wharfhouse

I purchased a 2 year old IS 300h with 40k miles on the clock and it has now done 75k miles without problems. If you are buying a car with full known history then a higher mileage can save you quite a bit of money. You can also get extended warranty from Lexus for total peace of mind. You can also negotiate better on a higher mileage car at Lexus dealer as more people want low mileage - I manged to get something more off mine. You can find service costs on the Lexus website (under Owners / Maintenance and then select the model id car) - it's a 10k mile/1 year service interval and costs vary a bit depending on what is done each service but budget about £900 for each minor and major pair (so 20k mikes/2 years). Road tax used to be £10 a year until the government changed how it was set - so depending on age you might be on £10 a year otherwise current rates.

Looks like AIS will pick it up again as it rounds Yemen into the Red Sea looking at the other vessels in that area - from the speed that should be about 5 days from the last reported position - so around the 6th June - just worked that out from a map and looked at MarineTraffic and it's scheduled to be at the Suez Canal 9th June 18:00 UTC but should be showing position at it goes up the Red Sea

MarineTraffic reported on 1st June at 13:30 UTC speed 17kn heading 284 deg and so you can probably extrapolate a course and likely landfall from that if you so inclined...

The AIS signal from vessels and what the default (free) marine apps use has a limited range. It's VHF and so about 20miles (there is a newer system that is starting to use satellites now for tracking). The AIS receivers on land therefore track vessels within about that range offshore. As such, once the vessel is more than about 20 miles from an AIS receiver (so usually from land) it will show as "out of range" and the last tracked position is on the map with the last reported time/heading etc. Once the vessel comes back in range of an AIS receiver the app will show the vessel again in pretty much real time. I just checked on the Toledo and looking at the route it would indeed be out of range but keep checking and it will reappear when it passes closer to land again. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_identification_system for more about AIS.

Try www.marinetraffic.com - I use this to track yachts my daughter sails on - it updates continuously - also available as an app for the phone/tablet (free if you happy with a few ads or a small price to get ad free). All the apps use the same AIS data from the ships.

Yes, I think that there is an element it being "different" - as I said before when I went back to a conventional autobox that was then "different" to what I had become used to with the e-cvt and I found it very alien again even though a few years ago I had numerous cars with conventional autoboxes. Also, I haven't driven a UX or ES to compare but in the IS the engine isn't all that intrusive and so although you know the revs have risen I don't find it particularly harsh or noisy - I have heard much worse in conventional drive train cars.

I'm not sure how this is that much different to a traditional autobox - with a traditional autobox if you mash throttle, especially into kickdown, the box swaps a few cogs to a low ratio, the engine revs rise then quickly reach peak torque and then stay high until you ease off - the only difference is that as the cogs in the conventional autobox swap up you have the slight drop in revs of perhaps 1.5k - 2k revs until they build again and another gear swap takes place. The e-cvt simply doesn't have that sawtooth 2k rev cycle but the engine maintains revs at max efficiency until you back off - with the conventional autobox or e-cvt full throttle it's still basically lots of revs and accompanying engine noise... Yes, it is a bit different with the e-cvt - that doesn't make one right or wrong though - remember the Williams F1 car that had a cvt fitted - why - because by holding the engine at peak efficiency the car was quicker than with a conventional gear box. The FIA immediately banned cvts when it was clear it was quicker before it even raced - although there is also another point of view that it was banned because it didn't have the "noise" of a conventional drive train. If one is wedded to that rise and fall in engine revs as the gearbox (less efficiently) moves the car forward an e-cvt will never be the right choice. However, if one has an open mind to change and understands the many benefits the e-cvt delivers over a conventional gearbox in normal day-to-day use one can move forward with the technology. My best advice (having lived with mine for 2.5 years) it to not be concerned and just use the car - the mind remaps to the way the car drives and sounds after a couple of months and unless your daily commute involves flooring the throttle at every opportunity and you really miss that rise and fall of revs and all the gear swapping, the benefits of e-cvt (IMHO) are many compared to any perceived loss.

