wharfhouse

17" are 7 1/2J all round 18" are 8J front and 8 1/2J rear

Yes - IS 200t was only in Sport, F Sport and Premier so all on 18" rims in that case I assume - although out of curiosity I looked in my owners manual and the 18" rims (225 front and 245 rear) are also specified as 36psi both front and rear too... According to everything I have read/found the IS 300h has a 50/50 weight distribution. The IS 250 (Mk III) was 54/46 when launched but I guess the extra battery weight on the 300h brought it back to 50/50 !

Not sure that is completely true - my BMW 330i - not a car you could say lacked driving dynamics - had the same 17" rims with 225/45 tyres all round (front and rear) although in that case a slightly higher tyre pressure at the rear which is common with RWD - not sure why the IS 300h has the same front/rear pressures as it's the first RWD car I have had with this - I wonder if the IS 200t has the same pressures all round? BMW had the option of larger and staggered rims/tyres of course by moving to 18" so it was a personal choice whether to go for the slightly more compliant 17" all round or the slightly less compliant but maybe slightly more better ultimate handling 18" staggered - similarly to what Lexus is offering between the F Sport (and Premier I believe) and the rest of the range (other than the basic 16" rims) for the IS? In every day driving unsticking either choice of rears, especially with all the electronic "aids", is pretty much impossible anyway...

Yes I would have thought higher pressure in rears for 18" staggered F Sport too

IS 300h on 17" rims is same tyre pressure front and rear when normally laden at normal speeds (36psi) - always stuck to this and just replaced my rear tyres which had worn down to the tread wear indicators nice and evenly across the whole width of the tread. In the past my rwd cars did need slightly higher pressure in the rears and had a tendency to wear the inner edges more than the rest of tread so pleased to see the IS maxed the tyre life with nice even wear.

My experience of two recent claims 1. On my Lexus IS 300h - at night in the dark hit a tyre that has been shed off a lorry on the motorway (a couple of other cars hit it too) - called police but they were already there as the lorry was on the hard shoulder further back. Police said to swap details with the lorry driver. Lorry driver very good (ASDA lorry) and said that ASDA would call me. Had to get the car flat bedded (not drivable) and so decided to take it direct to a Lexus dealer. This was now midnight so left it at the dealer and went back the next day to explain. Then called my insurance (Admiral) and told them what had happened and that the car was now at Lexus. They said if I want Lexus to repair it then I would have to pay the excess after repair while the claim was sorted. However, the claim management company for ASDA called me later that day and they took full responsibility. Told them it was at Lexus and they said that was fine and Lexus to send the quote to them which Lexus did (it went to their Lexus/Toyota body shop). ASDA claim handler organised a hire car for me (Mercedes C200). Called Admiral and said the 3rd party had admitted all liability and were handling the claim so Admiral closed my case. Long story short - repairs took 8 weeks and cost £13,500...! More extensive than it looked. ASDA insurance claim handlers were very good, had the same hire car for those 8 weeks. When finished car was handed back and matter closed. 2. My daughters 12 year old Ford Fiesta - someone in a hire car clipped the back bumper (their fault) but were being very awkward over giving any details but my daughter had their number plate. We reported it to our insurance (Admiral) who confirmed the 3rd party car was insured and asked us if Auxillis should handle it - we agreed. Her car was assessed (she had a hire car for a couple of days - new hatchback - during that time). Car was deemed a CAT-D write off as the repair would have been some £1,600 as needed a new bumper skin and paint, although was only cosmetic damage. However the car was perfectly drivable and so was declared a drivable write-off (so my daughter could use it so didn't need a hire car) while the claim was being sorted. Assessors gave us a write-off value which was very fair (to my surprise) with the option to buy back the write off (for peanuts if we wanted it). 3rd party driver was being a PITA and not responding to Auxillis (my daughter got a name and a mobile phone number but that was most likely false as Auxillis couldn't get through) but Auxillis did an excellent job tracking this all down and liaising with the other insurance company at no cost to us. It took a few months to get it all sorted as the 3rd party driver was the problem - not sure why - but Auxillis assured us that they would not give up and the claim would be paid at no loss to us as the other insurer had to pay regardless of what the driver of the hire did or didn't do. Outcome was that it was indeed all sorted, we accepted the write-off value (and put the money in the bank) and bought the write-off back as that made very good financial sense (the car was in good mechanical condition at that point) - just had to have an MOT and Admiral were happy to continue insuring the car - still running happily today over a year on from the accident. The upshot of the two stories is that if your car is drivable then it may be worth delaying any repair work - get the estimate done by Lexus but don't give the go-ahead for the work until the 3rd party insurer has accepted liability - Lexus can then deal direct with them once they admit liability - no excess to pay on your side and Admiral will close down the claim. Clearly the accident wasn't your fault and so the 3rd party insurance will have to pay up with no costs on your side if you can wait for the repair and you have every right to have the repair done by Lexus if you choose. Any replacement car during repair should be as like-for-like as makes sense. If you do involve Auxillis then they should act on your behalf to get this sorted but not sure under what terms repairs are then carried out - they sent my daughters car to one of their approved repairers for the estimate. In our dealings with them have to say they were very good in what was a difficult claim although absolutely no fault of my daughter and they resolved it all in the end.

