ganzoom

So had to drive down to London today, 100 miles or so on the M way, than 40 miles of inner London urban traffic (ie: very very slow). When I got to the destination I noticed the fuel gauge had hardly moved more than 1/8, so checked the trip computer. Nearly 70 mpg....Frankly that's ridiculous efficiency for a car with this amount of luxury, fuel cost works out at 8p per mile. Still double how much the Leaf costs to re-charge per mile using standard electricity tariff, but never the less it's might impressive, shows how well developed the hybrid units are for efficiency. I reckon with some more economy focused driving on the M way (slip-steaming lorries), I can crack 70 mpg...So in theory 14.5 gallon tank should give rang of close to 1000 MILES, and with less than 2000 miles on the clock the engine apparently the isn't even at its most efficient yet :)

I think somewhere in the world a group of women are probably asking the question 'Does your husband waste time on car forums like mine?? They already have the car, but still waste time trying to justify their purchases to other people'

Didn't know the Q30 was just going to be a re-bodied A-Class. I presume that means Merc and Nissan have some kind of partnership going. Merc perviously had some dealing with Tesla, and Nissan are clearly heavily invested in EV.....Maybe we'll see something interesting from Infiniti yet on the full EV front. All I know is that every time I now drive the IS300H, I just wish it had a full EV drivetrain, I'll happily live with a full EV range of 200 mile.

Apparently the Nissan Sunderland plant is gearing up to start producing the Infiniti Q30 soon, so its looking like Nissan is committed to pushing the Infiniti brand for a while longer. Given the amount money Nissan has pumped into the Infiniti-Red bull F1 team over the last 5 years it would be huge publicity failure for Nissan if they pulled the Infiniti brand from Europe/UK. http://www.infiniti.com/gb/models/future_models/q30-concept.html

My wife officially owns our IS300H and it's her daily car, she loves it. I wanted her to buy a V6 supercharged Jaguar XF, she told me where to go....More recently I tried to persuade her to think about what swapping the IS300H for a Tesla, again she told me where to go She also think car forums are a waste of time, Apple products are a rip-off, was able to proof read my 40,000 word doctorate thesis in one sitting and stick wires into peoples hearts whilst they are having a heart attack on a daily basis. So she's generally far more intelligent and sensible than me, and in her view the IS300H is fab, she cannot see any reason for her to change cars for a long time yet :D

£367 for a oil and brake fluid changes is very expensive. Probably even more so than BMW main dealer prices. The oil itself wouldn't be more than £100 and brake fluid £20. Looks like our IS300H will never be going to a main dealer :)

$800 million dollars in pre-orders just a week after launch, all stock sold till mid-2016, Yeaph, cannot see that idea going any where ;)http://bgr.com/2015/05/08/tesla-powerpack-powerwall-battery-sales-estimate/ I just pointed out the Model X because you were moaning about poor mpg on the NX. Personally I think 30mpg is pretty good for a petrol SUV. You have already said a plug-in hybrid is better than the Lexus setup, but if your considering one, worth considering a full battery EV, hence I suggested the model X. I appreciate battery EV isn't for eveyone one, but if you want good mpg, comfort, speed, low running costs battery EVs tick most of those boxes. Infiniti is suppose to be working on a 'Tesla killer' as are Audi and BMW. Lexus/Toyota need to up their game, because battery EVs are already here, where as hydrogen fuel cell tech is still pretty much a pilot programme.

The doors apparently take up less space to open than coventional doors, and is double hinged.I have no doubt lots of people will not want a Tesla for what ever reasons, but with 20,000 pre-orders and let's not forget a 6-8 months waiting list for a Model S I don't think Tesla is short of business...I'll be ordering my Model S sooner rather than later :) For Tesla to really succeeded they need to produce a £30k machine, but they simply don't have manufacturing capacity to meet demand for this at the moment!!

