wynants

No sorry not correct, i had frontwheel drivers and RWD, as a rule , when conditions got bad, more then once i was left stranded with my RWD, while the cars with frontwheel drive were still moving! the road really has to freak out bad before i get stranded with a FWD, and as far as i recall those conditions happened 2 or three days in the last 5 years . My previous car before the 7 was a 5 serie (530) came winter, i had to put on good winter tires or i got stranded in icy weather, or the tailgate went in wet conditions, never happened with FWD. And as far as tyres goes, i never skimped on new tyres, i value my life too much to buy second rated tyres As far as i can see , the only advantage of RWD ,for a daily driver, is that there's a little less interference in your steering and you get more the feeling of a push in the back when you accelerate, everyone has to decide for themselves how much they value this, but having driven multiple RWD and FWD cars in my life, and the way modern technology has evolved, there really not much differentiation anymore.

I don't know where some of the posters here live, but where i live you are either, stuck in traffic, standing still in traffic, heading for slow traffic etc.. and if by accident you find yourself on an open road whit out tractors , bicycles, or a slow moving lorry, you can be rest assured that if you go to quick the state of the road will quickly take care of your precious car. And if that ain't enough there is the forrest of speed camera's, trajectory control and speed bumps, that put your drivers license in a permanent state of danger. I just sold my BMW 730 after 4 years, it was a nice car but there isn't just room and opportunity to justify the heavy engine or RWD any more. Those of you who live in a place where you can still throw your car around the bends as they like to show in those fancy car commercials where you never see another car on the road, good luck to you, as for us, we're already very happy if we can keep moving along at a modest speed. I chose the ES over a new BMW because it has more room for the passengers in the back then my 7 serie's had, it will cost me considerably less to run on a year basis, i ordered mine with just one option ticked ( metallic paint ) and for the rest it has all the luxury specs i had on my fully loaded 7 and then even some! And boy this is a quiet car! And as far as Mat Watson is concerned, his love affair with German cars should be well known, there are other reviews on the web that paint a far better picture of the ES. like this for example

I would upgrade just for the head up display alone; once you are used to this feature you can't drive a car whiteout it anymore

Hi, For the past 15 years i have been a BMW driver, current i drive a 730D in full spec. Because of the diesel bashing, and the rising taxes on diesel drivers i started to look around for something else. A plug-in hybrid is not an option since i live in the city and i can't charge my car overnight. So almost by accident i ended up in the Lexus showroom, and the ES caught my attention at once. I arranged a halfday testdrive with the car ( privilege level ) to see what the buzz was about. I must admit i started with low expectations , coming from a 6cyl diesel with massive torque, i was ready to be disappointed. A few things i noticed as i took off. The cabin was nice and overall of good build quality, bar a few niggles mostly on the lower parts of the cabin, i was satisfied with the materials. Music is important for me and i was very happy to note that the Mark Levinson 17 speaker was sounding a lot better than my Bowers and Wilkinson 4500£ stereo in my 7. Another hit was the head up display , an option i can not live whit-out anymore, the ES display is wiiideeee ! and clear! The seats as far as i can tell match those in my 7 in comfort, and the safety systems (lane assist, cruise control etc, etc..) work as good as in my present car, and above all , man this is a silent car wow! it beats my 7 easy when it comes to silence ! Now the drivetrain and engine, it took me an hour before i understood the concept of a hybrid CVT, but then i got going. It takes some getting used to, coming from a powerful car, but if you drive it like a comfort car then the whole concept works. Those looking for slides, RWD, sharp hairpin steering etc.. should look elsewhere, but at my age (i'm 55 ) comfort goes over sporty, i don't want my teeth rattling when'd driving over our deteriorating roads, and my back give me enough problems as it is whitout adding 22 inch wheels to it. And as far as the power of the engine is concerned; where i live you are either stuck in slow traffic or traffic jams or the speedcamera's take out all the fun of driving fast, so a lot of good those 6 cylinders will do you! of the 20 000 miles i did last year there were maybe 200 miles where i really could enjoy the speed and power of my 6 cylinders in an undisturbed way , if you take in the extra cost of ownership, taxes etc.. those were 200 very expensive miles! So i reckon the downgrade of power will take a few weeks getting used to, but all the other aspects are very promising indeed, ordered mine !

i ordered mine 10 days ago, black full spec privilege line, delivery mid july