PREMIUM PACK

[TDMA]

Hi, First post for me and I dont have the car yet!

Am getting a new es300h Premium model later this year with the order already placed. Just wondering if anybody has bought the "premium pack" for this model. If so do you consider it value for money and does it enhance the car. It would represent an additional cost of around £4,500 but to be fair you seem to get a lot of extra stuff. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[peniole]

I found the sweet spot was the premium edition rather than pack. You can't go wrong with either though.

[Dippo]

I'm in the purchase decision phase at the moment. I was initially looking at the Premium Pack, but I'm now virtually decided on the Premium Edition. The main things I would miss would be leather, the 360 camera, and the upgraded headlights.

I'll be the only driver, so memory seats are not an issue. I don't do that much night driving on minor roads, so the lights are probably not a major thing. I can definitely live without window blinds (electric or manual), illuminated scuff plates, the seat moving for me to get out, LED ambient lighting, and sequential indicators.

To save £4,500 on the list price, and a further c £1,500 on VED over five years, I think I'll go without leather and the 360 camera, and try to remember to push a button to fold the mirrors.

[beyond the blue]

I found the Premium edition gave almost enough, but wish memory seats were an add on option without having to go for the full premium pack.

[Tonyw]

I’m quite happy with my premium edition, the fake leather is just as good and really comfy, headlights  are great especially with the turn lights that come on when you indicate or steer to light up the direction you are going

I guess the front camera would be useful, we have it on my wife’s Nissan x trail and it helps when parking 

For the price though it has everything you really need and a little more 

[e-yes]

If there is need for memory seats, there is no other cheaper way.

However, with the premium pack you also get the “enhanced” driver seat which has an extending thigh cushion. I had never been able to find a comfortable seating position in my previous cars or other cars I had rented out test driven, except a US spec Toyota Sienna.

I think what the Premium pack is still missing (for the price) is electric closing boot lid.

Other than that everything else is covered by Premium Edition while still sitting under the VED surcharge threshold. Even the Base ES comes with BSM which I think is essential in a car of this size which before MY22 was only available under Premium Pack. But then pre 22, the Premium Pack + Metallic Color was still under £40k threshold.

In short, if you don’t need Memory Seats, you won’t miss out on anything essential.

HTH

—E

[TDMA]

Thank you for your replies. The standard Premium ES seems to be the one to go for. Great advice on the VED issue something I hadnt even thought about. No premium pack no extra VED saved about £6,000.00! Thanks again.

[Tonyw]

56 minutes ago, TDMA said:

Thank you for your replies. The standard Premium ES seems to be the one to go for. Great advice on the VED issue something I hadnt even thought about. No premium pack no extra VED saved about £6,000.00! Thanks again.

The luxury tax is one of the reasons I went with the ES rather than one of the competitors, 

[SH20]

Go for the premium pack which gets about 90% of a Takumi spec.  I bought a premium edition but only to keep the purchase below £40K and the premium edition has good spec but nothing like a premium pack option. 

Leather, ventilated front seats, leg extension to driver's seat, seat memory, rear blinds on rear doors and rear screen, wood leather steering wheel, wood veneers, triple LED headlights to name some of the items not on a Premium Edition.   My first ES was the base model with a  Premium pack which was £3500 and still kept the cost below £40K back in 2019.      

[Tonyw]

2 hours ago, SH20 said:

Go for the premium pack which gets about 90% of a Takumi spec.  I bought a premium edition but only to keep the purchase below £40K and the premium edition has good spec but nothing like a premium pack option. 

Leather, ventilated front seats, leg extension to driver's seat, seat memory, rear blinds on rear doors and rear screen, wood leather steering wheel, wood veneers, triple LED headlights to name some of the items not on a Premium Edition.   My first ES was the base model with a  Premium pack which was £3500 and still kept the cost below £40K back in 2019.      

Sorry, for once I don’t agree (personally) £4.5k for the extras you mention plus the extra VED really doesn’t seem worth it to me. The standard fake leather is lovely already. cooled seats are an asset for several days a year but not a necessity, extended seat base and extra adjustment is great if you have back problems and drive a lot of miles, wood veneer is not needed, triple LED is a bit gimmicky really the standard lights seem perfect to me and the way they light up the direction your steering works really well. Now if you were getting the ML stereo as well then it might be worth the extra. 

[e-yes]

What is left out of Premium Pack from Takumi

• ML Audio
• Head-Up Display
• Memory Seat for front passenger 
• Semi-aniline leather
• Wood inlay (more areas covered than Premium Pack)
• Noise suppressing alloy wheels
• Electric boot with kick sensor
• Heated and reclining rear seats
• I guess the Takumi suspension is different from Base + premium (might be wrong on that though)

Premium Pack is lacking more than just 10% of Takumi.

Having said that, given that Pre-22 Premium Pack costed what it did, it was a great value. For e.g. the 3-Led setup is noticeably smoother than simple on-off for the high beam and turn illumination. However, the current 22 Premium Pack is a Blade Scan 3-Led which is even more smoother transitioning illumination system from the previous Premium Pack (and very expensive to replace out of warranty, it is a very similar system as on the LS and high spec RX).

Most additions on the current Premium Pack are nice to have if the price was the same as previous generation. However, that is not the case thus Premium Edition is the most optimal option if Memory Seats are not needed.

If Memory Seats are needed however then one has to bite to bite the bullet. OR consider a Jaguar XF 2.0 Diesel which can be configured with all the nice stuff and still be under £40k. (I personally would happily pay the extra VED than get a Diesel Jag in 2022... but that's just me, if the ES 350 with V6 Petrol was available in U.K. I'd have gone for the Takumi itself tbh)

HTH

--E

Edited February 8, 2022 by e-yes
Corrected XE to XF

[SH20]

Thank goodness for Lexus Relax if we assume all new ES owners will have their cars serviced by a dealer every year and subsequent owners do the same thereby having warranty available for up to 10 years.  Massive help to Lexus owners and avoids those warranty extensions some members will have paid for in the past and rarely  had need to use.