A small review of the IS300h.
06-19-13, 02:38 PM
#16
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About the same as the 328: $150,000.
The tax reduction for the IS 300h being a hybrid is about $15,000. The tax reduction make the Tesla Model S kind of affordable in Norway, the Performance costs about $11,000 more then the IS 300h F-Sport with all the extras.
The tax reduction for the IS 300h being a hybrid is about $15,000. The tax reduction make the Tesla Model S kind of affordable in Norway, the Performance costs about $11,000 more then the IS 300h F-Sport with all the extras.
Last edited by RA040224; 06-19-13 at 02:44 PM.
06-20-13, 11:47 AM
#18
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
The only love present in the car market is the politicians love for money through taxes and fees.
Any power through electric motors in cars are free.
Appart from that, we pay taxes based om the cars weight, power and emissons.
More of anything equals higher taxes. Becuase of this, most norwegian cars are small and under powered.
The toyota auris and prius sells very good in hybrid version.
Appart from this the vw golf, ford focus and mazda 3 are common size cars.
People that need big cars buy estaes and SUV's
Common estates are toyota avensis and vw passat size cars, mostly with a 1,6 diesel and around 120hp.
SUV's are common size like a subaru forrester or mitsubishi outlander. Normally equipped with 4wd and a 2,0 liter 150hp diesel.
Overall cars are very expensive to buy i norway.
And to make it just a bit worse to pay tat much for our cars, the neighbouring country sweeden half about half the price on the same cars.
Except the powerful and expensive cars. They cost about three times more in norway than in sweeden. (like the subaru STi and mitsubishi EVO)
Just for fun, I entered the specs of an american Lexus IS350 into the caluclator for taxes on cars. The cost of a lexus IS350 in norway, if you include US purchase price, would be:
811223 NOK = 140.382$
Beregning
Merverdiavgift: 62 242,50 sales tax
Engangsavgift:
Avgift for egenvekt: 114 032,08 weight tax
Avgift for motoreffekt: 224 675,00 Enigne power tax
Avgift for CO2: 157 204,00 Emisson tax
Avgift for NOx: 2 100,00 More emisson tax
Totalt i engangsavgift: 498 011,00 Total taxes
Totalpris for dette kjøretøyet inkludert avgifter: 811 223,50 Total price including purchase price
Any power through electric motors in cars are free.
Appart from that, we pay taxes based om the cars weight, power and emissons.
More of anything equals higher taxes. Becuase of this, most norwegian cars are small and under powered.
The toyota auris and prius sells very good in hybrid version.
Appart from this the vw golf, ford focus and mazda 3 are common size cars.
People that need big cars buy estaes and SUV's
Common estates are toyota avensis and vw passat size cars, mostly with a 1,6 diesel and around 120hp.
SUV's are common size like a subaru forrester or mitsubishi outlander. Normally equipped with 4wd and a 2,0 liter 150hp diesel.
Overall cars are very expensive to buy i norway.
And to make it just a bit worse to pay tat much for our cars, the neighbouring country sweeden half about half the price on the same cars.
Except the powerful and expensive cars. They cost about three times more in norway than in sweeden. (like the subaru STi and mitsubishi EVO)
Just for fun, I entered the specs of an american Lexus IS350 into the caluclator for taxes on cars. The cost of a lexus IS350 in norway, if you include US purchase price, would be:
811223 NOK = 140.382$
Beregning
Merverdiavgift: 62 242,50 sales tax
Engangsavgift:
Avgift for egenvekt: 114 032,08 weight tax
Avgift for motoreffekt: 224 675,00 Enigne power tax
Avgift for CO2: 157 204,00 Emisson tax
Avgift for NOx: 2 100,00 More emisson tax
Totalt i engangsavgift: 498 011,00 Total taxes
Totalpris for dette kjøretøyet inkludert avgifter: 811 223,50 Total price including purchase price
06-20-13, 12:48 PM
#20
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
True.
But we also have high taxes on everything else. about 36% income tax and 25% saletax on everything we buy. Pluss the highest fuel price in europe.
Also the price on everything from food to homes and houses are taxed and very high.
So it does not help to have a high salary
So we do still have very high prices on cars. Both to buy and own them.
Parts for cars are for some reason a lot more expensive than in other countries.
Strangest I've seen so far is the cathalytic converter for a subaru impreza STi.
In the US it costs 700$
The norwegian subaru dealer charges 26000 NOK for it. That is about 4500$...
But we also have high taxes on everything else. about 36% income tax and 25% saletax on everything we buy. Pluss the highest fuel price in europe.
Also the price on everything from food to homes and houses are taxed and very high.
So it does not help to have a high salary
So we do still have very high prices on cars. Both to buy and own them.
Parts for cars are for some reason a lot more expensive than in other countries.
