So… Are Lexus cars really as reliable as Toyota?

Toyota Division and International Models Forums Lexus
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I know Lexus is the luxury side of Toyota, but I’m not sure how much they share behind the scenes.

I’ve owned Corollas and Camrys before, never had any real problems with them, and they were a joy to have.

Now, I’m thinking about getting a Lexus ES Hybrid. When it comes to reliability and maintenance, I don’t really trust brands like BMW, Mercedes, or Tesla. They look great, but for me, it’s all about ease of ownership and practicality over just looking cool. I feel like a Lexus could be a nice balance between a fancier look and Toyota’s reliability. Is that true?

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2019 Lexus ES300h in Toronto. Shares powertrain with Toyota Rav4 and Avalon hybrids. 937,000 km or 582,000 miles. Original engine, transmission, and battery.

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@Holland
How did you manage to get so many miles in just 5 years? Do you drive for Uber or something?

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Murphy said:
@Holland
How did you manage to get so many miles in just 5 years? Do you drive for Uber or something?

Looks like it could be an airport transfer service?

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Murphy said:
@Holland
How did you manage to get so many miles in just 5 years? Do you drive for Uber or something?

That’s not even their car. It’s just a random pic from Facebook.

No one really knows what repairs it’s been through. It was a company vehicle, so I bet the transmission’s been swapped out at some point.

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@Bradley
But the photo says it has the original engine and transmission.

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Jean said:
@Bradley
But the photo says it has the original engine and transmission.

And how would some random person know what got replaced over 5 years?

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Bradley said:

Jean said:
@Bradley
But the photo says it has the original engine and transmission.

And how would some random person know what got replaced over 5 years?

Good point… How would you even know that?

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@Bradley
“Transmission has been replaced?”

You clearly don’t know much about Toyota hybrids.

Lots of Gen 2 Prius models have gone over 400k miles with their original hybrid transaxles. Toyota’s been perfecting this stuff for a long time.

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@Holland
I’ve got a Gen 3 Prius with 380k on it. I had to replace the battery and head gasket at 300k, but other than that, no major issues.

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blaisefinly said:
@Holland
I’ve got a Gen 3 Prius with 380k on it. I had to replace the battery and head gasket at 300k, but other than that, no major issues.

Those are definitely major repairs. Minor stuff is like brakes or suspension.

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@Keelan
Yeah, that’s what I meant.

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blaisefinly said:
@Keelan
Yeah, that’s what I meant.

Not really. We could go back and forth on this all day, but what you actually said was, ‘The battery and head gasket were replaced at 300k but otherwise no major repairs.’ Nowhere in that did you suggest those were major repairs. It should’ve been, ‘The battery and head gasket were replaced at 300k, but no other big repairs were needed.’ See, that would have made sense.

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@Keelan
Otherwise means ‘apart from that.’ So the sentence is saying, ‘Battery and head gasket were done at 300k, but apart from that, no major repairs.’

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Bliss said:
@Keelan
Otherwise means ‘apart from that.’ So the sentence is saying, ‘Battery and head gasket were done at 300k, but apart from that, no major repairs.’

Saying ‘no major repairs’ implies the head gasket and battery weren’t a big deal, but they are! Hybrids can last, sure, but at some point, big things do break. In this case, it was the head gasket—really common on that generation of Prius.

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@Keelan
From what I know, this is a common issue with older Prius models. You need to keep an eye on it before it becomes a bigger problem.

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blaisefinly said:
@Holland
I’ve got a Gen 3 Prius with 380k on it. I had to replace the battery and head gasket at 300k, but other than that, no major issues.

Gen 3 has a known issue with head gaskets.

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@Holland
And with the original transmission fluid too.

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@Bradley
The hybrid transmission from Toyota is probably the most reliable automatic you can find in modern cars.

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@Bradley

Some folks put 100K+ miles a year on their cars because it’s basically their job. And now with this photo, we know that the 7th-gen ES Hybrid can go over 500K miles. I doubt they’re just making this up.