Rabbers

I must say that I like 18" wheels on the 300h for the simple reason that they look better, the car's impression of purposefulness ("it looks like it's moving even when standing still") being accentuated by them. And while the fat and low 255/35 rear tyres, in particular, improve the car's appearance from most angles, they also heighten the feeling of stability, very noticeably on long fast curves, even in the wet. Whether or not 17" or 16" tyres give a more comfortable ride is a matter of opinion unless, of course, any of the car's usual occupants are abnormally sensitive to bumps and uneven surfaces. Again, my own belief is that 18" tyres on the 300h offer at least as good a ride as 17" ones did on the previous-generation 250, although this may have less to do with the size of the tyres than improvements to the chassis and suspensions. Really, it seems to me that the only disadvantage, apart from price, is the higher risk of damage from kerbs and potholes, as well as rough gravel - and, unfortunately, there is no remedy for this except to chose brands with demonstrably good rim protection. As regards price, although the cash outlay for a set of new 18" tyres, if you consider them preferable, will be higher, the difference amortized over the many km you are going to drive on them is really very small.

Not that I was in any way a potential customer, but I had the chance to test drive a Q50 3.5 litre Hybrid when I had already owned my 300h for some months. The test, such as it was, lasted maybe 30 minutes and included a bit of motorway while consisting mainly of driving round the block a few times. The drive was offered by my Lexus dealer to occupy my time while I was waiting for my own car, the Q50 having been on loan from a colleague to whom he had in turn loaned a 450h for what was, I understood, to be a friendly private comparison - and probably a more appropriate one than with a 300h. On the positive side I remember (1) the punchiness of the Q50's response at all speeds - not that I got beyond 130kmh, (2) the quietness and remarkable cocooned feeling of the cabin although noise from the 19" tyres was not entirely absent, and (3) the very high precision of finish, inside and out. On the negative side, I found the car (1) bulky in feel and lacking in agility, (2) the steering over-light and strangely sensitive to bumps and uneven surfaces, and (3) the cabin a bit flashy, perhaps even vulgar, with the real wood and leather managing to look false, the general appearance being more American than European. Except for these last two points, my conclusions were that with familiarity, essential with regard to the abundant gadgetry and somewhat confusing dashboard, I would have grown to like the car very much. The list price at the time, early 2014, for a full (or almost full)-spec version was way beyond that of a 300h Premier, I believe upwards of €65K against €51K, and since the discounts were in both cases in the region of 12-14%, the price differential remained intact and has probably not changed. To get around the problem of small dealer numbers (only five or six in the whole of Italy) and the policy of of keeping the marque separate from Nissan for both sales and servicing, Infiniti were offering a free pick-up-and-return service/equivalent courtesy car for all maintenance needs irrespective of location. According to my Lexus guy, though, the cost involved was absorbed into the prices for servicing and spares which, since he considered them extremely high in his professional opinion as a Lexus dealer, must to say the least be eye-watering!

Gang: "Unexpected Consequences" is a good title for what has got to be one of the most convoluted, albeit interesting, pieces of thought in automotive history. I hesitate to claim that I understand your drift but, unless I am completely off the track, you are saying that ownership of a Lexus 300h has provided you with the motivation to replace a BMW335i with a Nissan Leaf (via an economic comparison with a SKY subscription) to which you would have preferred a Tesla which is a car you hope Lexus will emulate and improve upon. No doubt there is some commercial and technical logic here but my first reaction was to commiserate with car marketing people wherever they and whoever they may be since they must sometimes despair of getting a simple buy-my-car message across to their prospective customers!

No doubt Mat has the sympathy of all followers of this Forum, although this cannot be much of a consolation. That the repairs should have cost something like a tenth of the price of a new 300h, without this and the time they took having been quantified from the start, makes for a bad experience indeed - not to mention the added aggravation of having to deal with people who obviously need straightening out. Before reading Mat's OP and talking to the German couple mentioned in mine of 4 March, I certainly did not know how potentially expensive repairs to the pop-up hood can be, and I imagine not many other owners of cars with one do either. More specifically, did any of us attach much importance to this particular feature when we we considering buying the 300h? And in the unlikely event that we did, would any Lexus salesman have been able to provide detailed information about it? As for myself, I certainly felt the car's overall safety rating to be important and would have thought twice about the purchase were it to have been less good, but, to be honest, until pop-up hoods are made obligatory on all cars I would be happy enough to do without. Why should I take the responsibility for pedestrian protection when vehicle regulatory authorities and manufacturers do not? Also, it would be interesting to know just how interdependent the single items of work and replacement parts needed for a complete repair are. Mat lists a few of these, but could some be excluded thus reducing the potential total cost? Or could the feature be eliminated altogether from the car's combined safety package?

