I currently have a 2002 Lexus ES and thinking about trading it in for a new CT 200h.

After doing some research, my concerns are:

1) Driving performance. I heard this car is not that powerful and accelerates slow. Does anyone know how it compares to the ES?

2) Maintenance. Currently I take my ES to the Toyota dealership for repairs because it's similar to a Camry. I really satisfied with the service and especially price. Does anyone know if I could take the CT 200h to the Toyota dealership for service too? Or is it too far a difference from the Toyota Hybrids for them to do service on it?

Thanks for your advice,
Andrew

 

The ES has more power, but I don't think you would be disappointed in the CT's power. I went from an RX350 to the CT and have been very happy.

Yes you can take it to Toyota for service, but not for warranty work.

 

I recently called my Toyota dealership in Los Angeles about the same concern about maintenance
they basically said "come in today we'll fix your car" I believe the CT is pretty similar to the prius, call first though.

 

CT has the EXACT drivetrain as the Prius. Toyota has had the Prius for over 10 years now. They will have no problem with servicing or maintenance.

 

Good to know.

So I test drove the ct200 today and it was all good except the engine noise when accelerating. It was pretty annoying. I can't imagine having to deal with that on a daily basis. Doesn't it annoy you guys?

 

^ the car certainly sounds like it's straining on hard acceleration. to some it's acceptable, to others it's annoying. but if you're considering this car, hard acceleration isn't one of its strong suits. sport mode helps with acceleration, but it still doesn't solve the engine noise/straining.

 

Sounds like any 4 banger accelerating...which is not what you would expect from a Lexus luxury vehicle, but I guess they're going for more sporty with the CT, so it's not bad at all.

The acceleration is painfully slow, I was caravanning to a car meet and lagged behind on the freeway onramp. So embarrassing.

 

I'm coming from a Honda Civic SI and that thing rev'd high so I'm sort of used to it. I really don't notice it on the CT unless I'm going up a long hill.

 

Not sure I agree there Matt, seems much noisier to me. Last 4 cylinder I owned was a Jetta (non-turbo) and not nearly as noisy as the CT. I can see if you're coming from a Honda, then maybe?

 

Hmmm. I guess you're right. My experience would be from a Honda Civic SI.

 

I don't think it's that noisy. I don't notice it that much compared to the Mini. It's a fun car to drive.If most drove sensible , we would have fifty million fender benders.

 

But you had to wait on them, when the rest of the carvan had to gas up

I have no problem with the performance, my other two cars hav 0-60mph times of 5.4, 5.9 seconds respectively.

Concerning noise of the CT since the CT is so quite otherwise the noise heard from the engine seems accentuated; It is really no louder than other equivalently powered 4 cylinder cars, it is just that they have so much ambient noise they don't notice the differential as much.

 

agreed.

 

I went to lunch with my (300lb.+) co-worker and worried about getting on the freeway at an adequate speed to merge in with faster moving traffic but the CT handled it well, a little straining but the CT did it! BUT my MPG AVG dropped from 46.2 to 43.3 and my overall average from 43.4 to 43.3

 

1> Nobody can determine if the acceleration is too slow for you, except you. Go drive one, extensively. Not just a short test-drive with a quick hop on the freeway, tell them you want to drive it around a bit.

I'm a seriously performance individual, I've owned everything from a '78 Corolla with 78hp up to a custom supercharged Corvette Z06 with over 700hp, and a Yamaha R1 sport bike.

It's no surprise, the CT200h has slower 0-60 performance than almost EVERY other vehicle I've owned in the past 25 years.

Yet it's performance is plenty for me on the street, I have no trouble getting up to freeway speeds quite easily, and find myself backing off the throttle ASAP to save gas.

It's a fuel-sipping vehicle, not a 700hp corvette. The Vette got 25mpg, I've been getting about 50mpg with the CT200h.

One really nice thing is the vehicle handles very well, it doesn't float and waft through corners like my old SC430, even with Tein adjustable coilovers and sway bars the SC430 just didn't handle to my liking.

The CT200h on the other hand does great, especially when I realize it has low-rolling resistance tires and not Continental ContiSport 3s.

It should do even better once I get a set of lightweight wheels on there, lower it a touch, and get sway bars on there.

But hopefully you'll find all of this out during your test drive.

2) I can't see why your favorite Toyota dealership wouldn't LOVE to service the CT200h. It's basically just a Prius with a big 'L' on it and a nice interior. I bet they'd love to have that sitting in the maintenance bay for (my apologies) 'lower end' Toyota and Scion owners to drool over. It could seriously push people into the 'upper' Lexus brand.

Yesterday at Costco I found the owner of a white Prius checking out my CT200h when I came out with a basket of goodies. He asked all sorts of things, like how long I had it, what the price was (about what he paid for the Prius), he loved the shape and look of the exterior, and specifically said the interior looked like a 'real car and not like a spaceship'.

Shrug. Works for me, I always thought the Prius looked fine, and wouldn't mind owning one.

Good luck with your decision, I can't see anything that would hold you back from enjoying this fun little ride!!