First Drive Review
So many whales migrate into the western bays of the Big Island of Hawaii during mating months each winter that they're like whitetail deer with fins. Humpbacks out for a hump are as gregarious as 40 tons of blubber can get. They fling their barnacled gray girths in the air in huge crashing breeches, roll over and waggle their long flippers at the sky, and slap the surface with their tails. A humpback did that not far from where Lexus was introducing media types to its new ES350 and GS450h hybrid. The whale whomped the water with its fluke for five minutes, the concussive thumps rolling across Mauna Lani Bay.
The leviathan that is Toyota also exhibits certain cetacean behaviors. A humpback surfaces routinely every 10 to 15 minutes for a blow. A new Lexus ES, like the Camry on which it is based, surfaces routinely every four to five years. Occasionally, a whale beats the water with its tail. The GS450h is a technology tantrum sure to make waves, even though it is expected to sell in lesser numbers than the Bentley Continental GT in the U.S.
First, the ES350. Lexus general manager Bob Carter says all the action in the "near luxury" segment is around $35,000 and is shifting toward road handlers. It's the BMW 3-series effect, if you will. With a new engine and sheetmetal based on the platform of the new Camry-plus a zillion upgrades outlined in Lexus's 51-page presentation-the 2007 ES wants to retain as many of its 70,000 annual buyers as possible, plus add a few. Many of them wouldn't know an apex from an amphipod (humpbacks prefer eating the latter).
The liner notes claim the ES350 now offers sharper road skills. To us, the new ES, like the old ES, most likely will continue the take-it-easy motoring tradition, the body swaying on softly dampened shocks and fleshy all-season tires. Expect the ride to be as smooth as whale's milk, which at 53-percent pure fat is pretty smooth. A humpback calf guzzles about 100 gallons a day.
For 2007, the pushbutton-started 3.5-liter DOHC 24-valve V-6 common with the Camry, Avalon, and RAV4 supplies 272 horsepower, a 54-hp leap over the ES330 and 22 horsepower more than the original LS400 of 1990. The ony transmission is a six-speed automatic with two overdrives and 20-percent-fewer parts than the previous five-speed. It helps deliver slightly better fuel economy (21 city, 30 highway) than the old, less-powerful ES330.
The 3600-pound ES rides on a wheelbase stretched 2.2 inches over the last model, to 109.3, giving back-seat passengers more legroom. The look stays classy with super-clean lines out of Lexus's L-Finesse styling manual. Keyless ignition is standard. Options include steering-directed xenon headlamps, an all-glass roof with a front sunroof, distance-maintaining radar cruise control, a high-res navigation display capable of 32,000 colors, and a Mark Levinson stereo tooting through 14 speakers.
Headed for dealers this month and starting at about $33,000, the ES remains what it has always been: a wonderfully quiet, exquisitely tailored, eminently fashionable, and perfectly comfortable sedan for real-estate agents.
Better than having a tubeworm stuck in your baleen is the 339-horse GS450h hybrid. It charged (literally, when it wasn't discharging) up the roads across the lava-blackened slopes of the 13,796-foot Mauna Kea volcano, darting through corners like a humuhumunukunukuapua'a, which wouldn't be the state fish of Hawaii if it were poky.
