Linas.P

Not really, reliable and dependable car doesn't make it exciting, in addition taxis have to be incredibly cheap to run to keep margins reasonable - that means junk engines which are just about enough to move 4 people and 4 bags, not overly sporty suspension which simply soldiers on instead of keeping you in the corner, fat tyres to keep in comfy and they are cheaper than low profile etc. etc. I am sure ES is reliable and dependable car... will be relatively cheap to run... so good choice as a taxi... not exciting car or good to drive however.

I think you right, if you want to find out the car which is really not exciting to drive... check what cars are used as a taxis. Great car to carry passengers, but who would like to drive it themselves?

There are a lot of RX taxis in Geneva, not sure if it is 450h, but most likely it is. And it is fine... taxi doesn't really need great engine and loads of power, doesn't need RWD, doesn't need weight distribution etc... just loads of space in the back and in the boot. I guess Lexus being reliable helps as well. The reason it is not the case in UK, because UK goverment cares more about revenue and less about (not at all) pollution. Hence in UK there are no real benefit of choosing hybrid like Lexus and thus we don't see anyone taking advantage of it (because there is no advantage to take).

I agree with the point that reducing unsprung weight generally is better for handling, however it can be worse for ride. In any case, when talking specifically about IS250 which is far from fast car where it would matter I would be surprised that say 1 or 2kg of unsprung mass could make any noticeable difference in handling. The only reason I believe tyres makes huge difference is that I have tried it myself and it is hard to believe the difference between good tyres and even average tyres. I am sure it doesn't make it worse, but just to say - "I have changed the wheels for lighter and they transformed the way car handles or turns-in"... I doubt it. I still think the key here is good choice of the tyres + I don't know what you had before. Anyhow - I have nothing else to substantiate my opinion - so let's leave it at that combination of good tyres and lighter wheels improved your handling. I guess question was more about style, fit and corrosion resistance in this case. I am sure driving dynamics could be considered as well, but for relatively casual car like IS250 it hardly even matters.

Not sure why you have impression that I don't like Continental tyres?! I generally state that I would not buy any mid-range brands unless they are substantially cheaper - that being Avon, Falken etc. Because there are often no huge difference between mid-range and premium tyres I often say that it makes no sense to save £4 per tyre and ride on something which may or may not be good. When it comes to premium brands I like Dunlop... somehow from my experience they have right balance of ride, wear and cost. Currently, I am running Michelin PS 4's which I consider to be best UHP tyres money can buy i.e. best road tyre if you go fast, however they have some compromises. Personally, I don't think they are as good road tyres as say Dunlop Sportmaxx RT2's and I don't do any track driving so they are kind of overkill for me - not as comfortable, more expensive and I don't actually get to the limit of the grip anyway. I have heard that ContiSportContact 6's (not PremiumContact) are actually more compliant tyres on the road so potentially would be better fit for me than PS4's. As I have nearly new set of PS4's obviously I am not going to change it now, but that said I have nothing against Continental in principal except of maybe not being as competitively priced as Dunlop/Goodyear. As for Bridgestone and Yokohama - I have poor experience with them.. again might be me. Finally, new set of good tyres could change the way your car feels and steers, especially if you have done wheels alignment after fitting (which I always do with new set of tyres). That alone can transform your car... not sure how much importance slightly lighter wheels makes, but for some reason I consider that to be minor part of the changed feeling. I might be wrong, but again - how confident are you that the wheels, rather than tyres made that difference?

All non-forged wheels are heavy - that is most of the OEM wheels in existence. On other hand OEM wheels tends to be study, don't buckle or crack in comparison with aftermarket wheels. Aftermarket wheels can be lighter in case they are forged and still relatively sturdy, but they would be quite expensive (IS-F and american F-sport wheels are forged and quite light as well), however all forged wheels will be still more prone to cracking. If aftermarket wheels are not forged and light .. then I would consider them nothing else but safety hazard - the only way to make wheels lighter without forging is to use inferiour material or less of it which makes wheels especially fragile. Finally, wheel weight makes no difference on road car once you are going, might shave 0.1s from 0-60... but that is about it. I understand the point of that on track, but on the road that is very low in terms of priority (at least on my list). So if you can get cheap forged wheels which fits and looks right - go for it! just fitting the wheels which are lighter makes no difference in real terms, but will be more prone to damage and sometimes outright dangerous.

