ganzoom

It's not tricky at all, essentially almost plug and play.

The standard coil suspension on the IS is by far the best OEM setup ive experienced. The job of a good suspension setup is to communicate the road surface to the driver whilst maintaining body control over adverse camber etc. he damping in particular is spot on for UK B roads. You can carry sfupid amount of speeds through twisty bits safe in the knowledge the car will stick to the choosen line. If you want to see how not to setup suspension for UK roads just take any 2007 BMW M sport 3 series for a blast down a typical B road. Even the smallest pot hole can throw that car into the opposite lane!!

Just done update, interface is now much quicker. Should have been like this from the start, but good to see it now sorted.

Affordable 200 mile range battery EVs are just around the corner, GM/Tesla/Nissan/VW all have products in the pipe line. Renewable energy generation is now really starting to make head-way, the UK actually has some of the best wind resources in Europe. But countries like Portugal and Germany are showing what's possible. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/18/portugal-runs-for-four-days-straight-on-renewable-energy-alone http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-16/germany-just-got-almost-all-of-its-power-from-renewable-energy Why on earth would any country want to still rely on fossil fuels is beyond me when renewable electricity generation is FREE after initial setup costs, and EVs take away all the inner city air pollution problems in a single stroke. Far from been 'brave', I would say Norway is showing the world the future is now nearly here. Can you imagine what the world would be like if OPEC / oil prices had NO impact on the world economy....International politics/relation will sure be very different.

On my Leaf I have an energy 'minute' that shows how much power is been used by the motor at that instant. On M-way runs, especially in heavy but flowing traffic its amazing how little energy you need. It's acceleration that uses power.

Try this website (http://www.pistonheads.com): There are 6 for sale, at £13-15K I don't think your loss a single £ on deprecation. These are the last of the NA Type R's, and if the reviews are to be believed the best. The K20A engine in them is rock solid, add in factory LSD, Brembo brakes, limited production, these are going to follow the original DC2 Integra Type R. If you want a diver focused car forget the IS, go for one of those. http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds?Category=used-cars&M=367&NoDoors=004

Ofcourse if you really want a car that combines comfort and speed you have to consider the BMW 340i and Audi S4. Despite reliability issues my old 335i is/was the best petrol car i ever owned/driven. It was as much at home doing the daily commute, but loved been thrashed on a twisty B road, yet still refined enough my wife feel aspleep whilst I was doing 140mph+ chasing after a S5 on the autobahn. In the USA Lexus offer the IS350 which is supposd to be just as good as the BMW/Audi. But sadly here in the UK we don't get that option :(. I truly loved my old 335i, if I haven't been converted to an EV addict (my current and future cars have to be full EVs), I would still be in the 335i, probably would have gone down the modified turbo route and chasing 500bhp+ on normal unleaded

Have you looked at the FD2 Civic Type R?? It an import only car, essentially the Japanese version of the Type R we got, but better in every way. Its got awesome reviews and have hardly deprecated in the last 5 years. If anything prices are now starting to go up. Its a 4 door family car that will crack 60 in less than 6seconds, has Honda reliability, and will loss £0 in deprecation if you look after it. What's not to like :). http://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-spottedykywt/spotted-honda-civic-type-r-fd2/26723 The Infiniti G50 is good alternative, there's a hybrid version that is suppose to be very good, and use prices are very tempting. Being very honest I have to say I don't think a IS300H is for you. It does many things very well but a track day car or a B road blaster it is NOT. I haven't tried a IS200t so cannot comment.

^^ I think you need to decide what you want in a car, I've done my time with Type R cars - Had a DC2 Integra R which was about raw as you get aside from the EK9 Civic. The IS300H couldn't be more different from a STI/EVO/Type R. If your thinking about taking a car to the track and sticking on turbo chargers forget the IS, it isn't designed for that role. You might also reconsider your budget, a 2007 Type R must now be sub £10k where as the IS even used is double that. If I was you I would consider something like a Megan RS or even something like a GT86 or a turbo/supercharged MX-5. Save the IS for when your old and grey like the rest of us :),

Have you actually sat in a Scooby or Evo?? Neither are in production, and have interiors that were considered bad 5-10 years ago, they must feel like going back into the 2000's now. If you want a fast hatch right now your spoilt for choice, Golf R, M235i, Focus RS, Civic Type R. All will run rings around a IS200t and be much more liveable than a Scooby or Evo.

You 'lost' 70% value of the car in 18 months.... I'm afarid to say thats got nothing to do with the car, but the dealer who sold it to you saw you coming from a mile away. Lexus main dealers are con-artists just like every other car dealer. I learnt that lesson a long time ago. Essentially you paid far too much for the last car and the dealer (same??) now sees a chance to get another pay bonus courtesy of yourself. Tell them where they can stick their PX price and sell it your self. Ive sold 3 cars via auto trader in the last 12 months, all went for much more than PX price, and all sold within a 4 weeks of been advertised to the first viewer. Its really not that hard work.

