Lexus ES gets the job done

As Justin Ryan, General Manager of Lexus South Africa, points out, Lexus hasn’t forgotten about the buyer looking for a more value-oriented luxury proposition: “they want all the bells and whistles that a Lexus badge confers, but neither want nor need an eye-popping sprint time to go along with it.”

My translation of this statement is that basically the buyer that is sitting on an older entry level type Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and even Lexus GS could very well look to this new ES as their next mode of executive transport. Sure the ES is a fraction physically smaller than these competitors, but in a buy-down market, the ES is perfectly placed to capitalise.

The car’s actual on-paper competitors are the more powerful Kia Optima and Hyundai Sonata, and here the Lexus is positioned perfectly too for this buyer to spend a few more rand and buy up into the Lexus brand in terms of spec and dare I say it, status. We are a fickle nation when it comes to buying cars.

So what do you get for your R435 900 all in? And when I say all in, I mean all in. There wasn’t a single luxury item lacking from my Lexus ES test car from tons of real world interior and luggage space right down to factory SAT NAV, Bluetooth – you name it.

Okay, I really don’t like the “computer mouse” type controller for all the onboard functions as you spend forever trying to select the correct item on the screen. I am sure it’s something owners will get used to, though.

Oh, and no more one colour suits all either, the interior of your Lexus ES can be ordered in a range of different trim and colour options to suit your individual style and taste.

This all new ES features a brand-new body design built on a new platform with zero carry-over from the outgoing model and provides for a whisper smooth ride. It might also have a new suspension and steering set-up, but this is never, ever, going to be a track car or a weekend fast breakfast run car.

What it does do is get you from A to B over any kind of road without any fuss or bother in a perfectly relaxed way. So much so that when you use the Sport application on the car, the gear indicator remains fixed in the highest gear you reached during this stint in this mode and does not reflect what is happening as you slow down and even pull off again. A small quirk that has no affect on the actual working of the six-speed auto box and is easily sorted out by shifting the lever back to normal Auto mode.

Hyundai Sonata 2.4 GDI Elite

Talking of Sport mode, I was quite happy with level of urge the ES delivered during my time with it.

I was happy to trundle around in Eco mode most of the time and sip fuel at a decent rate of 8.9 litres per 100km. Which by the way is not far off their overall claim of 8.0 litres per 100km.

If needed you could just floor the accelerator to poke the old 2.5-litre four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine into life and get the 135 kW of power and 235 Nm of torque working for their keep. Road test numbers are not that important here, but doing this at Gerotek during our performance testing saw the ES get to 100km/h in under 11 seconds and stop again at just over 200km/h.

Kia Optima GDI 2.4

Safety is paramount and the relevant safety features are right out the top drawer with nothing being skimped or saved on. You get standard active safety features that include Vehicle Stability Control with electric power-steering co-operative control (VSC+), traction control, ABS brakes, electronic brake-force distribution, brake assist and emergency brake signal.

Also included in the standard package is the tyre-inflation pressure warning system and Blind Spot Monitor (BSM) with Lane Change Assist.

Visit www.lexus.co.za or join Lexus on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LexusSouthAfrica for more info.