RajaG

Hi,
Am in the market for a luxury hybrid this year, as I'm turning 65 and my Acura RL is 8 years old
Anyhow, I had been thinking of waiting to look at Infiniti's Q50 hybrid to be released this summer, but the overall mpg will likely be around 30 compared to 40 with the 300h. Also, the Q50 will need premium gas, whereas I understand the 300h uses regular gas..correct me if I'm wrong. But I can't help but believe that the Q50 will be much more brisk than the 300h in terms of acceleration. It looks to be a very exciting new car....

I've considered the Toyota Avalon hybrid but it only had a 3 year 36K mile warranty. Also, I don't like the Nav screen to be so much below my angle of vision. It has the advantage of a larger trunk though, of 14 cu. ft compared to the 12 of the 300h. No, the Avalon is out of my list.

And oh, I'm glad I saw comments regarding the amp problem with the Mark Levinson audio of the 300h/350 and will avoid that though by June if they correct the amp problem I'd go with ML.

Looking forward to any comments about my exploration into a new hybrid. Anyone with a 300h wishing the trunk of the car was bigger?
Raja

cfpb

I have had the 300h for 3 months, and I find the trunk to be more than large enough for my day to day purposes. I was even able to fit my son's entire hockey equipment (and he is a goalie) in the trunk. It should fit 3 or maybe even 4 mid size suitcases. Unless you are using the car to transport very large items or move your kids to college, it shouldn't be an issue. The only drawback, but this will be the case for any hybrid, is it doesn't have a pass through due to the battery, but again, for daily driving that isn't an issue.

ICnothing

Hi RajaG, I have a 300h for about 1 month. Fuel wise very good, I find the wind noise from the side widows a bit high. Trunk space I can't really complain my 2008 GS450h had half the space. The one thing I have to say the Mark Levinson system is not that great as you have already read and I feel it is not worth the extra money. Yes, the 300H only needs regular fuel that is a bonus. At this point I have mixed feeling about the vehicle as the customer service at Lexus has not been good at all, getting back to me on the subwoofer and amp issue. It has been 3 weeks and no action. The best was the dealership don't put the volume over 45 and their will be no distortion. The 300H is extremely roomy inside, I guess some of my pet peeves is no compass on the mirror, no sun glass holder, no wiper heater, no rear seat heater. I guess when you see other vehicles for much less money have these options, things you really don't realize till you start driving and look at the mirror and no compass, or wipers have ice and and no switch to heat it up or you have leather seats in the back and you kids butts are freezing because no rear heated seats....

RajaG

I called a salesman yesterday in the Raleigh NC area and I could imagine him like a puffed up penguin, boasting about the 350/300h and saying they're offering *so* much for the money and trying to explain why any kind of discount off the sticker price is even unthinkable. I hung up after I said that if they don't plan to give even a dollar off the sticker price, I'm not interested. Indeed, I'm not. They can sell to someone else. I know their sales are really good. If I go for it, I plan to try the Costco Auto program and see how that works.

But not till I've test driven the upcoming Infiniti Q50, in its AWD - Hybrid version. It is rumored to have a 14 cu. ft. trunk as compared to the 300h which is 12 cu. ft. The non hybrid Q50 is said to have a massive 18 cu.ft. trunk!
Raja

LexBob2

If your not sure that the ES is the car for you it's definitely a good idea to shop around. Around here ES supplies are catching up with demand and better deals can be found. I do think that the ES, as well as he new Avalon, are good cars for the money, but there are some good competitors too.

trexlexus

I know this is probably very far off of what you are thinking of getting, but maybe a Lexus CT? It has an appropriately big trunk at 14.3 cu ft, because it is a hatchback. And seeing as you are of older age, you probably do not need to transport people all the time, so the smaller rear room might not be a problem.

Also, it gets 43/40 mpg.

Just a suggestion, either way, good luck.

K7baixo

RagaG - in the Phoenix area, the Costco program is good for $500 under invoice on the ES. I don't recall the details for the hybrid though.

The Costco price was better - much better - than the truecar price and the prices at two other dealers in the area.

YMMV of course. Good luck in your quest.

Photios

Here in Seattle, the Costco price was about $1500 below MSRP. I was able to do much better than that, though.

Mike728

You do know, that invoice and MSRP are not at all the same thing, right?

ICnothing

You should be able to get more than $1,500.00 off the 300h, and if you are not sure it is a great idea to wait. Their are a lot of option now. Good luck RajaG

Photios

LOL... of course. $1500 off of MSRP... I was hoping that Costco would do better than that. The good thing about the Costco program is that the dealer did show me the invoice price.

wasjr

Re your trunk question, in our decision to go with the 300h over the 350 the only negative was the loss of 3 cubic feet of trunk space, but the batteries have to go somewhere. In our situation, the benefits of the hybrid outweighed the loss of trunk space.

Arty101

Is the Infinity Q50 in a different class than the ES300h? Isn't the LS more in line?

trexlexus

10 years ago, you would've been right arty101, and you are probably thinkign of the Q45.

Infiniti is renaming all their sedans/coupes and suvs to either Q or QX.

The G will be Q50, coupe/convertible Q60.
M is Q70
EX is QX50
FX is QX70
JX is QX60
QX56 is QX80.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/12/17/i...naming-scheme/

This was announced late 2012, and personally i think it is not the smartest idea.

This is why the OP is cross shopping the ES with the Q50 (G37).

Arty101

You're right. I was confusing the old Q45 with the new. But is the Q50 (G37) more like the GS?