2020 Lexus ES 350 F Sport review: Aiming younger

Certain reputations are really hard to shake. Significant, smooth and meant to coddle, Lexus’ automobiles are typically witnessed as automobiles for the older form — the orthotic inserts of the luxury automotive industry, if you will. With a sharper fundamental chassis and a new F Sport trim, the midsize Lexus ES does a very good task displaying that Toyota’s fancier sibling is going in a younger course, but it continue to has perform remaining to do.

For the youths

Reinventing on your own sometimes demands starting off again from the ground up, and that is what Lexus did with the ES. For this new era, which landed in the 2019 product yr, the ES rides on Toyota’s TNGA platform, a do-it-all modular chassis underpinning new Toyota automobiles large and little. Loaded with large-strength steels and modern day engineering know-how, TNGA has specified a broad swath of Toyota automobiles new everyday living by means of improved managing and composure.

You can definitely truly feel this upgrade without having seeking incredibly really hard. Even a rapid travel to the retail store in the Lexus ES 350 F Sport and you may recognize a lot much more cohesion in how the car or truck moves, eschewing some of the loosey-goosey managing existing in its forebear. In F Sport guise, my tester rocks the optional adaptive variable suspension, which stiffens the car or truck up in sportier modes, accessed by a form-of-oddly-placed manner knob jutting out from the dashboard atop the gauge cluster.

Surprisingly (to me, at the very least), it’s amazing how dramatically the ES 350’s character adjustments in this new era. Flipping that manner dial provides real, tangible variation in the car or truck. In Sport, the suspension gains stiffness, offering me adequate self esteem to actually chuck the detail about. Sport S+ manner requires issues even additional, including much more excess weight to the variable (but continue to numb) steering while additional tightening the dampers and even piping in some “audio improvement.” I wouldn’t go so considerably as to say it transforms into a sporting activities car or truck, since it’s continue to a substantial sedan with entrance-wheel travel, but this car or truck does give some youthful attractiveness in a way that no other Lexus ES ever has.

Young purchasers also take pleasure in a bit of flash, and you should not get worried, Lexus has come by means of there, albeit in much more conventional Lexus vogue. The ES 350 F Sport carries a few special exterior touches to enable differentiate it from much more pedestrian trims, like a blacked-out grille, darker taillights, a trunk-lid spoiler and angrier decrease fasciae, and it all appears to be like fairly very good. The interior picked it up, however the ES no lengthier appears to be like stodgy and dated, many thanks to a vastly improved design and style inside that tends to make far better use of exciting angles. My tester requires issues a stage additional with remarkable red leather on the middle console, doorway panels and seats. It really is a daring system — and an even bolder coloration option in a usually conservative car or truck — so credit rating the place it’s thanks for taking a minor chance. 1 component of its roots that Lexus didn’t abandon, however, is its adherence to make quality, which continues to be top-notch.

You know what else young purchasers like? The most up-to-date in-car or truck tech. Want to know the place the ES 350 partially fails in its mission? You guessed it, and like every single other Lexus of late, the blame is placed exclusively on the infotainment procedure. An 8-inch display is regular, until you decide for manufacturing unit navigation, which boosts the display size to twelve.3 inches. No make any difference what, the fundamental tech stinks. The touchpad has by no means been intuitive or partaking to use, snapping to each menu merchandise awkwardly as you drag a finger aimlessly in the hopes that you may perhaps come across the setting you want in the morass of poorly organized menus. It really is distracting. That said, a Wi-Fi hotspot and Apple CarPlay are regular (Android Automobile is, way too, on automobiles constructed immediately after October 2019), so there are some silver linings on this hulking, ever-existing tech cloud. Just slap a fancier skin on Toyota’s vastly top-quality Entune components and call it a working day previously.

Lexus’ mish-mash method to switchgear and telematics could possibly frustrate some, as perfectly. Consider the local weather controls, for case in point: When almost every single HVAC function has a physical button under the display for uncomplicated obtain, something very simple like syncing the local weather zones with each other demands a multistep dive by means of the menus utilizing that godawful touchpad. At the very least the heated-and-ventilated seat controls are continue to buttons.

