Gary T

They share a diesel engine and a few switches plus maybe a few hidden components but the Avensis is front wheel drive with a transverse engine and the IS longitudinal with rear wheel drive so nothing in common chassis wise. I've seen an ill-informed motoring journalist say the IS is based on the Avensis but that is nonsense, you only have to compare the two side by side to see that.

Interesting how its appeared on US web sites before any of the British ones even though its the Geneva motor show and the Brits are reporting live from there.

If you look at the spec list posted above it lists 'Lexus Navigation' and 'Lexus Premium Navigation' as options so it appears to be the official designation.

I've got a 2014 Luxury I bought pre-registered (3 months old with 25 miles on the clock). It has the premium nav and electric leather seats and from memory the list price new with the extras was about £36k but the price of a Luxury without extras was about £32k (which is what I actually paid). I think it was about £1k to add navigation, £2k for premium nav, £1k for leather manual seats or £2k for electric leather. There were also some time limited offers where they threw in nav or leather for free.

Is the 350 available anywhere in europe? If not they would have to certify it conforms to european regulations, which may cost too much for the number of sales expected. I always thought that it would have made more sense to sell the 350 rather than the 250 when Gen 3 was launched as it would have offered a lot more performance for not a great deal more in running costs and had a bigger differentiation to the 300h.

I had that happen a few times when I first got my IS. As Rayaans says, resetting via the volume knob gets it working again. I mentioned it when it went for it's first service and they updated the software, it hasn't happened since (over a year now).

First car I owned was an Allegro 1.1 in 1981, followed by a Metro 1.3S and then an XR2 (my first brand new car). Then it was company cars for several years, an Orion, a Cavalier, three Mondeos (1.8, 2.0 and 2.5) followed by my first Lexus, an IS200. I changed jobs and had to buy my own cars again, first a Focus 2.0, a BMW 323 and then back to Lexus with an IS220D followed by an IS250 and now the IS300h.

Know fault with some hybrids because they were fitted with a rather small 12v battery. My IS was fine when left outdoors for over 2 weeks at Christmas. In fact it was our diesel that was standing along side it that had a flat battery and wouldn't start. And it can get from one end of the country to the other without re-fueling as well.

The price they were quoted include the battery rental, excluding the battery the car is only £75/months!! That's giving them away. They must have serious trouble shifting them. I just had a look on Autotrader, there are 80 used ones on there starting at just over £6k for a 2013 with 3500miles. I can't remember seeing a Zoe on the road, Leafs seem to be more common.

Going back to the OP, personly I don't think any advantages the IS250 has over the 300h are worth the extra running costs. I've had an IS200, IS220D, IS250 (Gen 2) and the 300h so have a bit of experience. They all have different characters and advantages/disadvantages but I'm not surprised the 250 is now discontinued. The emmisions are just too great for the performance these days, way behind anything similar. It doesn't feel that powerful either, both the BMW and Ford 2.5 litre sixes I've run in the past had far more low end torque. Going from the 250 to 300h my fuel costs have halved and even though I only do 8500 miles a year I save about £70 a month on average, plus the road tax saving, in a car that is far more refined than the equivalent 2 litre diesel. When the PCP is up we'll probably buy it as the other half's Toyota diesel will be 11 years old by then, what I will get I haven't a clue as the market is changing rapidly. A plug in hybrid would probably suit me but the ones currently available don't appeal. I think Lexus may have been better off selling the IS350 here in place of the 250, simliarly to BMW selling the 335 as their smallest six nowadays but the numbers shifted would still be small.

Doesn't that Zoe price exclude battery lease? That appears to be £45 a month for up to 3000 miles p.a. or £70+ if you do greater mileage.

The Mondeo Mk IV is in the list at 85.66%, one place above the Porsche Boxter. You always have to view these surveys with a pinch of salt as they always seem to feature the more 'unusual' cars near the top but overall they give a rough guide to the cars that owners appreciate.

I saw that and thought how could they have the car for ten months and not find it? Also, in one of the earlier reports they complain that the nav screen keeps reverting to the home screen too quickly but in actual fact there is a setting to stop this if you want. I get the feeling they never read the manual.

I found this animation helped me: http://eahart.com/prius/psd/

I'm not so sure the problem is mechanical damage as the speed of MG1 will change to balance the engine revs, as it does when you accelerate hard whilst moving. The problem would be with MG2 as it is in effect stalled and a stalled electric motor has much lower effective resisitance than when it is rotating (due to back emf) and hence greater current flow and possible overheating. I would guess though that the electronics would prevent you from causing major damage.

There is a normal but slightly smaller 12v battery in the boot to power the electronics in addition to the main traction battery. It can be jump started using a special terminal in the fusebox under the bonnet and I presume charged like any other car battery.

I have come to the conclusion that when testing hybrids motoring journalists revert to cut and paste comments from previous reviews. If you look at various magazines and websites the wording seems almost identical. In contrast, take a look at the recent comparison test beween the IS300h and the Mercedes C class hybrid in AutoExpress where they say the Merc is less refined and relaxing on the road because it runs its diesel engine too much of the time.

Car Magazine have just posted this comparison between the IS 300h and the BMW 320d: http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Drives/Search-Results/First-drives/Lexus-IS300h-vs-BMW-320d-2013-CAR-feature-review/ Seems reasonably fair and the BMW comes in for some critisism too.

I put car park tickets in mine so they are easy to get to at the pay kiosk/exit barrier.

Sorry, 13 speakers it is then, I knew it was more than the basic 8. I've never counted them.

The headlamp adjuster is on the right hand side near the door, below the steering wheel and looks like a thumbwheel with numbers on it. Odd about the wheel size, the Lexus website used to have 18s as standard for the Advance and mine has them. Perhaps the previous owner had them changed. I think my previous 220d SE had a slightly better ride quality on 17s.

Hi Andy My Advance was registered in September 2011 and doesn't have HID but I believe that some later ones do (those with daytime running lights?). If it's HID it won't have a manual headlamp height adjuster. AFAIK all 250 Advances are autos as the manual had been dropped by the time they came out, mine is 195g co2 and £250 road tax. Older 250 autos were £270 and manuals were £460 apart from a few early ones that were registered before March 06 and gained exemption from the highest band. Spec wise mine has heated leather seats, sat nav with touch screen and fourteen speaker sound system but is not Levinson, does not play dvds and does not have the gearchange paddles on the steering wheel. DAB radio was an optional add on. Also, I've just remembered they have 18 in wheels as standard.

All the reports I've seen say the 300h is a four, as does the link to the GS(300h?) I posted. As for an entry level IS I was only speculating. If it's true Lexus think they need it in Europe, I can't see how they could produce anything cheaper than the 250 as a hybrid because the unit in the CT/Auris/Prius wouldn't really be up to it and they aren't much cheaper anyway. As for a smaller six, do Toyota have one in production anymore and if they did would it have low enough CO2 figures for anyone to buy it? The new GS250 seems to be almost dead in the water and I think the new IS250 will struggle with the hybrid only 3 grand more. Even private buyers are baulking at paying £250 a year road tax. Diesels are a different matter (I know all about the 220D, had one for 3 years). The 300h is intended to cover that sector.

Well the IS300h will be a 4 cylinder hybrid, as would the GS version if it arrives and the CTs are all fours as well. BMW are saying they will use 1.5 litre turbo charged triples in similar cars.

Interesting snippet here: http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/four-cylinder-hybrid-mooted-for-lexus-gs/265475 It's mainly talking about a version of the GS with the IS300h drivetrain but there is also mention of a need for an entry level IS below the IS250. A new IS200 with a 4 cylinder 2 litre perhaps?