Had to drop off the g/f's car to have something looked at the other day and the dealership lent me a CT200h F Sport for the day. Yes it has no place being compared with a 3 Series, but you can't help drawing comparisons about certain things so thought I'd bore you all with a few musings...
Good points:
- There's a toggle switch for the mirrors, auto/off. When set to auto the mirrors fold/unfold automatically when the car is locked/unlocked. Think I actually prefer this to holding the lock button on the keyfob (which I always figure will drain the keyfob battery faster).
- Build quality is up there with the best. Car didn't rattle, creak, etc. Switch gear all very nice soft-touch stuff.
- Quiet window/mirror motors. I'd say the motors BMW uses are louder.
- Little wind noise (when I eventually got to 70mph).
- Rear view camera screen incorporated into rear view mirror. When it's off the mirror appears to be just a bog standard mirror. Nice touch for those without a nav screen.
- Stock sound system is better than the F30 stock sound system (although DAB reception around Sussex/Surrey wasn't too hot).
Bad points:
- Utterly utterly gutless. After a few miles of trying to make reasonable progress I just gave up and settled back into plodding along. 316i ES owners would eat this thing for breakfast.
- Low profile tyres gave it a ridiculously crashy/jarring ride. My 18s feel positively serene by comparison.
- Tyre noise. Was expecting the car to be quiet but tyre noise was much worse than my F30. Quite intrusive which is rather un-Lexus like.
- Gear lever is this weird handle that just looks
- USB audio port sits in the centre console and has this stupid flap over it that has to be open if you have a USB stick plugged in. Looked very untidy and would be easily knocked/broken.
- Poor rear visibility, again worse than an F30.
- I covered over 250 miles mostly on country roads and got 44.1mpg. For 'gentle' driving with few stops/starts that's nowhere near the claimed 68.9 combined mpg figure, and it's only around 6mpg better than my 328i. Sure there's lots of variables but I expected better from a hybrid that is marketed as 'green'.
- Foot operated parking brake - hate 'em!
Eventually decided this car is the automotive equivalent of a wig - pretending to be something it isn't.