2009 Lexus ES 350 Review and Prices

By Chuck Giametta

2009 Lexus ES 350 buying advice
The 2009 Lexus ES 350 plays in the entry-luxury segment, the first rung on an automotive ladder that’s about more than mere transportation. It’s about image and comfort, the latest safety and convenience features, and performance that, at minimum, is unstressed.

The Lexus ES 350 aims for pure luxury in a midsize-sedan package, and hits its target.
The Lexus ES 350 certainly fills the bill, and it’s not faint praise to call it the default choice in the segment. Few entry-luxury cars are so effortlessly satisfying -- so long as your notions of contentment exclude a high-adrenalin driving experience.

Order yours with the Premium Package, an option that adds that staple of the breed, leather upholstery. And it’ll be difficult to find an ES 350 that isn’t equipped with the optional heated and cooled seats and the dressy wood-and-leather steering wheel, neither of which can be ordered without the Premium Package.

Same goes for the navigation system, front and rear obstacle warning, and xenon headlamps that turn in phase with the steering wheel -- three options that about half of all ES 350 shoppers find worth purchasing.

Lexus doesn’t find it necessary to win over buyers with factory incentives, and deep dealer discounts on this car are unlikely. But with some negotiation, an ES 350 equipped like one described above ought to be yours for right around $40,000.

What you’ve got to know about the 2009 Lexus ES 350
Buyers in this class are gravitating to cars that shun conventional notions of luxury for muscled-up looks and moves that match. But suave refinement still holds great appeal, and that describes the Lexus ES 350.

You won’t need to spend much time with the ES 350 order sheet. There’s just one body style (a four-door sedan), one drivetrain (front-wheel drive), one engine (a 3.5-liter V-6 that accounts for “350” in ES 350), one transmission (a six-speed automatic), one suspension setting (comfort), and one wheel/tire combination (modest).

With front-wheel drive and soft suspension settings, the ES 350 is no sports sedan, but it’s highly capable within its limits.
There’s just one trim level, too, a “base” model equipped with all the power, convenience, and safety features essential to an entry-luxury car. Leather upholstery is the one notable touch that costs extra.

Release date for the 2009 Lexus ES 350 is autumn 2008. Lexus is Toyota’s premium brand, and under the ES 350’s sheet metal resides the basic structure and V-6 powertrain found in the Toyota Camry.

The 2009 ES 350 belongs to a design generation introduced for the 2007 model year. Minor cosmetic alterations are likely for 2010, but today’s ES 350 won’t be substantially modified until the next-generation replacement comes as a 2012 or 2013 model.

What’s changed about the 2009 Lexus ES 350
The only changes of note for the 2009 Lexus ES 350 are some new exterior colors.

No change to the 2009 Lexus ES 350 will significantly alter its performance or passenger accommodations from those of the 2008 model. Statements in this review about performance and accommodations are based on detailed test drives of the 2008 Lexus ES 350

2009 Lexus ES 350 competition
Though the ES 350 remains the top-selling Lexus car, its popularity within the entry-luxury class is slipping. Customarily trailing only the BMW 3-Series in sales, the ES 350 has lately found itself also watching the retail taillights of the Cadillac CTS, Infiniti G35, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

All four are worthy rivals for the ES 350, similar in size and price, but set apart from the Lexus by more-aggressive styling and a sportier driving feel.

Significantly, all four are rear-wheel-drive cars. That configuration benefits handling by distributing the weight of the powertrain over the car’s entire length and by allowing the front tires to concentrate on steering while the rears attend to propelling.

Front-wheel-drive cars like the ES 350 put the engine’s weight over the front tires. That benefits traction in snow, but can’t compete with rear-drive for balanced road manners. And for those leery of rear-wheel drive’s traction deficit in snow, all four competitors are available with all-wheel drive.

Enhancing their sporting credentials, all are available with manual transmission and but the Cadillac accompany their sedan models with two-door-coupe body styles, though a CTS coupe is a year or two away.

These ES competitors ride fresh designs and won’t change significantly over the next three to four years.

The BMW 3-Series is the performance benchmark; its current design generation debuted for 2007. Also new for 2007 was the Infiniti G35, a challenger to the 3-Series for athletic moves. The Cadillac CTS represents an American take, with flashy styling and an available Corvette-derived V-8 engine. The CTS debuted for 2008, as did the Mercedes C-Class, an impressively engineered car that’s shed its sober German bearing and gained popularity in the bargain.

Driving the Lexus ES 350

The surprise here is how a sedan bent on isolating you from every annoyance of commuting life can scoot along quite nicely so long as you don’t expect it to act like a race car.

Try to zoom around corners and the ES succumbs to tire-squealing nose plow. If the corner is rippled or wavy, add some weak-kneed bobbing to the action. Steering too light to provide much feedback doesn’t help the confidence level. Neither does a brake pedal prone to swooshing as you begin a sudden stop.

But this smooth V-6 and automatic transmission work in fine harmony to deliver quick throttle response and flexible power. Off the line, up the on ramp, down the Interstate, it’s fulfilling on any rational scale. Tap into the acceleration and combine it with the ES’s admittedly accurate steering, and this Lexus suggests there’s a bit of a scamp hiding behind those librarian’s glasses.

Riding in the Lexus ES 350
No entry-luxury car rivals the ES 350’s ability to envelope occupants in cloudlike serenity. The cabin is lined with padded, even puffy, surfaces, warmed by real walnut accents, and -- in most ESs -- by buttery leather. The dashboard top is shaped to the mimic the folds of a kimono.

Seats are generously sized, soft but supportive, and even the rear middle position is livable, thanks to cushiony center section and a nearly flat floor (front wheel drive cars don’t need a hump in the floor to accommodate a driveshaft).

Styling dictates a rather low roofline, so head clearance might be tight for those over 6-feet tall. Leg room is good, though 10-way power front seats are standard and the motors needed to manipulate them cut into under-seat space for rear-passengers’ toes. A power sunroof is standard, but the Ultra Luxury Package option includes a “panorama” roof, basically a tinted glass ceiling. It makes for a refreshingly airy passenger compartment.

The trunk is roomy and usefully shaped, but U-shaped lid hinges that impinge on cargo room are out place in an entry- luxury car.

Lexus ES 350 dashboard and controls
Electroluminescent instrumentation pops to life and complements a smart arrangement of clearly marked, easily reached controls that feel good to the touch and move with precision. Disappointments? The windshield-wiper stalk is blocked from view by a steering-wheel spoke, and the available rain-sensing wipers always seem either too active or too apathetic.

Precise workmanship, top-grade materials, and elegant design create a quite, comfortable ES 350 interior.
The navigation system isn’t difficult to program, but does assume control of some audio functions, complicating their adjustments. Ordering the system adds a useful backup camera that displays on the navigation screen an image of what’s behind when the transmission is shifted into reverse.

Lexus ES 350 fuel economy
Expect the Lexus ES 350 to average in the low-20-mph range over the long run in a mix of city, suburban, and highway driving. That’s not bad for this level of luxury and performance, though Lexus recommends you use premium-grade fuel.

Lexus ES 350 safety
It’s not unreasonable to consider front-wheel drive a safety advantage in this class, mitigating as it does chances for fishtailing and providing an extra measure of wet-road traction. You’d have to go to the all-wheel-drive versions of rear-drive rivals to really match it.

As for safety features, the ES 350 is pretty fully equipped, including knee airbags for front passengers, brake assist, which automatically applies maximum braking power in emergency stops, and an antiskid system, which activates individual brakes to keep the car on course in turns.

Optional is Lexus’ Pre-Collision System that uses radar waves projected from the front of the vehicle to determine when a frontal collision is unavoidable. The system will then retract the front seatbelts and activate brake assist.

In government crash tests, this Lexus rates the maximum five starts for protection of driver and passenger in a frontal collision. In side collision tests, it rates only four of five possible stars for rear-passenger protection; most cars in the class rate five stars in this test.

Lexus ES 350 prices and features
A base price just under $34,000 includes a power tilt-and-telescope leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, power front seats with lumbar adjustment,  dual-zone automatic climate controls, wood cabin trim, six-disc CD changer, heated mirrors, keyless access and ignition, and a power sunroof.

A good value at around $1,300, the Premium Package includes such luxury-car basics as leather upholstery and memory positioning for the driver’s seat, mirrors, and steering wheel. Option packages grow pricey after that. The Premium Plus Package costs almost $2,500 and has as its main attraction heated and cooled front seats. A better choice is to order those seats as a separate option at about $650. With either of these premium packages, Lexus requires you to add the $300 Bluetooth cell phone link, which is a sensible feature these days.

At some $5,400, the Ultra Luxury Package includes the Premium Plus kit and adds among other items the panorama sunroof, extra wood and leather trim, and the steering-linked xenon headlights. It requires you to order the navigation system, a $4,300 option that also includes an outstanding Mark Levinson-brand audio system. Virtually all these features are available unbundled, as stand-alone options. The Pre-Collision option is priced at $2,600.

Lexus ES 350 quality and reliability
Lexus aims to please, and has been rewarded with higher ratings than any other automotive brand for overall customer satisfaction, especially when it comes to sales and service. That’s according to J.D. Power and Associates, the consumer survey firm with the most influence in the automotive world.

ES 350 owners rate their vehicle above average overall on satisfaction surveys. They’re most pleased with its dependability and with its mechanical quality and the quality of the accessories. The only categories in which the car rates substantially lower than average is for styling and overall performance.