Lexus ES350: Steering into luxury and reliability

It has a range of digital options and provides an entertaining drive

Once upon a time, trading in your reliable foreign car for an entry-level luxury ride was an obvious process. You drove a Toyota Camry? A Lexus ES was in your future.

Yet the entry point to luxury has changed, as many inexpensive cars now offer gadgets once only found on pricier vehicles. South Korea’s Hyundai and Kia have muscled onto the scene, using the same techniques the Japanese once did — over-delivering good cars at even better prices.

Which might leave one wondering: What constitutes an entry- level luxury car these days, and where does the Lexus fit in? To get a sense of that question, I tested the latest Lexus ES. The all-new, sixth-generation Lexus ES350 starts at $37,000 (Dh135,790), and is also available as a hybrid.

The 2013 Lexus ES has travelled a long road since its 1989 inception as a slightly upgraded Toyota Camry. The big luxury back then was real wood in the interior. The ES would eventually become Lexus’s best seller in the US, a result of reliability, subdued looks and an undemanding ride.

Suspension

The new ES gets a significant restyling, a firmer suspension and more engaging drive. My test car, an ES350 prototype with black exterior and interior, had real wood and leather, and the quality was nice indeed. The leather that wraps around complex contours is handstitched by Japanese craftsmen. The 300h hybrid model is of- fered with a synthetic material Lexus calls “NuLuxe.”

Nonetheless, Lexus is clearly banking on customers finding luxury in the digital world. Its navigation screen is controlled by a mouse-like device mounted on the centre console, and you can hook up a smart phone to the system and access applications like Pandora radio, OpenTable and Yelp.

Safety options include a system that alerts drivers about to back out of a parking lot to cars passing behind, as well as lane departure and dynamic cruise control. More interesting is the better-tuned suspension. The ES350 is front-wheel drive, so you can forget about it being a hot sports sedan. Compared to previous generations, the new ES350 is simply more entertaining to drive. And it even looks pretty good with the new, rather funky Lexus grill and front end.