lee789

Well I certainly wouldn't recommend an NX to anybody, especially not the hybrid version. My wife uses mine now, and she doesn't really like it much either. As for the Tesla, I'm rather put off by the price, and the increasing number of poor reliability reports surfacing (see here) http://www.autotrainingcentre.com/blog/tesla-model-chronically-unreliable-2/ I've mentioned it on the forum before, but I'm currently driving my company's Volvo V60 plug in. Absolutely phenomenal car - constant 90 + mpg, 30 miles on a charge, 0-60 in 5.8 seconds, and every bit of kit imaginable. I was put off buying one for myself because of the limited boot space, but now I reckon it just about OK for what I need. There's a few 15 plates around that were close to £60k in March now going for £35k. That's a lot of car for the money. Hmmm!!

I wouldn't touch an Infiniti with a barge pole. I seriously looked into ownership a couple of years ago, but after speaking with Infiniti GB Customer Services on a number of occasions, I came to the conclusion that they really hadn't got a clue, and that the way the company operates makes ownership a nightmare waiting to happen. No extended warranties, no pick up at service times after the 3 year warranty expires, parts only available through dealerships with Nissan not being allowed to work on the cars, expensive servicing & parts, absolutely dreadful residuals across the range. A shame, because having driven the old G37 Coupe Convertible and the M Hybrid Premier model, I was really impressed. For reference, a friend of mine bought and owned an Infiniti M class for 3 years from new. He paid £45,000 for the top spec model, and after 3 years and just 12,000 miles, he had a best p/ex offer of £10500 for it, and that was from an Infiniti dealer. He's kept it.

lol....Yeah, the Leaf has the aerodynamics of a breeze block, and the same residuals. Super little car though, and a pity they didn't fit it with something like a 1L back up petrol engine to extend the range.

I'd be really surprised if the Tesla S gets close 3.5 miles/KWH in the real world, and especially on UK stop/start roads. My wife drives a Leaf, and the most we get is around 75 miles per charge in mixed driving. although we used to achieve nearer 90 mile before the morons at my local Nissan garage did an unrequested update to the software. Volvo reckon 3 miles per KWH is achievable from their V60, but I've found that 2.25 is a much more realistic figure. I will be really interested to read your reports on the Tesla, because I have considered it myself, but I'm rather wary of long term reliability, manufacturer support here in the UK, and residuals.

Good luck with that. Dealers and owners have been contacting Lexus for best part of a year now regarding the lack of spec options on the sub Premier NX models. If anyone is listening, it obviously takes them a long time to put things in place. I'm pretty sure the Panoramic Roof was on option from day one on the NX. I bought mine in September 2014, and it was certainly available then, although I decided against because it removed the roof rails.

Tony. Here's the engine spec for NX and IS 300H models. Lexus NX 300H Engine - The 2AR-FXE [8] is an Atkinson cycle variant of the 2AR-FE. It has the same bore and stroke, but the cams and pistons are unique. Geometrical compression ratio is 12.5:1 The large valve overlap leads to a reduction in cylinder charge and reduced torque and power output, but efficiency is increased. This combination makes the 2AR-FXE suitable for use in hybrid vehicles, where peak torque and power demands can be met by theelectric motor and battery. Lexus IS 300H Engine - The 2AR-FSE is a direct-injected variant of the 2AR-FE. It has the same bore and stroke, but the cylinder head, cams and pistons are unique as well as the fuel management system. Thermal efficiency is about an excellent 38,5%.[9] Maybe the decision to go with the reduced torque and power supplied by the 2AR-FXE engine in the NX was deliberate, so that it didn't overshadow the performance of the 200T. Who knows, but IMHO it was a bad decison.

I believe a US gallon is about 20% less than a UK gallon, so that indicates US owners are being misled too, It is likely they are actually getting about 25 or 26 mpg from a US gallon.

Unless things have changed in the last few months, you can't get Infiniti's serviced at Nissan. In fact Infiniti specifically told Nissan dealers not to touch the cars, and won't even supply them with parts. One of the things that put me off, along with appalling MPG, high tax, dealers miles and miles away, no option for an extended warranty, and depreciation of 60% in the first year.

Yes, looking at articles on the web, some insurers want to know everything fitted above base spec, whilst some appear not to. My company states mods are anything not fitted on the car at date of first registration, so they seem to accept factory fitted options with no questions. This must be very confusing for anybody buying a used car, and not knowing what is and what is not original, or what the factory options are if their company needs to know.

Things are marginally better in the NX F-Sport if you make full use of the flappy paddles.

Thought so Pete. Probably trying to frighten people into using their comparison site to switch insurers.

Please see attached article from U-Switch. I have never declared any factory fitted options when taking out a policy, and didn't think you needed to. I know that after market mods are declarable. However, this article says that some insurers need to know everything fitted to car above standard base spec. Is it true, or just scaremongering rubbish? If true, I reckon millions must be driving around with factory options, unaware that their insurance may be invalid. http://www.uswitch.com/car-insurance/modified-car-insurance/?ref=email~insight~150720~uswitch_&utm_campaign=insight&utm_content=150720&utm_medium=email&utm_source=uswitch

They have been shamed into lowering diesel prices by the media, as wholesale market prices for diesel have been lower than petrol for some time now, and as usual, they haven't been passing it on to us. I thought an inquiry into fuel prices was conducted a while back, and it concluded that the big corporations were being fair in passing on lower costs to motorists. No doubt like all government or independent inquiries, backhanders were rife, and those on the committee probably had vested interests in the companies they were investigating.

I reckon Lexus may go straight from hybrid to Mirai Hydrogen Fuel cells. Then we will have cars that cost pennies to run, but no infrastructure in the UK to support them. Let's face it, they can't even provide adequate recharging points, or deal with the thoughtless idiots who constantly park their cars in bays reserved for plug in vehicles only.

