Decisions ... and perhaps a little wandering

I have a decision to make ...

Soon ! At the weekend perhaps even. And it could lead to .... more decisions ....

So - what is it ?

Shiny ? More shiny ?

The car gets serviced at the weekend, which will put me in the showroom about 6 months before the finance period on my current car finishes. Which means .... the sales people will really want me to acquire another new car.

What do I think of the IS300h I have now ? It's an awesome car. There are only a couple of things I would criticize with it :

The boot is pretty big but it's no hatchback. The car is a saloon style which means no really big things to go in there. It has a split folding rear seat but it's far from the flat folding arrangement that made the CT boot into a cavern.

The other thing is the seats, my back doesn't really get on well with the seats. I can still do the 3 hour to and from my parents without needing a break but my back has been stiffening up more of late and I'm pretty sure the car seats have something to do with that.

What are the options ?

Time for another pic :

That's my last car, which was another really good car. It was my introduction to Lexus and Hybrids and it was a pretty good introduction. Their customer service is excellent and I saw that across two garages, the one in Cheltenham and the one in Lincoln. You are made to feel much more welcome than what I'm used to, more welcome than the sheep dip approach other garages have.

The CT was an excellent car but it was a bit slow for me. The thing about the hybrids is that they will give you exactly what you ask for. Ask to go quick, it'll give you everything its got. Settle into a cruise and it's chill out time. Pootle along in traffic and it'll decide whether or not the engine should be on. But there is a limit there and the CT just didn't have enough power for me.

The IS is definitely more pokey. The CT does the 60mph thing in 10 seconds, the IS does it in 8. That's a bit more like my style.

There are faster hybrids too. Let's see ... the GS450h (bigger car, bigger engine and motors) goes to 60 in 5.9 seconds and it will do that every time you ask it to do that. A conventional car is limited by how you are as a driver, how you handle those clutch and gear changes. The bigger car is also less economical and costs more. It has much more power than I'm interested in having available. I'd miss the economy and cheaper insurance while not using the extra speed much.

One alternative is the GS300h. It uses the same engine and motors as my IS300h, it's just bigger and has more toys. This means it's also slower and thirstier. But ... those toys !!!! Intriguing. It's not actually that much bigger too. 3cm wider and 20cm longer, although that is that little bit much bigger than a car which I already find to be on the upper end of Big for what I like to drive around in. And Park. The IS would be difficult to park, although the camera turns parking into child's play.

They also have a sporty coupe with ... the same mechanicals as my car. That's the RC300h. Not sure about this one. It's pretty much the same car but slightly slower and less economical.

Everything else Lexus have is either too expensive or not really what I want. My sister has one of their NX smaller SUVs but ... too big for me.

I'll see what they have on offer but you can probably tell ... I'm very tempted.

We'll see what appears at the weekend. I'd like to be off the treadmill of a new car every 3 years. Yep. It's good to have New Shinies but ... it does cost. And I'd like to be able to start putting money aside for a boat.

I also have a bad back though and the facelifted cars have better seats. We shall see.

Toot Toot !

Oh ! Before I go. The garage trip is likely to lead to a wander around the Cheltenham town too. It's a good place. And it's a sign that my outsides are finally deciding to heal up. There's still a fair bit of damage to heal up but ... getting ever closer. Close enough that I don't have too many concerns about wandering around the town centre for a few hours.

I just hope I have the energy !