2020 Lexus ES 350 F Sport evaluation: Aiming youthful

Sure reputations are arduous to shake. Large, gentle and meant to coddle, Lexus‘ automobiles are sometimes seen as vehicles for the older kind — the orthotic inserts of the posh automotive business, if you’ll. With a sharper underlying chassis and a brand new F Sport trim, the midsize Lexus ES does an excellent job exhibiting that Toyota’s fancier sibling is transferring in a youthful route, nevertheless it nonetheless has work left to do.

For the youths

Reinventing your self sometimes requires beginning once more from the bottom up, and that is what Lexus did with the ES. For this new era, which landed within the 2019 mannequin 12 months, the ES rides on Toyota’s TNGA platform, a do-it-all modular chassis underpinning new Toyota automobiles giant and small. Loaded with high-strength steels and trendy engineering know-how, TNGA has given a large swath of Toyota automobiles new life by improved dealing with and composure.

You possibly can positively really feel this improve with out attempting very arduous. Even a fast drive to the shop within the Lexus ES 350 F Sport and you will discover far more cohesion in how the automobile strikes, eschewing a number of the loosey-goosey dealing with current in its forebear. In F Sport guise, my tester rocks the non-obligatory adaptive variable suspension, which stiffens the automobile up in sportier modes, accessed by a sort-of-oddly-placed mode knob jutting out from the dashboard atop the gauge cluster.

Surprisingly (to me, not less than), it is spectacular how dramatically the ES 350’s character adjustments on this new era. Flipping that mode dial produces precise, tangible variation within the automobile. In Sport, the suspension positive aspects stiffness, giving me sufficient confidence to truly chuck the factor round. Sport S+ mode takes issues even additional, including extra weight to the variable (however nonetheless numb) steering whereas additional tightening the dampers and even piping in some “sound enhancement.” I would not go as far as to say it transforms right into a sports activities automobile, because it’s nonetheless an enormous sedan with front-wheel drive, however this automobile does present some youthful enchantment in a approach that no different Lexus ES ever has.

Youthful patrons additionally recognize a little bit of flash, and don’t be concerned, Lexus has come by there, albeit in additional conventional Lexus vogue. The ES 350 F Sport carries a couple of distinctive exterior touches to assist differentiate it from extra pedestrian trims, like a blacked-out grille, darker taillights, a trunk-lid spoiler and angrier decrease fasciae, and all of it seems to be fairly good. The inside picked it up, although; the ES not seems to be stodgy and dated, due to a vastly improved design inside that makes higher use of attention-grabbing angles. My tester takes issues a step additional with dramatic pink leather-based on the middle console, door panels and seats. It is a daring technique — and a good bolder coloration selection in a sometimes conservative automobile — so credit score the place it is due for taking just a little danger. One a part of its roots that Lexus did not abandon, although, is its adherence to construct high quality, which stays top-notch.

You understand what else younger patrons like? The newest in-car tech. Need to know the place the ES 350 partially fails in its mission? You guessed it, and like each different Lexus of late, the blame is positioned solely on the infotainment system. An 8-inch display is customary, except you go for manufacturing facility navigation, which boosts the display measurement to 12.Three inches. It doesn’t matter what, the underlying tech stinks. The touchpad has by no means been intuitive or participating to make use of, snapping to every menu merchandise awkwardly as you drag a finger aimlessly within the hopes that you’re going to possibly discover the setting you need within the morass of poorly organized menus. It is distracting. That mentioned, a Wi-Fi hotspot and Apple CarPlay are customary (Android Auto is, too, on vehicles constructed after October 2019), so there are some silver linings on this hulking, ever-present tech cloud. Simply slap a fancier pores and skin on Toyota’s vastly superior Entune {hardware} and name it a day already.

Lexus’ mish-mash method to switchgear and telematics would possibly frustrate some, as nicely. Take the local weather controls, for instance: Whereas practically each HVAC operate has a bodily button beneath the display for simple entry, one thing easy like syncing the local weather zones collectively requires a multistep dive by the menus utilizing that godawful touchpad. At the least the heated-and-ventilated seat controls are nonetheless buttons.

