Overview & Reviews

Lexus has earned a well-deserved reputation for turning out utterly refined luxury vehicles. The hallmarks of this brand are a quiet, well-crafted cabin, a plush ride and commendable performance from powerful, nearly silent engines.

Lexus began out of a desire by parent company Toyota to create a world-class luxury car brand. Groundwork for Lexus was laid in the mid-1980s, when the company began tapping U.S. focus groups in an attempt to define design concepts best suited for American consumers. Hundreds of prototypes were built and tested on Germany's autobahn and on U.S. roads.

In early 1989, the company unveiled its first two models (which would debut for the 1990 model year) -- the entry-level ES 250 sedan and the flagship LS 400 sedan. The LS 400 was lauded by both journalists and consumers alike for offering a stellar luxury-car experience, with a remarkably silent cabin, superb build quality and a refined V8 engine. At the same time, the LS was priced considerably lower than smaller, lesser-equipped, six-cylinder European rival luxury sedans.

By the early 1990s, the Lexus brand was expanded to other markets, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. More models were added to the lineup, including the SC 300 and SC 400 coupes and the brand's first luxury performance sedan, the GS 300. By decade's end, the company had added SUVs (in the form of the LX 450/LX 470 and RX 300) and had sold more than a million vehicles in the U.S.

The first decade of the 2000s saw Lexus proving itself a trend setter with the launch of many hybrid-powered versions of its vehicles such as the RX 400h and the GS 450h. And by 2011, Lexus even introduced a world-class supercar, the LFA.

In the years since its inception, the Lexus brand has distinguished itself time and again in quality and reliability surveys. The brand's vehicles may not offer as much passion as some Teutonic rivals, but for drivers interested in vehicles that emphasize quality, dependability and comfort, the Lexus marque is hard to beat.

User Reviews:

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  Best Of GX470 - 2004 Lexus GX 470
  By National - September 9 - 2:00 am

  The quality of the Lexus GX470 is outstanding, both inside and outside. The power train is extremely smooths and everything works and feels as though it was totally thought out.

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  Our first Japanese vehicle-ever - 2005 Lexus RX 330
  By RX330 - September 6 - 5:10 pm

  Love it. Probably the best interior of any 40K vehicle. They set the standards on this one. Not good mileage as we expected. Terrible back up lighting at night. Cannot see a thing in the dark. They claim nothing can be done. Ride and handling-excellent. Definately a crossover. More car-like than truck like. HIDs a problem on dark roads. A defined line that is a short distance from the vehicle. At high speeds you can overrun the headlights. We use High beams alot.

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  Wow - 1996 Lexus ES 300
  By My Car - September 6 - 7:26 am

  I bought this car beacase my son liked it. This car is very reliable. I gave it to my wife and she isnt very big on maintenance. I would recommend this car to any young kid lookin for a cool reliable ride to sport around.

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  ES 350 - 2007 Lexus ES 350
  By Allan Spanjer - September 5 - 1:33 pm

  My experience with this car so far has been good except for the ventilated seats, driver and passenger, which are agonizingly uncomfortable. The lumbar support digs into your back and cannot be adjusted sufficiently to correct the problem. I tried to get the company to deal with this, but they said it could not be fixed and they blew me off. I sat in other models to compare seats. The nonventilated seats are more comfortable, but none of them compares favorably to the sports model.

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  Over Priced or Under Equipped - 2004 Lexus GX 470
  By DanWithGX - September 4 - 10:00 am

  Overall, I am satisfied with the vehicle. It was precisely the size I was looking for. However, when you compare some of the features to other SUVs, it seems that components are missing. Example, for $1,000 more you can get an Infiniti QX56 with the Xenon Headlamps, LED tail lights, 2nd row heated bucket seats, 8 way passenger seats, Laser assisted Cruise control, and brake preview assist. The only reason I did not get the QX is because it is just too large for what I was looking for.

