20 hours ago, IS300FSPORT said:

Now that I have owned the 300H can only speak on this version, the 200T Is a good engine but quite thirsty range from 20-25MPG. + cost more in Road tax. Not too popular in the UK you may see challenges (delay) when needing parts for it chassis is the same just engine components.

They are both going to be reliable if maintained, I'd say the 300H is likely to be more reliable if you do mega milea as its a naturally aspirated engine there is no need to worry about turbo failure. Yes there is the high voltage battery but its proven concept to not require any attention for 10 years + Prius being a good example some examples out there over 300k. Its the same technology. 

If you have the V6 itch / want performance go for the 450H, blend of economy & performance. Very capable motors out of the box as standard. Just be mindful they cost more to maintain i.e spark plugs change its an intake manifold off job at 60k intervals its not too bad to be fair, if your good with spanners DIY is possible if your brave. 

Your right its a shame we dont get the 4WD version of the IS in the UK otherwise 350 would be my choice as well. 

I got a loan / demonstrator car 450h while the 200t was in for a service and was so disappointed in it.

At first, I was looking forward to trying the famous V6 as in the IS 350 ?   - WRONG!

The V6, which should be smooth and revvy was strangled. When you put your foot down it gives a reluctant groan and hits full revs ( blame the CVT ). Sounds harsh, no engine character, rough and gruff sounding. What have they done to it?  Have a go in a 370Z or similar to see what a Jap V6 is capable of.

It was such a relief to get back in a proper car afterwards ( 200t of course 🍺 )

BTW - In the recent weather / snow there is absolutely no grip or traction. RWD feature? The "snow" button puts a little light on the dash but that's about all it does.

A lot of forum members don't like the IS 200t but I love it.  - No CVT just a nice 8 speed auto with a mind of its own. A proper old school car.

After over a year of ownership I think I am getting to slowly figure out how to drive it properly.

Forget fast starts 0-60. A skoda yeti will give you a good run for your money, but just get it rolling to second, spinning up the turbo and boot it and it will take off like a scalded cat.

That's what I like about it. It is a challenge to drive well.

Responsive - No

Fast - when it feels like it.

Economical - No

Quiet - Yes

Full of surprises and pulls like a train ( when it wants to ) - yes.

I  have tried the 300h  and it is just so boring compared to the fun of the 200t.

Apparently they do not respond well to " chipping" remapping and tuning, but at the last service I asked the Lexus mechanic to see if he could tweak it for a bit more go and a bit less turbo lag, he certainly did something because it goes so well now.

Well, I have now had a go in three different electric vehicles (fully, hybrid and plug-in) and did not like any of them.

Boring, characterless, no fun to drive, rubbish heaters, I could go on but don't want to sound like a Karen or a Brian. Sorry Karen and Brian!

Believe it or not I think the 200t is quieter (yes really) smoother and drives better, mind you - some of that is due to a proper auto transmission.

Don't tell Linus but I like it, especially since the mapping was sorted to get the engine response/turbo lag improved. 

The noisiest bit is from the tyres and road surface just as in the electric things.

It is more expensive with tax and fuel economy but I think worth the extra penalty over electric boredom.

I suppose it takes all sorts......

On 9/5/2022 at 9:19 AM, Spock66 said:

If you have the last service just before 10-years / 100k you get another full year / 10k miles, so effectively Relax is up to 11-years /  110k.

Yes, I got an extra year, so effectively 11 years😀

I had my IsF done last year - intermediate service £350 ish.

It is due in next week for a full 100K service ( it has done 60K miles and had a spark plug change recently ).

I am having the boot gas struts replaced as they have failed plus a couple of minor jobs such as getting the rattling gravel stones out from the plastic weather shields under the car. I am not expecting any change out of £1000.😥.

When I got mine someone had already done them in Orange. I did not like it too much and chose to have them re-painted "Brembo" red, but when I got it back they still look a bit orangey-pinky brake dusty coloured.  But on a dark night in the rain in a dark street they look brembo red (ish).🤩

No, I am not colour blind.

