stevegant

2 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

£100 per month over three years is £3600 saving. Not to be sniffed at !

Indeed.....and given the company car tax situation (Benefit in kind), the gap between the Lexus and a 5 Series will continue to grow ! 

On 12/8/2018 at 6:04 PM, wharfhouse said:

Steve - did you come to any firm conclusions after your 3 days with the IS 300h as to your next car? 

Well, I'm still mulling things over.  I did actually really  enjoy my time with the Lexus and it was the first time i'd driven anything other than a Diesel for many years.  Aside from the infotainment system being a little 'different' to what I've been used to I was quite impressed with the car as a whole.  As a tall chap (6' 6") the seats were immensely comfortable and the standard lumbar support was brill.  I was also amazed with what comes as standard kit in the F-Sport Plus - i'd never experienced things like active cruise control and the blind spot warning in the mirrors as I'm too tight to order these normally on a company car.  I have a 3 day test drive next week of a 5 series petrol and then it has to be decision time.  The question for me will be is the £100 a month saving going to sway me towards the Lexus - it will be a close call !   

46 minutes ago, wharfhouse said:

Yes definitely needs to be FAT32 to be recognised and not NTFS...

Thanks for confirming - I test with a spare pen drive later before the car goes back tomorrow.

16 minutes ago, ganzoom said:

The graphics interface is rubbish and before a firmware update about 12 months ago really really laggy. Shame really because the functions are all there, just not displayed using resolutions/graphics we are now use too in 2018/19.

However the actual route planning works well, and when in use its fine.

Bluetooth connection is actually very good, displays Spotify album art, lets you skip/pause, and all connects very easily.

 

 

Thanks for the comment on Spotify - I'll test that on my way home.  I do have a pen drive with all my music on it but it's not recognised in the Lexus.  I believe that's because the USB stick need to be formatted in FAT32. 

26 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Do you really need/use a sat nav as many of us have them, and do not use them for 95% of the time we are in the car.

You raise a fair point.  What I tend to do it to set the Nav in conjunction with live traffic when I start my commute.  I have several options in terms of the route to work and any time I can save is useful !  In addition I often get sent to random places at short notice and it's useful to just pop in the post code.

5 minutes ago, Steve44 said:

Lol! The satnav and general infotainment system is an acquired taste, but most of the features are there, just looks like it was designed by 5 different teams using tools from about 5yrs who and not allowed to talk to each other!

To be honest if the SatNav is your only gripe, you are doing great. I guess the main issues that most of the so called expert journalists aren’t an issue?? CVT box, noisy active noise system(you can turn it off), ride a bit jittery etc.

Be interested in your thoughts on ride, steering, comfort etc compared to the so called ultimate driving machine! 

bTW 49mpg is fantastic but don’t get too excited. My current is about 40mpg which is much more realistic for an FSport and the trip comp overeads by at least 10%. Is the 49mpg, after reset, after refuel or after start?? 

Yes, I agree - the infotainment team were clearly locked in different sound proof rooms !

Personally, I see no issue with the CVT - I appreciate the noise that it makes but does not bother me.  Having had several diesel cars the noise from the Lexus is an improvement,  I've turned off the active noise system already as could not see the point of it.  The overall ride seems fine to me - in reality it's better that my current BMW which has 19" rims and M-Sport Suspension.

In terms of comfort, the seats are great and remind me of the quality of seat that you used to get in SAAB many years ago.  I also like the lumber support which is normally an option in a BMW.

The 49 MPG is 'after start' and was based on my commute this morning.  I'll have to check out the difference between after refuel and after reset so thanks for pointing that out.

Right ..... day 2 of the test drive and my view so far.

Firstly, I am amazed at the quality of the paint - much smoother and no orange peel like I have on my BMW.  I also like the grey-ish finish on the wheels.  The car has 10k on the clock and only a few stone chips show.

The demo car has the premier kit so plenty of toys to play with.  Most impressed that the steering wheel and seat can be set to move when you turn the car off - really nice touch for me as at 6' 5" tall it's very easy to get in and out.  The leather is beautiful and actually feels like leather. 

More than happy with the performance of the car - very refined and quiet and I am getting a claimed 49 MPG which I can live with.

