If an electrified luxury sedan is on your agenda, in our neck of the woods the Lexus ES Hybrid is the smart play.
To be sure, various critics will point to all-electric things of beauty such as the Tesla Model S, Porsche Taycan, or the gob-smackingly good Polestar 2. All are amazing in their ways, none burn a drop of gasoline, but none can claim to be as well built or as easily serviced as the hybrid Lexus ES.
The big problem with all-electric cars is that if a nationwide, fast-charging network were the Intercontinental Railroad, we-re still at the Sacramento-Chicago stage. To be sure, companies like EVgo and Electrify America are building out the network quickly, and the effort will receive a huge shot in the arm of President Biden's Infrastructure Plan makes it through Congress but, as with broadband deployment, money follows the money.
For example, a Department of Energy locater map of E-fueling stations looks like my grandmother's pin cushion in North Dallas, but there are only three sites between Royse City, Texas, and Benton, Arkansas. One of those, at Olive Garden in Texarkana, services only Tesla, the only manufacturer that chose not to standardize its connection hardware with everyone else in the solar system.
A Tesla Charger works only on a Tesla, so for those HD pickup drivers who get their grins parking in a spot designated for that purpose, go ahead. It is more likely that you will buy a lottery ticket this week than an actual Tesla owner will come along and need that spot.
All things considered, then, the smart way to limit your car's carbon footprint and your gasoline charges on your credit card is with a hybrid. At an EPA-estimated 44 mpg, a Lexus ES Hybrid will get about 572 miles on the 13 gallons of standard unleaded in its tank.
Gas stations are everywhere and will be for the next 20 or so years. Although electric vehicles will soon comprise ever-growing shares of new vehicle sales in just the next two or three years, the nation replaces around 5 percent of its fleet in a given year. Mechanics, parts stores, junk yards, tow trucks all of that will be around for a few decades.
Hybrid makes sense
Hybrids reduce the costs of ownership in manifest ways. Besides cutting gas use in half, the electric motor component is highly durable ever see a ceiling fan and reduces the load on the engine and transmission by more than 25 percent.
The batteries that power the system are nothing like the one that starts a gas engine. They are proving to be highly durable and servicing them is becoming easier and less expensive. Toyota/Lexus now warranty hybrid components for 8 years/100,000 miles and the batteries for 10 years/150,000 miles. Tell that to the person calling to sell you an extended warranty.
Value leader
Serene as a summer's eve, filled with high-grade materials, and the epitome of safety and durability, the Lexus ES series of entry-level executive sedans has been winning converts to the brand for three decades.
The reason is simple: value. Starting at $41,900, the ES Hybrid enters the game a solid $5,000 or more below German competitors like the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5-series, yet matches them in road manners and checks off all the boxes buyers in this niche expect: a plush and tranquil cabin, electronic sophistication, state-of-art safety, superior craftsmanship.
According to Consumer Reports, no other midsized luxury car matches it for reliability. To be fair, we think a couple of others are solid value propositions. The Genesis G80 and Lincoln MKZ both ride and drive remarkably well, though both falls a notch below the ES in fuel economy. The Genesis is more expensive than the ES, the MKZ less.
For buyers concerned about fuel economy and marketing research indicates Lexus buyers most certainly are the ES 300h, is a head-turner. It's not as fast as the gas-powered version, taking 8.9 seconds to reach 60, which feels plenty quick, but averages around 4 mpg.
The ES hybrid comes in three trim levels, base, Luxury, and Ultra Luxury (base price $50,190). Our tester was an Ultra Luxury with a wireless charger ($75.00) a 10.2-inch Head-Up Display ($500), triple-Beam LED headlamps ($1,515), and a Navigation/Mark Levinson Audio Package ($1,050).
Add in a $1,025 delivery charge and the sticker topped out at $55,005.
And it was worth every penny. The head-up display shows the speed limit and current speed, keeping the driver's eyes on the wheels.
Everything one sees, hears, or touches in this car speaks of quality and safety. From subtle contrast stitching to the feel of the roof liner, to the synthesized look of an asymmetric dash, the attention to detail is breathtaking
As a luxury sedan should be, it is smooth, strong, and whisper-quiet, especially around town where a great deal of its work is done with electric power alone.
The ES 300h hybrid drive system does a remarkable job eliminating the rubber-band feel of most hybrid systems, thanks to a control system that more closely matches engine speed with road speed to deliver a more linear feel to acceleration.
We still are not fans of Lexus' fussy touchpad control system, but the important functions are found on redundant switches and knobs.
Flowing from the latest iteration of Lexus' signature grille and slit headlamps that are downright sexy, the ES has a dynamic yet fluid shape. A low hood line and acutely angled A- and C-pillars. Some advanced panel stamping gives it interesting and muscular looks at all four corners.
The car has an 0.26 drag coefficient, which is the slipperiest thing this side of a garter snake. That's another reason the ES has great fuel economy, the result of a complex logarithm whose single greatest variable is drag.
Bottom line: For the money, it's easy to argue that the Lexus ES Hybrid is the best car on the road.