Lexus ES could give German rivals a fright with a tricky suspension system, heated seats and parking sensors
Lexus should be commended for keeping things simple with just one engine, plus the exterior styling is head-turning (and the perfect seat)
VINCENT VAN GOGH, the poor sod. The man lived a life of abject misery — rejected by women, scrimping a living, eventually lopping off his lughole because, as they say, he was “in a bad place”.
Now regarded as one of the most influential artists of all time, when he was alive he was considered a chump.
The local working men’s club wouldn’t even commission him to give the pool lounge a lick of magnolia.
Only after his painful, drawn-out death — from a self-administered gunshot to the stomach — did the world wake up to his talent. His paintings now sell for tens of millions of pounds.
Could the same happen to Lexus if the marque prematurely croaked?
Lexus makes good cars — we just don’t seem to want them. We would rather buy any of the German three.
It’s like always decorating your walls with those Kandinsky prints Ikea knocks out because you know they are crowd-pleasers, though the guy down the street no one has heard of will do you an original that looks just as good.
I am not saying the new Lexus ES is hands-down BETTER than the BMW 5 Series or the Mercedes E Class.
Key facts: Lexus ES
- Price: £35,150
- Engine: 2.5-litre petrol with electric motor
- 0-62mph: 8.9 secs
- Top speed: 112mph
- Economy: 59.33mpg
- CO2: 100g/km
But it definitely has them licked in certain areas. Yet I fear it will remain unappreciated in its time.
Let’s talk about standard kit. With an entry price just a whisker over £35,000, the ES is £2k less than the 5 Series.
For that money, Lexus gives you heated electric seats, adaptive cruise control, an electrically adjusted steering wheel and a raft of high-end safety kit, such as pedestrian recognition. That’s not all. There’s parking sensors and a reversing camera, DAB radio and dual-zone climate control.
You get a sunroof and privacy glass chucked in, too. Unbeatable in its segment.
And it’s not like Lexus has scrimped in other areas to make room. Build quality is faultless and it’s comfier than a suite at the Four Seasons.
Sinking into those seats feels like rewarding your backside with early retirement.
They cosset and cradle every inch. You will be reaching for the massage function in a heartbeat.
Lexus engineers joyfully boast of spending three years in pursuit of the perfect seat.
Congrats chaps, it shows. A tricky new suspension system keeps bumps and humps unobtrusive while the cabin may be the quietest I have ever experienced.
But this is a Lexus, so there are flaws... and they are the same flaws I have written about dozens of times.
If you want a real driver’s car — for your luxury saloon to double as an apex predator — the ES is NOT not for you.
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At high speeds it is floaty, making cornering nervy, while the steer-by-wire system gives all the feedback of a sedated sloth.
I get bored of saying this but I hate CVT gearboxes. And don’t get me started on the sat nav.
Still, Lexus should be commended for keeping things simple with just one engine — a 2.5-litre petrol with electric motor — while the exterior styling is head-turning.
Thanks to a booming American market, there is no danger of Lexus doing a Van Gogh and disappearing. But like with art, we could surely benefit from being more open-minded.
Reader's car of the week
READER Charles Rix, from London, is proud of his Land Rover – and rightly so.
He says: “This is my 1996 Land Rover Defender – best in London for the year.
“It has 15 gears – five high, five low and five all-wheel lock-together.
“It has a 2.5litre engine which is good for 70mph. It’s the best toy.
“Come wind, rain or snow, l love the bad weather in this.”
To see your pride and joy here, send a picture and brief description to me at [email protected].
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