Geoff: If you set your screen to show the speed camera icon, and leave it on this setting, and the icon is not present on the screen when you hear a beep, this means that the beep you have heard has to do with something other than a speed camera. If, on the other hand, you do not set the screen to show the icon and so rely solely on a beep to warn you that you are approaching a speed camera and this beep has to do with something else, then, if you reacted by slowing down, you will have done so for nothing. Thanks for letting me exercise my own old grey matter by providing a 100-word explanation when I thought much less was enough! :eerrrmm:

.... and it should be kept in mind that the Cameras in question are only the ones present at the time of any given map update, and that it is best to set the corresponding icon as permanent so as to know whether any other beeps you might occasionally get are extraneous. Also, if you take the car across the Channel, the Lexus programme complies with individual national regulations concerning the incorporation of speed camera warnings into SatNav by simply excluding them where necessary.

Contributors to this Forum who, like myself, came to the 300h from a previous-generation 250 have reported a halving of their fuel consumption and thus an approximate doubling of their tank range. Therefore, while drivers coming to the 300h from a diesel will clearly be less impressed, it still surprises me that they could ever be disappointed unless, of course, they mistook Lexus' declared consumption figures as having a bearing on reality rather than simply permitting, as Scoops says, a comparison with other cars from other manufacturers tested with the same parameters, this being the limit of their usefulness. In my view individual owners should decide what level of consumption they consider satisfactory and realistic according to their own driving style and mix and then set themselves the objective of habitually achieving or getting close to it. My own experience is that, with perseverance and when circumstances permit, you can achieve figures you originally thought unlikely. Some weeks ago (see Tank Range Targets, started 8 February), I posted the results of a first successful attempt at not allowing the combined Range and Trip distances after filling up, once reached, to fall below 1000km before the low- fuel warning light comes on again. Success would mean that you have consumed something like 56 litres (=12.3 gals) at a rate approaching 18 km/l (=50.8mpg) and still have 10 liters (=2.2 gals) left in the tank. One day I hope to be able to achieve this as a matter of course, but have so far managed it only three times out of six completed attempts. To my credit, though, I have not once fallen below 950km, and this is a figure with which I would once have been more than pleased. Since I have not changed the driving style I adopted, not always successfully, when I first had the 300h (i.e. try to drive smoothly, brake gently, think ahead, use cruise control when appropriate etc., etc.), I can only attribute my growing success at the 1000km game to a reduction of the margins by which I formerly exceeded speed limits. In other words. having acknowledged that I will never rid myself of the habit of exceeding them whenever I think I can do so with impunity, I now consciously try not to exaggerate. For example, where I once might have driven at 70kmh+ in a 50kmh zone, I now aim for 60kmh or thereabouts, and, of course, it is proportionately less of a problem to keep closer to a 90kmh limit where I customarily once did maybe 110kmh+. Both scenarios yield considerable benefits in terms of overall consumption with the result that, in order not to completely wipe them out by exceeding the 130kmh motorway limit for significant stretches as I usually did, I now tend to stay within or close to it. In short, while the 1000km game is certainly motivating me to drive less fast (and maybe a little less dangerously) than before, this does not necessarily mean that I have taken to driving abnormally or irritatingly slowly, and I am enjoying the 300h as much as I ever did.

There is an Italian product called TREMILLIMETRI which is probably available online somewhere. This is a non- abrasive paste used in tiny amounts as an alternative to jeweler's rouge (i.e. iron oxide) to manually polish minor scratches off most smooth surfaces, and although it is advertised as effective mainly on metals and plastics, I have used it successfully on car and even wrist-watch glass. As a rule of thumb, if you can feel the scratch when passing a fingernail across it, it will be too deep for this particular product to work.

The "welcome light illumination" feature works only as a function of the light sensor and provided that the lights switch is left on AUTO. It is the default setting and can only be de-activated as a dealer customization (perhaps at the behest of owners who do not like to be seen creeping around during the night).

Steve: Except for the calipers and other areas of corrosion having been cleaned, as, on the evidence of your pictures, they clearly needed to be, I haven't really understood what has been happening with your car. Only you can know the truth of exactly how hard you have been driving the car and thus too frequently activating the safety systems. But so what? That's what they are supposed to do, is it not? Your statement that "we will see" sounds a bit too fatalistic, and if I were you, I would get a second opinion from another Lexus workshop the next time you are in the neighbourhood of one.

