2017 Lexus RC300h

[mickyc79]

I didnt know these cars existed until I saw one for sale at a local dealership near me. As soon as I saw it online, even though I wasn't actively looking for a new car, I had to go and see it in the flesh. I read up on them and was glad to read about the reliability, refinement and build quality. They looks are absolutely stunning, to my eye, and the car looks great from almost every angle. The concern for me was the eCVT gearbox and the disappointing 0...62mph figures. 8.6sec apparently. This didnt seem right for something that looked like this, being as slow as a warm hatch.

So I booked a test drive and after a few minutes got used to the eCVT (having only driven manual cars for the last 20 years) and I was hooked! It is so smooth and effortless to drive. Its a bit strange not having revs and gear changes like normal. Driving around town is eerily silent and the car suits just cruising, switching seamlessly between EV mode and ICE depending on how much throttle was applied. I loved it.

We took it out onto the motorway and put it into Sport+ mode on the approach slip road. The salesman asked me to floor it going on and it didn't feel slow at all, in fact I was going way over the speed limit when I joined and it was a very short slip. I had to brake almost immediately...i couldn't understand where the reviews had got the notion that this car was slow, and overtakes had to be perfectly planned to avoid danger...

The planted feeling is great and it feels really capable in the corners, especially in sport mode with little to no body roll considering the weight (around 1750kgs). The suspension is firm but forgiving and bumps and potholes are barely felt inside the car. Road noise is kept to a minimum by excellent sound insulation.

I bought the car without hesitation. Having a full service history and only 61000 miles. It was a very well looked after and cherished example.

The interior is just such a nice place to be. The seats have to be the comfiest and most supportive seats ive ever been in and can imagine a long drive in this will leave me feeling refreshed rather than stiff.

The dated infotainment system is a bugger to use and trying to put an address into the sat nav is nigh on impossible! Now ive got it set up as i like, I rarely touch it.

Not driven too far in it yet, bar a 90mile round trip to the coast on Sunday, which, with some mixed leisurely and spirited driving, returned over 40mpg. Its mostly been commuting which is about 12 miles each way, mixture of motorway, A-roads and town. So far, very relaxing and haven't been found wanting anymore power or refinement. Sure, it would be great with a 3.5 V6 like the RC350h the Americans get, but for my driving and our roads its more than enough.

It just feels like a very special place to be and have I mentioned the looks? I love the long raking bonnet and hunched rear. It has almost muscle car proportions with small hatchback running costs.

The sonic red paint is fantastic in the sun. Interior is ochre (cream leather).

Ive always liked exclusivity with my cars and this certainly offer that as I had never seen one before dont imagine I will for a while.

Early opinion is that ive picked up a great looking, great driving, luxurious GT with low running costs, hopefully renowned reliability and something a bit different and special.

I would say snap one up while you still can, as there's only about 35 for sale on autotrader across the whole of the UK.

Hope you enjoy these pics and if any other owners on here, feel free to comment and offer advice/tips to keep it running as well and for as long as i can. This one will be with me for a while.

(If anyone notices the rear bumper looks a different colour, it is. Its going back to the body shop for them to redo as it was a pre-collection scuff repair and the match isn't great...getting resolved foc so cant complain).

[macron]

Always loved the way they look, great colour combo.

[mickyc79]

macron said:

Always loved the way they look, great colour combo.

Thanks very much. I'd never seen one before so it was a total impulse buy, but one i'm glad i made. Heated and cooled seats i meant to mention. You can have both on at the same time, weirdly??

[XF-Andy]

Snap!
Mines a 2020 that I picked up last year.
Love mine and have had no issues

[Trevor555]

Lovely cars, as you say, special interiors with the softest of leather.

I didn't keep mine long, had a health scare, and didn't gel with the auto box on the V8..

[keo]

I love these. Was admiring one on the motorway on Saturday. Like you say quite a rare car and pretty special!

