Kirill-HH

Yeah, I bought used CT half a year ago, and still think that for me it was the best choice of the used car. Good to read more confirmations that I made a correct decision. It's reliable, safe, is a premium brand, has great looks (this is of course "Geschmacksache"), not very big which helps to avoid additional hassle with parking, very comfortable driving because of hybrid engine and automatic transmission, practical due to being a hatchback, not particularly expensive (5-7 year old CT has same price as used golf/polo/audi a1/bmw 1, even 1-2 year old kia rio has similar price), and you're unique on the road 🙂 A genius choice - took me a lot of years to stumble across it.

Moin, vielen Dank für die Antworten. Good to know that the roads are fine and others drive CT in mountains without problems. No wonder I never used mode "B" - it's pointless in Hamburg 😄 I googled now a bit and found out that this mode is primarily designed for breaking on downhills, so thanks for the hint. Regarding Furkapass, yeah, it has lots of great spots and amazing views. According to Google Maps, there are a bit more narrow roads and more traffic, so for the first time I guess I'll stick with a somewhat simpler Andermatt-Chur drive, and save Furkapass for the next time 🙂

Hello, In July I'm planning to drive from Hamburg all the way down to Switzerland and Austria with Lexus CT200h. The most challenging part will be the drive from Zurich to Chur via Andermatt and Oberalppass (A2 and Route 19). It has a bunch of curly mountain roads and there will be 4 persons in the car with some luggage. Could anyone please say, if CT can cope well on such roads especially with long up- and downhill drives? I know that when you drive a car with manual transmission, you need to switch to lower/higher gear in order to assist breaking or getting to speed when driving up/down. But I'm not sure how the hybrid engine behaves because it has no gears. Should I pay any special attention to it, or drive in a special manner (like switching to some special mode, trying to press brakes more/less when driving downhill)? Also does anyone know if that route is particularly dangerous or any special precautions should be taken while driving there (apart from keeping in your lane and not racing)? I'd be happy to hear any advice. You can reply in German if you prefer 🙂 Danke

Ja, das kann Ich mir vorstellen, aber ich habe das Auto noch nicht abgeholt, deswegen habe Ich zurzeit leider kein Handbuch. Oh, danke! Ist es notwendig zum Lexus/Toyota Werkstatt fahren oder kann man zum beliebigen Service fahren um Radwechsel mit Anlernen/Umprogrammierung zu machen?

Moin LOC, jetzt versuche Ich auf Deutsch zu schreiben, so entschuldigen Sie bitte für jegliche Fehler. Ich bekomme bald einen CT BY2013 der hat Reifendruckkontrollsystem. Es gibt bereits Sommer/Winter Felgensätze mit Reifen. Bis jetzt hatte ich nie Autos mit RDKS und ich weiß nicht wie wechselt man Sommer/Winter Räder die RDKS haben. Soll ich unbedingt zu Lexus/Toyota fahren? Oder ATU/reifen.com/etc. können Räder mit RDKS auch wechseln? Auch ich wohne in Hamburg, kennt jemand gute Reifenservice hier? Viele Grüße, Kirill

Thanks, I never heard those German words 🙂 Actually I was recently on a test drive of CT and measured ground clearance. So tips of the front and rear bumpers are also about 20cm above the ground, which is good, so I'm calm about that now. Interestingly, there are not a lot of decent options on the market, and even less available at the official Lexus Dealers. Would it be still a sane idea to buy used CT from Toyota shop and get a 2 year regular Gebrauchtwagengarantie?

It's funny, but in the technical specification docs for my Fabia I couldn't find data for ground clearance. Searching online I found different numbers between 14 and 15 cm. But I always had a feeling that it has a higher clearance, so I measured it today, and saw that tip of the front and rear bumpers is 20 cm above the ground. I understand that somewhere underneath the car there are lower points, but at least the bumpers can easily go above the Kantstein. This is especially helpful when you drive over the Kantstein not from the side, but at 90 degrees - in this case the wheel meets the Kantstein only after the bumper is above it. I saw that CTs have different models with 15-16-17 inch wheels, different suspension and different bumpers, so I guess for me it will be better to measure ground clearance for bumpers when test driving a particular car.

