mmarshall

The AWD alone is probably worth the extra 2K, even without the other things you mention. I know some disagree with me, but I still think it was a mistake not to do a gas AWD version....though a gas AWD version would also obviously cost more than the FWD version.


Yes, for someone who is thin enough so that the narrower seat-bolsters don't bother them, I see little reason not to buy the F-Sport version of the UX. You get a nicer-looking interior, sharper-looking trim outside, and (important to me) presumably the same ride comfort, without the increase in firmness from larger wheels/tires and suspensions that you find in some other Lexus F-Sport products.

It is not unusual for cargo-area dimensions on hybrids to be somewhat smaller than their non-nybrid counterparts. Not only the fuel tank and its plumbing have to fit underneath, but the big hybrid-drive battery also takes up room.

Fizzboy7

I did some calculations for driving range, and the hybrid doesn't really do anything special there. Mainly due to a tiny 10.6 gallon tank. Why skimp on the tank size when the gas version gets a bigger one? They squeezing the battery around the tank somewhere? This is a common thing with all hybrids and their gas counterparts, although some do have decent size tanks and achieve extraordinary ranges. On the plus side, filling up a 10.6 gallon tank will cost peanuts.

mmarshall

True, but with some rare exceptions (like the Lincoln MKZ), you are paying more for the hybrid to start with, so it will take a fair number of "peanuts" (in gas purchase savings) to recover what you've already spent up front. In some cases, tax credits, when and where applicable, can help. I mentioned the MKZ because it one of the very few hybrids to essentially cost the same as the gas counterpart...that's one of Lincoln's marketing strategies.

Sulu

On new Toyota and Lexus hybrids, including the UX Hybrid, the hybrid battery goes under the rear seat, alongside the fuel tank. The Camry Hybrid also has a smaller fuel tank. So that is how Toyota squeezes the battery and the fuel tank under the rear seat, by reducing fuel tank size.

I would have preferred the larger capacity fuel tank myself but I am willing to take the smaller tank in return for a larger cargo area (much larger trunk and possibility of a fold-down rear seat or passthrough on hybrid sedans).

I will say it again -- and it bears repeating -- only people who do not understand hybrids are still obsessed with "payback period" of hybrid vehicles (especially in periods such as the one we are in, when gasoline prices are low); they did not talk about payback with diesel cars.

The hybrid is just another powertrain option and Lexus (especially Lexus Canada) seems to be pushing the UX 250h as the base vehicle and the UX 200 as the special edition, decontented ("stripper") model.

Toys4RJill

situman

I feel like with most new lexus models, the first yr is pretty bad in terms of features quality of materials. That was my experience with the 2010 rx and 2015 nx.

mmarshall

So who's "obsessed" with hybrid-payback periods? Certainly not me. I only stated what is an economic fact of a hybrid-purchase. True, the length of time it will take to recover the hybrid's additional price in gas-savings and/or tax-credits depends on a number of factors....among them, gas prices. But most hybrids (the MKZ is an exception) are simply like that.....a higher purchase price, at first, followed by more fuel savings in the long run.

Sulu

Each different or new drivetrain option comes at a different, perhaps higher, price point; and each different drivetrain technology comes with its own characteristics and behaviour that is different from other technologies. If we were not allowed to recover the cost of developing new technologies or pay for the cost of added components, we would never have left the horse-and-buggy era.

You may not understand or appreciate or like a characteristic or behaviour of a particular drivetrain, but that does not make it bad; that is merely a personal opinion. And to fixate on one characteristic or one behaviour at the expense of the others (i.e. fixating on one particular component or quality and saying it is bad, while refusing to look at the whole) is not correct either; the merits of any technology should be judged as a whole and against what it is intended to do.

oldcajun

I don't understand the objection to the hybrid for this application. For only $2000, you get AWD, faster acceleration, more mid-range torque, and a smoother driving experience. This seems reasonable even without the major improvement in gas mileage. As for a mechanical AWD for the base, it would likely cost near the $2000 and would come with slower acceleration, worse mileage, and worse reliability. The mechanical AWD is more capable than the electrical system, but not a big deal for this class of vehicle.

yardie876

Agreed. Seems like an obvious win-win to me. Some just don't like the idea of driving a hybrid I guess.

riredale

Sorry to hear about the less-than-perfect hybrid braking. The braking on my 2010 RX450h is pretty good though not quite as linear as other non-hybrid systems. But it's the kind of thing that one accommodates quickly, like going from my wife's Lincoln LS to my old Mercury Mountaineer to my daughter's Mazda6. Each car's braking feel is substantially different and it takes a bit of time to get smooth with one. From then on, no worries.

You can easily check to see just how much of the braking effort is regen versus friction: just step lightly on the brakes while, say, coming down a hill and then shift into neutral. All regen then shuts off and you get just the friction system. In my RX I can attest that regen actually doesn't create that much drag, probably because the electric motors are small by comparison to those in a pure EV. This is by design; their function is different. Still, it's nice to know that far less kinetic energy is just burned away as heat during daily driving in a hybrid.

And I've come to just love the shiftless feel of our RXh while driving in the city, as well as the utter calm at traffic lights without an idling engine. The conventional RX loaner car I had for a day felt odd by comparison at first.

mmarshall

The braking itself, if you had to stop quickly, wasn't necessarily sub-par...just the initial mushiness and then the all-or-nothing way that the pedal responded with more pressure.