Arty101

Bob, you actually let your oil get up to 10 months before changing?

bc6152

Well my understanding is that the oil should last up to 10,000 miles. That is the mileage that I register in approximately one year. So a once a year change seems reasonable to me. I check it from time to time and have never had to add between a change. I use Pennzoil Platinum full synthetic and it was extremely clean when drained. What's your opinion Art?

Arty101

I was just kidding. 12 months or 10k miles, especially with synthetic oil is fine by me.

bc6152

I value your input my friend.

Arty101

I just read that CR just did their annual maintenance on their Tesla S. Topping of fluids, changed air cabin filter, changed key fob batteries and rotated tires. Sounds familiar?

Total charge: $636.90, incl. tax. Here I was griping about Lexus piddly $100 +/- annual maintenance service.

jollick

MORE THAN JUST AN ANNUAL INSPECTION

Tesla Service includes everything needed to keep your Model S in great condition, from an annual inspection to 24 hour roadside assistance and necessary hardware upgrades. Our goal is not to just fix things, but to make your car better than it was. However, even if you never bring in the car, your warranty is still valid.
Tesla Service includes
Annual inspection (or every 12,500 miles)
Replacement parts like brake pads and windshield wipers (excluding tires)
24 hour roadside assistance
System monitoring
Remote diagnostics
Hardware upgrades
Tesla Valet Service
Tesla is putting in place a valet service, so that your car is seamlessly picked up and replaced with a loaner and then returned as soon as we are done. There is no additional charge for this.

Arty101

So most of Tesla service are the same as Lexus service : Inspection, check; 24 hour roadside, check; valet service (some Lexus dealers will also pick up), check; system monitoring, check. Tesla's remote diagnostics can be done anytime, not necessarily on the Annual inspection. Hardware upgrades: really?

The only thing I see that really are upgrades to Lexus services are: Replacement of brake pads and wipers. You end up paying 6X more for this, even if you don't need it. With the ES300h, I suspect you won't need brake pads for at least 50K due to the regenerative brakes. Should be the same for the Tesla?

Interesting to note that CR is also finding a lot more "glitches" or problems with the Tesla, but that should be expected for being a new car and with new technology. Tesla is trying hard to resolve these issues, but IMHO, they're not reliable like our Lexus.

atoyota

In my Camry Hybrid, previous to my ES300h, I had to insist that toyota replace my brake pads at 70K (5+ years) and charge me for it even though they kept saying for the previous 30K miles that I did not need to. I had just never had a car where the brake pads lasted so long and I wanted the piece of mind with having them changed. I don't know how long the brakes would have lasted before toyota service would have told me they actually needed replacing.

chromedome

Slightly dumb and off-topic question but if the brakes on a hybrid don't need changing due to regen braking, what about the electric motor/generator? I know Lexus has an 8-year warranty on the traction battery but I wonder how long these hybrids can really last before the electrical components need replacing.

Arty101

Not really a dumb question. Although the technology is fairly new, the hybrid is based on the Prius technology and components. The Prius is highly reliable, including the batteries and electrical components.

That said, any electrical part is prone to failure. I remembered when starters and alternators of the past were prone to failure, but have since improved. I'm sure the starter on the hybrids get a lot more stress based on the number of starts and may be prone to fail sooner. We'll have to wait and see.

gfr1

There isn't a "starter", per se. Only a motor-generator. Aircraft jet engines have been using those since the forties.

mikez0

Can somebody confirm the genuine oil filter model for 2013 ES300h?
Sewell site says 'yzza1` but Amazon says it is not compatible.
Searched manuals but found nothing.
someone says yzza1 was replaced by a later model...(yzza5?)
I'm lost.
Thanks.

atoyota

I don't see the filter number anywhere in the book either, but I would go with what Sewell said before what Amazon says.

EDIT: this site would indicate the yzza1 filter as well - http://www.mylparts.com/parts/2013/L...&siteid=214992

SLH

In my Camry Hybrid, when it got to 100k miles, the brake pads still looked new. I didn't bother measuring the wear, since there was obviously still lots of material remaining in the pads... It looked like no wear at all.

I expect the Lexus es300h brakes to last at least that long, also.

The reason is that the mechanical brakes are hardly ever used. Gentle braking is done by the electric motor. The only wear on the mechanical brakes is the occasional hard stop when someone in front of me does something dumb.

mikez0

Thanks. I will probably order one to try.
Will report back if it is the wrong model.