So you want a SUV that's quick, economical, with plenty of gadgets....Keep an eye out on the Tesla for the model X details.. It wouldn't be cheap, probably start at £60K, but will be based on the Model S drivetrain. So basic spec will be: All wheel drive 250 mile range (on £8-10 of electricity at peak rate - Half that if charging via off-peak rates) 0-60 in around 5 seconds 8 year and UNLIMITED miles warranty on the drivetrain More gadget than an Apple store Memory seats + mirrors FREE use of Tesla supercharges for LIFE!! and Gull wing doors But apparently already a 20,000 waiting list, so you might be waiting a while, delivery due to start Sep-Oct this year (2015) :) http://www.teslamotors.com/en_GB/modelx

Nothing is impossible to retrofit, but it probably not easy or cheap. Installing hardware is easy, running wires from the front of the car to the back can be done by almost anyone, but programming the relevant ECUs will be much harder.

We had a 2.2 Civic CDTi before the Lexus. The Lexus will return 45-50 mpg without too much trouble, but obviously the faster you go the lower the mpg. The Civic could achieve better mpg on the M way, but as you mentioned in any urban/traffic setting the mpg advantage swings back to the Lexus. But a 5 mpg drop in M way efficiency is a small price to pay for the superb comfort/refinement of the Lexus compared to any diesel. I hope we will be 'stuck' with ours for much longer than 4 years :)

So just seen a report suggseting that even with the might/expertise of Toyota backing hydogen fuel cells cars, production of the £60K+ Miria is going to be limited barely a handful globally for at least the next 3-4years...So timed perfectly for when Tesla's battery factory is due to fully come on-line and start producing battery packs for at-least 30% less than the cost today. https://transportevolved.com/2015/04/27/2016-toyota-mirai-hydrogen-fuel-cell-sedan-has-three-year-wait-caused-by-production-limitations/ Meanwhile, in the present and now, my little £200/month battery powered Leaf completed it's first 200 mile trip at the weekend (Also done nealry 200 miles more than my 'target' PCP monthly meillage limite)....Not the most relaxing, but not a probelm with the Leaf, more of a problem to do with horrific un-reliability of the rapid charger network - at least it was all 'Free', total cost to me for electricty to re-charge the Leaf for the last 800 miles has been £3!!! (Majority of charging has been on for 'Free' at local supermarket charging posts, shopping center car parks, and the odd rapid charge up at Nissan dealer) Come-on Lexus/Toyota, get on with-it and stick a full EV drivetrain into the IS, give it a 50-60kWh battery with 200 mile range, and I'll happly hand over £50K+....Otherwise my money is going straight to Tesla.

No survey is bias free, even scientific objective studies that cost millions to carry out, designed by some of the best academics in the world is prone to bias...This was a survey of user perceptions, so shows how owners perceive their ownership experience to their expectations...which is why the mixture of cars in the top 10 is so different. Personally I find it good to see how different owners perceive their cars at different price points....For those dismissing wondering how the MG3 made it to the top 10...have a look at MG's website. For under £10K you get, parking sensor, LED fog lights, climate control, DAB, sat nav with smart phone integration, leather steering wheel, and if you pay another £500 you get partial leather....and it doesn't look half bad. Lexus essentially charged me £10K just for memory leather seats, a fancy stereo, and some sensors You can also customise one like a mini....Even putting on a custom paint job it the total cost was a extravert £10500... Or for £10900 you can have a Dacia Sandero....I know which I rather have for £10K :)

If see my other thread about the Electric Leaf your see I my views on the future of the internal combustion engine is clear ;) Once you have got use to the refinement of the hybrid setup in the Lexus I can promise you the diesel burning lump in the Passat will seem like technology from the past (Once your try a full electric car, your feel the same about the Lexus, but that's another thread :)). The Pre-collision kit apparently doesn't work at town speeds, though I obviously haven't experienced its effectiveness. I do agree with you, the response of the throttle in the Lexus isn't as crisp as the best petrol car....But than again the performance is actually all there. 0-60 it matches the car every reviewers raves about the BMW 320D, and 'In-gear' acceleration it probably is actually quicker than the BMW :) I used to own a top of the range BMW 335i that I absolutely loved (owned for 4 years) and spent £££ getting the power to about 380bhp, after getting our Lexus IS, I found my self hardly driving it because the Lexus was simply a much nicer driver, despite the 335i's power advantage...I've never driven or been in a Passat (apart from Taxis), but I honestly cannot see why you would choose one over the Lexus, providing the Lexus has enough space for your needs. I certainly would chose the Lexus over and 3 series BMW without a second thought.

