After over three and a half years of trusty service, the old Lexus GS300 (which had its 19th birthday last month) has been replaced with a not quite so old Lexus RX 450h. (This is 2011 vintage.) The 'h' means hybrid so I am now officially an eco-warrior. We'll ignore the 3.5 litre petrol-powered V6 the car also has.
The old Lexus was not deemed to be worth much. At all. The dealer gave me £350 for it and even then said he had no idea what he'd actually do with it.
I'm an old man now, my sporty car days are behind me, from here on forward it's all about the comfort and waftiness.
Also, the hybrid element appears not to be a total con. If you're not going very far, or very fast, it will do the whole lot on battery power (sometimes), the rest of the time it tries to assist the engine with the electric motors where it can. It's self-charging so there's no faffing about plugging it in, but maximum range on battery power alone is 2 miles tops (and that was when it was brand new), so it's very much an electric assist sort of deal, rather than you can drive around on battery power at will.
Still, it is quite nifty to be able to do short distances with no engine running at all, or in stop start traffic it'll just turn the engine off and do it on the battery, that sort of thing.
I was very impressed with the old GS300, but it was getting a bit tired, hence the change, but also sticking to Lexus - as I think they are very good cars.
Attachment:
lexoos.jpg