Lexus ES 300h: So much more than a just an upmarket Toyota

A very good local plumber has needed to visit Spray Towers a couple of times recently. It always makes me a bit nervous when a tradesman arrives for the first time.

If they see a stonking new €100,000-plus Mercedes or BMW in the garage, a few extra spins on the gaming machine in their brains might lead them to believe they have hit the jackpot and the bill can be increased proportionally.

Explaining that the cars are only with me for a week at a time, and all we really own is the 10-year-old runabout in the corner, brings its own bout of eye-rolling.

It’s bad enough to have a Boris Johnson-style accent, even after 43 years here, without trying to play the poor mouth as well. But then perhaps I should look at what they are driving when the white van has been parked up for the night.

I remember the legendary Sam Synott explaining, when he was managing director of Hyundai in Ireland a couple of decades ago, that the Sonata, the company’s incredibly well-specced executive saloon, was very popular with vets, accountants and advisers who did their business among the canny farming folk.

These people wanted all the executive comforts without giving the clients the impression that they were getting too high a percentage of their hard-earned money. In case it all went a bit pear-shaped, there was a touch of mafia-thinking about the car as well.

There was a lever in the boot to stop you getting locked in forever.

I once thought of retreating to that safe haven when I had a Sonata for a week and my then teenage children were acting their age in all its insufferable glory.

But back to the plumber, who has a great “old bull/young bull” relationship when working with his son.

After admitting last week to this column, I asked him what he drove. To my relief, he answered the Lexus ES saloon which, by pure coincidence, I had just been testing and returned the latest model only the day before.

If ever you want to know a person’s discernment and reliability; that they own a Lexus is very high on the predictability scale. The Lexus people might grimace politely if they are told that really the brand is just an up-market Toyota.

But the luxury marque is much more than that. It has been going down the hybrid route before its stablemate and has developed a reputation for lasting build quality, which always puts it at the top of the charts.

In their latest Which? Car Guide the magazine declares that it is the “only brand to get the full five stars across all age categories (0-4, 5-9 and 10-15 years)”.

The Lexus range available in Ireland ranges from the UX compact crossover at €43,750 to the LS, its flagship saloon, at €162,820 and the massively powerful LC Convertible at €189,500.

The ES 300h, starting at €54,640, is very much in the foothills of the Lexus marque. While it shares certain elements with the much-loved relatively-recently relaunched Toyota Camry, it has a luxurious presence in its own right. It aims to give a real alternative to other premium models such as BMW’s 5-Series, Audi’s A6 and the Mercedes E-Class.

I’ve always hated the term “Minor Change’’ which Toyota/Lexus use for mid-life upgrades. It’s quite off-putting and you wonder why you are bothering.

However, looking at the ES again is always worthwhile, especially now the IS is no longer available.

The ES developed out of the GS and is a very sleek, beautifully put together four-door saloon with a massive boot.

It is low and eye-catching. There’s only one engine, a 2.5 litre four-cylinder petrol engine linked to a battery hybrid system developing 218hp. The car is supremely comfortable without being over fast. This is a car for stately procession and the 0-100kmh is 8.9 seconds. Once the automatic CVT gearbox has settled down, it is amazingly quiet.

There was a 12-page bulletin pointing out the “minor changes” to the ES were.

The front grille is even more confident and eye-catching and inside there is a better display with a good touchpad on the centre console. However, the most interesting page in the bulletin was the additional safety features building on an already impressive package.

It can get rather nanny-like and some of the features are a bit involved to switch off but overall, the features are really great to have on-board, especially as Lexus ES drivers are liable to be more interested in safety and comfort than whizz-bang speed.

Seat upholstery front and rear is excellent and four adults could spend hours in the car without pain.

Those in the back are surrounded by luxurious touches. Not all is perfect though — there are small annoyances such as, I kept leaving my phone in the car, as the charging pad is lidded.

A bigger one is that the rear seats don’t fold. But overall, this is a car of discernment, and with quite ordinary mass market cars getting increasingly pricey, it seems good value.

The Dynamic model is the starting level but there is an F Sport spec at €61,890 and Premium at €67,310.

The Which? Car Guide says the ES is a Best Buy draw in relation to “frugal overall mpg figures, while its excellent traction and steering means it feels safe and agile through corners. It’s a strong performer, made even better by Lexus’s reputation for fantastic reliability”.

It makes me even more confident of the work my plumbers have done.

 

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Following my piece last week on the compact fully-electric seven-seater Mercedes-Benz EQB, I now see that the company is also launching the super luxury electric EQS SUV this week.

To more mundane issues, I received an email asking advice on affordable seven-seater EVs.

Unfortunately, there are very few. I would like to have pointed the reader towards the Peugeot e-Rifter, a great car for bigger families. However, it isn’t available over here yet and the company doesn’t know when it will arrive.

Other normally aspirated alternatives are the VW Touran, Kia Sorento and the Citroen Grand C4 SpaceTourer as well as the near premium-priced Hyundai Santa Fe and Peugeot 5008.

The cheap-as-chips seven-seater Dacia Jogger is being launched over here before the end of the month and will be a balance between price and the fullest of safety equipment. Happy Easter.