Goggy

True, a rattle can do your head in. Glad they sorted it out.

Lexus NX300h Luxury - Petrol/Hybrid. Style. ***** Interior and Comfort. ***** Practicality and boot space. ***** Engines, and performance. **** Ride **** MPG. *** Reliability. ***** Verdict. ***** Style. The NX is the best looking SUV on the market right now, in my opinion. Although not all would agree with that statement as it is too much for some, but I think it looks stunning. Interior and Comfort. The interior is one of the best in its class. The leather seats are superb; in fact they are the best seats I have ever sat in, I wish I had them in my lounge. The driving position is easy to get right. The cabin is well laid out and in general it's a very nice place to be. Practicality and boot space. Compared to others in this class, the NX may be slightly smaller,but not by much. That is because it has a spare wheel! Yes, it is true, a car with a spare wheel, something of a rarity these days. The rear shelf is easily taken down and there is a space to store it away just above where the spare wheel is, a nice touch that. The seats easily fold down and the loading space is flat. The back seat legroom is good, so is headroom. The back doors open nice and wide, making it easy to get in and out, it is also easy to get young children in and out of child seats. Engines, and performance. In my opinion the 2.5 Petrol/Hybrid engine copes well on our UK roads. However, compared to a normal petrol car with a turbo, or a diesel, some may feel it lacks power. I don't find this, but maybe it is because my previous car was also a hybrid, so I am used to the power provided. There are three driving modes to choose from. 'Normal' is what I use mostly and I find it is not lacking. In fact compared to my old CT, it appears to have slightly more pulling power. Even the 'Eco' mode seems better, as I found the CT 'Eco' mode made the car a bit sluggish. I do get slightly better MPG when I use 'Eco', but it is so minimal I rarely use it. The 'Sport' mode makes the car slightly more responsive. I used 'Sport' mode quite a bit in my old CT, mainly to give better acceleration when overtaking, but I find in the NX it copes well enough in 'Normal' mode so have not used it as much. I understand that when fully loaded the 'Sport' mode helps the car on steep hills and when overtaking. As I have not had it fully loaded yet I have not tried this out. Ride. This is the one area I was disappointed in on the CT. Lexus gave the CT a sporty ride, which means it is quite firm. Some like this, others, myself included, did not. So I made sure the NX had a softer ride, it does. It is fair to say it is not the softest riding SUV, the Range Rover Discovery Sport is softer, but it also has a lot of body roll, which the NX does not have. If I was being really picky, I would say it could be softer, but I think the ride/body roll balance is not far off the mark, about the same as the BMW X3 and the Audi Q3. MPG. The official government figures published by Lexus and used in all the advertising states this car achieves 54.3mpg. This is not possible in real world driving. My average is about 34mpg, so well down on the official figures. On some long journeys I can reach the high 30's but on short trips to the shops etc it barely reaches 30mpg . This is still not bad for a car of this size and comparable to diesels on short journeys but lower than diesels on long journeys. I knew the real world figure would be mid 30's so it was not a big issue for me. Reliability. In my four and a half year ownership, covering 40k miles, I never had a need to take my CT back for any fault. Says it all really. Lexus dealerships are the best. I expect no difference for the NX Optional Extras I added the following: Protection pack - The rubber mats are very nice, especially in the winter months. The rubber boot mat and net is also very useful. Not sure if I like the mud flaps, but I am sure they help keep the car clean. Illuminated Scuff Plates - A bit pricey, but I must admit they do look nice, so I am glad I had them fitted. Panoramic Roof - You loose the roof rails, but as I would never use them it was not a problem. The interior is nice and light, even on a dull day. I understand some say the it can make the car noisier, but I have not found this. Passengers in the back seats love it, my grandson especially thinks it is great. 'It's like having a convertible without the wind' a passenger said. Sat Nav - Very overpriced, but I had it anyway. I have not used it much, but it seems to work well enough, albeit a bit complex to work. There is no way to turn off the voice easily without going back to the menu, which is daft. Convenience Pack - Power Tailgate, lazy but nice. Smartphone charger, only works well with some smartphones (not Apple iphones), so a bit of a gimmick really. Other Positives. I like the way the fog lights come on when cornering slowly, it illuminates where you are going, very handy. Reversing camera and front and rear parking sensors. A 'must have' in a car this size. Excellent. Smart entry is really nice. Adaptive Cruse Control is wonderful, not used much, but very useful on long motorway journeys. Electric Parking Brake and 'hold' button. Both are brilliant. Other Negatives. The bottoms of the doors (inside) get very dirty, especially the back doors which seem to attract the dirt/mud/leaves. I've never had this in a car before, so it needs regular cleaning. I think it must be a design fault. Hard to reach when cleaning the roof. Verdict. So far this car has been a dream to own. I love it, so does my wife. I look forward to driving it, which says it all really. I was concerned after reading various reviews, but I need not have been worried, as the NX does everything so well and in style. Only 2000 miles covered so far, which is not much, but I know the NX will serve us well for many years to come. I can't help but look back to it as I walk away. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I doubt I would find anything better than an NX. It does everything I want it to, drives well and looks stunning.

The adapter ends are not durable, I have ruined one already in just a few weeks. Mostly, you cannot just pull them in and out as there is not enough cable, if there was it would flap about somewhat. The only answer is to use it and leave it plugged in the lightening slot all the time and use it in conjunction with a home charger pad. As I mentioned before, I found it quite slow to charge and also the phone became quite hot. Not ideal, but I have another charger pad on order so will have another go. You would have thought that an Apple would have thought of this.

