There are lots of reasons why you might be looking at a luxury car. Maybe you finally got that big managerial promotion, or your youngest child graduated college, or you’ve earned yourself a stable retirement, or you just want something nicer than the Chevrolet or Toyota or Honda or Ford you’ve been driving for the last 15 years. You’ve put in the work to get where you are, and you deserve to enjoy the fruits of your labor while they’re still ripe.
However, if you’ve never shopped in the luxury space before and don’t have any brand allegiances on that end of the market, navigating the world of upscale cars can be a minefield. Every drivetrain layout you can think of, huge option sheets, a variety of powertrains, it’s all a lot to digest. However, if you have $50,000 to $60,000 burning a hole in your pocket and want something nice, might I suggest the Lexus ES 350? It might not be the most exciting option in that price bracket, but it might just offer more luxury than anything else for the money if you’re looking at the whole experience.
Welcome to the fourth installment of our car-buying advice series for the whimsical and impulsive. I’m taking over for Matt on this one, and although we typically try to bring you something a bit left-field, this time it’s a car that’s so ubiquitous, it’s often overlooked by those who want to try a bit harder. That’s a shame, because popular choices are popular for a reason, and there’s a whole lot to love about the Lexus ES 350.
This isn’t a car for the person who bought a clapped-out 3 Series in college and never looked back. They know what they want, and they’re going to give their salesperson kittens over the spec sheet. Instead, this is for the everyperson who was lucky enough to make a few good moves and now wants an upgrade, but doesn’t know what to pick. Without further ado, let’s get into why the Lexus ES 350 makes a spectacular first luxury car.
Reason #1: It’s Reassuringly Posh
Since luxury cars are known for their gadgets, let’s start there. A few years ago, the ES 350 got a new infotainment system that abolished the controversial trackpad, leaving you with a 12.3-inch touchscreen, plenty of physical controls for your climate and audio controls, and a separate digital instrument cluster. As you’d expect on a well-specced luxury car, the front seats are heated and ventilated, the heated steering wheel warms up nicely even in properly cold weather, and you can even get a power sun blind for the rear window to block out glare. Short of massaging seats, all the toys you’d really want are here, right down to the advanced driver assistance suite. One option box that’s absolutely worth ticking is the one for the crisp, powerful 17-speaker, 1,800-watt Mark Levinson audio system. Crank up the volume, and you’ll get faithful sound reproduction with soaring highs, thunderous bass, a solid mid-range, and plenty of clarity. Now that’s an upscale gadget.
However, the ES 350 really makes itself known by offering luxury through design. Bezel-free metallic interior door handles evocative of those in the six-figure LC 500 grand tourer, concentric volume, and tuning knobs that move with the reassuring heft of a high-end home amplifier, great attention paid to materials, layering, and composition. Oh, and a virtual lack of shiny black plastic. Lexus has even spent the effort on getting the little climate control temperature displays to scroll like an old alarm clock instead of simply switching to the next number when you adjust the temperature. Instead of relying heavily on flashy tech that’s sure to date in a decade, the ES 350 demonstrates prowess in design and build quality, a thoughtfulness and solidity that earns it a seat at the table, even if its underpinnings are somewhat common.
In fact, the only real demerit is the flat nature of the front seats. If you’re used to the more body-hugging thrones competitors offer that fit snug like your favorite jeans, these chairs take some time to get used to. Still, the ES 350 feels its price tag every time you get into it, offering the sort of elevated richness you’d expect from a proper luxury car.
Reason #2: It’s Not Trying To Be A Performance Car
Over the past few years, the midsize luxury sedan has largely disappeared in favor of the midsize sports luxury sedan with its starchier suspension and focus on skidpad numbers over comfort. If you’re a keen driver, you might enjoy those benefits, but to most, they largely translate as a slightly firm ride in the real world. The Lexus ES 350 takes a more classic approach. Sure, it has some sporty styling touches, but it’s very much a comfort-first proposition. It glides over city potholes that you’d notice in most other luxury cars, and offers up an overarching air of ease, like a classically trained butler.
Once at a cruise, you’ll experience a soft, plush ride with just the faintest whiff of secondary body motions over expansion joints. Less waterbed, more pillow. Likewise, while the eight-speed automatic transmission isn’t the most responsive unit in its standard drive mode, it’s been programmed with a pathological desire to keep the revs as low as possible, doling out buttery shifts early and often, ensuring you don’t so much as ripple the latte art atop your size du jour. If you ever need to accelerate hard, simply plant your right foot to the carpet and enjoy the sonorous tenor notes and effortless thrust of the 302-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 under the hood. In an age when $60,000 might get you something with a turbocharged four-banger, it’s hard to beat the smoothness of six cylinders. Just as nearly every midsize luxury car wants to quicken your pulse, the ES 350 wants to lower it. That’s an old-school sort of luxury.
However, don’t mistake calm with a lack of confidence. Unusually weighty steering in all modes may be your only hint that if you flick the Shrek-ear drive mode selector up two notches and take control of the paddle shifters, the ES 350 can boogie harder than you might expect. The dampers firm up, the V6 stays in the power band, and you gain remarkable trust in the car through sweeping bends, even if traction when accelerating hard at low speeds is, well, limited. This is Civic Type R horsepower in a front-wheel-drive car without a limited-slip differential. Even though it might weigh nearly 3,700 pounds, you should still treat it with respect. It’s no performance car, but if you want to really get a move on, it’ll do so without much of a fuss, save for a bit of wheelspin.