The sat nav is an 'experience'.  In my honest opinion it's a bit 'Windows 95'.  I'm going to try and get the motorway signs/lanes guidance working on the way home (apparently I need to turn auto zoom off???.)  Also it seems a slight step backwards that I need to connected to my phone for live traffic etc. when I've been used to cars that have a SIM built in.

I've got used to the shift lever which is a little dated compared to what you get in a modern BMW - i.e. in the Lexus I actually have to put it into park which happens automatically in my BMW.

I was worried about the foot operated parking brake - took me a few attempts to find it initially but now I have that mastered !

I think I've pushed every button on the dash - the dash is busy just like some of the SAAB cars I have had historically.  Cannot quite belief the wealth of options in the various menus.

I really like the way that the speedo can be made to slide over.  It's interesting that Lexus can produce something like that but then blend with the slightly poor Navigation.  Having used I- Drive in BMW I don't see any problem with the  mouse controller now that I've adjusted the sensitivity.  In fact I've dabbled with so many things that they'll need to factory reset the car when I hand it back. 

All in all it's a good package - just need to decide if I can live with the Navigation System !

6 minutes ago, Steve44 said:

You might find it worthwhile to have a quick perusal of the pdf owners manuals.

https://www.lexus.co.uk/forms/manuals/owners-manual?value01=C7208E02

Thank you - I'll have a read. Much appreciated !

Hi All - thanks for all of the opinions/guidance so far.

Had a good drive in the IS300 this evening.  

The demo car is an F-Sport Premier so has all the toys.

I have another questions if anyone can help me please ..............

1.  I can set the adaptive cruise control to a set speed and then can increment by 5 mph by pushing up/down on the stalk.  It is possible to increment by just 1 mph ?  For example I'd like to set the cruise at 50mph and then increment to say 52 mph.  I can only get the increments by 5mph at a time ?

Thanks in advance !

9 minutes ago, Steve44 said:

Click destination, then move to page 2 on the input page, the icon is there

Thanks very much !

Good news - the demo car is now sitting in the car park at work.  Bad news is I cannot give it a test until 5.30pm!

Had a quick look at lunch time.  Anyone able to tell me how to input a post code into the Sat Nav.  It's the top level widescreen version but for the life of me I cannot see how to input just a post code ?

WOW - I am simply amazed and grateful for the level of response.  Just had confirmation that my demo car will be with me on Monday so looking forward to the 'test'.    The maths tell me that this is a sensible plan and the feedback above also tells me that I'm not barking mad to consider the switch !  Just need to see what 3 days with the Lexus is like. 

41 minutes ago, wharfhouse said:

I opted out of company run cars to buy my own car some years back (the company gave me a fixed monthly amount towards the cost of the car and a mileage allowance) - it takes some number crunching to work out what is best at a personal level though, especially if a company also pay for all fuel (business and private). More recently I run my own business (a limited company) and looked at the best way to run a car for business use and came to the conclusion I would buy privately and claim the full mileage allowance (45p per mile of business use) plus reclaiming vat (as my company is vat registered) on the petrol element (using HMRC guidelines for the % of the mileage allowance that can be reclaimed against vat). The Lexus IS 300h therefore made a good case for itself for my business and of course I had the flexibility of purchasing new or used.

Thank you -  food for thought.  I'm going to do the maths later !

Thanks for the amazing detail in the replies.  Some really useful comments presented.  Fortunately I'm not worried about maintenance costs/depreciation as they are covered via my employer.  Hadn't really thought about  the quality of the infotainment/Sat Nav so i'll check that out when I get my test drive next week.  Going to be a tough decision but the saving of £150 per month on car tax/trade-up is appealing.  Actually, looking at the depreciation, I could look to opt out of the company scheme and buy a new-ish IS300?  Going to be a tough decision !

One final question - looks as if the alloy wheels on the F-Sport are painted and not diamond cut?  Can anyone confirm?  I've just about had enough of the diamond cut rims on my current BMW which don't like the British winters.......

I'm not a Lexus driver yet but may be in due course !

I currently run a BMW 420D Auto as a company car and I've had several BMW's as company cars over the years.

Having done the maths (company car tax etc,)  it would appear (on paper) that the IS would save me an appreciable amount of money.  F-SPORT spec with plus pack would tick all my boxes.

I have a 3 day test drive next week but I'm interested if anyone has moved from BMW to Lexus and if they have an opinion on this move?

My only reservations are the foot operated parking brake but I guess I'd get used to that ?