Lexus CT200h thoughts?

[zhao]

Looking for thoughts on a Ct200h, bad idea? good? total piece of hateful leathered out prius misery? reliable? anything?

The wife's e90 3 series is getting long in the tooth and we are tempted to get one of these for the wife. We were looking at 2 options today: one is a 2012 with 72k for 17g, which still has years of hybrid equipment warranty left. We can also get a new 2017 for 32g if we want but i'm heavily leaning towards used.

Basically she commutes 20km one way, drives a bit more 'highway' (anthony henday aka edmonton's stony trail) than city. Her requirements are reliability, price, bang for buck. Doesn't care about the luxury aspect so much (but I do) and her only real requirements for options are heated seats, fuel efficient, preferably no premium gas, not a complete death trap in winter, preferably 4 doors. Bang for buck is a fairly big factor (she'd be fine with say a new mazda 3 but the one she'd get is about 25g, so fuck that imo. 25g for a car that's worth nothing after 5 years isn't good bang for buck imo). She would like more storage capacity than the 3 series (she likes thifting and would like to be able to fit slightly larger things then the backseat or truck takes).

Other suggestions are welcome cuz i'm pretty stumped on ideas. Not really looking at suv's as for what you get they generally cost a lot more + would be annoying to park. Also, her dream car is a fiat 500 if that helps (and we are also considering one because they are cheap as hell, but she doesnt like the idea of driving one in winter) so really anything between that's size and a 3 series is a potential option if it's good bang for buck.

[Sonic]

Do they still have the same engine as the Prius...I could never understand Lexus made these slow as fuck because they look amazing..

[npham]

We looked at one while when we shopped for the A3 TDI(2011) but found the interior lacking. It doesn't really match up well to the interiors of the other models in their lineup. All the research we did on them came up fine, but we couldn't get over the cheap looking interior.

[tonytiger55]

Ive been keeping a eye on these. Ive been wanting to test drive one (if anyone has one on here and would not mind letting me go for a short drive.. I can provide timmys tea and doughnuts).
A lot are on Kijji, ive read up on the reviews. The only thing I can find in my research is that they are a bit gutless an fuel saving is not as good as you would expect from a hybride. Though can anyone confirm this?

[BokCh0y]

Do they still have the same engine as the Prius...I could never understand Lexus made these slow as fuck because they look amazing..

So true!!! If they tossed in the 2.5L or the sledge hammered in the 3.5L, i'd have one already.

zhao: great cars, good on gas. Highway mileage sucks cuz it's CVT, but city is amazing. My buddy has one, dropped it off for me for like a week, I drove it around everywhere and really liked it, but I kept it in sport mode as I don't give a shit about saving gas. The interior feels cheaper than a regular Lexus though imo, as in the trim isn't as high end and there's no where near the features, but great luxury car for to and from work for sure.

[ExtraSlow]

If you want a Prius, maybe buy a Prius. Decent quality, low price on used market.

[bjstare]

Haven't researched it, but you may want to look into the reliability of the hybrid system once the miles get up there (you said the used one you looked at had warranty, not sure if you planned on keeping it longer than that). I was looking into a used RX400h, but found that inverter failures tend to become more common than I'd like to see around the 150k mark and it's a very expensive bill if you're out of warranty.

Is there a reason you aren't looking at an IS250/350? The awd ones would be a great year round commuter if you didn't need the utility of a hatch.

[zhao]

If you want a Prius, maybe buy a Prius. Decent quality, low price on used market.

Dont want a prius, but even if I did, these things are pretty close to the same price used, and not much different new. 29000msrp for a base prius hatch, or 32000 for a ct200. Seems like a no brainer to me. Like i said, my wife was ok with a mazda 3 or corolla or whatever, but I told her if she's going to pay 25g for something like that, I'll pay the difference on something like the ct200 because i rather give her money then see her spend 25g on a car most people think is worth 12g new.




Haven't researched it, but you may want to look into the reliability of the hybrid system once the miles get up there (you said the used one you looked at had warranty, not sure if you planned on keeping it longer than that). I was looking into a used RX400h, but found that inverter failures tend to become more common than I'd like to see around the 150k mark and it's a very expensive bill if you're out of warranty.

Is there a reason you aren't looking at an IS250/350? The awd ones would be a great year round commuter if you didn't need the utility of a hatch.

IS250/350 is too expensive to purchase and own for what we want to spend. I already looked at those for myself and ended up with my 335i instead for something in that size (nothing against the IS350 cuz that was my preferred of the bmw/merc/lexus trio, but the bmw was the better deal so I went with that). AWD I dont need also (Everything I own is rwd (I had 6 rwd cars 2 months ago, sold 2 so down to 4 now), except my truck, which gets driven in 2wd all winter). My wife is used to rwd for a winter car, so this thing beign FWD will actually be great for her. Whatever she buys will get winters anyway, and we live in the city and commute by major roads that get plowed usually first so she probably wont even be able to tell the difference (she actually doesn't notice she's driving rwd).