A few more thoughts on the above - putting the car in Sports mode does the following - sharpens throttle response (needs less pedal travel to get the same response) - stops the car going into EV so much so the engine stays on more which reduces the amount of time you have the slight lag as the engine comes in - maximises the use of the hybrid battery to augment the engine for performance and not economy - sharpens the steering response If the S setting on the gear stick is selected (instead of D) then you get 6 simulated sequential gears that behave like a traditional autobox (gear stick or paddle shift on the steering wheel) giving you some manual control over the engine response as you can go up and down those simulated gears to get the engine in the right rev range for what you want to do. Combining Sport mode with S gives the best way to reduce any throttle lag and helps the predictability of power delivery mentioned - to be honest though I hardly ever use the simulated gears. If you get an F Sport trim there is also an option for stiffening the dampers - I don't have an F Sport so not sure how that feels. The F Sport (other than the damper settings) has no performance advantage over the other models - the rest is just cosmetic and trim features etc. I think the comments about throttle lag depend on previous experiences and driving style. The IS 300h can be hustled along quickly in a spirited way but responds best to smoothness and not harsh point and squirt. IMO I don't find have any serious issues with throttle lag or inconsistent power delivery but I drive the car every day and so appreciate it might be down to our ability to drive around how a car responds with experience. I have driven other cars since getting my IS 300h and have to say that stepping into a car with a traditional engine and autobox now feels as different as the IS 300h did when I first drove it. In fact I had a Merc C200 auto petrol hire car for a while and that autobox was just terrible - the lag waiting for it to make up its mind and then swap cogs seems to take forever and it had a real lag trying to make a quick start along with always being in too high a gear when needing to accelerate - very frustrating to drive - any perceived lag or inconsistent power delivery on the IS 300h faded into insignificance after that experience so everything is relative...

Mash a traditional auto box and it will eventually swap down some gears and then accelerate with revs jumping up and down in the top third of the range whilst the car changes gear as they near the peak - when you ease off the car will swap cogs up the gears to a higher one for cruising. Mash a Lexus e-cvt and the revs rise to about 2/3 of max and the car accelerates - the revs then hold and/or continue to rise more slowly over the last third if you keep your foot to the floor - if you ease off the revs fall sharply as the car starts cruising at the set speed. That's the way the IS 300h drive train works. Rather than mash the pedal to the floor if you "squeeze" it to the floor over about a second or so then the revs rise a little more in line with speed. Also there is the kick down too - if you don't activate the kick down (so stop before you feel the kick down switch) the revs are more controlled (rather than just maxing out). If you mash the pedal to the floor the car uses the kick down switch for max torque/revs (similar to a traditional auto kick down that swaps to the lowest cog and the engine revs for max torque). I always say that you really do need to drive a Lexus e-cvt car for a few weeks to "get" the way the drivetrain works. A few miles (or even a day) with the car and like anything "different" it feels strange. I had an IS 300h loan car for a day and made my decision to purchase after that but realise how much more I know now. But once you have experienced the e-cvt and get the feel of how it's working unless you drive the car like it's been stolen all the time it is a very refined piece of clever engineering that is more in tune with modern traffic than a traditional autobox - and I come from higher powered BMWs with autoboxes before I got my IS 300h and so have experience of a good autobox to compare it with. Not sure what car you had previously but I also drove a Merc C200 petrol hire car with auto about a year ago for a couple of months and have to say after the Lexus e-cvt it was atrocious - slow to respond, often in the wrong gear and certainly not smooth!

