder engine and when it revs-up it sounds like crap, that is just how 4 cylinder engines are. And it is certainly not helped by the CVT which by default locks it into certain rev range and just amplifies that noise.

The suspension I am sure you will find quite hard compared to LS/GS and overall finish is step down from GS, so 2 steps down from LS... It is basically a copy paste interior from Lexus IS, just with some feature omitted (I found it strange considering RC is more expensive car than IS, yet IS comes better equipped standard). So I would say - "smooth and quiet" kind of depends to what you are comparing it with. Compared to Ford Fiesta - yeah sure, it is excellent, even compared to BMW 4-Series (especially diesel) it is smoother and more quiet... but compared to LS or GS, no - it is rather low sports car, with low profile tyres and with exception of "luxury" trim (which is the most basic poverty line trim) it comes with dynamic dampers that have settings hard, harder and hardest (holds car exceptionally flat in corners, but it isn't most comfortable suspension). It is sports car, for sports car it is perhaps good, but it is not as comfortable as GS or LS... or for comparison sake Mercedes E-Class Coupe. It is coupe version of IS rather than GS (well it is more complicated than that, but that is how it feels comfort wise). 

In this comparison GS250 would definitely be more like LS, generally 4th generation GS is excellent car, probably most under rated Lexus ever (especially 450h). Excellent built quality, smooth and quiet (at least as far as suspension is concerned - it absorbs bumps very well). GS300h - same story with the engine as RC300h, GS250 - certainly smoother, more responsive and nicer to drive, but it is frankly obsolete engine (it was great engine in 2005, but not so great by the 2015), underpowered for the car, much worse on road tax and fuel, but it is smooth and sounds nice. GS450h is certainly the model you want to go with if you going for GS, that is flagship of the range, well equipped, smooth, quiet etc. and road tax is reasonable £200. Not £20, but at least you get car which accelerates effortlessly as car of it's class should.

As always - your best bet is to go and test drive one, or both. 

[messi]

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

Note - before March 2018 RC300h is £20/year road tax (maybe £30 now), after that £180+. GS250 will always be £415 (and will increase every year). So in that aspect they are quite different. GS300h will be same as RC300h. Also there are elusive RC200t, which are smoother and quieter than 300h, but I certainly do not recommend them, you can find very long post written by me about my experience. From the two RC300h, makes more sense than RC200t. But I am just saying RC200t also exist. 

Is RC300h smooth and quiet? Depends - if you really careful it could be very smooth and very quiet, especially if you are just cruising around, then RC300h is very smooth. But if you go above say 50% of accelerator (probably even less... 30%), it is neither smooth, nor quiet in comparison... to say LS400, or GS250, any V6/V8. After all it is 4 cylinder engine and when it revs-up it sounds like crap, that is just how 4 cylinder engines are. And it is certainly not helped by the CVT which by default locks it into certain rev range and just amplifies that noise.

The suspension I am sure you will find quite hard compared to LS/GS and overall finish is step down from GS, so 2 steps down from LS... It is basically a copy paste interior from Lexus IS, just with some feature omitted (I found it strange considering RC is more expensive car than IS, yet IS comes better equipped standard). So I would say - "smooth and quiet" kind of depends to what you are comparing it with. Compared to Ford Fiesta - yeah sure, it is excellent, even compared to BMW 4-Series (especially diesel) it is smoother and more quiet... but compared to LS or GS, no - it is rather low sports car, with low profile tyres and with exception of "luxury" trim (which is the most basic poverty line trim) it comes with dynamic dampers that have settings hard, harder and hardest (holds car exceptionally flat in corners, but it isn't most comfortable suspension). It is sports car, for sports car it is perhaps good, but it is not as comfortable as GS or LS... or for comparison sake Mercedes E-Class Coupe. It is coupe version of IS rather than GS (well it is more complicated than that, but that is how it feels comfort wise). 

In this comparison GS250 would definitely be more like LS, generally 4th generation GS is excellent car, probably most under rated Lexus ever (especially 450h). Excellent built quality, smooth and quiet (at least as far as suspension is concerned - it absorbs bumps very well). GS300h - same story with the engine as RC300h, GS250 - certainly smoother, more responsive and nicer to drive, but it is frankly obsolete engine (it was great engine in 2005, but not so great by the 2015), underpowered for the car, much worse on road tax and fuel, but it is smooth and sounds nice. GS450h is certainly the model you want to go with if you going for GS, that is flagship of the range, well equipped, smooth, quiet etc. and road tax is reasonable £200. Not £20, but at least you get car which accelerates effortlessly as car of it's class should.

As always - your best bet is to go and test drive one, or both. 

Thank you

[Littorio]

On 6/28/2024 at 9:22 AM, Malc1 said:

possibly the " normal " cyclists pent up frustrated  gesticulation of calling, a normal car driver,  you,  a  " z.anker "   🤣

Malc

Actually it was a "WOW nice car" as he almost fell off his bike while trying to look at the car over his shoulder.

[Linas.P]

30 minutes ago, Littorio said:

Actually it was a "WOW nice car" as he almost fell off his bike while trying to look at the car over his shoulder.

I would be really surprised that is still happening, but it was 100% the case when the car came out.

I remember having RC300h over weekend for test drive in 2016 and I had taxi driver stopping in the traffic next to me, rolling the window and saying "wow, what is this thing". Also drove to Bridgton parked in front of hotel and people were taking snaps of the the car, not of Porsche RSR, not of the CLS63 AMG Shooting Brake, not of McLaren (all of which were parked next to it), but of pesky RC300h... back then there was a lot of positive attention. 

However, when I owned RC200t that never happened, that sort of initial "wow factor" really had cooled down and washed-off by 2020.

[hondansxr]

did you get one ?

[messi]

No I haven't yet