LexFather

The 430 is in for some maintenance and the good folks at Hennessy Lexus of Gwinnett asked me what I would like as the service would take a couple days. I asked for a HS as I've reviewed and driven the IS/ES/RX extensively.

VVTi was nice enough to give me a quick informational on the car and explaining how to shift it. (Mike, make sure you push the PARK button, especially on a hill or you will be running after the car )

The loaner guy and myself walk around the car for any damage and its fine. I sign the forms and he also explains the shifter. He also says "hey I know you so if you feel the car isn't moving, there is nothing wrong its just slow" .

I hop in and it seems brand new. Well it is, 331 miles on the odometer. The exterior is silver opal mica and the interior is water grey. The combination is very friendly and the interior is bright as soon as you sit inside.

Looking at the configurator in my area, it is a base model with the heated seats/spoiler package for $640.

$34,200.00
• Standard Features
Available Packages
$640.00
•
Heated front seats with Additional Option

Accessory Options
$0.00
Delivery, Processing & Handling Fee†
$875.00
Total MSRP**
$35,715.00

(disclaimer estimate, this is what I THINK the car is, I am pretty sure)

Compared to other hybrids, the 400h/450h(s)/600h L this is a hybrid designed as a hybrid in mind first (Hell hence the name). Now having read reviews, knowing the power output (187 combined hp) and it being FWD (which is my least favorite drivetrain) I was expecting to be let down.

Well its day 3 and I really like this car!

First off it starts like any Lexus with the start/stop button which now has a blue tint compared to other Lexus. Its positioned high up on the dash but not to far away.

The car is QUIET. I mean QUIET. Having showed the car to a couple of people, the first question is "is it on"? Yes it is.: You notice how "airy" the car is. It looks familar. I would say SUV familar. If you have sat in a RX 300, this reminds me of it with the dash layout except it REALLY is sloped toward you. It really is lovely as everything is within easy reach, especially the radio controls. Since there is no NAV there is no remote touch mouse and instead is a small storage compartment. There is a gap from there to the armrest. The armrest is PERFECTLY placed and EXTENDS where you can rest your arm on it and easy reach the controls. Genius. In that gap are the cupholders with a wood face. Kind of out of place with the wood but no biggie (I think the greywood would have been a better look with this interior). There is a charger port and the ipod connector on the other side. So you can easily put your MPG player in the storage compartment while you play/charge it.

The dash has a blue background, not clear or green in other/older Lexus models which is nice. THere are chrome accents around and the double stitched, leather surround is a nice touch. I do wonder how it will hold up on the top of the dash after some hot summers. Overall this DOES NOT feel like a cheap car. I was really expecting it to but it didn't. Fit and finish was INCREDIBLE. I was really impressed with it, better than the IS to me.

The speedometer is fantastic. I believe it is now OLED and it VERY bright and I have not experienced any "wash out". I feel no one does the "star wars" gauges like Lexus does. On the steering wheel is a button you can toggle for tire pressure, your MPG, the engine/battery usage, etc. There is NO tach like in other hybrids but this battery gauge is really nice, with different levels for evo, norm and power use. I love it, its like an updated one in my 450h. Again, imagine it is a turbo gauge but for batteries or simply a tach for a battery. Pretty cool.

The steering wheel is FABULOUS. I really like the new steering wheel here, better than my 450h. The front "floats" ahead of the rest of the wheel. It is all leather and has a good feel to it.

Now the car has 3 modes, EV, ECO, Power. EV is battery use only and like my 450h can be used under 20MPH and when the battery if full. I like the fact you can ENGAGE it and keep it in EV mode. However if the battery is not full enough or you exceed the speed, if you press the EV button you will get a message "Speed exceeded for EV mode or EV mode cannot be engaged". This is great for driving around the mall, neighborhood, drive thru, etc. It doesn't go far in EV mode so don't expect to drive downtown in it.

Next is ECO mode which I call "Ohno" mode. That is b/c I am being silly as the car is very very slow to throttle inputs in this mode as it tries to get the best MPG. In this mode, the car feels like it has 100hp instead of 187. The base model weighs near 3700 lbs. To get you an idea of this weight, my 430 weighs 3750 lbs with a 300hp/325lbs torque V-8. So yeah arriving in the 430 and leaving in the 250h in ECO mode was SLOOOOOOW as it weighs nearly the same! The good news is it works, the car does get better MPG in this mode. I was getting 39.3 MPG on the highway going 70 MPH and around town 34 MPG. Not bad for a car not broken in.