I went for the extended warranty for an additional two years - peace of mind really. Appreciate that the cars are very reliable and one of the reasons I bought one, but the laws of probability is that the one in a zillion chance of something going wrong could be me - and Lexus are certainly not cheap to put right if they do - I have first hand experience of the cost of repairs after what I thought was a small accident (not my fault) that nearly wrote my IS 300h off due to the cost of the parts that were needed! Also factoring in the full breakdown service that is also included and the ability to pay for it monthly it ticked the boxes for me, but very much a personal choice and I have run other cars without extended warranties too so can appreciate both sides of the argument.

Haha - yep

Thanks for the update - makes sense I guess. At least they are readable on the screen when they pop up though.

Thanks - I suspect the same...

I have the standard nav and although it displays text messages on the screen for me to read I have never worked out how to have the car read them out - if you find out I would be interested to know.

My two pennyworth on driving the IS 300h are as follows: - Eco mode does achieve a few mpg better than Normal mode - I have tried both on the same long runs and can see the difference - but as others have said it dulls the response so personal choice in the end - however for cruising such as long motorway journeys at a constant speed or wandering down the A roads etc. I am quite happy with Eco - the car reverts to EV as much as possible in this mode - Sport definitely less mpg but much more responsive - car seems to "save" the battery for deploying for acceleration and doesn't switch to EV mode as much keeping the engine on for longer and so much more responsive to the accelerator with much less lag than Eco - switch to this for quick overtaking or more enthusiastic driving - Normal somewhere in the middle and I tend to use this (over Eco) when the car is more laden with passengers/luggage or for maintaining a reasonably brisk pace especially on A/B roads - the accelerator is more responsive in this mode - For good economy use Eco or Normal and accelerate to desired speed reasonably briskly - don't try and do this in EV - just way too slow and wastes a lot of battery - let the engine bring you up to speed but once up to speed (and if below about 45mph) lift off the accelerator pedal completely for a brief moment and the car will most likely switch to EV unless the battery is depleted (EV light comes on), especially if in Eco, and then feather the throttle and you can maintain the car at that constant speed for a long time in EV (Eco helps as the throttle is less responsive) - driven like this seems to deliver very good economy - Think well ahead if you want to maximise economy and lift and coast to slow down as much as possible or use just light braking for the regen to operate - that way you maximise energy recycling back to the battery - with the use of the point above and this one it's quite surprising how long the car will go in pretty much EV mode, other the odd burst of engine needed for acceleration, when the road is reasonably clear - EV mode (the button on the centre console) is pretty useless as the car makes up it's own mind in driving - only time I use this is moving the car in the drive (saves the engine cutting in) or sometime parked, again saves the engine cutting in. When you start the car and the engine is cold it will run the engine after a few seconds - if you want to stop this then press the EV button as soon as you hear the beep that the car is ready and even if you have a cold engine it will prevent the engine running - at least until you start to actually drive or the battery depletes significantly - but you can move the car around at very slow speed this way - One thing to note (and which seems poorly understood and not well documented) is with the simulated 6 gears - if the paddle shifters are used in D mode then all they do is "hold" a lower gear - for example to apply engine braking for a long steep descent rather than using the brakes - they do not work as simulated gears in terms of up and down the "gears" in D mode. This is why people often think they don't do anything. If you want to use the simulated gears then best way to experience this is to switch to Sport mode and you must put the gear lever into S, and then the 6 simulated gears do a reasonable job of behaving as a "manual" using the paddle shift and you can go up and down the 6 speeds at will similarly to any manual shift mode on an autobox - however after having a play I generally have never found them anything more than a bit of fun and leaving the car in D with Sport setting offers the acceleration without having to worry about the flappy paddles! Also, it's actually less fuel efficient using the simulated gears than letting the car do what it wants but they have an occasional place to hold a lower "gear" (i.e. keeping engine revs up) to maximise acceleration for the quickest overtake. Otherwise experiment and enjoy the car. It takes a little while to start and realise what the computers are doing so drive normally and just keep an eye on what is going on and it starts to become second nature. If you are concerned about the hybrid reliability then using Lexus servicing warrantees it for another 10,000 miles / 12 months each service all the way up to 10 years / 100K miles or you can pay a small amount each year to have this warranty on the hybrid drive separately (if you use other servicing). As others have said, when I did my research it was clear that the Toyota/Lexus system is very well proven and reliable and will last hundreds of thousands of miles and hence why I was happy to take the step into hybrid technology with Lexus.