Later model wheels are less prone to corrosion, only the original 2005, 16, 17 and especially 18 inch designs had issues (I believe something to do with aluminium primer Toyota used at the time, same applies to aluminium bonnet) . Obviously, if you kerb them they can still bubble-up around damaged areas over time. Refurbishment is good option as well, if the job done properly, wheels acid stripped and powder coated they will last forever - my understanding is that you don't like the style? I personally, think that later model year wheels are good option e.g. 2009+ or even mk3 e.g. They improve how the cat looks and makes it appear more modern... well at least in the eyes of the others. If you don't want to go for 18" because be sure ride quality will suffer, then there is an option of 17" what I call "Advance wheels": In the right colour, they look kind of "LF-A inspired" in terms of design: Going up from 17", there are options of IS-F and GS F-sport wheels which are 19", but I would not suggest fitting them unless you are planning to lower the car as well - on stock suspension height 19" looks little bit silly on IS250. IS-F fits with slightly different tyre sizes in the front, in rear they do fit but in theory you woudl need spacer (offset is like 10mm in), GS I believe are direct bolt on. So in short, I feel like the best bet are the Lexus wheels - obviously perfect fit, but as well kind of make sense in terms of design, improves car look without becoming key aspect of it (don't look too much out of place). In terms of aftermarket wheels - the only ones which I feel looks right are USA F-Sport wheels which are not Lexus, but sold via dealership, but in UK good luck finding them.

And as for ES300h... don't get me wrong - it is great passenger car. Next time when I am going to get exec-cab to airport and ES300h comes to pick me up instead of typical Merc E-class with cardboard hard seats and rattly diesel... I will be very very happy. Great car for cabbies, taxi drivers, exec. airport transfers etc.

From description I would say - hydraulic valve lifters. These are known to stick and make such noise. Flushing engine with the oil change helps for me, as well when it starts happening I woudl recommend 6month/6k miles oil changes to avoid issues with those valve lifters. This happens on cold start because there is not enough oil pressure, due to gunked up channels, they run dry and start sticking, over time you can wear them out.

Generally, I agree... for 280 days a year I drive at most 50miles, the range of 300miles is plenty for me, but charging is a problem, even 45 minutes are the problem... ~I could live with 15 minutes brake, because that is how long it takes for 4 people to go to the loo and get another coffee, not a second more. However, the biggest issue remains not the chargers in petrol stations (I am sure many will have fast charging points soon), but simple charging at home. Take for example London (kind of best example where EV makes most sense) - population of municipal area around 9 million people of whom 55% live in blocks of flats. That is a lot of people who have nearly no access to charge cars at home (say 5% will be able to charge somehow). Another 20% lives in terraced houses and if you know London - there will have very limited access to charging at home (say 25%), only the remaining population living in semi-detached and detached homes will have limited access to charge at home. All in all ~ 6.2million/70% of Londoners have nowhere to charge EV's. So how this country (especially cities) are planning to "enable" EV's? Does that make Lexus "self-charging hybrid" an ideal solution?! potentially, but the taxation and law clearly doesn't agree, further one needs to assume all those people do not care abotu driving dynamics and are happy with 9.2s 0-60.

Yes... so nothing new here 110%+4km, but is odometer actually exactly 100% or is it 102% or 98%... that is why I am trying to find out.

