rajeev6

It has about 2 inches less leg room and 2 inches less hip room on the rear seat when compared to Toyota Camry. More than comfortable for 2 kids on the back.

Disagree - doesn't require any more time than any other navigation system once you get used to it.

At 187 HPs, it is very close to my previous Camry V6 (190 HPs).

I (as most other buyers) wasn't looking for a performance tuned race car!

You must be quite tall to make such comments.
Roofline and profile may be questionable in terms of comfort - Only for tall people perhaps.
The innovative automatic seat positioning was not mentioned which takes away any pain getting in and out.
I'm only 5'8" and I had problems with the roofline in Chrysler 300C (last rental in CA). I had to move the seat forward but then getting in and out was pain because of the modern aerodynamic shape and roofline. In HS250, when getting out, the driver seat slides back as soon as you take the seatbelt off. Then getting in, it slides forward either when the driver turns the car on or when s/he buckles up the seatbelt. It's easier for me to get in and get out from my HS250 than it was in the Chrysler.
On top of that - it's configurable how far you want the seat to go back. (talk about someone thinking it thru)

Only 7 - c'mon be fair! While it is not the sleekest car on the market, it is quite sleek for a hybrid when shape is mostly governed by fuel efficiency. The interior is the best I've seen in any car!

Not again! Quality is not the same as roominess - is it! So the Chrysler 300C with rattling interior parts will get a higher score because it very roomy!


Coarse engine sound - what are you comparing it too - an electric car!
Lackluster handling - as I said before, it wasn't designed to be a performance car!
Distracting remote touch interface - takes no more time as any other unit - the innovative feedback mouse was not mentioned which, as a matter of fact, let's you handle the mouse based upon feedback. You can take your eyes off the monitor sooner.

Disagree! Comfort - it does provide - no doubt. I've driven Camry for 15 years and I can tell you something about soft comfortable ride.
If you're looking for an Engaging driving experience - you're looking at wrong car!

acheparev

I have to agree with rajeev6 on all points. If you don't like the power on a HYBRID, don't get a hybrid, or drive it in power mode. I had a 2010 IS 250 AWD loaner for a couple of days the acceleration felt very similar to the HS in Power Mode. The touch screen GPS is very distracting. I like having my palm on the "mouse" and being able to pay attention to the road, instead of trying to hit a button on a screen that is much smaller then the one in the HS.

The review felt very biased against the HS.

sublexus

I once had a 1960 Corvette, 283ci with 230hp and a three-speed manual transmission. The 0-60 mph time was about 8.4 seconds. Interestingly, that's about the same as my 2010 HS250h!

By the way, my wife and I love everything about our HS250h.

BunthaKev

You go ahead and use less oil. All that means is more for me.LOL!HAHAHAHA,

richrf

While I was visiting the forum with another issue, I thought I would leave a review which may help others.

I live in the Midwest and have owned the Lexus HS 250H for a bit more than two years. There are about 12,000 miles on the car. There have been at least 2 - 3 recalls, the most important one being associated with the acceleration issue that has been widely publicized. I don't have any information on what was changed during the recall, but I believe some computer software was updated which shut off the acceleration under certain circumstances. Now for the short review:

Likes

1) Mileage averages 34/mpg with a mixture of about 70% city driving and 30% highway driving. This is quite good though not quite what I was led to believe.

2) Roomy interior considering the shorter overall length of the car. Good for city parking.

3) Nice upscale interior though not luxury class.

4) Low maintenance so far compared to European cars that I have owned.

5) Dealer service is above average but again not as good as I was led to believe it will be.

6) Comfortable upscale ride but not a luxury ride.

7) Well designed dash.

8) Comfortable seating for a taller person like myself and nice amount of room in the rear.

Dislikes

1) Top dislike has to be the way the car unpredictably lunges/lurches forward when braking. Unnerving to say the least and beyond what I have ever experienced in any other car I have driven.

2) Road noise. The insulation is better than Toyotas but not nearly as good as other luxury cars. I'll just call it slightly upscale noise insulation.

3) Small trunk space. Unavoidable because of the battery.

4) The indifference that Lexus shows to issues. Something that I learned to expect from German and American car manufacturers. It seems like Lexus has decided to adopt similar habits.

5) Car roll while turning is worse than what I am use to with other Toyota and Honda brands and much worse than German cars.

6) Driving in snow is worse than other front-wheel drives that I have owned but much better than the rear-wheel German cars.