Reason #3: It Promises The Greatest Luxury Of All
What’s the one thing we can never get back, no matter how many zeros are in our checking accounts? That’s right, it’s time. It’s no secret that buying a car can suck, all the hours spent in the finance and insurance office ironing out the last details of a deal. Part of the joy of the ES 350 is that you might not need to replace it for a couple of decades. The 2GR-FKS V6 engine under the hood has been on the market for a decade and is capable of 200,000 miles with just regular maintenance. The eight-speed automatic transmission is also proven, and you always see Lexus right up near the top of all those reliability surveys.
That promise of reliability means you should also spend less time in service departments than if you bought something German, which would mean more time and money to do the stuff you actually want to do in life. Michelin Star meals, vacations, indulging in hobbies, or even just investing a little bit more in your retirement.
So, if you want a nice car, maybe just buy a Lexus ES 350. This fully-loaded Blackline model may carry an as-tested price of $58,015 including freight ($67,266 in Canada), but that’s still less than you’d pay for a Mercedes-Benz E-Class or BMW 5 Series. Sure, the Germans might drive tighter, but isn’t peace of mind a beautiful thing to have?
(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal)
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Lexus makes boring cars for people with a little money who have the same emotional connection to cars as they do their washing machine.
The Predator face grill is better than when it came out, but still not good.
Meh. Why gatekeep? Enthusiasts have different reasons for liking their cars.
I have a strong emotional connection to my Honda/Acura vehicles in the sense that I enjoy driving them and worry about their well being if some idiot crashes into them, because they never let me down, ever, not even once.
I also have a strong emotional connection to other vehicles that *have* let me down.
Being an enthusiast doesn’t require an abusive relationship with one’s vehicles.
I drove one of these for a while in the early aughts. They’re a great bargain used – not so much that they’re particularly cheap aftermarket, but they’re basically bullet proof and they’re built to high enough spec that everything still works and looks good a decade after they roll off the lot. Agree with the review about the driving dynamics – they’ll hustle if you push them, but it’s not going to give you any kind of signal that it’s interested in doing that. Cruise at a comfortable speed, though, and it’s a profoundly relaxing ride. They really do punch above their weight class if you’re not looking for a sports sedan or something flashy.
If only the ES 300’s rear seats folded down like most sedans which is a highly useful feature. I found it necessary to fold down one or both rear seats on my sedan several times each year to load longer or bulkier items.
these are great cars. Hard to justify the expense but if you can afford it and just want a big car to put around in comfort especially one that can just eat up thousands of miles without a sweat this is it.
I cannot stand the interiors of Toyotas. And I care more about the interior that I will look at more than the exterior. Usually Lexuses are ok, but this one doesn’t look much different than the Toyota version of this car. Hard pass. PS. I had a 2003 ES300 which was a great car and had a solid interior for its time.
what specifically turns you off on this interior?
Boring
I feel like this is the modern equivalent tot he Pre-Boomer LeSabre. nice, comfy, psuedo luxurious, and reliable as they come. It really is a decent way to get around these days. Especially since it is not a raised station wagon with a 2.0 Turbo and a CVT.
All I can see is Camry, inside and out. And the last Camry I drove did not leave me with anything but a mundane, uninspired impression.
Maybe that’s what some people want . . . but not me.
I can’t compare the current ones, but my ex’s 2012 (or whatever year, it was that generation) ES and my same-gen Camry (that I couldn’t stand even as a winter beater) were like completely different cars. Until I drove that one, I thought they were just a Camry for people who needed a snootier badge. It’s not, though, it’s more a luxury car in the traditional sense of comfort with bulletproof underpinnings. The lack of feedback is fine as that’s the car’s intent. I think it’s far more honest than the overweight, oversized shit-riding Germans that have to rely on massive engines and electronic interference to convince the unfamiliar—if they even attempt to use the capability—that they’re driving something sporting while costing a fortune to run. No, they’re not a fun or inspiring car, but they are relaxing in a way few cars are anymore and I’m glad someone is still making something like that even if they’re not for me.
Of course, the reliability of these ESs and their buyers that tend to drive conservatively and maintain them well makes them all the better to buy used.
But the front is the most unspeakably ugly chunk of plastic on the road today. It looks like you just had a head on collision with a Dalek in a car that probably looked even worse before the accident.
I am convinced that some designer was working on a design and scribbled over the grill with a sharpie on a design they didn’t like and their idiot manager thought it looked sexy because of memories of a romantic liaison with a icecream vendor in the back of a Citroën H Van.
Probably the only car that would look better with a bra. Or a codpiece.
Maybe a plastic steak and a string of bratwurst wired onto it and at least people would know you weren’t oblivious to its hideousness.
The rest of the car looks fine I guess, it’s hard to tell.
All I see is a Toyota Avalon with a Black widow grill.
Eh, I don’t love it but it’s not nearly as bad as your take IMO. I mean it’s miles better than anything coming from BMW these days.
Well the BMW is hideous, but it has some relationship to the past for better or worse.
Question for the in the industry experts:
If a big radiator and grill is an indicator of waste heat and thermal inefficiency, and we are all about thermal efficiency these days, what’s with the big ugly grills?