Is F Sport Test Drive

[Haf]

Just had the lexus delivered for a 3 day test drive

IS-F Sport with Nav in Ultra Blue with standard seats

The good news is this saves me looking around for an ultra-blue to see the colour.

Car looks great - especially the grey alloys and the blue colour

It looks to be the exact spec I was thinking of ordering so thats a plus

The keyless start was odd in that I pressed the button and nothing happened (turns out it was on Battery so no engine sound)

Dashboard looks nice with lots of tech

Paired my Galaxy S3 and it was very simple so I'm all set

Will leave work shortly to go to a meeting in central london so it will be 80 miles of motorway and 20 and 10 miles of inner city. Should be a good test for ride quality, comfort and mpg

I have a couple of conference calls so will also compare roadnoise etc with me Merc

Will update this post later this afternoon with impressions of my first drive - very excited

[Stuno1]

Do you drive the older style isf now?

[Haf]

Nope - last lexus I drove was IS-220D premium in 2005-7.

Since then its been A5 and E220 coupe

[Stuno1]

Will be a fun few days then!

[Silver Arrow]

I managed 1.6 miles on EV the day I had mine - aww if you can beat that ;)

[Haf]

Ok - been to central london and back so done 200 miles today.

Main goal today was to assess comfort, ride quality and fuel economy.

Comfort - no complaints at all and the standard IS-F seats were absolutely fine with no aches after 2.5 hours driving. The car seemed quiter on the motorway than my e-class and I did a couple of long phone calls with no problems. Took a while to get used to the cruise-control and other features as they were slightly difefrent to the merc. Biggest challenge was trying to release the hand-brake and eventually had to get the manual out.. I'm used to the foot-brake as my merc has one but the release mechanism is not easy to guess at. Main annoynace was that i couln't find the digital clock and the anologue one is really not in a good spot to glance at plus seemed to be hard to spot as it started to get dark (minor point). I also kept hearing various beeps from the car and eventually figured out that some weer warning me about speed cameras (cool feature) and others seemed to be linked to my phone. No doubt a lot of stuff that can be figured out after purchase. Radio 5 on DAB was brilliant (finally). Visibility was average as in most cars these days with wide pillars nad narrow windows etc. Rear camera was very useful.

Ride Quality - again no problems whats ever with rough roads, pot-holes etc. Though I was driving in fuel-economy mode most of the time. Steering etc weer all fine.

Fuee economy. As todays was to repeat a regular business trip route, I drove in a careful manner and roughly the same speedsas my current car. MPG for first 80 miles was 52mpg (M40/A40) but this went to 54MPG as I did the last 10 miles of london into the centre (opposite to my merc whic gets me to the high 50's on the M40 bit and then drops to low 50's as I go into london. I drove at 65-70mph in eco-mode and cruise control with no sudden acceleration or braking. On the way back the trip out of the centre was very much more crowded and I was crawling along for quite a while so totla trip back was just about 50mpg.

I found the graphic showing engine/wheels/battery quite useful as it helped explained what was going on - though i doubt its of much use after the cars been driven a while. Interestingly on the trip down, the Battery started at 6 bars and pretty much stayed at 6 until i got to the ouitskirts of london - i did notice on the trip down tha the Battery was charging on some occasions and being used on others. For the last 7 or 8 miles of slow-ish traffic the car was in EV mode a lot and the Battery drained to 3 bars by th etime i stopped. On my return trip it was very slow traffic o the Battery got to 2 bars and then the engine stayed on (even when stationary) and teh atetry got charged to 4 bars befor egoing back to normal EV mode. The message is that the EV mode in slow traffic is only good for a while and if you crawl for more than a couple of miles then odds ar ethe Battery will need charging and more petrol power kicks in.. All in all I'm pretty happy as outside of central london, the Battery should be plenty given the shorter queues etc

So all in all an excellent first day and I will do some warwick-bham trips tomorrow and then some more enjoyable driving on sunday using sports mode etc to throw it around a bit. I have to add the eco-mode seemed absolutely fine for my driving style and i didn't feel at anypoint that i was short of power or anything. The CVT box was pretty seemless and i couldn't really tell when the car was switching from EV to petrol etc. hard to find a fault at the moment (aside from the clock).

I haven't done much with the gadgets and although my S3 paired easily i couldn't get my address book or text messages synched up - probbaly need to read up on that side of things.. Also couldn't find the cigarette lighter socket for my phone charger but did find 2 USB ports so that should be fine.. Also noticed that the seats were electric/memory seats - which i though you only got withe leather upgrade so quite happy if thats 'standard'.