I am trying to learn to like it🥶.

Shiny black ( with Lexus logo of course ) with a topping of brake dust is probably best.

On 7/22/2022 at 7:08 PM, dutchie01 said:

For all young readers out there this granddad had a DAF 44 a forty something years ago. The image of these cars was not too good, senior citizens and so on. Guess what it had a CVT gearbox connected to a 2 cylinder engine. I only drove it full throttle with the engine screaming at max revs until inevitably it blew up. It was a weird sensation then as it is now. The revs climb until a certain rpm stay there with the noise staying thesame but the car accelerates.

forty years on the debate is still on and the majority of drivers do not like it just like the good old days. I really wonder if Toyota/Lexus did not stick to the CVT/ECVT what would have happened. IS300H with a normal 8 speed auto? NX?  would the cars be more popular? I personally do think so....

This granddad also remembers the horrid Daf44, even then they were considered "a joke". They were also ugly little buggers.

I tried a CVT Lexus ( ES 300h I think? ) even though I had dismissed ever buying one and I was pleasantly surprised - until I wanted to go a bit faster - then the awful character of the CVT showed its ugly head.

If Lexus carry on down this route to unpleasant driving then it will regrettably be the end of Lexus ownership for me.

Needless to say my Lexus cars are 8 speed autos. The one in the IsF is far better than the 200t as it knows what gear it should be in under different circumstances. I think I will probably keep both of them for a long long time.

On 7/20/2022 at 5:49 AM, Phil0671 said:

Hello everyone.

My name is Philip, i´m a new IS300h owner since a bit more than 1 month. I was looking on the web for the owner manual of the car (left in the glovebox) and i´ve founded your forum. Looking forward to read the different topics available here about the 300h series. This is my first Lexus.

 

Hi Philippe

We lived in S. france for 20 years. I hardly ever saw a Lexus unless it was a tourist.

While we were there we usually bought our cars new because second hand ones were very expensive and not good value.

Now, for some reason, the French and UK prices are very similar.

Most cars were Citroen, Peugeot and Renault, but at least you had their garages everywhere and parts and servicing were reasonably cheap.

It was a joy to come back to England to finally buy a nice " proper" car instead of an overpriced boring French bag of spanners. 

Mind you the local wine "en vrac" i.e. on draught, from the local co-op at £1.20 per litre was usually decent quality.

Some things I miss but other things I don't. And don't even mention Brexit!

Regarding wiping off bird poo I normally find that it can't be done as the bird is usually miles away by the time I find something to clean it with. Lots of water and some kitchen roll works - if the bird is still at the scene, but they don't like you touching them anyway.

Last week a pigeon yacked up a stomachful of cherry stones, that it could not digest, on to the roof of my car; at least it wasn't like the last time when it ( or one of its mates ) shat a ton of purple elderberry poo all over it.

Wildlife is wonderful isn't it?

Similar car.......These are nice too!

You can get a jap import Subaru legacy with the sti 2.0 twin scroll turbo, forged engine (about 260 - 280 BHP).

A real sleeper. Never sold in the UK but spares available due to the impreza engine and common parts.

Very nice, very quick, not expensive.

I've had a few dents put in various cars by careless parkers over the years but the best one was while I was in the car waiting in a supermarket car park, which was on a slope.

Two old ladies parked next to me about 3 feet away, but I thought that the door might just about hit my car if it was opened carelessly. I considered moving my car but thought I should not be paranoid.

Anyway, the other car passenger door was flung open and let go, under gravity and a bit of a push from the old lady it put an almighty crease in my door.

She looked at me and said: Oops, sorry, with a smile.

I know there is not a lot you can do and it is just bad luck but after fuming for a while I lost it and flung my door at great speed into the side of their car and said Oops, sorry.

I still regret it and know I was wrong and will go to hell.

The only other time, to cut a long story short, was when the passengers of the offending car threatened to call the police just because I had him by the throat. 

Call the nurse for my meds please.

