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-   -   Driven: Lexus ES 300h (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/205507-driven-lexus-es-300h-6.html)

My original warranty from Lexus for car & battery was for 5 years. I paid about Rs 1 lakh for the extension to 7 years. Now with Lexus' reliability one may never {hopefully} need it. But I believe when you have spent well over half a crore on a car why cringe on a lakh or so. Might as well live in peace.

Update 57,000km:
Well, past 2 months threw a curve ball in my ownership of the ES. The epitome of reliability faltered. I was facing some issues since past 2 months but with upcoming annual service as well as increasing problems related to suspension and electronics, i gave my car to S.C in Peeragarhi, New Delhi for proper fix.
It has further cemented my belief of taking Extended Warranty no matter how strong reliability of that particular brand is perceived.
Downtime of car is expected to be 7-10 days.

Issues:
1. I've been noticing sudden appearance of white spots on LED ambient light strip on both front door. For this, a report was made to be submitted to Lexus. A decision is awaited by them. Most probably both front door panels will be replaced.






2. Christmas came early:
There is an repeated problem of car showing every single possible error after turning it on. Along with that, i also do face reduced regen braking if i drive the car without power on/off cycle to make the codes disappear from instrument clusters.
It was suspected to be weak auxiliary battery. But the battery was tested to be in good condition. Diagnosis is awaited.












3. Blown left front shock absorber:
During my recent trip to Rajasthan, suddenly front left shock absorber started to make thud noises in every single undulation on road.
The problem was diagnosed to the shock absorber. Both front shock absorbers are ordered from Japan and is expected to arrive in 5-7 days. I'm pushing Lexus to replace both front shock absorbers. Because the car has run close to 60k KM and general rule of thumb is to replace both sides.

4. Noisy steering rack:
Before this fiasco, i got my car raised by Lexus by fitting larger springs. After that, the very next day, there is an creaking noise when turning steering wheel.

5. Broken Tail light:
One day i was given a gift of broken tail light in front of the office. I thought i'll get it replaced without insurance as the tail light costed 38k. But when i wanted to place an order for it, suddenly the price was increased to 56k. I'll have to avail insurance now.


6. Noisy clock spring/internal assembly:

There is tick tick noise from steering wheel. Being a dead silent car, everything is more noticeable. I have asked to check and report back issue.

Can current owners tell me about how do the Mark Levinson 17 speakers compare against rivals, especially Benz's Burmester 13 speakers? Thank you.

They are incredible. I've compared them to the Burmester in my friends merc and the clarity and fidelity are in a class of their own.

@Dhruv29, by any chance were you roaming around Sushant Lok, Block C on Saturday? I remember seeing a white Lexus parked under my building, covering the half of the road. The length of the Lexus ES300H is too much. Hasn't it ever bothered/created any issues in day-to-day commute?

I always discourage people to buy Demo or even worst, cars used by the media. If you happen to see them drive behind scenes, you would have never picked this car. Your problems definitely confirm my belief. On one hand, we have troublefree ownership of Mr Narayan of 5 Years with similar mileage and here you are changing so many parts.

Can almost certainly say that a lot of your issues are simply due to misuse and probably the lacklustre attitude of the erstwhile dealer while maintaining that car.

Edit - Do update with the current status whenever you get free from VW :)

I’m driving the ES300h as a daily for a couple of weeks and a note to all prospective buyers:

The ground clearance is a huge issue. My usual drive is an Octavia with Bilstein suspensions and I also drive a s90, g30 520d and a 330Li quite frequently. No other car kisses speed breakers more than this. Drove with 4 hefty people and ~50 kilos in the boot on an instance and I was scared the car might become a seesaw. No matter how much I angle the car it ends up scraping anyways. The chin and the rear bumper also scrape on some ramps.

To all the readers from Bombay, you might be aware of the parking at Palladium mall. The car touched 3 times during entry and exit.

To be honest, it does take a little getting used to and is an issue Lexus has tried to resolve by putting some sort of plastic / rubber blocks or something to that effect to prevent the car from sagging as much under a full load.

With those in place, it has been fairly decent - though one has to learn to tackle the speed breakers. It helps that my other ride was a lowered F30 rl:

Now, I see the car scraping only the odd speed breaker on a full load & have even taken it to Pune, various airport runs without much of an issue - no problems at Palladium either - but yes: all speed breakers are scanned to see which would be the lowest point of entry and exit.