I must admit I have never played a CD, but I do get the option to terminate the traffic message dialogue box when I am using BT or USB and the screen is set at 25% Audio, which it also habitually is with me.

You guys were clearly already quality-oriented future Lexus owners in your privileged youth since you are talking about a car that had real chrome bumpers unlike a real gritty tin-can item such as the Ford Popular which had them painted to look like they were!

INTERIOR Dashboard and Other Plastic Surfaces Dusting, weekly, followed by wiping with microfibre cloth dampened with a 5% mild soap solution, as necessary, maybe fortnightly. Screens and Mirror Smooth microfibre cloth dampened with plain water, as necessary. Windscreen and Side Windows Microfibre cloth and plain water immediately followed by a second dry microfibre cloth, as necessary. Rear Window Water with few drops of all-purpose cleaner on Stoner Invisible Glass Reach & Clean Tool, monthly. Carpets Vacuum only, weekly. Rubber Mats Shampoo and sponge, as necessary. Seats and Other Leather Dr Leather wipes, twice yearly or as necessary. Denim stains: 5% mild soap solution on cotton wool. Steering Wheel Microfibre cloth soaked in plain water, monthly. EXTERIOR Body, Plastics and Lights Two-bucket shampoo (Mer High Shine on noodle-sponge), weekly. Dry with Kent XL Yellow microfibre cloths. Harly Wax, twice yearly, after preparation with Dodo Juice Square Sponge Clay Pad+Born Slippy Lube+Lime Prime Lite. Wheels Shampoo, same as above, weekly, brush if necessary. Windscreen, Side Windows and Mirrors Microfibre cloth and plain water followed by second dry microfibre, detergents only if necessary. Tar, Resin, Bird Droppings MyCar Tar Remover/WD-40 Oil/Dodo Juice Born Slippy, undiluted.

Ross: I note that you are a connoisseur of mind-conditioning music of a bygone age. As a specific antidote to the excessive modernity of the 300h with all its technological wizardry and built-in creature comforts I occasionally feel the need to fill the cockpit with the sounds and words of car-inspired vintage Chuck Berry numbers, e.g. No Money Down, No Particular Place To Go, Maybelline, The Jaguar And The Thunderbird, etc., none of which are exactly deserving of the lush ML system but are nonetheless capable of bringing tears to the eyes of many an old fart (if you'll forgive the anatomically mixed metaphor).

Ross: The validity of your closing query merits close consideration, at least on the part of some of us. I have from time to time noticed how the expressions on the faces of some younger folk change from admiration for the 300h to mild contempt when they see my grey mane emerge from it accompanied by the sound of creaking bones and perhaps a groan from the effort. Not that one should get over-sensitive about such unintended displays of incivility, for, if I might supplement your own olfactory metaphor with another, the ability to appreciatively sniff the roses, in our case an automotive one, can only improve with age and experience.

Ed: Nice pic but it made me nervous. Were you trying to see how close you could get to the kerb without scraping your front undercarriage or what??!! :eerrrmm:

Anybody coming to the 300h from a previous-generation 250 like Michael and myself would be well advised to keep the lower ground clearance in mind. I also used to have no problems with a 250 in situations like that of the car-park mentioned in my post. This is not to say, however, that knowledge of declared clearances and the consequent risk is necessarily helpful if, as is almost invariably the case, one is already committed to negotiating an unrecognized and unavoidable obstacle when faced with it for the first (and hopefully the last) time. The difference between the declared 135mm (= 5.3 inches) clearance for the 300h and the 145mm (=5.7 inches) for the 250 is certainly quite significant in that it can mean getting a scrape or not. The 120mm clearance I misleadingly mentioned in my post as being that declared by Lexus for the 300h was in fact a figure estimated by my trusty Lexus mechanic as being more realistic if factors such as load, accessories, tyre wear, braking speed and suddenness etc., are taken into account.

The 300h's low ground clearance has stopped me using a public underground car-park I previously frequented, the angles at the points of access to flat areas being too acute. Although so slight as to be barely perceptible, scraping occurred towards the rear in the neighbourhood of the exhaust - and this despite a practically empty boot and no passengers in the back seats. As a matter of fact this should not have happened at all, the recommended minimum clearance for vehicles using this particular car-park being posted as 115mm, which might worry the owners of some supercars but not the 300h with its declared 120mm. As regards reversing up steep gradients, I frequently do this in all kinds of weather and on different surfaces and the 300h performs admirably, the engine coming on virtually simultaneously with the first twitch of your right foot upon reverse being selected.

