Driving a hybrid doesn't mean you have to do without. It is not like a medieval self-hostage. You do not sit on hard wooden stools and think about your own past sins.

If you treat yourself to the premium version in the hybrid segment, you will enjoy a fine atmosphere, perfect workmanship and a careful choice of materials. And he's probably sitting in a Lexus. No automobile manufacturer in the world stands more clearly for the clear symbiosis of decent 4 star business limousines and ecological sustainability.

That renunciation does not have to be a predominant virtue, he has GS450h in my driving report already proven. For a V6 with 345 PS is certainly not a renunciation. For the driven F-Sport version but also 71.000 € are called. Not quite a disreputable sum, for an ecologically correct conscience.

It is now one size smaller.

Lexus now offers a second hybrid version for the GS - curtain up for the GS300h.

Driving Report GS 300h

223 horsepower is nothing unusual in the business limousine series. A top speed of 190 km / h reads like a typo. And yet - both numbers are correct. Just like the specified standard consumption of only 4.7 liters per 100 kilometers. A remarkably small number in the NEDC fuel consumption. However, the desired balancing act between an innovative savings concept and the “want-to-have” factor of a luxury class sedan is difficult.

The design

The new 300h does not bring a new design for the GS. What I have already written about it still applies. However, especially as F-Sport, the GS 300h looks much more dynamic than it can prove in everyday life. However, with a CW value of 0.26, the GS cuts an efficient path through the wind. Good for consumption and in the case of the GS series, nice to look at.

Gliding instead of flying low

If you want to impress with the lowest emission values ​​in your class, you have to be on the other side. Tempo 100 takes 9.2 seconds from a standing start and the limited top speed of 190 km / h should be a greater obstacle for the GS300h than common sense and the hope of the parent company in Japan would suggest. In the highly competitive premium sedan segment a la BMW 520d, Audi A6 2.0 TDI and E200, castration at a constant winter tire speed level is a tough test.

A standard consumption of 5.0 down to 4.7 liters (depending on the tire size) comforts you per 100 kilometers - but quickly silences you at the regulars' table and in the canteen as soon as the conversation turns to the German dearest child. Energy efficiency class A + for a business sedan with a real premium character and CO0 emissions at the level of a VW Golf are impressive. But even children learn with the car quartet that it is the values ​​from 100 to XNUMX and the top speed that make the trick.

Which is really new

Lexus packs the 2.5 liter four-cylinder under the hood of the elegant GS and thus proves in the result: Also in the segment of premium sedans can come up with impressively economical fuel consumption. The gasoline engine is combined with a 143 PS strong electric motor.

But that will not be enough to turn the world of company car drivers off the hook. Of course, Lexus switched to the fleet business and employees entitled to service and company cars. And the requirements are not bad. After all, a hybrid vehicle can come up with many advantages in the cost area. Thanks to energy recovery, the brakes are spared, the even torque curve of the combination of gasoline engine and engine also protects the tire from unnecessary wear. The hybrid also does not have a clutch and instead of an alternator and a starter, the electric motor takes over both tasks. Lexus has at the Atkinson petrol also exchanged the timing belt for a maintenance-free chain. All in all - perfect solutions to minimize maintenance.

Added to this is the once again confirmed good value retention of the hybrid models from Lexus.

But perfection can hurt

During the test drive, I wondered for a long time why it was that Lexus had an extremely bad year last year - despite the impressive hybrid fleet. Lexus has only sold 2012 GS series in Germany since the market launch in 700. Frightening.  And also for the new 300h one plans modestly. Lexus customers are after all happy customers.  Well - why is that?

Nobody is fooling the Japanese in the hybrid sector. BMW is looking for a partnership with Toyota to benefit from their experience and delivers at the same time diesel engines to the Lexus mother. And I suspect - if the GS were available as a station wagon and with beefy diesel, sales would explode. The design fits. The processing fits. The equipment fits.

Only this perfect hybrid - it just doesn't fit the right foot of the German driver. And this is solely due to the E-CVT transmission. In Tokyo and LA city traffic, it may be the best solution. And it's probably the most advanced solution overall, too. The control and interaction of the electric motor, gasoline engine, counter-torques in the planetary gear and the calculation of when and which power source is used, should have occupied entire university years full of bright minds. But it's just too synthetic. Too perfect. Too smooth.

Driving a car is an emotional affair. You want to feel the road, you want to take command, you determine the direction. And if only one of the components is missing, then the whole "experience" car collapses. The fascination fades. And here the GS300h failed like the previous one IS300h, Different from the GS450h, which with neat engine power from a 3.5 liter V6 comes to the service, plaguing with the 300h versions the highly efficient four-cylinder with the rubber band effect of the continuously variable transmission technology. Colleague Computer takes control of the E-CVT and maximizes efficiency, ultimately winning the politically correct ecology over the experience factor.

But beware, if someone tells you that the Lexus GS300h would not be able to convey the driving pleasure of a BMW in the Sport + mode of its suspension, they do not believe it. The chassis of the GS is brilliant. The only problem lies in the perfection of the drive train.

What else you need to know:

From 11. January it starts with the GS300h at the German dealer. The base price is 45.300 €, a special business equipment will cost 49.400 € and the extremely attractive F-Sport version comes to 61.500 €.

 Conclusion

The GS300h has everything that makes a perfect sedan. Space. Great workmanship. Noble materials. Efficiency. And it drives perfectly as long as you are driving in the limited speed area of ​​a big city. In the mountains, on country roads and when you are in a hurry, you miss binding feedback from the drive train. You miss the direct thrust. Despite the system output of 223 hp.

Perfection prevails over emotion.

There are worse things for an engineer, but not all company drivers are engineers. And so not much will change in the niche life of the GS.