3 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

Well put Linas but I have to disagree with you about the is300h. That 2.5 4 pot is a very very good engine. I drove mine in all conditions and speeds. Economy was excellent, never got less than 50mpg. With a full traction battery it flew off the line. Quicker than my is250. Yes it lost battery quite quickly but it charged up surprisingly quickly too. Would I ho back to one? Not whilst I have my is250. 

If Lexus can't provide you with a suitable car then I think the nearest match would be Jaguar, with lots of models and engines. All they need is a picnic table so that you will be comfortable sitting at the side of the road waiting for the AA or RAC.

2 minutes ago, Phil xxkr said:

Hi Graham, how very true 🍻, the days of an everyday St Julien or Gevry Chambertin or Puilly Fuisse are now just distant memories. As a hard-pressed OAP I now find myself reduced to the inevitable Amarone, Barola or Rioja 1, 😕😎

Don't get me started. As an OAP myself I used to  enjoy some nice fine wines but now its not Puligny Montrachet  ..   it's Macon Villages!!!😪

1 hour ago, Phil xxkr said:

Graham, if this is the quality of your rant after just a few glasses I strongly recommend you try at least a magnum 🥳. Lesson number 1, you sound like a Karen not a Graham 😅

Lesson number 2, you are definitely a Karen 🤣

Lesson number 3, I agree in terms of the strict use of the word manufacturing, however assembly numbers reached over 2 million in 2016 way above anything achieved before. 

Lesson number 4, providing revenue to the government? Well what other purpose do you serve? Other than providing input to a particular knotty problem that CERN are having with the Hadron collider, if so I am in awe. 🍻

Hi Phil

How we get to CERN and the Hadron collider from a 200t sounds like more than a magnum has hit the spot. Anyway who can afford good Burgundy nowadays. 🍷

On 6/19/2022 at 11:12 AM, Gorb said:

Interesting that on the Blackcircles website the Bridgestone Turanza 005A runflat tyres fitted to my Lexus from new are rated as D, C 71B at £190 whilst Hankook tyres rated as C, B 67A are £165. The Goodyear website states that a 3 db difference doubles the amount of external noise the tyre produces.

Hi   FYI  SVP

3db increase is a doubling of the sound level ( logarithmic relationship ).  Google the 3db law. Fortunately the human ear can tolerate vast changes in sound levels - up to a point. 

46 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

My guess would be that increased age/mileage is partially cost of living issue, but not directly because people do not have money, but because nowadays accessibility not the same. Not only that - demand is not the same.

Remember the days where every decent job offered car scheme? It was no-brainer not to take as a work benefit and keep replacing car with new one whilst saving on tax. This is why historically cars in UK depreciates much quicker and user car prices are much lower and by the way this is not how it is in other countries - in most Europe even before covid/brex**** debacle decent IS250 costed 10k Euro, whereas in UK they were already selling for £2500 in 2014. Nowadays company car schemes pretty much no longer exists or are simply no longer economically feasible due to extortionate BIK and other costs. I remember I wanted to get on car scheme in 2016 and nearly got BMW 530e, but in the end they wanted so much for insurance and BIK was so high that it just wasn't worth it, I decided to wait for MB C300e to come in stock, but they cancelled the whole scheme before I could get it... and since then there was no car scheme.

And all this comes with what I call "war on motorists" in UK - there are so many groups of retarded vegans in lycras trying to make people ashamed of simply owning the car... and it largely works! Young people now don't even desire driving or owning the car, having a license, it is out of fashion, it is considered something almost undesirable - car culture in UK has died. As such companies can afford to cancel the car scheme, because new generation of employees no longer demands that. So lower supply, means lower depreciation, higher prices and lower demand = people keeping cars for longer. Besides car is no longer seen as expression of freedom or status symbol, so having very new car no longer matters for many. 

