RochdalePioneers

I've got a half day test booked for the weekend after next - can't wait! Dumb question - does Lexus navigation do real time traffic...?

Not really. I vowed to have ditched diesel when I sold a Citroen Grand Picasso 5 years back and I'm damned if I'm going to change my mind on that one... So its T4 or possibly T8 if I can find a used one (prices drop like a brick...)

Thanks for the tip on fuel - I live all of a mile off the motorway and then 2 miles off it at the other end, so the vast majority of miles will be motorway. And I have a gentle approach to driving which tends to make for good fuel economy. Being spoiled on that front by the Ioniq I've borrowed off my wife - it will do 60mpg without any effort at all...

SNAP - the exact same final two cars I am down to. I've just been out to the respective dealerships and sat in both. My thoughts: ES: beautiful on the outside, exquisite on the inside. Lexus Teesside have a base trim + premium pack car which is what I'd get and I think I could drive to the moon and back on those seats without starting to ache. My gripe about the screen size and track pad felt like less of an issue because its gorgeous. Volvo: would describe it as bold. Not the biggest fan of the rear end but prefer it to the G30 5-series (I had the previous generation F10 which looked better) and definitely better than the gopping E-class which looks like it has melted. Inside its enveloping, everything feels premium and the touch screen interface seemed fast and intuitive. Then we come to the maths. Via Carwow I am being offered a bonkers 21% discount off a new T4 Momentum (3.9% APR). £8k off...! But I am want petrol, and I think I'll get mid 40s mpg at best on my 95 mile each way commute (almost all motorway). Lexus are offering 5% discount off ES Premium Pack and 5.9% APR to boot. Warranty wise both are 60k miles (or 18 months for me) but I can extend the Lexus warranty to 5 years / 140k miles and would expect it not to break. Can't extend the Volvo beyond 80k and their reputation for reliability seems to be behind them.

As we're talking Volvo as a comparator, I have just come back in having visited both Lexus and Volvo dealers. Sat in both an S90 and a V60 - they are both very nice, well thought out cars. Volvo may be having a tough time of it at the moment going off the 21% discount I am being offered on a new S90...! Don't think either of them stand up to just how plush the ES is though.

It can't be too difficult to have both surely. I'm currently driving my wife's Hyundai Ioniq which I have "borrowed" for a few months whilst we sort out a long term car for me. The Ioniq has a good built in system plus Android Auto. As a Hyundai I expect it would be reliable but I don't get on with the Dual Clutch box or the shape of the seats. When I borrowed an NX from my old work I loved the seats and the build quality. I didn't like the fuel economy (seems to be a known feature of the NX compared to Lexus saloons). And I really didn't like the infotainment system which seemed to be bafflingly backwards. Try to scan through a list of DAB stations as an example. So I love the ES looks inside and out. The seats will be amazing. It will be reliable. I'm just debating if I can live with a trackpad thing to drive a baffling system on a screen obviously too small for the enclosure its in...

I've just started a new job. Expecting to be in the office 3 days a week, and its a 190 mile round trip. I don't care about sportiness. I am increasingly too saggy for sports seats to be comfortable. I think rubber band tyres on arch-filling wheels look silly. Its amazing how many manufacturers not only think that I must have sport seats and silly wheels but don't allow them to be optioned out...

1st post so bear with me. I've been waiting for the ES to come out. Lexus makes sense to me on so many levels - they look amazing, they're reliable, they're different from the endless display of German cars. I've been to see the new ES and it's an amazing car in every respect bar one. Why have they put a tiny screen in a massive bezel in everything bar the Takumi model? Ok I could have an F-sport model and add another nearly £5k to get it - but I want a big comfy cruiser not a massive wheeled monster. I borrowed an NX from my last employer and loved the car but not the economy. I believe the saloons are much better especially with the new powertrain in the ES. So I'm all set. But that screen...?