Is all this sufficient to provide a dramatic shift in enchantment, although? The ES 350 F Sport carries a price ticket aimed extra towards the younger at coronary heart than the really younger, with a beginning worth slightly below $45,000 and my tester ringing in at $53,950 after vacation spot. There are a whole lot of really sporty vehicles in that worth vary, together with some SUVs, and plenty of of them haven’t got years of geriatric-friendly baggage to eschew as a part of a reinvention. To me, it appears extra like a play to scoop up middle-management-type patrons who need to remind the world (and themselves) that they nonetheless have a enjoyable aspect, customers who would possibly in any other case gravitate to sharper vehicles just like the Mercedes-Benz E-Class or Volvo S90.

For the olds

Regardless of the ES 350’s thorough de-aging course of, this sedan stays comparatively old style, which implies there’s nonetheless loads of enchantment to maintain patrons of prior ES fashions within the fold.

Although there are huge enhancements in the best way the ES 350 handles, particularly in F Sport guise, it stays a gentle, cozy cruiser at coronary heart. Hold the automobile in Consolation mode, and it will be the identical predictable luxurious sedan because it all the time is, absorbing bumps and transferring little jostling to the cabin. The ES 350’s 3.5-liter, naturally-aspirated V6 now places out 302 horsepower and 267 pound-feet of torque, and whereas it feels a smidge extra sprightly, the dearth of a turbocharger means torque takes time to build up because the rev counter rises, resulting in an underwhelming expertise — not an issue while you by no means intend to depress the accelerator greater than an inch or two.

At an EPA-estimated 22 miles per gallon metropolis and 31 mpg freeway, the ES 350 F Sport can be fairly frugal, though it loses a pair mpg in its sportier swimsuit. This frugality is thanks partially to a brand new eight-speed automated transmission that likes to stay within the fuel-efficiency candy spot when left to its personal gadgets. The gearbox’s shifts are unobtrusive, if a bit pokey, holding smoothness on the forefront of the ES 350’s driving dynamics.

One factor older patrons may not like in regards to the ES 350 F Sport, although, is the noise. I am not speaking about engine noise — I am referring to wind and street noise, which crops up extra usually than I’ve come to count on from the eerily quiet interiors Lexus is used to constructing, one thing I am certain longtime Lexus patrons will discover.

Security will all the time be a key element in buying choices, and to that finish, the ES will completely delight homeowners. Each Lexus ES comes customary with Lexus Security System+ 2.0, a cadre of energetic and passive security programs together with automated emergency braking, full-speed adaptive cruise management, lane-keep help, lane-departure warning and automated excessive beams. Every thing’s content material to hang around within the background till wanted, and when it does pop into the forefront (like, say, while you drift too near the white line), the tech would not catch the driving force unexpectedly with any ham-fisted actions, as they’re sensible and predictable of their operation. If you’d like blind spot monitoring, although, it’s a must to shell out $1,065 for a bundle that features energetic parking help and rear cross-traffic alert.

Right down to brass tacks

The 2020 Lexus ES stays however one fish in a comparatively giant pool. It might have the worth benefit over equally sized luxurious rivals just like the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series, however these vehicles are additionally a lot sharper when pushed, even with out bringing the AMG and M divisions into the combination. The Acura RLX will not exist for for much longer, and it by no means actually felt cohesive in the best way the ES does. There’s, nonetheless, robust Japanese competitors from the Infiniti Q50, not less than within the dynamics division — Infiniti’s telematics scenario is about as unhappy as Lexus’. The Volvo S90 can be a way more attention-grabbing selection within the driving division, and it is just a little simpler on the eyes, despite the fact that its design is a couple of years previous now. There’s additionally the Toyota Avalon, which is kind of the identical automobile, besides with an enormous grille and Toyota badges; I have not pushed it, however colleagues say it is a bit extra participating than the Lexus.

Lexus has positively come a great distance with the 2020 ES 350 F Sport. It is extra attention-grabbing than ever, however within the strategy of attempting to reposition its enchantment, it loses a little bit of what made it such a well-liked selection within the first place. It is not dramatic sufficient of a shift to alienate its core demographic fully, as the essential underlying thought of what constitutes a Lexus sedan remains to be there — and its gross sales numbers are nonetheless trouncing rivals — however I am left questioning whether or not or not Lexus did sufficient to actually make a distinction in the long term.