FIRST DRIVE IMPRESSION Lexus ES: The smooth operator

By Martin Pretorius

A little bit of this and a little bit of that, mixed in the right proportions, results in a rather pleasing all-rounder.

Some cars have the ability to make their drivers smile. The sporty ones might get a grin for their exciting driving experience, while the pretty ones caress the eyes and make the driver feel happy about adding beauty to their life. Now Lexus has decided to add some form of “smile factor” to their entry-level sedan as well – but in a slightly different form. The smile you’ll get from the new Lexus ES isn’t really due to excitement or beauty, but because it’s just so thoughtful, spacious, and comfortable. With an added sprinkling of comfort on top, just to be sure.

This has always been true of the Lexus ES, really. When the previous ES generation landed in South Africa in 2013, informed buyers immediately cottoned on to the fact that this was a large luxury saloon at a relative bargain price. It had cabin space to spare, plenty of standard kit, and the perfect combination of muted noise levels and an absorbent ride to isolate its occupants from the outside world. Sure, there were some compromises, specifically the rather dull handling and modest performance on offer, but for those folks who put a premium on value and comfort, the old ES hit the bull’s eye.

And, I’m pleased to report right from the outset, the old car’s virtues carry over into the new model pretty much intact, only this time with the compromises somewhat mitigated. The new ES is better to drive and a bit quicker than before, but its strong suits are amplified to an even greater degree. You probably won’t be smiling due to its speed or beauty, but due to its all-round abilities and strong value proposition.

Lexus ES Styling

Bigger and bolder than ever, the new ES is far removed from the rather nondescript anonymity embodied by its predecessor. Up front, there’s yet another application of the Lexus “Spindle Grille”, with unique matte-gray slats filling in the gaping maw defined by its shiny frame. Bracketed by headlights which feature the usual L-shaped lighting signature, and backed up by a bumper, bonnet, and fenders with an abundance of dramatic creases, there’s a certain menace to the ES’s frontal appearance. While this design may not appeal to everyone, there’s no doubt that it keeps the Lexus ES from looking like anything else out there.

Down the flanks, styling creases rise, fall and disappear at various points in the side view, while the curving roofline and short, sloping boot lid creates somewhat of a cab-rearward, fastback-ish profile. The rear end is dominated by slit-like LED tail lights with a bright trim strip running across the car’s width, while the rear bumper is treated to some creases, slashes, and brightwork of its own. Yet again, there isn’t any other car (except another Lexus) which looks like this, so if individuality is an important factor for you, the ES will definitely satisfy your desires.

Conventional design with unconventional details

While the general layout is largely generic, being a front-engined, front-wheel drive four-door sedan, there are plenty of unusual design details hidden in the mechanical bits. Built around Toyota’s new GA-K platform, the new ES is significantly longer and wider than its predecessor, rides on a wheelbase which has grown by 50 mm, yet drops 5 mm in its overall height. As a result of these dimension changes, the new car’s looks are transformed, but it also brings improvements in weight distribution and suspension geometry.

Further weight distribution (and overall weight reduction) improvements are gained by the use of aluminium for the door skins, front fenders and bonnet, while extensive use of high-strength steel in the car’s structural components adds extra stiffness without increasing weight. The suspension looks similarly conventional, with struts at the front and a multi-link independent setup at the rear, but a clever valve mechanism in the dampers improves body control through twisty roads without increasing ride harshness.

Inside the Lexus ES

The cabin design is strongly biased towards horizontal themes to create an impression of width, and has a classy, understated feel. Soft-touch surfaces abound, and interesting finishing techniques on the dash trim inserts and leather surfaces create an unusually plush yet modern cabin ambience. Build quality is obviously rock-solid, as is a Lexus tradition, and there’s a truly cavernous amount of cabin- and luggage space. Seriously, you’d have to look at a long-wheelbase version of any German luxury limo to find a roomier cabin.

Making a repeat appearance on the Lexus ES is a drive mode selector, this time operated by one of the horn-like protrusions on the side of the instrument binnacle. On offer are Normal, Eco, and Sport modes, which tailor the throttle response, gearbox programming, steering assistance, and air-con operation to the selected parameters. The other side’s “horn” turns the stability control off, so that one will most likely remain largely unused.

Traditional buttons are grouped together in the centre console to provide shortcut access to the audio- and climate control systems. That’s a good thing, because Lexus’s infernal touch-pad infotainment interface makes another appearance, which would otherwise have made accessing these functions unnecessarily complicated. Otherwise, it’s all very nice, intuitive, and easy to live with.

Well-equipped in the Lexus way

Far more than just gadgets, the new ES has a nice array of safety- and high-tech equipment. Even the entry-level ES 250 EX has bi-LED headlamps, 10 airbags, a premium infotainment system with a large colour display unit atop the centre console, a largely digital instrument cluster, heated- and cooled electrically adjustable front seats, a rear-view camera, configurable ambient lighting, and even electric adjustment for the steering column’s rake and reach. What it doesn’t have is navigation or a 17-speaker Mark Levinson audio system with the bigger (12.3-inch) infotainment display – for that, you’ll have to consider the ES 300h SE.

The 300h SE also receives 18-inch hollow-spoke alloy wheels (which apparently reduces road noise), three-beam adaptive LED headlamps, an (electrically) adjustable rear seatback, rear seat heaters, an electric rear sun shade, a beautifully clear (and customisable) Head-Up Display, and adaptive cruise control. In addition, the Hybrid’s upholstery gets upgraded from Nulux simulated leather to the real thing, and the steering wheel and dashboard are treated to pretty wood inserts.