Thats all ture but still doesn't take away from the fact the IS300H has awful throttle lag. Its worse than the current generation of turbo cars, and compared to a proper EV, its night and day difference. Many people wouldn't care about it, and its only really apparent if you decide to drive like a ******(too fast), but it irrates me and occasionally I do still drive like a ****** :(.

There is 100% bad throttle lag in the IS300H, which ever mode you put the transmission in. It's a bit like the pre-2000 era turbo cars, or old Honda VTEC units....But much more unpredictable. When your off throttle mid corner and feel there is just enough grip to stamp on the loud pedal, the powertrain on the IS is simply not good enough to let you have all the fun. The power delivery is far too unpredictable to really have good fun with the car on a B road, there is about a 0.5-1 second delay to peak torque which is simply doesn't inspire confidence to be able to push the car. It's nearly caught me out several times when I think, 'OK' I can now relax about trying to catch over-steer and than the power surge comes. But its not a major flaw, the IS300H isn't designed to be a track day car or a B-road special. For everyday use its fine, and once the power delivery starts it's more than quick enough.

TheIS300h isnt slow, in-gear power delivery is better than a 320d. BUT there is lag in the power delivery, which I suspect is what your experiencing. That delay between putting your foot down and the car shooting fowards is inevitable due to the nature of the hybrid drivetrain. The lexus system is setup for economy so when you mash your foot it takes time for the combustion engine to respond as the car tries to keep in EV mode as much as possible. But judging by the mpg you got on the test drive you weren't pushing too hard.. I saw sub 20mpg on my 24hr test drive when testing out 'sport' mode, sadly the throttle is still there dspite the rubbish mpg :) The GS will feel quicker, but thats because its got a V6 lump, and V6 economy to go alone with it.. I saw horrific mpg reads when I had a RX450H for the day, worse than the mpg I was use to seeing in a 400bhp twinturbo petrol BMW.

If you order new you can spec the premier with smaller 17inch wheels. Which is what we did, have no complaints about ride quality, infact the ride quality is one of the best parts of the car.

If you got the cash you can clear the PCP amount the day after taking delivery. That way you get the dealer 'contribution' for taking out PCP but pay next to no interest. Its what we did with our IS purchase.

I'm sure your be happy. Our IS replaced a old Civic, one of the main reasons we got ours over a XE/XF/C class was the proven reliability of the hybrid drive. Ours will be with us for 5 years+ hence we didn't mind buying new. Am sure your enjoy the car, it's a much nicer experience than the diesel Honda's :)

Thanks for the advice, finally drove the car last night, no issues. Just had a new addition to the family, and the baby seat is in the Leaf. I cycle most days to work, so I can the IS300H spending a lot of time on the driveway this year....At least it stays looking clean much longer :)

Just realised as of this Friday wife's IS300H would have been sat idle for 4 weeks. How long does the 12V battery last in the IS300H?? Also been on the same tank fuel since end of March, still got 1/4 of a tank left....I persume the fuel will be OK for a while longer?

^^ From the tone of your post I thought as much :) Cannot blame you, personally I think if Lexus made the IS300H a full blown EV that would be amazing. If you do go ahead let us know how you get on!!

How much is the kit?? Looking at the link it increased the efficiency by 10mpg. Going from 40 to 50mpg will only save you £200 a year on fule assuming 10k a year. If your doing it for fun go for it, but if you just want a better EV experience I would reccomend selling the Lexus and getting one of the many different proper EVs that are now around.... If you really want to mess around with the traction battery have a look at the website below. These guys are Uk based, the owner of the website has converted a RX-8 into a full EV, and they do lots of mods for Leafs etc. http://www.indra.co.uk

The battery in the IS300H is only about 1.6kWh, and it's likely only 1kWh is usable. Compared to a 'proper' EV it's pretty much useless, the latest Leaf has well over 28kWh, latest i3 has close to 30kWh, and Tesla are just about to release a 100kWh pack car. A Mitsubishi PHEV has 8kWh of usable power, and a Prius PHEV about 4 kWh. Unfortunately PHEV are simply not as efficient as proper EVs, my Leaf will get 4 miles per kWh easily, a Tesla 3.5 miles per kWh. This compares 1-2 miles per kWh in a Mitsubishi PHEV, in real life some PHEV owners apparently report less than 10 miles of EV range!!! The best 'upgrade' that can be done to the hybrid system on the IS300H is to change the cells to Lithium-ion pack which should be lighter than the standard battery pack, but to be honest given we are talking about a sub 2kWh pack the weight saving will be minimal. An aftermarket add-on will simply add weight and increase chance of component failure. Hopefully Lexus will produce a PHEV or even proper EV of it's own sooner rather than later.

Ture....Except an full EV drivetrain is smoother, quicker to respond, and so much more economical. Large combustion engines are already niche products, over the next few years they will all but dissapear.

You just have to hold it tight at the neck and give it a little tug :)

Our car was a 'custom' order so had to wait nearly 4 months for delivery. At the time the dealer showed me they had access to about 20-30 new cars ready go, but none were in the colour/spec we wanted.