First impressions

Been feeling glad today that I went for the ex-demo and therefore only had 1 week to wait to pick up the new car. I suspect if I'd gone New, the 3 month wait for delivery would have led to me winding myself up so much I'd explode ...

First - I have to say Lexus Cheltenham really take to heart the Lexus creed. They're courteous, friendly and patient. Even to things like the finance guy who chased after us when we were doing the final handover, just so he could shake my hand on Deal Done. They put Customer First. Which is something the customer definitely appreciates. Well, I do at least.

Ok - first impressions. I picked the car up after work and I'm kinda glad I did. I wear a suit as standard work clothes and I think I'd have felt underdressed taking it out for the first time without the suit. The insides of the Lexus feel as special as I remember them feeling when I first sat in a CT in Lincoln.

Hey wait - there's something from before the first impression. When I went in the showroom, there was a yellow CT in there. When I left, it had gone. And I hadn't noticed ! That's how quiet these things can be in electric mode. (I did notice them take away the IS that was across the showroom)

More impressions :
Petrol. Kinda weird fueling up, need to work on that. Only got £5 worth in the tank earlier because the pump kept refusing to let more in.

Economy. Hoping for more than I was getting, although hopefully the data will sort itself out. Petrol gauge didn't move on the way back :-)

Driving. The CVT gearbox is weird. As a driver, you have to ignore what the engine is doing, because it revs far more freely than a conventional car does. Apart from that, Super smooth and intuitive. Press throttle - goes faster. Press brake - slows down. Automatic so you don't need to balance clutch in traffic.

Power. Was struggling to get the speed consistent but figured it out in the end. "Normal" mode puts up an Eco-meter, which tells you if you're being naughty (Power sector), being nice (Eco sector) or slowing down (Charge sector). Motorway cruise was mostly in the Being Nice sector with power available when it was needed.

Overtaking. I like my cars to have "lean on throttle" power. That's where you're stuck behind someone at 50 (slow) and spot a gap. "Lean on" power means you can overtake without using too much throttle. The hybrid works well here because you get a hefty boost of power from the battery and motor.

All the rest - it's just so refined. Need to figure out the ventilation system to keep the inside comfortable.

Sound system ? Very impressed. My phone hooked up to it quickly which makes me hope that the Test Match Special via phone trick will work :-) Ipod integration definitely works well. All it needed was plugging it in. Easy as that. Byebye FM transmitter !

The satnav works but with just 5 memory locations plus "home", I'll be bringing bits of paper with postcodes.

That's quite a few first impressions isn't it ?

Closing out with a hope that I'll get used to Smart Entry (unlocking without clicking anything) quickly because it may make me Ultra Paranoid.