Some months ago I was filling up at a service station in Germany when another 300h drove up. In the course of the ensuing exchange of pleasantries and congratulations the owners pointed out some barely visible scuff-marks on their hood just above the grille, explaining how they had being queuing at a light when some crazed individual had jumped out of nowhere on to the hood, popping it open, before running off via the roof and boot never to be seen again. The hood still closed and opened well enough, if a little stiffly because of a tiny mis-alignment, but the damage consisting of "something to do with the pedestrian-protection mechanism" together with other connected minor work was going to be repaired by Lexus at a quoted cost of €1800 which, having agreed to a vandalism claim, the insurance company would cover.

Simon: I don't know about F-Sport White, but keeping my Arctic Pearl clean - or maintaining an acceptable appearance of cleanliness - has not been as much of a problem as I originally thought it could have been. Certainly, streaks along the sides and spots and splashes on the back as well as under the doors and along the door-sills (the tendency to accumulate dirt here being worse than with any other car I have owned) are highly visible after driving on particularly wet and dirty surfaces but, in normal weather/traffic conditions, all that happens is that the film of dirt makes the paintwork look uniformly duller without it immediately becoming as unacceptable to the eye as it might with dark colours.

Complaints about the services provided by Lexus dealerships have always existed and always will, disappointed customers being a fact of life in any commercial organization. The issue for Lexus is whether the standard of the services provided by dealers continues to be sufficiently high to distinguish the brand from competitors and, secondarily only to the quality of the cars themselves, remain a key factor in attracting prospective customers away from competitors. Having had occasion use Lexus dealerships in five countries over the past fifteen years for both major and minor jobs, my own opinion is that the level of customer service, both technical and commercial, is generally very good. By this I mean that, other than occasionally breaking into a sweat over the cost of spare parts and servicing, I have rarely had cause to complain about what I have asked them to do or the speed and conscientiousness with which they have done it. But, then again, having had no points of comparison with other houses since becoming a Lexus loyalist, I am not really able to judge how accurate my opinion might be. Still, one less frequently hears negative comments, let alone horror stories, about Lexus dealerships than others, and the brand continues to score high in consumer surveys. Certainly, having come to Lexus from BMW, Audi and Lancia, I was originally very impressed and even amazed at the general level of service and the enthusiasm of the staff providing it. These virtues clearly used to derive from an underdogs-try-harder David v. Goliath-type motivational scenario, and if they have become somewhat less noticeable over the years - and I regret to say this may well be the case - it is because the scenario has grown less credible and the commercial pressures greater. Or maybe I have become grumpier with age.

I think the dashboard clock with an analogue dial was a slightly retro design choice inspired by equivalents on many high-end cars past and present. A digital lcd clock like that on the previous IS was probably felt to give an excessively "Japanese" and too cheap an impression. The only problem I have with the analogue, which I otherwise like well enough, regards the shininess of its components, which can make the time difficult to read in direct sunlight.

Clocked 33000km (=21000 miles) since September 2013. Pride and pleasure of ownership are undiminished, and maybe 10-15% of total km have been done for no other purpose than the sheer pleasure of taking the car out for a spin.

Agreed that the projectors are both attractive and inexpensive. I was worried they might be a little naff, but they are not. That they are an alternative to illuminated scuff-plates regrettably not fitted as standard on top-spec 300h models as they were on the previous-generation 250 is true but only insofar as it is not likely that anyone would want to have both the projectors and the plates together. While on the subject of illuminated scuff-plates, I can record that what must have been a very small number of early European imports of lhd 300h's had them. When I bought my 300h in Italy in September 2013, the dealer was as surprised as I was when I pointed out their absence (along with the rear-window sunscreen and passenger seat-memory) in respect of the 250 I was trading in. Swearing that another 300h he had recently sold had illuminated plates, he phoned the customer, who duly confirmed their presence - as did a colleague dealer in Switzerland who went and checked a 300h in his showroom. We then called the Lexus regional manager, who was frankly as mystified as we were but offered the speculative explanation that some production batches may have "slipped through" without the illuminated plates and, were this to be the case, initially suggested I could ask for them to be fitted free-of-charge. Of course, we immediately checked the published specifications and promotional literature, and, to our disappointment, found no mention of the illuminated plates (which, some months later, appeared in the list of accessories at the exorbitant price of nearly €400). To cut a long story short, it appears that some early runs of the 300h were produced not without illuminated plates but with them, the result being that there are a small number of 2013 models on European roads with illuminated plates and their owners probably unaware of how lucky they were to get them. Whether this also happened with any rhd examples sold in the U.K. I don't know.

Adam, Sorry to pry, but did Lexus throw you some kind of economic sweetener for your valuable services? No need to answer if you don't want to!