We went for the premier with the safety pack mainly because it's a car that we are going to keep for 5 years + so the extra gadgets will serve us well long after the pain of depreciation is forgotten :) As to is it worth it?? That's very indivual thing, having now gotten use to things like adaptive lights/cruise control, memory seats, blind spot miontoring it's hard to imagine driving a Lexus without all these features....But yet none of our previous cars had these features and they severed us fine. The M&L sound system is very good, takes a few hours to bed in, but the other day after parking up, I found my self just sitting there letting the song finish because it just sounded so good....I've NEVER done that before in any car. It's obviously not as good as a decent home stereo amp + speaker setup, but not bad!

But if you can get a extra £1200 off via signing the PCP deal and than paying off after 1 months why not do that??It literally takes 5 minutes, for a saving for over £1200 (Persuming early settlement charge of £300). I even told the dealer I was doing this at time of buying, he didn't care what is did as long as I signed the PCP agreement and made the first payment. Don't think of it as finance, think of it as another £1.2k off the price :)

If you try to cancel with-in 14 days of the agreement (ie: before you actually pay the first payment) they apparently try to claw the money back..but not sure how?? If you choose to terminate early, even if it's 1 months into a 24 months agreement, by UK law they can only charge you roughly 3 months of interest as an 'early settlement penalty'. I've just done this, phoned up 2 days after the first payment came out of the bank, asked for a full settlement figure, gave them my debit card details, and 30 seconds later, all done. No questions asked, no funny tricks, took at most 5 minutes, there are strict financial laws regarding termination costs, so the finance department cannot really play games. I got the confirmation letter from Lexus Finance confirming all the details regarding settling the finance three days later. If your doing this route, it makes sense to pay as big deposit as possible, since the early settlement penalty is calculated on total your loan amount...So the smaller the overall loan the smaller the early settlement penalty.

I would strongly reccomend taking the IS300H home for an 24-48hr test drive. When we were looking at car last Decemeber our local Lexus dealer pretty much threw the keys at us with no questions asked...It clearly worked, because after 24hrs of seeing the Lexus on the driveway, and having lots of comments from neightbours/friends about how smart it looked, the decision was a no-brainer. For me one of the key features of the Lexus is it's reifnement, I honestly cannot see how a 2l Turbo diesel can come anywhere near the same level of quitness/smoothness the Lexus offer in town/urban speeds. Infact at 20-30mph, when just getting around town, the Lexus is no-more noisy than my FULLY ELECTRIC Nissn Leaf. It's only when you mash the throttle your reminded it's still powered by the dinosour that is the ICE.

Given it's the first time ever we've had two brand new cars on the driveway, I took a quick look at one of those 'best car surveys' most magazine produce annually... Turns out both cars are in the top 10 (Lexus IS and Nissan Leaf), which is re-asssuring because it shows its not just me going mad : It's also good to see that though clearly some of the cars in the top 10 are 'premium' brands, most of the top 10 is made up of reasonablly priced cars. Goes to show it really is hard to buy a bad car these days, what every your price bracket. I did notice the only 2 mass-market totally electric cars have made it into the top 10, despite them been 1st generation product....It looks like people who own electric cars really like them. I do note in the AutoExpress blurb about the IS, they still have a dig at the Lexus: "while even a slightly fiddly joystick-operated infotainment system can’t detract from how owners feel about the in-car technology." These car journalist really need to except the fact other brands can also make small compact excutives as as well/if not better than BMW/Audi/Mercedes....Maybe they need to go to some of mass journalist school to get their German bias washed out of them 1. Lexus IS Mk3 2. Skoda Yeti 3. Hyundai i10 Mk2 4. SEAT Leon Mk3 5. Renault ZOE 6. Lexus NX 7. Jaguar XJ Mk4 8. Nissan Leaf 9. MINI Mk3 10. MG3

