2025 Lexus ES

2025 is the final, carry-over year of the seventh-generation (XZ10) ES, and the scored hybrid configuration is the ES 300h: a 2.5L Atkinson-cycle four paired with a permanent-magnet drive motor for 215 hp net combined. That is modest output for a mid-size luxury sedan, where 250–400 hp is the competitive norm.

The ES 300h's 2.5L Atkinson-cycle four peaks at 163 lb-ft; as with every Toyota Hybrid System application, no combined system torque figure is published, so the engine number is the authoritative one even though the traction motor adds instant low-speed pull the figure understates.

Lexus quotes 8.1 seconds to 60 mph for the ES 300h, and per the manufacturer-figure-wins rule that is the value used; instrumented tests of the same powertrain have come in slightly quicker, averaging around 7.6 s with a best of 7.5 s, so the real-world figure sits at or just under the claim.

Gas-electric handoffs in the ES 300h are genuinely imperceptible and the car pulls away on motor torque with no lag, which — combined with Lexus's sound isolation — puts it above the mainstream hybrids it shares hardware with; it stops short of the top band only because the Atkinson four becomes audibly strained under sustained hard acceleration and there is no reserve of thrust behind it.

The planetary eCVT never hunts for a ratio and meters torque smoothly in town, and Lexus's calibration plus extra insulation mask the drivetrain better than in the Camry; the familiar hybrid penalty remains, with revs flaring and holding high under full throttle rather than stepping through simulated gears.

The ES 300h is front-wheel drive only — there is no all-wheel-drive hybrid ES in the US for 2025. All-wheel drive exists in the lineup but is tied exclusively to the gas ES 250, a different car, so a hybrid buyer who wants AWD cannot have it at any price or trim level.

For 2025 the ES nameplate offers three genuinely distinct powertrains — a 203-hp 2.5L four with standard AWD, a 302-hp 3.5L V6, and the 215-hp 2.5L hybrid — spanning FWD and AWD and including an electrified option, which is broad for a mid-size luxury sedan. It falls short of the very top of the band only because there is no PHEV or EV ES in this generation.

EPA rates every 2025 ES 300h at 44 MPG combined — a single figure across the hybrid's trim range, since all of them are FWD and share the same 2.5L Atkinson hybrid driveline. Strong for a luxury sedan in absolute terms, though a notch behind the mainstream hybrid mid-sizers it shares hardware with.

The ES 300h returns 43 MPG in EPA city testing. Unusually for a full hybrid its city rating sits fractionally below its highway figure — the ES is a heavy, long-geared, comfort-tuned car rather than a city-optimized one, so it gives up the pronounced city-over-highway advantage most Toyota Hybrid System cars show.

44 MPG on the EPA highway cycle is the ES 300h's strongest suit — slippery bodywork and tall final gearing keep the Atkinson four lightly loaded at cruise, so the hybrid advantage persists at speed where many hybrids give it back.

EPA's published total range for the 2025 ES 300h is 581 miles, which reconciles exactly with the car's 13.2-gallon tank at its 44 MPG combined rating. That is enough to cover almost any single day's driving without stopping, though the small tank keeps it short of the 600-plus-mile hybrids with more conventional fuel capacity.

EPA puts annual fuel cost for the 2025 ES 300h at $1,400 under its standard 15,000 mi/yr assumptions. Because the hybrid runs on 87 octane rather than the premium its V6 sibling prefers, the saving over a conventional luxury sedan compounds: both the gallons and the price per gallon are lower.

The ES 300h asks only for 87-octane regular unleaded — notable in a luxury segment where premium is the default and where the ES's own V6 sibling prefers it. There is no plug, no charging arrangement and no refueling constraint of any kind.

NHTSA rates the 2025 ES 300h 5 stars overall. The component stars are less uniform than the headline suggests — 4 stars frontal and 4 stars rollover against a 5-star side result — but the overall figure is the measured one and it is the maximum the program awards.

The 2025 ES carries no IIHS award — it holds Good in both small overlap front tests but only Acceptable in the updated side test and, decisively, Marginal in the updated moderate overlap front test, where rear-passenger restraint kinematics are the failure point even though every driver injury measure is Good. The identical 2024 car was a Top Safety Pick; the award lapsed for 2025 because IIHS tightened the criteria to require at least Acceptable in that updated moderate overlap test. Scored at the floor of the middle band rather than below it: the deficiency is real and sits in a core crashworthiness test, but it is a single Marginal alongside Good small-overlap structure, Good headlights and a Good pedestrian AEB result.

