Lexus, Toyota's luxury arm, is looking to muscle onto the turf of the Europeans. But, what bait does the ES 300h sedan dangle to tempt the spoiled-for-choice car buyer away from the competition. We take a quick spin to figure that out. It is difficult to justify the ES 300h's price tag, and it's a close and obvious relationship to the Toyota Camry Hybrid makes the paper comparisons harder to digest. Its price also pits it against more established and bigger vehicles such as the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Audi’s A6. However, the space on offer is a high point. Most notable, of course, is Lexus’ hybrid powertrain which gives the ES an advantage that the others just can’t match. The ES 300h offers a more ecologically responsible and economical-to-run luxury sedan. When you back that with maintenance costs that are virtually half of the competition’s, the Lexus ES 300h certainly makes a robust case for itself, albeit a pricey one.
