2022 Lexus ES Hybrid Reviews, Pricing & Specs

Some of us at CarGurus have a deep appreciation for the Lexus ES. For starters, it demonstrates the potential of the company’s design language, wearing the dramatic styling better than some Lexus models. It’s also a bargain, priced like a compact luxury car but sized like a full-size sedan. And there are three distinctly different versions from which to choose.

But mainly, when it comes to your daily driver, there is something to be said for a quiet, comfortable, and reliable car to soothe and simplify your life. That’s the Lexus ES in a nutshell.

For this review, we’re focused on the 2022 Lexus ES 300h hybrid. It comes in Base (from $51,900), ES 300h Luxury (from $58,600), and ES 300h Ultra Luxury (from $62,550). Destination charges are $2,115 extra.

The vehicle we used for our test drive was in U.S. specification and had F Sport trim, 19-inch wheels, and a white NuLuxe simulated leather interior, all of which are not offered on the ES 300h in Canada. (The base ES hybrid gets NuLuxe upholstery in black or tan; other trims receive semi-aniline leather.)

The perforated NuLuxe upholstery looks and feels like leather. Heated and ventilated front seats are standard on all ES grades in Canada and help ensure optimum comfort. Though some inexpensive plastic bits and pieces are evident, Lexus composes the ES’s cabin with quality materials. Unfortunately, the doors sound tinny when closed, imparting a lack of substance.

The whole point of the Lexus ES 300h is its hybrid powertrain, which uses a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine in combination with an electric drive assist motor and a lithium-ion battery pack to produce total power specs of 215 horsepower.

That doesn’t sound like much, but the ES 300h is more powerful than the base ES 250, and its electric motor supplies instant torque the moment you step on the accelerator. An electronic continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) manages the front-wheel-drive (FWD) drivetrain (all-wheel drive is available on the ES 250 AWD), and it makes the best use of the power, with only occasional droning to irritate your eardrums.

While it certainly won’t light anyone’s passion for driving on fire, the Lexus ES 300h offers plenty of zip for most people. That’s especially true if you put the car in Sport mode.

But the best thing about the ES 300h is that it effortlessly returns fantastic fuel efficiency. We averaged 6.4 litres per 100 kilometres on our testing route, the car in its Normal driving mode the majority of the time. While that’s substantially higher than the Natural Resources Canada official 5.3 L/100 km rating in combined driving, achieving econobox fuel consumption in a big luxury sedan, and without trying, is remarkable.

If you want genuine athleticism, you must get the thirstier V6-powered ES 350 F Sport ($57,000), which adds an adaptive variable suspension to the car along with a Sport+ driving mode. The ES 300h exhibits what we’d call “composed compliance.” In other words, it soaks up the road without any unnecessary body motions.

On a positive note, Lexus has added a new electronically controlled braking system to the 2022 ES. The change results in better brake pedal feel and modulation while eliminating the clunking noise when the driver takes his or her foot off of it.

Another big benefit of the Lexus ES 300h is the interior room. The ES might be priced like many compact luxury sedans, but because it shares an underlying platform with the Toyota Avalon, it’s comparatively huge inside.

Not only is it spacious, but the seats are also delightfully comfortable and the air conditioning is effective enough to seemingly freeze meat, even when outside temperatures are above 30 degrees. It takes a few minutes for the cabin to cool down, but once that happens you might wish you’d worn a sweatshirt or jacket.

The centre console padding feels plush under your arm, and the rather low-slung driving position lends the car a sporty feel.

Storage space is good but could be better if Lexus would just get rid of the fussy infotainment control touchpad on the centre console. Under the covered forward bin, a smartphone slot serves as a useful place to keep your device. Drivers can also switch the closest cupholder to be deep or shallow, depending on preferences.

Rear-seat legroom and headroom are outstanding, and passengers enjoy air conditioning vents, charging ports, and available rear window sunshades. The seat cushion offers excellent thigh support, and the seatback is reclined just a bit without introducing a slouched feeling. A large, padded centre armrest folds down to reveal two cupholders.

