In unveiling the new 2010 ES, Lexus shows that it has preserved what drivers love about the Lexus ES while adding refreshed styling and exciting features to maintain the car’s vibrant position in the premium market.
The new 2010 Lexus ES takes the sedan’s familiar features and sharpens their focus, creating a new visual identity for the automobile that helps to freshen its appearance without making a radical departure from its basic shape. Instead of tacking on attention-grabbing body work, the re-design leaves much of the side panels alone and instead concentrates on slightly lengthening the headlights and accentuating the vehicle’s grille, two of the most identifiable characteristics associated with the previous version of the ES.
The rear of the car is also subject to the same gentle work in order to help it move forward with the rest of the vehicle’s styling. The taillights have been altered, LED lighting has been added to the sedan’s side mirrors and new chrome can be found on its door panels.
The 2010 Lexus ES 350 is the most popular car offered by the luxury automaker, and it’s not hard to see why. There are a number of touches that help make the ES unique when compared to some of the other upscale cars in the class. The optional GPS navigation system now includes voice command, a casual-language based voice recognition feature that helps make it easier and safer to use when the vehicle is in motion. The interior has been tweaked to offer a more accommodating center console, and there are increased wood trim options. On the high end of the features scale, a panoramic glass moonroof can be installed when the Ultra-Luxury Package is ordered for the car along with perforated leather seat covers and HID adaptive front headlights.
Perhaps most interesting to new Lexus buyers is the inclusion of a one-year subscription to the telematics system known as Lexus Enform with Safety Connect. Safety Connect is available on both non-navigation and navigation-equipped ES 350s and offers four safety and security features: Emergency Assistance, Roadside Assistance with GPS tracking, a system that can locate the sedan if it is stolen and Automatic Collision Notification, which contacts emergency response crews in the event of an accident.
Lexus Enform, which is available on navigation-equipped vehicles, offers two unique features, Destination Assist and eDestination. The first allows drivers to communicate with Lexus personnel 24 hours a day, seven days a week via built-in cellular technology and have them act as a personal concierge, providing directions, suggesting restaurants in the area and helping to locate businesses or other points of interest. Directions received through Enform are fully integrated into the vehicle’s navigation system. The eDestination feature provides an online web interface where Lexus owners can plot out and save various destinations and then have them uploaded wirelessly to their ES 350.
The 2010 Lexus ES 350 3.5-liter V6 is another recent innovation that has helped the vehicle stay current. The powerplant’s 272-hp and 254 lb/ft of torque ensure that the sedan never has to play catch-up when handling highway traffic or attempting to merge into a busy express lane.
Equally impressive is the way that Lexus has worked year after year to build vibration dampening directly into the ES platform, culminating in the most recent edition’s 88 different measures designed to keep engine harshness and noise out of the passenger compartment. With 24 layers of foam coating, liquid-filled engine mounts and 22 specially designed urethane sponges spread throughout the chassis and body, its no wonder that the sedan is one of the quietest and calmest rides available. Combine that with a system that actively cancels out specific vibration frequencies while the sedan is at idle, and the ES is almost as quiet as an electric car sitting at a stop light. Its six-speed automatic transmission also helps to reduce any abruptness associated with rapid acceleration or sudden speed changes.
The 2010 Lexus ES is a fascinating study in continual refinement, and the latest model represents the extreme efforts undertaken by Lexus to make sure that those seeking a calm, balanced and technologically advanced luxury car begin and end their search with the Lexus.