I also came from a BMW 330i (a bit newer than yours and with the straight six petrol and auto) to the IS 300h. I can echo what Jason said above. The BMW 330i was an impressive car and I loved the straight six (I'd had a number of BMW straight sixes before and pretty much bought BMW for that engine more than anything else). It was certainly fast and handled well but actually I was finding compared with earlier BMWs it was starting to feel a bit sterile and I dare I say it "common" and becoming out of touch with what most drivers need 80%+ of the time. Combined with the lack of opportunities on todays roads to really get anywhere close to maxing out the BMW I decided it was time for a switch and after a lot of contemplation (and a day's test drive) I settled on the IS 300h. IMO the IS 300h is an ideal blend for today's roads, especially in this country. Yes, there are a few places left where you can have a bit of old style fun, but even those are disappearing fast or festooned with speed cameras! The IS 300h may not be quite up with the 330i when those odd occasions arise (however it does make a good showing still) but only you know how you weight those opportunities in your selection. The IS 300h is a very accomplished car. It's built around a well-balanced rear wheel drive chassis that feel nice to drive rapidly - it's not a point and squirt rocket however but more of a grand tourer and treated like that will cover many miles quickly, quietly, refined and in safety and leave you getting out the other end refreshed. Acceleration feel is certainly different to the BMW and the E-CVT takes a little bit of getting used to (but no where near as much as the auto press make out) as there are no gear changes which after many years (even with auto boxes) have subliminally embedded themselves in our brains as markers for speed. But once you move past that (and it does take perhaps a couple of thousand miles for the brain to relearn) and treat the car as a grand tourer and not a hot hatch you start to enjoy the seamless take-off and power delivery. In fact after going back to cars with traditional auto boxes I now find all the cog swapping a real turn off in them. The different drive modes allow you to choose what you want from the car. I run mine in Eco a lot of the time simply because I am often in a stream of traffic - either busy motorway or motorway road works or A roads in a line of traffic and for the most part there is just no sense in doing anything else. If I am not able to make any faster progress than the line of traffic in front why waste any more petrol than I need to! On open motorway I also use Eco and cruise control - in that case you are not altering speed but cruising (at whatever speed you think suitable) and so might as well let the car sort out best economy. If I want a burst of performance (overtaking, or the odd chance to make rapid progress on a A/B roads etc.) then Sport mode blends the battery/electric for performance rather than economy and delivers sensibly brisk and seamless progress (but at the detriment of fuel consumption) with very little lag - in Sport mode you can also use the simulated 6 speeds to pre-select a lower "gear" for overtaking if you feel the need which means pickup is pretty much the same as any other auto box. Or just leave the car in Normal if you don't want to think about it. I have to say that since having my IS 300h (for 2.5 years now) I don't miss the BMW 330i. In fact, in my pecking order of best cars, I always held my 1997 BMW 528i E39 as my top car (above the 330i) for its sublime blend of performance, luxury and ability to cover long distances with no stress (I did over 200k miles in that car) but now put the IS 300h alongside that 528i for similar qualities. I enjoy getting in the IS 300h and driving - especially when the journey will be a few hours - oddly something that I had stopped doing in the 330i which was a great sports saloon but actually not that great for long distances (that is where my 528i was actually much better than the 330i). I don't drive to max fuel consumption but where it makes sense (as above) I feel I might as well get the best consumption where progress is constrained by other factors. Fuel consumption in my IS 300h averages (on the trip computer) around 48mpg (bit lower in winter). On a long motorway run will easily do 50+mpg and on free flowing A roads at 40-60mph and driving calmly 60+mpg is possible. Sport mode tends to knock off about 10mpg - but then I would also be driving more briskly otherwise I wouldn't be using it! The great thing with the hybrid is that when you come the inevitable motorway 50mph roadworks or sat in traffic jams the economy actually improves...! A small consolation for sitting there. And in stop start motorway traffic it is at least a serene experience as the car will stay in EV mode a lot of the time with none of the stop start judder and cog swapping of normal engine/gearboxes (which can become tiresome and irritating). Of course there is no substitute for a test drive, however a spin around the block will not give a true feel for the car in day-to-day use - you really need to get one for a day to get anywhere close to that and in all honesty even that is too short - it takes a couple of months with the car to truly appreciate its depth of qualities. About a year into my ownership I was involved in an accident (not my fault) but there was a possibility they might write the car off. Without hesitation I was looking for another IS 300h to replace it and at that time if I wasn't convinced it was the right car for modern traffic I could have changed - in the end the car was immaculately repaired (by Lexus) and I was very pleased to get it back.

75k miles in my 64 reg - only thing that has gone wrong is a sensor in the washer fluid bottle that was replaced under extended warranty.

Yep - definitely a positive on the maintenance costs. Also my tyres seem to last a lot longer on the IS 300h too than any other car I have had - 40-50k miles for the fronts and 30k miles for the rears - can't explain that one though as don't see how the hybrid helps with that...

With any non-hybrid car you have a point but with the IS 300h they don't wear at the same rate. Bought mine at 40k miles and now 75k miles and still original disks and pads all round - front discs now have a slight lip but will easily pass 80k miles and probably more

Mine's a 2014 IS 300h Executive trim (so 17" wheels) and will easily average 48mpg (on the car computer) and on a long motorway run where I can leave it on cruise control and make good progress 52+ mpg (again on the car computer) and on free flowing A/B roads 40-60mph have had 60+ mpg (on car computer). Best consumption is when the weather is around 20C outside - lose about 10% in winter and a few percent when the air con has to work harder.

I guess that's reasonable even though the discs and pads without the caliper issue were less than half way through their life...

