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DRIVEN: Lexus ES 300h SE
What’s it like to drive?
In a word, serene. The ES300h has never majored in driver involvement – its whole demeanour is just too laid back for anything more than measured and eminently comfortable point-to-point conveyance. The hybrid powertrain, comprising a 2,5-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder petrol engine supplemented by a hybrid transaxle motor and a CVT transmission, develops a modest 160 kW and 300 N.m (both combined outputs compared with the combustion engine’s 131 kW and 221 N.m). Working as it does against a car measuring nearly five metres in length and weighing almost 1 700 kg, performance is adequate rather than scintillating. But the combination of impressive NVH suppression, superbly cossetting ride quality and surroundings that are beautifully crafted and spacious (I managed to sit behind a 180 cm driver and had several inches of kneeroom before me) make the hybrid ES a wonderfully soothing counter to many of its peers which feel the need to inject a degree of often uncalled-for sportiness into their provisos. We didn’t get close to Lexus’s lofty 4,6 L/100 km claimed fuel consumption on our sweeping route that encompassed Cape Town, Hermanus and Franschhoek Pass, but the 6,4 L/100 km we read on our examples trip computer impressed nonetheless.
Fast Facts:
Price: R948 400
Engine: 2,0-litre, four-cylinder, petrol + elec
Power: 131 (160) kW @ 5 700 r/min
Torque: 221+e (300) N.m @ 2 000 – 3 600 r/min
0-100 km/h: 8,9 seconds
Top speed: 180 km/h
Fuel consumption: 4,6 L/100 km
CO2: 104 g/km
Maintenance plan: 7-year/105 000 km
www.carmag.co.za
What’s it like to drive?
In a word, serene. The ES300h has never majored in driver involvement – its whole demeanour is just too laid back for anything more than measured and eminently comfortable point-to-point conveyance. The hybrid powertrain, comprising a 2,5-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder petrol engine supplemented by a hybrid transaxle motor and a CVT transmission, develops a modest 160 kW and 300 N.m (both combined outputs compared with the combustion engine’s 131 kW and 221 N.m). Working as it does against a car measuring nearly five metres in length and weighing almost 1 700 kg, performance is adequate rather than scintillating. But the combination of impressive NVH suppression, superbly cossetting ride quality and surroundings that are beautifully crafted and spacious (I managed to sit behind a 180 cm driver and had several inches of kneeroom before me) make the hybrid ES a wonderfully soothing counter to many of its peers which feel the need to inject a degree of often uncalled-for sportiness into their provisos. We didn’t get close to Lexus’s lofty 4,6 L/100 km claimed fuel consumption on our sweeping route that encompassed Cape Town, Hermanus and Franschhoek Pass, but the 6,4 L/100 km we read on our examples trip computer impressed nonetheless.
Fast Facts:
Price: R948 400
Engine: 2,0-litre, four-cylinder, petrol + elec
Power: 131 (160) kW @ 5 700 r/min
Torque: 221+e (300) N.m @ 2 000 – 3 600 r/min
0-100 km/h: 8,9 seconds
Top speed: 180 km/h
Fuel consumption: 4,6 L/100 km
CO2: 104 g/km
Maintenance plan: 7-year/105 000 km
DRIVEN: Lexus ES 300h SE - CAR Magazine
In an automotive market where large sedans have become something of an endangered species in an SUV-rich environment, the Lexus ES not only soldiers on but has undergone some updates to freshen things up for 2022. We got behind the wheel of this supremely comfortable cruiser on the local launch...
