Mr Vlad

By gum this thread has gone madly serious. I've loved tesla cars since the model S was introduced. A fabulous car with loads of luggage space and a proper 5 seater. Why I'd not have one? A good few reasons. Where I've lived and live now. Having an electric car at a terraced house in an area not so nice is a no no. Imagine having the charge wire be g snapped off by the local yobs. Living in a 3rd floor apartment. Enough said. Now I'm in a lovely quiet location in a bungalow but my car parking spot is outside of my garden fence. A charge lead would have to be about 20 foot or more long. Could be a lot shorter mind if a power source was put in the shed (mmmmmm that thought has just occurrd and given me an idea) Anyway electric cars are great but can only be owned by folk living in nice housing estates. Those with semis and gardens. Not council estates even tho the new ones are really nice (my daughter lives in one and it even has solar panels and front and back garden and shed But some neighbours are rough) and there in is a point. Certain areas of our wonderful land is occupied by a not nice crowd. Those areas won't have electric cars coz they'd not last long compared to a normal car. I know what I'm talking about coz I've lived in those areas for the 1st 30 years of my life. I like the look of the new model 3. However I love my is300h and for me it whoops ***** compared to most cars.

And what about that electric super car Richard Hammond crashed whilst at a hill climb race. It stayed alight quite a while. As for exchanging an old battery for a new one at a stop and go centre. Try that with a model S. Not an effing chance as it's basically the cars chassis.

I'd love a model S but fact is I wouldn't have any plug in hybrid/electric car simply because for me there's no charging points. And after reading a long term test on the Golf GTE where the tester got a call from his electric suppliers notifying him of his unusual excessive electric use and there by doubling his bill or was it trebling but none the less not viable for me.

Don't be confused Colin. Seems the RX is deceptive regarding how fast one is going. I call cars like that license losers lol

Thinking about it and clearly I now remember saying to my wife who was sat in the back Do you know how fast we'r going? She was suprised when I said 85. I didn' realise that either. So the RX450h is rather a super machine. Pity about its rear seats otherwise it would of been mine now.

Rayans I'm not sure what mode I started the test but I know I went to sport mode after obligatory fiddling with switches. Where I floored it was up an uphill road but not in sport mode. Colin. Speed wasn't deceptive in any way shape or form. The sound of the engine made sure of that lol. Still it's not a true 5 seater which is a shame.

You know what Rayans it should. Possibly the one I tested wasn't as it should be.

Well I went to look at a NX. One was next to a 62 plate RX450H. Both cars looked very similar physical size. NX a 66 plate btw. Boot size of the RX good however the middle seat is awful according to my wife who sat in it whilst I test drove it. The sales guy said no lexus has a good middle seat. It' not a luxury car thing! Mind you I wasn't impressed by the RX which suprised me. Sounded lovely tho but didn't shift as I'd have thought it should.

So the model you test drove was the luxury trim. Just to throw a twist in to this thread. I'm on my 2nd is300h premium. My current one is beyond superb. However my 1st premium was ruddy awful. Same age cars and mileage. If I were you I'd try another NX and another. Go premium spec. I'm thinking of getting an NX thanks to grandkids lol. A question to current NX owners who've had/got is300h. 3 inbthe back of the IS is tight. How is it in the NX? I'm looking at a baby seat and a thin teenager and their mother in the back. Poor teenager is squashed in sat in the middle.

Jules your only choice with 17k is the lexis. 330e's are in their 20k plus price bracket. Anyway the lexis is better and overall cheaper to run.

Road noise? What's that? I don't get any road noise in my car. Mind you I have my audio on louder than normal. You simply can't beat metal.

From what little I've seen and read on the new ES is that it looks rather tasty but costs a packet like starting at 70k? Not sure if I'm confusing it with another model but something about the battery being smaller but more powerful and not impinging in the boot space? That is a very positive move forward. I'd say that what differs an IS to the ES is like what differs a 3 series beemer from a 5 series.

Oh. I didn' realise that it had what Ford call global opening. When I had Fords and one day found all my car windows open I soon got that function disabled.

I'm sure you can delete texts from the car. Trouble is tho that next time your phone connects to your car all texts are there again. Best to delete from your phone.

Blimey Ray the roads down there sound terrible. They are the cause of the damage to your cars tyres. Personally I'd sue the council there for the cost of the tyres and balancing. Totally unacceptable negligence of road repair care.

