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There's a reason why hybrid taxis tend to be Toyota Camry or Prius and not German cars. The ES300h basicallly uses the same hybrid setup as the Camry Hybrid and has been super reliable.
As an owner of a 2009 BMW and a 2013 es300h and 2 other Toyotas I would have to say Toyota/Lexus is the much much more reliable and cost of maintenance is minimal comparatively.
300h transmission has no clutches (friction surfaces), and should be as reliable as a differential, I.e. even more reliable than a manual transmission. The engine has no belts to break. The only thing that is iffy is the hybrid battery. Lexus provides a warranty for it for 10 years and hopefully it should last longer than that. Hopefully aftermarket batteries should be cheap in 10 years. One can get oil leaks from bad seals I suppose but that can happen to any car. The engine runs on an Atkinson cycle which loads it a lot less than the traditional Otto cycle. Toyota engines are generally quite robust, although I did have a 97 Camry which threw a rod at 130K miles and caught fire. These are machines after all but statistically Toyotas tend to do better than German cars. I think German technology is generally overrated. My wife bought a Bosch dishwasher and it has given us problems and does not wash dishes well. I once bought a Braun shaver and it sucked relative to a Remington.
Yes, no friction parts of any kind in the transmission and no accessory belt.
But also no starter and no alternator - those are two very common points of failure. On all the cars I owned I had to replace at least one of them (and on some both).
Also brake rotors and pads may last the life of the car (if you master the art of regenerative braking).
Lexus has been #1 in the J D Power dependability study for six years in a row. In 2011 they were ranked #2, 2010 #4, 2009 #3, 2008 #1, and 2007 #2. Lexus is the third least expensive to maintain behind Toyota and Scion. The ES is ranked by J D Power as #1 in reliability in the compact premium class.
I think a better way to address this is to ask....which vehicle would you rather own once the warranty is up?
The answer is easy for me....I would take a Lexus over a German vehicle in a heartbeat.
I agree with the second part in the above post.
I slightly disagree with the first part however. Here is why: your car can be under warranty and it may not cost you $ to get it fixed, but if the car breaks down frequently, it is still a big hassel (imagine getting stuck in some dark area with a 1 year old car)
How reliable is the es 300h compare to german cars like audi, mercedes and bmw?
Another strong point, the ES is essential a Toyota Avalon. What I found is a majority of the parts are identical. An identical Toyota part would cost 50% more at Lexus.
The fact that the es 300h is more expensive than the es 350 means it is more reliable, or the maintenance is less expensive or it's just about the gas mileage?
The fact that the es 300h is more expensive than the es 350 means it is more reliable, or the maintenance is less expensive or it's just about the gas mileage?
The ES300h cost more because of the additional hybrid system ( Hybrid battery, couple electric motors, inverter..etc) and has nothing to d with reliability. Both the ES and ES300h are equally reliable. Oh and we just learned that the 12 volt battery is more expensive in the 300h than the ES350. Maintenance cost is not much different. The oil change maybe less expensive in the 300h because it has 4 cylinder engine that requires less oil. But this is 10-15$ difference only. If you keep the ES 300h for many years you have to think of the possibility of the hybrid battery needing change and that would cost 3000-5000 $ roughly.
Toyota and Lexus Join Mille Miglia For The First Time
Slideshow: A five-car lineup spanning more than five decades of Toyota performance and engineering will tackle one of Italy's most celebrated automotive routes.
