woodyONU

I am shopping for my first Lexus. I looked at other luxury makes but due to general reliability and low cost of ownership, I have chosen Lexus. I am considering 2018 certified preowned models. I have driven both the 350 and the 300h and am undecided. Both are very nice options with less than 8000 miles. The premium for the hybrid seems to be about $1500-2000 and it has the Mark Levinson audio as well. If anyone has owned both or compared them, I’d love to hear your opinions and why you chose one over the other. Thank you.

zes

I have a 300h and have driven 350s as loaners from the dealer. The 300h is smoother and quieter at city speeds because the transmission does not have shift points. It gives better gas mileage. But it feels (to me at least) sluggish accelerating to merge on the highway. if you floor the gas pedal the 350 engine sounds much much better and pulls a lot more strongly. The trunk on the 300h is smaller. But the mileage is great and it is better for the environment.

satek

I have an ES300h with Mark Levinson. Haven't heard the base audio system, but I recommend the Mark Levinson for sure.

As far as engines:
I like the CVT transmission in terms of smoothness. Most of the times, I am not flooring it and it's accelerates very smoothly to highway speeds and around town.

The ES350 is faster by far and sounds a LOT better. However, the transmission sometimes can be jerky if you accidentally press the pedal too hard. This is due to the normal transmission having to shift gears. Additionally, the ES350 engine sounds a lot better when flooring.

From a financial perspective, the ES350 is the way to go. I am not sure how long the hybrid battery will last on the ES300h. I've seen reports of it lasting 10+ years, but it will eventually need to be replaced at a cost of $1500+, negating any gas savings. A big advantage however is that you can get 500-600 miles per tank.

TechNut

I agree with satek and have really enjoyed our hybrid. The economics of a hybrid can be misunderstand. For the extra premium of the hybrid drivetrain, you would need to drive something in excess of 100K miles to break even (depending on fuel costs in your region). However I enjoy the smoother and quieter drivetrain (unless flooring it) so my next car will be a hybrid even if the economics don’t work out for me. I might also add that a my sister-in-law replaced the drive battery in her Camry and it was over $4k so if you tend to keep your cars for many years, you may want to factor that in. I wouldn’t be surprised if battery replacement concerns also result in lower resale - especially if the car is 8 to 10 years old.

Freds430

I own a 2017 RX 450h and my wife drives a 2017 Lexus ES300h. Driving 15,000 miles a year and gas at $2.50 a gallon that equates to a $625 savings per year. Both bought used from our local Lexus dealer. The ES was the same price as the 350's and the RX was $1,500 more then the 350's. Even at $1,500 more the break even point is 2.5 years. Brake pad changes that are every 50,000 miles in the gas version are $350 approx. and in the hybrids they last 150,000 miles. That is another savings of two brake pad jobs and $700. We both said we would never own anything other than a hybrid or an EV whenever Lexus gets on the ball.

lexsc4

I had a chance to either buy a new ES350 or ES300h in 2017. Test drove both and both great cars.

Chose the ES350 for the better acceleration from stop and driving on the freeway. I drive ~8K miles per year and the fuel saving on the ES300h will be ~$700 per year @ $3.75 per gallon in the SF bay area, $60/month not much money. If I had to do it again, I will still chose the ES350.

dspcap

I have owned a 2015 300H and a 2016 ES350 and Zes is stating it perfectly. The 300h is like driving butter, great gas mileage and feels fantastic. It does lack a bit of power if that's important to you. The ES350 is smooth, but not quite as much as the 300h. It does have a V6, so it does have more power, but also has more road noise. I had zero issues with both. My recommendation... If power isn't a concern for you, I would definitely go with the 300h. If you are someone that likes to step on the gas and feel the roar of the engine, go with the 350.

mcomer

In addition to the brakes lasting X times longer the Hybrid does not have an Alternator or a Starter Motor or Power Steering pump
and hoses (ES350 also) or pulleys and belts. All things we old guys remember replacing and/or adjusting. The 600 mile range
on 17 gallons is a plus too.

dspcap

I miss my 300h.... it was totaled in a hail storm.

mcomer

Hey dimples make a golf ball fly straighter than a smooth table tennis ball...
wouldn't your aerodynamically modified ES have more stable? LOL

zes

If you are an environmentalist, I would recommend the 300h.

I once did a spreadsheet on the amount of CO2 typical cars emit. I computed numbers for small cars like the Honda Civic, and SUVs such as the Ford Explorer, trucks such as F150, and of course Camrys, Altimas, ES350 and ES300h. I assumed that each vehicle was driven 12,000 miles/year. Got mileage data from DOT website I think.

The surprising thing I found was that with the exception of the Honda Civic 1.5L and the ES300h, most other cars emitted approximately 2.5 times their weight in CO2 per year. The Subaru Outback emitted 3 times its weight in CO2 per year. The ES300h emitted 1.75 times its weight of CO2 per year and was lower then the Honda Civic. The ES 350 emitted 2.75 times its weight in CO2 per year.

Next time you are stuck in a traffic jam and look at all the steel around you, think about this.

If you are not an environmentalist, I recommend you read "The Uninhabitable Earth", by David Wallace-Wells.

TechNut

LOL. Now if we just had bladders that would last 600 miles... We just returned from a road trip and I recorded our best tank ever at 43 MPG. What was really unusual is the dash read 41.5 and it usually reads a bit higher than calculated.