IanP - Totally agree with you on that one. Lexus has some little details which people don't know about, maybe thats whats affecting the sales. To be fair, Lexus are a relatively new brand so they have done pretty well to be very very close to the Germans which have huge heritage.

Seriously, think about it, when was the last time you went to a car dealership and tried out the movement of the windows and sat in the seat for an extended period of time? Thats what Lexus is good at, little details and arguably the best seats in the business. Some people never notice the details.

 

Yes, I'm coming over from Volvo, whose seats were so good one Dubliner fitted out an entire cinema with them! When I was touring the showrooms last year, instantly I felt the GS was a serious challenger in that regard - the only serious challenger.

People tend to go for a single thing - you want a driver's car, you go BMW; a nice interior, Audi; and so on. What astounds me is that people omit to mention the severe downsides - both of the cars themselves (BMW's unappealing styling, unpleasant seats and bland interiors seem to count for nothing in UK road tests), and of the associated service (at Volvo you arrange, by phone, to leave your car in for service with scant idea when you'll see it again).

That Lexus build such complete cars and complement them with such a complete range of services speaks volumes. I hope I'm still saying that in three years' time - but, you know, I'm pretty sure I will be!

 

Not to mention BMW and Audi's electrical problems which seem to happen randomly in every one of their vehicles.

 

I can relate to that. The electronic gremlins played with my BMW 5 series. They could never figure it out.

 

A lot of praise here I can see.

The thing with Lexus is more or less like mobile phones. When I show my colleagues (they all have iphone 5) my Lumia 920, how gorgeous the screen is and how fast, fluently the OS works etc. They all say: "Wow, thats a great phone! It does looks and works better than my iphone 5". They all like it. But the thing is they will never buy it. The step is just that big for them to change the brand. People are just too emotionally attached to their products & brands that they are willing to accept the flaws.

I'm not that brand sensitive, I choose the product that suits me best at the moment.

 

I wouldnt say Lexus is an IPHONE 5 as IPHONES are very popular. More like SONY XPERIA Z which is a great phone!! but not many people have one!

 

R,

I think the point was that iPhone is like an Audi but Lumia is like a Lexus.

I have an iPhone 5, admittedly - I must check out that Lumia!

 

and in UK, Lexus sells the best in Europe.

I dont see Lexus EU sales as a problem... they work slowly.

For instance, Lexus Worldwide sells 2x more cars than Jaguar and Land Rover, 3x-5x more than Infiniti. Not so bad :-).

They are pretty happy with organic growth and they dont push for crazy expansions. For Toyota, to make sense, Lexus needs to be very profitable.

 

IanP -Oh right I see

 

Back to the topic.

I think Lexus should reprogram the CVT transmission in Sport mode and keep the petrol engine on so you can feel the car a bit more alive. The car should feel like a different animal when you switch the mode to Sport/sport+. They can leave Normal mode & Eco mode as they are fine.

Also, it would be more intresting if they offer an compact estate version of it too.

 

I drove the IS 300h yesterday for an hour or so, and I must say that I didn't find the e-CVT all that bad. When cruising the engine is at 1200rpm, press the pedal down and it revs up to 3000 and continues up until you let go (or hit the rev limiter). Much like when you shift down a manual gear or an automatic would kickdown. Except that you don't get the same immediate power and the feeling of getting pushed back into the seat. The hybrid is much smoother, but it does accelerate quicker than it feels. Keep an eye on the speedometer

Oh, and the ASC does, imho, exactly what it was designed to do: Put a huge grin on the face of the driver!

 

That's interesting.

I remember the first time I switched to diesel from full petrol (in a car that was otherwise the same, a 1G Volvo S60). For about a month I was really unhappy with it, the car just didn't respond as I expected - the smooth petrol acceleration was replaced by a kind of weirdly cyclical, illogical diesel.

But after a while, you adapt.

I suspect CVT is similar.

 

IanP - Yes definitely. My previous RX300 2nd gen was a conventional auto. I bought the RX450h without even looking at it or taking a test drive. At first it was rather eerie. It felt weird and when turning in town, the RX450h would go wizzing round corners, probably because it technically has no transmission so wont engine brake. Ive adapted to it now and to be honest, I find it quite fun to drive.

 

Yeah I get what you are saying. The new IS300h runs very quiet and smooth. I have driven the RX and CT many times, so the feeling is not unfamiliar. But for me the power delivery of IS300h feels more toward CT than RX. RX is (of course) more powerful when you step on it. You can even drive CT very fast as well, but it just not that interesting doing that and I didn't particularly enjoyed how the rev builds up and get stuck there and how it sounds (both CT200h and IS300h). Especially when sometime you want to have a go or accelerate fast to get out of a situation, that hesitation in acceleration it’s a bit annoying when you know the electronic motor has instant torque and the sporty look of the car and none of these give what you want. The car is more of a cruiser. I guess we all have different taste even about the same car.

 

I hate the sound of the CT and the really low power or I would have got it. As for the droning sound. Seriously, after a while it becomes quite fun. Kind of like driving a stealth jet. Maybe its because the RX does push you back in the seat though.