Will sum up after the weekend but looks good so far..

[DJP]

Great post Haf, thanks, although I think you may confuse with reference to the IS-F, as that's a completely different car altogether lol. Defo not one you'd buy for economy!

Re the startup, yes it can be a tad disconcerting when you hit the button and no noise. it's not what we are used to but you soon get used to it. I like to se how far i can get before the engine cuts in - it's no distance at all really but a bit of childish fun.

The Battery is designed not to fall below 20% or go above 80%, so you will see the engine cutting in perhaps earlier then you might expect. Also I think the driving style to max the hybrid efficiency means you should press on to the desired speed and then ease right off, watch the blue bar settle in the ECO zone. There are a couple on here with more experience of hybrids who may well chime in on this point.

I'm also not 100% about the ECO mode. I know it maximises the Battery usage but I'm sure I read somewhere in the manual that persistent use of it can actually reduce rather than improve mpg. I wonder whether the design of the engine and motor is for one to support the other at maximum efficiency when in Normal mode. Just a thought.

I'm sure I'll get taken to task over this but I never use the hand/footbrake. Once the car is in park it ain't going anywhere is it?

Must admit I hadn't noticed that about the clock and I rather like the retro style. Lovin' the 5 live DAB reception too!

The occasional beep beep is almost certainly the speed camera warning. It's easy to test if you have the nav screen on display as it shows a camera icon quite a way in advance. Puzzled me for a while as I didn't have the nav screen on display. Incidentely you can't turn it off, although why would you want to?

The usb ports are ok, but you have to watch that the armrest can close. I must admit I find it a tad difficult to access what's in the centre bin, all feels a bit awkward.

The pairing of the phone and address book download etc can be problematic, for me handsfree is fine but my favorites list disappears overnight and Bluetooth music lasts only 5 mins before it just stops. I have to acces the Iphone and tap the play icon for it to resume, only to stop again 5 mins later.

The good news is that my dealer has told me today that the software update is now available so I'll be booking in for that first thing Monday.

Really pleased your first day was successful and look forward to chapter 2.

[Silver Arrow]

Blimey - I must be the only one that finds the ride uncomfortable….my back must be worse than I thought!

[Haf]

Well spotted DJP and obvioulsy I meant IS F-Sport in the title rather than IS-F but can't seem to find a way to change it now..

Thanks for explaining the Battery as I was wondering why it looks like the indicator has 8 bars but it always stayed in the 2-6 bars range.

The wife saw the car this morning and thought the ultra=blue was 'shocking' - probably because my last few cars have been very dark coloured - I'm lovin it though and its still my top choice..

Silver Arrow - You don't want to trust my judgement on seat comfort as I am on my 10th compnay car and can't say any of them felt uncomfortable so maybe my back is just not vey fussy.. The only times I have felt uncomfortable was when i drove non-stop for more than 3 hoiurs in my Audi but that was more my bum than back..

Todays driving will be 10 miles of A roads and then a lot of time in and around birmingham going to shops, visiting family etc so it will be a good test of how the Battery lasts given the stop/start/traffic-jam nature of todays trip.

On the plus side it looks like I can claim business miles twice the rate of the actual mileage as my london trip cost me around 12-13p per mile and the govt rate is 26p - though I was driving very carefully this time..

[Silver Arrow]

I'm a bit tempted to try the Premier version, to see if that is OK, given it has non-F Sport suspension and lumbar support. Neither the SE or Luxury have Lumbar adjustment, which I find a bit strange.

I'm finding that the GS is just too big, and every time the Missus drives it she's complaining about how unwieldy it feels (which is true).

[Haf]

Quick question - is the key required to lock the doors as getting in and driving doesn't need the key so bit pointless if you then have to dig them out to lock up? I'm guessing I have missed something here?

[Wicksy]

Hi Haf

Just touch the grooves that are on the door handle and it will lock automatically

[F Sport Marcus]

Not that it's going to make a difference as my car's ordered, but is the rear camera standard on the F Sport??

[F Sport Marcus]

Hi Haf

Just touch the grooves that are on the door handle and it will lock automatically

What happens if the key is removed from the vehicle and a new driver takes the car away?

So if my wife/son drop me off and I keep the key in my pocket (I'm good at things like that!) they then go somewhere and will the car run/stop/lock/restart etc??

