Habu

I had the 300h GS F Sport. The ES feels like it’s quieter than the GS and feels every bit as quick (someone will moan it’s not quick) on full throttle load. Where the GS excelled (al least over the ES I drove) was when pushing the car through the twisties as the GS had adaptive suspension and was generally firmer and more planted when rushed.

VinnyB, it’s a kind offer but not required thanks however we all need to see the pics. Have you waited long for it? 3 months? Habu

I have drove the ES (base with Premium Pack) and it’s very quiet and refined. Pickup is much quicker than my NX Premier (probably not unsurprising) and the CVT drone under full load in Sport mode was very, very muted. Fuel consumption was mid to late 40s whereas I get mid 30s in the NX over the same roads. Having owned a GS F Sport I couldn’t tell (under normal driving) that the ES was FWD rather than the GS’s RWD. Grip and steering response was good too. Overall I was impressed. Just need CarPlay and I’m sold. Habu

I’ve sat in a Takumi ES but not seen it lit up properly as it was a showroom car. I’m in North Yorkshire. What body colour and interior trim colour did you go for? Cheers Habu

Getting the wife’s Mazda serviced today I went into the adjoining Kia dealership and settled into the Stinger GTS. 3.3 litre V6 bi-turbo. The fit and finish was very good indeed and, like Lexus, every conceivable gadget and toy fitted as standard. Plus Apple CarPlay.😗 The nav was excellent too. Very intuitive to use and clear instructions and visuals. Plus top spec GTS is £41k so a decent saving over the ES Takumi but I still really like the ES.😫

Applies only to US vehicles. Lexus UK are still saying “they have no information on the integration of CarPlay”. I’d rather they say it’s not coming this year than we have no information.

Generally anecdotal with Toyota & Lexus but it always appears that the performance data is played down. Take the GT86 for example. 0-62 in 7.6 seconds. It was actually around very high 6s. Bottom line though is that 0-62 is kind of meaningless to me. I’m more interested in 50-70mph.

Forgot to add that the road sign camera in the ES spotted all the speed signs whereas in my NX it’s a bit hit and miss.

Sitting in a box fresh ES today the numbers were audio 1000, nav 1512 and nav version 943.

It was Lexus Teesside where I drove the ES today. Had an F Sport in the showroom plus customer cars in the yard.

I’ve been for a drive in one today. Couple of hours and it drives as well as it looks. Smoother than my NX and quicker when booted in sport mode. More subdued noise in the cabin too. Seats better including the very long seat thigh extender bit. This was on a base model with the premium pack. The thing I disliked was the very thick B pillar. There’s little view over your right shoulder but you could get used to it. Quite a few more options in the cars settings than my 2018 NX (I should have taken pictures 🙄) but no Map button by the track pad. It was Home, Menu and Back. Whilst the parking sensors were working there was no light on the dash advising they were on/ off. I still love the car (particulary in Takumi trim) but I’m still not sure about the omission of Apple CarPlay. Looks like the Mercedes E Class Coupe has stolen the ES’s lead for me.

Agreed, it would be good to offer the 350 V6 auto as well as the 300h even though most people would probably pick the ‘h’. Yes, I’m surprised the Takumi doesn’t have Sport S+. Did the GS 300h Premier have S+?

Good find re the brochure. It's not due out until next month according to Lexus!

I want it for the rear seat control panel and switches to move the front seat passenger seat out of the way even though there will never be anyone sat in the back. 🙂 Be interested to see how the auto heated steering wheel works. I miss the auto heat and vent seat button. It was one of my favourite features in my GS F Sport. I have to make do with manual buttons in the NX. (oh, the shame). And I love the new interior door handles.

Found it!!! Somehow I’d manage to hit the voice button on the map page to mute the instructions. It’s the button directly below the map orientation button on the left side of the map.

