wharfhouse

The £27 is (according to my Lexus dealer) the discounted MOT price with a service plan in place - when I took mine for a service and MOT I wasn't on a service plan but discussed this with the service department and decided to sign-up to cover future servicing. As I decided to sign up to a service plan going forwards (although paying on the day for the current service and MOT) they discounted that current MOT to the same £27 as if I had a service plan in place.

Had this happen to me for the first time today. Sat at traffic lights and was at the front of the queue so nothing in front of me. Pouring down with rain and suddenly the front parking sensors (centre ones) went off much to my amazement and that of my passenger - just as if I was approaching a wall! As soon as I set off they stopped and didn't have the problem from there on. I put it down to rain running down over the sensors.

Haven't tried super unleaded in my 300h but in my previous BMW (3.0 litre petrol) when I used it I found two things: 1. The engine was a tad quieter and smoother - however I have found this can also happen between different petrol suppliers anyway - but the super unleaded always delivered this 2. The petrol consumption was on average about 5% better over a tankful on super unleaded (based on using the same petrol provider and petrol station) - appreciate that this is difficult to measure accurately given the constant changes in real world driving but I did the comparison quite a number of times on the same long runs so I am pretty sure that I was seeing a small increase. However, given the increased cost of super unleaded then I would say any cost benefits were awash 3. There may have been a slight gain in performance on super unleaded - I never actually measured this so it was only perceived and again very negligible, if at all, and may well be linked to the engine running a bit quieter / smoother I ran the previous BMW on super unleaded pretty much constantly however - not for any financial gain but it just seemed to run slightly better. Haven't bothered with the 300h though as it seems to run so smoothly and quietly on regular unleaded anyway!

I agree that there would probably have been some engine regen as well as I coasted down from motorway speeds and into the slip road and braked up to the roundabout but there was no doubt about how the algorithms chose not to use the ICE to recharge the battery back to where it was before a good half of it was used on the incline, but then within that coasting down it jumped from one-third to one-half ready to be used again and then jumped to it's usual 80% very quickly as I went into the stop start of the A roads. My point was that the algorithms are IMO a lot more involved that simply depleting and recharging the battery - if that was the case they would have just used the ICE to recharge the battery again during the 10 miles I covered after the incline, but it didn't - the system waited until I was coasting down to a stop and there must have been some logic in that. From the experience I had (and could see on the battery level display) the algorithms would appear take into account what you are doing and appear to try and predict (yes I know they can't truly know but can probably make a good guess based on a set of circumstances) what you then might be doing next to maximise efficiency and decide how to most effectively recharge the battery again. However, unless we have access to the source code I doubt we will ever find out fully!

Although I agree about the hybrid allowing the engine to run the Atkinson cycle and so be more efficient while electric power fills in the torque needed at low revs that the Atkinson cycle doesn't deliver I do think we perhaps don't give the clever people at Toyota/Lexus the credit they deserve as the thinking they employ in the algorithms seems to go deeper than this. This week I was intrigued to watch how my IS 300h used it's battery on the motorway. I started out at the bottom of a long steady motorway incline with pretty much a full battery. The display then showed that while going up the incline the car was using both ICE supplemented by electric all the way up the incline. By the time we reached the top and it levelled out then the battery was down to about one-third full. The interesting thing was at this point I expected the ICE to recharge the battery, but it didn't. The car maintained the battery at about one-third from then on - using ICE and electric on and off - the way it mixes ICE to driving wheels, ICE to battery and electric to driving wheel varies constantly. My run was on a fairly empty motorway so I was maintaining a steady speed for a probably another 10 miles and the battery stayed at the one-third full for all that time. Inevitably I then came to leave the motorway and started coasting to slow down - the car went into regen and the battery started topping up quickly reaching half full and then on leaving the motorway and having to use the brakes more and the ICE to accelerate along the first mile of A roads the battery was topped up to it's near full state. So, from the above the car isn't simply depleting the battery and recharging it using the ICE to full again while on the motorway but appears to wait to recharge to make the most use of regen charging even when that wait is for a long time. I had noticed this before but never really watched it as closely as I did this time. I am sure that Toyota/Lexus employ some of the best engineers and mathematicians to calculate the very best way to maximise the overall efficiency of their hybrid system and IMHO the algorithms they develop are actually a lot more sophisticated than we often give them credit for.

Totally agree with this - I have had numerous BMW performance petrol models with auto boxes, which are recognised as being among the best auto boxes, and any delay in the IS 300h is certainly no more than a normal auto box when it needs to change down the gears to accelerate. I've also driven numerous other cars with auto boxes - some of those premium brands - where the wait for the auto box to change down seemed to be an eternity. Also, yes in Sport mode it seems to deploys all the battery energy to accelerate and doesn't shut the engine off as much as the other modes when stopped and so the response to throttle input is quicker. Another thing that I have found with the 300h is that it's much more pleasant to drive when the you sort of squeeze the accelerator pedal, although fairy rapidly, to max rather than flooring it as fast as possible. In the latter case of just flooring it the engine revs will rise very quickly to max and stay there as the speed increases (still probably no worse than an traditional auto box dropping down a few cogs and then the engine going to max revs and all that entails) whereas "squeezing" to max throttle seems to enable the engine revs to rise more in line with the speed increases. The 300h is certainly a car that needs to be driven a little differently to traditional turbo engine auto box engines - that's no bad thing and doesn't mean slower progress is made and so once that is accepted and understood the enjoyment is so much more - but something where it loses those star ratings as I think those generally testing the car have very limited time and try and drive it like the other cars they are used to.