Power mode makes it drive like a normal car. The gas engine kicks in all the time with any throttle input. In this mode the car makes REAL good use of all its 187hp. It doesn't feel underpowered in this mode in most cases. To me passing power was a little on the slow end going from 60-80 mph. MPG suffers appropriately. I was getting 28 MPG in this mode in city driving on short trips (not the optimal drive for a hybrid).

The tranny is a CVT that is smooth as butter and I feel smoother than my car as it has a lot less power and torque to deal with. It is VERY responsive and is matched perfectly for this car. There are no paddle shifters and you can't shift the car into a 1/2 or any other mode.

Its Drive, Neutral, Reverse. That is all. You want more, look at another car and stop bishing about this one internet warriors.

This car has (17 x 7.0-in split five-spoke alloy wheels [6] with 215/55VR17 all-season tires [6]. Compact spare tire/wheel ) the 17" wheels with a big sidewall for cars today. I loved it, the ride was comfy without being too soft and there is no tire noise. From an aesthetic point it looks horrid to me as there is huge wheel gap, a huge front fender then the car is 59" tall, 3" taller than my GS. You don't buy it for its beauty The biggest surprise was like other reviews;

It handles pretty damn good! This car being based on the Euro Avensis is a good thing here. The car feels rock solid for one and it handles VERY well. As a matter of fact, for ME it was easier to double speed limits in corners in this car than the IS 250. THe FWD layout didn't feel it here like in the ES. I have yet to experience torque steer. The steering has a good weight and doesn't feel as artificial as the RX or GS or LS hybrids (yes I've driven the 600h L). The all leather helps too compared to the wood wheels which simply make it hard to communicate, ESPECIALLY in cold weather. I was utterly in shock at how well this car handles itself and how I felt confident in it.

What makes it more odd is the car is again, tall and you sit in it and it feels like a SUV with a high seating position but it didn't feel uncomfortable in corners. Its a REALLY REALLY good match here. Driving around town you notice how much higher you sit than other cars. Its really funny seeing an older Corolla or even seeing it next to my old ES 300.

The doors have a solid thunk to it and the hood is short. I felt the door panels were fine and the plastic/leather match was great. The hood has gas struts and the engine is a throwback to older Lexus in its appearance. You can actually see it. I took pics of the trunk, it has 12 cubes which is not bad for a hybrid and I assume future models will gain more trunk room. The backseat is a good size, clearly between the ES/IS in size. There is an air vent back there but I didn't see magazine holders on the seat backs. The front doors have nice door cut outs for drinks, my 16" bottle of Cran-Sorrel fit fine. The heated seats ARE GREAT and very effective and since its been 30-40 degrees here are a blessing. I drove the SC 400 yesterday as well and it has no heated seats and my *** was freezing. There is a "SOS" button on the top front of the roof in case you get in an accident and its clear to see without being distracting.

Finally I get to the exterior styling. It is an odd looker and no beauty contest winner. The grill looks tons better in person and is not offensive. The headlights are a nice size with projectors (no HID here) with a blue tint. The front fenders are large and you can see this is a FWD based car as the front end seems heavy compared to the rest of the car. The sides are slightly sculpted on closer look but from a glance it looks slab sided. The rear has new Altezzas with LEDs and the spoiler IS A MUST. Again IS A MUST. DO NOT BUY IT WITHOUT IT. I will buy one for you . The rear has an ISish look at night with the lower rear reflectors.

Thus far I am VERY pleased with this car and have it until Monday. If you have any questions or want me to try something, please respond!!!

Thanks

MIke


P.s- yes the pic is at a recycling center where I take my items. I thought a pic would be appropriate

mmarshall

Thanks, Mike.....nice write-up.

You actually found the high-speed cornering better than a RWD IS250?

Your findings with the car are pretty much (though not exactly) the same as mine. The reason, of course, that it is so quiet at start-up is that the electrics program themselves at first, and then, even when you take off, the gas engine doesn't come on till it's needed for charging or power. For the first mile or so (depending on the charge state), you're essentially driving a luxury-grade golf cart.

superchan7

Nice review. Looks like Lexus has created an excellent car with good handling to boot. Now, about that exterior...

mmarshall

Yes, it may look like a Corolla, but, don't forget, the Corolla is one of the top-selling vehicles on the planet.

