I currently have a UX250H and it's ok for our local driving purposes in the East Bay. We do a weekly drive into Berkeley from the Valley area to the east of the CA 24 tunnels. When it's late coming back, Google makes us drive "over the mountains" to avoid the tunnel traffic, typically over Claremont Ave into Fish Ranch Rd. The eCVT is at 3-4K RPM going uphill and you can really hear it straining. I am now considering trading up to the ES 300H for the roominess it affords. Any owners drive it up that hill and can tell me how it performs there?

 

I haven't done any "mountain runs" in my ES 300h and the closest I got to one probably HWY 92 and Redwood Rd up in the East Bay. It handles the mountain roads pretty nicely. I would say the steepest incline I've faced is on 680 between Fremont and HWY 84 near that truck stop/weigh station. Handles that steeper incline without issue as well. Couple different backroads up in Castro Valley that go more towards north, it's handled nicely as well.

 

Claremont Ave going up over the ridge is a series of switchbacks, the ICE on UX is running at 3k+ RPM to keep up with the slow traffic. It's 2.0L compared to the heftier 2.5L on the ES 300H. I have a '20 which was upgraded in later models with more sound deadening. The ICE running at those RPM's is louder than I'd like and this is where I dislike the eCVT the most. I have driven new ES 300 H's as service vehicles from the dealership and really like them.

 

I'm not sure how steep Claremont Avenue is, but I've taken my '23 300h on eastbound 50 to Tahoe and it easily keeps up with traffic and can pass most traffic in the Sierra.

 

Good to know, though I didn't doubt it was lacking in power to make it up a steeper hill. I gotta make it out to Tahoe one of these days.

 

Have never driven a UX250h. Have driven both that stretch of Berkeley and to S. Lake Tahoe in my wife's 2024 Lexus NX350H, it feels fine on both routes. The NXh does sounds louder than my son's 2008 RX350 AWD (158K miles on her) and my 2017 ES350 (40K miles on her), as it should since they are both V6s but with MPG penalty. The NXh does not lack in power going up hills all over the bay area.

On a side note, looking forward to the next gen ES hybrid. Hopefully will be out in a year or so.

 

I'm interested in how the hybrids feel on those roads. The non-Hybrids perform as they are expected to. The Hybrids have the slippery-feeling eCVT that like other CVTs try to keep you in the peak torque band. For the 2 liter UX250H that seems to be in the 3K RPM (and up) range. On the 2.5L ES 300H I expect it might be a little lower. I have driven a new tech Highlander Hybrid and it is a little better on the same roads but the eCVT has the same characteristics of feeling like it wants to stay in the higher range of the peak torque band, just at lower rpms compared to our UX. Having said that, I would think the eCVT characteristics would be acceptable. I wonder what they will do to the ES that it doesn't already have. A PHEV would be amazing. Toyota has made some recent announcements on their Solid State battery that changes the landscape in 2027. It will be an interesting few years coming up.

 

I don't know if you'd be much happier with the 300h. It's a great car, not bashing it. But any mountain climbs require a constant 3k+ RPM resulting in the same thing you're describing.

The power/weight ratio is going to be better with an ES300h but not that much better. The ES hybrid weighs about 100lbs more than the UX and has about 20 more hp. While that helps the power/weight ratio a bit, it's not going to result in a huge difference with engine revs to climb a hill.

 

The difference is closer to 35hp but I hear you. I have driven the 243 hp Highlander Hybrid and it does the same thing, just less obstrusively so. This is one reason I actually looked at Hyundai/Kia SUV hybrids that have standard auto trannies. They are just too noisy overall.

 

I am commuting to Silicon Valley from Santa Cruz - Highway 17 is pretty steep going from Los Gatos to the summit. It is about a 2000 ft climb, no problem at all - I can do it as fast as I want, doesn't feel like the engine is straining to keep up....

 

Bay area resident here as well. My family goes to Santa Cruz/Capitola every few months. Our 2024 NX350h does the trip with ease, even compare to my 17 ES350 and my son's 08 RX350 AWD......and fuel saving on the hybrid is gravy.

 

I have done the sunol grade drive several times in a simple focus at 160hp with no issues. Surely the ESh can easily handle this too? I would be shocked if there are issues as in not being able to keep up with traffic. I can even pass in the focus, albeit does require pushing the accelerator down a fair amount. (yes, definitely makes the focus roar to maintain and increase speed while going up).

 

The 300h can handle any paved incline. No car needs much HP to climb a hill and the 215hp in the 300h is more than sufficient.