Are You Going To Buy One?

[larry chester]

This is not a sports car. I don't really understand the concept of wanting to buy a hybrid so that you get good gas mileage, and then complaining about the acceleration and performance. If you want a performance car, then go find one. If you want a car with good gas mileage, then buy that one. Certainly, there are some specialty cars that provide high performance in an electric or hybrid vehicle, but they are not going to be purchased for roughly $30,000.

I'm happy with my CT. It does what I want it to, and gets me around in the summer in reasonable comfort, while delivering an average 49 - 51 mpg. That's what I wanted. I just don't drag race with it, and if I have to hit the gas to accelerate to highway speeds quickly, my mileage suffers. But that's not what the car was designed for. Good look looking for the utopian vehicle. Hope you find it.

larry

[kuwait jim]

I recently worked at Kuwait, Bahrain where I was making good money and was buying a SC430, Pebble Beach version.  I was given an option to either get out of the GS field or take a position in NJ.  I found out how much it costs to own such a car in NJ because everything is so far away and only supposed to use Premium Gas in this beast.  I truly enjoyed this car though and it took a while to determine which other car I would like.  I wanted to ensure I was not upside down and I wasn't because this car had a great re-sale value...  I went to Ray Catena's and I still owed 10k but they gave me 24k for it to use on my next car.  I wasn't sure of the type of car I wanted but was sure that fuel economy was a major factor.  Chad, one of the sales reps there, showed me a CT200 h, which was ok and didn't think too much of it but then he showed me the F-Sport model and we took a test drive.  It had ok pickup and handled the corners good and the fuel economy was around 38-42 mpg, depending on how you drove.  (I went to Philly last weekend and got 48mpg)...  I guess that tells you I bought it...  I liked the various features, such as the hidden tachometer and watching people try to understand how to drive the vehicle for the first time.  

I also like the service and sales department of Lexus.  It didn't matter if I was in Las Vegas or even in New Jersey, they treat us like people and not just another customer.  Here is an example...  I went to Cadillac to look at a hard top convertible but no one came to see me or even talk to me.  I went right from Cadillac to Mini Cooper and the exact same thing happened.  I went over to Lexus and Chad came right out to see me.  I asked him why people didn't want my business and if it was the way I was dressed?  (I had on my normal Tommy Bahamas Hawaiian shirt and jeans).  He said no and he had no idea why they didn't want my business and said it was their loss.

Long story short,  I've had this Lexus going on 2 years and had no issues, except how small the gas tank is, but it sure feels good when you fill up the tank at 1/2 way for $9.00...  Depending on where you get the gas,  it ranged from $7.00 to $12.00 but I've never had to pull out more than 1 $20.00 and then get change back.  The seats are very comfortable but when you purchase yours try to get a tan or light interior because the seats get hot in the summer. 

My wife also decided to get a new car but she got the Prius C because she wanted a smaller car.  They both drive similar but Lexus has a much better ride and it's a lot quitter.  When she goes in for service, she doesn't get a loaner car unless she pays for it out of pocket and she is not treated as nice as a Lexus customer.