Goggy

When I was in the market for a new car I got it down to three I was interested in. The new CT was about to arrive and I was waiting to hear when I could have a test drive. The other two were the Audi A3 and the VW Golf. As I wanted an auto which would do about at least 40mpg, ideally 50mpg and as I wanted a good spec it soon became clear that all three would be in the £24,000+ bracket. So, off I went to the local VW dealer. I wanted a test drive in an diesel auto, as that is what I wanted, but they only had a manual. They did have a low mileage auto coming in and I agreed to wait for that. A few days later I had the call I could test drive it and booked it for a few days further on when the car would be available. The day before the test drive I had another call saying the car was no longer available as it had been sold. They did say another would be in soon and they would let me know when. A week later and another phone call to say the Golf was now not sold and a test drive was available the next day. I was out all morning but went to the garage at the pr-arranged time early afternoon. However, when I arrived I was told the car was sold again so not available for a test drive. Seemingly, they did try and contact me but I was out. Grrrrrr. I said I would wait for another auto to become available. I waited, and waited, no phone call came, so I gave up on them. I approached another main dealer. They had two second hand, low mileage, auto’s in stock! Great! But although I was free all that day, the salesman was committed elsewhere and asked if I would come back. This wasThursday. I could do Friday? No, he was off that day! The only day I was free the following week was Monday morning. ‘Yes’, he said keenly, that was fine. Monday morning came and I was just about to leave when the phone rang. ‘Sorry sir,’ I am tied up this morning, can you come this afternoon?’ ‘No, I am busy’ was my reply. I was somewhat fed up by now and when the salesman suggested I rang back another time I said fine and hung up. Oh, and one more thing. When I asked how long would it take to order a new car, there was a sharp intake of breath and a shaking of head. ‘At least 6 months’ I was told! Talk about a turn off. So, as they obviously did not want my business and I was not happy about how I was being dealt with I decided to forget a VW. Audi next, so I went to my local dealership. No A3 auto diesels in stock (this was on Friday) but I was told they would be able to get one on Monday or Tuesday. They would ring me back on Monday to confirm when I could test drive one. I left my number but never heard from them again! Then I had a phone call from my local Lexus dealership which had just had their three demonstrator CT’s arrive. I booked a spot, arrived at the agreed time. I did the usual paperwork, over a coffee and had the test drive. My wife was not available on that day, so another test drive was booked. Arrived at the agreed time and had another cup of coffee while we waited for the car to bought to us. The Lexus dealership could not have been more helpful. Guess which car we bought? Okay, not just because of how I was treated, the car was good too, but they did make me feel I was important to them. In all three VW and Audi dealerships I felt like I was an unwanted inconvenience.

I think Lexus will have to listen to what drivers and owners are saying. They can't ignore the fact that a lot of people are disappointed with the ride and that is not going to go away. Read any report you like, they all say the same. Mind you, I have been in firmer cars, but they are built to be that way for people who want a sporty car. The Lexus range of cars is meant to be the luxury option for people who want a reliable car, or so I thought. Okay, having a sporty feel is nice too, but the priority should still be on the luxury side, aka smoother ride. As I said earlier, it is firmer than I would have liked, but everything else about the car is brilliant, so I am still happy. I am sure Lexus want to the CT to be a Golf/A3 beater. It can be, but not without adjustments to the ride. Price wise, it is not cheap, but neither are auto versions of the top of the range Golf/A3's.

Wow, you really didn't like it did you. Well I still like it, despite the ride which I still feel is too firm for a luxury car, but liveable with. Aside from that it ticks all the boxes for me. :)

Dull! Don't agree with you on that. I think it is far from dull. Just my opinion of course.

Bad luck. Yes, pathetic really, but some people will always steal rather than pay, even a small amount. Sad world we live in.

Yes, I know once you have a car with a sunroof it does make others without one seem a bit dull, although I don't have a problem with that myself. Good point about the privacy glass, it does seem to be an odd thing to have as standard. That was good mpg, mine is still averaging around the 50pmg mark but most of my driving is very short runs. When I do go on a longer trip it does get up to about the same as you quoted.

Yeah, what a plonka I am eh? Done it twice too.

