Get rid or keep?
Discussion
snotrag said:
I spent a long time in a previous job developing vehicles and comparing efficiencies between Diesels and Hybrids of various format.
For town use, varying speed, stop/start, Hybrid is great (thougth doesnt make anywhere near as much sense as full electric).
At 25k miles a year - the majority of the miles are spent at cruise on a motorway.
You are dragging round batterie/capacitors/motors that you do no need. Its less efficient.
A modern diesel engine, despite not being 'trendy', is very efficient in this usage.
Oh right, I don't give a stuff about efficiency only driving, hence. For town use, varying speed, stop/start, Hybrid is great (thougth doesnt make anywhere near as much sense as full electric).
At 25k miles a year - the majority of the miles are spent at cruise on a motorway.
You are dragging round batterie/capacitors/motors that you do no need. Its less efficient.
A modern diesel engine, despite not being 'trendy', is very efficient in this usage.
The IS300H isn't slow or unrefined, but the power delivery is not linear and takes getting use to. It is utterly reliable and has plenty of gadgets.
Ours is 5.5 years old now, never needed to add a drop of oil between yearly services. Still on original brake pads and apart from one set of tyres has been crazy cheap to own/run, returning a true 45mpg consistently.
However I get where the OP is coming from, the IS300H is my wifes car, and she loves it, but if I had to drive it everyday it would have been sold a long time ago.
F1 drivers moaned about 'driverbility' when hybrid power units were first introduced, that's the problem with the IS300H. Forget the noise of the engine, its power delivery is just too unpredictable for me, some times you get hit with an instant wallop of power which sends the TC system alive other times its the worst turbo lag you have experienced, and all with the identically amount of input from your right foot.
Great car for 95% of the driving public, but for anyone whos even vaguely aware of torque curves/turbo lag awful power delivery, though its still better than the auto boxes in diesel Volvo XC40/60/90s.
Ours is 5.5 years old now, never needed to add a drop of oil between yearly services. Still on original brake pads and apart from one set of tyres has been crazy cheap to own/run, returning a true 45mpg consistently.
However I get where the OP is coming from, the IS300H is my wifes car, and she loves it, but if I had to drive it everyday it would have been sold a long time ago.
F1 drivers moaned about 'driverbility' when hybrid power units were first introduced, that's the problem with the IS300H. Forget the noise of the engine, its power delivery is just too unpredictable for me, some times you get hit with an instant wallop of power which sends the TC system alive other times its the worst turbo lag you have experienced, and all with the identically amount of input from your right foot.
Great car for 95% of the driving public, but for anyone whos even vaguely aware of torque curves/turbo lag awful power delivery, though its still better than the auto boxes in diesel Volvo XC40/60/90s.
So I’ve handed the car back and just waiting on refund (minus £1k). The sunk costs fallacy comment seemed particularly apt.
Despite the fact that I didn’t get on with this car, I can see why it suits some people. I wish I had done more research. Haven’t bought a used car for a while so I’ve learned a few lessons.
It’s obvious how important the test drive is and I was surprised just how different each one was for the four cars I tried. I guess the assertive buyer dictates how they would like to test the car (certain roads or duration etc.). I just went with whatever the salesman said and thought that would be enough.
Either way, I’ll make more of an effort to learn about the car next time before I put down a deposit!
I read a comment in another thread that the perfect motorway car is a 2.0+ Diesel with adaptive cruise control. I would still love a car with Lexus reliability and would like RWD/AWD. The 3 series ticks most of those boxes (apart from reliability?) but I’ll try to find out what else is out there.
Despite the fact that I didn’t get on with this car, I can see why it suits some people. I wish I had done more research. Haven’t bought a used car for a while so I’ve learned a few lessons.
It’s obvious how important the test drive is and I was surprised just how different each one was for the four cars I tried. I guess the assertive buyer dictates how they would like to test the car (certain roads or duration etc.). I just went with whatever the salesman said and thought that would be enough.
Either way, I’ll make more of an effort to learn about the car next time before I put down a deposit!
I read a comment in another thread that the perfect motorway car is a 2.0+ Diesel with adaptive cruise control. I would still love a car with Lexus reliability and would like RWD/AWD. The 3 series ticks most of those boxes (apart from reliability?) but I’ll try to find out what else is out there.
AlmostUseful said:
I took a £4k loss on a 335D over 5 months, that was having put 10k miles on it but it just wasn’t the right car for my life, if I’d have bought an estate things might have been different - swapped for an E220cdi wagon that I love and still have 19 months later.
If you’re unsure but think you want a bmw, I’d get on the AUC site and find what you can get for £14k, you’ll get the first years warranty included and be fine, then you can extent after the first year. If it’s a 25k mike per year car a 320D auto will be perfect, and if you can stretch to a 330D you’ll love it. Don’t worry about mileage (I.e trying to find a low one) because it’s warrantied anyway.
I’ll check out the E-Class - haven’t checked if it’s in budget but I didn’t look at any Mercs first time round. If you’re unsure but think you want a bmw, I’d get on the AUC site and find what you can get for £14k, you’ll get the first years warranty included and be fine, then you can extent after the first year. If it’s a 25k mike per year car a 320D auto will be perfect, and if you can stretch to a 330D you’ll love it. Don’t worry about mileage (I.e trying to find a low one) because it’s warrantied anyway.
MJ85 said:
I’m going to go against the grain and say keep it. Enjoy the hassle free motoring from a modern Lexus; use it for a couple of years. I’m sure it’ll only suffer modest depreciation, especially compared to German diesels. Then get something you really want.
I won’t rule Lexus out but near enough their whole modern range is CVT/Hybrid but I’ll look at older ones with traditional gearbox/engine. BrettMRC said:
I think you either gel with the CVT or you don't no middle ground.
It defintely feels better on the bigger engined versions.
Is there a GS in stock with the 450 lump that you could take as a swap?
I had a look when I saw your comment but there doesn’t seem to be too many of these around. Would this have felt much different to the IS300h? I haven’t given up on Lexus but I’d definitely try to get a decent test drive if I ever looked at one of these CVT/Hybrids again. It defintely feels better on the bigger engined versions.
Is there a GS in stock with the 450 lump that you could take as a swap?
yes hybrid cvt are s
t, I had one for three months, on the plus side the tax was half, on the minus side the overall mpg was 10mpg worse, the thing just whined when you wanted to accelerate an it was noisy on the motorway as the revs are too high. Another daft idea created to get around punitive car taxation. Getting back into my 250d 8 speed auto was a breath of fresh air.
t, I had one for three months, on the plus side the tax was half, on the minus side the overall mpg was 10mpg worse, the thing just whined when you wanted to accelerate an it was noisy on the motorway as the revs are too high. Another daft idea created to get around punitive car taxation. Getting back into my 250d 8 speed auto was a breath of fresh air.AlphaRomeo said:
I’ll check out the E-Class - haven’t checked if it’s in budget but I didn’t look at any Mercs first time round.
Pretty sure I paid <£12k for a 4.5 year old (at the time) car with 70k miles. Interior was and still is in perfect condition (113k miles now) it’s effortless to drive and has been perfectly reliable.
Your 14/15k should get you into a new model I think.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff