ganzoom

Not entirely sure about the exterior changes, but upgrading the sat nav to 12inch screen is good, it wouldn't make it system any better but at least prettier and easier to use. I wonder if Lexus will now also make the 'safety pack' a included option even at base spec.

Next gen batteries with x5-10 more energy density than current Lithium-Ion tech is already viable in the labs, but the transition from lab to consumer is 10-20 years. Sony released the first lithium ion battery back in 1991, but its not until nearly 20 years later prices and manufacturing have become mature enough for mass production for use in cars. Ofcourse there is now more £££ going into battery research, so transition may be quicker, but current small (5-10% increase in capacity per year) increments in lithium-ion tech will continue. Nissan already have developed a 60kWh battery pack (a 250% increase in capacity) that is the same size as pack in the current Leaf and only a 33% increase in weight. I'm pretty sure this is the pack designed for the next-generation Leaf due out 2017. So there is plenty of scope for current Lithium-ion tech to be improved upon, before the true next gen tech becomes commercialised in 2030+ (probably aluminium graphite ). http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1100775_nissans-60-kwh-200-mile-battery-pack-what-we-know-so-far

Sadly many CEO of big established brands seems unable to grasp the concept of rapid change, or the fundamental differences in tech underlying an EV compared to a combustion car.... http://auto.ndtv.com/news/fiat-boss-skeptical-of-tesla-model-3s-success-will-create-a-rival-if-profitable-1396421 http://www.bossauto.ca/next-ford-focus-will-stick-with-100-mile-range/ http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2016/04/12/mercedes-benz-usa-chief-the-electric-vehicles.html Instead I suspect they are all preoccupied with trying to sort out the BS going on with diesel engines and MPG fiddles. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/apr/22/mitsubishi-scandal-us-regulator-demands-data By the time some of these companies realise the shift to EVs is coming it'll be far too late for them to jump on board. Toyota/Lexus need to stop wasting money on fuel cell tech now and focus on developing plug-in EVs, Samsung have now throw-in the towel on fuel cells to focus on battery tech. http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/phone/news/view.jsp?req_newsidx=202485

We were in the same situation last year, but with the previous XF or XJ. We went as far as taking the IS300H demo car to the Jag dealer.....What sold it to us was just how refined the hybrid drivetrain in the IS300H. It really hits us when we were out in the Jag dealership forecourt a IS300H pulled in gracefully under EV power, and than a £60K+ XJ pulled in with it's diesel engine rattling away like a tractor. At that point me and my wife looked at each other, and the decision to go for the Lexus over the Jag was made, we didn't even bother going into the Jag dealership.....So thank you to the driver of the white IS300H that arrived at the right time that morning . More recently some family friends turned up at the house in a brand new Merc GLC.....Great looking car....Till the engine started, and I was reminded straight away just what an awful experience it is to drive/own any diesel car, and thats without all the latest diesel-gate stories (http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/consumer-news-vw-emissions/95277/german-car-brands-to-recall-630k-diesel-models-over). The Lexus doesn't have the best infotaminent system, but the refinement and smoothness of the hybrid drivetrain more than makes up for that .

I wonder if this is a facelift or a new model, either way exciting to see what improvements Lexus is going to bring.....a new infotamiment system must be on the cards.

Back in 1908 when Henry Ford launched the Model T there was 22 million horses in US cities/streets. I'm pretty sure people had the same level concern regarding the movement away from horses to cars. In all honestly why worry about trying to predict the future of EV taxation/charging etc, change is coming, combustion car will always be with us (much like horses still are), but for the majority EVs will become the default mode of transportation. If Lexus wants to survive as a mass volume producer they need to jump on bandwagon sooner rather than later. http://www.americanequestrian.com/pdf/US-Equine-Demographics.pdf Our IS300H costs us £36K, in 12 months time a 85kWh 2 year old Model S will be under £40K - and if you buy it from Tesla your get a 4 years, 50K mile warranty......2018/19 and the Model 3 will be on UK shores, £30K, 0-60 in under 6 seconds, 200miles of real life range, £5 to recharge from 0-100%. The writing is on the wall for combustion cars, some countries are already putting legislation in place. http://metro.co.uk/2016/04/18/the-end-of-petrol-and-diesel-first-country-aims-to-ban-all-non-electric-vehicles-by-2025-5823897/ I've just became a dad over the weekend....and I honestly don't think my daughter will even know what a petrol engine is by the time she grows :).

