Let me start by saying, I’m a petrolhead. A proper one, petrol runs in my veins, I’ve loved cars with big engines ever since I was 2 years old. I’ve attended car meets and shows for pretty much every category of cars that exists. I love the noise that a petrol engine makes and so this was a pretty big step for me.
How did I end up here in the first place?
Our family friends were going on holiday so I volunteered myself to take care of their house while they were gone and in return they handed me the keys to their CT200h for the week!
THE GOOD
I’m an optimist, anyone on my football team will tell you that. So let’s start with the positives of hybrid driving. Firstly, whoever tells you that hybrids aren’t fuel efficient isn’t sane. I filled this car up with 15 litres of petrol and managed to get 250kms from it, how about that and this was with intermittent use of sport mode! Sure, it wasn’t as fuel efficient as I thought but it wasn’t disappointing. There is pretty much complete silence when you’re driving which means that if you’ve got some good music playing, you can enjoy it even more. Sport mode is a lot of fun in this car, the steering tightens up and it uses both the engine and the electric motor when accelerating.
THE BAD
As you can see there are a lot of positives to hybrid driving but with anything, there are also some negatives.
The car brakes very sharply because the brakes charge the battery and speaking of the battery, boot space is severely reduced because of it. The car is generally a bore to drive when not in sport mode, it encourages you to drive gently. It accelerates very very slowly in eco mode to save fuel obviously but getting beaten at the lights by pensioners in old Hondas isn’t fun!
More about the Lexus
The CT200h is superb, it’s really well built, the leather and plastics inside are very high quality. The infotainment system is easy to use and it even has a 6 CD changer so you can interchange CDs on the go! As a car it was amazing, everything feels very premium and the car looks rather nice on the outside as well.
Should you get a hybrid as your new daily?
Frankly, I don’t see why not. Except if you do, please don’t get a Prius!
Would I get one as my next daily?
I’m sorry but the buck stops there, I’m going to miss the smiles I got from pretty hippy girls in Volkswagen Beetles. I’ll also miss the envious looks I got from other drivers because 19 year olds don’t normally drive newish Lexus’. I want to enjoy petrol powered cars for as long as I can.
