Instrumented Test
For all the brand’s recent emphasis on performance, the traditional essence of Lexus is embodied in cars like this one. Smooth, refined, posh, and chock-a-block with features and furnishings conceived to isolate its occupants from the noise and frustrations of everyday traffic, it’s a car to coddle drivers who regard driving as one of life’s frequently tedious but unavoidable duties, closely akin to mowing the lawn. In this case it may involve a very high-end lawn mower, but nevertheless the operator would rather be doing something else.
Getting to and from destinations in a Lexus ES350 is obviously a lot more entertaining than cutting the grass. Premium audio. Infotainment. Connectivity. Comfort. Elegantly furnished serenity. But it’s not the sort of experience that’s likely to satisfy someone who actually enjoys driving.
Still, given the mission, it’s not at all surprising that Lexus didn’t equip the ES350 with the kind of reflexes that distinguish sports sedans. The suspension tuning favors compliance over roll stiffness, and while there’s no danger of scraping the door handles in hard cornering, responses are deliberate when you turn the steering wheel. Forcing the issue—pushing the Lexus through a slalom run, for example—will provoke howls from the all-season tires, which are relatively high-profile (215/55-17) Michelin Primacy MXV4s.
We can’t exactly quantify how much grip those Michelins deliver, because the car’s stability-control system asserts itself when it suspects any significant side-loading, and it can’t be defeated. That limited the skidpad result to 0.77 g. Braking performance was similarly so-so, 175 feet from 70 mph, albeit very consistent and fade free.
Still, the dynamic report card isn’t all C grades. The body shell has a gratifyingly solid feel. And while output of the familiar 3.5-liter V-6 may not seem remarkable at 268 horsepower, it’s enough to pull the Lexus to 60 mph in less than six seconds, carrying on to a governor-limited top speed of 131 mph. The six-speed automatic is the personification of smooth, and if it doesn’t sport as many cogs as some in this class, its programming is beautifully matched to the engine’s power traits. The only demerit: no paddles. And forget about manual operation; the transmission does a better job left to its own devices.
There are three operating modes: Eco, Normal, and Sport. Steering in Normal mode tends toward vague, but clicking into Sport raises the effort considerably, creating at least the illusion of on-center feel. The effect of Eco mode is hard to discern. It doesn’t seem to limit power when the driver tramps hard on the go pedal, which is a good thing.
We can’t quantify how the individual modes affect fuel economy, but we can say that we logged 25 mpg over the course of our test, where we spent most of our time in Sport. Buyers who find the ES an appealing package but who are hoping for better than the ES350’s EPA fuel-economy ratings of 21 mpg city and 31 highway might want to look at the hybrid version, with its ratings of 40/39.
As noted, the ES is nicely appointed inside, with relaxed-fit bucket seats, quality materials, straightforward instrumentation, and quietly elegant decor. There’s plenty of room in the back seat, and exceptionally low noise levels make it possible for rear-seat passengers to converse with those up front without shouting.
An intriguing option in our test car was its wood and leather-rimmed steering wheel, which included heating—but only on the leather-wrapped portions between 8 and 10 and 2 and 4 o’clock.
Also intriguing: an enormous portfolio of owner’s manuals. The primary manual runs to 781 pages. There’s another for the nav system (431 pages), an “Owners Quick Guide” (110 pages), and the “Service Guide” (76 pages, including a couple of pages at the back for notes). It all adds up to a wad of literature that pretty much consumes the glove box and makes War and Peace look like a comic book. Eat your heart out, Mr. Tolstoy.
Considered as a piece of kinetic sculpture, the ES350 tends toward anonymous, at least from three angles. Viewed from the front it’s distinguished—if that’s the right word—by the Lexus trademark spindle grille. You get to make up your own mind about that.
Augmented by the $1370 Luxury option package (which includes lovely perforated leather upholstery with heating and cooling for the front seats), navigation with voice command ($1795), as well as other smaller extras, the bottom line on our test example totaled $44,295. We were surprised that this sum didn’t include adaptive cruise control. But it adds up to a very pleasant mid-size luxury sedan whose interior is well conceived and furnished to make its operator as happy as possible while—sigh—driving.