Lexus Safety System+ 2.5 is standard on every 2025 ES grade — pre-collision with pedestrian and cyclist detection plus intersection turn assist, full-speed-range dynamic radar cruise, lane departure alert with steering assist, lane tracing assist, road sign assist and automatic high beams — and Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert is standard rather than trim-locked, so nothing on the AEB/ACC/LKA/BSM/RCTA checklist costs extra even on the $43,540 base car. It sits below the top of the band only because 2.5 is a generation behind the LSS+ 3.0 rivals were shipping by 2025, lacking proactive driving assist and the emergency driving stop system.

IIHS rates the ES Good for pedestrian front crash prevention, and the underlying test data is strong rather than merely passing: it avoided the crossing-child daytime target at both 12 and 25 mph and the crossing-adult nighttime target at 12 and 25 mph on both high and low beams, with only the 37 mph parallel-adult night run producing an impact. Night pedestrian detection is exactly where most systems in this price bracket give ground, and this one does not.

Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert is standard on every grade, which is better than most of the German competition at this price, but the coverage is alert-only on the volume car: cross-traffic braking arrives with the optional Intuitive Parking Assist and the Panoramic View Monitor is a select-trim item. Standard-but-passive puts it at the top of the middle band rather than into the active-intervention band.

Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist plus Lane Tracing Assist is standard and reviewers describe it as unobtrusive — it holds the centre with little swaying on gentle curves when paired with radar cruise, and it does not nag the way several rivals' systems do. It stays in the middle band because it is the familiar Toyota/Lexus centering algorithm, dependent on clear markings and on DRCC being engaged, and it is not in the same class as the best German or Genesis implementations.

Full-Speed Range Dynamic Radar Cruise Control is standard on every grade and works from a stop back up to highway speed with curve-speed management, and the Lexus calibration is smooth in its gap-closing — well matched to a car tuned for isolation rather than urgency. It sits at the bottom of the top band because the combined highway assist is hands-on only and stops well short of a true highway pilot.

There is no hands-free option on the 2025 ES at any price. Lexus Teammate Advanced Drive, the brand's hands-free highway system, remained confined to the LS 500h in the US for 2025 and was never offered on the ES — not even the low-speed traffic-jam hands-off function several mainstream rivals had begun shipping by this model year.

IIHS rates every 2025 ES headlight configuration Good — both the base LED projector setup and the Triple Beam LED package — so the volume trim gets the same rating as the loaded one, which is the specific thing this item rewards. Automatic high beams are standard with Lexus Safety System+ 2.5. The only blemish is glare slightly above the limit on one curve with the Triple Beam package.

The ES keeps a conventional three-box shape and a low cowl, so the forward view is good, but the high rear deck and the fastback-ish tail cut the over-the-shoulder and straight-back sightlines, and the standard rear camera is the only compensation on the volume car — the Panoramic View Monitor is a select-trim option. Standard blind-spot monitoring covers the worst of the rear-quarter blind zone, which keeps this an average-visibility result rather than a poor one.

IIHS rates the ES Good for LATCH ease of use — the top of its four-step scale — so the outboard anchors are easy to find and reach rather than buried in the seat bight. The score sits just inside the top band rather than at its ceiling because the centre position is tether-only and the ES is a mid-size sedan: three across is a squeeze and a rear-facing seat still costs the front passenger some travel.

Every 2025 ES 300h grade seats five on a two-row layout with a three-across rear bench — the maximum a sedan offers and the top of the sedan normalization band.

37.5 inches of front headroom is mid-pack for a mid-size sedan — the ES's low, tapering roofline is a styling choice that costs it against the boxier luxury sedans, and a moonroof-equipped car loses a further tenth.

42.4 inches of front legroom sits comfortably above the sedan mid-point and reflects the ES's 113.0-inch wheelbase; tall drivers are well accommodated even with the seat at its rearmost travel.

37.8 inches of second-row headroom is genuinely good for a sedan with this roofline — the ES sets its rear bench low to compensate — though ordering the moonroof that most buyers choose gives back about four tenths.

39.2 inches puts the ES near the top of the mid-size luxury class for rear legroom — this generation was explicitly stretched for rear-seat space, and the hybrid loses nothing to the gas cars because the lithium-ion pack sits under the seat rather than behind it.

The hybrid gives up roughly three cubic feet to the gas ES — 13.9 against 16.7 — which is a real shortfall in a segment where 15–17 cu ft is normal, and it is the clearest packaging cost of choosing the 300h.