The only cases I have seen all come with a bit you need to plug into the lightening connector. Apple do a case like that, but it is only available in the USA and is quite expensive at about £80. So, as far as I know all types need to be plugged in, there is no other way of remotely charging an Apple phone, or any phone unless it says it can be charged remotely. Buying what I bought is only about £15, so it is not a lot to try it out.

I bought a charger that plugs into the lightning connector on my iPhone, the charging pad sticks onto the back of my phone then I put the normal case on. I also bought a plug in charging ring so I can charge it at home without having to unplug the pad which is a nuisance. So my phone can just be put onto the charging tray in the car or on the charging ring at home. The only down side to all this is that it takes longer to charge up, it also can get quite hot, I also forget to remove the phone from the tray when I leave the car sometimes. Dohhhhh. The NX is still very rare. I have only seen two on the road, one is local (satin silver), so I see it 2-3 times a week, the other (mercury grey) was on the motorway last week.

No wonder you turn to look at it as you walk away, it looks brilliant. I don't care what anyone says about it, style counts.

Great choice. I have a Luxury in Sonic too, it looks great. I wish I could have gone for the Premier, lot's more toys, but it was just outside my budget, well in fact so was the Luxury but what the hell.

Looks very nice too. Enjoy it.

I have been told that most car magaizines are owned by German group companies. Not sure if that is true or not, but could explain a lot. :)

I've had my Luxury for two months now and it's been a dream to own so far. Early days of course and I will do a report when I get the time, but it is all I hoped it would be and more. My wife also loves it and she is very hard to please. :) The expert reports on the car appear to be way off the mark, although as they test many cars maybe they feel a hybrid is not quite up to what normal engines provide. Maybe they are right to a degree, but for normal driving I have not found it wanting. Of course if you want 'greased lightening' acceleration you don't buy a hybrid in the first place, it's simply not what it is about. As for the ride, it is well balanced, with little to complain about other than the odd pothole which would test most cars. Only slight negative for me is the MPG. The 54 claimed is just not achievable. I am currently getting about 34 MPG average, as most of my journeys are of short duration (28-30 MPG) when the car has hardly warmed up, on longer journeys (38-40 MPG) it is much better. I knew this before I bought the car so it is not a issue as such, but would have liked an average in the high 30's. But this is something you need to be aware of. Other than that it is perfect. :)

Nice tip, just changed my settings to open when in 'P', much easier. :)

I'm on only my second, but my experience with my CT made it very hard to go elsewhere. A long way to catch up with you mind. :)

Blimey, that is a long wait. :(

Thanks Dan, you hit the nail on the head. Silly me, I did not realise that when you open the passenger door, the rest of the car is still locked. You are correct in saying you must press the unlock button on the either door before you press the boot release button. Obvious now, but I just did not suss that bit out. Thanks for putting me straight. And thanks for the other replies saying much the same, the car must be unlocked before it will work, but opening the passenger door does not do that. Dohhhhh. ;(

Yes, I do the same as with the key. There is a beep sound, but not the normal one, so it must be registering. Was the car locked when you tried to open the boot? I think it's a bit daft but you can't open the boot unless the doors are unlocked. Sent from my iPad using Lexus OC Yes, I tried to unlock it from the button on the boot, but no joy there either.

Yes, I do the same as with the key. There is a beep sound, but not the normal one, so it must be registering.

Yeah, I tried both, but that one day it just refused to open. So I went through the boot via the back seats. The next time it happened I just did that straight away to save time. Not ideal obviously. I will try different options to see if I can work out what I am doing wrong.

One annoying thing, sometimes the power boot refuses to work from pressing the button on the dash. I have been dropped off at the station and on both occasions the boot would not open and although the car was turned off it still did not want to open, so I had to clamber in the back seat to get to my case. Is there a delay when it will not work after the engine is switched off? Or am I doing something wrong?

Average since ownership 33.8 see Fuelly http://www.fuelly.com/car/lexus/nx300h/2015/goggy/388903 Short local journeys is 30pmg, average journeys on A&B roads is 32-34, longer journeys on mix or roads including motorways is 36-38, best was 40.

One problem I didn't think of when choosing my NX. The wife loves it so much, so I rarely get to drive it myself. :megaangry: Stupid boy.

Nice job Rayaan, my car looks great after following your advice, thanks. Alec.

If the ride on the sport (due to lateral dampers) makes it a smoother ride than the other cars in the range that does not make sense. There is an argument that the dampers should be used on all NX's. I declared my need for a smooth ride to the dealership I bought my car from and was told to avoid the 'sport', maybe that was wrong information.

I am staying with my sick mother right now, and my wife has kept the car, grrrrr. So, this may be a daft question, but as I can't check it out by doing it myself, can you open it manually?

Yep, I agree totally. In fact I tend to walk if I can, anything up yo 30 minutes is what I try to stick to, unless I am picking up something too heavy to carry or I am in a hurry. But of course not everyone is fit enough to do that. It is easy to assume everyone should be able to walk 900 yards, sadly, that is often not the case.

Maybe the newer models have better MPG. It also varies a lot depending on type of roads and speed. I know someone who goes to Norfolk and Suffolk a lot and because the there are no hills and is mainly 'A' and 'B' roads he gets a lot more MPG than where he lives which is hilly and mainly Motorway and 'A'road driving.