Last week I traded in my IS250 for a 300h "Luxury", this being the name of the top spec in Italy (corresponding, confusingly and with some slight differences , to "Premier" in the U.K, "Executive" and "Executive Line" in France and Germany respectively, and "Plus" in Spain). The 250 was the second I have owned, the first having originally replaced a 200 which was itself the second of two. Thus, the new third-generation is my fifth since the series was launched. Considering that the three generations bear little or no technological resemblance to each other, my loyalty to the brand firmly rests on what Lexus has continued to offer through the years, namely, high quality and proven reliability, good dealer service, and the choice, within the given segment, of not owning a German car. This latter factor does not mean that I begrudge the Germans their commercial success. It merely reflects the feeling of exclusivity synonymous with being one of a small number, and this, in its turn, reflects my own personal vanity rather than any conscious wish to inspire envy or curiosity. However, now that Lexus is way ahead of the Germans in hybrid technology in the saloon segment, there is finally one more reason to prefer the brand.
Having been attracted by the prospect of a good deal and immediate delivery, I bought my 300h
straight out of the showroom, and while the pairing of an Arctic Pearl exterior with Ivory leather
would not have been my first choice, it is elegant enough. It will brighten up the murky winter days
before coming into its own in the summer.
Reviews of the 300h in the Italian specialist press have generally been very good, with opinions
differing little from those I have read from the U.K. and elsewhere. The main criticism concerns
the unresponsiveness of the CVT gearbox, although this, for those of us who rarely hurl their car
along deserted country roads, is compensated by its graduality and smoothness. Almost all
reviews have been based on the F-Sport as the result of Lexus' somewhat unsubtle targeting of
younger drivers in order to widen its customer base. While I understand the need for this, I feel
that commercials featuring Jarno Trulli driving around the inside of an aircraft hangar in the guise
of a videogame character, not to mention excitedly enthusiastic utterances from another retired F1 driver like Olivier Panis, are less likely to attract new customers than alienate old ones. Be this as it
may, I admit that I would probably have preferred an F-Sport at parity of equipment had there been one in the showroom. My decision, however, would have been almost entirely based on aesthetics
since, during a test-drive, the claimed virtues of the Sport+ mode and adaptive suspensions were
not readily apparent to me. The F-Sport in full-frontal view is undoubtedly sexy (though the splendid
design of the grille cannot help being marred by a numberplate), and the LFA-inspired instrument-
panel is a remarkable technical feat (though its novelty value is probably destined to wear off).
The black roof-lining is also a nice touch, and although the sporty seats may not be to everybody's
taste, they are perhaps the most comfortable in the entire Lexus range (and there can be no higher
praise than this).
There are a few surprising blemishes and omissions in what is otherwise a superb cabin (or should
we call it a "cockpit" as the Lexus marketing people would prefer?). The door-pockets do not open
outwards as in the 250 and are flimsier to the touch. Storage space for small objects towards the
front is practically non-existent. Strangely, the front door-sills in my car are plain satin-finish metal
strips and lack the back-lit logo to which I have become accustomed. The dealer was as surprised
at this as I was, and has asked for an explanation that has so far not been forthcoming. My own
suspicion is that the proper components were not in stock on the day the batch of cars including
mine came off the assembly line. Another conspicuous absence (that will discourage prospective
purchasers of the exorbitantly priced Cool Box in the Accessories list) is that of a 12V socket in
the boot. And, speaking of the boot, the swan-neck lid-hinges are downright ugly and do not hide
away upon the lid being lowered as in the 250. They may also prevent the lid from shutting properly when the boot is loaded right up to the top.
The Mark Levinson sound system is so good I wish I could take it into the house with me. It gets
scant mention in the promotional brochures and none at all in the handbooks, which means that
anyone wishing to know more needs to research it online. If I understand it right, the system's 15 speakers deliver twice the intensity of sound of normal ones without increasing the consumption
of energy. Can this mean that the previous-generation 14-speaker ML system equipping my 250s
was constantly causing me to pollute the planet while squandering money? The ASC synthetic-
sound device, of which I fail to see the usefulness, is no more than a piece of acoustic bling, and
I have switched it off. Some journalists with an over-fertile imagination have suggested that it could
be made to provide a choice of supercar snarls and howls at the driver's whim, but I cannot imagine
that Lexus would ever inflict this idea on its customers unless the company's quest for younger
buyers extends to the juvenile market.
I have yet to come to grips with the Navi system, which I am at this stage eyeing in much the same
way as a mountaineer gazes at an unconquered peak. I certainly miss the user-friendly touch-
screen of the previous system, and the 400+ pages of the handbook are more than a little daunting. The only audio problem I have so far encountered was a blockage of my iPod Classic a few minutes
into its first use, and, after a moment of panic, a simple resetting of the iPod resolved the issue.
Fuel consumption is looking remarkably good (not surprisingly compared with the 250) even though I have not yet done enough kilometers to precisely quantify it. Generally speaking, the almost dutiful aim of keeping the needle within the ECO limit has had the effect of disciplining my style of driving, which, the 300h has made me realize, was occasionally somewhat lacking in dignity. Indeed, the car is so extremely well-mannered and unruffled in any situation I as to have made me a better road user - and therefore a happier one.