IMHO the car is setup as more of a long distance cruiser than a "sports" saloon - at least in non F Sport trim. I do about 15k miles a year and the majority of that is longer motorway journeys of a few hours or more - including for example Berkshire to Yorkshire, Lancashire, Ipswich and the Lake District. Last year I did Reading to Warrington one day, back to Heathrow and Reading the next day and then the next day back up to Warrington again and then back down to Reading the day after. The front seats (I have the normal ones, not F Sport) are very comfortable and supportive and I always get out feeling great regardless of how long I spend in the car. My passenger finds the front seats better than my last BMW. I don't carry rear seat passengers so much but never had any complaints when I do, although leg room is of course going to be less than your 430... For long distances on the motorways I put the car in Eco and the cruise control on and then settle back to listen to some music. The time just washes by and the e-CVT is in its element keeping revs very low. Even in traffic (and there is plenty of that on some of my journeys) the hybrid really comes into it's own - in slow moving traffic it's often running on battery and when stopped everything is powered by the battery (no need for the engine) for a decent length of time. No jerky stop start system in the IS unlike many cars...! The odd thing to watch is that the mpg gets actually gets better when in a traffic jam rather then plummeting like on most cars... For what you are looking for (long distance) you won't be disappointed - well not sure how you might feel compared to the 430 - but compared to any other car in the same market as the IS you won't be disappointed. Like others have said it would be worth getting a car for a 24 hour test drive if you can but that said it does take a couple of months living with the hybrid to truly appreciate it's strengths.

Always love this - Williams F1 and the CVT (not quite the e-cvt as it's belt driven but same physics principles) - immediately banned by the FIA - rumoured to be faster than a conventional engine/gearbox but never allowed to race... https://badgergp.com/insta-banned-f1-tech-that-was-banned-immediately/

Yes it has - just the same as the RC - can have it's uses or just for a bit of fun. Mind you, the acceleration time is actually faster when left to it's own devices...!!!

You also might find this useful - it is the Lexus IS brochure from circa 2015 showing the car and trim specs etc. at that time Lexus IS.pdf

There was also an Executive trim (I have this) - price was between SE and Luxury - the Executive had leather seats and the non-premium sat nav and 4x parking sensors as standard - Luxury by default has cloth and no sat nav though I think many owners upgraded the Luxury spec with these on ordering.

It is true that normally the pads and disks do not need replacing at that mileage - my car has done some 74K miles and no replacement yet and following the last service report probably not for a good many more miles. However, if one side has been overheated due to a sticking caliper for safety reasons they would replace the pads and disk regardless of mileage and of course if they do one side they should do both sides (disk and pads) for safety reasons as well. The argument with Lexus is over whether the caliper should have seized in that time and if this is under extended warranty - if so the caliper, pads and disks (both sides) must all be done under the warranty claim for the above reasons too. Even if there was some wear and tear reduction for pads and discs at 33k miles you are probably only about 1/3 of the way through their life.

When I have had the same problem (sticking caliper on one side) on a different car the garage said they had to replace the disk and pads as well as he caliper due to overheating and for safety had to replace both sides, so I would assume that the £777 is for caliper, two disks and all pads. Worrying that this has occurred on only 33k miles 2015 car. I have a 2014 car with about 74K miles - all seems ok at the moment though. For future reference would be interesting to know the actual caliper fault - so whether the slide pins or something more serious with the caliper like a sticking piston as I have extended warranty too. Given it's the front wheels then those calipers get more use than the rears where if there was going to be a problem you would think that is more likely as they get much less use.

Don't worry about anything you have read in the motoring press... it's all based on very little time with the car. Simply enjoy the car and don't get too concerned with anything at the outset. Every journey I make in mine is always a pleasure and that is a feeling I had started to lose in previous cars. Getting best mpg from the hybrid comes with some time behind the wheel - after the first few weeks of trying everything out, depending on your mileage, maybe a couple of months. It isn't a point and squirt sports car but is extremely capable in today's traffic in both urban environments and as a very refined long distance touring car. Max mpg comes from Eco mode and anticipation - that's not driving slowly but easing off a bit earlier than you might have in the past and light use of brakes to get max regen. Below ~45mph lift off the throttle and it will likely go into EV mode then just lightly apply the throttle again to maintain speed and it will run in EV mode for a surprisingly long time. It's something that comes naturally after a while. If you need some power (fast A roads and overtaking) put it in Sports mode and for more control move the gear selector to S if the mood take you and the car will make rapid but smooth progress (manual gear selection only really works with the feel of a 6 speed box with the gear selector in S otherwise in D the manual control acts as more of a gear hold like for long descents rather than actually using it for sequential steps - this is not well explained anywhere and what trips up many people).

Sounds like a good price all in given the low mileage

The repair looks great - well done - did you tot up the total cost of the repair in the end?