Strangest I've seen so far is the cathalytic converter for a subaru impreza STi.
In the US it costs 700$
The norwegian subaru dealer charges 26000 NOK for it. That is about 4500$...
06-20-13, 01:15 PM
#21
Actually Sweden has the highest income tax in the world. Up to 55% depends on your salary. That sucks! And you guys have the highest salary in the world. Your guys salary is probably 3 times higher than the guys in US with same job. So I think the high car price and living cost is somewhat justified. 
06-20-13, 03:32 PM
#22
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
My father lives in sweden, so i know that the income tax is a bit higher there. Avarge income tax in norway is about 36%. We also pay higher tax if income is higher than avarage. It can be over 50% in norway to if you have a well payed job such as a doctor or a lawyer.
But norway is one of the few countries in the world where a normal car costs about 30-50% of a normal house..
Also in norway there are property taxes and taxes on money you inherit if a relative passes away..
Prices on "Normal" cars with small engines are fair enough.
But the fact that a powerful car cost so much because about 60-70% of the price is taxes to the goverment i can't justify, despite our salarys
The fact that lexus Norway does not offer the IS250 at all, says something about the how high the taxes on cars with "normal" engines are here.
You probably also know we pay both road tax (now renamed anual tax) that aren't used to build or maintain roads, and we have to pay toll to drive on a lot of the roads. The toll money is also beeing used to build public transport such as railways.
If you don't pay anual tax the goverment takes the licensplates of your car.
The one question everybody is wondering here. When we pay this much money in taxes and fees connected to driving, why is only 1% of anual state budget going to building and maintaining infrastructure?
You have probably also heard that if you are spotted driving a foreign cars here, they impound the car and only give it back if you pay the full amount of money the car was taxed at when new. Most times this sum is a lot higher than the value of the car...
There have been some writings in swedish newspapers about a father in sweden who loaned his car to his norwegian daughter and the car was impounded here..
Maybe it is time to return to topic now?
But norway is one of the few countries in the world where a normal car costs about 30-50% of a normal house..
Also in norway there are property taxes and taxes on money you inherit if a relative passes away..
Prices on "Normal" cars with small engines are fair enough.
But the fact that a powerful car cost so much because about 60-70% of the price is taxes to the goverment i can't justify, despite our salarys
The fact that lexus Norway does not offer the IS250 at all, says something about the how high the taxes on cars with "normal" engines are here.
You probably also know we pay both road tax (now renamed anual tax) that aren't used to build or maintain roads, and we have to pay toll to drive on a lot of the roads. The toll money is also beeing used to build public transport such as railways.
If you don't pay anual tax the goverment takes the licensplates of your car.
The one question everybody is wondering here. When we pay this much money in taxes and fees connected to driving, why is only 1% of anual state budget going to building and maintaining infrastructure?
You have probably also heard that if you are spotted driving a foreign cars here, they impound the car and only give it back if you pay the full amount of money the car was taxed at when new. Most times this sum is a lot higher than the value of the car...
There have been some writings in swedish newspapers about a father in sweden who loaned his car to his norwegian daughter and the car was impounded here..
Maybe it is time to return to topic now?
07-08-13, 01:24 PM
#23
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
A little update, as i now did get the chance to test the car for about 3 hours, thanks to a very helpful sales person at my lexus dealer.
I also got the chance to measure how big the trunk was with seats folded down.
Measurements are listed further down in the post.
I can now confirm what I earlier wrote, and I can ad a few useful inputs.
The car is best driven in normal or eco mode. The sport mode makes the car more aggresive, but it also makes fuel consumption go through the roof.
I test drove a 12 km route I normally drive to work. Some city roads, mostly country roads with bends and hills.
In eco mode the IS 300h used 4,2 liters per 100km. Picture proof below.
The driving was normal and not focused on beeing economical, I did just flow with traffic for that test run, because that is how I normally drive.
When driving hard in sport+ mode for a few kilometers, the conspumtion was about 12,5 liters per 100km.
Also the car did not act very much like a sport car. It had decent handling and acceleration, but it is a heavy luxury sedan, not a sportcar, and the car feels like a heavy luxury car.
So if you drive it like a normal sedan, it won't let you down.
The sport mode is good for overtaking and things like that.
If you want a sportcar with 5 seats, buy a hot hatch or an Impreza STI.
So to the interestning stuff about space and measurements.
We tried a couple of things with space in the back seats.
First, a person that is 183cm high can sit comfortably in the back seat, without touching the roof with his back head. I belive that persons over 187cm will hit their heads in the roof based om what i saw with the 183 cm person.
We did meassure the length and with of the trunk when rear seats are folded down.
The opening behind the rear seats are as seen in pictures:
The height from the top of the rear seats to the top of the opening is about 35 cm.
The width at the narrowest point is about 75cm and at the widest point about 87cm.
The overall length is about 185 from the trunk wall (rear bumper) to the back of the front seats. This depends a bit on how you place the fron seats. To the head rests there are about 165 cm due to the shape of the front seats.
Se pictures.
Also, some more pictures. Leg room in the rear seats are exccelent.
The car was equipped with Bridestone turanza tires. MAde some road noice, but over all a very quiet car.
Had two issues with the car that I noticed on the test drive.
The radar guided cruise control lost track of cars in front in sharp turns and acclerated towards them, but braked hard when "re detecting" the car in front after the turn.
The automatic light that turns on in the dark and in tunnels was over sensitive, and turned on whenever I drove into shadows from sunlight.
Appart from these issues I was very satisfied with the car after the test drive.
I also got the chance to measure how big the trunk was with seats folded down.
Measurements are listed further down in the post.
I can now confirm what I earlier wrote, and I can ad a few useful inputs.
The car is best driven in normal or eco mode. The sport mode makes the car more aggresive, but it also makes fuel consumption go through the roof.
I test drove a 12 km route I normally drive to work. Some city roads, mostly country roads with bends and hills.
In eco mode the IS 300h used 4,2 liters per 100km. Picture proof below.
The driving was normal and not focused on beeing economical, I did just flow with traffic for that test run, because that is how I normally drive.
When driving hard in sport+ mode for a few kilometers, the conspumtion was about 12,5 liters per 100km.
Also the car did not act very much like a sport car. It had decent handling and acceleration, but it is a heavy luxury sedan, not a sportcar, and the car feels like a heavy luxury car.
So if you drive it like a normal sedan, it won't let you down.
The sport mode is good for overtaking and things like that.
If you want a sportcar with 5 seats, buy a hot hatch or an Impreza STI.
So to the interestning stuff about space and measurements.
We tried a couple of things with space in the back seats.
First, a person that is 183cm high can sit comfortably in the back seat, without touching the roof with his back head. I belive that persons over 187cm will hit their heads in the roof based om what i saw with the 183 cm person.
We did meassure the length and with of the trunk when rear seats are folded down.
The opening behind the rear seats are as seen in pictures:
The height from the top of the rear seats to the top of the opening is about 35 cm.
The width at the narrowest point is about 75cm and at the widest point about 87cm.
The overall length is about 185 from the trunk wall (rear bumper) to the back of the front seats. This depends a bit on how you place the fron seats. To the head rests there are about 165 cm due to the shape of the front seats.
Se pictures.
Also, some more pictures. Leg room in the rear seats are exccelent.
The car was equipped with Bridestone turanza tires. MAde some road noice, but over all a very quiet car.
Had two issues with the car that I noticed on the test drive.
The radar guided cruise control lost track of cars in front in sharp turns and acclerated towards them, but braked hard when "re detecting" the car in front after the turn.
The automatic light that turns on in the dark and in tunnels was over sensitive, and turned on whenever I drove into shadows from sunlight.
Appart from these issues I was very satisfied with the car after the test drive.
07-08-13, 01:54 PM
#24
Driver
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 84
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Had two issues with the car that I noticed on the test drive.
The radar guided cruise control lost track of cars in front in sharp turns and acclerated towards them, but braked hard when "re detecting" the car in front after the turn.
The automatic light that turns on in the dark and in tunnels was over sensitive, and turned on whenever I drove into shadows from sunlight.
Appart from these issues I was very satisfied with the car after the test drive.
The radar guided cruise control lost track of cars in front in sharp turns and acclerated towards them, but braked hard when "re detecting" the car in front after the turn.
The automatic light that turns on in the dark and in tunnels was over sensitive, and turned on whenever I drove into shadows from sunlight.
Appart from these issues I was very satisfied with the car after the test drive.
As for the radar cruice control i don't think will be a problem for me, as I usually don't use CC on roads with sharp turns
(How sharp a turn are you talking about? Feel free to be local, I'm in Oslo)I noticed the lights turning on and off often too (I've tested the same car)... hopefully there's a setting for that.
Last edited by RA040224; 07-08-13 at 01:59 PM.
07-08-13, 03:15 PM
#25
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
The turn was about 60 degree angle. Probably able to take it somewhere about 80-90 km\h before you loose traction.
A link\pic from google maps:
https://maps.google.no/maps?hl=no&ll...,92.83,,0,5.85
A link\pic from google maps:
https://maps.google.no/maps?hl=no&ll...,92.83,,0,5.85
07-08-13, 03:45 PM
#28
Lexus Test Driver
yes there will be a setting for the lights. My RX lights were in default position and very sensitive so i turned all the way down and now they only come on in the dark 
07-08-13, 06:59 PM
#30
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
great info, thanks for the work and sharing!
