Looking to get into one.

From what I've scoured on these boards, I noticed not many complaints that really require attention... I've read the R&T & other consumer reports stuff, but I need daily input from you guys'.

Anything to look out for on these? I know it's a base model Lexus which can be had [in my area] for well under 40k OTD, but they've been out for over 3yrs now, so anything catastrophic to know about?

Thanks in advance for any help. Coudn't find any complaint threads on here, what really has me sold is the 'average' 46mpg's from the many owners on Fuelly pull in...

FWIW, I'm looking at a [soon to be] "rebuilt" 2011 with 14k kms [~9k mi] on it. Light front end hit that the rad/support/headlights/grill/hood took most of. Looks to be the premium model with nav & real leather.

 

I can only get 43 MPG ,
besides of that, I can't complain anything else.

 

Should be all you need to know, and it seems like you do already.

Awesome car.

 

Have had the car since the first month it came out in March 2011 and let me get out of the way the only three minor "issues". One was dealt with 90% by Lexus. The squeaky plastic stitched leatherette piece that runs along both sides of the console/radio. Lexus added felt under warranty. A second was the passenger seat making a buzzing sound at varying speeds. It was repaired and was isolated to the manual seat/metal latch and spring mechanism. If you have the power passenger seat, you should not have this issue. A third minor nuissance I have just experienced is abnormal cracking on the steering wheel (search my other post) which Lexus is handling under warranty (waiting for parts).

On the many positives, with 30k km on the odometer, my overall average is 5.0L/100km which is is awesome though it takes a little conscious "pulse and glide" driving to get that and staying in the EV zone as much as possible (under 72 km/hr). Expect mid 4s in summer and mid 5s in winter if mainly city, and 10-20% higher if mostly highway. Tire wear on the Michelins is about 60% remaining. I'd comfortably go another 20K km before changing them.

The car has been fully bullet-proof reliable with just oil changes as far as maintenance. Brakes are hardly showing wear and I can likely hit over 100k km before changing them thanks to the regen braking. The interior looks mint with no rattles. Doors still close with a solid thump. I have to say the Nuluxe seats are incredibly durable. Not a single fold or sign of wear. Not sure about the leather seats though. The hood has a small chip which I still didn't get to in several months but thanks to its aluminum construction, no rust!

All-in-all, alongside the RX and IS, these are the best vehicles I have ever owned (and I have gone through several).

Go for it you won't regret it!

 

i've owned it since Jan 2012
i still love my car today

 

we've had ours for almost 2 years and 20,000 miles and still doing just fine. has never been into the dealer for anything other than routine maintenance (which is still being paid for by Lexus too!)

the black leather looks great still.

my lifetime average is in the 39-40 range but i regularly drive at 75mpg on highways.

this is my work and errand car so i rarely have the kids in it, but when we have 2 young kids (in car seats) and 2 adults it's fairly cramped in there. we are leaning towards getting the ES hybrid next year when the CT lease is up to get more leg room and a little more power without sacrificing much mpg.

 

I have owned mine for one year next month. 21,000 miles with the loud passenger seat rattle when no passenger is present. Lack of sound deadening is sad for a "LEXUS", my last real issue is the fuel usage. I drive almost 90% of the time for work short and long distances. I have tested this issue in now over 20 tanks of fuel and noticed I can log an additional 80-110 miles on 0. Which means when my range hits 0 I reset my trip meter and drive until no less than 80 additional miles with a longest distance of 110 miles, still have never run out on fuel. If I hit 0 and fill up the tank I can only fit 9-10 gallons, but if I go the extra distance I can easily squeeze 12.5- 13gallons topping it off with a max of 13.2 gallons. To me the tank allocation and range is complete bull **** on this car. I have pics of receipts, gauge cluster and pump read out pics all wit the same photo properties and time stamps to back this up. In reality this means a bone stock CT200h with a light foot should go closer to 600 miles per tank easily. I have personally gone to almost 560 miles per tank with my aftermarket wheels. Yes I know driving the car on e and sucking up stuff from the tank is bad, but with technology and filtration these days this should honestly not be an issue. Just my 2 cents, But Lexus is leaving way too much fuel in the tank at 0.