Home charge points are rated at 7KW, which is about the same as a tumble dryer, but even at 3 miles per kWh, a 10hr charge at home (starting 10pm, finishing at 8am) will get you 300 miles of range assuming you arrived at home with 0% charge. If you read up on the amount of electricity required to refine a 1liter of petrol (excluding the costs assumed with transporting and extracting the fuel ), your quickly see EVs are by far the most efficient way to provide personal transportation. Regardless of what individual views people have on EVs, the fact 400K people are willing to put down $1000 on a car that has no final spec/price/delivery date is as much as sign any that the 'mass market' is ready for EVs. Don't forget building an EV is totally different from building a combustion car, for a start you need to have a secure supply of battery. Aside from Nissan, everyone (Tesla included) have to source their battery from a different supplier. Change is coming, and if Lexus really is about 'innovation', they better get a move on with coming out and atleast show off a concept car to compete with the Model 3!!! http://www.forbes.com/sites/brookecrothers/2016/04/15/with-tesla-model-3-orders-nearing-400000-chevy-bolt-feels-heat-of-tesla-brand/#642bf4bc5349

Lexus really need to update the in-car tech of their whole range. This is what comes STANDARD on a £13K Corsa. 7” colour touchscreen Apple CarPlay and Andriod Auto (You can be sure its easier to use than the Lexus system) Bluetooth, USB, and aux in Hands free phoning For £500 you can get their AUTO park function - That will automatically reverse park with no driver input. For £1300 you get the 'Safety pack' - which you can add to any spec - not jus the top unlike in the IS300H Traffic sign assist recognises and displays speed limits and other traffic signs. Lane departure warning audibly warns you when leaving your lane without indicating. Following distance indication keeps you informed of the avoidance time to the vehicle in front. Forward collision alert senses when a frontal crash is imminent and warns you with a sound, a signal in the display and warning on the windscreen. High beam assist detects preceding and oncoming traffic, and automatically switches between high and low beam of the Bi-Xenon headlights. Side blind spot alert senses vehicles in the blind-spot zone. If you indicate to change lanes it flashes a warning in the right or left mirror. So a £15K Corsa will have significant amount more tech and better infotaiment that even a top spec near £40K IS300H. Come on Lexus, sort it out.

https://lexusenthusiast.com/news/page/2/ Year to Year US sales figures. Lexus is been kept afloat by the NX and RX, as the SUV obsession continues. Sales of their non-SUVs are down 20%, the IS is down 25%. Compare this to the plug-in market in the US, up 32% year on year. http://insideevs.com/march-2016-ev-sales-in-us/

We bought a Lexus because it's essentially a Toyota but with a nicer interior, so we knew it was reliable. The Lexus replaced a Honda, and pretty much all of other past cars have been Nissans. The 'Apple' of the car world is Tesla, and by a MASSIVE margin, Lexus isn't even close. Tesla have managed to secure 320k+ of per-order on a car 18 months away from production, with no final price, or any firm details on spec. If anything Lexus/Toyota is in very real danger of doing a Nokia. Back in 2007 when Apple launched the iPhone, Nokia was the biggest established brand by far, they didn't see Apple as a threat and left it too late to innovate. The rest of car industry is scrambling to produce a plug-in batted car to compete with Tesla, Lexus hasn't got a single plug-in car on its development road map, instead they seem to be obsessed with putting massive NA engines into their top end machines. The tech in cars is changing very quickly, and Toyota/Lexus need to innovate, the Miria is a dead end (Even dealers in California, the land of the wealthy tree hugger cannot shift them). They need to cut their losses, senior management need to swallow their pride and start developing a battery EV competitor to Tesla. BMW/Audi/Merc/Porsche/Jag are all now less than 2 years away from launching a full production battery EV. If Toyota/Lexus don't get involved soon they are in serious danger of becoming irrelevant.

