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Hybrid TechnologyUnique topics related to the ES300h model hybrid drivetrain and other features/options found only on the ES300h. Please use the main 6ES forum for discussion about shared components with other sixth generation ES models.
I'm looking at a 2013 ES300h with 55k miles, luxury package, heated/ventilated seats, nav package, rear/cross traffic alert, rear shade for just over $21k asking price. This will be my first Lexus (I previously was planning to get a GX 470 a while back but the wife bought a Ford Flex and we don't need 2 SUVs with bad gas mileage).
Is there anything I should be aware of before spending more on a car than I did on my first 4 cars combined? Are there any common issues that I should pay special attention to?
For example, I already read a post here that mentioned possible issues with 2013-14 ventilated seats, but am not sure how to tell if it is performing up to par or not, since I haven't owned a car with ventilated seats before.
If I want to get an independent inspection, is there any issue taking it to my local Toyota dealership or an independent repair shop instead of the Lexus dealership in another town?
One other question, on pretty much every 300h I find for sale, I see 5 slots for buttons on the dash left of the steering wheel, and only 2 are populated with what I think are the rear cross traffic alert and parking aid. What options am I missing if the other 3 button slots are blank?
I just traded in a 2013 ES300h for a 2017. I had 62,000 miles without one even minor issue. Love this car. I get a combined 38 mpg and for a car this big is incredible. Since this is your first Lexus, J D Power has ranked Lexus #1 in reliability for six years in a row. Consumer Reports ranks Lexus #1 in reliability. If you go to Lexus .com and click on to owners and register for free, insert VIN # and it will give you all the maintenance work done at a Lexus dealer or post the VIN and I will do it for you. The method I use for maintenance has worked for me for over a million miles. Every 10,000 miles an oil change and tire rotation is needed. At the Lexus dealership this should be less than $100. Every 30,000 miles the brake fluid needs to be changed and again about $100. Every 20,000 miles change the air and cabin filters. This combined takes five minutes and the air filter can be bought on line at Lexus Parts World for $18. The cabin air filter can be bought at Walmart for $18, It is the Fram Fresh Breeze #10285 with carbon and baking soda to filter the air. Wiper blade inserts again can be bought at Lexus Parts World for $20 for both refills and takes five minutes to replace. You are done until 100,000 miles. At Lexus Parts World use cl5 in the promo code for 10% discount. If you go in and ask for the 10,000, 20,000 30,000 maintenance you will be paying big bucks for a lot more items you do not need checked and inspected. Once a year replace the key fob battery cr2032. Keep receipts for everything. I take my oil filter and 5 quart jug of Mobil 1 purchased at Walmart for $24 to my local Toyota dealer and they charge me $20 labor.
I'm looking at a 2013 ES300h with 55k miles, luxury package, heated/ventilated seats, nav package, rear/cross traffic alert, rear shade for just over $21k asking price. This will be my first Lexus (I previously was planning to get a GX 470 a while back but the wife bought a Ford Flex and we don't need 2 SUVs with bad gas mileage).
Is there anything I should be aware of before spending more on a car than I did on my first 4 cars combined? Are there any common issues that I should pay special attention to?
For example, I already read a post here that mentioned possible issues with 2013-14 ventilated seats, but am not sure how to tell if it is performing up to par or not, since I haven't owned a car with ventilated seats before.
If I want to get an independent inspection, is there any issue taking it to my local Toyota dealership or an independent repair shop instead of the Lexus dealership in another town?
One other question, on pretty much every 300h I find for sale, I see 5 slots for buttons on the dash left of the steering wheel, and only 2 are populated with what I think are the rear cross traffic alert and parking aid. What options am I missing if the other 3 button slots are blank?
Thanks!
CARFAX! If has damage...........
What is it? I just bought a 2013 ES 350 Ultimate Lux Package with 1 accident that was a new front bumper and pass side headlight. Repaired perfect, and no frame damage or paint problems. Got a great price on it.
Good info, both of you; thanks. Yep, CR is a big driver in considering a car twice what I would have looked at 2 years ago. It also doesn't hurt that I've test driven more than 20 cars from domestic, German, Japanese, and Korean brands, and Lexus seems to make the comfiest seats and the most plush interiors. (Sat in a Buick last week immediately after a Lexus ES and instantly felt like the interior was suddenly too cheap for my tastes...I hope I'm not turning into a snob!) I've previously had a lot of GM and they always seem to start needing more expensive or tricker-to-diagnose repairs around 80k and 130k.
