Lexus ES300h SE – Steampunk-styled land yacht

By Lawrence Minnie

It’s a sci-fi style from the comic book universe that has been pioneered by Goths who discovered the colour brown. The Lexus ES 300h SE is a stylistic homage to a subculture that appreciates art and science.

If I were to say the word 'steampunk', many of our readers wouldn’t have the foggiest idea what I was talking about. However, there is a small group of individuals for whom it would conjure up visions of wood and dark leather alongside white dress shirts, derby hats and Victorian style dresses accompanied by laser pistols, copper pipes and brass gears.

It’s a sci-fi style from the comic book universe that has been pioneered by Goths who discovered the colour brown. The word is the first thing that came to mind when I first laid eyes on the Lexus ES300 hybrid.

Styling

The interior of the ES300 is a stately affair with the dashboard draped in chocolate brown and cappuccino leathers, trimmed in bright woods and black textured material.

The perforated leather seats are an ivory white while the steering wheel is covered in the same way as the dash, all adding to the feeling that you are at the helm of a luxury land yacht from an alternate Victorian universe.

I remember thinking to myself that all that was missing was a brass gear-shaped clock and laughed heartily when I spied one recessed into the dashboard next to the infotainment screen.

This steampunk style effect is carried forward by the mixture of digital and analogue systems incorporated into the car. The analogue clock beside the tech-heavy screen, the analogue fuel and temperature gauges alongside the digital tachometer and drive mode operation indicator. The blend of futuristic and old-timey technology, gel perfectly well together, making the interior a spectacular place to spend some time in.

From the outside, the ES is a thing of beauty. Its bodylines are made up of swoops and curves with heavily stylistic recesses around the rear taillights. The wheels resemble turbines from a futuristic steam engine and the overall brass-tinted green body colour makes it stunning to behold in the late-afternoon sun.

The ES garners a lot of attention wherever it goes, not only because its genuinely beautiful but also because it’s something of a rarity on our roads, and then there’s the drivetrain...

The drive

The ES300 hybrid is powered by an electromechanical drive train, that is to say, that the car is predominantly driven by the electric motor and supplemented by the petrol engine when you need more power.

It is a strange sensation to climb in behind the steering wheel, push the power button and then nothing happens. A gentle nudge of the accelerator gets the vehicle moving, albeit silently. The ES is disturbingly quiet while pottering around a parking lot, allowing you to sneak up on unsuspecting pedestrians like a leather-clad assassin.

Performance

The engine engages as soon as you reach 40km/h or when the sensors read that you are wanting full power from the get-go. At full tilt, the 2.5l 4-cylinder engine noise is somewhat clattery and is in stark contrast to the silence of the electric system.

However, the way the electric and mechanical systems blend so seamlessly together is nothing short of astounding. The electric system on its own provides just 31 kW but as soon as the petrol-engine engages, the systems combine and you will get 160 kW and 221 Nm.

That is quite a lot of power which instantly gets stunted by the CVT transmission. That isn’t a bad thing though, as the ES300 was never meant to be a sports car, but rather a luxury cruiser.

Space and comfort

It really is an all-leather affair inside the ES. Cream white leather with dark brown chocolate inlays on the super comfortable, heated and ventilated seats greet driver and passengers alike. There is more than enough room for the rear passengers which lends to the air of luxury cruise liner.

Safety

The ES may ignite the imagination with scenes of steam-powered air ships and crystal powered horseless carriages, but there is nothing Victorian about this luxury sedan. It scores an impressive safety rating from us with a full house of alphabet soup safety systems.

No fewer than 10 airbags (front, side, curtain and knee) are in the mix to keep you and your loved ones safe, as well as ABS (anti-lock brakes), EBD (electronic brake force distribution), HAC (hill assist control), TRC (traction control) and VSC (vehicle stability control).

Fuel Consumption

It is an excellent drive that lets the imagination wander to times and places that could have been, but most importantly, its incredibly light on fuel, sipping just 4.2l per 100 kilometres, and in this universe, that’s always a winner.

 

Pricing

Lexus ES 300h SE        -     R843 800

7-year/105 000km warranty and full maintenance plan

Verdict

The ES300 SE Hybrid is a very left-field type of automobile. It doesn’t adhere to the rules set out by the German automakers but rather skips along to its own beat. It has a style befitting an accountant from an alternate comic book universe, yet can easily live here in ours as the choice that the eccentric will take.

There is a deeper appeal to the ES, I love the styling and the tech and I love the left-field approach that Lexus has taken, but I absolutely love the way it makes my imagination take flight and that’s worth more than all the brass keys in this universe.

Expert rating: 4 out of 5 stars