miop4000

I'm no hybrid hater. Have a CT 200h and love the car. Recently drove a NX 300h base model and drive was quite perky.

Last week my 200t fsport was having its first service and they gave me a 300h fsport. This car was identical in spec to mine. It's fully loaded which means the heaviest NX spec.

I was surprised at how sluggish the car ran. With 2 people on board, it was slow. Acceleration was casual even in S+ mode. I kept checking the hybrid visual to see if the electric motor was kicking in. All seemed OK.

The real fuel use, not what's on the sticker, was 7.5l/100kms. Not great and I was driving highway.

I worked out that in the real world the hybrid would save me $15/wk over the turbo in fuel. In Australia the hybrid is $6000 more than the turbo although this difference is reduced to $3000 at the point of purchase because of a lower luxury car tax(don't ask).

I would only get ahead in costs in the 5th year of ownership.

I guess that's why they don't offer the fsport hybrid in the US as I think Americans would find the vehicle unacceptable.

corradoMR2

I'm on my third Lexus hybrid and the appeal is not the ROI but in the smooth and quiet drivetrain.

Mr645

Hybrids never really are worth in from a financial standpoint. Even from an environmental view, by the time the metals are mined, mostly in Canada, shipped to China, made into batteries, shipped to Japan, cars built, and cars shipped to the US, the energy spent moving things around the world mean you have t drove about 50,000 miles to save the emissions from all of that as compared to buying a car build in the USA

TechNut

Agreed. The economics may help offset the extra cost of the hybrid, but I doubt they would ever make up the difference. This is especially true if we consider the eventual replacement cost of the battery (assuming we keep the vehicle that long). As CorradoMR2 stated, there are other benefits.

NXOwner

Not only the traction battery, but the "little" 12-v starter/accessory battery costs a premium, too. Toyota (Lexus) says it's required. It is discouraged to buy just any ole Sears Die Hard battery. My ex (and other hybrid owners that I know) all say that replacement batteries like that costs close to $500 USD (mid-to-upper 400's).

TechNut

Yikes. I had no idea. It just occurred to me that we have never had to replace one of the 12V batteries as we have never had one of our hybrids over five years. My wife says we aren't buying another new one for a long time though. We'll see...

dacommitte

I too was faced with the dilemma about wanting the NX300h over the 200t but after analyzing the math (thanks to this forum) I could just not justify the additional thousands and thousands to purchase the 300h. Additionally, I prefer the looks of the F-Sport over the 300h. The cheapest hybrids I was able to locate in my surrounding dealerships were loaded to the gills and had sticker prices of 48 - 52K depending on dealer markups. And dealerships would not go anything below these prices. My F-sport had a sticker price of 43K and close to 2K of "dealer add-ons" but I was able to get it down to 41k with the help of a broker. I drive about 17,000 miles per year and even with that amount of driving the ten grand in difference simply did not justify the increased gas mileage of the hybrid.

ishimoto

I definitely would say NX200t in the USA. In Europe it is different the NX 300h price starts with USD 45,000.- and the NX 200t price with USD 73,000.-. Hybrid is lower in Tax and Insurance, and turbo or more Horsepower is expensive. to buy a RC-F with 400+ PS no way the car cost here about USD 133,000.-

so it really depends on the country, but here the 300h pay off much easier. Gasoline price is higher as in the US, Insurance and Tax is cheaper for the hybrid. Also the car price is much cheaper.