what does the ct200h have that a loaded Prius doesn't have?

nah, europeans dont require sporty cars, thats just a myth .

German media pretty much loves Prius and everyone else does, including handling. Problem is high price due to customs and taxes, so Prius competes with Avensis, Passat, C5, etc, but its base pricing is up to 20% bigger and actually equals base A4's, 3's and C's.

 

CT200h did extremely well here for the launch month, outselling A3 TDI by 9 to 1 ratio.

 

My only complaints with my 2011 Prius are ride quality (feel all the bumps) and road noise. Does the Lexus CT200h ride significantly better and quieter?

 

Might try new tires. Made a world of difference on mine. That being said, there's no way it competes with the CT which has gotten pretty good reviews for ride AND handling.

 

Ditto that, about the ride and handling. Took one for a spin the other day, liked everything about the CT. It is NOT a Prius .

 

Alright, so I took another sit-o-rama in the CT just because.

No sun visor extender of any kind!!! This is not cool. (just called Lexus Customer Support about this)

On my Accord, the visor has a metal rod to extend and block sun at sides for driver and passenger. And does it make a difference when the sun is poking through? Absolutely. Simple device. Hands down, the CT ought to have this. At that price? I'm calling oversight on that.

With sunroof in the CT, there is almost as much headroom as in Accord Coupe, which is pretty good given size of the CT. The headliner handle ends up pretty close, but only notice when looking at it. Visibility is pretty darn good in the car. Must be because the seats can go down very low.

I can't find much fault in the car. Lexus said they only had the demo model. They are not taking deposits, but names on list. Demand is high they say.

Just browsing at CT. I'm good with the coupe.

 

Better build quality.

 

Not that you would need it, but a 48 month/50,000 mile basic warranty vs Prius' 36 month/36,000 mile basic warranty. And a powertrain warranty is for 72 months or 70,000 miles vs Prius' 60 month/60,000 miles.

 

I almost bought a Prius.I really wanted one,but it was just to uncomfortable to drive for me.

I went to look at the Honda Civic and that was even more comfortable then the Prius.I didn't buy cause I felt their hybrid system wasn't as good.Transmission wasnt very smooth.The Prius was far more seamless. The Honda's motor was more noticeable in the transition between stages.
After 3 weeks with multiple test drives and thinking,I bought the Ct200H.
The Lexus seating was the best for me. I do prefer the looks of the Lexus.It's styling does fit my personality better.
Either way,I'm happy to have the reliable Prius engine and drive train.

I hope the Prius family will accept me and not treat me as the red headed step child

 

Impressive 49.4 MPG you are averaging, per your signature.

 

Thanks, I feel I can do better.I see areas I can improve on. Need to learn better technique on pulse and glide.

 

Yeah congrats on the CT200h. After seeing it in person for the first time I too am impressed with you getting 49.4 on those wide performance tires. I still have an internal battle going on about the CT200h and the Prius Plug-In. Yeah I regard the CT200h as a Prius 4 with the Plus Package so me too, welcomes you to Prius Chat!

:welcome:

And just because you have a Lexus, don't forget to whine as much as we do. It's how the Prius and Lexus Hybrids get better.

 

Lexus Europe sells numbers are very far from germans luxury brands. We have the idea that lexus cars are expensive and with very limitation in options. If you have this idea in mind you will start considering that Lexus Europe needed a new entry level car in order to get attention from young people who will demand bigger cars in the future. Lexus need something different from what germans offer so they have introduced a hybrid car against everyday less popular diesel cars. Let see if this works well for Lexus but in my opinon it is the only way Lexus Europe has if wants to became a real player in luxury cars segment here in Europe.

 

The Prius seems so much better than the CT200h. Am i missing anything?[/QUOTE]

CLASS

 

I like the idea of having more luxurious materials, auto-off headlights, power seats, better stereo, better nav system with hard drive instead of the slower DVD system in the Prius plus better sound insulation to better hide tire and engine noise, but the cramped back seat and such a large drop in MPG with no performance boost kills it. It's actually slower.
I would give up a few MPG for noticeably quicker performance, but not for something slower than a Prius.

 

Well, as an owner of the CT200h I can speak to some of these points.

The interior is excellent, I have the caramel NuLuxe interior, and actually like it better than the leather option in the CT. Mostly I just wanted the nicely contrasting color, but this stuff really grows on you, and outsiders can't tell the difference from leather.

There is no major drop in MPG, if you drive it nicely you can pull 50mpg all day long. Mine isn't even broken in and I hit 50mpg (calculated) on the last tank. (510 miles, 10.2 gals out of 11.9 on the fill up).

Navigation system: Honestly it's pretty disappointing from the factory. They lock out a whole ton of options that should NOT be locked out because the vehicle is moving. I had to install a BeatSonic nav lockout bypass before it became acceptable. For example, they have a specific page up/page down button above the joystick. When I download a list of destinations to the car, I can't page up/down while the vehicle is moving. (Yet I can with previous destinations!). This was extremely annoying, as I use the vehicle for work, and go to 3 new destinations every day. So I'd hop in, start driving, download the new destinations, then couldn't select one without pulling over. I don't know enough about the Prius Nav to claim if the CT's is better or worse, but it certainly feels 'first generation' and I see it needs quite a bit of fixing from a computer programmers standpoint.

