Is 300H Lux 5000 Mile Report

[IS 300h]

Hi All,

Updated 5.2.2014

5 months in and a late 10K report.

Not much to add from the 5000 report still v happy with the car approaching 12K. First service well past and oil maintenance message came up at 9800 miles. Car doing 42 mpg in December and early Jan. I put this down to lights, heater, windscreen heater etc now back up to 46. I tend not to reset the mpg trip often as it seems to be more consistent over time. I have had nightly issues on the phone with favourites still not holding in. I have had to push to get this taken as a problem but it is being dealt with.

Indicators 3 flash is an issue for me on motorways and duals gets messy right left right, this is being re programmed by Lexus and hopefully the favorites will be sorted. Really like this car.

Previously.

2 months in and 5000 mile report.

MPG = 46.7 at the moment, has been up to 48 - using mixed road primarily A -B roads with 1/3rd motorway, car is at home on both. Acceleration on motorway is excellent, no lag etc.

Oil use - none, discolouration none.

Transmission - great.

Tyres no sign of wear.

Handling A+

Steering A +

Need to be taught more how to use the car to enhance fuel saving, Lexus get on this it is not really explained.

Comfortable - Faux leather seats - everyone complements my leather seats, unless you like the tech and colour options not necessary.

Rear camera - good but now fogging in colder wetter weather so glad I have the parking sensors - a must on this car

I have the expensive Sat nav option.

Phone - Audio buggy and crashes, I can live with that at the moment, as an early adoptor this is expected, it need sorting. But considering the apple OS update that appears to have trashed my mac recently :megaangry:this is not that bad. Particularly if you do not make to many demands on it by not over pressing the mouse click to often.

Like the mouse.

Like the DvD player

Sat Nav - post code option must be on first page not second. :megaangry:

Phone tried 4 is buggy but working. :eerrrmm:

Driving - really good and no complaints at all on this aspect, in fact I look forward to driving it every day, our sports car has been neglected since the IS300h arrived! Tax saving is through PAYE bliss.

Looking forward to the next 5000!

[DJP]

Great update, thanks. I've not done anywhere near that mileage so it's good to get a feel of what may lie ahead. I share your mild frustration with the infotainment system, it really does need some attention.

Look forward to the next instalment!

[Roger Bill]

Hi Charles, Many thanks for the detailed feedback. Based on your comments and from what I've read elsewhere all looks OK for me to place an order in a couple of months, subject to another test drive.

One question: do the basic hands free phone functions work reliably, i.e. do problems only arise when you try to play music from the phone via Bluetooth or USB cable, etc? A reliable hands free phone is an essential for me. The only other function I'd use is the Inrix traffic system which I understand relies on data from the phone via Bluetooth unless you have the £320 Hotspot accessory and a SIM card.

[IS 300h]

Hi Charles, Many thanks for the detailed feedback. Based on your comments and from what I've read elsewhere all looks OK for me to place an order in a couple of months, subject to another test drive.

One question: do the basic hands free phone functions work reliably, i.e. do problems only arise when you try to play music from the phone via Bluetooth or USB cable, etc? A reliable hands free phone is an essential for me. The only other function I'd use is the Inrix traffic system which I understand relies on data from the phone via Bluetooth unless you have the £320 Hotspot accessory and a SIM card.

Roger - No problem my pleasure.

Yes phone is OK as a general rule. Favourites disappear from time to time. I use an I pod via USB and Bluetooth so as I think I mentioned in the earlier posts - the usb route works for me.

I also have had i tunes on my mobile and used that as well.

Pressing the mouse to click and issuing to many requests can cause freezes etc so I take it slow.

Voice commands are OK but it has to go through around three questions to make the call.

I will be really happy when the favourites menu holds memory and not drop out.

I have not set up infix or hotspot so can't say will try it out some time.

Looks like we need a firmware upgrade, but who would think 10 years ago a picture of the person you phone would come up on the screen or for that matter what screen.

I like the grace note feature that picks a picture for the type of music or you can have the album art work on the display.

The sat nav is competent and the full post code is much much better that the old 4 digit I had before, used a tom tom at times. The satty is very accurate and taken me to the correct destination every time so far.