I must admit that I cannot see the point of sunroofs with air con, it defeats the object doesn't it? Air con will not work well with an open window or sunroof surely? Ok, the extra light is nice, but it's a lot of money for a bit of light. :)

Damn, I have kerbed my alloy wheels twice now. It's too easy with low profile tyres. I must be more careful. Very annoying. Also, I've not had low profile tyres before. I notice they have a exposed rim which I've not seen on a tyre before, or have I just never noticed them on other cars. When I kerbed one the other day some of the exposed rim was damaged, a chunk being removed. Should I get them checked out or is it just sold rubber so no real problem to the tyre itself?

I just love this car. It's a real pleasure to be in as either a driver or passenger, but driver is best. ;) In fact I find I am looking for excuses to go out in it. 'Any shopping required dear?' I keep asking my wife. She thinks I'm having an affair. I suppose I am really. :)

I'm still averaging 48 - 50mpg. This is low compared to what some are achieving I know, but most of my driving is very short distance and the car hardly has time to warm up. Longer journeys at 'A' road or motorway speeds are higher at 52 - 55mpg, but still not the best scenario. Best I have achieved so far is a 30 mile round trip on 'B' roads which gave 60mpg.

Probably Obsidian Black, which can give off a variety of colours in the blue/green range. Pure Obsidian is very deep blue or green, almost black, lava which is more like glass. Mine looks black most of the time but varies depending on the the angle you look from and how the light catches it. It varies from deep blue to deep purple or even deep green, it can also sparkle with reds. It looks brilliant whatever colour it is. :)

That's a fair point to be honest. I do think it is firm, but so are many other cars. My son-in-law said he thought it was fine and it's like his BMW Z3. Another friend said it was no firmer than is Skoda Octavia RS. So it may well be what some people like anyway. It's just I was expecting it to be softer than it was, as a luxury car should be. Had it been advertised as a sporty hatch, them maybe I would have been prepared for the firmer ride. Lastly, my old car was a Citroen C5, so one of the softest rides you can buy. So I hope I do not come across as being not happy. This car is a delight to drive and brings a smile to my face whenever I get in it. Buy one and you will be very happy, like me. :)

See my 1000 mile review above. But here is the section on economy with a bit more added. Lexus say this car can do up to 68mpg. I do wish car manufacturers would give more realistic figures. I’m not sure how anyone could get anywhere near that figure. So far I have averaged 50mpg, which is still reasonable but well short of the 68mpg advertised. It’s fair to say on longer journeys the mpg average is more like 55-58mpg, but most of my journeys are less than 5 miles so the average is lower than most people will be able to achieve. If I stay in eco mode for longer drives I get up to 55-60mpg. In sport mode 45-47 is achievable for me, but on longer journeys 50mpg should be about right. Overall I think 55mpg for normal driving would be about right for most drivers. I did a 30 mile journey last week on flat roads with speed limits of 30mph - 40mph. I achieved 60pmg! On another longer 120 mile round trip, mainly motorway and fast 'A' roads I achieved 57mpg. My normal 'around town/shopping' trips, mostly less than 5 miles in total, the average is 50mpg. I was looking for a car that gave 40+mpg and would be very happy to get 50mpg. I knew the 68mpg was never going to be the case so I am happy with what I am getting.

I managed to get one of the last ones allocated to my local dealership. Had I ordered one I was told they are now expecting a 20+ week delivery.