Another thing in puzzle is cars themselves - before every generation of car was almost revolutionary, new tech, new features, new comforts, more power lower fuel consumption. At some point I can argue they were even getting cheaper, not in literal sense due to inflation, but there was time where new model almost seemed better value, maybe costing a little bit more but with a lot more tech. But look at cars lately what is there in new car that you don't have on IS250? I been in same place when I was considering replacing mine like 5 years ago. Take for example 2005 IS250 and 2016 IS200t/250/300h, what was there in 2015 car that wasn't already present in 2005 car? If anything 200t engine is in all measurable ways worse (and I can say it because I owned the car for 2.5 years), 250 is the same engine form ~2003 in heavier 2015 car, 300h efficient in city, but far worse driver experience and generally less nice to drive and much slower.. and on motorway not even more efficient, just in city. All standard equipment the same or even worse, for example 2005 car had better standard audio, had keyless entry standard (option in later cars)... so what is the point of even upgrading from 2005 and 2015? Really not much. The only little bit bigger change Lexus introduced was LSS+ in 2019 when it became standard in all cars - but that is about the only bigger tech upgrade in 14 year! So the cars themselves stagnated and not 10 years old car pretty much has all the tech one would ever want. Hence the BEV scam - people no longer want to upgrade cars so ban on ICEV is coming to force the change to happen.  

Now all thing considered, this is government policy and it is working exactly as planned, people stop driving, stop buying cars and relying more on government to provide transportation. Is it better for planet, maybe, maybe not - remains to be seen, but this is definitely not accidental. The only issue is that now there will be need for new for of tax to replace £40Bn generated by motoring, so we still be paying the same tax in some form just going to be deprived of having personal transportation.

Lesson number one. The government don't care about you. They just want to use you.

#2 The banks are not your friends. They just want to use you. Frank Zappa told us so!

This has always been the case. The car industry was to some extent protected in the past because it maintained UK jobs and therefore UK taxpayers. Now we have almost no car industry so the government just want to profit from the use of cars.

Cut to the chase - you are only here to provide revenue for the government and its mates.

BTW Linas you must admit the 200t is "special" in the sense that the French use the word.

I must remember not to post comments after a few glasses of wine. I'll get me coat.

1 minute ago, GMB said:

I must be one of the few people that actually like the 200t.  It reminds me of my old 1981 Audi 200t but a lot less brutal and less likely to chuck you down the road and kill you.

It looks nice with the twin exhausts -but doesn't make much noise. This is a good or bad thing depending if you like sporty noises or quiet refinement.

It can go quite quick depending what mood the car is in. It has a mind of its own believe me. ( Probably two minds actually, one in the engine and one in the gearbox, and I don't think they like each other very much )

It is not economical to run but it does have character ( another word for quirky ).

It is at its best on motorways and faster roads, both for economy and performance.

It is nice to drive and very comfortable - suspension, handling etc.

Big plus - It has no CVT but has the same 8 speed auto as on the IsF. ( Mind you, sometimes it can't make its mind up what gear it prefers and likes to sit in 4th or 5th if you have been driving briskly. )

There aren't many about, especially "F-sports" because they were a bit pricey new.

Ideally the 350 would be the one but Lexus did not think we deserved them.

Bad points - Er .... I like it's unusualness so I can't think of any.

 

 

BTW talking about having two brains in the car, the gearbox brain is definitely the BOSS.

I must be one of the few people that actually like the 200t.  It reminds me of my old 1981 Audi 200t but a lot less brutal and less likely to chuck you down the road and kill you.

It looks nice with the twin exhausts -but doesn't make much noise. This is a good or bad thing depending if you like sporty noises or quiet refinement.

It can go quite quick depending what mood the car is in. It has a mind of its own believe me. ( Probably two minds actually, one in the engine and one in the gearbox, and I don't think they like each other very much )

It is not economical to run but it does have character ( another word for quirky ).

It is at its best on motorways and faster roads, both for economy and performance.

It is nice to drive and very comfortable - suspension, handling etc.

Big plus - It has no CVT but has the same 8 speed auto as on the IsF. ( Mind you, sometimes it can't make its mind up what gear it prefers and likes to sit in 4th or 5th if you have been driving briskly. )

There aren't many about, especially "F-sports" because they were a bit pricey new.

