natnut

If anything, Toyota/Lexus tend to understate the fuel economy of their hybrids far more than the Germans understate the fuel economy of their turbos/diesels.

Ergo : a Lexus hybrid will approximate its stated EPA mileage much more closely in real life driving than a German turbodiesel will.

Again typical Euro bias from the UK auto rags.....

QuentinB

Do you ever sit in traffic? Because of school traffic, my wife never got more than 28mpg in her 34mpg rated MINI. In our Prius v, she regularly bests 44mpg in combined driving where it is rated 44 city, 40 highway. It you drive absolutely no stop and go, then the hybrid might not make sense, but if you sit in traffic occasionally, it pays pretty big dividends. I loved having the Prius with an infant because I would sit out in the car with the HVAC running while my wife ran in the store. Most cars are sitting there at 0mpg in that scenario.

I imagine the IS300h would return 36+ mpg in normal driving if we got it in the US. The 2IS 250 probably just barely touches 30mpg in the most ideal of conditions, right?

UpSideDown

I do my driving mostly on highway. Thats why the mpg figure is much lower than the official figure when I drove other hybrids. Sure it still beats my 250 ( I get between 26 to 30mpg at most ) but not by much (If the mpg figure from EVO is true). And of course if you drive mostly around town its the car for you.

UpSideDown

Most of the new cars been sold in Euro are disels, thats why they compare it to them.

UpSideDown

I think if you really want to get great mpg figure you will have to choose the "Eco" version which is the very basic model free of most gadgets and small alloy wheels. Don't think a F-sport version will save much fuel with all the gadgets and 225/245 18" wheels (which EVO tested). Also the mpg will drop during the winter period.

spwolf

it will still be 30%-50% better than IS250 with same F-Sport spec... at least...

I would expect IS300h to do 30-35 MPG in the city where IS250 does 15-18 mpg.

Here at one point gas was $9.... nobody buys cars with V6 petrols anymore not just because of running costs but because of resale value - V6/V8 drop value like stone and you cant sell them.


Impression from one UK IS250 owner:

there you go.

UpSideDown

No doubt that 300h will get better mpg in city than a 250. How about highway mileage then? And combined in real life compares to 250? Will it still be upp to 50% better? Of course I'll book a test drive at my dealer to find it out myself.

the gas price logic is interesting. If you really want to save money then you better off to get a cheap car with a small engine instead. Why buy a expensive car for saving gas?

spwolf

Your logic isnt really valid - most people in Europe get small diesels in their 5 series and E class, and they are slower than IS300h.

Why? We can buy 300h, save $100-$200 a month in gas, plus get $5,000-$7000 better price when selling it used compared to IS250... if I could find anyone to buy IS250 that is. Right now, V8's are selling for peanuts due to gas price.

I expect that for ME, IS300h would get around 30-35mpg average while IS250 would get around 17-18 on average. Plus it is cool technology, less to spend on maintainance and better acceleration at speed. Its a cool talking point and really interesting to watch first time vs old V6 where everyone would ask me "do you get 15 mpg".

You can check ES300h and see how it goes... I would suspect that IS300h would be a bit more refined (20hp+ but that probably goes for extra weight) and of course much better handler.

natnut

You might think it a paradox that the beautifully designed all-new Lexus IS 300h with its advanced Lexus Hybrid Drive technology promises to be less expensive to run than its rivals. Independent calculations show that the savings in day-to-day running costs over three years’ ownership could run to thousands of pounds compared to rival diesel saloons from other premium marques.

The IS 300h SE can achieve 65.7mpg combined cycle economy and CO2 emissions of 99g/km.

Although Lexus’s full hybrid system is renowned for its fuel efficiency and low emissions, it has other qualities that have a significant impact on the size of bills customers can expect.

Not only is it extremely hard-wearing and reliable, it has few parts that need regular maintenance and others that are designed to last the lifetime of the vehicle, such as the timing chain.

Owners will also appreciate the fact that even after 50,000 miles of driving the brake discs should still be in good shape. In that time only one set of replacement pads will probably have been needed.

That’s thanks to the hybrid system’s regenerative braking function, which looks after the initial braking effort before the pads and discs come into play. Tyres should also last considerably longer, due to the higher pressures used for hybrid vehicles.

These factors make for routine servicing, maintenance and repairs that are simpler, need fewer parts and are quicker to carry out.

All versions of the new IS 300h are rated at less than 110g/km for CO2 emissions, which means no road tax in the first year. The SE model, however, achieves 99g/km – a remarkable feat for a car that offers 220bhp – meaning an on-going zero charge, plus other personal and business tax benefits.

Low benefit-in-kind company car tax rates mean a 40 per cent tax payer is likely to pay as much as £1,000 a year less than the driver of a new Audi A4 2.0 TDISE Multitronic over the first three years of ownership (according to data projections by Kwik Car Cost).

Likewise a business adding the hybrid Lexus to its fleet will appreciate the lower road tax, fuel, insurance and service, maintenance and repair costs.

Depreciation in value isn’t something you can see, but it has a major impact on the on-going cost of a vehicle, Here, again, the new IS 300h is set to perform strongly: specialist firm CAP predicts a best-in-class figure of 38 per cent for the hybrid Lexus over a three-year period, or 60,000 miles driven.

http://blog.lexus.co.uk/2013/04/lexu...-of-ownership/

UpSideDown

Correct,that's because most of these are sold as company fleet cars with benefits like free services and they can change to a new model after 3 years without worrying about the resell value. Other customer usually choose cheaper alternatives and keep their car longer time. If you are a company car driver than its fine.

Mr. Burns

Fizzboy7

The junior high level TRD/Pontiac Grand Am rear valance and tailpipes are horrid! The 3IS story is getting worse and worse with each new bit of news and photo! =(

macmaster

Um...then don't get the TRD kit?

natnut

Very nice and aggressive. I'm glad Lexus is going this direction in design : Lexus enthusiasts already know that Lexus cars are getting sportier and more fun to drive but Joe Public still doesn't.

This new more aggressive styling serves to put the public on notice about the new dynamism in Lexus performance and handling.

cino

iTrader: (1)

Hope the TRD Replica kit or any other good looking kit will come out shortly after.