I like the photo id feature when calling and I have used the text\e mail auto read out which is novel. Not many phones can operate all the functions though.

At the end of the day it is your call and you need to be happy, so tryout as much as you can.

I have no regrets and have yet to ask Lexus to look into the firmware bugs but that is all they are I think.

[Roger Bill]

Hi Charles, Once again many thanks. That all sounds fine I can easily overlook a few minor glitches like these especially on a car which is so quiet, smooth and reliable. None of the obvious competitors seem to measure up on these, which are the important criteria for me.

[DJP]

Hi Charles, Many thanks for the detailed feedback. Based on your comments and from what I've read elsewhere all looks OK for me to place an order in a couple of months, subject to another test drive.One question: do the basic hands free phone functions work reliably, i.e. do problems only arise when you try to play music from the phone via Bluetooth or USB cable, etc? A reliable hands free phone is an essential for me. The only other function I'd use is the Inrix traffic system which I understand relies on data from the phone via Bluetooth unless you have the £320 Hotspot accessory and a SIM card.

The hands free works fine for me, I have an Iphone 5. Music from any source reduces in volume as you'd expect and I've not had any microphone or speaker issues. The only niggle is the favourites I've saved keep dropping leaving only the pre installed Lexus breakdown entry. I can't speak for the Inrix systembut couldn't it use a 3 or 4g connection from the phone?

[Roger Bill]

Hi David, Many thanks it's good to know the hand free works well. Re the Inrix traffic & parking system sorry it's what I meant to say that I believe the data would normally be fed via 3G to the phone and then via Bluetooth to the car.

I wonder if some of the reported problems might be caused by having more than one Bluetooth device trying to communicate with the car at the same time. I've read that Bluetooth is slower and less able to handle complex communications than is the case with WiFi.

[DJP]

Hi David, Many thanks it's good to know the hand free works well. Re the Inrix traffic & parking system sorry it's what I meant to say that I believe the data would normally be fed via 3G to the phone and then via Bluetooth to the car.I wonder if some of the reported problems might be caused by having more than one Bluetooth device trying to communicate with the car at the same time. I've read that Bluetooth is slower and less able to handle complex communications than is the case with WiFi.

Not wishing to hijack the thread, but what does the Inrix traffic system do that the nav doesn't? I get traffic warnings and reroute options from the nav already. Thanks.

[Roger Bill]

Hi David, The traffic data you're seeing on the Nav system could be from Inrix. For details see for example http://www.traffictechnologytoday.com/news.php?NewsID=49276

Inrix is supposed to be much better than the old traffic data on nav systems which was broadcast by the RDS radio system and is often out of date.

[DJP]

Very interesting, thanks. I haven't done much distance travelling but did last week and the warnings of traffic and graphics on the nav screen did seem better than of old

I've seen some references to parking options in the various set up menus but not had reason to pursue. I'll have another look. Maybe the technology in the car isn't so bad after all! Just need them gremlins sorted.

[Roger Bill]

Inrix also have apps for all Smartphones in the Windows, Android, apple and Blackberry stores: http://www.inrixtraffic.com/

I've got the free apps on my Windows phone and tablets and the traffic info does seem good.

Also the other day our local BBC News program interviewed an Inrix guy about the hold ups caused by a big accident that had happened a few hours earlier.

[Ian J. Parsley]

Charles,

I'm just past 3000 miles and agree with every word.

Just one thing - my mpg has crashed somewhat in the last few days (in the cold). Have you noticed that?

Like you, I was typically 48mpg, then seemed to be 46mpg over the last 1000 miles, but in the last couple of days I've been barely 42mpg. These have been over usual routes, so only thing I can think of is the weather?

Ian P.

[F Sport Marcus]

Thanks for the updates as they give me confidence in my move to the 300 as i cover >30k a year.

What sort of tank range do you get?

Thanks

[DJP]

I've done about 2,500 miles, 90% standard commuting stuff, a couple of motorway trips and I'm getting 465 a tank with reserve showing around 10.

Car in normal mode and what I'd describe as normal driving attitude - not aggressive but not eco warrior either.

[F Sport Marcus]

OK - That's about in line with my 2.0 diesel today then, depending on my right foot!