[Sparks]

Originally Posted by androdev

What is the fuel tank capacity? 800KM+ is a good range for long distance trips in India. You are most likely to reach a big city by then to have access to quality fuel. This is a big requirement when your driving involves remote places.

For the Camry and the Lexus es300h it's 65 liters.

Mr. Narayan a word of caution from the Toyota service manager,

Please do not shift the car to neutral in bumper to bumper traffic or if stuck in a traffic jam. In neutral the system logic enables the hybrid battery pack to discharge completely, that causes the Camry to stall. As I have no independent means of starting the petrol engine, I am stuck and would have to call for assistance. In Mumbai there has been one case of this happening.
That car was being driven by the driver.
Glad it wasn't me.

So it's either D mode or P mode, where if the charge drops to 20% the ICE comes on automatically to recharge the battery. For some reason this does not happen if the car is in N mode.

Leaving the car in neutral should be avoided.

Since the drive train on both cars is identical it may also apply to your car as well. Please clarify with service advisor about this.


Yes 800 plus kms range for petrol sedans is mighty impressive and I usually have one bar fuel indication left when I pull up for refueling.

And the real kicker androdev is the normal service cost for Camry in Mumbai is about 7000 to 8000 rs for the whole year, and peaceful ownership experience the house of Toyota provides. One of the main reasons I did not go for the Germans.

Would be reading this thread further as I eagerly anticipate similar real world details about es300h.

I was the interested in the RX hybrid but the price is prohibitive atleast for me.

On a lighter note, when I took delivery of my car I asked where was the tool kit placed, the sales persons reply was sir you may need to change a tyre some day and hence the jack and wrench, apart from that you will never open the hood of the car, This is a TOYOTA.

Wish mr narayan a pleasant and peaceful experience with Lexus.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Sparks

Mr. Narayan a word of caution from the Toyota service manager,

Please do not shift the car to neutral in bumper to bumper traffic or if stuck in a traffic jam. In neutral the system logic enables the hybrid battery pack to discharge completely, that causes the Camry to stall. As I have no independent means of starting the petrol engine, I am stuck and would have to call for assistance. So it's either D mode or P mode, where if the charge drops to 20% the ICE comes on automatically to recharge the battery. For some reason this does not happen if the car is in N mode.

Thank you for your helpful and courteous post. I will bear this in mind. In fact this was exactly the mistake I was committing today in traffic! I will have to teach my drivers too.

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

From the above conversations, Hybrid would be the way to go; I don't know why the Govt has taken a retrograde step of taxing the hybrids heavily in the GST regime....

This could change. As they are setting GST rates for literally thousands of items some blunders are to be expected. Hopefully better sense will prevail soon.

Originally Posted by androdev

What is the fuel tank capacity? 800KM+ is a good range for long distance trips in India.

As @Spark said it is 65 litres.

[imp!]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Rs 101,480 /=. It includes the hybrid batteries.

That is extremely reasonable. If these are as reliable as most of their cars through the first decade of the millenium, you really don't have anything to worry about except for periodic maintenance and a battery change.

[V.Narayan]

Wish Mr Narayan a pleasant and peaceful experience with Lexus.

Thank you. I have thoroughly enjoyed every kms driven. Last week just before the third month got completed we clocked 3000 kms.

Originally Posted by Sparks

Would be reading this thread further as I eagerly anticipate similar real world details about es300h.

Coming soon

[M00M]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Thank you. I have thoroughly enjoyed every kms driven. Last week just before the third month got completed we clocked 3000 kms.

So i test drove the Lexus ES today and i must say it is indeed a really nice car. A friend of mine owns a 15 year old lexus and it still feels the same quiet, peaceful and punchy as before and even the ES today felt like it was built in the same manner.

I must say if you could stomach the price then its a great choice over the germans.

Congratulations once again. Would request you to start your own thread soon.

[mijnoirhammer67]

Hello everyone,

Mr V Narayan and I had a brief conversation about a month ago with regards to a few questions i had about the Lexus ES300h sedan. Posting our conversation in a question and answer format. I was doing the asking and Mr Narayan duly obliged and replied timely to all my questions. It helped me alot with my research and am hoping it could help someone else too.

Q: Do you have any idea on how many ES's are allotted to India for 2017, cause if i recall correctly its a CBU
A: I don't know about ES's specifically but total Lexus allocation for 2017 is 300 for all India. after brand building they will increase the allocation (I suppose) in 2018

Q: Im assuming you've had a good run in for your engine, whats the FE lining up to as of yet
A: F.E.= 14 to 16 kms per litre as per my experience in city driving

Q: Hows the seating of this car, would adults possibly find some discomfort in the ingress and egress?
A: Ingress/Egress is ok not different or better than E class.

Q: Hows this car able to deal with potholes and speed breakers. Does it scrape under if not taken over meticulously? Could you compare the suspension set up to an E-class or S-class? If you've ever had 3 fully grown people sit out back, would you say the seating is congested?
A: Ride and rear seat comfort is like E. 5 can sit comfortably depending on how big they are. It is a wide car. You have to be a little careful over big pointed speed-breakers. Not as bad as Merc's though. I have scrapped once in 1800 kms.

Q: Hows the interior up against a 5 series beamer or an A6 or even the new E-class? Seat softness, dash board materials and buttons on the dash boards?
A: Quality of materials and finish is fully comparable to new LWB E. The style is muted not opulent. E has more bling. In terms of interior quality I prefer it to BMW 5 or Audi 6. E LWB is a equal & worthy competitor...it will boil down to individual likes. Opulence in E LWB is greater. Lexus is quieter.

Q: Ive read some complains about the infotainment system, have you felt the same?
A: Infotainment I don't much about except that sound is very good. I don't use it much.

Q: How accommodating is the boot?
A: Boot is smaller than my outgoing Superb because of the battery box. Spare wheel is full size regular alloy and inserted into the traditional cavity (unlike the Germans)

Q: What would you say about the reliability of this car?
A: I believe it is built to last. We have a utility Camry at office which is 10 years and 200,000 kms old and still works flawlessly.

Q: Are there any configuration for this car, any extras and changes possible besides colour? Interior type, interior colour, rim design, additional equipment etc
A: You get a choice of external colours, internal leather colours and wood trim. Any combination is accepted. Beyond that I don't believe there is any customization.

Q: Lastly, every man finds a reason to pick a machine. What would you say made you choose the ES against its competitors. And after owning it, do you feel its a car worthy of challenging its German compatriots?
A: As you will see in my thread I evaluated this against the LWB E. Picked Lexus for reliability and trouble free after sales service. If your intended destination is outside the 4/5 metros then access to a service centre every 10,000 kms will need looking into. In the medium term Lexus plan to get each Toyota service centre in India ready to service the Lexus range too. But I suspect it will take a couple of years to get there.



I asked all these questions by comparing or hoping to compare the Lexus sedan to the 5 series/A6/E-LWB. All questions asked were of my own and all answers answered were of Mr Narayan's. I asked for his point of view on many questions. So for perspective buyers, please treat it as so. Also, please note this conversation was had in the beginning of June. Since then, he's posted more stuff about his car.

Thanks everyone