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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  Lexis ES or Acura TL - 2004 Lexus ES 330
  By Park - June 18 - 10:00 am

  The Acura dealer made a huge mistake. I told him that I couldnt commit to the TL until I drove a Lexus ES. The ES is not just quite it is silent inside. The engine is almost to quite and road noise is muted to nonexistant. The ES is as smooth as silk. Transmission shift goes unnoticed as you accelerate and the car just flows through curves. It holds the road with very little lean in and good pull out of turns. The ES is a "soft" ride and not the fastest car when the light turns green but you will never be left behind, after all this is a Lexus.

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  Nice upgrade from my RX 400h - 2016 Lexus RX 350
  By Mel - June 17 - 3:11 pm

  I was very hesitant to buy the 16 model because of the huge grill but I decided I could get used to it. After a test drive I was sold. This vehicle is much, much quieter than my 2006 RX 400h. I will say that I really miss the CVT though. I opted for the Lexus Safety System and the blind spot monitor. The all-speed cruise control works great. It has taken me into freeway stop & go traffic and done fine. I really like the ability to choose the following distance (100, 130 or 160 feet) from a steering wheel mounted button. Im not as impressed with the lane centering feature so I mostly leave it off. There is a front facing camera that "sees" lane lines and will make steering wheel inputs to keep you in the lane. It feels like theres a little invisible hand on the wheel making slight wheel inputs - which may not be the ones you want to make. Its a very odd sensation. The front camera also can detect human forms over 3 feet tall and will try to avoid hitting one up to about 50 mph. I have no experience with this and hope never to test it. The front facing radar is smarter than I expected it to be. I was afraid of sudden braking when a driver moved into the buffer area between you ant the car you had been following because if you leave a 100 -160 foot buffer in front of you it will certainly happen. However when it happens the system adjusts slowly just like I would. The blind spot monitoring / cross traffic radars in the rear are equally smart and seem to give warning at a greater distance when the car in the rear is closing at a rapid rate. Backing out of a parking space is much easier now when the radar units are looking for cars & the backup camera can recognize people walking behind you & sound a warning. Overall Im very impressed with the safety systems. The new position prediction lines on the backup camera are a huge improvement over a wide angle camera with no lines line the one on the old Lexus. I also loved my old HID headlights and was very pleased to find the LED headlights gave me an equivalent amount of illumination. The 12 inch navigation screen turned out to be worth the extra money. I can set it up to split the screen to have both nav and my quick dial list showing. The joystick input device takes some getting used to but after a little use I can live with it. The voice recognition system is still poor although better than the nearly nonfunctional system on the old 06 model. I tried to get the nav system to give me guidance to an airport about 60 miles away and the best I could do while driving was to get the system to display the nearest 5 airports - none of which I wanted. I could have pressed my assist button & asked the operator to download the route into my nav system but I just waited until I was within about 20 miles and it showed up on the closest list so I could select it. The nav system does have a HUGE weakness though and that is finding a shortest route during a recalculation. You are better off stopping the car, deleting the route and starting from scratch if you want to modify the route but allow the nav to recalculate a route at the end of your modification. A Garmin GPS does a much better job of both initial routing and recalculating a route. I love the ability to receive texts while driving and having them read to me. Even better is the ability to activate my iPhone Siri from the steering wheel and having her send a text for me using only voice commands. Previously my texts went unread and unanswered until I stopped the car. My vehicle was delivered with the towing prep package. This made it incredibility easy to install a hitch I ordered from a company on the Internet. It took an extra body to help hold it up but in 20 minutes with a socket wrench I had the hitch & electrical connector installed. Im really pleased with my purchase. Some systems are excellent and others are just ok or need some improvement but overall its a very nice package.

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  Not as good as they say - 2005 Lexus LS 430
  By Michael OBrien - June 16 - 10:56 pm

  Whilst the Lexus is a superb car it is not perfect and I have had numerous problems which the dealership were not very cooperative in dealing with. These include a sun roof which rattles at low speed, spurious warnings from the low tire pressure sensors, and a time lag on the accelerator.

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  Wow, I love it! - 2010 Lexus ES 350
  By wetgravity - June 16 - 5:33 pm

  I am in the car business, so I tried every make and model that competes with the es. I just took it out for a "night drive" and I love it. There is a lot of power and the adaptive headlight feature is awesome. Its worth the extra money to drive this car. It is smoother and nicer than any other car in its class. The test drive was ok. But driving it and owning it is awesome. Not a sport car. But the luxury car to beat all other luxury cars.

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  Excellent car - 1996 Lexus ES 300
  By khang - June 16 - 10:00 am

  This car is just perfect

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  Very well made old classic car - 1996 Lexus LS 400
  By david - June 16 - 8:23 am

  Damn cup holders, too small for my giant big gulp! That is my only complaint on a 14 year old car with 173k miles. Drives like new, well done Toyota/Lexus.

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  Best handled LS but poorer in quality - 2007 Lexus LS 460
  By Guide - June 16 - 4:13 am

  The overall technology features added on this vehicle enhanced comfortableness, drive-ability, handling, performance, and fuel efficient over the previous LS generations. However, craftsmanship over some area have shown degraded quality controls, i.e.interior parts show symptoms of early wears and tears. Wind noise continued to exist even after replacement of front double layers glasses. This is a disappointment for a luxury at this level. NAV system voice activation is terrible; unable to recognize 50% of commands given. Glove compartment door is already falling apart at 30K miles. Bottom line is its a great luxury ride with some angrily imperfections.

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  GX470 is great - 2005 Lexus GX 470
  By bk777d - June 16 - 3:00 am

  This vehicle is a dream to drive. We took a trip right after we got the vehicle. The optional rear seat entertainment system was very nice to have, as was the optional navigation system. This vehicle drives very quietly for an SUV. It feels more like you are driving a car than an SUV. I would recommend this vehicle to anyone.

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  Tranny problems - 2007 Lexus ES 350
  By frani D - June 12 - 10:20 am

  I purchased a new ES in 06/07. At 500 miles the tranny froze. It took about 3 months to get a new replacement car. The new ES still misses the shifts between 2nd & 3rd gear. There is NO FIX - this is a manufacturing defect with the tranny. I cant wait to get rid of it.

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  Always impressive - 2005 Lexus RX 330
  By desmond bell - June 9 - 6:06 pm

  Extremely comfortable, excellent handling and improved turning ability over prior years models.