Not only is the Lexus CT200h the world’s first full-hybrid entrant in the ‘compact premium’ car category, but it is also Lexus’s first compact model. It was previewed by the LF-Ch concept shown at Frankfurt in 2009.
The CT200h’s petrol-electric parallel hybrid powertrain has already seen service in the third-generation of Toyota’s environmental poster boy, the Prius It also inherits a great deal of proven reliability from the two generations of Prius before that, stretching back to 1997.
Even so, it’s not enough just to be different in a class oozing with impressive models. To be taken seriously in the premium hatchback pack, a car needs to drive like aBMW, be built like an Audi and have plenty of kerbside appeal. Not an easy task.
The CT200h’s engine/electric motor set-up produces a combined 134bhp, which isn’t a huge amount in a car weighing more than 1600kgs (a portly passenger more than an Audi A3 Sportback) but even so, Lexus claims an impressive 68.9mpg on the combined cycle. Straight-line performance is less than sparkling, though, with an official 10.3sec 0-62mph time being touted by Lexus.
What that number doesn’t tell you is that to get to hit that speed is a pretty noisy affair, although once there, and cruising, it delivers more on its promise of the ‘silent revolution’.
Those looking for a posh, smallish hybrid could easily overlook the slightly wooden steering, but it’s harder to forgive the harsh ride – even if it does corner far better than you’d expect.
What the Lexus certainly has on its side is appealing cost of ownership for company car drivers. Although it wears a premium badge, a huge amount of equipment means buyers don’t need to bump up their P11D value by diving into the options list. And CO2 emissions of 94g/km mean a 10 per cent benefit-in-kind rating, plus it avoids the diesel surcharge.
So is this the car that will finally make the compact hybrid truly desirable, or is it just an overpriced, over-equipped and predictably compromised economy car?
Lexus CT200h design
In light of the Prius’s hero status, it’s understandable that the Lexus CT200h should have a conventional five-door hatchback silhouette instead of a more aerodynamically efficient profile. It’s vital that this car has its own visual identity, and that it’s accepted into a class full of two-box hatchbacks such as the BMW 1-series and Audi A3.
The Lexus looks contemporary, although not especially handsome to our eyes (its mission, remember, is to attract a more youthful customer to the brand), and it still sports a low drag coefficient of 0.29.
A power bulge in the bonnet is more than a little unnecessary on a 134bhp hybrid, but it’s one of the styling flourishes intended to attract younger clientele to the Lexus brand. The muscular rear haunches emphasise the CT200h’s broad stance on the road and have a similar aim.The front wings have wheelarch liners and side protectors to reduce the road and engine noise that enters the cabin, while a dynamic noise damper positioned inside the tailgate reduces the transmission of road noise into the cabin via the boot floor. These features contribute to the impressive levels of mechanical refinement at low and medium speeds.
On performance cars, exhaust styling is usually an evocative feature, but the Lexus’s designers have deliberately disguised the exhaust on the CT200h. Unless you peer under the valance, you wouldn’t know it had one.
Most of the models in the range look broadly the save, save for the F Sport, which gets a fairly subtle set of body tweaks, including bumpers, grille and gunmetal-coloured alloy wheels.
Standard wheels are 17-inch alloys, but you can specify softer-riding 16s with more sidewall as an option. For reasons of ride and comfort we’d recommend that you do.
Lexus CT200h interior
If there’s one thing Lexus can do well, it’s design and equip a cabin. Considering the price tag, the Lexus CT200h is hugely impressive. The leathers are tactile and beautifully finished, the plastics soft and substantial.
Lexus claims a price advantage over a BMW 1-series and Audi A3 Sportback once you adjust for equipment – that’s not including the ambience of richness and quality that comes as standard.
If you have a model with the sat-nav fitted, you’ll be unlucky enough to encounter Lexus’s Remote Touch multi-function controller. It’s supposed to operate like a computer mouse, but is fiddly to use and requires far too many commands to perform even the simplest of functions. BMW’s iDrive is a million times easier to use.Lexus generosity isn’t unbounded, though. Sat-nav and a DAB radio on mid-spec cars are extra and, because it comes bundled with a pre-crash safety system, adaptive cruise control is an expensive option even on a top-spec model.
The driving position is low and comfortable, with plenty of adjustment and room for your extremities. The rear seats aren’t quite as impressive, however. While about as roomy as rivals' rear seats, it’ll be tight for adults or kids, while fitting a child seat will be extremely tricky. However, the CT200h’s nickel-metal-hydride battery pack is cleverly packaged between the rear wheels, so it doesn’t take up much boot space. A full 375 litres of load bay with the seats raised is more than in a 1-series, but that’s including the underfloor storage box.
Lexus CT200h performance and engineering
The most pleasing aspect of Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive isn’t its economy but the relaxing lack of noise at low speed. In short, the Lexus CT200h is one seriously hushed car. Using electric power only, there’s barely a whine from the electric motor, while road and wind disturbance are negligible, courtesy of commendable cabin insulation.
Our noise meter shows the CT200h to be quieter than a 2011 Range Rover TDV8 at 30mph, and within four decibels of a Rolls-Royce Ghost.
The hybrid powertrain doesn’t produce spectacular acceleration, however. Lexus claims 0-62mph in 10.3sec, but our two-way average to 60mph was 11.1sec.When you call for more power, the car’s piston engine starts, barely perceptibly at first. Open the throttle wide, however, and you’ll certainly notice as it spins busily up to peak power to propel the Lexus’s 1450kg.
