Lexus ES 300h: A Smooth Guilt-Eraser

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2013 Lexus ES 300h

THE SPECIMEN in question is a luxury sedan of goodly size and weight, around 3,700 pounds, with 200 hybrid horsepower, generous leather seats, big audio, exceptional soundproofing, and a cabin filled with fine joinery and brushed alloy trim. All in all, a handsome and sophisticated presentation. This car accelerates from zero to 60 miles per hour in around eight seconds and breaks the beam in the quarter-mile in about 16 seconds, certainly quicker than the last Jaguar E-Type I drove.

This quite-uncompromised car, the 2013 Lexus ES 300h (as tested, $49,064), averages 40 miles per gallon in mixed driving, according to the EPA. That's astounding. And it's not even the most fuel-efficient car in its class: That would be the Lincoln MKZ hybrid, the luxury clone of the Ford Fusion Hybrid SE. Still, the hybrid ES, a gas-electric version of what is by far the company's most successful model, helps to benchmark the ongoing normalization of hybrid technology. This yearling moose of a car gets about the same fuel economy as a Ford Fiesta and, if you didn't know the ES was a hybrid, you wouldn't guess.

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You know what's even more astounding? Recall the legions of entrenched industry forces who, two decades ago, swore on their professional lives that increased fuel-economy standards would drive up the cost of automobiles while making them boring and less safe. Yeah, that didn't happen at all.

In fact, the opposite has happened. Cars have gotten more fuel efficient and more powerful, and quite measurably safer in every type of collision. As evidence, take this year's class of high-mileage, mid-to-large sedans, including: the Toyota Avalon hybrid (40 average mpg); the Volkswagen Jetta hybrid (45 mpg); the Lincoln/Ford hybrid twins (45 and 47 mpg, respectively); and the ES 300h. And, by the way, the car business is booming.

So go run some laps, defeatists.