Tested: 2023 Lexus ES300h Doesn’t Make Much Sense as an F Sport

Hybrids are big at Lexus, making up more than 25 percent of the luxury brand’s sales. Nearly every model in the lineup now offers a gas-electric variant, and this kind of powertrain makes sense for the typical Lexus buyer who prioritizes quietness and efficiency above the sporty sounds and performance of Lexus’s V-6 and V-8 engines. The hybrids may seem like a bit of an odd pairing with the F Sport subbrand, but that hasn’t stopped Lexus from offering F Sport packages for even the most milquetoast hybrid models, such as the ES300h.

This combination was new to the ES range for 2022, but it’s not just an appearance upgrade anymore. Lexus now offers the F Sport option in two tiers: F Sport Design includes just the visual bits, and F Sport Handling adds a set of adaptive dampers that adjust their firmness based on which driving mode you select. Handling has never really been the ES’s thing, but now that the sportier, rear-wheel-drive GS sedan has disappeared, it seems that Lexus is trying to broaden the front-wheel-drive ES’s appeal beyond those who are simply looking for a Camry with nicer trim and a more prestigious badge.

The ES300h F Sport may look the part of a sportier sedan thanks to sharp 19-inch black wheels, a rear spoiler, front seats with aggressive bolstering, and the cool movable gauge cluster bezel first seen in the LFA supercar. But its hybrid drivetrain prefers a slower pace, as the combination of the 2.5-liter inline-four and two electric motors only produces a total of 215 horsepower. In our testing, the F Sport reached 60 mph in a sluggish 7.9 seconds, nearly two seconds slower than a 302-hp, V-6-powered ES350.

The adaptive dampers do their job in the F Sport, stiffening the ride and reducing body roll when you select Sport or Sport+ mode. But that doesn’t mean that the ES300h likes to hustle, as the droning of the gasoline engine, the numb steering, and the lackluster wheel control discourage aggressive back-road antics. Riding on Michelin Primacy MXM4 all-season tires, the ES’s 0.86-g skidpad result and 178-foot stopping distance from 70 mph are behind the far-sportier IS350 sedan’s numbers.

Of course, we wouldn’t judge the ES for such dynamic deficiencies if not for the words “Sport” and “Handling” in its name. If you remove the pretense of the F Sport package, it’s a perfectly suitable cruiser. In Normal mode, the ride is soft and cosseting, and the cabin is well isolated from road and wind noise. Plus, the ES delivers impressive efficiency for a sedan this size, with an EPA rating of 44 mpg combined. We didn’t get a chance to run this 2023 model in our 75-mph real-world highway fuel-economy test, but a mechanically similar 2019 ES300h achieved 45 mpg—enabling a highway range of nearly 600 miles.

Our favorite change for the 2023 ES is the reconfigured infotainment system. Lexus mercifully ditched the fussy touchpad controller, moved the display toward the driver so it could function as a touchscreen, and introduced the company’s new infotainment software that has a far simpler menu structure. It’s a wholesale improvement, with our test car’s optional 12.3-inch screen proving easy to navigate, and the selection of hard buttons and volume and tuning knobs provides a welcome respite from touch-sensitive controls.

If we were selecting an ES for ourselves, we’d skip the F Sport line and choose one of the lesser ES350 or ES300h models that reside in the $40,000 range. The ES300h F Sport Handling starts at a steep $50,085, and our well-optioned test car stickered for $54,345. Any number of legitimate sports sedans with rear-wheel drive can be had for similar coin. We think the Lexus ES is perfectly fine as a cushy, spacious, and efficient hybrid luxury sedan—as long as it stays in its lane.

Senior Editor

Despite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.