Cabin storage is competent but conservative: a usable covered console bin, a shelf ahead of the shifter that takes the available wireless charger, and decent door pockets, with nothing clever beyond that. The bigger limitation is behind the cabin — the rear seatback does not fold, so the only way to extend the trunk is a narrow ski pass-through behind the centre armrest.

The ES's front seats are the reason people buy this car — broad, deeply cushioned and mildly bolstered, with 10-way power adjustment standard, and reviewers consistently rate them as long-haul furniture rather than sport seats. Rear passengers get the same soft treatment and near-best-in-class legroom; the score stops short of the top only because the base seats are synthetic leather without heating or ventilation.

Ride isolation is the ES's defining strength: the suspension absorbs broken pavement without the secondary float that used to define soft Lexus sedans, and body movements stay checked. It trails only the air-sprung German flagships, which is the only reason it is not in the 90s.

Acoustic glass, thorough sound deadening and a hybrid driveline that shuts the engine off entirely at low speed make the ES one of the quietest cars in its class — reviewers describe the cabin as exceptionally hushed at highway speed. The only intrusion is the Atkinson four under hard throttle, which is a powertrain-noise issue rather than an isolation one.

Dual-zone automatic climate control with rear vents is standard and the Lexus app handles remote climate pre-conditioning, but the comfort features buyers most want in this class — heated and ventilated front seats and a heated steering wheel — are options on the volume ES 300h and standard only from the Luxury grade up. That is behind German rivals that fit heated seats across the range.

Entry point for the scored hybrid configuration — the 2025 ES 300h opens at $44,590 with Lexus's $1,150 delivery/processing/handling fee included, essentially level with the gas ES 250 AWD and ES 350. 2025 is the final year of the seventh generation (XZ10) and carries over with no price-relevant content changes.

The 2025 brochure leaves heated and ventilated front seats, the wireless charger, memory seats and power-folding mirrors inside the Premium Package, so the realistic volume build is a base ES 300h with that package rather than the stripped car — landing just under the $49,760 Luxury grade. Estimated from the published grade walk rather than a transaction-price feed.

The ES 300h's mature 2.5-liter Toyota hybrid driveline, regenerative braking that stretches brake life, and Lexus's low repair frequency make this the car's biggest ownership advantage — but Lexus dealer labor rates and luxury-grade parts keep it above the mechanically related Toyotas. Priced a little under the all-new 2026 ES to reflect a fully debugged, seventh-year generation.

Observed used-market data puts the ES 300h among the strongest residual performers in the luxury midsize class, well clear of the German sedans; the figure is trimmed a couple of points below that observed rate because 2025 is the run-out year of the seventh generation and the all-new 2026 ES makes it the visibly older car on a used lot.

Lexus's long-standing brand-wide basic coverage, unchanged for 2025. Matches the German luxury standard and beats parent-brand Toyota's 3 yr / 36,000 mi, but no luxury brand distinguishes itself here.

Scored on the standard powertrain term for consistency with the rest of the dataset, where hybrid-specific coverage is not substituted. The 8-year hybrid-system and 10-year/150,000-mile battery coverage is real added protection against the expensive failure mode a hybrid buyer actually worries about, and is noted in displayValue — it simply isn't what this item measures.

Mixed package. Complimentary scheduled maintenance covers only the first two visits — 6 months/5,000 miles and 12 months/10,000 miles — which is shorter than parent-brand ToyotaCare's 2 yr / 25,000 mi, and far short of Genesis's three years with valet pickup. Against that, roadside assistance runs 4 years with unlimited mileage, Safety Connect and Service Connect carry up-to-10-year trials, and the dealer experience (loaners, concierge) is a genuine Lexus perk. Solidly mid-band.

$48,000 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (57% retained, or about $27,360) leaves about $20,640 in depreciation. Add the projected $4,900 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $25,540 in total.

2025 is the seventh and final year of the XZ10 generation, so the car is graded on a long settled design rather than a forecast: Consumer Reports predicts the 2025 ES Hybrid will be more reliable than the average new car, drawing on 2023-2025 field data, and its owner-reported trouble-spot list runs to a single alignment complaint. RepairPal ranks the ES300h 3rd of 31 luxury midsize cars at 4.5/5.0 with low repair severity. Held just below the top of the band only because Consumer Reports' numeric predicted-reliability score is paywalled and could not be read directly.

Lexus is the most consistently top-ranked brand in US dependability research — first overall in the J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study for four consecutive years and in 13 of the last 15, well clear of every German rival in this segment. A couple of points are withheld because the brand is no longer sweeping every study: Consumer Reports now places it third behind Toyota and Subaru, and it sits third among premium brands in initial quality.

