Poor little guy:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10249567-48.html

I check this out & it seemed relatively decent ... price & features. But not much mentioned here at the ownersclub.
Thoughts?

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The HS250 has its own section of the forum But yeah, still not much talk in there either lol

I've yet to see one driving on the road. This neighborhood I frequent is known for lexus owners.. I have even seen two LS 600hl(s).

I saw one LS600h in a parking lot and attempted to chat with the owners but I was treated like a commoner without my grey poupon so I gained little knowledge of ownership.

Tom

You should have said, "Excuse me, I just bought a Lexus dealership and was wondering how your experience was when buying this vehicle." After all, I always make it a point to talk to the "little" people every now and then......."

Likely, the owner just bought it because it was more expensive than a regular LS so he could tell his country club friends that he bought the best (for some people, most expensive must mean the best) but really he has no idea of the hybrid Tao and wouldn't be able to tell you the first thing about hypermiling, or the pulse and glide method. Mind you, he probably didn't buy it to save money on gas - see previous sentence.

Anyway, my point is he probably wouldn't be able to tell you anything about ownership of a hyrid, except he paid X dollars and the car gets him from A to B.

of course some people don't like talking to total strangers....

Ha I know the feeling, but my incident happened when I approached an owner of a tesla roadster. That guy looked at me as if i was going to stab him and take his roadster, he was absolutely petrified (don't drive around nyc with your top down, the bums will have their way with you) ..... I have actually had a conversation with a guy who just bought the LS 600h L ( upgraded as he called it since he had a 2006 Ls 430 I think) He said he would have went with the GS 450h but the trunk couldn't fit his golf clubs. I ran into him at the Lexus dealership, He was coming in for his first service. He said he loved how absolutely quiet it is (even more so than his old ls). Does every Lexus owner care that much about golfing? I never hear any other luxury car line make the claim of the trunk can hold x amount of golf bags. Maybe I need to start golfing, I seem to be really missing something!

I might actually go down and test drive the hs 250h just to see what it's like...

Make sure you let us know what you think, after the test drive.



oh, I'm just evil enough to like it! Hope you don't mind if I borrow that, now & again



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So I took the hs 250h for a test drive yesterday (sunday). I must say the looks will make the majority of people love it or hate it. I didn't particularly like it the color (it was like powder blue I think Lexus calls it sapphire mica), but the exterior styling to me was ok... that's it. It does look very normal so if you are the type of person that wants the car to look like a Lexus you better look to another car.

I think if you like the ES model then the HS will be perfect for you. It rode much like an ES with very similar handling, maybe even a little tighter. I have to fault the HS for it's powertrain. I am an avid hybrid lover, but the HS does not live up to what you would think it should be. The acceleration is far better than a prius, but the HS is out done by some non luxury hybrids. Same goes for handling in comparison to other non-luxury hybrids. The ride was whisper quiet, but when i pushed the car (getting on the highway) the engine sounded very un-Lexus like. It groaned a little too harshly. The tech in the HS is top notch. I did use the Intuitive parking assist which was pretty cool. I must say they need to migrate some of this tech into the GS hybrid. the remote control worked really well. it applied feedback when passed over a button on the navigation screen. The Heads up display actually was visible in the day time, which i didn't expect it to be.

My other major sticking point is the interior(mostly the dash). It's laid out very logically but I feel like it was Lexus quality wasn't even a factor. the dashboard is absolutely cheap looking. The eco plastic really gave the hs a cheap look, but the eco plastic didn't feel cheap. I wish Lexus would have thought about bamboo paneling to class up the dash. The "pop" up navigation does not look good to me. The screen itself is crisp, but the way it comes up looks so not Lexus if you know what I mean (as if someone was building it, finished and looked and saw that they forgot to put the nav screen in , then just bolted in on top). When the navi screen is down the dash looks particularly cheap and plain looking. The seats are great ( the Hs I drove was loaded so I don't know if seats are different without the heated/ventilated seats). There was plenty of room front and back. Good amount of knee room in the back (unlike the IS). And the trunk is a decent size.


I personally wouldn't purchase an HS, but I can see who this car is aimed at. I just felt it fell short on somethings I can't compromise on. Exterior looks I can compromise on to a point, because I don't see the outside of the car when I'm driving it. The interior i see all the time. Fuel economy is good, but not great considering faster hybrids exists that are more fuel efficient.


*edit* The color of the HS is "Silver Opal Mica"

Here's one with the grill slats painted. Man ... why didn't they do it that way from the factoy. imo it's a lot more plesant look:

http://i34.tinypic.com/10zqzgy.jpg

oh, and I DO dig to pearl white paint job too.