The new Lexus ES is electric now. Goodbye hybrid. Welcome the ES 350e. It sits in that weird liminal space where luxury meets letdown. You get BMW i7-sized space for i5 money. Sounds like a steal until you sit in the driver’s seat.
Then reality hits.
The elephant in the showroom
Lexus replaced the GS in 2019 with a front-wheel-drive Toyota platform car. A bit pedestrian, even then. For 2025 they went all in on electric for Europe. The US still has options but Britain only gets one choice: front-wheel drive.
The thing is massive. One hundred seventy millimetres longer than the last one. Eighty more on the wheelbase. It hides it well visually until you park next to an i5 or an EQE. Suddenly it looms over them. Taller, wider, longer. Inside it feels even bigger. The back seat has enough room for a six-footer to stretch out behind themselves. A full hand’s breadth to spare. The top Takumi trim adds a passenger ottoman which feels like a nice touch if you aren’t a giant.
Front entry feels more like an SUV. Raised hip point helps bad backs and arthritic joints climb in with dignity.
Beautifully average interior
Sit behind the wheel and the magic fades. The build quality is solid, actually better than Tesla’s slapdash efforts. But the design choices are baffling. Lexus went minimalist. Deliberately. Probably aiming for people sick of Elon’s personality spilling into their dashboard. It works poorly. Drab. Anonymous. Bamboo trim tries to help but mostly just looks like placeholder texture for a screen that isn’t there.
There is a weird six-sided gauge cluster embedded in the steering hub. Microfiber trim around it for some reason. The 14-inch screen runs new Lexus/Toyota software which is a vast improvement. Simple. Readable. Fast. An i5 interface will confuse you after weeks. You’ll master the ES in an hour. There are real buttons on the steering wheel. A home button actually exists. Small touches that matter.
Climate controls live on the screen. Tiny. Annoying. At least separate icons exist for temperature adjustment so you aren’t hunting for them every time it gets hot.
Performance is just okay
Here’s the rub. The ES 350e has a single motor. Two hundred and twenty-one horsepower. Front-wheel drive only. That’s less than a Mercedes CLA 250+. It feels fine for city cruising. Torque comes instantly enough to merge comfortably. But floor it up an on-ramp and you hear the motor strain.
Eight seconds to sixty-two miles per hour. That is two seconds slower than a basic i5 eDrive40. Steering feels vague because the heavy motor sits up front pulling it forward. Engineers killed the torque steer but they couldn’t hide the front-heavy weight. The dual-motor AWD version exists elsewhere with 338hp. Hits 62mph in 5.5s. Makes the car handle properly. Why did the UK not get the fun one? Nobody knows.
Range is adequate. Official figures claim 367 miles. Our hilly California testing dropped that to around 295 miles real-world. Fast charging maxes out at 150kW. Ten to eighty percent takes 28 minutes. An i5 does 205kW. The C-Class does 330kW. The Audi does 225kW via its 800-voltage setup. The Lexus is the tortoise here. And a slow tortoise at that.
Price creates the problem
In America this car sells for £13k less than the competition. That makes sense. You get space but compromise on speed and tech. Here the premium shrinks. You are £8k more than the BMW. £4k more than Audi. The electric CLA starts just over £40k and out-horses this thing.
It feels overpriced for what you get. Great space yes. Boring drive, sluggish charging, and an interior that tries too hard to be minimal. It belongs in the lower tier of executive cars despite the price tag. All that rear legroom cannot save the experience up front.
Quick specs
Lexus ES 350e
- Price: From £59,345
- Battery: 77kWh
- Power: 221bhp / 269Nm
- Drive: Front-wheel drive
- 0-62 mph: 8.0 sec
- Range: 367 miles (official)
- Top Speed: 99mph
- Fast Charge: 150kW peak
Is it worth it? If you haul people in the back for twenty minute airport runs maybe. Otherwise keep looking. There is just more out there.
