ES 300H vs German cars

[Hich]

Hi there ! 

I have placed my order for the Lexus ES 300h ( ultra luxury trim in graphite black ) coming from an Audi a5 sportback 2.0 40 tdi. 

I would like to know if anyone has previously owned german cars ( 5 series, A6 , e class etc )  how do you compare your overall experience vs the es 300h ( refinement, comfort, driving dynamics) ? 

Cheers !

[NemesisUK]

What were your first impressions from your test drive?

[Spock66]

23 minutes ago, Hich said:

I would like to know if anyone has previously owned german cars , how do you compare your overall experience vs the es 300h ( refinement, comfort, driving dynamics) ? 

I think you need to be more specific as to make and model, eg the last German car I had was a Mk 2 Golf GTi which is probably not the comparison you are looking for.

[GMB]

We had a brand new VW Up Gti. It broke down within the first year - Battery gone flat!

It also had almost no suspension travel , on very low profile tyres which got wrecked over potholes.

Not suitable for UK roads but it was a hoot to drive, but had to go.

[Hich]

31 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

What were your first impressions from your test drive?

I was pleasantly surprised, the most comfortable car i've been in, ride was smooth as silk and not as underpowered as some of the motoring journalists claim. 

[Mincey]

It does make me smile. If you talk to a Schiessewagen owner, they will eventually admit that they're not all that (the car, not the owner).

[Cs150]

Comfort wise always felt the ES was excellent. The longer I am owning it though now feel the seats are a little hard. Now it is not a top of the range model but the Premium Edition so perhaps higher end models have more padding. The driver seat is now starting to feel a little too firm in the base. 

[e-yes]

7 hours ago, Hich said:

Hi there ! 

I have placed my order for the Lexus ES 300h ( ultra luxury trim in graphite black ) coming from an Audi a5 sportback 2.0 40 tdi. 

I would like to know if anyone has previously owned german cars ( 5 series, A6 , e class etc )  how do you compare your overall experience vs the es 300h ( refinement, comfort, driving dynamics) ? 

Cheers !

You say Ultra Luxury, we don't have Ultra Luxury trim in the UK, we have Takumi instead. Ultra Luxury sounds like a North American spec ?

I used to have an Audi A6 S-Line 2.0 TDI from brand new... started getting rattly by 3000 miles. When I took to the dealership they couldn't locate the original issue but I noticed when they gave it back, they has inserted felt tape in the door cards, AC vents and elsewhere in other interior trims ! Vorsprung der Tapenik I would say.. which anyways didn't fix the rattles I took the car in for 😞 

It was horribly uncomfortable for me. Audi A6 (and other MLB) platform cars have a longitudinal engine placement but they still drive the front wheels. Which means the drive shaft connects to the front wheels and the shaft housing is naturally on the right side... which means for UK drivers, that eats into the driver side space and somehow that arrangement didn't sit well with me. This was sadly not discovered in the short test drive which Audi dealers give (if they let us have the cars for the four hour test drive which Lexus gave me, I would have discovered the issue)

It was a diesel so there was that additional hassle of keeping AdBlue topped up (not that major of an issue... but one of those "one more thing to do" kind of thing). Being a diesel the best fuel economy I could eek out of it was 65mpg... but overall the term of ownership it was not more than 50mpg.

The seats were hard.

It was a handsome looking car though... but that is something which I wouldn't enjoy while sitting inside it. 

I didn't quite fall in love with it and was waiting for the voluntary termination period on the finance contract to come up.

I have the Premium Pack ES which is closer to the Luxury trim from North America ie I don't get the Marky McLevinson stereo, heated and reclining rear seats, top grade semi-aniline leather and memory seat for the passenger (and I think there are a few other things which are missing between Permium Pack and top end Takumi)

What I do get in the Premium Pack is the fully adjustable driver seat ie it has the extending under-knee support and 4-way lumbar in addition to other adjustments with seat/steering memory. That for me the is the best feature. For me it is a couch on wheels (in the UK it sometimes feels like I am driving my entire living room sitting on my couch)

It is not the fastest car around but it isn't horribly slow either (unless I turn on the Eco mode)

It is smooth... way smoother than I remember the A6. It is relaxing... there is way more NVH isolation than the A6. The A6 had horrible tire noise coming into the cabin. On the ES there is a active noise cancellation even on the base Pioneer audio system !