 

the gas tank cap is 11.9, you managed to put in 13.2? I'm sure you are putting gas all the way up the nozzle and there's a reason why they don't recommend topping off the tank after it shuts off or simply your tank is leaking

toyota/lexus is conservative about the gas tank is because, in short, to protect the hybrid system, it's best that everyone reads up and do some researches, there are hundreds of threads discussing the fuel tank phenomenon on the web. Once you run out of gas on the CT, even if you put gas in, you cannot restart the car, it has to be towed to lexus for service, and doing this might void your warranty.

from my research, the ct uses the gas as a coolant for the fuel pump like on the prius. As gas moves through the pump, what gas is actually pumped is not the total amount present. Between 1/2 and a full gallon of gas is held in reserve to circulate through the pump, keeping it cooler and preventing wear from overheating, which keeps the fuel pump working more efficiently, longer. This is why you NEED to have a reserve fuel

The below is coming directly from a tech that teaches about advanced hybrid over at Toyota

Owners that try to force gas in after the gas nozzle has clicked off will find gas coming back out of the fuel line. This is true of cold temps and people who still try to "top off" their tanks.

Topping off is very bad, never do it. There are a series of sensors that make sure the sealed system can do it's job and, for a variety of reasons, if there is gas too high in the line, it will set off the check engine light on all Toyotas.

Next time you put gas in, look inside your gas cap. That metal component you see is the first fuel line sensor and they continue all down the gas line and into the tank.

All Toyota/Lexus hybrids have a sealed gas tank system of some kind to prevent fume loss. The Highlander Hybrid, for example, has a button on the dash that is pressed to engage a bypass in the gas tank that only allows gas in, but does not allow fumes out.

Remember, never top off, no matter what. When the nozzle clicks off, stop pumping gas. If nothing else, go to a different pump next time, they are all different too.

 

I'm pretty much averaging about 43MPG also. But i noticed if i drive more in rush hr stop and go i can get up to 50MPG pretty easily since we're utilizing the EV more at low speeds.

My biggest gripe definitely has to be the crappy *** quality of the "premium" 10 speaker system. My old IS base system sounded better then these crap bamboo speakers. So save your money on the premium sound system and get aftermarket speakers instead for the same amount. Other then that as everyone else has mentioned it runs like a champ with proper maintenance.

 

One common issue that no one has mentioned yet is that there is a Lexus Service Bulletin for the center console latch. Many of them stop working such that you can push it in, but the button does not come back out on its own as it is supposed to. There is a re-designed latch that you can get under warranty that fixes this issue. I am going to have mine done at my next service interval (in about 2K miles).

One other thing that I wanted to mentioned is that you said you were looking at buying a rebuilt car. I have experience with this, as I bought a rebuilt 2005 Honda Insight and drove it sucessfully for about 4 years and 50K miles with no mechanical issues at all. However, there certainly are some drawbacks. The largest is when you go to resell it. You will not get anywhere near what a non-rebuilt car would get. Secondly, if the title says rebuilt, then Lexus may not honor any warranty work on it. So just make sure and check into that before you complete the purchase.

 

I wonder how long itll take before you burn the fuel pump with these 500 mile fill ups ...

 

That's what warranty is for.

 

keep us posted

It'll be interesting to see when it does fail


Posted from ClubLexus.com App for Android

 

I've had my CT 200h for 2 years and 3 months and have about 40,000 miles. So far so good. Love the mpg's (sometimes can hit 50mpg). The only gripe I have is there are no cup holders in the back seats.

Thinking about getting a 2014 GX 460 because need more room. Will definitely keep the CT as a daily driver.

 

Regardless whether its covered under warranty or not, fuel pump failure is no fun especially when one is in the middle of nowhere.