First thing: Thanks to Lexus for putting on such a cool event. Got myself a nice breakfast and got to toss around some cool cars on a couple of neat courses. Okay, that said let's turn to the focus of the event the 2002 ES 300.

After the initial presentation (borrrrrring), we got to make our way out to three different courses (Darn, Chicago Motor Speedway wasn't one of them ). The courses consisted of a "Luxury" course, a "Performance" course and a precision driving course. The ES was available for comparison only on the Luxury and Performance courses. The precision course was IS 300 SportCross only. More on that later

Being the good GS400 owner I am I went straight to the Performance course. Cars to compare against here were the MB C320, BMW 325, and Volvo S60t. I'll make a long story short here and say that the ES didn't stand a chance as a "performance" car. I know, I know... that's why they have the IS300 but hey, Lexus setup the comparison. The BMW was by far the best handling/braking in the comparo. There was a little maneuver where you had to avoid "deer", plastic deer pictures moving back and forth across the course with enough space between them to slalom through. The BMW easily handled this part of the course. Downside to the BMW, very little room and few amenities. After I got comfortable the front seat was almost up against the back. The MB was a nice cross between the BMW and Lexus. Handling wasn't as sharp but the chassis was still nice and solid with decent pickup. It also had a decent number of interior amenities and more room than the BMW, though less than the Lexus. The Volvo seemed to be the fat pig of the group. It flexed and swayed going through the course but you could still drive the car fast. It had good pickup and was actually very surprising to me. About the same number of amenities as the MB with a little more room. Finally.... the ES. I drove this second, after the MB, and was bummed from the start. The course started out with a quick sprint (to about 35-40) and then a hard right turn. Where the MB handled it with ease I almost got the ES totally out of shape. It had decent pickup but when I got to the braking point I ended up getting in very deep into the brakes and when I turned in the ES understeered pretty heavily. The tires are definitely not suited to "performance" driving. The ES also balked on me once when going around a turn I floored it and, unlike any of the other cars, the transmission waited 1/2 second or so before downshifting and getting me the speed I asked for. Anyway the drive was basically pampering the ES around the cones. I did notice that the ES had lots more room, decent acceleration and was nice and quiet inside. I liked the interior best out of the group.

Next! The "Luxury" course. Here they compared the ES with the Lincoln LS6, Acura TL, MB E320. The course consisted of areas with lots of junk thrown on it to simulate a rough ride. They had a jackhammer to drive by and see how quiet the cars were and one slalom area. I didn't drive the LS as I've driven the LS8 before and thought it kinda stunk so why bother with the lower sibling? The MB is quite a step up from the ES but... Though it drove nicer inside it was a step down. MB seriously needs to figure out ergonomics. You'd think they are French they way they have to do things their own way. Couldn't figure out how to turn the Automatic Climate Control off (after 10-15 seconds of staring at center console) and I was searching and searching for the tilt mechanism for ~10 seconds before an "instructor" pointed to the door!! The Acura was nice, not as quiet as the MB or ES but had decent power and amenities with a good ride over the harsh pavement. This ES had the variable suspension control feature (forgot what they call it now) and the course had places where you should change settings but to be honest there wasn't a big difference with only a tint of slightly harsher ride in sport mode. Sport mode didn't make the ES handle much better in the slalom either. Again the interior was the star in this comparison. Much more intuitive, pleasant to look at and more expensive looking than any of the competition.

Next! The "Precision Driving" course. This was great. They had a bunch of IS 300 SportCross models on a very short and twisty course. I got to drive around 3-4 times in a row, as most were checking out the ES cars, and the "instructors" were cooler about letting you get the cars a little sideways and squealing the tires. The IS was awesome! What a blast to drive. The only two minor downers, a little bit lack of power and the darn e-shift not letting me get down and hold first gear. Fun... Fun... Fun...

Outside the courses they had examples of the whole range of Lexus vehicles lined up for folks to look at. My personal favorites were the SC and IS300 w/L-Tuned/TRD mods. The SC is just plain sweet, the IS had the awesome TRD grille a nice body kit and upgraded wheels/tires. All they need is a supercharger. They had a GS430 there but none with L-tuned. I asked one of the "Lexus Ladies" why they didn't have an L-Tuned GS there and I got some bogus reply about how it was probably somewhere else. They only have so many in the country, blah... blah... blah... Must be the same logic for why Car and Driver didn't get 17" wheels on their GS in the sports comparison test.

All in all though a great show by Lexus, definitely aimed at older folks or people interested in "easier to turn steering" feel than the sports crowd. The ES should have won a lot of converts for people in the luxury oriented market.

One last parting shot. The exterior of the car doesn't look as nice as the new Camry (I've seen them both now) and a couple of the colors are seriously ugly.

Peter

 

cool.