As for the CT200, we pretty much ruled out used and are just looking at new. I like that the new CT200 you can turn traction control off finally (always hated that about toyota/lexus) which is something you couldn't do on a few year old ones. I also figure the used one we will have for what, 5 years max, and will own it while it's off hybrid warranty, while a new one we absolutely do not have to worry about anything for the 6 years warranty, and 8 for the hybrid crap, plus it's a lexus. I figure we'll own a new one for probably 7-8 years (my wife actually really likes my old e90, but its starting to have bmw quirks. rear brakes squeal at low speed, bushings squeak on hot days, aux cooling fan made a racket until i oiled it). I owned a number of lexus and have yet to have an issue. One of my brother's friends is rolling around in my old GS that just had it's first problem at almost 20 years old (head gasket). That thing isn't even rusting yet.

The Ct200s are about to get discontinued too so I'm also thinking they'll move on the price pretty good on the ones left on the lots? Hybrid warranty is pretty long, 160000km, so while those are the components that worry me, we'll probably be dumping the car by that time anyway.

We also test drove one, and it IS slow as fuck, but the wife thinks its ok, and it's for her anyway. I'll probably only drive it once every couple weeks. The base model is looking pretty good too. she doesn't care about a sunroof or nav, or really any of the options on the higher packages.

[zhao]

Thx for help on deciding everyone. We went with a new one and took possession on Thursday.

We paid 30722 plus gst for the base base base model. About 5g off w/ 0.4% interest and I did not haggle very hard at all (usually i negotiate over a couple weeks), so there is a fair bit of room to move on these things. The wife already noticed on her commute how much slower it is compared to her e90 3 series but she doesn't find it slow enough to be annoying which is good. Her memory also might be tainted a bit because she's been driving my 335i for the last week and commented how she stomped on it to get in to traffic and was like holy crap.

Now the quest to find a 2nd set of winter rims for it. I am totally regretting selling my collection of 5x100 te37s/re30s/ssr type c's i had from my subaru days.

https://image.ibb.co/hTaQ4k/IMG_2911.jpg

https://image.ibb.co/j5BRAQ/IMG_2917.jpg

[tonytiger55]

Did I just spot a RX7..? OMG OMG.. I love those cars..:drool:

[BokCh0y]

Congrats!!! Love the look of the CT.

[killramos]

How is the comfort level of the ct?

[zhao]

The Nuluxe fake leather is kinda cheap quality compared to real leather, but real leather is a $8000 option that includes a bunch of stuff we'd never use (nav, Led lights in a city car?, sunroof). Not worth 25% more to us.

Besides that the seats are comfortable enough with all the adjustment you'd expect on a luxury car, and there is good room (i'm 6'3"). It's better than a GLA or CLA IMO for room, because you actually have a backseat an adult can sit in without issues, but the space in the hatch is pretty small it has an actual spare tire and that is where the batteries sit. Visibility in the back isn't the best for blind spots changing lanes and backing up, but it's probably no worse than most suv's or hatches today.

It drives good and is very quite. Wind and road noise is better than my 335 which is twice the price. I find it hard to tell when its in full electric and gas model too because of how quite the engine is. I know reviews say it's a little stiff for suspension but it feels good to me... but I prefer european cars and my biggest beef with my 335i is they Americanized up the suspension in the f30s vs the e90s.

[Sonic]

If she is a typical woman and already finding driving off the lot that it is noticeably slower, I give her another week or two before she complains that it's unbearable. :rofl: No offence but that is a red flag right there...she's blinded right now by how new and pretty it is, reality hasn't sunk in yet.

I mean, you said it in your earlier post that it was "slow as fuck", if she notices it now, she's gonna notice it even more once the novelty wears off.

[zhao]

Did I just spot a RX7..? OMG OMG.. I love those cars..:drool:

Yup, my 2 dream cars are a FD and a 911. I treat this thing like a garage queen, but I haven't seen a better condition one yet. Even the 33000km LHD one a friend had felt like a old car. This one actually drives and feels like a new car inside. I'm actually pretty confused by the whole thing because I've literally put more wear and tear on it in 8000km i put on it over the past 4 years than the previous owner did in 15. I'm pretty sure the dad in Ferris Bueller must have owned this thing prior to me.

[zhao]

If she is a typical woman and already finding driving off the lot that it is noticeably slower, I give her another week or two before she complains that it's unbearable. :rofl: No offence but that is a red flag right there...she's blinded right now by how new and pretty it is, reality hasn't sunk in yet.

I mean, you said it in your earlier post that it was "slow as fuck", if she notices it now, she's gonna notice it even more once the novelty wears off.

You may be right, but why I think that's unlikely to be an issue is because it doesn't annoy me. It should annoy me long before her because she used to drive a corolla and thought that was fine.

It definitely is slow as fuck though lol. It's probably the car's biggest flaw and probably why it sold poorly (that and prius owners probably want the prius badge recognition + people instnatly think luxury cars = too expensive even when they're not. The trades are full of people that think their truck they spent 80g on is cheaper than my 3 series) IMO, but that's by today's standards. It's about as quick as a 2002-2005 automatic civic/acura EL.

[403ep3]

We test drove this awhile back and found it slow and the interior to be lack-luster for a Lexus. Everything else was good though. Enjoy the purchase!

[Sonic]

In that case she should be fine then...I thought you mentioned she had a bimmer before.

It is a really nice looking car afterall though. :thumbsup:

[zhao]

ya, she drove a 09ish corolla 3ish + years ago though.