Torque steer is primarily eliminated by making drive shaft equal length and fitting LSD, for more premium performance oriented cars this is common now, however nothing is going to change FWD car tendency to understeer and if you entered the corner. Volvo S90 T8 has 314HP and 400Nm going to front wheels and 78Hp ~"240Nm" going to rear, that doesn't exactly make it "balanced" AWD car for me. Balanced would be ~40/60 or 30/70 split and not 70/30... Don't you think comparing hybrid with diesel is unfair? If anything hybrid should be "more refined" than straight petrol, but in case of 300h it is less. As all already knows I tend to over-saturate things (just my preference ok!) - but let's say "as a petrol engine it is unrefined". For the comparison I had BMW 320d 2018 for nearly a month last summer, brand new, picked it up with 600 miles and returned with 2800... standing outside of it - yes sounds like a tractor, from inside - there are much difference, not much noise at all. As for London and EV - 100% WRONG. First of all, majority of people in London have no access to charging at home, which makes PHEV impractical and EV impossible - if you have home in London with driveway and suitable electrical installation - then lucky you, but it is not the case for majority of population. Secondly, I do not drive in congestion charge zone, because it is impossible to drive there between 7AM and 23PM... The closest I get is Tower hill (from the east), soon going to move office to Canary Wharf so will be even further away from central London. Finally, I sill do 40% of my driving on motorway and I often like to dive around the country and EU, so 1000-2000 miles journeys are fairly common for me - outright takes EV of the list. Just not true, 300h is faster for first 2 meters maybe - IS250 has more hp and more torque at any given time from 1500RPM + there are no circumstances on earth where 300h is faster than IS250.... maybe to 10MPH, but even then barely. 4GR-FSE reaches top torque at 3800RPM and if you have ever bothered to look torque curve is very lineal on these engines, which means you get very smooth acceleration throughout. 2AR-FSE actually only reaches top torque at 4800RPM, there is a blip of torque from stand still, but it is literally nothing 50Nm perhaps - no enough to make any noticeable difference. IS300h is slower car at any speed and any conditions - if you disagree I am happy to review your sources.

@HabuI live where it says - in London, I still find the ways to take advantage of RWD balance, which is pretty much the only thing which separates low power (under 400-500hp) cars when it comes to driving wheels. Torque steer is not so much of the problem for some time now - still happens on some cheap and cheerful FWDs, but not so much in premium segment. Although - Volvo S90 T8... does torque steers ~apparently AWD-not. Again just accelerating in straight line, there is hardly any difference between FWD and RWD, but do it on the bend and there is straight away massive difference - cannot think of more awful thing then understeer. As a matter of fact, Lexus fitting much wider (than necessary) rear tyres on IS250 does affect the balance as well, hence I went for 225/245 instead of 255 last time for more neutral balance and I would further go 235/245 just to make it more RWD like. You making wrong assumptions that I was hiding under the rock for last decade. My last FWD car was 2012 Passat CC, so in fact 6 years newer car than my current IS. It has 2 major problems - rattly Turbo L4 and FWD... hated the car all the time during the ownership. People keeps saying it is fine for car to be expensive, slow and FWD - it is boring as well. Just factually incorrect, first can be argued depending on the speed and acceleration, but second is just wrong... not even sure why you saying it when you know for a fact it is wrong.

Jokes aside, next time I do service I will take one for as spin. But what do you expect from me - changing my opinion?! What is there to surprise me? I have said that RC/IS300h are sluggish and engine unrefined when pushed, on top of that this is FWD car which I have allergy for (it must be are real allergy)... 99.9% sure it is going to be along the lines - "yep... I said it... it is total junk".

Yes exactly that - cannot read lower, but can read higher by 10% +4KM/H.

And just to add, Lexus positioning in US makes total sense: IS/GS are there to offer alternative to "European sort of car", in place of BMW 3 and 5 series.. Values of which includes agile and sporty driving, RWD is must - the space and size secondary importance and compromises are made. IS cover small sedan segment, which amuricans doesn't really have (or didn't have before Japanese and European brands came along) and GS offers larger then average car, still European alternative for large sedan... again not really natural car of choice for amurican - larger, but still fast and driving focused. ES is totally separate car almost separate brand to offer alternative to "American sort of car", and this is totally different car, in Europe we don't have such cars.. it is purely amurican produce by all aspects, fat loafy appearance, a lot of space inside with arm chairs in the front and full size sofa in the back, driving dynamics ~non-existent... but high lateral Gs are not good for average oversized amurican and overall philosophy of the car is beyond European comprehensions. In short ES segment doesn't really exist in EU and it is distinctly and unmistakably amurican: If I go by Wiki - it says European equivalent for medium-size sedan is European "family car", i.e. along the lines of Passat, Mondeo, Mazda6 and a likes... but as we know that is not at all comparable. In fact European "family cars" are generally smaller then entry luxury segment of say IS, BMW 3 etc. Whereas these american behemoths are larger... so as far as purpose goes - yes they serve similar purpose i.e. common and popular car to take a family to the shops and back, affordable and practical... but the design is totally different. That is why I see ES in it's current for, even after being redesigned... not really fitting anywhere in conventional European market.