Ideally the 350 would be the one but Lexus did not think we deserved them.

Bad points - Er .... I like it's unusualness so I can't think of any.

18 hours ago, Spock66 said:

Lotus = Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious 😉

Reminds me of the Ducati Owners club motto: 

"Ducati - teaching you to be a mechanic one breakdown at a time."

Just now, GMB said:

I had a 1976 Rover P6 V8 with dunlop denovo runflats. They were very expensive, a bugger to balance and cost a fortune. If you got a puncture and run it flat then the canisters inside the rim were trashed and the whole thing had to be replaced except the actual rim of course.

Having said that they actually looked good and had quite a low profile for the 70's era.

Tech note: The Rover rotted away and became an orange pile of ferrous ( or is it ferric? ) oxide on the road and the engine was prone to overheating but it was good for 120mph - just keep an eye on the temp gauge.

picture-

I had a 1976 Rover P6 V8 with dunlop denovo runflats. They were very expensive, a bugger to balance and cost a fortune. If you got a puncture and run it flat then the canisters inside the rim were trashed and the whole thing had to be replaced except the actual rim of course.

Having said that they actually looked good and had quite a low profile for the 70's era.

Tech note: The Rover rotted away and became an orange pile of ferrous ( or is it ferric? ) oxide on the road and the engine was prone to overheating but it was good for 120mph - just keep an eye on the temp gauge.

15 hours ago, Malc said:

I'm just filling-up from time to time whem I see the best value around and I'm passing the petrol station ....  E5 in my Lexus and E10 in the Honda Legend ....  and knowing my local Asda and Sainsbury do NOT sell E5 takes them out of the equation BUT they all sell E10 and then I'm stumped coz I also try to calculate the value of the Nectar points and Tesco points when the Honda is passing those doors too .............. there's a plethora of BP garages and also an Amoco ( which does Nectar points ) .....  BP no longer do Nectar points they tell me 

The BP and Amoco are always stupidly higher prices whatever ....  and a little further afield there's a Shell garage at even sillier prices than BP and Amoco ( do Shell do points too ? ) 

I'm beyond understanding how they all get their dose of refuellings and the profits they make, nor the oil companies too, nor the processors BUT what I do know is that for every litre they sell the Govt, yes, us dear old taxpayers as ultimate beneficiaries, get a huge amount of revenue to line our coffers

So just pay up and know for certain that a huge chunk of the price we pay at the pump goes back directly to helping US, YOU and ME, for the future ........  look at it as a form of compulsory savings maybe 

Malc

Hi Malc - I like the sarcasm.  What a lovely thought, that the government are taxing us for our benefit. Maybe if you were one of their mates you might get some return on the investment, but the money is not going to the NHS or any other organisation that benefits the general public.

Don't get me started I could go on forever ..........

Our lexus dealer gave us a 100% electric thing maybe a UX? After 20 minutes I was bored stiff with it. The heater was useless ( it was December ). Glad I don't have one.

What a joy to get back in a proper car that has a character - the IsF.

On the issue of rip-off fuel prices don't forget the government duty and tax take on every litre. As of today they have only given back 5p duty, most of which was nicked by the petrol companies. They need to halve the VAT and they will still be making a mint.

Between the fuel companies and the Gov't we are all being taken for an expensive ride. Why do we put up with this. The French would be burning tyres and toll booths by now.

I just paid £630 road tax and only do about 2K "leisure" miles per year in the IsF.

Fortunately we have our "everyday" car, an IS200t. This is the one that bugs me on costs.

I just topped up with V power ( for the turbo's sake ) and paid £1.98 per litre AND it only does 26.5mpg; that's only 3 or 4 mpg better than the IsF.   

It all works out at about 40pence per mile just for fuel and tax and Insurance.

I have considered a SORN for the IsF because I think that once the dust settles and we go all electric then these cars will become more desirable after a brief panic drop in assumed value. Who knows?  

Look at he price of old Dodge Chargers and Challengers, you couldn't give them away at one time.

I still want one though🤪