Auto-off headlights are nice. =]

Power seats? No. Try power 'seat'. Only the driver's seat is power, there is no option for the passenger's seat to be power that I've seen. No memory on mine either (maybe because I didn't get the technology package? No worries, I'm the only one who drives it usually).

Better sound insulation: I don't know about this one. I don't have enough seat time in a Prius to judge, but I feel the CT is fairly noisy, even stock. On the San Mateo Bridge I feel it's VERY noisy, but around town it's pretty acceptable. I think a lot of the road noise comes from the tyres, Michelin Primacy MXM4's. Very good handling, but also quite green. It's certainly a tradeoff worth it to me.

Sound system: The 10-speaker premium audio system is enough for many folks, but it was extremely lacking in bass for me. I added a JL Audio 10w6 subwoofer in a sealed enclosure powered by an Arc Audio 500.1 amplifier. Sound quality is now truly excellent, I'd put it a notch below my other vehicles with 'full' soundsystems where the head unit is replaced with a high quality unit, amps, and speakers. But I didn't want to remove the stock Lexus (Mark Levinson/Harmon Kardon) head unit, and with the way they've got that thing equalized replacing the stock Class D amp and 'bamboo' speakers just wasn't happening, I would have had to do a head unit, which was too invasive for me. We tried just the sub, and SQ was superb, so I stopped there.

Sport mode: This is a pretty huge difference. The throttle gets extremely responsive, and they car handles very, very well. It's got a good bit of push (understeer), but that's pretty normal for factory tuned FWD vehicles. I've got mine lowered with Road Magnet springs and have 16lb 17" wheels on there, and the handling is very satisfying. I could go for the F-Sport sway bars, but don't see a need. The 'lateral performance damper' really works well both for handling and quelling road vibrations. It's no IS-F, but the way I have it tuned it's just a couple notches short of that. The traction control does cut in too early if you get frisky (and yes ma'am, I do get frisky!!)

Enform: Worthless to me except I can download my destinations (very nice!). I also like having traffic updates directly in the Nav, although they're pretty poor at this point. Often I will be dead stopped in traffic, and the (@& damn thing cheerily reports: 'Stop and Go Traffic!' (No ***t! Really?!?)

As far as rattles, I don't know how the Prius is, but I've got no rattles in the CT. Any rattles I hear will be summarily hunted down and eliminated with dynamat or whatever means necessary.

Note: Mine is 100% a work vehicle that I expect to drive 30,000 miles per year, and has been modified for my needs. The rear seats have been removed entirely, and have been replaced by a locking cargo box, the subwoofer, and in the rear I have a sliding tray system with all the computer parts we use for repairs. Cargo space is NOT a problem for me at all, it's got a HUGE amount of space when done this way, but obviously I won't be carrying more than 2 people!

When people ask about the vehicle, I tell them 'Basically it's a Prius with a big 'L' on it'. So far absolutely everyone loves it, I even get people stopping by to complement the vehicle. One Prius Gen III owner said he'd trade his for it in a heartbeat, and he actually paid more for his Prius than I paid for the CT. (Maybe it was a V?).

Either way, if the CT hadn't come out I'd be VERY happy with a Prius PHV, but as the CT is out the vehicle suits my needs extremely well and I love the mileage and handling. Coming from a work vehicle that barely got 18-20mpg, I'm saving $300-$400/month in gas alone.

 

We drove the CT and really liked it. However, the interior room was significantly less than the Prius. Room and $4500 more made our decision. Great looking car and nice handling car, just not worth the extra money and giving up the space and mileage.

 

I drove the CT with NAV and premium sound system.
I also drove and Purchased a 2011 Prius IV with Solar/Nav

here are my Impressions and why I chose Prius.

The lexus is definitely nice, no doubt, but, it is $4K plus more than the prius.
The Lexus that I nearly purchased had VINYL seats, the "green leather" or what ever they call them.. I thought they were VERY cheesy. I could have gone leather for another 2K or so... making it 5-6 K more than Prius

The drive in the CT was ehhhh. it is a much smaller feeling vehicle, and the rear passenger side vent is NOISY!! I thought the window was open.

the Cargo space is tiny in the CT compared to the Prius

The Mileage is less than the Prius as well.

My Blizzard IV Solar prius has leather, a NIFTY solar roof/ac system great for Florida, a very respectable sound( JBL) sound system which can always be tweaked, and just out of this world mileage which is THE MAIN reason for purchasing a hybrid, SAVE MONEY.. so at the pump I save and my initial cost savings were extensive compared to the CT.

I love MY prius.. I wouldn't feel the love so much knowing I had to spend more money to get less mileage for the exact same technology.