Ct 200H Ownership Experiences

[Lexus Nerd]

So, we now have a number of members who have owned a CT 200h for 12-18 months.

What is your experience with owning a CT?

What do you like (or dislike) the most?

Given your experience, if you could turn back time, would you still buy the CT?

[Miop4000]

I have a 2011 CT and have been generally happy with it. Infact I've recommended it to workmates and 2 of them have purchased one.

Positives: Wife loves it, great radar cruise control, nice stereo system, love the fuel efficiency, adequate power (don't know what the fuss is about a lack of power) and superbly comfortable seats with spine tingling heat warmers.

Negatives: Being a first model and mine is an early build there are a number of quality problems. Although the dealer has fixed these it usually takes 2 visits to sort it out as the initial response is to 'adjust' rather than replace. I have had replaced the passenger door grab handle, the moonroof motor and gear set and the window tint on 2 doors that was bubbling and creasing. They were unable to find an irritating dash vibration and rattle which I have localised myself and will bring it back for a definitive repair.

Issues: A major issue is that the car is too low so front bumper scrapes are a problem as are scrapes on the bottom of the passenger door. Getting into the car is not easy as I have a dodgy knee. The heart rending crunch of the mags on the kerb is also all too common. The suspension is way to stiff (try driving a C class Lexus engineers) and the cabin noisy on all but smooth freeways. The NVH is definately not to the standard of other Lexus models.

Rants: Just one. I don't like the way Australians are unfairly penalised when they purchase a Lexus compared to our US friends. Accessories here a very limited without even touch up paint being available for purchase and features such as blue tooth streaming and voice activation for satellite navigation are deactivated. Why? Even the new cheap Prius C has these features .

Regrets: The price of the car was set too high initially and Lexus has been back tracking with a succession of special 'drive away deals' ever since I bought the car. Not great for the already poor 3 year resale value of the car listed by Wheels magazine as about 50%. If you don't want to get depressed don't check out Lexus US prices where a LS is priced as much as my CT!

On a long drive on a smooth highway with the moonroof open and the stereo pounding all is forgiven. Next time, however, I will wait for the midlife update and price reductions before I purchase such a vehicle.

[Subby]

Thanks for the detailed reply - that was very timely, as I was considering this car to replace my current IS250 SL - now I think it's better to stick to a winning formula !!!

Subby

[Rossco]

Having recently arrived home (Hobart) from a trip to Perth I have to endorse the comments made by Miop400. The car is ideally suited to the sealed roads and has a very hard suspension when venturing onto unsealed roads.

During our trip we covered 11448 kms, and used 643 litres of fuel at an average for the trip of 5.61 L per 100lm. Our worst consumpsion was on the Nullarbor naturally as there was no hills to assist with the hybrid running. In Perth and Melbourne we were down to 4.2 L per 100Km. We have also found one has to be careful when opening the passengers door as can easially scrape on the footpath due to the car being so low.

Only needed to use the aircon on about 2 occasions as we found opening the moonroof gave us an ample supply of fresh air.

No problems with power and when running in sports mode we were able to pass the Road Trains with no effort and felt quite secure with the car travelling at higher speeds.

The Sat Nav worked well until we were approaching Melbourne on the Freeway and it decided to reset itself. We had that issue previously and assumed we had the problem fixed.

Our biggest gripe isthe fuel warning light comes on far too early. We can easily travel another 175km with the warning light on, but takes the fun out of it when you have to manually calculate the remaining fuel in the tank.

A pot of touch up paint for the mags would be welcomed as it is so easy to put a mark on them and when scraped they show up badly.

Luggage spare is less than we had with our Prius, but still managed to squeeze in 4 cartons of wine to bring home, on top of what we shipped home.

All in all we had a good trip and would be more than happy to do it again.

[legollas]

Great!!! Excellence drive in sport mode, save petrol on Eco mode n stable drive in d normal mode.

Sat nav will be better if it can point out where is d speeding camera!!! :P

[beaconboy]

Well, I have had the CT200h for 2 1/2 years now (50,000 km) and the drivers seat is wearing through ! There is now a hole on the seam and others developing at a rapid rate. The car isn't used that much - only going to and from work. Has anyone else had this issue and discussed with Lexus ? I am about to schedule the next service and will tackle them about it, but with all other warranty issues they have just laughed at me and not done anything about it. The seat was uncomfortable anyway but now its wearing through I'm a bit upset. Overall its not been a good experience with this car and I do regret buying it. I doubt that I will buy another lexus. Can anyone comment ?

Cheers

[caliente]

We have owned a Fsport since dec 2011. All in all it is a great little run about. Great on fuel, quite and what you would expect from a little car.

Fuel problem from day dot was leaking fuel from fuel pump retaining ring, fixed under wty straight away. All good untill the fuel sock was replace as routine service by Lexus of Kedron -  night mare - fuel leak again from oring- they didnt replace it when the sock was replaced, hence it leaked agaian, eventually got it fixed after a few days, and i copt and Abusing phone call from the Potty mouth Service Managaer Dave ( 0419702880 ) next time he should have set his phone to private. Apparantly it is my fault - how is this so when his technicians failed in doing a simple task.

Do not Use Kedron as they will not appoligise if they damage or make mistakes from serving your car- i did get a fuel voucher which was appreciated but no appoligy and the service manager still works there. They charge workshop supplies ie, degreaser, rags etc but do not use them, i had allot of oil & Fuel spilt after the service and they failed to clean it, all these little things inclueding the fuel leak really add up to why am i paying you?

Still waiting for and apology from Mr Potty Mouth, not holding my breath either.

[water]

had one as a loan car the other day, had a few gripes, but my main was, in electric mode, the acceleration from a standstill was painfully slow? as in, it took a good 10 seconds just to get to around 40kph! its like almost rolling down a slight hill in incline, there was almost no power at all! now i understand this is an electric car, but i honestly thought there was something wrong with it, or i left the handbrake on. it only had 5000 km's so it wasnt due to wear and tear. 

[beaconboy]

I had one for 4 years. Couldn't wait to get rid of it. No power which was a concern. Also drivers seat leather wore through - replaced under warranty but it happened again. Bought an Audi Q3 - very very happy now

[elrjay]

Have a 2011 F sport for 5 years now. Always reliable. Short trips with cold starts reduces fuel economy due to warm up energy. Has good carry space with rear seats laid down giving a flat rear floor. Hybrids are just an interim before all battery vehicles come on the market.

[Andie]

I just bought a used 2014 CT H with 50,000 miles. I’m absolutely in love with this car. Not much power in EV mode but sport mode is more than enough for me. Smooth as butter. The interior is gorgeous & sleek, looks brand new. My only issue so far is the bottom clearance, always need to be mindful as backing out of my driveway or it scrapes and I cringe. This car is perfect for me zipping to and from work and making small trips on the weekends. Cheers!