I went through the same thinking and read all the reviews and was undecided / confused. Had a number of BMWs in the past (high spec power ones) so had my own benchmark. Got a 300h from Lexus for a day test drive and was bowled over - went back the next day and bought a two year old Executive trim off the forecourt. Make sure you get a few hours in the car on your own and try a few different sorts of roads and once you have a handle on what the Is 300h is all about and how it delivers don't think you will be disappointed.

Useful info as I am a bit OCD on rattles and squeaks. The only one I have found on my car to date is the door seals - I have had experience of this before in my BMW 330i and at that time, like you, thought it was the seat belt mech until I found that it's a common problem on BMWs (especially the top rubbers) and cured with gummi pflege - when I heard the same on the Lexus I knew what it was and cleaned the rubbers and applied gummi pflege and that silences it for about 6 months - in fact once the weather improves time to do mine again as I can just hear it coming back.

Haven't tried a Merc hybrid C class but had a 17 reg C200 Sport as a loaner for a couple of months while my IS300h was in for body repairs - in comparison to the IS 300h a horrible car. In summary, the engine (the 2l turbo petrol) was totally uncivilised, noisy and harsh - I actually thought they had delivered me a diesel when I first drove it. The 9 speed auto box was never in the right gear and took an age to shuffle to a lower gear when I wanted to accelerate to the point that I then had my foot to the floor waiting for it and so when the car found the gear it lurched off - all very unsettling and felt quite dangerous when approaching (but not having to stop ) at junctions/roundabouts waiting for the right gear. The sat nav screen looks like a cheapo tablet just "stuck" to the dash - awful design. The dash was largely black plastic - not a nice solid plastic (like the Lexus) but '70's like black plastic that creaked and groaned! The sat nav itself was laggy (for those that complain about the Lexus sat nav the Merc is not a patch on the Lexus) - takes an age to enter the various menus and to enter a destination and the spaceship thing on the centre console to use the system is totally unfathomable - and by the time it reroutes for a wrong turn you are getting hopelessly lost - and the routes it selects were just terrible in comparison to Lexus or Google maps. The (fake leather) seats were also very hard and uncomfortable for long journeys. Not surprisingly fuel economy was about 25% or more (especially around town) lower than the Lexus. I was so glad to give it back when my Lexus was repairs were finished.

I agree, the bit about on a motorway not using battery power is ill-informed IMHO - if I watch the display on where the power is being used and generated it's clear that on a motorway the battery is being used in a lot of circumstances - especially when accelerating - and certainly isn't just a dead weight - and of course is receiving charge when coasting/braking ready to be deployed. With the amount of stop-start traffic and road works around the country it's also common to be in "urban" type stop start or moving at sub 40mph where the car runs mostly off the battery too. If I have a clear run and not hanging around I still get 50mpg+ - add in a bit of stop start or roadworks it can be a few mpg above this too.

Here is the explanation in the manual regards using paddles in D: And for using the paddles in S

Regards mimicking an auto box then when I got my 300h Executive I had a play around with the settings - from what I found if you use the paddles with the gear selector in the usual D then all that does is allow you to select a lower gear to aid engine braking - e.g. a long downhill where you want some engine braking (though with the regen brakes not sure that is really necessary unless you live in the mountains) - the manual sort of explains this but very poorly. When used like this although a gear is shown on the display it certainly doesn't behave like a normal auto box. However, if you pull the gear lever across to S (and I usually put the Eco/Norm/Sport rotary dial into Sport too, though not sure whether this is necessary but seems to make sense if you have the gear selector in S) then use the paddles to shift I have found the 6x simulated gears are pretty good going up and down the gears and not too far off having a normal auto box with the paddle shift. Also in Sport and S the delivery of power is much more instantaneous - from what I understand the car uses more of the battery/electric to deliver acceleration (rather than economy). Must admit I don't use the paddles much except for a bit of fun now and again - I tend to leave the rotary dial in Eco for much of my driving but then pop it into Sport when I want to overtake or make a quick start (and let the car sort the gearing, so not paddles) and the take off is certainly satisfying for me. I came from a 2006 BMW 330i Auto and haven't felt that I have been lacking in performance where it matters.

Yes, the engine does need to be warm and I also think that battery needs to be at the right temperature too for the car to allow a reasonable acceleration in EV only. Certainly when I've done a few miles and everything is up to temperature then in traffic that is pottering along with a light right foot I can keep up in the queue of traffic (on the flat) purely in EV up to 40mph. However if the traffic moves off more smartly then the engine has to kick in then once up to speed lifting off the accelerator restores EV mode and gently pressing down will maintain the speed in EV mode. I did read somewhere that the best economy is actually using the engine (rather than EV mode) to get up to speed with reasonable acceleration (it uses a lot of battery to accelerate) and then doing the lift off (to get the EV to come on) then gentle use to maintain EV for constant speed and then if accelerating again allow the engine to come in to raise the speed then repeat...

When I got my IS 300h (64 reg) I was initially taken aback by the boot - when I pressed the button on the boot or the key it would pop the lock and as expected not open on it's own - but when I then pushed it up I was surprised by how quick it then opened - I had been used to other cars (BMW being one) where I could push the boot lid up and it would then swing open more slowly. Must admit I soon got used to not just pushing the Lexus boot lid up in the same way as I used to and now tend to control it more as it opens - hadn't really thought about it much until this thread but I can see where the OP is coming from having just got the car and opened the boot for the first time. Some cars seem to have a very dampened opening (like my BMW) and others don't seem to have much (my Lexus and a Mercedes I had on loan a while back).

I never had a letter but Lexus had already put it down to be done when I rang to book my next service - maybe they stopped sending the letters and just decided to do it when they next saw the car

Mine is a 300h 64 reg - I knew about the wheel arch recall which was showing against my car and so asked about it when booking the last service - they said they had it scheduled in to do - it's now showing all clear on the recalls so I think for the OP it is this recall that is outstanding - if it's serviced by Lexus they will probably do it next time if asked

If you look through the Lexus Used cars then virtually all shots of non-F-Sport drivers seats (at least when cars are a year old or more) show the same effect to some degree - when I bought my 300h Executive this this was something I had noticed browsing the cars - some were much worse than others - and I checked that mine did not have this problem (it was 2 years old with 40K miles on it). Whether or not Lexus had done something to it before it went on sale or the first owner didn't do whatever causes this issue I have no idea. Another year on and the bolster is still pretty much OK though I have noticed some creasing appearing from time to time and I am careful now to not sit on the bolster getting in and out - but it's not easy to avoid it altogether. Every so often I pull and smooth out bolster leather and to date it's looking OK though with just a light wrinkle starting to appear.

My view on tyres is that there are three categories: * Premium/High Performance etc. and often OEM fitted on various cars - I use these on my cars but of course they carry a relatively high price tag but I consider them worth it as part and parcel of owning and enjoying a premium car. * Mid-range - these are often manufactured by the same companies that make the above but may be using some of the construction and tread patterns from a few years ago - for example Falken Tyres and Dunlop Tyres are both owned by Sumitomo Rubber Industries and Continental own Uniroyal, Semperit, Barum, General Tire, Viking, Gislaved, Mabor, Sportiva etc. and so on for the other big tyre companies. I have used some of these brands in the past on older cars and feel that safety-wise they are well constructed but of course are not going to have the ultimate performance of the premium brands, but horses for courses. A quick Google along the lines of "who owns xxx tyre brand" will usually elicit whether or not the brand is part of one of one of the large tyre companies. I bought my daughter a 10 year old car that had a cheap and nasty tyre on one wheel (I think someone had put it on to sell the car as it was virtually brand new) but the other tyres were Matador tyres (which I found were also part of the Continental Group) so although the cheap one was nearly new the first thing I did was get rid of that and in fact replaced it with a Matador one (to match the others that had nearly full tread). As the Matador ones needed replacing I then fitted Bridgestone tyres in pairs, which weren't really much more than any of the mid-range prices anyway, and at the time I was replacing due to a puncture so needed to do it quickly. * Very cheap - I wouldn't go near these for any car regardless of make, age or anything else as like many here I do feel that they are compromise in safety (see above). * Secondhand and remoulds retread and the like (do they exist anymore???) - never, just never!

Mine is "Lexus Navigation 13CY" and Map version "02-34-03 (2014-01-3)"

Has anyone successfully used these from satnavmapupdate on a NON-Premium sat-nav - i.e. the one with rotary dial that says can only be updated by a dealer (I have a 2014 IS300h Executive)

Thinking about it could be the brakes applying themselves as part of the hill assist - was just reading the manual and the brakes are applied in this way every time you stop (not just on a hill...)

I leave my parking brake off and the pads still stick to the discs - I wonder if it's to do with the car automatically applying the brakes when stopped - when I stop with the brakes on I can hear something after a few seconds something like the parking brake going on?

The brakes stick on mine and can release with a bang after leaving it standing for a week. I don't use the parking brake at my house and just leave it in P but still does it - the "swoosh" sound is just the pads taking off the rust layer than forms - goes after a few applications

Ah yes - you're right - now that you mention it that is what I did rather than swap them one by one! It was some years ago and so had a bit of a hazy recollection... I had the cylinder from the diagnostic codes but wasn't sure which end to count from so used that method to confirm which was at fault!

If you have a spare /new coil but don't know the diagnostic code (which should tell you which cylinder is the problem) you'll need to swap out the coils one at a time with the spare / new until the misfire stops. Once you have done that the check engine light may still be on but should clear itself after a number of restarts / miles if indeed it was the coil - otherwise you will need to get the code cleared through the OBD.