However, the low profile 18" alloys + ground clearance are a pain for what is a potentially brilliant chauffeur driven car so I am contemplating downsizing to 225/55R17 tyres and alloys to help give a few mm extra ground clearance + better ride quality.

Don't know how I missed your quote message for over a year. :coldsweat

Yes, the length of Lexus is pretty long, but you do get adapted to it. On my daily travel route, I need to cross Old Gurgaon from Sadar-Bazar New Railway Road. You can imagine how brutal that section can be.
Touch wood, I've never touched bumped into anyone or anyone has bumped into me. The novelty factor of the car also helps here and constant monitoring of ORVMs

VW will never let me live peacefully (Covered 48,000km in 2.5 Years) decent running with host of parts changed till now.

For Lexus:

The car has now travelled 78,000 KM and it's safe to say that the car has been bulletproof in reliability except 2 instances mentioned in the previous post.
1. For MID errors - Lexus Changed relaybox from Hybrid Battery. Actual fault was from one of the relay which was not functioning properly during system startup. Lexus changed the whole box as well as wiring harness just to be sure.
The parts were for around Cool 4 Lacs. But the service of Lexus is impeccable and never did they tried to just change the faulty relay and call it a day.

2. Left Shock absorber was also replaced in warranty, along with right one as well after some persuasion from my side.

Post last update, car has been through another service, which was termed "Major Service" 80K Service which included:
1. Consumables
2. Radiator cleaning
3. A/C system major service (Gas EVAC - Refill with compressor oil, cooling coil cleaning)
4. Brake Fluid Change
5. Alignment, Balancing

All costing approx 68,000/-. Yes it is on the higher side and probably the A/C, Radiator cleaning was not needed. But I like to keep my vehicles in peak mechanical condition at all times.

Misc. updates:
1. The current upsized (235/50 R18) Michelin P4ST has now covered 50K km and have become relatively noisy. Many of the dealers were not stocking the Michelins of this size and weren't even able to tell any ETA for availability. I Called up Jain Car Tyres (Sector 47, Gurugram) from whom I had previously purchased the current set of tires, luckily he had 2 sets of this tire size in clearance. I booked 1 set, and received it in about a month. Tires are probably the latest batch you can possible get in India - Jan 2023 Manufactured. Price - 25K/Piece
I loaded it up in my Thar, and stocked it in my basement for future installation. I'll run the current set for 2-3k KM more.

How has your experience been with the upsized tyres?
Any issues with fouling with the wheel arches on a full load?
Would you recommend this size, or would you say it's better to downsize to 17" 225/55R17?

I’ve mostly been a passenger in this car before and anytime I’ve driven it, it has been in Navi Mumbai or to Pune. Hence, no scraping. In my chauffeur’s hands, I’ve only heard it scraping on the awful speed breakers on the road going from JB Nagar Metro Station towards Juhu and the connecting road to the Vile Parle East-West bridge. There’s also a mountain right in front of NMIMS.

Are these rubber blocks present in every car or is it an optional upgrade? The whole thing sounds like an afterthought like the Rogerab suspension lifters.

PS- Writing this post made me realise I have learnt the location of speedbreakers and potholes better than my college curriculum. rl:

I would recommend the upsize hands down. I ran on this config for 50,000km. Not once has the tires rubbed in wheel arch, or front tires during turning.

This image is from when I loaded boot with around 220 KG of sandstone fountain (2 months back). Tires didn't foul with arches.

You don't need to have any rubber block installed in the car nor Lexus installs it as far as I know. Previously Lexus made a temporary solution to stop the car bottoming out much early at speed bumps by installing bigger bump-stop in shocks.
The solution was terrible, as the problem was with the length of springs and not with car bottoming out. The bump stop was being hit at every speed breaker much earlier in suspension travel. Check my previous post in this thread where I got it installed.
The initial problem of low GC was never sorted and car scrapped anyhow.

Lexus had increased the length of spring when CKD operation started. CBU cars can get it installed for approx 20K for front and rear shocks. This increases the GC by about 1 inch. I got the springs installed and reverted to old bump-stops.

Tire upsize + taller Springs combo is working pretty good for me.

Is there any news on any new ES 300h coming in anytime soon?

Not for another couple of years. The next gen Camry is rumoured to be unveiled this month end. It should be some precursor to how the next gen ES would be. Right now, Lexus is mighty confused and the fate of the Lexus IS and LS is not known. (the horror:Shockked:)

The next gen Lexus ES would probably end up being the sole sedan in the line-up and would have to fill the shoes of the LS too.