(Cj)

The mileage doesn't seem to be that good in this car. Almost every reviewer get's about 30 mpg on average. Not bad, but I don't see what the point of the HS is when the V6 ES get's about the same mileage (someone reported near 40mpg on the highway in an ES here), and in the real world the RX hybrid gets the same mileage too (and the RX weighs more and has over 100 more horsepower to boot).


Could Lexus have gotten the same gas mileage as the HS in an ES hybrid with the RX's powerplant? The regular ES weighs over 500lbs less than the regular RX, it's more aerodynamic, and it's more fuel efficient already, so I could imagine Lexus getting some stellar numbers from a 300hp ES hybrid (and no one would complain about lack of power at that point either).

IS-SV

Mike, excellent review from a "drivers" perspective. Always nice to thoroughly review a car for several days since you tend to find out things later (and not have a lame *** car salesperson next to you while you are driving too).

Looking forward to your final comments after you are done with the car.

edinlexv8

iTrader: (2)

Excellent review Mike!

RXSF

great read. just a few points

those 17" rims are hideous. Why is lexus making all their rims look so similar. i was going to make a thread about this. They all have that "web" design

Glad it drives better than expected. Ive seen a bunch on the road here this last week so people are buying them. cant wait to get my hands on one to drive. However, when I sat in one at the auto show, the interior did not impress me. I am not used to a slanted dash and the way that it slopes down is a bit ugly to me. I prefer the usual traditional lexus waterfall interior. Oh well.

flipside909

Awesome review Mike! Those who give the HS a hard time are those who actually haven't taken time to live with it for a few days and driving around. The car is a great all-around car to have and the car makes a lot of sense with how the interior design is...specifically the enter stack and it's ergonomics.

flipside909

BTW, try using PWR MODE and "B" together. You will get better throttle response. This was also the insider tip the Chief Engineer gave me earlier this year about the car.

lex

Does the dash line up with the armrest?

pbm317

I guess at ~$36K the car doesn't seem too ridiculous, but options can push the sticker to ~$45-48K. I think that the car should top out under $40K, but oh well.

C. McHale

I was one of the early detractors of this car, as the exterior styling and interior looked just seemed cheap for a Lexus.

But I got one as a loaner when my ES 330 was in for some quick service, and I can somewhat echo the thoughts here. The car impressed me more than I thought I would be. Outside of a lack of wood, I felt the overall interior quality (talking materials here) was a significant step up compared to my ES330.

The buttons all have a nice substantial tactile feel, something that really lacks and feels extremely cheap in the 330. Quite a few soft touch surfaces and the sun visors felt nice and plush. The layout of the dash was logical and intuitive IMO.

My HS had remote touch, which still seemed a lot better than some of the competing systems out there, but I think my favorite part of the car was how the seat and steering wheel would slide back to more easily let you out once you turned the car off. One interesting detail I noted when getting back in is the seat and steering wheel did not return to position until the seatbelt was locked. Pretty smart, safety-oriented design there.

Exterior styling isn't too bad up close, and doesn't really look like a Corolla. However, it doesn't look much like a Lexus to me either, beyond the logos.

As someone who is...um, height challenged, I will say this car made me feel like I was sitting in a hole the entire time I was driving it. Even with the seat boosted as high as it could go. Based on this, I had a lot of trouble getting truly comfortable driving it, despite the nicely cushioned seats and excellent steering wheel. Unfortunately, were I considering an HS, this one fault would probably cause me not to buy it. It also shares some annoying quirkiness with its Prius cousin.

Final thought: Although the fuel economy isn't nearly as good as the Prius, I think the HS more than makes up for it for its premium-quality interior and competent handling. If you're not height-challenged, take a look at this car, because its quality might surprise you.

mmarshall

I agree that it is usually better and more comprehensive without a salesperson along, except when you are dealing with a complex vehicle with confusing controls that you have little or no previous experience with. Fortunately, I am able to do a lot of reviews without the salespeople along, especially in places that know me, have dealt with me, or see that I'm responsible enough to go out alone. Some places, though, have an insurance requirement for the sales staff to go along, and can't get out of it.

STIG

LOL sounded like a video game.