That silver thing is the inverter not the battery. You dealer sounds like they have no idea what they are doing (A common problem with ALL main dealers regardless of brand). Even if it was just a cell failure in the main traction battery, that cell can be replaced quite easily. I've even seen a DIY guide on the Internet for it. What does a 'sick cell' in the 12 volt battery mean?? As mentioned above the 12V battery is easy to source and replace.

7 days since the order books opened, now apparently at 320K orders. If you haven't got a pre-order already I woudlnt bother now. Pretty much the entire production volume for the first 24 month is now sold, so if you order now and don't own a S (which enables you to queue jump) 2020 will be earliest your see the car.

If that's ture than Lexus may just be in time. Jaguar, Audi will both have a 80kWh+, 200mile range SUV on the market by 2018. As a consumer I love the idea there is more and more choices coming up for battery EVs :)

^^ Your totally missing my point. I haven't preordered a Model 3 it's not the car for me, and actually any EV driver could have gussed the specs before launch. Its the near 300K of pre-orders in 72hrs that's taken everyone, even Tesla by susprise. Tesla will need fl build two new factories to keep up with that demand...... The key here is demand, if Tesla can get 300K of preorders how many EVs do you think Lexus could sell if they matched Tesla for price/specs. Rather than keep on wasting $$$millions on the Miria, Toyota/Lexus need to tap into this potential market. If you were a shop owners and the guys next door do a new offer that is attracting customers to queue round the block, woudlnt your want to try and copy what they are doing?? What the Model 3 Pre-order numbers have done is more relevant to how the rest of the industry react, rather than what Tesla does next. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2016/04/05/tesla-model-3-this-is-what-a-game-changer-looks-like/amp/?client=safari#

So the 3 pre-orders have hit 280K in 72hrs. 1 million pre-orders before production starts in 2017 is looking likely...Which ever way you look at it, you cannot deny that battery EVs are about to become 'mass market'. Surely Toyota/Lexus cannot ignore that kind of demand for an battery EV. The Miria is 'selling' in sub 100 cars a month even in the US. I really would love to buy a Lexus/Toyota EV, and am sure so would plenty of other people who have owned the Prius, but by not even offering a full battery EV Lexus/Toyota is in real danger of become just as relevant as Nokia was when Apple shipped its first iPhone. When/if Lexus do finally produce a battery only EV, I will have little hesitation in considering it/ordering one. But I just hope it doesn't come too little too late, I certainly don't want our IS300H to be the one and only Lexus we every buy in the household.

Tesla opened their order books for their Model 3 EV this weekend. In a little over 48hrs they have collected 250K pre-orders (£1000 deposit), and the numbers keep on going up. The specs aren't that mind blowing: •215 mile EPA range (60kWh battery) •0-60 sub 6 seconds •5 seater •$35,000 list price. I know Toyota are obsessed with hydrogen fuel cell cars, but surely now with the number of pre-orders Tesla is racking on the Model 3, it's time to atleast experiment with a full battery EV. My wife love her IS300H, but has now asked me to put down a deposit on a Model 3 when we order our Model S later this year - Existing Model S owners can queue jump to the from of the line the 3. The pre-orders on the 3 are so high I cannot see Tesla deliveing to the RHD market till 2020, so a perfect window of opptunity for Lexus.....I really hope some one at the board of Lexus takes notice of the Model 3, I would dearly love to have the option to buy a battery EV Lexus at some point in the future :). http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/02/tesla-underestimated-model-3-demand/

Not sure about Android, but regardless of I'm using Spotify/Apple music the phone pairs with the car via Bluetooth. I can see full album art, names, tracks, can skip, pause etc, and with Siri I can even just 'ask' the phone to play what ever artist/track I want all. I pay £15/month for 5gig of data and 250 voice minutes via 3, Spotify I use the free account, and Apple music is £10/month - I find it hard to believe anyone on this forum cannot afford £10/month to have access to as music as you would ever want.....or you can keep on faffing around with USB sticks/Hard drive ;)

What are you after from the suspension. My personal experience is that the stock suspension set up on our IS300H is the best I've experenced in ANY car. The damping is perfect, and the car isn't upset at all by adverse camber or even pot holes. Yes can 'feel' imprecations in the road but they rarely upset the travel of the car. In my books that's the hallmark of a good suspension set up, communicates to the driver the road surface conditions, but doesn't let bad road surfaces throw the car off the driving line. It's leagues ahead of the stock suspension on my hold BMW 335i, which had horrendous damping. If your arfter 'softer' suspension you can always try after market springs with different compression rates, but than your need to look at a while customised setup to change the dampers to suit the springs, and that ain't going to be cheap.

