Or is that a dirty word on this site.
I had the pleasure of driving a GS450h the other day and was amazed at the acceleration and turn of speed for overtaking - I am guessing that the electric motor pleyed the biggest part in generating so much torque. The other surprising thing was the near silence and refinement. After playing around I decided to do a short trip (5 miles or so) driving sensibly and not tearing about and got 48mpg.
Are there any other posters with experience of driving hybrids as I do like the look of the new Honda Insight as well.
PS - I am anti diesel so please no lectures on real world economy - I don't like the noise, the smell and the problems that come with them in turns of reliability.
Once a maker starts offering 8 year warranties for the complicated CR systems like Toyota and Honda do for their hybrid systems then I might be interested.
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I have driven the Toyota Prius extensively, which I liked, but not (yet) the Lexus GS450h. My recollection of the Prius was the strange, but pleasant, sensation of gliding in silence powered only by the electric motor. Also appealing was sitting in traffic lights without an idling engine, and accelerating effortlessly away, again powered only by the electric motor. I can understand why the americans prefer these to rattly diesel engines and if I did a lot of urban driving I would seriously one.
I think after your experience with the GS450h you will be disappointed with a Honda Insight. Honda uses "mild hybrid" technology so the motor is much smaller than the one in the Prius (let alone the monster in the Lexus) and only cuts in to support the petrol engine when peak power is required.
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Pendlebury,
I haven't driven one, but the local Police had a LS600h for appraisal a few months back. On the occasions that I saw it, it was being "appraised" quite comprehensively.
So much so that the driver appeared to be surprised by the tail end trying to step out of line when he was completing his overtaking manouvre. To be fair, it was loaded with 4 hefty looking members of HM's finest on board, as well as the battery pack in the rear end. Presumably the weight transfer took over for a moment.
It was all collected up tidily but the driver then proceeded at a reduced pace for a while after that...
f2
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The biggest problem with the LS600h (according to my friend who works at Toyota HQ)seems to be the tiny boot by virtue of the large batteries. Not a driving issue, but certainly a fact of life with the car.
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Only review I 've read about the new Insight ended with a recomendation to buy a Jazz.
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I have just run up 50,000 trouble-free miles in my Prius, and the only disappointed person is the Minister of Finance because of lower petrol tax grab. I haven't studied the Lexus hybrid, so can't comment on the battery capacity. In the Prius, on long uphill hauls such as mountain passes, it is possible to drain the battery into its red zone, whereupon the computer instructs the engine to divert power to recharging the battery. The reduction in power at the wheels is noticeable, but not disastrous. A long drag in jammed traffic can also drain the battery as you crawl along on electric power only. Again, the engine will be instructed to start and recharge.
A hybrid is a different beast to drive, mainly, in my experience, because it will change mode without any say-so from the driver, and, until you can instantly recognise when a change has been made and adjust for it, speeds can vary suffciently to be noticed by the Gendarmerie.
Whilst the motor gives lots of torque from a standing start, it can cause wheelspin on wet roads. The anti-skid device [ it is not really a traction control ] opens the main breaker momentarily and then recloses it. If you have not lifted off, you can bunny-hop across the intersection. Most embarassing until you get used to just how hard to push it.
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The Insight has a different system to the Toyota, from what I have read the petrol engine runs all the time.
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I did do a side by side comparison of the GS450h and the GS300 and your spot on boxsterboy - the boot was tiny in the hybrid which is unacceptable really - I think you would certainly struggle if you wanted a enough space for a weekend away - never mind a holiday.
On the subject of LS's I have a friend who wrote off a nearly new LS - this was a few years back now - he is disabled and drives an automatic. When his Corolla was in for a service he always requested an automatic courtesy car. They did not have one to offer but being a Toyota/Lexus dealership they always aim to please and so gave him the dealer principle's LS430. Anyway he was driving his friends back to the dealer in the afternoon when it was getting a bit icy and floored it off a raised island, spun it and stuck it down an embankment. Everyone was OK and the traffic cop who initially thought it was stolen when he saw who came out of the car was in hysterics when he phoned the dealer to tell them what happened. Every year now when he takes is Toyota in for a service the staff love winding him up about it.
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