Fred, too bad I didn't post earlier; maybe I could have bought yours!
If anyone else has any additional tips or experiences to share, please do so!
I have a 14 ESh. The car has about 35k miles and so far the only problem I have had is that there was a mold issue on the AC evaporator. I lived in Columbus Ohio then and it is very humid there in the summer. I never had this problem with my Mellenia or my wife's Altima. I think Lexus has a problem with condensate water drainage. Cost $300 for the dealer to fix. The ESh AC goes to the recirculating mode every time it is turned on and I am told that this is a possible cause. Who knows. I am afraid to turn on the AC for short trips now and always turn it off and the fan on fresh air at high speed a couple of miles before the end of a long drive to dry things out.
The only other comment I have is that while the hybrid drive is great for relatively flat terrain, it struggles to maintain high speed in steep long climbs. The hybrid battery runs out quickly and then the 2.5 liter Atkinson cycle engine feels underpowered for such a large car. If you are not a speed freak in the mountains this should not be an issue :-)
I have a 14 ESh. The car has about 35k miles and so far the only problem I have had is that there was a mold issue on the AC evaporator. I lived in Columbus Ohio then and it is very humid there in the summer. I never had this problem with my Mellenia or my wife's Altima. I think Lexus has a problem with condensate water drainage. Cost $300 for the dealer to fix. The ESh AC goes to the recirculating mode every time it is turned on and I am told that this is a possible cause. Who knows. I am afraid to turn on the AC for short trips now and always turn it off and the fan on fresh air at high speed a couple of miles before the end of a long drive to dry things out.
Correct, when the outside temp is above ~72 degrees, it will default to re-circulation mode. This is the root cause of the moldy smell issue that several people, including me, had mentioned early on. The easy fix is to manually change it to outside air as soon as you notice it. Also, your high speed setting on outside air mode at the end of a long trip should help.
I have a 14 ESh. The car has about 35k miles and so far the only problem I have had is that there was a mold issue on the AC evaporator. I lived in Columbus Ohio then and it is very humid there in the summer. I never had this problem with my Mellenia or my wife's Altima. I think Lexus has a problem with condensate water drainage. Cost $300 for the dealer to fix. The ESh AC goes to the recirculating mode every time it is turned on and I am told that this is a possible cause. Who knows. I am afraid to turn on the AC for short trips now and always turn it off and the fan on fresh air at high speed a couple of miles before the end of a long drive to dry things out.
The only other comment I have is that while the hybrid drive is great for relatively flat terrain, it struggles to maintain high speed in steep long climbs. The hybrid battery runs out quickly and then the 2.5 liter Atkinson cycle engine feels underpowered for such a large car. If you are not a speed freak in the mountains this should not be an issue :-)
Originally Posted by Mike728
Correct, when the outside temp is above ~72 degrees, it will default to re-circulation mode. This is the root cause of the moldy smell issue that several people, including me, had mentioned early on. The easy fix is to manually change it to outside air as soon as you notice it. Also, your high speed setting on outside air mode at the end of a long trip should help.
Thanks for the tips, zes and Mike.
Also, everyone...is it normal to have the engine visible when you lift the hood? I know it sounds like a stupid question, but so many newer cars (including other Lexuses I've looked at) have those plastic shrouds covering everything.
I looked at an ES300h today and it drove smooth but I wasn't crazy about the color (fire agate pearl), which looked dark gray in photos but in-person had a sort of maroon undertone. I have to say that the mouse-like controller isn't as bad as I feared, but it does seem like you have to push it kind of hard to click it. The front of the car also had some nicks in the plastic, like it followed too close to a gravel truck. The interior looked very clean aside from some black scuffs on the driver's side floor trim. I had the ventilated seats on max, but my seat was still pretty warm by the end of the test drive so I don't think they were working.
The one I test drove had the blind spot monitoring and park assist buttons on the lower dash left of the steering wheel. There are 2 blanks to the left, 1 to the right, and 1 above that are presumably for other buttons. I looked through the entire owner's manual and it sounds like whatever goes in the blank to the right of the park assist button is not present on cars with the nav package (presumably because it is controlled using the screen instead?)
Does anyone know what buttons this car was missing in those button placeholders? The obvious things that come to mind are smoke screen, surface to air rockets, and ejection seat, but I am not aware that Lexus offers any of those options.
