They don't need to get good MPG, they have the ES300h for that. They should have made the AWD model a hybrid only car with an electric rear motor. This was just engineering laziness.

This 4 cyl is only available on the AWD model, and its the only engine available in AWD.

 

I'm not sure that I agree with this. They already have the hybrid version for fuel mileage. I understand wanting to offer an AWD version of the ES, but if there were technical reasons that prevented AWD from being added to the 350, then I would have thought they could have done much better than this ES250 by adding power to the rear wheels via an additional electric motor, as they do in other AWD hybrids. If I remember correctly, they were even testing this a while back. That would have been far better in fuel consumption than the ES250, and smoother too. The choice to use this engine is a bit perplexing to me.

The most disappointing part of this was that they had a new RX500h F Sport in the loaner lineup, but I just missed it. Had I arrived about 10 minutes earlier, I would have had the RX500h instead of the ES250, which would have been much more fun to try out.

 

Oh sure I don't disagree with either of you, they had that setup on a Toyota platform and just moved it onto an ES. Easy and lazy, I don't disagree there either.

But surely the good MPG it gets they try to tout, even if it's not the #1 thing.

 

Toyota does have a Lexus ES hybrid with an electric motor awd. But they don’t sell it in the US

 

ES models, at one time, DID have nice interior materials. That started to go downhill, IMHO, after the superb 4th-Generation model....and has been steadily-cheapened with each successive redesign....although, for the 2010 model year, there was a brief and temporary improvement due to customer complaints.

 

Thats not true. Interior material quality hit a low point in 2013, but the refresh in 2016 helped a lot and the current model is much nicer inside than the previous model. None have materials as good as what are in the 4ES but few cars have materials as good as what they had back then.

 

My issue with the ES is not the materials, is the build design of the small details that are lacking.




this stuff I circled is cheaply designed

 

They don't even get good mpg, driven the same speeds and acceleration rate as I drive my 460 the loaners always get me 1-3 MPG worse.

 

such a beautiful car. But the faux exhausts. Ugh

 

Yeah I don’t understand that at all. Just let the exhausts be hidden

 

I don't get it either. Just leave them off and conceal the tail pipes

 

I've been resisting the urge to do this for a while but I figured I would ask if everyone thinks it's worth it to tie myself to 40% ethanol. I already have the RS7 turbos and S8 intakes installed. Example of why I want to below


I figured it would be something for me to do this winter with the 2015 since I've not been doing much with it and need to drive it more. If I do this though I wouldn't be able to freely drive anymore since E85 pumps will be needed. I already have one car that requires E85 pumps and this would basically end the 4.0 being truly turn key...

 

How rare is E85 in your area? By me it's at maybe 20% of stations, but I know it can vary. Also, some tuning solutions can leverage an Ethanol detector to ramp the tune up/down based on your exact fuel mix. Is that an option here?

 

About the same near me, Meijer and Sheetz has it but not many others. I would have to add a bunch of extra stuff for detection but yes it's possible just a lot more work and cost. Plus the tank is a pain to work with tbh!

 

Most of the Ethanol sensors I've seen mount inline on the fuel line, usually somewhere in the engine compartment. So you shouldn't need to get at the tank. here's an example designed for the S4. They sell a ton of individual components, so I'm sure you could put together a similar package for your A8.

Edit: found a complete kit for the D4. That might be all you need.