I bade a not-so-tearful farewell to the company VW Passat this week: three years and 62,000 miles of the dullest driving experience this side of a Vauxhall Insignia. It was economical (averaging 64-65 mpg), cheap to run (2 services; 1 set of front tyres, 1 set of wiper blades) and reliable (only called VW Assist out twice - once when the bonnet jammed shut and once when a bit of the undertray fell off...) But my God, it was boring. 
Anyway, the nice chap who took the VW away to the car auction left this instead:
So why on earth did I pick this? In a word: tax. My company car scheme isn't big on choice, and even though I'm a rung up from three years ago, I still only had three choices: mid-range diesel Passat, mid-range diesel Mazda 6 or this Lexus.
I really didn't want another Passat, not even in the loaded-up Executive trim. The Mazda has great looks and the most performance, but I was put off by the black-only interior and the total lack of a DAB radio, even as an option. The Lexus, in mid-range Advance trim, comes with every conceivable extra, DAB as standard and a choice of seat fabrics. And it's £80 a month cheaper in Company Car tax than the Passat. That's like a £1350 a year pay rise, right there. Needless to say, quite a lot of these are popping up in the work car park lately...
The USP of the Lexus is Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive. Hybrids are huge in the USA, where they simply won't buy diesels, and Toyota is the clear market leader. The powertrain used in the Lexus was pioneered in the Toyota Prius, and is currently used by various small Toyotas as well as the Prius and this CT200h.
It's a complex system: the Wikipedia article that explains how it works is very long! In short it combines an 80 bhp electric motor with a 100 bhp Atkinson-cycle petrol engine and a CVT transmission. The whole shooting match is entirely controlled by software, and its combined maximum output is something like 135 bhp. Unlike the forthcoming generation of European hybrids, the Lexus isn't a plug-in (PHEV) hybrid. The only way to charge the hybrid battery is by running the petrol engine.
There are four driving modes, selected by a rotary dial on the dashboard.
In EV (milk float) mode, the car is driven only by the electric motor and the hybrid battery. It's very quiet in this mode, but you can only go 1 km at up to 20 mph. The novelty soon wears off.
In ECO mode, the software tries to maximise use of the electric motor, and round town the EV light comes on quite a lot in this mode. It also dulls the throttle response, giving the impression that the already-heavy Lexus is towing a caravan filled with bricks. OK in heavy traffic, but otherwise quite annoying.
NORMAL mode is probably going to get the most use, finding a reasonable balance between performance and economy.
When you really want to go for it, SPORT mode re-maps the throttle response, allows the petrol and electric motors to work together to release all of the power and firms up the (electric) power steering. The daft eco-gauge next to the speedo morphs into a rev counter, and the blue instrument lighting changes to a Satanic red. But honestly, it still doesn't feel remotely fast. Buyers of the big-wheeled-and-bodykitted F-Sport model are going to feel decidedly short-changed.
There's no getting round it, the Lexus feels slow. It feels slower than the MX-5, probably because it IS slower. But it also feels slower than the Jimny, despite being 2 seconds quicker from 0-60. :dunno: Of course, the Jimny feels faster than it is - mostly due to the noise, the shaking and the pervasive fear of imminent death.
In truth, the Lexus feels slower than it is, and I reckon it's down to the transmission. Most cars give you clues that you are accelerating: the revs build in each gear, then there's that little shove in the back caused by the "jerk" of up-changes. All of this is what you expect from acceleration and it adds up to a subjective feeling of speed. In the Lexus, when you mash the pedal the rev counter flies up to 5000 rpm and just stays there while the car gathers speed. The relationship between the revs rising and the speed rising is broken, and there are no gearchanges. It just gathers speed in a very smooth and linear fashion. It's a well-isolated car, so watching the speedo needle move is the biggest bit of sensory feedback you'll get.
[End of Part One]
Anyway, the nice chap who took the VW away to the car auction left this instead:
So why on earth did I pick this? In a word: tax.
My company car scheme isn't big on choice, and even though I'm a rung up from three years ago, I still only had three choices: mid-range diesel Passat, mid-range diesel Mazda 6 or this Lexus.I really didn't want another Passat, not even in the loaded-up Executive trim. The Mazda has great looks and the most performance, but I was put off by the black-only interior and the total lack of a DAB radio, even as an option. The Lexus, in mid-range Advance trim, comes with every conceivable extra, DAB as standard and a choice of seat fabrics. And it's £80 a month cheaper in Company Car tax than the Passat. That's like a £1350 a year pay rise, right there. Needless to say, quite a lot of these are popping up in the work car park lately...
The USP of the Lexus is Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive. Hybrids are huge in the USA, where they simply won't buy diesels, and Toyota is the clear market leader. The powertrain used in the Lexus was pioneered in the Toyota Prius, and is currently used by various small Toyotas as well as the Prius and this CT200h.
It's a complex system: the Wikipedia article that explains how it works is very long! In short it combines an 80 bhp electric motor with a 100 bhp Atkinson-cycle petrol engine and a CVT transmission. The whole shooting match is entirely controlled by software, and its combined maximum output is something like 135 bhp. Unlike the forthcoming generation of European hybrids, the Lexus isn't a plug-in (PHEV) hybrid. The only way to charge the hybrid battery is by running the petrol engine.
There are four driving modes, selected by a rotary dial on the dashboard.
In EV (milk float) mode, the car is driven only by the electric motor and the hybrid battery. It's very quiet in this mode, but you can only go 1 km at up to 20 mph. The novelty soon wears off.
In ECO mode, the software tries to maximise use of the electric motor, and round town the EV light comes on quite a lot in this mode. It also dulls the throttle response, giving the impression that the already-heavy Lexus is towing a caravan filled with bricks. OK in heavy traffic, but otherwise quite annoying.
NORMAL mode is probably going to get the most use, finding a reasonable balance between performance and economy.
When you really want to go for it, SPORT mode re-maps the throttle response, allows the petrol and electric motors to work together to release all of the power and firms up the (electric) power steering. The daft eco-gauge next to the speedo morphs into a rev counter, and the blue instrument lighting changes to a Satanic red.
But honestly, it still doesn't feel remotely fast. Buyers of the big-wheeled-and-bodykitted F-Sport model are going to feel decidedly short-changed.There's no getting round it, the Lexus feels slow. It feels slower than the MX-5, probably because it IS slower. But it also feels slower than the Jimny, despite being 2 seconds quicker from 0-60. :dunno: Of course, the Jimny feels faster than it is - mostly due to the noise, the shaking and the pervasive fear of imminent death.
In truth, the Lexus feels slower than it is, and I reckon it's down to the transmission. Most cars give you clues that you are accelerating: the revs build in each gear, then there's that little shove in the back caused by the "jerk" of up-changes. All of this is what you expect from acceleration and it adds up to a subjective feeling of speed. In the Lexus, when you mash the pedal the rev counter flies up to 5000 rpm and just stays there while the car gathers speed. The relationship between the revs rising and the speed rising is broken, and there are no gearchanges. It just gathers speed in a very smooth and linear fashion. It's a well-isolated car, so watching the speedo needle move is the biggest bit of sensory feedback you'll get.
[End of Part One]
