themanintx

Hi everyone, I thought you all might like to read more about the new ES F Sport, so here's my own review after two weeks with the new car. A couple quick notes:

1) Before the new car, I had a new 2015 ES 350 for three years -- a great car that drove nicely, was super comfortable and never gave me problems.
2) Forgive me if I don't get some technical terms right, I'm a newbie here, but have been a life-long car lover

What's Different from 2015 v. 2019:

DRIVE: 2015 was a nice, comfortable, solid drive, but boring. Like a big bowl of vanilla ice cream with nothing added. Sure it drove smooth and could get moving, but no "wow" factor at all. 2019 is basically all the above, but with a bit more power all around, some zip factor from the start, some engine growl and a much tighter suspension. You can take turns and corners a lot faster.

EXTERIOR: 2019 just looks way more sporty. Lots more angles, sleeker and edgy the whole way around. Little things like the headlights, wheels and outside mirrors appear much more sharp -- but the outside mirrors are a lot smaller (and also they don't fold automatically, you have to get out the car and do that yourself, seriously Lexus?) and much less field view than the 2015. Optional colored brake calipers would have been nice, as would colored tire valve caps.

INTERIOR: Bucket seats definitely sit lower but are comfortable. The 2015 seats felt more like a Cadillac or like you're driving a boat, not necessarily negative -- it's just that the 2019 seats are clearly going for a more sporty vibe, so you sacrifice a bit of that recliner chair feel from 2015. That said, lots more supple touches across the cabin, it feels more stylish and they tossed out a lot of the cheaper looking plastics -- and thankfully, no more piano black finish anywhere. The wrapped steering wheel feels awesome, nice to have ditched the semi-wood treatment from 2015.

CONTROLS/INSTRUMENTS: Ok, the 2019 effectively fails here. The 2015 instruments and controls were a lot simpler, intuitive and quick to identify and adjust. It took maybe 10 days of driving the 2015 to know almost all controls by heart, so you could adjust just about anything without having to take your eyes off the road. You can pretty much forget that feel for the 2019 -- just about everything takes firm concentration to adjust or change, there's very little you can do while in motion (in fact, I was told the only way to adjust seat cooling/heating in the new GS is by clicking through a menu!!!). For all the new controls and advantages you get, it's all undermined by how clunky and frustrating the interface and UX can get. It's a classic case of over-engineering and creating solutions to problems that don't exist, just full-on sensor creep and UI overload. Here's a run-down:

• Gone is the 2015 analog mouse, which I never really had any issues with -- instead you get the common Lexus trackpad, and honestly it's just awful. Very jumpy and jittery, and often requires surgical precision to ensure you don't skip a desired setting. Really just a garbage element, and one that hopefully gets killed for good next year.

• Eco green light: Boy this one drove me nuts. The default setting for the normal drive mode had a nuclear-bright green "ECO" light on the dash that illuminated intermittently, obviously to demonstrate that you were using less gas at any particular moment. As it's unpredictable, it becomes extremely annoying and blinding every time it flashes. Took a lot of reading online to figure out how to disable it.

• No more elapsed time info metric. I always liked having that as a variable display gauge, now it's gone. On top of that, it's not as easy as the 2015 to switch between other info screens, e.g., tank miles left, tire pressure, etc.

STEREO/NAV/DISPLAY: I'm an amateur musician, and my 2019 has the Levinson package -- there is simply no comparison between this awesome system and the crap 2015 standard stereo. It sounds amazing, any serious audiophile would be pleased with the performance -- but sadly the Gracenote album database is buggy as hell and almost never displays album art, a shame given the bright colorful screen. Per nav, why any car maker still insists on drilling their own system into the car anymore is beyond me -- I'm sure there's all sorts of arguments against my position, but whatever -- as long as my phone has it, map apps will always be superior. The center screen is massive, bright and impressive, but does suffer pretty bad sun glare if you're positioned at relevant angles.

CARPLAY: You do get Apple CarPlay, a huge plus, but this has serious limits, here are my quibbles:

• CP only connects by cable and not wirelessly, so your phone has to be tethered to the car. And, the USB port to tether it requires that compartment lid to be open, and further (and honestly this is just unforgivable), you can't close the lid with the USB cable plugged in -- in other words, you have to keep that lid open constantly, an eye sore on the otherwise sleek interior look. Otherwise, you have to unplug your cable, wrap it up and stow it away.