I never paid attention before but I like Lexus as a brand now. The hybrid technology is really clever.

[mickyc79]

XF-Andy said:

Snap!
Mines a 2020 that I picked up last year.
Love mine and have had no issues

Nice! I like the facelift too. Again, never seen one in the flesh!

[mickyc79]

Trevor555 said:

Lovely cars, as you say, special interiors with the softest of leather.

I didn't keep mine long, had a health scare, and didn't gel with the auto box on the V8..

Now that IS a muscle car! Looks much beefier!

[mickyc79]

keo said:

I love these. Was admiring one on the motorway on Saturday. Like you say quite a rare car and pretty special!

I never paid attention before but I like Lexus as a brand now. The hybrid technology is really clever.

My first foray into hybrid technology and im really enjoying it so far...amazed that something that looks like this is almost as economical to run as my 1.5d Infiniti Q30.

[Hoofy]

mickyc79 said:

couldn't understand where the reviews had got the notion that this car was slow, and overtakes had to be perfectly planned to avoid danger...

When people criticise auto boxes, I feel like they don't get that each one is different and needs to be figured out for one's own driving style AND the way the gearbox works. Yes, that is a downside but when you balance it all up, I prefer autos to manuals. It's taken me a month to figure out how to get the best out of my hybrid's DSG box as it delivers power differently to my 911 Turbo... surprise!? And now I can blast out of tight hairpins and roundabouts with perfect and effortless gear selection, plus effortlessly cruise through Khan's 20 zone hell during rush hour.

The equivalent would be someone who's only driven an automatic Micra trying out any manual gearbox then saying how all manuals are ste because the engines keep stalling!

[mickyc79]

Hoofy said:

When people criticise auto boxes, I feel like they don't get that each one is different and needs to be figured out for one's own driving style AND the way the gearbox works. Yes, that is a downside but when you balance it all up, I prefer autos to manuals. It's taken me a month to figure out how to get the best out of my hybrid's DSG box as it delivers power differently to my 911 Turbo... surprise!? And now I can blast out of tight hairpins and roundabouts with perfect and effortless gear selection, plus effortlessly cruise through Khan's 20 zone hell during rush hour.

The equivalent would be someone who's only driven an automatic Micra trying out any manual gearbox then saying how all manuals are ste because the engines keep stalling!

Agreed. My only previous experience of an auto box was a '98 Honda accord, almost 20 years ago, so im finding this one much better!

I did the airport run last night to pick up my daughter and her boyfriend, both early 20 somethings and they were VERY impressed! I felt like the Cool Dad!

[NAAHD]

I looked at one of these but didn’t test drive it. Was at a Lexus dealer but unfortunately the paint was fked so didn’t bother taking it out. The lacklustre 0-60 has always put me off since you can get a 4 series/a5/c or e class coupe that’ll do it quicker and in the used market, cheaper. There’s something about them though. No other car looks like these. Wish I’d had a drive of it now.

[mickyc79]

NAAHD said:

I looked at one of these but didn t test drive it. Was at a Lexus dealer but unfortunately the paint was fked so didn t bother taking it out. The lacklustre 0-60 has always put me off since you can get a 4 series/a5/c or e class coupe that ll do it quicker and in the used market, cheaper. There s something about them though. No other car looks like these. Wish I d had a drive of it now.

You should have...the 0-60 time doenst tell the full story. The reason why it is stated as 8.6secs is that you cant rev it and launch off the line. The electric motor and engine gently take you off, so 0-20 is probably the slowest part, but, frim my limited experience, the 20-50 or 30-70 are just as quick, if not quicker than some of its rivals. Once youre moving and plant yoir foot, the torque front the electric motor is instant and the ICE revs go straight up to say 6-7000rpm and the car just pulls all the way up to match it. There's no gear changes as such, its a very linear delivery. Doesnt throw you back in your seat, just pulls you along and when overtaking like this or joining a motorway, you're VERY quickly going 85-90mph without realising...its in no way as slow as the numbers suggest.

