ganzoom

My personal view is that nearly all accidents are due to human error, intentional or not. None of us pay 100% to the road at 100% of the time. Even something as simple as changing the radio station is a distraction. The more active safety features we have on a car the better. Computer and sensors don't get tired, ignore things based on 'experience'. I trust any computer to be able to react to any sudden braking/unexpected obstacle much more than my own experience. The sooner autobrake, speed limit detection or similar technology is made compulsory on all cars the better. Indeed the only logical progression for road safety is to remove human factors all together. Hence the drive from virtually every car manfacture, and Google/Apple for fully automated cars....

Changed the number plates today.... Found out the Lexus factory plates were metal, and car came with pre-drilled fixing screw points. First time I've seen it on a car, normally it's just a self tapping screw. A much neater solution :)

Good luck with the new car, the new Volvo's do look nice.

Of course the solution to this is to remove rhe massive/heavy lump on the engine and it replace it with something much smaller and elegant. There would than be no need for pop-up hoods.... Only if there was a 5 seater saloon car on the market where there was no massive engine under the bonnet, but instead just storage space ;)

Your missing the point, the pop-up hood is to PROTECT people been hit by the car NOT you. But sadly like many VW owners, no one these days seems to care about anyone but themselves. So what if my VW filling the air with NO, it doesn't bother me...Isn't it great how selfish we all can be :)

whoops, was actually 23.5L not 25L. But either way pretty good, especially with ASDA now selling unleaded for under £1/L.

256 miles according to Google (250 miles on the clock). 25L of fuel brim to brim. So in theory 49.6mpg Computer showed 51.8mpg just before filling up = <5% error between real life and on board computer. Pretty decent estimation.

The electric motor provides assistance at higher speeds than 40mph, but it cannot power the car alone at that speeds. The electric motor on the IS300H is really there to allow the atkins cycle combustion, and recruit energy lost during braking in start-stop traffic. Electric motors are more efficient than any petrol motor but laws of physics still apply, air resistance doubles as speed increases. The main problem with electric cars is relative small 'fuel' a battery can store compared to a petrol tank. So as you increase speed you use up your fuel much quicker. One litre of petrol has about 9 kWh of energy. So a IS300H with 66 litres of fuel has over 590 kWh of potential energy, yet at best it'll cover 600 miles, so roughly 1 kWh per mile. My Nissan Leaf only has 20kWh of usable battery, a Tesla about 80kWh. Yet the Leaf will cover 80-90 miles, 4 miles per kWh, and a Tesla 3.5 miles per kWh, so an equivalent petrol car has to reach 150-200mpg before coming close to achieving the same energy efficiency. This is before you factor in the energy required to extract, refine, and transport petrol. Where as it now becoming increasingly obvious renewable electric generation can contribute significantly to the electrical grid without using fossil fuels. What the German government has invested in renewables makes England look rather third world (Scotland is a different story). http://ecowatch.com/2015/07/30/germany-breaks-renewable-energy-record/ The IS300H only has a tiny <2kWh battery, and there is certainly much more Lexus/Toyota can do to increase electrication of their entire car range.

I'm the opposite when it comes to 'style'. Personally I couldn't careless what a car looks like along as it deliver the performance....I still wear shirts to work that I first bought 15 years ago, when I was a student. Indeed most students these days are better dressed than me, and my wife has had to force me to give away some of my old cloths :). Quite understand why people go for style though.

^^ I still don't think its a 'drivers car' close but spoilt by the hybrid engine. What's the point of a 'F-sport' when its not really 'sporty'. For me the 'ultimate' car is one that combines the performance of a M3/M5 etc, but with the luxury/comfort of a big comfy sofa, and also economy of a 3 cylinder Nissan Micra....For all intents and purposes those three things are usually contradictors. My wife loves our IS300H, she paid for it after all and for the purpose of getting from A to B its fab, but my money will be going towards an all electric alternative ;).

Had a meeting to attend some 130 miles away yesterday. Left the house at 545am, go the the venue on time, spent the day in meetings, left at 430pm, and got back home at 7pm. The IS300H performed flawlessly, I love the adaptive cruise control - makes busy M-way driving so much easier, and not having to put up with a rattling diesel engine when in jams just makes life so much more relaxed, especially when spending nearly 1/4 of the day in the car!! The seats were also superb, not a hint of back ache or discomfort. Passed a few XEs on the M-ways, really glad we went with the IS300H rather than the XE...which just looks like another BMW/Audi. To cap it all off, despite keeping pace with traffic (60-70mph best you can do in rush hour around the M5/6 etc), it appears the car had only been sipping fuel. Apparently good for another 340 miles!!! So despite some various 'negative' themes that can come up on the forums, we should all remember just how good the IS300H is at getting you from A to B in comfort...oh no hint at any kind of 'vibrations' at any speeds/revs, no rattles or excessive wind noise, and definitely no sudden popping up of the bonnet :)

I'm pretty sure if an airbag deployed by itself due to a kid kicking a football at the bumper, that would be taken very seriously. You know as well as I do the potential injury an air-bag could do if deployed inappropriately. Lexus clearly need to design the pop-up bonnet trigger better, I'm not bothered, because its unlikely to happen, but I hope they still at least look into the underlying cause.

