Webra

I owned a BMW while the IS300h is my wife's car. Participated in a customer clinic where I gave feedback that compared to my then IS250 that I would buy the next model IS if it were a hybrid, had better ride, less road noise, folding rear seat backs and more rear leg room. Well 3 years after the clinic they delivered so we bought. The ownership experience has been generally good, except for its powertrain.

I agree that the power delivery is awful for keen driving and no different to a Prius really, but fine for sedate and normal traffic. Actually I find the latest Prius's are more responsive. So a fun winding road is best enjoyed in another car. Shame Lexus did not make the hybrid system more reactive to the keen driver. You can have some control in manual mode so long as you don’t hit the kick down button but the slippage feel still exists. A real disappointment considering the real ability in handling it has, partly due also to its 50/50 weight distribution.

I recently drove the new 320d G30 BMW. If anyone wanted a quieter car that does the benchmark acceleration around 6 seconds (vs 8.5 secs and it does feel that much more responsive) and has a fuel range that surpasses the Lexus this is it. It joins the autobahn and accelerates up to speed with the torque feeling of a V8 where the Lexus would be screaming in revs. I never really heard much sound from the diesel at all. Of course, can’t be sure of its durability as yet. But my wife's IS300h did require a replacement hybrid Battery at 90,000kms.

I would be keen to see if Lexus will finally modernise the hybrid system. In the meantime,  try the Camry hybrid, which at least is quite a lot more peppy than the IS.

1 hour ago, royoftherovers said:

And;

did you buy it from new or pre-owned ?

did you buy from Lexus or from a Dealer?

did it have a full LSH?

These and probably others all help to produce a context within which the problems mentioned above can be viewed.

I bought the car new. It was from a Lexus dealer and it has a full dealer service history. The dealer service has been exemplary.

5 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

Interesting.

What was the issue with the hybrid battery? Why did your 12v batteries keep failing?

What sort of journeys do you do and where are you located?

 

The hybrid Battery malfunction warning came on and I no longer had motor support for the IC engine. Dealer reprogrammed the control unit but also suggested a Battery change. That was at 90,000 km. It took a month for the replacement Battery to arrive. These maybe IS isolated cases, but I gather they do happen. Many GS hybrid owners have replaced their hybrid batteries over here.

I am in Asia and the car does a mix of Long and shorter journeys.

My 2014 300h has been quite reliable, but not as reliable as my previous IS250.

Issues:

Hybrid Battery failed

12v Battery it’s on its 4th one

one front and one rear shock absorber leaked and failed

Pluses:

Dealership has been superb

High Speed ride

Overall smoothness of powertrain 

Minus:

Ancient Prius hybrid tech means performance and economy well below rivals

No space for spare tire if boot space is needed

Poor steering feel

Engine noise when accelerating 

Oh, nothing fancy really, but quite good value. Found out the OEM RC coupe Fsport model bar is 3mm thicker than mine (assuming same material that's almost 100% stiffer) so just ordered that! Drop in fit with its own more sophisticated bushings but yes, the rear subframe was dropped slightly for access.

^^ So in effect it adds more 'stiffness' but not at the cost of overall comfort??

Sounds interesting, might by worth looking at. Does the OEM 200t item fit the 300h??

Good to know the stock suspension are monotones....Explains partly why the IS handles so well....Real shame we don't get the engine/drivetrain from 300 here :(

What other suspension mods are you running?? I'm waiting for our IS to come out of its manufactures warranty before moding it, but need to save up now, since in 12 months time we'll be ordering a Tesla Model S and expecting a baby next April....Neither are really compatible with spending £££ on aftermarket car parts :)

Yes, that's essentially it, but in the meantime dampens road and body noise. See these videos.

http://youtu.be/0FUERy14lxQ

http://youtu.be/pZ5i_zgPIwU

The 300h has monotube dampers and 50/50 weight distribution. So all I did was to add a stiffer rear anti roll bar and a less soft front lower arm bush. Transformed the car totally, giving less roll and much more front end bite.

Costly, but works well.http://lexusboutique.net/?pid=1452641

First time I've seen something like this....What's it suppose to do?? Does it replace an OEM item??

I'm not adverse to fitting aftermarket parts, just jave no idea who this thing is suppose to improve anything - For reference I find the ride quality on our IS300H as good/better that on my old BMW that had £2.5k worth of custom tuned Bilstein suspension on it :)

It was developed and patented by Yamaha, and quite clever, in that a car steel bodyshell is the largest spring in a car and therefore needs damping too. The device is actually a super high pressure shock absorber mounter transversely attaching to major structural points on either side of the car. It gives rigidity when required, but also 'gives' where neccesary, by way of its incredibly small 1-2mm travel. On the IS300h, which still has stock springs and shocks (OEM are monotubes!) only one of these is fitted, at the end of the rear chassis rails; I suspect the cvt gearbox has too much girth and doesn't allow a front one to be fitted. On my BMW I have them both; the front one connects the two rear mountings of the front subframe.

The main effect is the whole car feels tighter and quieter, rather than stiffer and noisier when ordinary strut bars are fitted. On quite a few Lexus models these come as standard, including the recently launched 200t F sport.

Yes I am a fan of the handling of older BMW's, but with a few recent mods my IS handles better than any of them.

Costly, but works well.

http://lexusboutique.net/?pid=1452641

I had the technical bulletin update done on my car, model year 2013. There is a software update along with the diff damper install. I have noticed that the drone at 1300rpms is hardly detectable now, so it's a big difference. Additionally, the engine is somehow smoother and quieter, and the boom at 4000 rpms is also less, so the whole car feels more refined then before. I also noticed that in eco mode the car is less sluggish in low to mid throttle.

A recent front bushing and rear anti roll bar upgrade has turned it into a real neutral handler. Stock suspension.