RJQMAN

I will finally be getting my 250h this week - picking it up in Dallas after 3 fruitless months of waiting for my dealer in SW Florida. My question is what is the best way to change to colour of the grille?

I dislike the plastic look of the grille, and would like to change it to a flat black. I think that would look good, still framed by the chrome. Is carbon fiber vinyl a practical way to do this? Painting seems impractical to me, as I would not know what paint to use to adhere to the plastic. I have not seen any after-market grilles for the 250h, and I understand that the strange shape is somewhat important to routing the air for this car. So from what I have read, changing to another shape would not be a good idea, even if I could find a grille for the 250h somewhere.

I need some advice. Thanks.

TheAirman

Interesting. Tell us more about the upcoming buy. What did you get? How come you went so far away? What about your local dealer? Any discounts?

rajeev6

Yes - I'm surprised too that you had to go that far.
Although I don't have any specific advice, I'll also be interested in hearing what you choose to do.

Also, colour - where're you from

RJQMAN

Hello

I live in SW Florida, and have been searching for a 250H in red or black with black interior since about March. Problem is, I want it in a specific exterior and specific interior colour, and fully equipped. I went to several dealers in Florida - Clearwater, Tampa, Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasota to name a few - as I was trying to decide exactly what I wanted. Most had only one or two 250H in stock, and Naples and Fort Myers had none. They were all very nice to meet with and talk to - actually the Bradenton Dealer was exceptionally nice. I also went to a lot of other manufacturers and tried different cars from the Lincoln to the Infinity to the Kia and Hyundai. I still think the Kia looks really nice - the Lincoln is fine, but the interior looks like it was designed in 1958 - the Hyundai is not available with a black interior in the US (it is in Canada, I understand). But none have the features and comfort of the Lexus. The Infiniti was great to drive, but the technology was just not there and the price was not proportional to the car in my opinion. The Lexus sits a little too high, and the grille looks like it was off of a Lada Niva or an old Corolla, but I really like everything else about the car.

Since I live in SW Florida, I would prefer to buy the car here. I asked the local dealer to order a car for me or find one for me in June (I would prefer not to give the dealership name, but it would not be hard for an interested party to find out - or just PM me if you want to know - I am not trying to slam a specific Lexus dealer here). I was told that there were none out there in red or black with a black interior, and because of the Tsunami, there would be a delay in getting a new one. It would take several months to get one from the factory, and the new one would be a 2012. I had read that the factory might be changing over to build the 2912 models in June or July, so I said fine, do you want a deposit. They said no.

I have been returning there every couple of weeks since June, and was always told that there was no information available yet. A family tragedy distracted me for a few weeks, but when I returned to find the status the first week of September, I was surprised to see a black one with black interior on the show floor. However it did not have the premium tech package. The dealer then told me that the order I had placed had been rejected, and that Lexus was not going to build any more with the premium tech package. I should take the one he had in stock.

I decided no, I really wanted the premium tech package, so I would search for a used one. (I had been searching for a used one on line in March and April. I had actually found one in Naperville Illinois, but when I contacted the dealer, I received a rather abrupt reply that they were not interested in selling the car to an out of state customer - much to my chagrin). Plus, the selling price was not discounted much lower than the cost of a new one, so I thought I would just wait it out.

After hearing the news that no more were going to be built from my local dealer, and I had no reason not to believe him, I started to search for a used one again, and while looking on the website of a dealer in Dallas, found a certified car that I thought might be what I had been looking for. The dealer had a chat service active on line, and so I asked them. They replied in a couple of hours by e-mail, and said that specific car had a beige interior, but he knew where there were two new cars that were exactly what I was looking for at other dealerships, if they had not been sold.

Within a few hours, he responded to me by e-mail and said he found one that was exactly what I wanted - all the extras and no Mark Levinson sound sytem. I never thought I would find a car equipped like that - I did not want the upgraded sound system, but thought I would probably have to take it if I wanted a car with everything else on it. I was impressed and pleased.

