Lexus at Toyoland
For years, Toyota sold a credible upmarket car, the Cressida, within the United States, but it found few buyers. The company decided it needed a separate brand, and, unlike many automakers, chose to go “all-in.” They created separate styling and made their first car not just reliable, but truly luxurious, with a cushy ride, better performance, attractive interior, and industry-leading noise reduction. The resulting car was extremely popular, and Lexus quickly challenged Mercedes and BMW in their own segments. In 2012, Lexus was finally brought to Japan as well, quieting those who enjoyed pointing to Toyota-branded Japan-sale versions of each Lexus car.
Toyoland covered Lexus intensively from 2005 to 2011, when our coverage essentially dropped. We do have a good selection of Lexus material from those years.
Reviews / test drives
- Lexus ES-350: the popular, incredibly quiet and comfortable FWD V6 car
- 2000 ES300 (midway on the page)
- LS460 car review and Lexus LS600h test drive — the V8 luxury team
- The 2006 GS300 mid-size sporty sedan
Diving into the cars
- Lexus technologies, 2005
- 2010 RX crossovers, including the hybrid
- 2008 LX570 SUVs, based on the Land Cruiser
- 2008 LS600h, the incredibly fast (for the time) V8 hybrid AWD luxury car
- The LS series through 2011, with specs and design story
- The entry-level, sporty series: Lexus IS300 and IS350
- ES300, 1990-2000
The 2019 Lexus ES is a ground-up redesign, based on the Toyota Avalon (which shares a platform with the Corolla and Camry, among others). Styling resembles that of the Lexus LS, but the new ES is still a front-wheel-drive V6 car. The ES is priced against the Mercedes E series and BMW 5 series, with an ES F Sport to go up against the BMW M5 and such.