USB sticks, iPods, HDD to store music...are you guys all still living in the 00' ;) Since the likes of Spotify, Apple Music etc I cannot remember the last time I accessed music stored on hard media...Even at home!!! My iPhone 5 has a tiny 16gig of memory yet I can still stream just about any music I want, when I want. Stop messing around with outdated tech, give streaming services a go, life is so much simpler :).

You don't have to plug-in any of the current PHEV from BMW/Merc/Audi......But the more you plug in the cheaper the running costs. By the time your 350e lease/PCP is up (2018/19), your have a whole load of proper SUV battery EVs from Audi, Jag, Tesla to choose from. Lexus will be the odd one out by no having a plug-in car of any kind. http://www.carsuk.net/electric-jaguar-f-pace-could-be-the-jaguar-i-pace-as-jaguar-trademarks-i-names/

I have to say our non-F sport rides/handles better than my old BMW 335i on bespoke Bilestein B8 dampers. Someone else mentioned that the IS300H has monopod suspension stock which helps to explain the excellent ride on OEM suspension.

Having gone through 2 years of worrying about keyless thefts via the OBD port on the BMW I thought getting a Lexus would be the end of that worry.... As it turns out keyless entry cars are at even more risk (See links). Essentially a company has built an signal amplifier that will mean some one can get into your keyless entry car, start the engine and drive away. The tech is straight forwards, it simply amplifies the RF signal of the key to make the car think the key is next to the car . No real effective countermeasures. Looks like my trusted disklok will be going back onto the Lexus. http://www.wired.com/2016/03/study-finds-24-car-models-open-unlocking-ignition-hack/ http://www.syssec.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/infk/inst-infsec/system-security-group-dam/research/spot/332.pdf

The auto-head lights option and adaptive cruise control stays on all the time in our IS300H. The only time it gets confused is in heavy fog, when the high beam reflects back on it self or the lights from other cars aren't as strong as normal. I've never seen the camera sensor fog up like that, if your car is still in warranty take it back to Lexus, something isn't right there with the seal. Land departure warning I've turned off, it's funny to watch the car can 'see' where the lanes are but annoying that it cannot steer it self to keep in lane - So it's a bit pointless.

^^ I've tried the i3, ironically the use of uncovered carbon fibre and recycled materials made it feel very cheap. There is a lot more interior noise compared to the Leaf, and at the moment the i3 is still only a 70-80 mile range EV just like the Leaf. The P85D Model S I test drove last year distinguished it's weight well - I suspect that's because of the AWD and the instant acceleration. BMW have said they are increasing the battery capacity to 30-35kWh this year, that's still less than half of the 70kWh pack in the cheapest Model S, and 1/3 of the 100 kWh pack Tesla is rumoured to have developed. So sadly the only EV on the market with decent range remains a Model S.

I very nearly put down a £4K deposit on a Model X, but after seeing one in the metal in LA last month found it quite underwhelming. As a SUV the RX is probably the most pleasing on the eye compared to most other competitors. The problem for me is now I'm hooked on the EV drive train, the sub 80 mile range of the Leaf is good enough for me 90% of the time so the 200 miles+ range of the S is fine for my use. But going back to a combustion car would be like asking me to swap my current iPhone for a old Nokia. It wouldn't kill me, life would carry on, but I just cannot bring my self to do it.....The really sad thing is despite the Model S been on the market since 2012 the nearest competitors from VW group/BMW etc are probably not due for another 4-5 years. It's even more frustrating that Toyota/Lexus are not even bothering to look at battery EVs. So like an addict with no choice, when the time comes to shift the Leaf on, the option on the table for me is a Model S.