You cannot 'pass' on it though. It's a built in feature of the car, likely so that is can earn the 5 star NCAP rating. But sounds like Lexus haven't implented the collision activation well enough. If a impact that doesn't even damage the bumper can set it off, that's not good design. Equally another fourm member had the front of their bumper badly damaged but the system didn't activate....

Sounds like a design faliure Lexus needs to sort out. You wouldn't expect an air bag to deploy without high impact....But I pretty sure what the 'official' Lexus response is :).

^^ Don't ask my views on the 320d....In short I cannot think of a more pointless car on the road. The fact so many are in 'M-sport' guise tells you most people choose form over function. Personally I prefer things the other way round :). I actually like the IS300H, it's so relaxed and comfortable, just wished it had that extra bit of grunt for the odd few occasions....But I've already found a car that'll offer the same relaxed drive as the IS300H and has the same performance as my old 335i, but that's been discussed before ;)

^*It'll be for the NCAP ratings. Been able to boast 5 stars is important for brands. NCAP also changes the ratings depending on the tech available. I'm sure soon any car without auto-brake fitted as standard wouldn't be granted 5 stars....The sooner they do this the better.

That sound like a ignorant motoring journalist line. Who honestly buys a car to drive at break neck speeds around the country lanes? Assuming that is what is meant by a "drivers car" You should write to the 'M' division at BMW, 'RS' at Audi, 'AMG' at Mercedes and tell them they are wasting their time :pAt the end if the day it's all a matter of opinion, I've owned some of the best petrol cars around. The chassis on th IS300H is up there with the best of them, the hybrid unit....humm sorry, it's great in traffic jams but any kind of 'spirited' driving finds it lacking. Both response and power. If you want to see what I'm on about, go and test drive a M3, M5, or even the new GS-F, and than compare it to the drivetrain of the IS300H. My wife loves the IS, it is hers after all...I enjoy how relaxed it is on long M way drives, but every time I ask the drivetrain to deliver that extra bit of performance I wish it either had a 'normal' petrol engine or a pure electric power source, not the confused mis-mash that is the hybrid setup.

Hope you get it sorted...Can you claim that on insurance?

I hope Active collision avoidance/Active braking systems are made mandatory in all cars soon. The technology is here, its not that expensive, and avoid the need for things like pop-up bonnets because avoiding the collision in the first place is the best solution. The 'safety pack' on the current IS300H doesn't do this, though technology-wise I'm sure it can but Lexus hasn't implemented it in the software :(

I think the Pop up hoods are needed to pass safety regulations, especially with low bonnets and the engine mounted high. You can argue about repair costs, but they have been clearly reduce the potential of a head injury due to less chance of the head making contact with a hard surface like the engine. I would turn the issue around, if you, or your child/wife/parent was involved in a RTA with a car, would you rather they hit their head on the bonnet with a car that had a 'pop up' hood or one without?? At the end of the day the reason we have car insurance is to cover unexpected costs, personally I have no problems with advancing safety items adding repair/purchase costs to the car....Every car on the road is a 1-2 ton projectile capable of massive damage in any accident, the safer we can make the car for occupants and third parties the better. Which is why we decided to go for the 'safety pack' on our IS300H - Annoying Lexus only offer on the top spec cars, which I think is quite disgraceful. Cars can be repaired, human bodies not so easily. http://www.euroncap.com/en/vehicle-safety/the-ratings-explained/pedestrian-protection/head-impact/

But the 'value' of the car is in reality how much £££ your get for it if you put it for sale. PX prices are real 'values' because they translate to £££ in the pocket. I've never tried to sell a £25K car privately, but I cannot imagine it been that easy, given your need to find some one who is a cash buyer and prepared to pay £25K without all the legal protection you get from dealer....Personally I wouldn't buy any car that costs more than £5K privately.

The traction control on our IS300H is impossible to turn off....I think you have to be very lead footted to send the tail out in a proper spin. On the plus side the chassis has a surprising amount of feedback, you can tell when your approaching the limits of grips.

^^ Might explain why the mpg readings your getting is much lower than what I'm seeing :P Eco mode will try to utilise the battery much more than normal or sport mode. I see a 10% drop in mpg when going from Eco mode it normal, and same again from normal to sport. We pretty much keep our car in Eco mode 95% of the time.

It's pretty much impossible to remap a hybrid car...Given the majority of the Lexus market is hybrid or NA powered it's not a surprise there is no aftermarket remap market. The 200t engine may change that, will all depend on US sales, as the US guys are the ones who seem to be able to 'crack' ECUs the quickest - For BMWs anyways.

LoL, yeah we'll be needing the rear seats for sure :) Not sure about what I'll do with my next car yet. Need to wait and see what new features are released next 12 months. A 18-24months old fully loaded P85+ for under £50K would be very tempting...and even if depreciates by an another 20-30% in 2 years will still overall cost less than a new £65K Model S with smaller battery?? Not really the kind of problem to loss sleep over :)