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wendle

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Posts posted by wendle

  1. Not to put a poo bar on what you just said there wendle, but I recently went to London and through the congestion charge zone, I thought I would look it up just in case when I got home and to my horror I found that our beloved 450h's are no longer on the list! Electric cars and cars with 0 emissions only ie. CT200h or the Nissan leaf!

    10 English pounds to you and me I'm afraid :msn-cry:

    Cheers

    Ben

    O well thanks for that information, the last time I enquired you had to register your car and pay £10, they must have changed it, I will have to check that out.

  2. Hi, I don’t know much tec stuff about the hybrid system only what I have picked up from the Lexus mechanics, from questions I have asked

    I travel mostly short journeys 5/6 mile trips with very little motorway driving and I average 30mpg in a year, so I think yours sounds about right.

    Remember the hybrid system will only help your fuel consumption travelling at under 40mph, so don’t expect a big improvement on long motorway trips, you are only using the 3.5ltr engine so you should get around 37/38mpg at 70ish using the cruse control.

    The MAIN Battery in your car ( not the hybrid batteries) is like any other car Battery, the engine has to be running to charge it, so if you only travel short distances with, heated seats, lights, radio, HRW, etc your Battery will drain quickly causing the engine to continue running. I have found in the winter my engine sometimes wont stop running even if I sit in stationary traffic because the Battery gets so low with all the electrical equipment I am using, and have in the past given the car a quick belt on the motorway just to get the Battery charged back up. Apparently this is a common issue for people who do short journeys.

    The engine also has to keep running when you have the heater on, to heat the water and to pump it round the cooling system, at the start of your journey try using the heated seats to warm you up, and let the car get to normal running temperature before turning on the heating.

    So I was told the hybrid charging system works on the same principal as a smart phone Battery, it has a charging cycle, so sometimes the car wont run just on batteries until this charging cycle is complete.

    As for the Battery showing 100% full I have never seen mine show that either, again I think it has something to do with this charging cycle.

    You have to be very light on the gas peddle to make it run just on batteries, try getting the car up to the speed you want, less than 40mph, take your foot completely of the gas peddle and then very gently put your foot back on the gas peddle until the display shows the Battery turning the wheels, it takes a bit of practice, or you can just forget all about that and just enjoy your car.

  3. Hi, I expect you have already taken the 450h out for a long test drive so you would already be aware of the difference in the cars performance, and although, as I remember the GS300 gear change was very smooth and nearly unnoticeable the CVT on the 450h is seamless.

    My yearly average m.p.g is 30, but I only travel about 500 miles a year on motorway or roads faster than 40 mph, 90% of my driving is 5/10 mile trips.

    As Steve has mentioned your road tax will be cheaper £200

    There is no congestion charge if you drive through London, as you haven’t put your location on your profile this may or may not affect you, although I expect in the future this charge may spread to other cities witch may or may not charge hybrid cars.

    Depending on how long you intend to keep the car I would defiantly consider extending the warranty, you are already a owner of a 7 year old car with X amount of miles on it , so you are in a good position to decide weather to take out a extended warranty or not depending on you experiences. I no £1000 a year is a lot of money, but these cars cost a fortune if anything goes wrong, not to say you will have any problems, I suppose it just depends on your luck.

  4. The one on display I think is the Sonic Silver the Mercury grey is a lot darker.

    Black must be the in colour with a choice of 3 types of "black"

    Which model are you buying the 250 or 450H?

    The LCD screen is impressive it feels you are in an imax cinema looking from the passenger side!

    Sound system is excellent,there is a Mark Levinson option available also.

    They went on about the clock with the mount being made from a billet but it sticks out like a sore thumb to me with the impression of an aircraft altimeter!

    The top model has LED headlights also.

    I prefer the look of the sports model front end.

    The display model had no sunroof but I don't know if UK spec models have this feature.

    The boot is certainly bigger they got 4 sets of golf clubs in there!

    Enjoy tonight and don't forget to try that code.

    Well Steve they did not have a draw with a code, but they did ask you to fill out a entry form for a draw, first prize was a bottle of Dom Ruinart 2002 mit Champaign in a box by Maarten Baas. And your never guess who won it. Lol, I couldn’t believe it

  5. I am going to my local dealership tonight for there official launch.

    I believe they are all LHD in this country as no RHD cars have been exported into this country yet and the one’s Lexus are using for there launch advents have been brought in from Belgium, I suppose acquiring just a few from Japan would have been a little expensive

    What I don’t understand is that I have ordered one, and was told delivery would be around mid June, as of yet I have not been given a confirmed delivery date, but yesterday received a email inviting me to book a test drive in one from June onwards, so it looks like there wont be any RHD demonstration cars in till then.

  6. If you go to the main Lexus web page you can download the full spec for all the new models, as for the HUD I don’t think it is available in this country, as you have said there is no mention of it as a option, in the US they have other options, like heated steering wheel. I will ask on Thursday when I go to my local dealership for the GS presentation, as I have ordered one I would also like to no.

  7. As for m.p.g I don’t do a lot of motorway driving my self, but on the occasions I have, I got around 38m.p.g using cruse control at 75ish.

    What you have to remember is although your driving a hybrid, the hybrid part of the system only comes into play at less then 40 mph, anything over that speed you are just using the 3.5 ltr engine, so the motorway mpg is not as good as you may expect, on the other hand I get around 30mpg around town, only mainly doing short 6 mile journeys, witch I think is pretty good.

    Book your self a test drive in one, ill be very surprised if you not a 450h owner soon.

    If your looking to buy one in the next couple of month’s, my 450h will be available in June, fantastic condition with only 17k miles. Full details on in the Lexus classified section on this site. :)

  8. Hi, your certainly not mad considering the GS450h, In my opinion its a fantastic car, and one with 80k miles on is nothing for that car, I would however like to see a full, ( preferably Lexus main dealer ) service record.

    As for m.p.g I don’t do a lot of motorway driving my self, but on the occasions I have, I got around 38m.p.g using cruse control at 75ish, and you should get a bit better at 40 – 50 mph.

    What you have to remember is although your driving a hybrid, the hybrid part of the system only comes into play at less then 40 mph, anything over that speed you are just using the 3.5 ltr engine, so the motorway mpg is not as good as you may expect, on the other hand I get around 30mpg around town, only mainly doing short 6 mile journeys, witch I think is pretty good.

    Book your self a test drive in one, ill be very surprised if you not a 450h owner soon.

    If you can wait until June, and can save a little bit more cash my 450h will be available, fantastic condition with only 17k miles. Full details on in the Lexus classified section on this site. :)

    Chris

  9. I have used Lexus Guildford in the past and have found then to be very reasonable; if I don’t want to wait for the car to be serviced they drop me of in the town centre and pick me up 2/3 hours later. Gilford is not my local dealership, in fact its 60 miles away, were my local dealership is only 6miles away, but Gilford have been £120 a service cheaper, so I would shop around.

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