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Newbie Member - Hybrid For The First Time


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Hello IS300h crew

I've been lurking here and reading up on peoples comments for the last couple of months, now I seem to have taken the plunge.

Some time ago I purchased a IS200 Sport, and thirteen years on with a few minor blemishes it still mechanically runs like a dream as the family run around. In the meantime I have had two VW company cars, a Golf GT TDI Sport and a Passat CC, well that's what you get for working for a German company.

But my MD has come round to me getting something different, so once again I looked to Lexus, and the IS300h ticked a few boxes especially on the BIK rate for company car drivers.

Having read very mixed reviews about the car from the motroing journalists, I took the plunge for a test drive in a IS300h F Sport at my local dealer and was very surprised by the level of refinement and smoothness in it's geartrain (or is that lack of geartrain?) What ever, it certainly is different to anything else in the market, and being a company car driver not many other manufacturers want to deal with you directly, especially if a lease company may be involved.

It does look great, and on the test drive it turned a few heads. Will have to get use to EV mode as the car is near slient and had a few people try to step out in front of me. But boy, do the brakes work!

So my order has now been placed for a IS300h F sport in Ultra Blue, Rose Red leather interior, Premium sat nav (mouse thingy will take some getting use to as currently have touch screen in Passat) and AVS. Been informed by the dealer that the car should be ready by mid July. Can't wait.

As this car will be doing some motorway milage, what sort of mpg ar epeople getting?

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Hello, see you've gone for superman colours! I was tempted myself. I'm waiting on my grey F Sport, otherwise same spec as yours. Mine is due mid July also!

I'm hoping for mid to late 40's mpg which based on my demo car was very achievable.

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Mid to late 40's for MPG. The mouse control is OK, but I got use to it quick. Check the setup setting for how the mouse works. I have mine set all the way to one side. In the middle I found it to confusing.

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Just taken delivery of IS300H Luxury + Nav & leather, very impressed, very different to the mainstream. Only frustration is the confusing Sat Nav display, coming from a Garmin Nuvii to this leaves me feeling somewhat cheated. Then again it's early days, hopefully it grows on me.

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Welcome Gromit, you won't be disappointed. I don't do much motorway driving, mainly suburban stuff and I'm hovering around the 40 mark. That's been in 'normal' mode for 99.9% of the time. I'm now trying a tank driving in 'Eco' so will be interesting to see if there's much difference.

Hope the time passes quickly for you!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Had one for a few days on demo, fair amount of motorway driving at around 75mph (indicated, officer...) with some heavy traffic and some town work. When I handed it back, it was showing 51mpg average. That car had done 4000 miles so was maybe run in a bit better than brand new models.

This compared very favourably with the 320d ED as in traffic the stop/start system was useless, whereas the Lexus hybrid system was in its element!

A few folks, me included, appear to have been able to use the low BIK to our favour to het the IS.... much better than a 3 Series etc as i've still only seen a handful of IS's on the road since they came out!

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Just done my first proper commute. 75 miles in pretty ****ty A12 traffic.. 42MPG seems to be the average. Car is in ECO.

Must admit, I was hoping for higher.. I came from a 320d M Sport Coupe with the fast auto-box - 50ish MPG on the A roads was easy.

Still, when I hit the bumper-to-bumper crawl, EV mode made things a little more even, I think.

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I certainly saw the gains come back in the bumper to bumper crawl. The IS seemed to like a steady throttle which an A road may not have, on a motorway it was certainly better than the BMW for me.

Your engine might be rather tight at the moment too, quite a few folks have said it does loosen up a lot.

I think it's a common theme though, it's nowhere near the claimed ones unless you drive miss daisy, whereas BMW do seem to get a little closer. Factor in the cheaper fuel costs for petrol vs diesel though and 42 vs 50 probably is closer than it seems.

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you also have to factor in adjusting your driving style to maximise the hybrid element compared to a normal diesel car - lift and coast, anticipation of road and conditions ahead to reduce use of brakes etc.

F-sport will get marginally poorer mpg than a Lux, due to wider, bigger tyres and slightly different gearing.

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Well, I apologise to my IS as the average MPG is actually now higher than I thought. I am being conscious of my driving style, but I've a lot of habits to break.

Hoping it will loosen up, though.

Sorry for the thread hijack... Was offering my own experience with MPG, which after another 70 odd miles is actually looking a lot brighter :)

Up to 46.4MPG. ECO mode, BUT... I could have been more frugal, I'm sure.

IMAG0654.jpg

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Well, I apologise to my IS as the average MPG is actually now higher than I thought. I am being conscious of my driving style, but I've a lot of habits to break.

Hoping it will loosen up, though.

Sorry for the thread hijack... Was offering my own experience with MPG, which after another 70 odd miles is actually looking a lot brighter :)

Up to 46.4MPG. ECO mode, BUT... I could have been more frugal, I'm sure.

IMAG0654.jpg

You are not trying hard enough my friend! Even whatcar got 56mpg on an F Sport!

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Well, I apologise to my IS as the average MPG is actually now higher than I thought. I am being conscious of my driving style, but I've a lot of habits to break.

Hoping it will loosen up, though.

Sorry for the thread hijack... Was offering my own experience with MPG, which after another 70 odd miles is actually looking a lot brighter :)

Up to 46.4MPG. ECO mode, BUT... I could have been more frugal, I'm sure.

IMAG0654.jpg

You are not trying hard enough my friend! Even whatcar got 56mpg on an F Sport!

How?! 55mph max?!

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http://blog.lexus.co.uk/2014/01/what-car-names-lexus-is-300h-as-the-most-efficient-executive-car/#.U2CzOV4hNYs

Doesn't say, but it's part of their 'True MPG' which they claim is designed to simulate real world driving.

No, not that one, thats the Luxury model, I was referring to this one....http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/april/1289306

Scroll down to "Week ending April 15th". They manage to get the mpg up from 45mpg to 56mpg on the same route. The car is in F Sport trim

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Yup had spotted that after. That was after some training from a 'hybrid trainer' apparently.... basically just the usual intelligent driving stuff, not braking too often, coasting where possible, gentle inputs etc.

Impressive stuff nonetheless!!

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