marrat

I test drove the GS300H Luxury spec, I don't know what it is called in the UK. It drove noticeably different compared to an IS300H F-sport. I doubt the GS300H with Sport + would make the car feel any different. The GS450H F-Sport with steering rear wheels is another beast entirely, but sadly it's too expensive and overkill for my needs.

I have a question for the people who went from IS to GS, concerning driving and handling. I've test driven both, this is obviously not nearly long enough to get to know the cars. Driving the GS300H after the IS300H, I lost all sense of dynamic driving. The car felt a lot bigger and drove like a boat (an exaggeration to make a point). Did you guys have the same experience?

I thought such cars were build to be driven sideways most of the time

I didn't know that. I assume the S-line and AMG had the sport suspension, I can't imagine how hard a sport suspension would feel like if those two were standard suspension. This might also explain why the BMW felt quite soft. You are correct about the dealers. Most Lexus dealers don't seem to know they have a car with AVS when the car is clearly fitted with AVS when you check it.

I've test driven a lot of cars now, from various brands. I'm probably on some blacklist by now, but you have to be very careful when spending 30K euros. The firmness of the F-Sport depends wholly on what you compare it to. If you compare to a Volvo S60 or my Prius on 15" wheels for example, the F-Sport will come out as rough. To be fair to the car, you should compare it to other sport sedan types (meaning Merc AMG, BMW Sport, Audi S-Line etc.). Compared to those, the IS300H F-Sport is actually very forgiving. The Audi and Merc C-Class seemed very rough to me, the Merc is also even lower than the IS300H (which already is borderline IMO). BMW seems to have softened up the ride, it wasn't as rough as I seem to remember from old models. My friends had M sport models in the past, they all felt like go-karts. I couldn't get comfortable in the seats though. I'd also advise you to seek out a model with AVS to test drive. To me, it seemed liked the regular F-Sport was comparable to F-Sport with AVS in Sport+ mode. Normal mode with AVS seemed to make the ride more forgiving. Don't quote me on this though, the difference might as well be down to the car itself and/or the tires. Without test driving there's no sensible answer to this, I asked this same question on this forum. What a "harsh ride" is, comes down to what you're used to. If you opt for a 'sport sedan', you'll have to live with less comfort sadly.

Did you pay for the update? If yes, I'd also be very angry.

Yep, no matter where I seem to park, someone parks right next to me, as close as possible.

Shouldn't VC improvements be a simple software update? Why would it be worse on the IS compared to the new RC?

My wife has a Leaf, it's our second car. Instead of going for something like a Mazda 2 or Auris, we decided to get a used Leaf. While it is a nice car, deceptively large and comfortable, there's no way it can in any way compete with something like the IS300H. We'll have to agree to disagree though, from your posts it's clear you'll put any average full EV above a Lexus.

There's a huge difference between the IS300h and the leaf in luxury, finishing of the interior, general look and feel of the car and overall performance, to name a few. It's not a fair comparison by a long shot. The range of the Leaf is also very, very temp dependent. It drops like a rock in cold temperatures, all reviews of the car name this as a big con. Comparing the IS300h to any EV, you should take Tesla. There you hit the price wall and you still don't get the finishing of the Lexus. Yes, EV is the future, but that future is still far away.

If you think you need to mark filters and whatnot to check whether the dealer did what was supposed to be done, it's probably time to look for another dealer

I'd never touch a diesel, but that is a great car. I hope one day I'll be able to comfortably afford a convertible for the summer weekends.

@Linas.P: you seem to think the Toyota/Lexus hybrids use a conventional petrol engine with some electric power usage at low speeds. You are incorrect on both parts. I suggest you read up on the underlying hybrid tech, it's very interesting really and it'll give you a better view on how it exactly works.

Even a Prius going at high speed doesn't take a huge hit on MPG, that's a myth. Read some reviews and such. Start-stop is the strength of the hybrid system. What do you think the electric engine does?

Could it be the battery getting too hot and the fan spinning at too high rpms to cool it? Or maybe the cooling intake for the battery is dirty so the fan needs to spin harder.

Apologies for hijacking the thread with a question, but it didn't seem important enough to start a thread. I was wondering whether the GS300H and the GS450H are exactly the same at same spec, apart from more power and rear wheel steering on the 450H. Are these simply the same cars with different engines?

Introducing such cars in countries which they know won't sell well, would be a bad business decision. Going through all that trouble for the 10 people (just an example) that potentially might one day maybe buy it, would be stupid. Companies like BMW and MB still ride their brand names, even though most of the fame is from their golden days, so it makes more sense for them to release a wide range. I'm very certain that even if companies like MB released the worst car in history, still a lot of people would buy it.

If you look at real world fuel consumption numbers, hybrids using the Atkinson engine like the Prius and IS300h are very close to their diesel counterparts when only motorway usage is taken into account. Who drives only in cities or only on the motorway? I'd think an hybrid which does slightly less MPG on the motorway compared to diesel, but crushes the diesel in city trips, should have preference. The only thing diesel has going for it IMO is the high torque at low RPM.

They're probably talking about the groaning when you brake at very low speeds.

Tires are extremely important for hybrids since any noise is magnified because the car itself is so quiet. My 3rd gen Prius was extremely loud and it was driving me nuts, especially on the brick roads we have here. During a maintenance the mechanic told me the tires were unusually noisy, the car had Dunlops at the front and Bridgestones at the back when I bought it. After doing a lot of reading, I bought Michelin CC tires and road noise is significantly reduced (as much as can be expected in the Prius with its bad isolation). Change the tires I'd say, read some reviews on internet first. From test drives, I found the GS300h and the IS300h very quiet, I do drive a Prius though.

I assume the biggest draw of an EV is the smooth ride, combined with instant and high power in the case of a Tesla. It does feel great to whoosh in three seconds, but I doubt anyone does that much after the first few tries. As for a smooth ride, I assume any petrol car in that price range will give a very smooth ride, like the GS450H for example. In my opinion, Tesla is like Apple. A great device, a nice image, but for that money there are better options. I do hope full EVs are the future, but that future isn't here yet. Give me things like loading up at home in a few minutes, proven reliability of the battery pack (or a very good warranty deal), light batteries, good price and great range, I'll buy an EV next week. For now, I'll take the middle road with a Lexus hybrid.

Is this a new car? The mpg will improve with time since it's winter now and the engine is new.

Can I ask which cars you guys compare the IS300H to when you say it isn't powerful enough?

I think it's you that doesn't get what everyone in this thread is about. I doubt anyone buying a hybrid now won't buy an EV eventually. The problem is that you are making assumptions (Toyota focuses on hydrogen cell cars only and doesn't do anything with EV), give a car which is overpriced and not worth the price IMO as an example of how it should be (Tesla) and call one of the most progressive series of cars old fashioned (Lexus hybrids).

I'd certainly buy a 5 liter V8 Ford Mustang with an "outdated combustion engine", if I could afford it and the fuel consumption wouldn't be crazy