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  Lexus RX400H - A True Lexus - 2007 Lexus RX 400H
  By scottmason1 - September 3 - 12:50 pm

  My Lexus 400H is a great car overall, as my ratings have shown. Its a hybrid of course so it has a very smooth engine that does not roar but still makes sound if you accelerate fast. It is very quiet at low speeds and has great features. My particular RX400H has heated leather seats, navigation system and a 6 disk CD player with automatic everything. So, in a few words- it is luxurious. Everything about it is very smooth.

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  I Might Buy It Again - 2004 Lexus ES 330
  By MCG - August 29 - 10:00 am

  Like others, I have noticed transmission issues. Stopping at a stop sign and immediately starting again confuse the tranny. I have not had problems elsewhere. Freeway driving, merging, acceleration to get out of a jam...all excellent. No pull to the left issues w/mine. Drive the one youre going to buy. The interior is beautiful, comfy and convenient. The CD changer in the center console limits storage capacity. For the HP, the car is not responsive from 0, but, handles driving at speed nicely. I also like the Comfort vs. Sport suspension adjustment - it provides a noticeable difference in ride and handling. Beautiful car-should perform better.

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  SUV that gets 30mpg and can handle like a car! - 2015 Lexus NX 300h
  By David - August 26 - 3:10 pm

  Ok, was looking for a hybrid SUV. Green was the emphasis for the purchase. Sedans can be green without the hybrid (the CO2 emitted per mile in a Camry is less than some souped up hyrbids). Also, when your car is stopped, its just nice no to emit CO2. Toyota makes real hybrids (ones where the battery can boost up city driving mpg) and pioneered much of the technology. Our only real choices were the Nx300h, the Rx450h, or the RAV4 Hybrid. BMW makes a X5 plug in hybrid and Ford used to make an escape hybrid, but the X5 was too expensive acutely and the Escape Hybrid is no more. That being said, I would have gone for the RAV4 but the interior is nowhere near that for its cousing NX300h Lexus (although it has more camera angles). Ok, back to the car, it performs as advertized -- we are getting between 29-33 MPG in 80% city driving. It handles great and the safety stuff like blind spot monitoring, pre-collision assist, and radar guided cruise control are pretty great. The car is really whisper quiet. (*Acceleration however has a drone, but its not that bad but sort of unexpected in a Lexus). Handling is actually a bit more sedan like than the RX we gave up. Seats are bit tighter too than the RX -- but its a smaller car. Suspension and road feel are classic Lexus. My big qualm is the cost -- which it was not $5000 more versus a comprable nx200 to save gas and hurt the environment less. This car gets an easy 5-stars if they charged less for it. But, the ride is really quite good, the handling excellent, and luxury is strong. The new RX is bigger than the previous or we might have bought that with all the new safety and technology features, but they no longer make that 2012-2015 style. To complain of some almost unnoticeable acceleration compromises in an SUV that emits 276 grams of CO2 per mile (less than a Toyota Corrolla at 287 grams of CO2 per mile) seems besides the point. Its hard to ease your carbon footprint and be an SUV this luxurious other than for the nx300h. For comparison, note the nx200 emits 368 grams of CO2 per mile. Sad this technology is not incentivized more. Perhaps the government will at some point though.

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  Lexus LX 470 -1st Lexus Experience - 2007 Lexus LX 470
  By NC Lexus 470 - August 26 - 11:50 am

  The 470 is a very smooth riding enjoyable truck that offers enough HP for beaches to mountains. The gas mileage is worse than my former Chevy Suburban but the smooth quality ride is a little better. Note to those considering: the navigation system is really bad. It blocks the driver and passenger from searching for anything while the vehicle is moving. There is no work-around and we were told there was a bypass by two dealerships we contacted when we couldnt figure out how I could use it while my husband drove. It is a huge flaw in the vehicle if you do more than local driving. Lots of room in the interior and would love to keep but probably last Lexus due to nav limits.

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  Great combination vehicle - 2016 Lexus NX 200t
  By Joseph DiMaria - August 12 - 2:35 am

  Drives like a car but u have the driving view like an SUV. Good gas mileage plus extra storage space and flexibility.