Hello
New member and first time Lexus owner. I had quick read of the new members section and it appears some members are interested in hearing the reasoning for buying a Lexus. So why did I buy a Lexus ? Alan Partridge said it was a Japanese Mercedes-just kidding.
After a lot of umming and ahhing over things like handling, running costs, quality and things not breaking or randomly stopping working and the poor dealership service received from some of the popular exec market brands in recent years logic just kept bringing me back to Lexus.
The ES drive is quite good for what it is (ie a hybrid) and yes it does get a bit noisy when you floor it. Apart from that the rest is simply magnificent.
On the subject of handling, review after review goes on about how the germans handle so much better, well actually the stock models most people buy in the same price range as the ES in my experience don't handle significantly better. Those models aren't things you would take on a track day unless you fancy understeering onto the run off
To me personally the 520d I drove as courtesy felt like a gutless shopping trolley but that only reflects that my own daily vehicle that I was used to driving was much much quicker, had responsive and accurate steering, less body roll and much sharper brakes than the 520d. Obviously my perception of the 520d was very much tainted by driving around in a much superior performing vehicle. That doesn't make the 520d a bad car.
Why did I buy an ES? It was the only saloon on offer by Lexus other than the LS. Its well specced comfortable and economical to run and its a hybrid which is just my attempt at hedging my bets against more stringent ULEZ laws in the cropping up in all sorts of places. I was after the new IS but that isnt coming to the UK sadly so it was the ES. I started looking at an F Sport but ended up with a Takumi.
The other car I drive is a full electric but you do need to be organised with journey planning. Recently on a long journey I decided not to take the electric solely because the supercharger on route is inside large a shopping centre which would have entailed queuing for 30 mins or so in the Christmas rush just to get to the supercharger. That would have added a 2-3 hours to my journey (there and back and charging times) so another full electric vehicle was not in consideration.