[wendle]

If the key is removed from the car while it is running You should
get a warning on the dash saying something like. “key not in car” or something
like that, but I believe the car will still run and continue until you turn if
off, but without the key you will not be able to re start it.

[CD69]

Not that it's going to make a difference as my car's ordered, but is the rear camera standard on the F Sport??

Camera only standard with nav. I haven't ordered that on my F-Sport so will have to make do with the sensors

[Haf]

Hi Haf

Just touch the grooves that are on the door handle and it will lock automatically

not easy to spot that little 'dent' for locking but very effective now that I know

[Haf]

Weekend Update

So, Had an excellent time with the F-Sport all weekend and am pretty convinced that this is the car for me.

Saturday was all about drive-ability/comfort/economy in weekend/city-centre traffic and I think I spent 3 odd hours driving at below 30mph, with lots of it under 10-20mph. I am very impressed with teh whole electric thing as teh Battery would run down as i was in EV mode a lot and then it wudl charge up if i used the breaks, went uphill, etc and then i was back in electric mode. Pretty much averaged 50mpg over the 70 odd miles I did - inc a few stretches of 30/40mph roads where i did over a mile on EV a few times. The whole day was a joy despite traffic jams and everyone who i took fopr a spin really liked the car and the ultra-blue colour. The good thing about being stuff in traffic was that it gave me a chance to play with the technology - of which there is plenty.

I got a bit frustrated with the trip computer as it told me mpg/average mph figurs but not the distance travelled. Eventually i spotted the button for the odometer and that sorted out that.

The camera beeps were really handy and allwoed me to not be paranoid about getting caught a few mph over the limit. Obvioulsy the rear camera is superb and parking/reversing etc was a breeze

All in all no faults found with the inner city driving so all looking good

Sunday was all about having some fun - I thought I'd try 'sports' mode around some country A roads and first thing I noticed was the change to the dashboard with the main dash becoming a rev counter - how cool is that!!!!

I did put the car through its paces with the manual gear paddles and it had some very impressive acceleraion while managing to do a good job of gripping the road. I'm a pretty mild mannered driver and doubt I pushed the car to anywhere near its capabilities but it seemed more than up to the job of some quick overtaking on short stretches of road so that was my main test.

Obviously the mpg nosedived in sports mode but can't say that surprised me.

So my conclusion is that the car looks and drives better than my initial impression and its really hard to fault in any area. Boots is a bit on the small side but folding seats means that its not a big issue. The keyless stuff takes a bit of getting used to as i kept reaching for the key and the satnav is super good. I was surprised how quickly i got to grips with the 'mouse' control and it became second nature very quickly - though lefties will have an advnatge for once (I'm a rightie)

The main display is definatly distracting as i kept looking at it to see if the engine or Battery was being used etc and I found it quite useful - though suspect it will become less of a distraction as you get used to the car.

Finally I tallied up my mileage for the 3 days and the results were

200 miles return to central london

80 miles in and around birmingham

80 miles mainly a roads around warwick

My normal driving style is pretty mild and I was also interested in fuel economy so most of the miles were done in eco-mode.

I had put in £50 when i got the car and I still haven't used it all up so the economy side is very impressive - especially as my london business trip will refund me £52 just for that. I'll have to put a few miles on it in the morning so I return it with the same fule as i got it with.

Next up is the 420D M Sport so that will be interesting given I am pretty much sold on the lexus.

[DJP]

Glad you enjoyed the weekend!

I've never had a diesel and not had to worry overly about mpg. I'm pretty sold on the hybrid technology and am surprised other manufacturers seem to be well behind the curve.

When do you have the BM?

[Silver Arrow]

Thats a great review Haf, well done for taking the time.

[Roger Bill]

Haf, Many thanks for sharing your detailed thoughts. Like DJP I'm convinced by the smoothness, quietness and economics of hybrid technology which in part was the result of a test drive in a BMW 320D which I found surprisingly rough and noisy. My brother's Merc C250 is much more refined but it's had reliability issues and, as a replacement model is due next year, I've also ruled out the Merc.

I'll be very interested in your thoughts on the BMW.

[Haf]

Glad you enjoyed the weekend!

I've never had a diesel and not had to worry overly about mpg. I'm pretty sold on the hybrid technology and am surprised other manufacturers seem to be well behind the curve.

When do you have the BM?

BMW comes for weekend after this one and I need to get my order in by mid Jan