There''s always flannl when mpg is asked about. My similar mileage car has had a worse of 19mpg (1 mile to the local asda) and a one time only 75mpg on a 10 mile circular route a mix od A roads and motorway. 14 mile commute split even between A road and motorway I get 50mpg every day. On the way home tho in a bit of traffic it' down to 44mpg. What you'll notice is when on the motorway. I do more than 70 and it's the engine revs that get me every time. Constant speed and the revs areally as low as 1100 to a high of 3000 when going uphill. Rochdale to Leeds I'll always get 50mpg. That to me is superb. Enjoy your car

The voice activation system is rubbish. It takes about 5 or more steps to make a phone call !!!!!!! I simply don't use mine. You're better off without it and the frustration it causes. Shame tho for lexus to provide such dire function. The ones I've had in my previous fords have been top notch.

I'm a bit confused about ES. I've seen a good number of video reviews from American folk on their version of the is300h that is the es300h. As for the demise of the GS in our country sometime soon it doesn't bother me. Before I got my is300h I did want the GS. I test drove one and loved it. However the boot for such this sized car is short of pathetic. Plus the car had to seat my daughter her 12yr old son and baby daughter (in a baby seat). I test seated both cars and they stated catagorically the IS was more comfy than the GS. I was shocked so bought the IS. As for lexus being niche. I bought lexus because I wanted hybrid and self charging is best. I'm not posh either. I'm a truck driving real ale heavy metal loving 55yr old middle class fella. The GS is a fab car but I see far more IS and LS cars on the road. Maybe the demise is due to sales. I don't know but I do hope it's replacement is a better car with a decent boot.

His Rex. Did you buy your car from a lexus dealer? I had the same problem as you with my 64 plate premium. I took mine back and after a software update all has been well. One thing tho that bugged me was the lack of recognition of who sent a text. That is no name to who sent a text. The way round that was to add +44 to the phone numbers in my phone. Laborious but the only way to cure the recognition of text senders.

Cheers for your reply Chris. Been Googling and Thule came up. Quite a few bars n boxes for the is300h which suprised me.

Has anyone fitted or known of a fitting of a roof box to the is300h? I'm considering getting one because the boot is too small to fit what's needed for a family holiday where a child's buggy will be taken. So if anyone has experienced this then please do let me know what you had and how the car coped with one. Thanks in advance.

Hi Ganzoom. The trucks I've driven are not similar to Toyota's hybrid system in any way. My conclusions come from experience. One company I worked for changed to premium fuel after I proved by getting 80 miles more to the tank. At that time it was cheaper to change (3 years ago ) That link you posted is American. Their fuel is a bit different to ours I believe and the AAA have been proved wrong a few times over the years. Don't ask me how it'sjust what's in my memory banks. Like I've stated very clearly. It's down to the individual. There are millions of us who like to use premium fuels. End of.

Comedian. You state you have dyno charts for bikes. My heart is in motorbikes. I can't comment on your dyno charts because bike engines are so much different But better than car engines. On a TV programme called Fifth Gear they did rolling road tests on the same car to compare standard and premium fuel. Premium fuel came out best. As for the Atkinson engine fitted to our is300h's all I state is My experience which comes from well over 100's of thousand miles of car travel. My car runs better. Sweeter and more economical. Someone mentioned that a 1/3 tank of premium has no effect on 2/3 of standard. Sorry pal my experience tells me different. Oh I'm a truck driver having done near 1 1/2 million miles in my time. I know what I know from a shed load of experience. Happy driving.

Rayaans there are not too many variables to asertain the better running and economy in using super unleaded. Colin. I don't use it all the time because it's not needed. There is always a quantity of the good stuff left in the tank to boost the normal stuff. I've been using the good stuff for years in both petrol and diesel and my cars have always run better for it. Oh and my previous cars have either been the top of the range or the sport derivative. As has been stated the difference in price between the two isn't worth bothering with. Looking after ones pride and joy is worth bothering with. And as I've stated its an individual's choice.

There are those who say it''s a waste etc to use a high octain fuel. They have their opinion but they are so wrong. My experience tells me I get an extra 3-5 mpg. My car runs better. I use the stuff every 3rd fill up. The extra expense is worth it. However it is up to the individual.