Oddly I had what sounds like the same issue a few weeks ago. Driving along with the Sat Nav (standard not premium) on giving me directions and suddenly the sat nav screen goes blank. Oddly the spoken instructions were still happening. The other screens (like audio) all ok but just no sat nav display. Tried rebooting the unit whilst still on the move (hold power button down for a few seconds) and when it rebooted still the same problem - sat nav display blank but all other displays working fine - and the spoken instructions for the route still happening! Resigned myself to the fact I would have to take it to the dealer but when I got to my destination switched the car off, left it a minute or so, switched it back on and the sat nav display worked just fine. Not had any problems since then so have no idea why it happened.

I have standard suspension on my IS 300h (not F Sport) and 17" wheels with the OEM Yokohoma tyres and the car feels well planted around fast curves - came from a BMW 330i and the IS maybe a touch less nimble but no complaints or concerns like you are experiencing. At the moment my rears are due for replacement (just getting down to the tread wear indicators) and the fronts about half tread but other than if the road is slippery when the rear might feel a touch light still no issues. If it's a new car and you still have the 16" wheels and tyres then maybe worth putting them back on and seeing if that changes anything. Otherwise, unless there is a problem with the 17" rims you purchased sounds like the tyres.

I always reverse out of my drive when I leave the house and never had any noises from the brakes reversing at this time or any other time

See https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/servicing-and-maintenance/ - just put IS 300h into the drop down boxes to see the standard service pricing at dealers

I signed up for a service plan just for ease of putting the money aside and I will definitely use Lexus for the services. The service plan is just a way of putting money aside for the services with Lexus when they come around - the plan cost is based on your likely service schedules but if you are early for a service then you may need to contribute extra as you won't have enough "saved". If you have the money for a service in the bank when it's needed then there isn't any cost saving on a service plan - other than the MOT is discounted to £27. Service schedule is 10k miles (12.5k if a business user) or annually if doing less than this mileage so in your case will still be an annual service. To meet the conditions of an Extended Warranty the car must be serviced by Lexus and to the schedule.

I took the extended warranty - you will get a pack in the post - may take a couple of weeks - there is a form to fill in included in the pack to register your partner - just complete this and send it back and then another card will be sent out in their name. The breakdown cover is full European cover so makes the extended warranty good value for two years complete peace of mind in my opinion.

Hope you are able to get the car you want soon - I'm sure you will enjoy it and won't be disappointed.

Linas - you seem like an angry person - really don't know why - I was trying to be constructive. The comment about the Autobahns came from some of my colleagues on the continent - appreciate some of it may have been skewed a little in translation but the crux is that if a driver is involved in an accident on the Autobahn when exceeding the advisory speed limit, the burden of proof that their high speed did not cause damage is with the driver exceeding the recommended speed limit. It may not be a criminal offence but money, or at least insurance money, talks. However that is taken on board it has had the effect of lowering (or capping) the speed of many drivers on the Autobahn. I do agree though that the German drivers have much better lane discipline than in the UK and that is one of the reasons I enjoy driving in Germany. Your comment about needing to drive an IS 300h carefully and slowly like a pensioner is just insulting! Any car regardless of power in the wrong hands can be driven at an inappropriate speed, in an inappropriate way, and becomes a lethal weapon. I have NEVER had a problem with my brain just telling me to slow down or not overtake because the car is "slow" - do I overtake in the same way as in other cars I have had - YES! and use the appropriate control modes to do so - safely. Do I take stupid risks - NO - but I never have and I try and respect all the other drivers on the road, despite some of them being complete idiots! Do I enjoy driving the car - YES! and in fact more than most other cars I have owned. As I said, to appreciate the IS 300h and what it delivers I do think it takes a few months of ownership and not just a few hours or even a day - but after that first few months it certainly didn't change the way I drive or how I perceive and react to situations, just allowed me to appreciate the depth of the car and its technology more. I certainly don't think the car is for everyone but no one is twisting anyone's arm to buy one either - there are many, many cars all offering different experiences and waiting for someone open their wallet and buy them. It sounds like you want the reliability and quality of a Lexus but something that goes from 0-60 in sub 5 seconds - well there are plenty of alternatives out there for you to try - including the Lexus LC of course - assuming you have the money to scratch the itch - I've been lucky enough to scratch a few of my own itches in my life. No manufacturer will ever make the perfect car for an individual - that's why some people have more than one of course - but in general a very high proportion of owners on this particular IS Mk III forum seem happy with their choice, the reasons for which I am sure are many and varied (300h and the 250 or 200t). The few who have actually owned an IS 300h for a reasonable period of time and found it doesn't suit them, then I take on board their critical comments that come from that experience and wish them all the best with their new purchases - one day that might also be me should my needs and circumstances change, as they do through life. I have seen your similar comments slating the performance and power delivery of the IS 300h in a number of previous posts - you seem to be a pretty lonely voice - but everyone to their views and if that is your view then fine - we will agree to disagree. I am happy in my choice of car, I assume you are still looking for yours. That's my final word on the matter, though I am sure you will want to have the last word?