Oh yeah, that's a funny typo 😂 I wanted to write 13-14cm 🙂 Nevertheless, isn't it too low for the city?

Yep. As I was told in the Lexus Forum Hamburg, the Lexus Select warranty covers 100% of materials and work (if the broken part is under warranty of course) and will cost about 1200eur for 3 years. Which doesn't seem that particularly expensive considering how much the repair will cost if something serious will get broken. And they told that there is also some regular "Gebrauchtwagengarantie" which costs about 150eur per year, covers less parts than Lexus Select, covers 100% of work and for every 10tkm over 50tkm I'll have to pay 10% for materials. By the way, I saw that ground clearance (or another term "ride height") is only about 13-14mm in CT200h. Isn't it too small for the city? Is it enough to ride over "Kantstein" when parking?

Cool, thanks, I researched about "Gewährleistung" and now I understand that it's not the same as warranty. I'll have to figure out for myself if having 1-2-3 years of warranty will make sense for me.

Moin Leute, thanks a lot for a quick and informative replies. 1. I usually drive not more than once a week (no real need, lots of places are easily accessible by foot or it's easier to take an U-Bahn rather than hunting for the parking spot). But I see that there is a hope that the car will be fine 🙂 2. Yeah, I'm planning to definitely do a necessary service checks every year. Dealer at the Lexus Forum Hamburg told that for CT the normal service costs vary between €300 and €650 (highest price being for 90tkm check) and it's fine because I anyways pay the same for upkeeping my old Fabia 😄 By the way, would you recommend to do service checks at Lexus or Toyota? 3., 4. Would you personally pick Lexus Select Warranty or a regular Gebrauchtwagengarantie? I guess the benefit of Lexus Select is that it covers more parts and the car can be then fixed by Lexus Werkstatt, but the downside is that it's more expensive and in order for this warranty to work I need to do all the service and repairs only at the Lexus Dealer. With a regular Gebrauchtwagengarantie I'll pay less for it, it will still cover most important parts and I will not be bound only to the Lexus Dealer for service and repairs. Or did I get it completely wrong? Also it's sad that there are not that many used CTs on a market and very few near Hamburg. So I guess it will take some time to find a decent one. But I'm not in a hurry anyways.

Hello, I live in Hamburg and at the moment drive 2005 Skoda Fabia. I'm now looking for something a bit higher level, nice looking, quite compact but not a boring usual choice like Golf or A1-A3 (just my taste), also having a good handling, being very reliable, without a need to throw in tons of money every year to fix it. And so far CT200h looks like a really interesting option. I'm also not interested in a race car, if it can drive with 170km/h on Autobahn - that's enough for me. I don't care much about fuel consumption (unless it's more than 15L per 100km) and I like CT200h not because it's a Hybrid, but because of the original aggressive looks, quality and potential reliability (according to what I've read online), good ride comfort, being unique on the road and having a good feeling of finally getting a decent car 🙂 I have several questions, it would be good if someone can help me out with them. You can reply in German, I understand most of the stuff, it's just writing complex texts for me is still much easier in English. 1. I use public transportation for a daily commute, thus using a car mainly on a weekends, sometimes might drive only 1-2 times in a month. And in a year I drive about 5-6tkm. Will such driving mode be negative for the car, especially for the Hybrid Drive and battery? 2. If I'll buy a 2012 CT200h with about 90tkm with all services done on time and having "Scheckheftgepflegt" (like this one), how high is the chance that I'll be able to drive it 4-5 years without big issues? Or is 7 years and 90tkm is already too much for this car? 3. Would you recommend buying only directly from the Lexus dealer, or is it okay to buy from other "Händlers" as well? (for example, this and this look like a nice choices) I just want a higher possibility that car is in a good condition, and also having some additional warranty for a used Lexus would be great. 4. On the official Lexus website I see they're offering "Lexus Select Extended Warranty" for the used cars. Is it something worth getting into? I heard that Lexuses are pretty reliable, but if something gets broken, repair costs might be quite expensive. 5. Anyone had experience with Lexus Forum Hamburg, how is the service there? Do they try to rip you off and upsell you unnecessary services, or doing service for the car without proper quality? 6. Does anybody know if it is popular by a car thiefs? Vielen Dank!