What you saying does... and doesn't make sense at the same time. First of all GS issues in the UK and wider EU, has never been about saloon market. They simply could not offer "European enough saloon" which would be attractive, so issue is not the segment - issue is Lexus not having attractive offer... and where GS was unattractive, new ES is every bit less attractive. In US they have double advantage - they are market leading brand + they undersell European imports by decent margin as well. It maybe well be true for Jaguar, but BMW 5 series is still staple, Audi A6, MB E-Class are still holding well, Volvo is actually improving sale figures in the segment. So... kind of wrong. Secondly, if it would be about streamlining, then why introduce new model in the range? It will take ~5 years to really phase out GS, because most of second hand cars are still sold via dealership network. It is little of independent trade going on with Lexus recently. If they wanted to drop GS, they could simply drop it without much impact to anything, why introduce ES?! ES only makes sense as replacement for both IS and GS is that would be the case - like in 90's choice between LS of ES and no splitting in the lower end. Finally, Fine... replace IS and GS with a worthy car then. Call it ES or whatever you want to call it, replace IS and GS... And make it proper car... RWD, give it some 350h engine (preferably V form of some sort for smoothness) or whatever you call it which is plug-in hybrid so gets all the tax advantages, does 95MPG on paper and does 0-60 in say not too shabby 6.1s or whatever.... and I would not have any problem with it. Now the car is neither really that economical - who cares about economy will have some plug-in hybrid already, nor it is really good to drive, nor it is in any shape or form eco-friendly, nor is it very competitively priced to the level where it makes a difference. What is the outstanding feature of Lexus ES300h?! Beyond being typical Lexus, that is well build and reliable?

You can take the way you like it, and your comment applies to yourself just as much. Which is fine and actually makes sense - I am looking for a review and wanting to know about car dynamics and driving... and I know it is bad at it, so that is what I see. I know already and I have never denied it is comfortable car - however for me that is not not enough. If you only looking for comfort and the car end there for you - surely ES does it and reviews confirms it. We both looking to the same review, but we focus on different thing which are important for us. I have actually watched whole review and he does say YES, for very specific part of the test he says car is perfect - that is not to say overall it is competitive. When he goes over bumpy road indeed he states that car can compete with German cars in terms of comfort, he says it feels special and luxurious from inside... doing like 25KPH there. But that is not representative of how I would use the car on rural road like that... I would go 120KPH there and preferably with little bit sideways action .... until first tree gets in my way of course. So really - "comfortable at walking pace" is not really a criteria in the car for me. So this is my take on it - as from drivers perspective in the circumstances where speed and driver dynamics are irrelevant (bumpy straight road at 25KPH) ES feels as luxurious and comfortable as German rivals (and probably a little bit more). However, as a package it is not a competitive... and that is what he says from the outset. In the end of the day my logic is simple... for Lexus it costs less to build GS350, then it does to build ES300h... for argument sake - lets say GS350 is 10% cheaper then ES300h... That would make it £31,000 car .. new... which would be amazing value for money. I know business doesn't work this was way and Lexus cannot sell cars too cheap otherwise they would not be seen as "Luxury" brand. But at the same time - one should not expect that I would be glad to buy effectively inferior car for more.

