Looked at the CT and I liked it, but the wife complains it's too small. We ended up trading our near brand new Prius for a HS250h. Well, cost us a bit more, but we are happy with the new ride. Good bye for now and you all have a great time modding and driving your Prius! Still the best and most economical hybrid on the road!
I won a one week test drive of it and had it during Thanksgiving 09. I never did get around to writing my impressions of it, but basically it felt very solid, felt like it handled better than my 2nd gen Prius (not so hard to do that) and I liked the extra power. The interior is of FAR better quality than any Prius of any gen (no surprise). Also see http://priuschat.com/forums/lexus-hybrids/90972-lexus-hs-250h-customizations-if-equipped-w-nav.html and http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-h...h-wins-wards-interior-year-award-hybrids.html. HS has some available features unavailable on any Prius. If in some fantasy world Toyota offered to take my 06 Prius off my hands and give me the HS I test drove instead, I'd probably say yes.
Damn, someone just defected! well, you are going to love the HS 250h. As a previous owner of an ES 300, there is something about a Lexus that make other luxury cars feel kind of noisy and clunky. You are going to enjoy this vehicle everytime you get in the car, beautiful instrumentation. I avoided the CT for being too small and now I am waiting for a Prius plug-in or a 2012 Lexus ES 300h. I don't know when the ES 300h will be out.
My impressions are: interior is very much nicer (we have NAV and upgraded sound system), solid ride (ours come with sports suspension) and more power + low end torque which I missed driving the Prius of course at the expense of less gas mileage.
Yeah im about to sell my Prius 2010 Touring for a CT200h touring as well, i want a more european driving feeling!
OMG! Yes it is! :rockon: The the cars I trade/sell are almost brand new, in fact in showroom condition.
We traded in our '06 Prius on a 2010 HS250h Premium with Sport Package this past January. We are quite happy with our choice. The Lexus was a demo with low kms. With the $5000 cash back offer at the time, plus the discount for it being a demo, we paid less for the Lexus than we had for our Prius. I had considered a 3G Prius, but after having rented one last summer, I didn't feel the difference between it and our 2G was large enough to justify the expense. The CT200h wasn't out yet, so I never had a chance to see one in person, let alone test drive one. The HS is quieter, much more powerful, and handles better than our Prius. It is especially enjoyable on long trips. The downside is poorer fuel economy (although it is still very fuel efficient relative to other "luxury" cars) and more expensive dealer service charges. One thing I do miss was the ability to fold down the Prius' rear seats. Since there isn't even a pass-through from the trunk, carrying long objects (like our x-country skis) is a problem with the Lexus. For anyone interested, there is an HS250h forum at HS 250h Model - Club Lexus Forums.
Nice congrats! It is a very nice car on the inside. Wow.. $35k. Yeesh. What did you do with your mods?
Yeah well its 35 000$ but you still get good interest rate when you buy a used toyota with Toyota Credit........ so you dont have to finance at 7% with the bank.....
I too am considering a HS250 and would like to know how they are holding up, now the 2010 are 5 years old. Can anyone please advise how ownership is going on their HS250?
It's a larger car. Large compact/small midsize kind of size. It's also a bit quicker (187hp net hybrid power from the 2.4 litre 2AZ-FXE) so if you're not carrying a lot of cargo that require a hatchback configuration, the HSh is a better buy than the ESh (mostly because it'll be cheaper). There are also more Lexus touches on the HS vs. the CT. (felt-lined pillars, leather-wrapped overhead assist grips etc)