The ES 300h SE gets an important safety pack upgrade as well, including a pre-crash system which detects other vehicles as well as pedestrians, lane departure warning, a blind spot monitor, and a surround-view camera arrangement.

The Drive

Our launch route took in a variety of road conditions and surfaces, with some city traffic, freeway driving, winding rural roads, and a few mountain passes thrown in for good measure. No matter what the road surface or traffic threw at the ES, it always remained superbly comfortable – like driving your favourite easy chair, but with a nicer sound system.

What it didn’t really do was sportiness. Yes, there are definite improvements to the driving experience, with less-wallowy cornering at higher speeds, a crisper turn-in and higher grip levels than before, but there’s also a pervading sense that the ES really doesn’t approve of that kind of driving. It is not a hooligan’s car, after all.

What it is, is one of the nicest ways to cover long distances in supple, sublime comfort. The long-travel suspension silently soaks up road disturbances, dismissing speed bumps and corrugations without as much as a shrug, and extensive sound insulation keeps most unwanted noises away from the passengers in this sensory deprivation tank.

Lexus ES Engines

Only one noise source manages to intrude, and that’s the engine. It’s not noisy as such, but a coarse granularity at high revs emanates from both available engines, and this is somewhat at odds with the buttery smoothness of the rest of the experience. The engine noise is not a pervasive problem, but it does come to the fore when the ES is asked to act like an athlete.

Fortunately, the engines are torquey enough in both 250- and 300h formats to let the drive systems keep the revs (and noise) down under most driving conditions. However, while their specific power outputs are very impressive for normally-aspirated units, they’re still not hugely powerful in the modern forced-induction era. The 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine in the ES 250 produces 152 kW and 243 Nm, while the ES 300h has some electrical assistance combined with a lower-powered (but much more economical) version of the same engine for a system total of 160 kW.

Demonstrating their unconventional approach to conservative engineering, the engines break from the modern turbo-charged norm, but introduce some innovations which allow them to set new standards in thermal efficiency. A large part of the trick lies in the variable valve timing system, which allows the engines to run in hyper-efficient Atkinson-cycle mode in gentle driving or to switch to power-productive Otto-cycle mode during high power demands, by varying the intake valve timing by up to 70 degrees and the exhaust valve timing by up to 40 degrees.

There are also refinements to the air flow into the engine, and optimised combustion efficiency through the use of a multi-mode fuel injection with a combined port- and direct injection system, and, and, and... The engineers clearly spent a lot of time poring over the little details: it’s all very technical, but the end result is reduced fuel consumption without compromising performance.

About the performance

To be honest, the new ES still isn’t a high-performance car. The 152 kW on call in the ES 250 makes for reasonable acceleration and adequate overtaking performance, helped along by a very slick-shifting 8-speed automatic gearbox, but it won’t win many traffic light grands prix. The 0 – 100 km/h dash is quoted as 9.1 seconds, and it runs out of puff at 210 km/h. It is pretty light on the go-juice, however, with a quoted average petrol consumption of 6.6 litre/100 km and a trip computer average of 8.2 litre/100 km over the launch route without trying in any way to save fuel.

The real economy star will be the Hybrid variant, however. Its quoted average figure of 4.6 litre/100 km wasn’t attainable on the launch drive, but reasonably disciplined drivers shouldn’t struggle much to drop below the 6 litre/100 km mark. On the road, the Hybrid’s CVT is very smooth in traffic, and probably as good at overtaking as any transmission of this type is ever likely to get, but it still takes some getting used to. The ES 300h also boasts a bit more torque than the ES 250, which helps it to cut 0.2 seconds from the 250’s amble to 100. There’s no nicer way to say this: neither of them is really quick, but the performance of both the 250 and 300h are entirely appropriate to the ES’s gentlemanly character.

Price and value

The large sedan market segment is largely dead in South Africa, having been killed off by SUVs and crossovers. This means that this former top-selling niche has largely been abandoned, with the Lexus ES one of the few remaining offerings out there. As a result of this lack of competition, it falls about halfway between the smaller premium-brand sedans (such as the 3-Series, C-Class and A4) and their mid-level siblings (5-Series, E-Class and A6). It’s about the same size as the latter group, yet costs about the same as the former group, while offering more cabin space (and most likely more comfort) than any of them.

In ES 250 EX format, it’s even a good value proposition, with a pricetag of R593 300. That’s a massive amount of space, an otherworldly level of comfort, and a loaded spec sheet for a relatively reasonable price. The ES 300h SE is a harder sell at R843 800, however: it doesn’t really offer enough benefit in performance over the 250 variant to justify its pricetag, and its fuel economy advantage is largely offset by the much higher list price. Rather see that R150 000-odd price hike as the penalty you’d have to pay for the extra comfort-, convenience-, and safety features. Even so, that moves its price into some pretty classy company, all of which offer stronger performance, albeit with worse consumption and fewer standard gadgets.

I’d predict that the ES 300 SE will remain a very specialized product, aimed at buyers who are very specific about their needs and a need to be seen as being more eco-friendly. However, the ES 250 EX represents the pinnacle of comfort and space at its price point. There’s simply nothing else with similar characteristics out there anymore, and it remains true to its predecessor’s philosophy: it’s still a great luxury car that doesn’t come at a luxury-class price. In these tough times, that can never be a bad thing.

Lexus ES Range:
ES 250 EX:                          R593 300

ES 300h SE (Hybrid):       R 843 800