Well the IS300h is no slouch!
#18
I have bought four Lexuses brand new , and everyone of them needed 10 000 miles ( or minimum 15000 km ) to loosen up .And the difference is pretty huge in my opinion . There is at least one oil change before you reach estimatded consumption and performance. Especially the hybrids, simply because they don´t use the engine so much as a regular car in every day driving.
#19
Test drove IS300H few weeks ago and felt quite disappointed--engine and drivetrain wise.
Engine has NOOOO soul. It act pretty much like the electric motor.
Sound effect made by in-car stereo system is so synthetic, unreal and unrelated to actual rev of the engine. If you are a real driver, you will be able to catch its fault within 30 minutes of driving the car.
The electric motor has nice torque but cut in with inturruption of power. I mean you will feel it when it is cutting in to help boost the performance of the gasoline engine. The car will halt for a second or two then you can feel the power of electric motor kicking in and pull you forward. It just doesn't feel natural. It feel like two power houses not working in harmony.
It is not that faster than my IS250. It just feel more torquey when the motor kicks in. Otherwise It just feel like I am driving a 2.5 Toyota Camry.
However, the interior, the exterior, suspension, handling, brake feel and driving refinement is quite an improvement over 2IS.
For me, I am waiting for an arrival of Toyota/Lexus' new era 2.0 liter four cylinder direct injection turbo. Just like Merc and BMW currently doing to their products. This engine should deliver be fun and economic at the same time.
Engine has NOOOO soul. It act pretty much like the electric motor.
Sound effect made by in-car stereo system is so synthetic, unreal and unrelated to actual rev of the engine. If you are a real driver, you will be able to catch its fault within 30 minutes of driving the car.
The electric motor has nice torque but cut in with inturruption of power. I mean you will feel it when it is cutting in to help boost the performance of the gasoline engine. The car will halt for a second or two then you can feel the power of electric motor kicking in and pull you forward. It just doesn't feel natural. It feel like two power houses not working in harmony.
It is not that faster than my IS250. It just feel more torquey when the motor kicks in. Otherwise It just feel like I am driving a 2.5 Toyota Camry.
However, the interior, the exterior, suspension, handling, brake feel and driving refinement is quite an improvement over 2IS.
For me, I am waiting for an arrival of Toyota/Lexus' new era 2.0 liter four cylinder direct injection turbo. Just like Merc and BMW currently doing to their products. This engine should deliver be fun and economic at the same time.
#20
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
Test drove IS300H few weeks ago and felt quite disappointed--engine and drivetrain wise.
Engine has NOOOO soul. It act pretty much like the electric motor.
Sound effect made by in-car stereo system is so synthetic, unreal and unrelated to actual rev of the engine. If you are a real driver, you will be able to catch its fault within 30 minutes of driving the car.
The electric motor has nice torque but cut in with inturruption of power. I mean you will feel it when it is cutting in to help boost the performance of the gasoline engine. The car will halt for a second or two then you can feel the power of electric motor kicking in and pull you forward. It just doesn't feel natural. It feel like two power houses not working in harmony.
It is not that faster than my IS250. It just feel more torquey when the motor kicks in. Otherwise It just feel like I am driving a 2.5 Toyota Camry.
However, the interior, the exterior, suspension, handling, brake feel and driving refinement is quite an improvement over 2IS.
For me, I am waiting for an arrival of Toyota/Lexus' new era 2.0 liter four cylinder direct injection turbo. Just like Merc and BMW currently doing to their products. This engine should deliver be fun and economic at the same time.
Engine has NOOOO soul. It act pretty much like the electric motor.
Sound effect made by in-car stereo system is so synthetic, unreal and unrelated to actual rev of the engine. If you are a real driver, you will be able to catch its fault within 30 minutes of driving the car.
The electric motor has nice torque but cut in with inturruption of power. I mean you will feel it when it is cutting in to help boost the performance of the gasoline engine. The car will halt for a second or two then you can feel the power of electric motor kicking in and pull you forward. It just doesn't feel natural. It feel like two power houses not working in harmony.
It is not that faster than my IS250. It just feel more torquey when the motor kicks in. Otherwise It just feel like I am driving a 2.5 Toyota Camry.
However, the interior, the exterior, suspension, handling, brake feel and driving refinement is quite an improvement over 2IS.
For me, I am waiting for an arrival of Toyota/Lexus' new era 2.0 liter four cylinder direct injection turbo. Just like Merc and BMW currently doing to their products. This engine should deliver be fun and economic at the same time.