Pity Lexus haven't gone down the plug in route, because the NX would be a much better car all round with the hugely improved economy, and big increase in performance. I wasn't impressed with the Outlander PHEV either, and a friend who works at a dealer with Mitsubishi on the same site told me that the cars were cheap, nasty and felt like they were made from recycled beer cans. Not really what you expect when paying up to £43k for the car.

Right on all counts Alec. It was the petrol engine that attracted me to the NX, as there are not many SUV petrol alternatives. Just a shame the 2.5 is so disappointing. I would agree that your driving would make petrol the better option, but if you do between 20-30 miles a day, perhaps a plug in hybrid would be your better option?

The problem there Goggy is that all those other cars are either petrol or diesel only (apart from the PHEV version of the Outlander which can achieve far better figures), whereas the NX is a petrol hybrid, and sold as being more economical due to the hybrid drive train. It would be interesting to see the economy of the NX as a straight 2.5 with no hybrid system, because I reckon it would be down in the low 20s, The issue seems to be that the 2.5 engine is under powered, and uneconomical, which is not a good combination. It needs a more powerful and economic petrol engine, and a larger battery pack for the hybrid system. Until that happens you have an expensive, slow uneconomic car, that is hopeless at tackling hilly roads with anything like a full load. My guess is Lexus are well aware of the 300H's shortcomings, but they would have made the 200T less attractive to buyers by giving it the extra power it needs.

So in 2017, you will be able to buy the most polluting car you can find for under £40k, pay a one off 1st year rate of £2k, and then the same £140 flat rate as somebody driving a car producing 1gm per km CO2. The mans a fool.

Yes, so much for encouraging environmentally friendly cars. Any fool could have told them that the income from VED would fall dramatically as cars became more CO2 efficient. What they plan to do isn't going to encourage people to buy low emission vehicles anymore, and I expect there will be a lot more attractive propositions grouped together in the 95% of cars that will be rated at £140 a year. When thy get clobbered with fines from the EU for not reaching emissions targets, they will just pass it on to us by way of increases in our energy bills. That will take care of the fines, and there will be a consequential reduction in emissions because millions won't be able to afford to heat their homes.

Yes, we've mostly decided it's not that good, even taking the usual discrepancy with the manufacturers official figures into account.

That's probably true if you are trying to sell, but on the used forecourt there is often still a £3k difference between cars that have, and those that don't. Probably why they are still on the forecourt!!

Alec, I've had the pre-delivery paintwork and interior treatment done twice, once paid for, once thrown into the deal. The £500 cost is simply not worth it. As you say,you can do it yourself quite easily for a fraction of the price, buying the items on-line (Supaguard for the paintwork, and Scotchguard products for leather and carpets). Frankly, I trust car dealers about as far as I can throw them, and I know these treatments are a big money maker for them. I'm not saying they are all dishonest, but I bet some take your money and don't do a thing. I have the Premium Sat Nav in our NX which I believe is a £2000 option. It also gives you the uprated stereo, and the awful touch pad. If you don't use sat nav much, and are not bothered about an uprated stereo (the basic is just fine anyway), then go for the standard Lexus Navigation. It looks nice, works well, and will be a lot neater than a Tom Tom. It also adds value to the car when it's time to sell, which a Tom Tom and a treatment won't. See if the dealer will throw in sat nav at reduced cost as part of the deal.

That's true. My son in law has a 200t on order for delivery in September, something he rather rushed into after test driving one for a few days, and then being told by a Lexus salesman that he needed to act fast if he wanted one this year. Since then he has realised the spec options of the 200t are severely limited, and that even going for the panoramic roof he wanted deletes the roof bars from the car. He wants roof bars, so has had to go for the electric sunroof instead, which is something I would have gone for if I had realised how dark the interior of the NX is without one. I think he has reached the point now where he thinks he has made a mistake ordering the car, is worried he will miss some of the options he has on his current car, and that when he comes to sell the 200t there isn't going to be much interest. Unfortunately he will lose his £1000 deposit, but that's a lot better than paying £39k for a car you aren't entirely happy about before it even arrives.

I'm sure the 2.5 petrol engine coupled with hybrid batteries in the 300h is capable of producing a good deal more than 195bhp. As it currently stands with the NX 300h you get the worst of all worlds - poor performance, poor fuel economy, poor choice of options. So, basically the slightly lower VED and edgy looks are really the only plus points as far as I can see. I agree that Lexus screwed the 330h over, just as much as the customers (like me) who have bought it. Then again, it looks like they are about to screw over RX owners with the price of the new model.

Yes Tony, the V60 PHEV is a very good car, and would suit me nicely if the boot was just a little bigger, and Volvo were a bit more realistic with their pricing. (£53k for a decent spec after the £5k government grant). Once the batteries are empty, I'm getting around 45-50mpg on diesel alone, and the batteries recharge partially whilst driving. One of the handiest things is the SAVE function in the car, where you can disable the batteries to save power - use diesel only when driving on faster roads, and engage the battery power again when you hit start/stop traffic. Ian is right that PHEV's are not a good idea if you do long commutes, unless you can recharge at work. Most manufacturers recommend diesels for above average mileage owners.I think Volvo were a bit silly putting a diesel in the car, when you consider it is aimed at people who do a lot of short journeys. We all know what happens to diesels if you don't give them frequent longer runs!! Another problem is that Volvo have put a sensor in the fuel tank which calculates the age and condition of the diesel. If it's been in there more than a few months it disables the hybrid system, and forces you to drive on diesel only until the tank has been depleted enough for a fresh top up. That doesn't make a lot of sense if you buy the car for mostly in-town driving, because you may get away without using fuel for months,