I’ve just completed 1000 miles in my new CT200h so here are my thoughts. I am not a regular reviewer, so please don't expect expert details, these are just my thoughts. Firstly, why did I buy one? I was due to replace my nine year old Citroen next year but due to several faults I decided to buy now before the repair costs got silly. I was looking for the following: 1). A medium sized five door hatchback, but with a sporty feel. 2). Reliability 3). Economic with a high MPG, at least 40mpg anyway. 4). Auto box. 5). Good dealership support. 6). Comfort. I wanted a ‘feel good’ factor. 7). Build quality. 8). Smooth ride. Having read various reports about the ride, the last one was a concern, but we’ll see. I looked at several cars but quite early on it was soon down to a German or Japanese car due to reliability and quality of build. The Toyota Prius was a possibility, but I have always felt it is a bit ugly and the one I test drove rattled! The Audi A3 is nice, but after contacting a dealer and being promised a test drive in an auto within two days, but then not hearing from them again, I was not impressed. A VW Golf was also in the frame, but amazingly I had three test drives cancelled by two dealerships so I gave up on them too. In fact I have been passenger in many Golf’s, so I know they drive well. If I was to wear my sensible hat I maybe should have bought one, but they are so boring. Sorry, Golf owners, but they do nothing to me, I wanted something that gave me a bit of a ‘feel good factor’, and Golf’s just don’t do that for me. In the end I test drove a CT200h and was sold. It ticked all the boxes except one and that was the ride. There is no doubt It is unsettled at low speed, but not enough to stop me buying one, I’m just disappointed that Lexus decided to give a luxury car such a firm ride. Anyway, 1000 miles on here is what I think. I went for the base ‘SE-I’ model, with fabric seats as my wife is not keen on leather and I am not bothered either way. We did get the front and rear parking sensors though. Comfort/Space. The seats are very comfortable, and it’s easy to find an acceptable driving position. The interior is nicely laid out and looks good quality with a mixture of plastic and leather. It’s a nice place to be, it feels like a luxury car, which is what I wanted. There are plenty of trays and places to store bits and pieces. The dash is nicely laid out and the leather steering wheel looks good and feels nice. The legroom in the front seats is ample. Legroom in the back is reasonable, but not as much as some hatches. Most adults and children will be comfortable but tall adults may feel cramped. As it is just the two of us the rear legroom is not an issue as 95% of the time it will just us in the car. But it’s handy to have four seats and five doors for when you do have extra people to ferry around. The boot is not huge but it is comparable to other hatches, some being a little bigger and some smaller. The back seats fold down easily and the bar across the back can also be removed with ease. There is also an additional area of space under the main boot floor for any extras you may want to carry on a permanent basis. Driving. The car is a very simple to drive, with the little gear stick for the CVT gearbox easy to use. There are three drive modes, normal, eco and sport. That’s the round knob (drive mode selector) on the middle of the consol. Turn to the left for Eco, turn right for Sport and push to go back to normal mode, easy. There is also a little button for EV mode (electric mode for heavy traffic) but as this is not for driving at speed I’ve not really used that much. The default ‘normal mode’ is fine for most of the driving anyone would do, but if you want to have more fun the ‘sport mode’ is easily selected. It gives you a more responsive feel and really makes the car quite quick, well, quickly enough for me anyway. Even if you don’t want to use it that much, it’s nice to feel you can just turn the knob and get the extra power for overtaking or climbing a steep hill. The ‘eco mode’ stops you being over keen on the accelerator pedal, it won’t let you, it controls your use of acceleration. It’s quite clever to be honest and as long as you are happy to proceed in a relaxed manor it is fine. Just don’t expect lightening acceleration, it just won’t happen. For that you go to sport mode. As I said at the start, this is a very easy car to drive; in fact it’s a joy. Performance. This is a hybrid car, not a sports car. If I wanted lightening speed I would have bought a 2.0 litre petrol car or a 2.2 turbo diesel. The acceleration is acceptable in normal mode, whilst in sport mode it is as much as I want. Economy Lexus say this car can do up to 68mpg. I do wish car manufacturers would give more realistic figures. I’m not sure how anyone could get anywhere near that figure. So far I have averaged 50mpg, which is still reasonable but well short of the 68mpg advertised. It’s fair to say on longer journeys the mpg average is more like 55-58mpg, but most of my journeys are less than 5 miles so the average is lower than most people will be able to achieve. If I stay in eco mode for longer drives I get up to 55-60mpg. In sport mode 45-47 is achievable for me, but on longer journeys 50mpg should be about right. Overall I think 55mpg for normal driving would be about right for most drivers. Ride This is the only area that is disappointing for me. This is a luxury car, so why on earth have Lexus made the ride so firm? I know they probably wanted it to appeal to younger drivers, and therefore wanted it to have a sporty feel, but it is quite firm for a luxury car. At high speed the ride is acceptable, it’s just at lower speeds it feels unsettled, even shaky. I have 17” alloys on mine, the 16” option would have been a slightly better choice but the difference is hardly noticeable. I think maybe Lexus added the 16” option in response to the negative feedback from early road test reports. But it makes little difference; they need to address this if they want this car to become the best hatch on the market. Handling This car handles really well. There is no body roll going round corners. Steering is precise; it goes where you point it. Overall The Lexus CT200h is a joy to drive despite the firm ride which is surprising to find in a luxury car. I am very happy with mine and would gladly recommend one to anyone looking for a quality hatch which is economical, reliable, fun to drive and looks the business. If the rear seats had a little more leg room and the ride was softer this would be a Golf beater.