Cargo space measures 394 litres, the same as in the Lexus ES 250 and Lexus ES 350. Last year, Lexus gave the ES 300h a smaller lithium-ion battery pack that lives under the car’s back seat, and that freed up extra trunk space in the ES Hybrid. But the trunk is still on the small side given how big the sedan’s interior is.

It seems like a minor change, but the 2022 Lexus ES’s new touchscreen infotainment display makes a significant and positive impact on driving satisfaction.

First, a little history is in order. Until recently, Lexus had decided that its Remote Touch Interface (RTI) infotainment control system was the right approach. In theory, adding what amounts to a laptop computer trackpad to the centre console makes sense. By now, everyone is familiar with using them. What Lexus forgot is that when people use a computer trackpad, they’re focused on visually coordinating their fingertip movements with the on-screen cursor to find, select, and execute actions.

When you’re driving a car (it should go without saying) this is dangerously distracting.

By using the RTI approach, Lexus could tuck the infotainment screen far back on the dashboard near the base of the windshield. Since the screen wasn’t touch-sensitive and was out of reach anyway, it didn’t collect the smudges and fingerprints common with touchscreens. And, again, in theory, the system’s audible and haptic feedback signals combined with owner-set sensitivity levels should have made it less distracting to use.

But, in our experience, this was not the case. And apparently, we were not alone in this opinion.

Now, Lexus is installing touchscreen infotainment systems in its cars and SUVs, and the 2022 Lexus ES is the latest beneficiary. This means that unless you want to call up the main menu or quickly access the navigation system’s map display, you can totally ignore the RTI. In turn, as a driver, you’ll suffer less frustration and less distraction.

Granted, in the ES, driver interaction with the RTI was typically minimal. Between the separate climate control buttons, stereo volume and tuning knobs, and steering-wheel controls, you could avoid using the trackpad. But when you needed to, ugh.

In addition to the new touchscreen display, which is mounted 11 centimetres closer to the driver and front passenger for ease of use, the infotainment system includes Bluetooth, SiriusXM satellite radio, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility.

Lexus also offers several connected services plans with complimentary trial periods. Highlights include remote access via smartphone app including remote engine starting, several important safety features, and more. A 17-speaker Mark Levinson premium surround-sound system is available, but since our test car did not have this upgrade, we cannot comment on its performance or sound quality.

Lexus makes another big technological change to the 2022 ES. The car gets upgraded cameras and sensors to power an expanded array of advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) in the new Lexus Safety System+ 2.5 (LSS+ 2.5), which is standard equipment.

LSS+ 2.5 equips the ES with a Level 2 hands-on driving assistance system in the form of adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go capability paired with lane-centring assistance. Naturally, LSS+ 2.5 also includes forward-collision warning, pedestrian detection, cyclist detection, automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance, and automatic high-beam headlights. Blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert is also standard for the 2022 ES models.

What's new? Now, the list of safety features includes more responsive adaptive cruise control acceleration when the driver changes lanes to pass slower vehicles, an evasive steering assistance system, and intersection turning assist, which prevents a driver from making an unsafe turn in front of approaching traffic.

The car’s lane-centring assistance technology (Lane Tracing Assist) is too obvious about what it’s doing when the road ahead is anything but arrow straight. It can seem uncertain of itself, which makes the technology hard to trust and causes a driver to try to override the system’s inputs. We preferred driving the ES with Lane Tracing Assist turned off.

Should LSS+ 2.5 fail to prevent a collision, rest assured this car is engineered to keep you and your passengers safe. The 2021 ES earned a “Top Safety Pick+” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), while the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says the 2022 ES provides five-star crash protection.

The 2022 Lexus ES 300h offers significant value, even if its relationship to the Toyota Avalon is sometimes evident.

With MSRPs starting at just shy of $52,000 and topping out with every option at well under $65,000, the ES 300h sedan supplies style, luxury, and plenty of spacious comfort for the money. Furthermore, with the car’s new infotainment and safety tech, the ES is easier to use, more pleasurable to drive, and safer than ever.

There’s always the Lexus IS to consider, which swaps roomy interior space for superior driving dynamics. And it also now comes with a touchscreen infotainment system.

Note: Images show a US model.