Lexus IS300H

danlpt

So my company car is due for an update and my work has decided we're all to have hybrids. The one that caught my attention on the list is the Lexus IS300H. It's available is 2 trims from the lease company, SE and Advanced. Id go for the Advanced for the extra toys and the satnav.

The reviews give a few good and bad points about the car but i'm wondering if anyone has any real life experience with it?

richardhomer

Alan Partridge certainly considered the brand to be very much the Japanese Mercedes....

Strat_a_tat_tat

Blimey... I thought that, by now, they'd have dropped the letters 'IS' from the model name. Seems to have negative connotations that weren't around when the IS model was first launched. ;-)

joneve

danlpt said:

So my company car is due for an update and my work has decided we're all to have hybrids. The one that caught my attention on the list is the Lexus IS300H. It's available is 2 trims from the lease company, SE and Advanced. Id go for the Advanced for the extra toys and the satnav.

The reviews give a few good and bad points about the car but i'm wondering if anyone has any real life experience with it?

My dad is a Lexus salesman, and I own an NX and he previously owned an IS250 (long before he started working for them). Lovely cars. The SE trim is pretty basic (for a Lexus) so the Advance is definitely the one to go for. 

You'll find the trim finish and interior quality is impeccable, and you'll enjoy driving it, as it has enough poke when needed, and decent fuel economy. 

The seats in every Lexus I've driven have been ridiculously comfortable too; like the most comfortable I've ever experienced. 

Also, the Lexus customer service is known for being top notch.

the IS, I think is one of the best looking saloon's available, but that's just my personal opinion. 

If you have any specific questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer and can speak to my dad. 

mudslide73

"Dan!"

bingefeller

Lexii....

richardhomer

mudslide73 said:

"Dan!"

"Lynn - these are sex people!"

Iamnobody

Dan's a fantastic man.

Sporky

joneve said:

Also, the Lexus customer service is known for being top notch.

Might want a word with the Guildford branch then, who somehow completely failed to arrange a test drive for me despite several attempts (and available funds).

From my experience they're just expensive Toyotas - same lack of interest from the staff, same uninspired everything.

joneve

Sporky said:

joneve said:

Also, the Lexus customer service is known for being top notch.

Might want a word with the Guildford branch then, who somehow completely failed to arrange a test drive for me despite several attempts (and available funds).

From my experience they're just expensive Toyotas - same lack of interest from the staff, same uninspired everything.

Sounds like you got an unlucky dealership full of bellends - aka most car salesmen  

They are, essentially expensive Toyota's yes, but the difference in build quality and finish is night and day and they're A LOT more comfortable to drive. We looked at the Rav4 and test drove one for a weekend - probably the most uncomfortable car I've ever sat in. We also have a Yaris pool car at work - I hate having to use it for long journeys to meetings. 

The one place they fall down is the In Car Entertainment. It's fine, it works without any issue - but it's a bit "clunky" using the Sat Nav. This doesn't really bother me, as I don't tend to use Sat Nav very often...everything else (Phone, Bluetooth, iPod connectivity) works absolutely fine. 

Sporky

joneve said:

Sounds like you got an unlucky dealership full of bellends - aka most car salesmen  

That's a fair point!

Bucket

I bought an IS on Forza Motorsport last night, and swapped the engine from an LF-A into it.

I know that doesn't help, but it made me grin.

Sporky

Pah. In an earlier Forza I had a VX220 with AWD and a V8.

I'm not sure how there was still room for a driver.

fields5069

I test drove an IS300H. I liked it, very comfortable and very nice driving position. It was powerful enough for me, if you cane it though I guess you will hear the CVT complaining a bit. My wife didn't like the lack of an armrest on the passenger side. Nice heavy doors, a real feeling of quality about it that my Merc c350e doesn't quite reach. I could afford loads more toys on the Merc for £30 less per month though (averaged over 4 years and taking BIK tax hikes into account).

Bucket

Sporky said:

Pah. In an earlier Forza I had a VX220 with AWD and a V8.

I'm not sure how there was still room for a driver.

Best engine swap I've ever done is probably the V10 from a Viper into a 2009 Dodge Challenger. I did think, however, that the Viper engine wasn't quite big enough, so bored it out to 8.4 litres. Also converted the drivetrain to AWD, otherwise it wouldn't have been able to cope with the 750 bhp or so that it was producing.

Sassafras

My dad is a Lexus salesman, and I own an NX and he previously owned an IS250 (long before he started working for them). Lovely cars. The SE trim is pretty basic (for a Lexus) so the Advance is definitely the one to go for. 

You'll find the trim finish and interior quality is impeccable, and you'll enjoy driving it, as it has enough poke when needed, and decent fuel economy. 

The seats in every Lexus I've driven have been ridiculously comfortable too; like the most comfortable I've ever experienced. 

Also, the Lexus customer service is known for being top notch.

the IS, I think is one of the best looking saloon's available, but that's just my personal opinion. 

If you have any specific questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer and can speak to my dad. 

Sounds like you're following in your Dad's footsteps as a Lexus salesman.
  

joneve

Sassafras said:

My dad is a Lexus salesman, and I own an NX and he previously owned an IS250 (long before he started working for them). Lovely cars. The SE trim is pretty basic (for a Lexus) so the Advance is definitely the one to go for. 

You'll find the trim finish and interior quality is impeccable, and you'll enjoy driving it, as it has enough poke when needed, and decent fuel economy. 

The seats in every Lexus I've driven have been ridiculously comfortable too; like the most comfortable I've ever experienced. 

Also, the Lexus customer service is known for being top notch.

the IS, I think is one of the best looking saloon's available, but that's just my personal opinion. 

If you have any specific questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer and can speak to my dad. 

Sounds like you're following in your Dad's footsteps as a Lexus salesman.
  

For sake of balance; the NX is horribly under powered, and the boot could be bigger, and as I've said their ICE is clunky and not user friendly for Sat Nav. But genuinely they have the most comfortable seats I've experienced. 

Car sales is something I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Shit hours, average pay, and you have to to nice to people 100% of the time. No thanks! 

danlpt

Bucket said:

I bought an IS on Forza Motorsport last night, and swapped the engine from an LF-A into it.

I know that doesn't help, but it made me grin.

I'll see if the lease company offer that as an optional extra haha