All in all, the car feels like a nice upgrade from the Toyota Prius but not a luxury car. Somewhere in between which is reasonable since the price is in between also. The bottom line is whether I would recommend the car to a friend. I would ... marginally ... with caveats. The main reason to recommend is that compared to other cars in the similar price range, Lexus has still lots to offer but I am recommending only in comparison not because the car itself is as great as the Lexus brand use to represent.

Hope this helps.

RJQMAN

Those are excellent observations. I agree with all the positives, plus I would add;

9) The Heads-Up display is an excellent, practical feature
10) The Radar-assisted cruise control is also very practical for highway driving
11) The two front cameras take some getting used to, because the view is a bit distorted - like looking at a fun-house mirror - but they work really well for viewing traffic when pulling forward from a parking space while parked between two large trucks or SUV's.

As to the negatives...

I think Lexus could have solve item 3 and improved the looks of the car as well by adding 5 or 6 inches to the length of the car and putting that additional space into the trunk.

As to item 5) - I do not experience significant car roll, and I am used to driving lower cars with sports suspension (I owned a Lotus Elite and a Pontiac Grand Prix). I find a lot more roll in my mom's Buick and my sister's Chevy.

And another negative I would like to add is

7) Interior storage - I would like to have a few more places to store junk - the manuals occupy the entire glove box if I carry them with me, and that leaves the console, which is so deep that it is hard to find anything in there without emptying it out. The door pockets are ok, but anything stored there gets wet when you open the door in the rain.

8) I would like to be able to set the radio to display the song that is playing and leave it on that display instead of it flipping back to the map in 10 seconds or so. It would be nice to have a crawler on the display that you could set to do that if you wanted to.

9) I also miss the pass-thru from the trunk. If I want to go to the hardware store and buy an 8' 2x4 I almost have to hold it outside the window to get it home. Not that Lexus drivers are supposed to buy 2x4's and haul them in their car, but once it a while I do. I guess I should try to be more elegant and say that I want some way to store my skis when I go to the slopes, but I would be telling a flat lie...

I think your comments are right on the money, and I hope the can solve the lurching problem. As I said in another thread, I own two of the HS250H cars and have never experienced that problem, but no snow and ice here in south Florida.

TheAirman

^^^^^^^^^^

8) I would like to be able to set the radio to display the song that is playing and leave it on that display instead of it flipping back to the map in 10 seconds or so. It would be nice to have a crawler on the display that you could set to do that if you wanted to.

You can.

Click "menu"

Go to "setup" in the NAV.

Go to "general".

Select "Auto screen change" to OFF.

bdazzler

Kind of an old thread but hoping a recent buyer of a used one (or one of you who commented back in 2012 will revert) will review his/her vehicle. I've seen a few of these for sale, most w/ mileage over 100K. What do you think of the car thus far, and how many MPG are you getting, how many miles have you racked up? Any mechanical issues?

Thanks in advance for replying!

richrf

​​​
Owning a 250h had been a real mixed bag. The biggest problem is not the car, it is the dealerships that you have to go to in order to have them maintained. In Chicago, I went to McGrath, and they were great. Very little problems other than the recalla on the replacement of the rear assembly.

However, now I'm in the Connecticut/New York area and I can't find a dealer that I trust. They just don't know what they are doing and Lexus customer service is of no help. They have zero control of their dealerships in my area and the dealerships have no incentive to service the cars well. Given the nature of the 250h, it has to be serviced by the dealer. So, the upshot is, if you have a good dealer in your area, then the auto runs without issues and is a good buy.

As for mileage, I am very satisfied. I would say 28mpg city driving, and maybe 38 on the highway.

Hope this helps.

bdazzler

Thanks for the review. Stupid question but why do you need to take the vehicle to a dealer? Is it difficult to do regular maintenance, oil changes and tune-ups?

Thanks again for taking time to give your opinion!

Magellan55

No need to go to a dealer that I know of, other than warranty work. Any Toyota dealer can also service it, as it shares components with the Camry hybrid. Brakes and oil changes should be a no brainer for any shop. Not much else to a "tune up". In fact you should get 100+k from a set of brakes, so maintenance is really just oil changes and tire rotations (ok, wiper blades too) for years at a time. There are independent shops cropping up that claim to be hybrid certified, whatever that means, so there's that option too.

Erockz

what do you mean zero control over the lexus dealership? are you saying some are owned by lexus and others could be own just anyone and hire people who dont care about what they are doing and just want a paycheck at the end of the week?

Im worried about random little things breaking, and parts costing thousands to repair