BigRon12

I enjoy my 350 everyday and even tho its not a sports sedan. Acceleration wise it moves out quite well for itself!

Here's a little 0-90 of mine below.

LexBob2

Even after 11 model years in the ES350, the engine and transmission remains competitive in terms of refinement, performance and fuel efficiency. It's probably due for some tweaks and updates but still remains very solid.

SLH

My 300h is much quicker than most of the other cars on the road, but it is different from gas-powered cars. It is not about power. It is about torque.

In the hybrid, the low-end torque is enormous. If I push the gas pedal too much from a standing start, it will squeal the front tires briefly before the traction-control kicks in. There is no shift-delay or turbo-delay. The low-end acceleration is very quick, up to speed-limit on most roads.

It has plenty of power to merge onto the highway, and to drive at highway speeds, and to be annoyed at slow drivers. If you want to race at high speeds, you might be disappointed. This is not a NASCAR race car. But for in-town and in-traffic driving, and for passing on the highway, it has plenty of power.

zes

I was quite happy with the performance on flat roads at sea level but since I moved to Colorado I have found that the 300h struggles a bit on long climbs on mountain highways at 5,000 ft. For example I-70 W coming out of Golden and heading to Evergreen has a steep climb and most of the larger SUVs and BMWs are regularly doing 75 - 80 MPH in the left lane. My 300h does fine for the first couple of miles and then the traction battery depletes to 1 bar. At that point the engine has to rev to 4,000 - 4,500 rpm to keep up with the traffic in the left lane at around 80 MPH.

This used to bother me initially but I used to have a 77 Corolla in my student days. It had a 1,200 cc engine and it revved to 4,500 rpm at 65 MPH. I used to drive it on 500 mile stretches at 65MPH every couple of weeks and it did not seem to harm the engine. I sold it at 175,000 miles. This was before synthetic oil was commonly used. So now I figure that with synthetic oil in my 300h, 4,500 rpm should be OK every now and then. I change oil at 5,000 miles because my regular commute is very short.

So the short answer is that the 300h is OK on flat roads but struggles keeping up with the 6 cyl BMWs going uphill in the mountains.

i think I am a little nuts but I just love barreling up the mountains in the left lane along with the big boys!

TechNut

You make a good point zes. Mountain roads are where the hybrid seems to suffer the most (for my needs/expectations). It doesn't have nearly as much trouble as our Prius did so again, it really depends on expectations. I don't care anything about running with the big sports sedans in the left lane, but conversely, I don't want to hold up traffic in the right lane.

GES

1+ The 300h does well in city driving and flat highway driving. Driving on mountainous roads is another story, you need engine power, and 4 cylinder engine will not compete with 6 cylinder or similar size engine turbo charged. But again the 300h is built to be fuel efficient luxurious midsize car with reasonable power but not a performance or sporty car.

jgscott

iTrader: (1)

Guys thanks for all your post help. I just bought this in the link below. Maybe next time Ill go Hybrid. They seem to be very good. I just found such a great deal on this 2013 ES 350.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...-surprise.html