It all depends on what you want to do with the car. We initially wanted a 12-18 month old model, but after looking around my wife couldn't find the colour combination or the spec we wanted, so we just bought new. We went with PCP for the £1000 discount - paid it off last month, had to pay £250 'penalty', so in reality got £750 off, which isn't too bad for doing nothing. I did half think about letting the PCP run and than replacing the IS300H with a plug-in hybrid/EV car, but my wife loves the IS300H, and at 50mpg, its hardly expensive to run. I also still love the way it drives, after-all it was the IS300H that made me look at full EVs in the first place :) The actual charges for the interest on PCP isn't that bad, if you factor in the £1000 discount, my agreement would have cost me £1500 interest over 2 years, but we did put down a big deposit. I can see the appeal of having an extra £20K sitting in the bank rather than £20K sitting in the car deprecating....But interest rates are shocking at the moment, and sometimes when the car is good enough, it's worth paying extra for!! I cannot see my wife wanting to change the Lexus for another 5 years+, and in the spec we have gone for it's got all the 'essential' safety gear that will become standard over the next few years. By the time we sell it (if we sell it)it may not be worth much, but the fact it's still a hybrid will make it worth more than a 320d or ICE Jag XE. The hybrid drive in the Lexus is pretty mature technology already compared to full EV cars, Nissan has been able to improve the battery chemistry in the Leaf apparently year-on-year. I cannot see my self 'buying' a full EV car until the technology curve plateaus, which I suspect wouldn't be for another 10 years +, given most academic centres are busy making next generation of batteries commercially viable.....Nano technology, Lithium air, Lithium Sulfur technology is all coming, Both cost, and efficiency of battery technology is going to improve quite quickly, don't take my word for it. This is article in 'Nature' about battery technology written last year....For those who don't know, 'Nature' is one of the worlds most respected scientific journals, it's almost impossible to get publications in 'Nature' unless you really are the world expert in a particular field, so this isn't science fiction stuff, this is stuff that's coming around the corner :) http://www.nature.com/news/the-rechargeable-revolution-a-better-battery-1.14815

I wonder if 'normal' dealers complaining to Lexus about lossing customers to drive the deal is the reason the good deals are gone?? We got 15% (£6.5k) off the list price on our Premeier through drive the deal, dealer even threw in the Mats + umbrella, and treated us like any other 'normal' customer when we went to pick up....Wouldn't think twice about using drive the deal again :)

Sonic Tit - with pale interior: I found it very hard to find on used market - As you know the Sonic Tit colour changes according to light conditions.

...and carwow. When I was looking they get close to the drivethedeal price.

Give it a few years when they are out-of warranty, and people start sticking on the JB4/Procede/Flash tunes on the N55 engine. For £300-400 it'll hit just short of 400bhp. http://burgertuning.com/N55_JB4_F_chassis_BMW_tuner.html The BMW in-line 6 turbo unit in the 135/235/335/435i is a seriously under-rated by BMW to make sure they don't steel the lime light from the other in-line 6 turbo BMW, the M3. The fact your can now pick up a early 335i N54 unit for under £10K (pre-08 cars had forged internals - there's a few in the US running close to 700bhp via hybrid turbos, but on stock internal and auto-transimssion with no issues), spend about £1000 on down pipe, remap, and air box , and hit a reliable 400+ bhp, makes them one of the best bargains around. Mine hit 380bhp running just 14.5 psi of boost, but it had so much torque we couldn't get it to not wheel spin on the dyno. 400-420 was easily achievable with by turning up the boost limit to 17.5 psi. Ofcourse the problem with turbos is heat, and reliability. There is a solution to that, bigger (more reliable turbos)....But next time you come across a twin-exhausted 135/235/335/435i, I really wouldn't be surprised if they match you for acceleration. If I hadn't sold my 335i, I would have gone down the aftermarket turbo route....I had it all priced out, £6.5-7K including install and larger dual competition level oil coolers, it'll match a stock GTR....But of-course if you up the turbo on a GTR, your into crazy land But the N54/N55 engines in these BMWs are a real gem (all the stuff attached isn't), the new M3/M4 is using essentially the same block but with lots of extra cooling.

oh if your really afer 'hypermilling' hybrid drives respond well to 'Pulse and gluide' techniques. Where you use decent accleration to achieve a target speed, and than 'gluide' using just the EV motor and the speed slowly fall, and than repeat. Initially it didn't make sense to me, because if your average speed is the same, than surely your using same energy, but its more about using the maxium efficency of the hybrid set-up interms of accleration and energy recaptuer (I think) People have done all the maths, and I belive mpg readings into the 70's and higer are acheivable, using this technique, though it's something I've never tried, and not sure how it will actually work in real life, especially in real world traffic. http://www.metrompg.com/posts/pulse-and-glide.htm