I appear to have lost my voice directions during nav direction. I’ve done a reboot of the system (hold in power button), checked the voice is set to 4 (rather than off) and made sure the other voice settings are turned to On but still no voice directions during nav directions. The speakers are playing music from the phone so presumably not a speaker issue. Am I missing something really obvious? Thanks Habu

Went to Lexus Newcastle today specifically to see a Takumi spec car. There was also a base ES in the showroom and a specced up F Sport for demos. The Takumi spec is brilliant and outshines my NX Premier considerably. I love the exterior styling, almost coupe like. Inside, it’s a tech fest. I love the auto heat & vent seats plus the auto heat steering wheel, rear seat control panel and 10.2” HUD. ML audio is mighty and trim is impressive. The noise reducing wheels are stunning. The new spec steering wheels and interior door handles are very modern. If only it had Apple CarPlay.☹️ I will certainly consider the car later this year, sooner if Lexus resolve the CarPlay issue.

UK’s UX definitely not getting AC according to Lexus blog.

With the first UK customers getting their ES's within the next 2-3 weeks it's crackers that Lexus UK still doesn't know the exact spec and whether AC is coming or not. The US are already enjoying their gen 7 ES's with AC so I don't understand the reason for Lexus UK potentially not going with it. AC, for me, is a deal breaker.

Lexus has advised that the brochures will likely be February. That’s a month after the first customers have collected their cars. I’m tempted by a deep blue Takumi with rich cream leather but not if it’s without CarPlay.

You can add a Takumi pack to the other trim levels to give you some of the top spec toys but not all of them. Packs are German-esq uber expensive.

Lexus UK has confirmed that the UK UX will be devoid of CarPlay and can’t confirm that the ES will have it either. Can anyone confirm either way with an ES in the showroom as I thought CarPlay was coming to UK models? Poor if Lexus has omitted it as not every Lexus driver is old and thinks having a CD drive in the car is wonderful. 😞

Oh how I’ve missed the NX and those wonderful headlights and cornering lights and the tech. I had a new Yaris Icon to begin with (body shop only has Yaris’ as it’s a body shop owned by the Toyota / Lexus group in my part of the country). Yaris was awful, horrid clutch and woeful lights plus it never warmed up. After 2 weeks of Yaris ownership the shop got me a new CT for the final 2 weeks. Just the basic CT but NVH has improved a lot with the facelight over the original I had many years ago. As quiet as the NX too even under full throttle load. Great non-leather seats (a bit like alcantara), warmed up very nicely but still woeful headlights. It had AHB and land departure, etc. but I would have preferred LED lights over AHB halogens.

Well after 4 weeks I’ve finally got my NX back! Whilst waiting for the warranty to be approved (formality as there was a defect in the paint) some tw@t in a large vehicle clouted my car whilst safely parked up by the office. The OSF wing was history (high up impact) plus gouges on the front bumper. Impact also broke the bracket holding the headlight unit in. Thankfully Lexus body shop took car in a couple of days later and warranty work approved too at the same time. The delay? The near side rear quarter light broke whilst removing it to do the warranty work. That was a 3 week back order. The only bonus was the car was sat in the warm body shop (covered over) after being painted so lots of time to harden up. NX now back home and looks perfect. (fingers crossed).

Dealer finally found a tinkling noise that's been driving me mad as it was constant. Turns out it the overhead light assembly as pressing on the surround killed the noise. Solution: ordered a replacement unit and hopefully fitted in a few days. Whilst thoroughly washing (and drying) the car last weekend I found a small dot on the nearside C pillar. I tried removing it to no avail so pointed it out to the dealer whilst talking about the tinkling noise. Dealer and me both flummoxed as you cannot feel anything when running a finger over the spot. Popped into the dealer bodyshop who said it's something under the lacquer and it'll need repainting! There's no way the manufacturer (takumi artists) would have missed something at the manufacturing stage so what could it be? It looks like a tiny stone chip but there's no break in the lacquer. p.s. I've had to log onto this site on my Mac as I cannot connect now via iOS???