HELP need advice buying 3is

[Hornayud]

Hi guys 

So I recently bought my partner a Flame Blue 2011 IS350 F Sport to replace the old run down camry she had and I gotta say I was very impressed with the car. Kind of wished I bought it for myself haha. 

But a week later I crashed my mazda 3. It's completely written off and never envisaged this to actually happen (although I've been complaining about wanting a new car for ages). I've always wanted a lexus IS but was never committed to changing cars due to economical reasons. 

But here I am forced to buy a new car and I've pretty much settled on a lexus. Now the question is , which one do I go for? I've noticed the is350 is quite thirsty on fuel whilst driving my partners. The power is amazing but for myself I don't think it's a necessity. I do a lot of driving for work and half of the time it will be urban driving. So I'm actually looking for something that is good on fuel as well. 

 

Initially I looked at the is250 but I heard the fuel consumption on it is really not that much better than the is350? Correct me if I'm wrong.  

Which lead me to looking at the is300h and the is200t. I'm kind of leaning more towards the is300h due to it being hybrid and using less fuel but I've never owned a hybrid before so I don't know what it's like. Of course I'll be test driving them but I am on holidays till the end of the week so I just wanted people to share their opinions. 

How is the is300h like? Is there anything different I need to do whilst owning a hybrid car? I will be going for the f sport badge regardless of which model I choose because I love the look. Please your opinions will be greatly appreciated thank you. 

[plankton007]

Both IS300h and IS200t will be thirstier than their brochure claims.

The IS200t will drive like a normal turbo car

The IS300h (and all Lexus hybrids) have nice insta torque off the line due to the battery. They also have regenerative braking which charges your battery while braking or cruising. Due to this though your brakes will feel a bit funny at first and you won't be able to hold speed cruising like other cars.

Another thing would be to not be alarmed when you start your car, or cruise at low speeds as the engine will most likely not come on due to the car using the EV (battery) instead of the engine (provided there's enough battery). The car's engine will automatically start if the car feels like it doesn't have enough battery or when you accelerate hard. You can also keep the engine on if you're in sport mode (I think).

It all really depends on how heavy your foot is.

In terms of usable power the 200t for sure is the better car in performance with more torque (getting up those hills in the 300h will be a bit sad)

However, if none of that really concerns you and petrol is the main, if not only concern, then I would go for the 300h as they offer pretty much the same options in both cars in the F Sport trim.

They're both great cars.

PS. The 3is350 is even thirstier than its 2is counterpart.

[DoinKerS]

Felt quite weird first time sitting in a hybrid and starting the car. So quiet! The EV signal indicates the car has started and so you just throttle on without the engine on. The regenerative braking sounded cool but probably wears off after awhile =) 

 

There's a post on real 300h fuel consumption - they seem to be getting between 5-7L per 100km. Unsure what the 200t drivers are averaging. For the 350, best I can get so far is 11.6L per 100km.