MMCG

I had the same a while back. Car was 2 months old and had me about 2 miles from my location. When it was in for the dash / sunroof rattle they fixed the sat nav with an update. Speed limit thingy is based on whatever the car has seen before plus what it sees as you drive along. It "knows" some roads are 120kph and has to read others. Occasionally it reads the bus lane (60) and ignores the car lane (80), other times it is smarter.. It's a great feature most of the time, but I take it on the basis that it remembers what I have seen rather than saves me from looking.

Had a black E60. Once forgot to note where I parked it. Found about 5 of the same in one section of Dundrum shopping centre car park. That said, there is another sonic titanium ES in my area and I've ended up driving behind it 3 times in 2 months. When I ordered mine in Feb, there were around 10 coming into Ireland available for purchase. And that was it for the year. Presume more on the boat were sold.

I'm embarrassed not to have looked under the hood more. Or was it in the rear wheel arch near the main battery?

My E90 had a ventilation timer thing. And it was a basic enough spec... Never bothered to use it as I thought the risk of a flat battery not worth it.

I went for F-Sport for the black interior ( muddy / astroturf soccer playing children). I find the 19" wheels a bit hard and I had an IS lux 300h before and it was squishy on 17" wheels. Think 18" is the sweet spot. 3000k's in and aside from a rattle from the sunroof, and some minor squeaks remaining from garage addressing said squeaks, the quality is ok. I found the RWD IS too twitchy in the wet, and the ES drivetrain/economy/grunt far better. The electric motor does far more in the ES. As for the fake leather? Well the real stuff looked a bit shook on the drivers bolsters after 2 years in the IS, and having had cream leather before that, so I will give fake a go. The press notes say it is "Vegan Leather" so we can add that to the virtue signalling. Economy now 50mpg mixed. Which is about 50% better than wife's A6. I have the cheapo infotainment (Ireland loses out on that) and I have not managed to get the Lexus App store to do anything. Even when I do the WiFi thing. Much better at cosseting you from the world than the A6 and better looking than the IS or 5 Series. And being neurotic, I love the speed limit display on the dash. Any thoughts on Lane keep assist? I think it is pointless, and it seems to track the left white line, so attempts to take exits off the motorway. Adaptive cruise control is wonderful though.

I went from a 2011 E90 318i manual to an IS 300h. Luxury model. BMW was sharper to drive and the IS 220bhp did not feel much quicker than the 143bhp petrol BMW. Very different cars. Lexus way more comfortable and better built though. Also it was around 200kg heavier. You will feel that in the handling. If you drive gently, the IS will wow you, but if you drive hard or blast the B roads, you will need to use the fake manual mode on the CVT to hold the car in gear and maintain composure and balance. I'd echo Wharfhouse on the merc gearbox. Had a GLA 200 petrol auto as a rental and it was utter garbage generally and the gearbox was useless.

Tank is not that big. Smaller than the IS. Think it is just 50L. So you should still get a hard day out of it , but that's it. I got 6.2l/100 or 46mpg on a motorway run just the other day. Religiously obeying speed limits. How do you get 60 out of it? Do 17" versus 19" make that much difference. I don't drive hard.

To be fair to the IS, and comfort. I regularly did 7 hrs Dublin to Cork and back in a day and the luxury spec seats are far better than their diminutive size might suggest. I'm 5"11 so space was more of a concern for rear passengers. IS is more economical on the motorway than ES. (5.7 L/100K vs 6.2, similar temperature days), but ES is better in city/suburbs. Weird considering 100kg more . But there you are. Very different cars. Not like BMW or Audi where you are just getting a bigger version of the same package.

The IS is a lot more compact. So it depends on how big you are and whether the rear seats get used. Also, the hybrid drive train in the IS is not a patch on the ES in terms of responsiveness. So you are in a bind there. I expect the mid lifecycle refresh of the ES will clean up the interior feel and infotainment back up with the germans. As for "special".? Well, before the ES, I had the IS, before that, BMW E90, I had a E60 as well. Only the E90 felt special to drive. But you had to be in the mood. Beautiful on winding roads. Annoying in traffic. And nowhere near as comfortable. And sketchy in the wet.

So 3,000kms in and with the sunroof rattle addressed (fingers crossed), there is a good car in there. Likes: Serene drive, and very smooth and quiet now. Adaptive cruise control is superb and coupled with the speed limit reading on the dash means no stress of cop-watching. Acres of rear legroom so the kids don't kick me anymore. Bluetooth works quickly for music. Far faster than wife's 2016 A6. Memory seats. A boon when you are 9 inches taller than said wife. Responsiveness. It is 100kg heavier and about 5hp down on my old IS300h. But is faster and quieter off the mark in suburban sprints. Gearing matters. Dislikes: Infotainment screen binnacle could look nicer and be trimmed better. Basic speakers are a bit basic. Turning circle on 19" rims is worse than wife's 20" rims. And I thought that was bad. The IS was like a black cab. Touchpad. So what is the ES and who is it for? The BMW 5 is nicer inside. The new A6 has too many touch screens. I hate Audi's DSG box in traffic almost as much as I hate filling the damn thing with Ad Blue. Mercedes look too bling inside. I like the S90 but their hybrid is extortionate, as is BMW 530e here in Ireland. Lexus are much cheaper to PCP. Like 200 € a month less. BMW was worse. And it is a big car. The Superb and Camry are Taxis. I hate the Passat. So if you hate diesel, want a premium-ish big car that is very easy to live with and stress free to drive, and don't want to be accused of having no imagination (5 series) and don't want to be fleeced for a hybrid elsewhere, then there is a compelling case for the ES. Final comment on performance. Wife's A6 190bhp quattro is faster once it wakes up at the lights, remembers how to change gears, lurches through the first 3 cogs and then regains its composure. The Lexus just glides away and is as quick up to suburban speed limits. So unless you are drag racing on the motorway, decorum wins.

I put it down to "hybrids make weird noises" and it does not bother me. What did bother me was a rattle from the dash that was coming from the sunroof. The dealer has mostly got rid of that. But it was temperature sensitive. Above 20C it really did not happen. So 3,000kms in (we embrace the metric system here in Ireland) and with the infuriating rattle mostly sorted, (wait till winter . Fingers crossed), I am liking the car a lot. I wanted more space and I was tired of sliding around the place in the rwd IS. The car is generally very quiet. Don't get the noise comments about CVT. Flicked it into Sport today to nail it past an artic , very little fuss and went from 70kph to 115kpk in the length of the artic. That is plenty fast.

I got manuals with mine. Also Ireland spec F sport.

Just picked up an F -Sport ES 300h. Irish spec, so possibly has auto wipers. But need to play with them some more. Space and comfort are superb, but the IS was good for 7 hour days, if a bit cramped.