Favourable reviews you say... The guy summarised it in 30s - is this competitor for E-Class, BMW 5... frankly put - NO!.. and certainly it isn't.. The rest I agree, he is quite frank and honest about the cars... Nobody ever suggested ES is not going to be "comfortable", surely it is... build quality is generally very good in Lexus, no surprises there. But does it "drive".... well clearly it doesn't... engine not refined, rattly .. as expected from 300h. He reached 80KM/H... and said well I wound not want to drive it at 200KM/H on autobahn - tells you all little bit about dynamics (or the lack of) on the car. I cannot imagine how many times better would be 350AWD, yes it would not sell because in UK we do not understand what the good car is, but it would be so much better car.. that junk rattle cannon 300h.

Especially considering we already paying tax based on car value - it is called VAT. This is literally Robin Hood tax... of in other words robbery in the middle of the day.

Well, just purely from write off perspective - set of airbags would be more then a whole car. If they would have deployed then you would be looking in Cat-S or B. As for arguing with insurance - it helps when car is on their lot. In the end of the day you have just as much ground as they do + they have to replace your car ~maybe not like for like, but you should be able to get same model car in the end of the day. If you can afford to argue with them for log time then you have distinct advantage, if you need money quickly, then obviously they have advantage. In my case I was driving new BMW which was costing my insurance company £320/day (before they can get it back from party at fault insurance) so it was certainly not in their power to keep the argument going. I assume you going to be claiming from your own insurance, in which case all the money is from their pocket - you just need to make sure it counts i.e. you take courtesy car etc.

After dealing with insurance for a bit, I am almost certain it would be write-off. Most likely cat-N, but if they find any damage to suspension then might even be S. If that would be my car, I would be quite happy with cat-N and keeping the car... cat-S on the other hand is pretty much end of the road there - too much hassle to put back on the road. If you want to keep the car, then you need to be very firm on their valuation i.e. challenge the value of the car based on what is available to buy online etc. In my case insurance valued my car £1920 and repairs £2880 and offered cat-N any me keeping the car for free. In hindsight that was good deal, but I have challenged the car value saying I cannot replace it like for like with less then £3200. They ended-up revising both car value and repair costs to £2800 and £2250 respectively. For me it seems unfair that private companies like insurance has any say in how safe car is. They only care about the money in the end of the day, it is illogical that they can decide whenever car is road worthy or not... Insurance is fraud...

If we go by what article say then at least odometer is not specifically designed to show wrong distance, however it is not necessary correct either... It is surprising that car would use 2 sources to derive same similar data, probably makes sense in older days when both were mechanical, but now I would expect ECU to report speed from some sensor (like crankshaft or even ABS wheel speed sensor) and use it for both odo and speedo. Obvious possibility - it does exactly that, but then adds margin on top for speedo and keeps odo without margins. I think I probably need to do some testing i.e. zero odometer drive for 100miles and see what I get... kind of curious.

Whilst discussing RC-F 0-60 speed based on speedo, I just had a thought... I know for a fact my speedo indicates 10% higher speed when on standard 17" wheels, which were on the car had for 160,000 miles, for last 22,000 I had 18"... I haven't specifically measured, but just based on rough calculation and difference in rear wheel circumference it should still be ~8% (higher indicated). Now unless I am missing something, this means my car indicates 10% more on odometer as well... I mean I cannot find any reason why would speedometer would be incorrect and odometer would be miraculously correct?! So just funny thing to think about, but over 182,000 miles that makes 18,200 more mileage... not so tiny difference, I mean 10% is actually quite high difference when it comes to "semi" precision equipment like speedometer.

Yes.. appreciate he can just delta on time post production and timing inaccuracy can be somewhat mitigated. However speedo are very inaccurate (It is mandated that speed overstates speed by law!). I woudl be happier with results if he would have attempted to at least adjust for speedo inaccuracy i.e. drive at constant 30, 50 and 70 MPH compare it against GPS speed and then average the difference e.g. maybe his speedo is ~4% overstating, so he has to get to 62MPH to reach 60MPH. Obviously, there are no way to mitigate display error on digital display, but at least we can say he had "tried"... In which case we could take his results with pinch of salt... now he is measuring fat content in milk not his 0-60... GPS inaccuracy is +/- 0.2 KMH for a record. so at 60MPH that makes up maybe ~ 0.2%... not 5-10%. Finally, I know all Lexus cars 0-60 is understated, but the method he uses to prove it just wrong.