The NHTSA record for the 2025 ES is a single campaign, and it is a trivial one — a Panoramic View Monitor software error that could freeze or blank the rearview image in reverse, an FMVSS 111 compliance issue remedied by a free software update with no hardware replacement, and one swept up in a broad multi-brand Toyota/Lexus/Subaru action rather than specific to this model. There is no powertrain, fire, structural or airbag action against this model year, and TSB volume for the settled seventh generation is low by class standards.

The ES 300h runs the 2.5-liter Atkinson-cycle four with Toyota's hybrid transaxle for 215 hp combined — the most field-proven electrified powertrain family in the world, shared with the high-volume Camry and RAV4 hybrids and carrying a long taxi and fleet high-mileage record with no chronic failure mode. The planetary eCVT has no clutch packs or torque converter to wear, a structural durability advantage over the 8- and 9-speed automatics in the German rivals, and by 2025 this hardware is a decade into US service.

Reviewers consistently praise the ES cabin for supple NuLuxe upholstery, soft-touch upper surfaces, nicely damped controls and detailed stitching, and rate the material quality as appropriate to the asking price. It remains a rung below the segment's material benchmarks, though — the E-Class (93) and A6 (89) push harder on visual richness and metal content, and the ES's Camry-derived GA-K architecture still shows in harder plastics in lower-touch zones.

Assembly consistency is the ES's strongest quality attribute, and 2025 is the seventh and final year of the generation on an unchanged Japanese-built body, so production variation is long since wrung out — reviewers cite tight panel gaps, damped button action and near-absent squeak-and-rattle complaints. It also clears the one deduction the 2023 car carried: the Lexus Interface multimedia system that drew first-season software complaints is now three model years settled and is standard across the range.

Lexus runs roughly 245 US dealerships — thinner on the ground than BMW or Mercedes-Benz and far thinner than parent Toyota — but service satisfaction is near the top of the luxury field, finishing second among premium brands in the 2025 Customer Service Index and third in 2026. That outweighs the modest density and places it above BMW and Mercedes-Benz (both 80) and well above Audi (72); a point comes off the ES's earlier marks because Lexus has slipped from outright CSI winner to runner-up behind Porsche and Infiniti.

The ES shares its GA-K platform, 2.5-liter engine and hybrid hardware with high-volume Toyota models, so mechanical parts are abundant, cheap by luxury standards and supported by a genuine independent-shop ecosystem — a structural advantage over the dealer-dependent Germans (E-Class 48, A6 52, 5 Series 64). It sits below a Camry because luxury-specific trim, glass, lighting and body panels still carry premium pricing.

The volume ES 300h ships with an 8.0-inch centre display, which is small by 2025 standards in any segment and conspicuously so in a luxury one. The 12.3-inch panel exists but costs money on the trims most buyers configure.

Lexus Interface is a genuine generational improvement on the Remote Touch trackpad it replaced — direct touch input, quick response, a sensible home layout and, importantly, retained physical climate knobs and a volume dial. It lands in the upper half rather than the top band because the standard 8-inch canvas is cramped and because menu depth for vehicle settings still trails BMW iDrive and Mercedes MBUX.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto are standard on every 2025 ES grade, including the base ES 300h with the 8-inch screen — no trim walk, no subscription, and the wireless charger pairs naturally with it where fitted.

The 'Hey Lexus' assistant handles natural-language requests for climate, media and destinations rather than fixed command strings, and Lexus Interface's cloud navigation pulls live traffic and updates maps over the air — a native nav stack good enough that owners do not automatically default to phone projection. It is not quite Google-built-in class, which caps it below 80.

A 10-speaker system is standard — generous for a base luxury sedan — and the optional 17-speaker Mark Levinson surround setup is one of the better factory systems at this price, helped considerably by how quiet the ES's cabin already is.

The ES does not offer a full-width configurable digital cluster in 2025. The volume car uses a conventional analogue-style gauge binnacle with a 7-inch colour multi-information display inset, which shows trip, hybrid-system and driver-assist data but cannot be reconfigured into map or full-digital layouts the way rivals' clusters can; only the F Sport's moving-ring meter differs meaningfully.

Lexus Interface brings real over-the-air capability to the ES — multimedia software and cloud navigation maps update without a dealer visit — but the scope stops well short of the whole-vehicle, feature-adding updates the top band describes; drivetrain, chassis and ADAS software still change at the dealer.

