355F1

Exterior looks pretty sharp, but not radically different than my 2017 ES UL.

INterior gets a two thumbs down based solely on the photos. Not as classy looking as my UL.

chromedome

The black and metal interior on the F-sport looks just like my base spec ES300h with a black dash, piano black trim and chrome accents. It's not to everyone's liking, I'd say the typical tan dash with wood panelling is what most ES buyers would go for. Red seats look great but they would only match with a black and metal dash color scheme.

All in all, quite a big upgrade over the old 6ES. I could see grabbing one in 2024 or so

Freds430

Great video of the interior. Love the tan seats with the brown dash and bamboo accents. The nav screen integration looks great and a larger screen. So glad they finally put the cruise control buttons on the steering wheel instead of that stalk that my knees kept hitting. Not excited about losing the joystick and going to that pad.

lesz

I agree 100%

With regard to function, I thought that one of the best design elements that Lexus had used in the Generation 6 ES and other sedans was the placement of the navigation screen into a recessed alcove. With the way that the screen placement eliminated glare, it made the ES navigation screen, by far, the easiest to read screen of any navigation screen that I've ever used. While the 12" screen is a nice improvement, loss of the recessed screen is, to me, a big functional negative.

There are also a few other interior design elements that strike me as curious. The placement of the two stalks that stick out on either side of the main instrument cluster (for drive mode selection and skid control, I think) and the location of the clock look awkward and out of place to me.

jollick

I agree with your assessment and that of others. Not a fan of the dash. I guess that can change once I sit in one. Time will tell.

Albo

Interior is nice, not for everyone but I think you can get used to it. Anyone else think the rear profile of it looks Audi-ish

bc6152

Lexus should have provided folding mirrors...

Albo

absolutely agree. It is a pet peeve of mine having to fold my own in

Stormryu

I see that Lexus has gotten ridden of the Static touch temperature adjustment slider.

TechNut

lesz

With Ford's announcement that, by 2020, the only passenger cars that they will be offering in the US will be the Mustang and a Focus crossover and with GM expected to follow suit, it makes even more sense that Lexus would be planning to reduce the number of car models that it will be offering, and the GS would be the likely candidate to be the first to be dropped from the line.

SUVs continue to grow in popularity, and demand for cars, especially for sedans, continues to drop dramatically. If Ford and GM are planning to drop most of their car models, it makes me wonder if the GS will be the only car Lexus drops from its model offerings.

newyerker

ford and GM probably could not make crap to continue selling their horrible cars though theyve always had a strong profitability with their trucks and some SUVs. so that makes a lot of sense for those manufacturers but i think lexus was a bit different, though its best seller does happen to be RX. with the brand being the luxury brand it is, theres no way they're dropping the flagship full size LS, and their sports orientation with LC, RC, f-sports, i think we have a good while before lexus does anything crazy like the desperate ford and GM.

anyhow - first pics i saw of the ES interior was from the Fsport and i thought that was just BAD. but looking at regular trims with wood inserts etc, i think the interior is nice, though i cant say its a big improvement over the current gen which is pretty damn nice imho.

that touchpad is a PITA and something you cannot or should get used to though. thats too bad. and still no touch screen.

lesz

I agree that there is a difference between Ford or Chevy and the luxury brands. Clearly, Lexus, to maintain "luxury brand" status, needs to maintain production of a sedan that can end up with a MSRP of well over $100,000. So, regardless of the fact that Lexus only sold 4000 of the LS in 2017, the LS is assured of being in the lineup. Similarly, the LC Coupe, with about 2400 sold in 2017 has to be kept in the lineup, but other sedans and coupes with low sales numbers are not likely profit makers for Lexus, and I could see justification for discontinuing their production. Those models include the GS (7700 sold in 2017), the IS (26,000 sold in 2017), and the RC (7300 sold in 2017). Further, GS sales dropped by 48% from 2016 to 2017. IS sales dropped by 29%, and RC sales dropped by 34%.

For SUVs, on the other hand, sales were twice as high as for Lexus cars. Even if you take the RX, by far the biggest seller for Lexus, out of the mix, the total sales for the other 3 Lexus SUVs were almost equal to the combined number of sales for all 8 Lexus cars.

So, while it is likely that luxury brands will be able keep up car sales numbers better than non-luxury brands, even with luxury brands, there is a shift toward SUVs, and, in the near future, I won't be surprised if Lexus kills off at least a couple of its car models.

Xanadu350

I just saw video of the new ES and the outward changes are great, however the interior is a huge letdown. How could they mess up the interior like this? The swooping line across the dash into the center console is terrible looking and just leaves you with a 5 inch wide of dead space between upper and lower center controls. I don't like that look. Also the shifter **** looks like something from the 90's not very nice looking. I sure hope they improve that touch pad because I fear it's going to go into the IS350 on next revision. I was able to play around with the touch pad on the 2018 NX and I found it very unreliable and found myself over shooting and under shooting my mark, it was very flustering navigating around the interface and this was with about an hour of playing with it. I wasn't a fan.

What I find funny is how Lexus use to have touch screens (I had a 2007 IS350) and BMW said they would never do touch screens then now jump to today and BMW is offering touch screen and Lexus is not. How weird is that?

JDR76