The long term fuel economy I think overall is hovering around 49mpg on Petrol... which is for me good enough compared to what I was getting from the Diesel unit on the A6 and I don't have to think about AdBlue.

Overall, for me personally going from A6 to ES is a very satisfying upgrade.

[cdmaskell]

Such an excellent evaluation of the ES. Incidentally my son is in Singapore at present and can’t believe the amount of ES ‘s he has seen, albeit 350 ES.

 

[Dippo]

Before my ES I had an E220D (W213), and before that a 520D (F10). The BMW worked well, had an excellent gearbox, and basically did everything I expected, but it had a firm ride, probably because of the run flats. It was well-engineered, but didn't feel luxurious inside. The Merc had a better ride than the BMW, and a more luxurious interior, but also felt a lot more wallowy and barge-like. Dealer service was a big negative for the Merc. Both cars averaged around 40 mpg during the several years I had them - higher on long journeys, lower around town.

 

I'm very happy with my ES (Premium Edition) - I've had it since December 22. The ride is better than the Germans, and noise levels are considerably lower. I would say the quality of the interior is midway between the BMW and the Merc. I haven't noticed any significant differences in power between the ES and the Germans, and I certainly haven't noticed the engine revving noisily while the CVT gearbox tries to work out what to do - clearly I'm not discerning enough to be a motoring journalist, because they all complain about that! The OP asks about the driving dynamics; to me, the ES does what I expect it to do very well - although my driving is a lot more relaxed than when I was younger and driving company cars. I'm getting between 40 and 45 mpg, and that doesn't seem to vary much between town and long distance. My main criticism of the ES would be in respect of the connectivity and the navigation; I'm afraid the Germans are a long way ahead on that. My car's MY23 which is supposed to have the latest version of the navigation and links to the app: my BMW was better 10 years ago.

[george72]

My previous car was a bmw 530d and I do miss it. The zf 8 speed box was an absolute peach. The quality of the materials in the cabin where definitely a notch up from my current my23 es300h. 

This said, I made a decision to scarfice this for simply the reason of reliability and the relax warranty. Let's be honest nothing comes close does it. 

[wecpc]

2 hours ago, george72 said:

My previous car was a bmw 530d and I do miss it. The zf 8 speed box was an absolute peach. The quality of the materials in the cabin where definitely a notch up from my current my23 es300h. 

This said, I made a decision to scarfice this for simply the reason of reliability and the relax warranty. Let's be honest nothing comes close does it. 

My previous car was a Jaguar XE (MY20) PS250 and do miss it at times and like you the zf 8 speed box was brilliant. The quality in the cabins of both are very similar but the ES has much more comfortable seats, but the Jaguar did have real leather seats, but the connectivity and navigation was far better in the Jag.

I too made I the decision to sacrifice this for simply the reason of reliability and the relax warranty which is what you stated as nothing comes close does it, as well as supply issues with Jaguar. 

[Tony787]

I moved to my 300h from an e-class. To be honest I loved the e-class but it did have its issues. The Merc was extremely comfortable and very nice to drive and returned great economy. Would I buy another Merc? Definitely NOT. A very good car spoiled by poor customer ‘care’ it took 12 months for them to find a faulty sensor and kept telling me there was nothing wrong. Also if I didn’t use the car for a couple of weeks, the Battery was flat - they said it was normal. Mercedes don’t care about the customer once they have your money.

is the ES without faults or areas for improvement? No, they could improve it. Comfort isn’t quite as good as the Merc, economy isn’t quite as good (Merc was diesel). Finish is as good on both but where the Lexus wins hands down is in reliability and customer care/support. Customer support get things wrong sometimes but then they admit it and go out of their way to recover the situation.

Am I glad I changed? 

I hope this helps you make your mind up or feel more comfortable in your choice.