Smooth Operator: The 2020 Lexus ES 300h

The 2020 Lexus ES 300h.

In this time of uncertainty and stress, it's nice to know there's the 2020 Lexus ES 300h.  If you comb through the back posts of TireKicker (now that we all have some extra time), you'll find frequent praise for this car over the past 12 years, and the new one is the best yet.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T: The 2018 Lexus ES 300h

The 2018 Lexus ES 300h.

One of the hardest things to do is a smaller, reasonably-priced luxury car.  Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar...they've all had swings and misses on that score.  Arguably, the Lexus ES 300 originally fell into that category.  It was, largely, a Toyota Camry with richer-looking paint colors,  a leather interior and copious amounts of sound deadening insulation.

That changed five years ago, when the ES was moved to the Avalon platform and took advantage of the greater interior room to create a true luxury car.  We've been a fan ever since.  And of the available trims of the ES, our favorite is the ES 300h hybrid.

Hybrid Unassailability: The 2017 Lexus ES 300h

The 2017 Lexus ES 300h.

Less than a month ago, I wrote that the 2017 Lexus ES350 was "the unassailable choice"...one of a handful of cars that there is no plausible downside to buying.  The hybrid version of the ES350, the ES 300h---yes, there is a space between "ES" and "300h", where there is none in the "ES350"---is the same car with the added benefits of lower emissions and higher fuel economy estimates, without the financial penalty that often comes with hybrid ownership.

Smart Money: The 2016 Lexus ES 300h

The 2016 Lexus ES 300h.

The cost or cost saving of owning a hybrid is a difficult thing about which to make a blanket statement. Some cost so much more than the non-hybrid equivalent and improve fuel economy by such a small percentage that it will take 11 years or more to pay for itself in gasoline saved.

Then, there's the Lexus ES 300h, which makes the math extremely compelling.

Penciling Out: The Case For The 2015 Lexus ES 300h

The 2015 Lexus ES 300h Hybrid.

Yesterday's review of the 2015 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Limited Platinum and the 11.6 years it would take you to recoup the cost of it over the gasoline version in fuel savings may have some of you thinking hybrids are a bad deal or that Toyota doesn't know how to price them or get the best fuel savings from them.  Not true, as the 2015 Lexus ES 300h illustrates.

How The Lexus ES 300h Isn't Just A Re-Badged Toyota Avalon Hybrid

The 2014 Lexus ES 300h.

Choice is among the things that make America great.  It can also make life difficult, or at the very least confusing.

A wonderful example is the Lexus ES 300h.  Based on the same platform as the Toyota Avalon Hybrid of which Michael is enamored enough to buy, given the wherewithal, powered by the same hybrid system of a 2.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine and a High Output Permanent Magnetic Drive electric motor with a continuously variable transmission and promising the same EPA fuel economy rating of 40 miles per gallon city, 39 highway, it has a base price $2,050 lower than the Avalon Hybrid, a nicer interior and a more prestigious nameplate.

Why would you buy the Toyota?

New Car Review: 2013 Lexus ES 300h Hybrid



When Lexus introduced the ES, its entry-level model, 23 years ago, there was no mistaking what it was: A Toyota Camry swathed in leather and wood, painted in richer colors than the donor family sedan could be ordered in and loaded up with sufficient sound-deadening material to make the interior quieter than any other Japanese car of the time, save the big-brother LS sedan.

Despite the rather pedestrian roots, the formula worked…so much so that Lexus hasn’t bothered to do much more over the past couple of decades than take the latest-generation Camry and give it the above-mentioned treatment.

Until now.