We agreed on a price by e-mail, agreed on a value for my trade via some photos and e-mail as well, and I am leaving for a pleasant drive to Dallas in the morning to pick up my long-awaited Black Lexus 250h. My first Lexus.

The Dallas dealer advised that the Regional Managers at Lexus determine what configurations of cars will be shipped into their area, and that the southeast Regional Manager did not want any cars with the Premium Tech Package. Lexus was still going to build them, but were not planning to ship any to this region of the USA.

This sounds reasonable to me - I understand Kia operates somewhat the same way. But at least Kia tells you up front what the situation is, and will still tell you where to find the car you want.

I am quite disappointed in my local dealer. I feel that either he was not aware of how to find the car, or was unwilling to go outside of his zone, or had been misinformed by his regional manager, or had simply not been truthful with me. However, I appreciate the quick response by the Texas dealer, and the price was agreeable, so I will buy the car from him. This is the second time in my life that I have purchased a car sight-unseen over the internet, and I trust my results will be as good this time as they were a few years ago. I leave tomorrow morning for Dallas.

That is my whole story - not trying to slam any dealers, but I certainly saw a difference in the quality of the response between these three. And so I cannot help but sing the praises of the Dallas dealership - frankly, I am just glad to get the car after months of waiting for a car and receiving information that was not accurate.

Which takes me back to my original question - what about something to blacken the plastic grille?? And while I am at it, when we will get some lowering springs? :>)

RJQMAN

Well, I got my Lexus in Texas. And I learned why the Naperville dealer was a bit difficult. I guess that Lexus does not want dealers getting into each others' territory, and they are pretty strict about it. The dealer I bought from indicated that since I had been willing to come to him, he was OK with Lexus, but if he had to ship out of his territory to me, he would be treading on thin ice with their rules and regulations. I understand their concern, with discount brokers undercutting their dealers, but it seems like they could be a bit more customer focused at Lexus when you simply cannot buy the car configured like you want it locally (apparently because the Regional Manager did not approve that configuration for his region).

In any event, I have the car - had it a week, and so far have about 1200 miles on it. Am lovin' it, as the commercial for fast food says...

RJQMAN

I have had the car for three months now - going on the fourth month. I have 9500 miles on it, and it is running like a charm. So far so good. I dread having to change the 12V battery some day, though, It is really hard to get to it - it is in the trunk, and covered by lots of other stuff. I have been getting a consistent 36 mpg on a combination of highway and city driving (high and low spikes, of course - I am talking about the average economy) using standard grade gas, and not taking any particular care to get a specific brand or to avoid ethanol.

DDS62

I have averaged 34.5 mpg with not a lot effort toward efficiency. The surprising fact for me was that I found I could get my best mileage when on the open road. I can get 40 mpg (with some effort at maximizing downhill runs and keeping the speed constant around 60mph). I attribute the great open road mileage to the Atkinson cycle engine. My engine must be tuned very well. I must admit however that when I first got my car I had to learn the basics and before that I was getting only about 26 - 29 mpg. For my very first tank I got only 24.5 mpg as I thrilled myself with the electric motor kick-in during acceleration. At the end of the day it is really all about driving habits. The regenerative braking is really only the catalyst about which many different systems center around to produce the final high mileage results. Put an Atkinson cycle engine in your present car, throw it in neutral and turn off the engine entirely every time you let your foot off the gas pedal and incorporate a computer to maximize every thing - in other words drive your present car without any regenerative braking like a hyper-miler would and you might surprise yourself at the mileage you get. Every little thing about theses cars help from the .27 drag coefficient to the gauges on the dash that constantly remind you that you are not driving efficiently. It is not all about batteries and regenerative braking. They just make the system complete and provide a transparent interface with the driver. The main use of the regenerative braking/battery system is to provide the acceleration kick when needed - hence allowing the use of the very efficient but torque challenged Atkinson cycle engine.