Is all this adequate to produce a remarkable change in attractiveness, however? The ES 350 F Sport carries a selling price tag aimed much more toward the young at heart than the actually young, with a starting off selling price just under $forty five,000 and my tester ringing in at $fifty three,950 immediately after spot. There are a good deal of actually sporty automobiles in that selling price variety, which includes some SUVs, and quite a few of them you should not have several years of geriatric-helpful baggage to eschew as component of a reinvention. To me, it looks much more like a participate in to scoop up center-management-type purchasers who want to remind the world (and them selves) that they continue to have a enjoyment aspect, consumers who could possibly in any other case gravitate to sharper automobiles like the Mercedes-Benz E-Class or Volvo S90.

For the olds

Even with the ES 350’s complete de-growing old approach, this sedan continues to be relatively previous-fashioned, which suggests you will find continue to lots of attractiveness to continue to keep purchasers of prior ES products in the fold.

Even however there are broad enhancements in the way the ES 350 handles, in particular in F Sport guise, it continues to be a smooth, cozy cruiser at heart. Maintain the car or truck in Comfort manner, and it’s heading to be the identical predictable luxury sedan as it generally is, soaking up bumps and transferring minor jostling to the cabin. The ES 350’s 3.five-liter, in a natural way-aspirated V6 now puts out 302 horsepower and 267 pound-feet of torque, and while it feels a smidge much more sprightly, the absence of a turbocharger suggests torque requires time to accumulate as the rev counter rises, main to an underwhelming practical experience — not a dilemma when you by no means intend to depress the accelerator much more than an inch or two.

At an EPA-estimated 22 miles per gallon metropolis and 31 mpg highway, the ES 350 F Sport is also fairly frugal, while it loses a couple mpg in its sportier accommodate. This frugality is many thanks in component to a new eight-speed automatic transmission that likes to reside in the fuel-effectiveness sweet location when remaining to its own devices. The gearbox’s shifts are unobtrusive, if a bit pokey, preserving smoothness at the forefront of the ES 350’s driving dynamics.

1 detail older purchasers could possibly not like about the ES 350 F Sport, however, is the sounds. I’m not speaking about motor sounds — I’m referring to wind and road sounds, which crops up much more typically than I have come to hope from the eerily quiet interiors Lexus is utilised to building, something I’m certain longtime Lexus purchasers will recognize.

Basic safety will generally be a crucial element in buying selections, and to that end, the ES will completely delight homeowners. Each Lexus ES will come regular with Lexus Basic safety Process+ 2., a cadre of lively and passive safety programs which includes automatic emergency braking, comprehensive-speed adaptive cruise handle, lane-continue to keep assist, lane-departure warning and automatic large beams. Everything’s written content to hold out in the qualifications right up until essential, and when it does pop into the forefront (like, say, when you drift way too shut to the white line), the tech isn’t going to capture the driver by shock with any ham-fisted actions, as they are intelligent and predictable in their procedure. If you want blind location checking, however, you have to shell out $1,065 for a offer that features lively parking assist and rear cross-targeted visitors inform.

Down to brass tacks

The 2020 Lexus ES continues to be but one fish in a relatively large pool. It might have the selling price advantage around likewise sized luxury rivals like the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW five Sequence, but these automobiles are also a lot sharper when pushed, even without having bringing the AMG and M divisions into the blend. The Acura RLX won’t exist for a lot lengthier, and it by no means actually felt cohesive in the way the ES does. There is, however, robust Japanese opposition from the Infiniti Q50, at the very least in the dynamics office — Infiniti’s telematics predicament is about as unhappy as Lexus’. The Volvo S90 is also a a lot much more exciting option in the driving office, and it’s a minor less difficult on the eyes, even however its design and style is a few several years previous now. There is certainly also the Toyota Avalon, which is much more or significantly less the identical car or truck, apart from with a substantial grille and Toyota badges I haven’t driven it, but colleagues say it’s a bit much more partaking than the Lexus.

Lexus has definitely come a long way with the 2020 ES 350 F Sport. It really is much more exciting than ever, but in the approach of seeking to reposition its attractiveness, it loses a bit of what created it this kind of a preferred option in the very first area. It really is not remarkable adequate of a change to alienate its main demographic completely, as the simple fundamental idea of what constitutes a Lexus sedan is continue to there — and its product sales quantities are continue to trouncing rivals — but I’m remaining questioning whether or not or not Lexus did adequate to truly make a difference in the long operate.