So totally agree with all of the above and mirrors my experience. I have had a number of fast and expensive cars in my time (the cream of the crop according to the motoring journalists) and also many hire cars in the UK, Europe and the USA. In addition to many hundreds of thousands of miles driven in the UK I have also driven many times across much of Europe - a lot of that on the German Autobahns where I have in the past used performance to the full - however in more recent years I have found even on the Autobahns that the majority of the local population now drive a "sensible" speed (usually around 90-100mph) - which may be due to a change in their law where if you drive over the recommended speed limit (in unrestricted parts 130km/h) you could be held accountable for a crash, even if it was not your fault - which could lead to serious problems with the law and with insurance companies - so 125mph for the IS 300h (where it's not in the least strained, as it's just electronically limited, is plenty). I do think that it takes some time to "get" the IS 300h - this is where the car suffers at the hand of journalists and those who just get one as a courtesy car for a day when theirs is in for a service for example. When I was looking for my next car I went back and forth over the IS and in the end managed to get one for a full day test drive. I tried to mimic my usual driving and conditions the best I could in that time and by the end felt good about buying the car. However, I have to say it took me a few months to then really "get" the experience. In real world day-to-day driving (i.e. a mix of roads, some where progress can be made but others with traffic jams and interminable road works...!) it delivers everything I want. And it's certainly not just a "city car" (though excellent at that) - long motorway drives (of which I do a lot too) are very enjoyable, almost serene, and I arrive at the other end as refreshed and calm as any other car I have been in - and no later than any other car I could have been driving regardless of on-paper performance figures - and with petrol consumption generally between 48-52mpg to boot. It is the balance of doing so much so well in such an unflustered way that puts the IS 300h up there as probably my best overall car.

The "slow" comment is very relative - on paper the IS 300h doesn't look all that quick on the standard 0-60mph (62mph) but rest assured that this is misleading in the real world. Put the car into Sports mode and pedal to the metal and the manner in which the power flows through the drivetrain makes it deceptively quick - there are no gear changes to be made and no let up in the "push". In particular the performance from around 40mph to ...ahem... very fast is more than enough for the real world, and all undertaken with a certain calm which means keeping a close eye open for when you reach the legal speed limits. I have driven numerous "faster" cars (on paper) and you do get a different perception of speed in those cars - even with an auto-box - as the shifts are noticeable sort of creating the milestones in the mind of speed and very often undertaken in a much noisier manner, again adding to the sense of speed. My last "fast" car was a BMW 330i (2006) with an auto-box and which was no slouch - I wasn't sure how the IS 300h would compare being slower on paper but I have to say the difference has not been any issue to me - the IS 300h just delivers in a different way that takes a few thousand miles to get used to and appreciate.

Here is the video in the US about the Toyota sticky throttle pedal:

Thought it was all drive by wire now - so the accelerator pedal has no mechanical linkages at all - it just relays the pedal position to the computer which decides what power to apply for any given circumstance. Perhaps the pedal pivot needs a bit of lubrication?

I came to the IS 300h from a long line of BMWs - my last one being a 330i. Much as the 330i was a good drivers car with - a) constant roadworks on the motorways b) permanently congested A and B roads c) proliferation of ridiculously low speed limits enforced by an ever increasing number of fixed, mobile, average cameras d) the crumbling road network, e) increasing fuel prices and stupid VED decisions - after a day's test drive I was sold on the IS 300h. For this real world day to day driving the car and it's hybrid drive train really deliver. In fact I now look forward to driving again as the car is to me a perfect fit for what I have to face each day I go anywhere. I live in the South East and I can see if you live in a more remote part of the country there may be other factors but I wouldn't hesitate buying another IS 300h. A friend has a BMW 335d - very quick but in comparison sounds like a tractor and does not deliver the relaxing experience of the IS 300h in the cut and thrust of modern congested roads.