Hello there. Maybe some information about why I chose the CT200h will help here. I've been driving hybrids for the past 12 years, mostly Honda's. I had looked at the Toyota hybrids in the past, but was not impressed very much with what you got for your money. However, recently we "inherited" a third car from my son, who moved away and could no longer make the car payments. Long story short, my wife and I had 3 cars and only 2 drivers, and the insurance and taxes on the cars was really hurting.
So, we decided to trade in 2 of the cars for one other car and we would be back to 2 cars. We looked at a variety of manufacturers, body styles, hybrids and electric cars and we always came back to the CT200h. The CT200h is sporty, without being very sporty. My last hybrid was the Honda CR-Z. A great little car with only 2 seats. Now that's sporty. :D It had a lot of nice features, like the CT200h, but it did not have the ride, styling, and overall comfort of the CT200h. Of course, it was not a Lexus either.
If you do your homework, you will read that the CT200h is underpowered, generally sluggish, and that in the Sport mode, it's handling is not what you would expect. My answer to these comments is that the people doing these reviews really don't have much experience with these types of hybrids. Want more power? Then you need a bigger gas engine, and when you do that, you drop your mileage. I buy a hybrid for two reasons, mileage and reducing emissions. On both of these counts, the CT200h is a winner. For fuel economy and greenhouse gas rating, the CT200h is a 10 out of a possible 10 based on the rating of the U.S. EPA/DOT. For smog rating, it is a 7 out of a 10. And at 42 MPG, that is not too shabby. Having driven hybrids for as long as I have, I can easily best 42 MPG in this car. In one of my test drives, I achieved FAR better than that (62.5 mpg, but that takes a LOT of practice and patience to achieve).
Is it sluggish? Yes, in Eco mode, it is sluggish. But so are all of the other hybrids that deliver this type of gas mileage, and I have, at one time or another, either driven or test driven them all.
In sport mode the performance and handling sharpens up quite a bit in the CT200h. I live very close to the Rocky Mountains, and there is no shortage of twisting and winding roads around here to drive on. Forget test tracks, you want to learn how a car handles, take it out into the real world. On the roads around here, the handling of the CT200h in Sport mode was very good. Crisp enough to make tackling the twists and turns fun and exciting. Of course, you pay for this additional power with less MPG, but at least you have the option to use the mode best suited for the area you are driving.
I don't use Normal mode very much. I generally drive around town in Eco mode, and take on the mountains in Sport mode. So what if I stay mostly in the right lane and some drivers get impatient with me? Hey, they are filling up every week, and I'm filling up every 3-4 weeks.
There is one thing about the car that is a bit daunting. When you drive it, you are surrounded by a LOT of technology, and this can be confusing. But, like everything else, once you get the car programmed the way you want it, you use a few features every day, and they become second nature. The technology, at that point, becomes secondary and a lot less confusing.
Now, there are a few "spooky" things about the car. I say "spooky" in a fun way. First, after 40+ years of using a key to do everything, I am finding it hard to readjust to a "keyless" driving experience. My wife laughs at me each time I reach for the phantom key when I get out of the car. My wife freaked last night while we were out driving in the rain. The windshield wipers came on automatically, and adjusted themselves to the intensity of the rain. And driving in stealth mode is very strange. Owners of other Toyota hybrids know what I mean. I like to stop at the foot of our driveway, put the car into Electric Vehicle mode and drive up and park in the garage. All without much of any sound.
There two dings I will make about the car. They both deal with seating. Though the seats are very comfortable, there really is not a lot of room. I am 6 foot 1 inch tall, and I can just barely move the driver's seat back far enough so that I can stretch out. That is, get my legs stretched out enough not to hit the steering wheel. And, leg room in the back seats is not abundant. However, that is not an issue for us. In the 5 years I drove a two-seater, we did not need additional seating more than twice. So, we can put the back seats down for most of the time and have more room for my wife to do her shopping. If you are a tall person or have a lot of adults riding with you a lot, you need to take this into consideration.
I purchased my CT200h very recently. It is fun to drive and saves me a lot of gas money.
I hope these comments helped you. Pricing for the CT200h is better than most hybrids, and it is certainly better than the electric cars.