The one I test drove had the blind spot monitoring and park assist switches on the lower dash left of the steering wheel. There are 2 blanks to the left, 1 to the right, and 1 above that are presumably for other buttons. I looked through the entire owner's manual and it sounds like whatever goes in the blank to the right of the park assist button is not present on cars with the nav package (presumably because it is controlled using the screen instead?)
Does anyone know what buttons this car was missing in those button placeholders? The obvious things that come to mind are smoke screen, surface to air rockets, and ejection seat, but I am not aware that Lexus offers any of those options.
In my 2017 ES, in the bank of 5 spaces below and to the left of the steering wheel, there are buttons for the blind spot monitor, automatic headlights/brights, and the park assist. There are two blanks, and there is also another blank to the right of the mirror adjustment control.
My ES is an UL car, and it has every available option except for the illuminated trunk sill, rear bumper applique, and body side moldings. Since none of those three options would require a switch to control it, I don't believe that there are any other Lexus factory options that would need those spots. My guess would be that, when Lexus first designed the car for the 2013 model year, they left a few extra spaces for features that might have become available in the ES during the rest of the Generation 6 life cycle. Also, those spaces could be used for any 3rd party options that an owner might wish to add to the car.
The one I test drove had the blind spot monitoring and park assist buttons on the lower dash left of the steering wheel. There are 2 blanks to the left, 1 to the right, and 1 above that are presumably for other buttons. I looked through the entire owner's manual and it sounds like whatever goes in the blank to the right of the park assist button is not present on cars with the nav package (presumably because it is controlled using the screen instead?)
Does anyone know what buttons this car was missing in those button placeholders? The obvious things that come to mind are smoke screen, surface to air rockets, and ejection seat, but I am not aware that Lexus offers any of those options.
The seat ventilation is not very good but there was a mod I saw somewhere where a person cut up a 1 gallon milk jug to kind of funnel the cold air from the vent under the front seat to the input grill on the seat back.
Two of the blank buttons are for folding mirrors and a headlight washer, I do not believe these are available on the North American ES. I have seen other country photos with the headlight washers.
The seat ventilation is not very good but there was a mod I saw somewhere where a person cut up a 1 gallon milk jug to kind of funnel the cold air from the vent under the front seat to the input grill on the seat back.
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You are right in saying that, in the first couple of years of the Generation 6 ES, the ventilated seats did not provide much air flow at all. One of the things that I quickly noticed when I traded my 2013 ES and got a 2017 ES is how much better the seat ventilation is on the 2017 than what it was on the 2013. I don't know with which model year the change/improvement was made, but the difference is quite noticeable. That is one of a number of unadvertised changes/improvements that I noticed when comparing the 2017 ES to the 2013 ES.
You are right in saying that, in the first couple of years of the Generation 6 ES, the ventilated seats did not provide much air flow at all. One of the things that I quickly noticed when I traded my 2013 ES and got a 2017 ES is how much better the seat ventilation is on the 2017 than what it was on the 2013. I don't know with which model year the change/improvement was made, but the difference is quite noticeable. That is one of a number of unadvertised changes/improvements that I noticed when comparing the 2017 ES to the 2013 ES.
i may be crazy but ive been in a number of diff model year es's due to my cpo having small but stupid issues, from my own 15 to various 16 and 17 yr model loaners. drove two 17 ones and definitely felt more consistent and stronger, while my 15 also feels just as strong. but both 16 yr model ones i was in were both very weak. barely felt any air movement.
The seat ventilation is not very good but there was a mod I saw somewhere where a person cut up a 1 gallon milk jug to kind of funnel the cold air from the vent under the front seat to the input grill on the seat back.
Two of the blank buttons are for folding mirrors and a headlight washer, I do not believe these are available on the North American ES. I have seen other country photos with the headlight washers.
Hahaha, well I guess whatever works, although it sounds pretty sad to have to "upgrade" a $40,000 car with a cut up milk jug!
Good to know what those blanks are for...in browsing this forum some more, I saw some people also have moved other buttons up to that main row for more convenient access. Not sure if I would do that, but I would have to see how much the 3 blanks in that row bug me and if there are any practical reasons why one shouldn't do it.
I just bought a 2013 300h and I love it! I live in Orange County, CA. and I found a clean CarFax, 27k miles for $23,800. Highly recommend! Feel free to AMA (about the car... let's not get carried away)
I just bought a 2013 300h and I love it! I live in Orange County, CA. and I found a clean CarFax, 27k miles for $23,800. Highly recommend! Feel free to AMA (about the car... let's not get carried away)
09-06-17, 09:41 PM
Looking at a 2013 ES300h