[Hoofy]

Yep, 10-60 times are probably more relevant. Even in my non-hybrid cars, I tried to avoid wheelspin because tyres cost.

[CarlosSainz100]

I really like these. They seem a quality bit of kit and like you say, you hardly ever see them.

You can get Apple carplay Android Auto retro fitted as well

[mickyc79]

CarlosSainz100 said:

I really like these. They seem a quality bit of kit and like you say, you hardly ever see them.

You can get Apple carplay Android Auto retro fitted as well

It's something i'm definitely going to look into, although not 100% sure its possible with the 2017 model? Happy to be corrected.
The maps are outdated and dont show a lot of new roads around my way. The infotainment/mouse pad control system is my only gripe with the whole car.

[Deep Thought]

I'd a 2019 IS300H recently so the underpinnings and the same infotainment.

The actual sound system itself was really good - certainly a level above standard Mercedes and BMW fare of that era.

But the sat nav was awful. Genuinely awful.

I did some cursory checking and it is possible to replace it with an aftermarket unit, but as i was only for keeping the car a short time i just opted for a phone mount and Waze.

There was a lot to love about the car. It was a little quirky but overall i really enjoyed my time with it.

I'd certainly have an RC if one came along.

Yours looks lovely

[mickyc79]

Deep Thought said:

I'd a 2019 IS300H recently so the underpinnings and the same infotainment.

The actual sound system itself was really good - certainly a level above standard Mercedes and BMW fare of that era.

But the sat nav was awful. Genuinely awful.

I did some cursory checking and it is possible to replace it with an aftermarket unit, but as i was only for keeping the car a short time i just opted for a phone mount and Waze.

There was a lot to love about the car. It was a little quirky but overall i really enjoyed my time with it.

I'd certainly have an RC if one came along.

Yours looks lovely

Yeah, i read it's built on the IS platform and the interior is just a copy and paste almost. Lovely place to be...
I dont really fancy ripping out the OEM screen etc, so will prbably do the same as you with the phone mount.

Thanks very much...i really love the way it looks. Going to give it a proper clean and wax at the weekend.

[Deep Thought]

mickyc79 said:

Deep Thought said:

I'd a 2019 IS300H recently so the underpinnings and the same infotainment.

The actual sound system itself was really good - certainly a level above standard Mercedes and BMW fare of that era.

But the sat nav was awful. Genuinely awful.

I did some cursory checking and it is possible to replace it with an aftermarket unit, but as i was only for keeping the car a short time i just opted for a phone mount and Waze.

There was a lot to love about the car. It was a little quirky but overall i really enjoyed my time with it.

I'd certainly have an RC if one came along.

Yours looks lovely

Yeah, i read it's built on the IS platform and the interior is just a copy and paste almost. Lovely place to be...
I dont really fancy ripping out the OEM screen etc, so will prbably do the same as you with the phone mount.

Thanks very much...i really love the way it looks. Going to give it a proper clean and wax at the weekend.

I put the main screen to 'radio' and then just didnt bother with the nav. Another thing that irked me about it, well two things - (a) the NAV display was in 2D and (b) it always pointed North, so you could be driving DOWN the screen. And very hard to move around.

Speaking of, the joystick knob flat thing - is yours over sensitive? You can reduce sensitivity which helps, although its not perfect.

The air cooled seats were brilliant too. Very high spec'd cars.

[DT1975]

Fair play, I love the shape and colour, what a headturner . Previous l nearly bought an RCF, I then put my sensible head on and nearly bought an RC300H. I know for a fact if the RC350 had been sold here it would have been sat on my drive now.

The reason I didn't get the RC300h was getting back in the 340i after the test drive and naturally was underwhelmed with the performance, which is a little unfair on the RC300h which oozes quality, good looks, comfort and reliability. (I know this having had two previous Lexus).

That was a few years back, if one pops up at my local dealer I'd be tempted to revisit.