2010 Lexus HS 250h First Impressions

Actually, it uses the Camry hybrid drivetrain, not the Prius one, down to the point of being the only Lexus that uses regular gas. The car itself came out of the European Toyota stable.

 

We were driving by a Lexus dealer today and saw an HS250h prominently displayed to passing traffic. We stopped and looked at it. The interior looks just like any other Lexus - leather, wood, basically a Lexus - except that the dash was long, like the Prius (to accommodate a more horizontally-oriented windshield. Nice-looking car. Very nice. The engine looked a heck of a lot like a Prius under the hood. I asked the salesman if the components were the same. He said "no. all Lexus." I chuckled inside because I knew that except for the more powerful engine, it was essentially an HSD like the Prius. The only reason I wasn't eager to consider buying it ... they wanted $39,500 !!! Haha. (I didn't think that what was sitting in front of me looked like a $39,500 car. I live in SoCal and I see luxury cars all the time. A $39K car is common here. But I just didn't think that what I saw sitting there was worth $40K. They need to make a "base model" right now for $35K and get them on the roads, and then next year, they can discontinue the base model and sell the rest for $40K. But right now, I think the pricing on this car is a recipe for disaster.

 

Give Ford some time and they will make the Lincoln MKZ a Hybrid and compete directly against Lexus. Their Fusion already blows away the Camry, the Taurus has some amazing features not found on a Lexus. It wouldn't surprise me to see Ford drop a Hybrid train into their new Fiesta.

I test drove a 2007 RX400h and I was not impressed, it was noisy, the stereo could not be heard if a window was down, or the sunroof was open, and the MFD was exactly the same as in the Prius. If I compare the Lexus to the Hyundai I have, except for the Hybrid system, the only plus side on the Lexus was the plastic used in the dash and doors was a heavier grade, and it didn't have suspension noise over bumps, but that's about it. I was shocked at how loud the engine was and it wasnt a nice loud either, it sounded like it was trying to go in several directions at once and competing to get there.

Is the RX400h based off the Camry, or the Highlander chassis?

 

Based on the sales so far, you might be right. September sales were only 1242 units, although Toyota was forecasting an already low 24k per year.

Saying that, the much more expensive HS sold about as good as the TOTAL units of Ford fusion AND milan hybrids (1260 units), which tells you the latter are in even worse shape, especially since they were so hyped at the beginning of this year.

 

There is a huge demand issue for the HS abroad, which has hurt US inventory. They are selling very briskly.

It is not a volume model, the ES 350 is the volume Lexus sedan. Also gas has been pretty cheap and CFC is no longer here.

Here is a slightly modified HS

 

You said the same thing here, you clearly don't like it
http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-hybrids/69836-my-test-drive-impressions-2010-hs250h.html

I've driven the RX 400h a few times, AWD and FWD and I understand why it sold so well and was so well received. It has all the benefits of the RX with hybrid pluses. 27-28 MPG from a SUV with tons of utility? Earlier models only had aluminum trim but latter models could get the wood trim. To me there were bits that seemed not so great but its still the entry level SUV compared to the GX and LX.

Today the 450h is just incredible. I was shocked at how good it is.