The new Lexus CT200h hatchback represents a world of firsts for the luxury Lexus brand. Ray Leathern was lucky enough to be one of the first to sample it.
The company renowned the world over for its meticulous build quality and customer satisfaction awards, has made a brave leap towards the volume car sector. The Lexus CT200h is their first front wheel drive car, their first four cylinder car In South Africa and their first hatchback, and unlike previous Lexus offerings it’s only available with a full hybrid drivetrain. This shows Lexus’s faith in its Toyota based hybrid technology, or more specifically, their faith in consumer uptake of hybrid technology. The question is: will it manage to retain that pearlescent glow of Lexus customer satisfaction; that second to none, velvet handshake that only they can offer?
What is it? To find out if it does, we need to strip away the CT200h’s surprisingly substantial (the pictures don’t do it justice – this is a big car) body, where we will find the exact same running gear as the Toyota Prius. A fully beltless 1.8-litre, four cylinder, petrol engine that combines with an electric motor and a maximum 650V battery to deliver drive through an E-CVT gearbox. The petrol engine operates with the help of an ‘Atkinson Cycle’ that regulates the level of combustion in the cylinders and an exhaust heat recovery system that maintains maximum cooling efficiency. All this is exactly as you’d find in the current, third generation Prius and so are the performance and consumption figures. A maximum of 100 kW from both power sources, torque of 142 Nm from the petrol engine and 207 Nm from the electric motor, 94 g/km of CO2 and a return of 4.1 L/100km. The only thing that differs is the Lexus power control unit that governs how all this electronic witchcraft is brought together. Its more ‘sporty’ and more refined than in a Toyota Prius. However, we’ll return to this issue of ‘sportiness’ later.
What’s it like? Lexus is a premium marque, and while customer service at a competitor German brand can sometimes resemble a visit to the post office – Lexus is the type of company that offers you their dealership boardroom for business meetings, or sends its customers Christmas hampers every Yule tide. They specialise in that velvet handshake kind of experience and the CT200h does not disappoint on that front. It’s a more substantial product than I was expecting and it sticks to Lexus’s core values. The interior of a Prius is made from the plastic of a R50 swing-top bin from Hypermarket, but the steering wheel in a CT200h is inspired by the bonkers LFA supercar, so is the raised facia and centre console, the seats are leather so they are soft and comfortable, the doors oblige with a hefty ‘…ttthump’ when you close them and all the interfaces and controls operate with a glassy finesse like you’re fine tuning your home theatre system. And if you have the ‘convenience package’ fitted it’ll have Sat-nav, voice activation, an interactive calendar, and all the other goodies a typical Lexus owner will never understand or use.
Will it break the bank? Here’s where it gets a little tricky. Because Lexus are only a premium brand, so it’s understandable that they only ask premium prices for their products. The CT200h S-grade will set you back R343 300 and its bog standard. The CT200h F-Sport includes 17-inch rims, some spoilers, extra badging, aluminium pedals and what Lexus like to call ‘performance dampers’, and that will set you back R398 500. And finally the top of the pile F-Sport with the convenience package (Sat-nav, 10 speaker sound system, remote touch interface, etc) will retail for R434 200. Expensive for a four cylinder hatchback, sure, but if you compare it to the R387 500 Toyota Prius ‘Exclusive’ model also with Sat-nav, you could argue the leap up in pricing for a velvety Lexus doesn’t seem all that extravagant.
Finally, what’s it like to drive? Here I’m afraid, is where the refreshing Lexus takes leave of its senses. This new obsession manufacturers of hybrids (Honda and the CR-Z) have with claiming ‘sporty’ performance is completely at odds with the actual finished product. The CT200h is heavier than the Prius and as an F-Sport is specified with ‘performance dampers’ and 17-inch, 215 wide tyres, yet it has the exact same power and torque output. The exact torque figure cannot be determined, Lexus say, because of the ever changing E-CVT’s interface between two drive sources; but never mind because whatever the maximum torque figure is, its not enough to deliver ‘sportiness’. Even in full sport mode with the dials showing red, the CT200h never feels urgent enough and the grippy tyres aren’t challenged in the slightest, off the line or if you corner vigorously. The ride is also made to feel quite jarring on the big wheel and tyre combination and the steering, while providing feedback has no challenges to overcome so it’s left feeling totally redundant. The CT200h is as sporty as a beer belly pulling on a Springbok jersey for a Saturday visit to the pub and thinking he’s a fully fledged Springbok.
Verdict? I feel bad criticizing the CT200h for its lack of sporting prowess because the F-Sport spoilers and wheels do lift the overall package quite nicely from a visual point of view. But if we could’ve given Lexus some constructive feedback before the launch we would have told them to leave ‘sport’ off all their marketing style guides and gone for more conventional Lexus words like ‘premium’ or ‘exclusive’ instead. Thankfully those are still in attendance for the CT200h.
| Pricing | |
| Lexus CT200h S-Grade | R343 300 |
| Lexus CT200h F-Sport | R398 500 |
| Lexus CT200h F-Sport (Convenience Pack) | R434 200 |
Pricing includes a 4-year/100 000km warranty and service plan.
Ray Leathern has been test driving and critiquing cars for four years now. You’ll find his work at autocirca.com, the Mail & Guardian and of course, right here on SACarFan.