The CT200h can be reasonably responsive, though. Select Sport mode and you get additional boost from the electric motor, as well as sharper throttle response. That done, you’ll find the Lexus has enough urge for relaxed overtaking below 70mph, provided there’s charge in its batteries.
The biggest problem with the car’s performance isn’t a shortage of outright power. It’s more that it’s delivered in a way that makes you feel only in vague control of either engine, and that makes you work doubly hard to gain and maintain speed.
Try to drive this car keenly, though, and the CT200h’s throttle may as well be a switch. You’re perpetually either flat out, waiting for the drivetrain to translate those high crank speeds into forward thrust, or off the accelerator completely, waiting for the batteries to regenerate.
Unless you’re happy to use lots of revs and throttle at motorway speeds and on cross-country roads, it’s actually frustratingly easy to lose your hard-earned speed up inclines and around corners.
Lexus CT200h ride and handling
This section of our review is all about compromise, and the Lexus CT200h is at sixes and sevens in the balance between chassis comfort and composure. The attention to detail the firm has employed in developing an all-new chassis for this car is laudable, but much of that effort is undone by a chassis tune that allows for scant compliance and makes for a fidgety ride on typically uneven UK roads.
You would hope a car configured for efficiency and class-leading mechanical refinement would be tuned to deliver a supple, absorptive ride. Not this one. Higher than typical spring and damper rates and stiff anti-roll bars combine to make the car’s primary ride choppy and restless on the motorway, and borderline uncomfortable on a B-road. The F Sport model exacerbates this, with firmer suspension.
There is a trade-off. All that chassis stiffness gives the CT200h body control that’s beyond the grip of its tyres and the performance potential of its powertrain. In smooth, flowing corners it turns in quickly. It’s affected by almost no roll-steer and has steering precision to match, with well judged weight and even a little feel.Our review car’s secondary ride was better: on optional 16in wheels, it deals with smaller lumps and bumps reasonably quietly, and without harshness. That’s little consolation, though, when its body is diverted so frequently by bigger disturbances.
A particularly stiff rear suspension tune makes for a chassis balance that’s quite neutral and responsive to line adjustments mid-corner. All of which would make the Lexus quite a compelling car to drive if it weren’t for its lack of outright performance and often frustrating power delivery.
As it is, the CT200h drives like a car with a chip on its shoulder. It’s desperate to convince you that it’s youthful and sporty, when actually all you’re really looking for from it is peace and quiet.
Lexus CT200h MPG
Vastly more important than the CT200h’s entry-level price is that its CO2 emissions of just 94g/km free it from road tax and the London congestion charge, and qualify it for the Government’s 10 per cent benefit-in-kind company car tax band.
Because it emits less than 110g/km of CO2, fleet managers can also write down 100 per cent of the car’s value against corporation tax – an advantage that many employers are now passing on to drivers in part, with larger company car allowances for sub-110g vehicles. Plus, it escapes the 10 per cent surcharge applied to diesel vehicles.
So considering contract hire and company car tax together, a CT200h could be even cheaper for a fleet driver to run than a 1.4-litre turbocharged Vauxhall Astra – even though the Astra is several thousand pounds cheaper at list price.By choosing the Lexus instead of a less-efficient rival, company car drivers who pay 40 per cent income tax could save more than £1000 a year on their tax bill.
Where the CT200h probably won’t save so much is at the pump. During our test, it returned just over 45mpg overall, and 51.8mpg on our touring route. That’s about average for a car of this size with a 2.0-litre diesel engine, but sufficiently far from Lexus’s 68.9mpg official claim to be disappointing.
Residual values are a little disappointing, too, hovering in the low 40 per cents after three years and an average mileage. BMWs and Audis do better.
On the flipside, the standard kit list is generous on all models (as is quality), while Lexus’s position as a consistent leader in the JD Power satisfaction survey shows that you shouldn’t experience any problems, but if you do, you’ll be royally looked after by your Lexus dealer.
Lexus CT200h verdict
Having given the Toyota Prius a glowing review, you may be wondering why the better-appointed Lexus CT200h - with its broadly similar price - receives less praise. Well, buyers of premium cars have loftier expectations and Lexus has fundamentally misjudged what they really want from a car like the CT200h.
This compact luxury hatchback has many of the refinements of an appealing executive option, and its credentials as a business car are undeniable. Put simply it will save the user and their company a great deal of money compared to a similarly expensive executive hatch.
Ultimately, however, its drivetrain will be too one-dimensional for many used to the flexibility of modern premium diesel technology.You’ll also enjoy a handsomely appointed cabin and plenty of kit, although even the more upmarket models suffer with Lexus’s infuriating Remote Touch multi-function controller.
Our main criticism, though, is the over-firm, unsettled ride that’s at odds with the general nature of the car. As a refreshing alternative to the BMW 1-series and Audi A3, the CT200h should take advantage of its sumptuous cabin and refined drivetrain to offer something away from the norm.
Instead, in its desire to make the CT200h sporty, it has created something of a mishmash – a car that handles well, but without the power to make the most of it.
If Lexus’s objective was to make the CT200h drive differently from a Prius, it has succeeded, but it has failed to produce a car with a coherent or harmonious driving experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment