spwolf

I will try again - you are not living on the highway and your car does not start at 55mph and ends at 55mph.

Pure highway rating is meaningless and should be ignored by the customer (or else they will be deceived).

Combined rating is what you will get during your driving.

Both cars have official rating of 33 MPG, so 30% less than CT200h.
Not to mention that Fiesta is one class smaller, and as I said, Elantra, in real life user reports on fuelgov.org actually gets 29 MPG and less than Corolla at 32 MPG (while it should be worse).

Yes, if you measure your car fuel consumption at 55mph, it will be 40 MPG (in fact, many small cars will get that, despite EPA ratings, for instance Corolla users on fuelgov.org report 36-38 MPG on average with manual transmission), however you then have to go off the highway, into the traffice and hence the combined rating of 33 MPG.

LexBob2

Consumer Reports also got 29 mpg overall on their recent test of the new Elantra...

speedflex

First rate review! Thanks.

mmarshall

I haven't really disagreed with either of you that much. Some, though not all, of what you said was true, but highway MPG figures are not meaningless. And, on the highway, even though it's true that, as you say, you don't live at 55 MPH, it is still possible to get more than the EPA figure, though it is more-difficult to do it in stop-and-go driving. I can easily outdo the EPA highway figure myself, with my own Outback....on my last longish trip, I did 3 MPG better (31 MPG vs. 28).

Where parallel-hybrids, like I said in my last post, really shine is in the city, where they often get better then in rural areas or in cruise-mode, but this has to be balanced against the hybrid's substantially greater cost.

mmarshall

Thanks. I put a lot of time and effort into them.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

sure, but while ON the highway, that is the economy you get and if one is on the highway a LONG time, the part of the trip not on the highway may be insignificant.

i don't think it's meaningless nor should it be ignored. you're entitled to your own opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts.

maybe, but that's a contrived mix of hwy/city that may not be anything like what any given driver does.

again 10mpg lower on average will probably cost a consumer $400 more a year in gas. big whoop given the high price of the CT.

and a focus hatch is roomier than the CT and a better value. as is a sonata hybrid.

RXSF

agree with everyones comments in here to some degree, some more so than others.

But let's not forget that the Lexus name plate (or any luxury nameplate) comes with a price, so is it really fair to compare the CT to the Focus? Yes, both are hatchbacks, but you cant expect the CT to be better on all fronts (power, efficiency, space) and cost the same as the Focus.

So perhaps we should solely be looking at the bmw 1, Audi 3, and a big maybe to the C30

does anyone have anything to say in terms of comparisons between those vehicles and the CT?

mmarshall

Exactly. A good point, Paul.

When you have a close 43/40 city/highway spread like the CT has, that doesn't leave much room in between, though, for "contrived" figures. It has to be either 41 or 42 combined, and, of course, as it turns out, it's 42.

The Focus hatchback's cargo area is not that impressive, either. Neither it, nor the CT has a cargo area I'd call roomy, even considering the two vehicle's small size. The average Focus, however, as you note, costs about half of what a CT does (and still gets good mileage). Its interior trim and overall build-quality, though, cannot compare with the CT's.....neither can its warranty.

mmarshall

That was one of the points I was bringing up in the revew....IMO, Lexus, with the CT, is trying to market a distinctly non-"luxury" vehicle under the Lexus nameplate. Perhaps it will succeed.....but I myself think that it would be more wisely (and accurately) marketed as a Toyota.

Though in a different class of vehicles, I compared the Focus and Elantra to the CT only to show that conventional, much-less-expensive cars than the CT could virtually equal its highway mileage. The rest of the comments on that issue revolved around the issue of how relevant (or not-relevant) those highway figures actually are. Paul (bitkahuna) brought up some good points.

I have driven all four of them. The average BMW 1-series and Audi 3, though physically smaller than their corporate big-brothers, feel and drive more or less like those big-brothers do, especially the BMW 135 series with the 335's engine. The Volvo C30 has a slightly different (and somewhat sportier) feel than its corporate big-brothers. The CT, however, feels and drives quite a bit different from many larger Lexus models....to my senses, it feels different from even its only slightly-larger HS250 cousin.

dunnojack

I am eager to see how this plays out.

I question whether people who are very concerned about gas prices (tight wallets)...... will go out and buy a $35000 hatchback.
kind of defeating the purpose, if you're tight on cash in the first place.

people who can afford to buy a luxury car should not be overly concerned about gas prices.

Fizzboy7

Great review. Your comments ring true with most things.
Now, wasn't it only a day or two ago you were asking if we wanted to hear a CT review? I think you had it planned all along! haha ; )

raptor22

given that cars come in all shapes and sizes nowadays, side moldings have largely outlived their usefulness. All they do is uglify the car.

mmarshall

Yes, some good points, but it must also be noted out that Lexus also sells hybrids that run a lot more than 35K....all the way up to the 100K+ LS600h. So, price alone is not always an issue........as we learned back in the 1970s, it can also be a question of whether or not gas is available at all, regardless of the price or wat you're driving.

mmarshall

And parking-lot dents and dings DON'T?

I'm afraid I don't agree with your reasoning here.

mmarshall

Thanks, Fizz. I put a lot of effort into them.


I had planned to look at a CT and maybe test-drive one.......not necessarily write it up or do a formal review. I don't write up every car I try out. But I noticed the CT threads and the fair amount of posts and interest in it, me being retired and having some spare time, and, of course, with this being primarily a Lexus-forum, well....................