The 2018 Lexus ES 300h.

One of the hardest things to do is a smaller, reasonably-priced luxury car.  Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar...they've all had swings and misses on that score.  Arguably, the Lexus ES 300 originally fell into that category.  It was, largely, a Toyota Camry with richer-looking paint colors,  a leather interior and copious amounts of sound deadening insulation.

That changed five years ago, when the ES was moved to the Avalon platform and took advantage of the greater interior room to create a true luxury car.  We've been a fan ever since.  And of the available trims of the ES, our favorite is the ES 300h hybrid.

2018 Lexus ES 300h.

The price gap between a gasoline-powered ES 350 and the hybrid 300h is so small that the gas savings (40 city/39 highway for the hybrid compared to 21 city/31 highway for the gasoline version) will pay for the car in about two years. 

Beyond that, there's the excellence, comfort, quiet and luxury of the ES itself.  I really could picture owning one and making it the car I would drive for the rest of my life.

$41,820 is the base price for the ES 300h.  That includes a list of standard equipment so long that I'm just going to let Lexus tell you about it.

2018 Lexus ES 300h interior.

The interior ambiance is a bit more sporting than previous models, but there's nothing frantic about it. If you'd asked me in the glory days of Jaguar what their interiors would look like today, I'd have described something very similar to the ES 300h cockpit.

Our tester had about $8,000 worth of extra-cost options:

• Blind spot monitor with rear cross-traffic alert ($500)
• Twin projector Bi-LED headlamps ($515)
• Navigation with Mark Levinson 15-speaker premium 835-watt surround sound audio system including the Lexus Enform app suite ($2,615)
• One-touch power trunk ($400)
• Intuitive parking assist ($500)
• Ultra Luxury package...Semi-aniline leather seats, heated and ventilated in the front,  wood trim, power tilt and telescoping steering wheel, memory front seats, outside mirrors and steering wheel, remote keyless entry, power rear sunshade and manual rear door sunshades, power driver's seat cushion extender, ambient lighting, panoramic glass roof and power moonroof...($3,000)
• Heated wood and leather-trimmed steering wheel ($450).

The 2017 Lexus ES 300h.

Less than a month ago, I wrote that the 2017 Lexus ES350 was "the unassailable choice"...one of a handful of cars that there is no plausible downside to buying.  The hybrid version of the ES350, the ES 300h---yes, there is a space between "ES" and "300h", where there is none in the "ES350"---is the same car with the added benefits of lower emissions and higher fuel economy estimates, without the financial penalty that often comes with hybrid ownership.

2017 Lexus ES 300h.

I have written about this before---in last year's review of the 2016 ES 300h.  The difference in price between the ES350 and the ES 300h is so small---$2,920---and the difference in fuel economy so great---an EPA-estimated 40 city/39 highway for the ES 300h versus 21 city/30 highway for the gasoline-powered ES350---that, according to the fueleconomy.gov hybrid savings calculator,  the fuel savings will pay for the difference in 5.4 years.

A seven-year break-even is more typical.  Some, like the Toyota Highlander Hybrid, will take more than 11 years to pay for the extra cost of the hybrid.

2017 Lexus ES 300h interior.

Apart from the expected Lexus list of standard features, our test vehicle had optional equipment:

• Blind spot monitor with rear cross-traffic alert ($500)
• LED low/bi-LED headlamps ($515)
• Navigation with upgraded Mark Levinson premium audio and Lexus Enform app suite ($2,500)
• One-touch power trunk ($400)
• Intuitive parking assist ($500)
• Ultra Luxury Package with wood trim interior, driver and passenger memory seats, heated and ventilated front seats, power rear and manual door sunshades, driver seat power cushion extender, ambient lighting, power tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, panorama glass roof and power moonroof ($3,000)
• Heated wood and leather-trimmed steering wheel ($450)