Looks like you were driving a car which hadnt been properly broken into yet.
#21
Wow. My experience with the IS300h, which I actually drove properly today was completely the opposite. I felt it was DEFINITELY faster than the IS250. It feels stronger and there is no such interruption when the power source changed from the engine to the electric motor. It was perfectly seamless. Much akin to the GS450h and RX450h, with less power. But it was more than adequate. Ive got one coming for a weekend test drive to test it properly.
Looks like you were driving a car which hadnt been properly broken into yet.
Looks like you were driving a car which hadnt been properly broken into yet.
The power inturruption was most apparent when I stomped the accelerator pedal all the way down. It felt like one-to-two seconds hesitation then the car launched off. And when I floored it, the engine rev just shot up to the high rpm (5-6 rpm) and hung there all the time until I eased off the pedal. It doesn't have proper gear ratio as conventional auto box. Combinded torque (Engine+Motor) is quite nice on the 300H, I admit. You can feel a nice hard pull from the torque but that doesn't tranlate into quicker acceleration. I just felt unnatural with power delivery of this hybird genre compared to diesel or gasoline turbo engine or a big displacement V8. May be I expected too much.
The car is good overall though, it just can't live up to its "Sport Sedan" hype because of power configuration and drivetrain design (damn CVT)
#22
The PSD will also allow the IS300h to do passing manoeuvres (80-120km/h) much faster than any automatic of a similar class. If it did that test with the C250 CDI, the results would be just as dramatic.
#23
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
Yeah, the car was very new, may be not properly broken in.
The power inturruption was most apparent when I stomped the accelerator pedal all the way down. It felt like one-to-two seconds hesitation then the car launched off. And when I floored it, the engine rev just shot up to the high rpm (5-6 rpm) and hung there all the time until I eased off the pedal. It doesn't have proper gear ratio as conventional auto box. Combinded torque (Engine+Motor) is quite nice on the 300H, I admit. You can feel a nice hard pull from the torque but that doesn't tranlate into quicker acceleration. I just felt unnatural with power delivery of this hybird genre compared to diesel or gasoline turbo engine or a big displacement V8. May be I expected too much.
The car is good overall though, it just can't live up to its "Sport Sedan" hype because of power configuration and drivetrain design (damn CVT)
The power inturruption was most apparent when I stomped the accelerator pedal all the way down. It felt like one-to-two seconds hesitation then the car launched off. And when I floored it, the engine rev just shot up to the high rpm (5-6 rpm) and hung there all the time until I eased off the pedal. It doesn't have proper gear ratio as conventional auto box. Combinded torque (Engine+Motor) is quite nice on the 300H, I admit. You can feel a nice hard pull from the torque but that doesn't tranlate into quicker acceleration. I just felt unnatural with power delivery of this hybird genre compared to diesel or gasoline turbo engine or a big displacement V8. May be I expected too much.
The car is good overall though, it just can't live up to its "Sport Sedan" hype because of power configuration and drivetrain design (damn CVT)
Yes, the CVT's in Lexus vehicles are not stepped CVT's. Audi uses stepped CVT's in some models which actually feel no different to conventional automatics and are in a different league. The thing is, it feels unnatural but you have to get used to it. Its like flying a jumbo jet after flying a 2 seater plane. Its different but you get used to it and after that, youll learn to like the power delivery, its like an endless surge of power with no shifting.
#24
#25
Bare in mind that Lexus says about 5k for break in here in the UK. However, I feel like my car has just been broken in and im at 12k. Everything seems to be very very good now. At first it was slightly hesitant and not perfectly seamless.
Yes, the CVT's in Lexus vehicles are not stepped CVT's. Audi uses stepped CVT's in some models which actually feel no different to conventional automatics and are in a different league. The thing is, it feels unnatural but you have to get used to it. Its like flying a jumbo jet after flying a 2 seater plane. Its different but you get used to it and after that, youll learn to like the power delivery, its like an endless surge of power with no shifting.
Yes, the CVT's in Lexus vehicles are not stepped CVT's. Audi uses stepped CVT's in some models which actually feel no different to conventional automatics and are in a different league. The thing is, it feels unnatural but you have to get used to it. Its like flying a jumbo jet after flying a 2 seater plane. Its different but you get used to it and after that, youll learn to like the power delivery, its like an endless surge of power with no shifting.
#26
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