5th BAD REVIEW IN THE ROW !!!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS CAR LEXUS ??????? http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-new...006-167gy.html

 

REVIEWS SO FAR :

>TOP GEAR CT200H REVIEW : "identity crisis" " annoyingly at steady speeds" " It doesn't feel sporty "
>EVO CT200H REVIEW : "Rather dull, unfortunately" , "a bit of a mess overall" , "the responses are just a bit wooden"
>AUTOCAR CT200H REVIEW : " It's hard to recommend" , "not even a pale substitute of BMW 1"
>WHATCAR.COM CT200H REVIEW : " So disappointing on the road"
>THEAGE.DRIVE.COM CT200H REVIES: "Lacks a premium look" , "unacceptable levels of road noise"

 

Regarding the "unacceptable levels of road noise", I knew this would be the case as soon as I saw from the specs that the CT200h has identical curb weight to the Prius, which is already notorious for poor noise insulation. A shame really. You'd think Lexus would at least make a little effort to give such basic qualities of a Lexus in its rebadging process of the Prius, even if it means a slightly higher curb weight and a slightly lower MPG rating. They did that to the ES to make the upscale Camry a proper luxury ride, so why can't they do the same to the CT? At this point the reviews so far seem to indicate that the CT is nothing more than a Prius with extra (optional) wood and (optional) leather and upgraded rear suspensions (which does help raise handling limit but does not help handling feel).

 

6th BAD REVIEW in the row !!!

> THE INDEPENDENT : "Nice idea, poorly executed. Buy a new Giulietta instead."

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...h-2102468.html

 

There is either something wrong with CVT or sound isolation but it can't be that this car is noisier than 2.0TDI inside A3 which is quite noisy but totally OK and expected for the segement.

 

Not much to expect out of a rebadged Prius:

Poor noise isolation - what do you expect when they cheaped out on a lot of things
Poor driving feel - duh, it's a Prius underneath
Not sporty - again, it's a Prius underneath. How sporty is the current Prius?
It's like the old ad campaign from the Celica: "Looks Fast", and that's all

 

I would do more research on the CT if I were you.

The CT has a completely different suspension design than the Prius, so no, it's NOT "a Prius underneath". The hybrid powertrain might be from the Prius, but the rest of the car is not.

 

The Prius III and the CT are both based on the same Corolla platform, although modified in different ways.

"The CT also makes use of the Prius chassis platform, although with a 100mm shorter wheelbase and a multitude of structural and design modifications Lexus justifiably describes the CT 200h's platform as new." --carkeys.co.uk

BTW Lexus never said CT has an "all-new" platform in the PR. Only one magazine mistakenly did I believe. Lexus's PR focuses on the suspension modifications they did to the platform for the CT.

 

Toyota does describe the CT as a "new" platform in some PR material. While it may share some parts of the Prius chassis, like I said the suspension is completely different. The subframes are also different, due to a different suspension design.

 

It is not a rebadged Prius. Understand the difference between sharing parts and rebadging please.

I believe Lexus said "highly modified platform" in the press.

 

I think people are too caught up on the harsh reviews coming from the Euro centric publications. Lexus/Toyota is the underdog in Europe, a place where Audi, BMW, MB, Fiat, Peugeot, VW, Lancia and etc reign. I'm not surprised they slammed it. Give it a few more weeks, and you will see a better balance of reviews from the US press (I was included with that wave).

The rebadged Prius theory. The powertrain is the same, nothing else. Get over it.