• You can't do any of the car's voice commands ("lower the cabin temp") while you're using CP. Similarly, you can't do those commands either if you've got Siri activated, the car will default to Siri which can't control your car's settings, only the phone's.

• Waze or other map app navigation voices cut in loud and dramatically over any concurrent audio source, and this becomes super annoying immediately. For ex., if you're listening to music, the volume will very slowly dip out, Waze/Google Maps/Apple Maps barks directions while driving, then the music volume slowly rises again. Now imagine that happening rapid-fire during a multi-turn event, i.e., "exit... turn right in 100 ft... in 50 ft... police reported ahead..." etc. It destroys the audio experience, and the only way to keep your sanity is to disable the particular map app audio, which in turn requires you to keep your eyes on the screen at all times if you don't know where you're doing.

So I'd give the car an 8.5/10. Overall the experience is wonderful, but sadly minor missing details and problems sour the experience a bit.

chromedome

Lexus infotainment systems are a nightmare. My old ESh has the mouse which is a lot easier to use than the trackpad on the NX and new ES. I'm surprised why they didn't use a touchscreen in the newer cars because the screen is a lot closer to the driver.

themanintx

Absolutely agree on the infotainment system, chromedome - the 2015 system may have had less bells and whistles, but overall a lot easier and more intuitive to use (though the audio quality was like a bunch of pennies rattling in an empty can). I'm personally not a fan of touchscreens as I hate when basic functions, such as the A/C, are included -- I prefer analog buttons you can feel without distraction.

Road/wind noise is not bad. I personally found the 2015 ES to be extremely quiet, in particular on newly paved roads and freeways. The 2019 is about 90% of that sound insulation, in fact I bet Lexus may not have dampened noise on purpose so you can hear/feel the engine more and have a more sporty experience.

mikemu30

Game show wrong answer buzzer on the heated and cooled seats. There are hard buttons to control that.

95bat

If it helps, I test drove the Ultra Lux and F Sport back to back today... couldn't hear a difference between the two.

themanintx

@mikemu30, my mistake on the GS -- I meant the 2019 LS. Take a look at the owner's manual for the 2019, which verifies what the sales guy told me -- the only way to operate seat heater/ventilator in that model is through the menus, there's no analog button or physical switch. Pretty ridiculous!

john341

The LS has the concierge mode, which will automatically adjusts all the cooling and heating of the interior according to ones body temperature using IR Sensors located throughout the interior. I believe the 19 ES also has this feature, but ES also has physical button. LS Also has physical shortcut button by the cup-holder to go directly to all these settings. One can also use voice commands to control all of these.

jz14

I thought that this is how it's supposed to work. I don't have CarPlay but when I connect my iPhone to my car through bluetooth audio and use (Google) maps, the music volume lowers when directions come up and then the music volume goes back up after the directions are done. The iPhone gives priority to the directions.

chromedome

You can adjust the volume for Google Maps directions to be soft, normal or loud, at least on Android. Music volume still drops down by a lot before slowly ramping back up.

themanintx

@john341 thanks for the clarification! I just checked and the ES manual says the car has the same concierge mode too, will have to check it out.

@jz14 -- you're correct, that is how it's supposed to work. Unfortunately, when using CarPlay, the way the music volume dips and comes back when direction are barked has such a long lag (both volume up and down), it takes annoying to a whole new level. It's not like when you use your phone normally, or the way you describe. For ex., say your phone's connected by Bluetooth to your stereo, and you're listening to music *and* using GPS. The iPhone strikes a nice balance in dipping the music audio so you can hear directions. For some reason, CarPlay just has a much longer lag time, and also you can't fine-tune adjust the GPS audio -- it's all or nothing, so if you're listening to music loud (which I like), all of a sudden you get "turn right" boomed at you like it's being screamed by a dragon.

Toys4RJill

I see the frustration, but what would be the alternative to this?

themanintx

@LexsCTJill - I think the only alternative is a CP and map app software update that allows more nuance on particular, multiple volume settings. Ain't holding my breath on that one...

Toys4RJill

Does it dip like when you listen to a blue tooth speaker while getting text message pings? Do you know what I mean?

themanintx

Ha, yes! I forgot about that -- the text message read-back sequence is similarly atrocious, no matter how your phone is connected.

Toys4RJill

I have liked that about my iPhone. I try to listen to music and text pings come in and it is the annoying dips. I just put the mute switch on.

My Lexus CT that I had if I remember correctly it would chime and then the direction for the nav was read out. I do not remember if the music dipped. I loved the chime part.