The Lexus app covers the expected ground — remote start and climate pre-conditioning, lock/unlock, vehicle locate, guest-driver alerts — and Digital Key lets a phone act as the key. It sits mid-band rather than higher because Remote Connect is a trial-then-subscription service, so the remote functions a buyer expects to own quietly become a recurring bill.

USB-C data and charge ports are fitted front and rear and deliver the usual 5V/3A, which covers a family's devices without adapters, but wireless phone charging arrives with the Premium Package rather than as standard equipment and there is no household AC outlet anywhere in the car.

Smart Key proximity entry with push-button start is standard on every grade, remote start comes through the app, and Digital Key phone-as-key is available — the full keyless set. It falls just short of the very top because the trunk's hands-free opening and the power trunk lid are not standard on the volume car.

The volume ES 300h gets a backup camera and little else as standard — the Panoramic View Monitor and the parking sensors with Intelligent Clearance Sonar and rear cross-traffic braking are packaged onto higher grades. The hardware is good when fitted, but on the car most people buy this is a rear-camera-plus-blind-spot proposition, and the 8-inch screen limits how much that camera shows.

A large 10.2-inch colour head-up display exists for the ES and projects speed, gear and driver-assist information clearly, but it is confined to option packages on upper grades — a volume ES 300h buyer cannot simply tick it, which is exactly the 50–79 'top trims only' case.

The fundamentals are sound — IIHS rates the ES's LATCH hardware Good, the rear doors open wide onto a 39.2-inch-legroom bench, and the low sill makes buckling a toddler easy on the back. What holds it mid-band is the cargo end of family life: 13.9 cubic feet and a rear seatback that does not fold means a full-size stroller plus a weekly shop is a genuine puzzle.

Lexus Safety System+ 2.5 is standard on the cheapest ES 300h — pre-collision with pedestrian and cyclist detection, full-speed radar cruise, lane tracing, blind-spot monitoring — and NHTSA gives the car five stars overall, so nothing important is paywalled. The score is pulled down by crashworthiness rather than equipment: the 2025 ES earns no IIHS award, with Marginal in the updated moderate overlap front test, which is the test that speaks directly to rear-seat occupants.

For four people the ES is a very good long-haul room: a hushed cabin, plush seats, near-class-best rear legroom, rear vents and rear USB-C. The limits are gear rather than people — a 13.9 cu ft trunk with no fold-down seatback caps a family of four at soft bags, and rear amenities stop at vents and ports with no screens or rear climate zone of their own.

This is what the ES 300h is for. It creeps away from lights on motor torque with the engine off, the eCVT never hunts, the steering is light, the ride flattens city pavement and full-speed-range radar cruise is standard for stop-and-go traffic. Low-effort commuting is the single thing this car does better than almost anything at the price.

44 MPG combined on 87-octane regular gives the ES 300h a per-mile running cost no luxury sedan without a plug can match, and EPA puts annual fuel spend at $1,400. Toyota hybrid consumables are cheap too — regenerative braking spares the friction brakes and there is no charging arrangement to make.

At 195.9 inches long with a 38-foot turning circle the ES is a big car to thread through a parking structure, and the volume grade backs that up with only a rear camera on an 8-inch screen — the Panoramic View Monitor and clearance sonar are options. The high rear deck also cuts the straight-back sightline.

The ES 300h carries no tow rating in the US, has no bed or load floor, offers 13.9 cubic feet of sealed trunk and cannot even extend that because the rear seatback is fixed. As a work tool it is effectively a non-starter — it hauls a laptop bag and samples, nothing more.

The mechanical case is genuinely strong — the Toyota Hybrid System in this car is the most fleet-proven electrified driveline in existence and routinely runs past 200,000 miles in taxi service. Everything around it argues the other way: synthetic-leather and open-pore trim, low ground clearance and no wear-friendly interior option, so it survives high mileage but not abuse.

There is no onboard AC power, no bed, no tie-down system beyond trunk hooks, no factory roof rails and no upfit ecosystem of any kind. Nothing about the ES was designed with a jobsite in view.

A 581-mile EPA range, an exceptionally quiet cabin, seats reviewers call mile-eaters, and standard full-speed radar cruise with lane tracing add up to one of the better interstate cars at any price near this. It misses the very top only for the lack of hands-free assist and the modest luggage space for four people's worth of bags.

The hybrid ES is front-wheel drive only — all-wheel drive in the 2025 lineup is tied exclusively to the gas ES 250 — and it sits on sedan ground clearance with no tow rating, no roof rails and no AC power for camping. Gravel forest roads are the practical limit.

This is the ES's weakest practical dimension. 13.9 cubic feet is small for the class to begin with, and because the rear seatback is fixed there is no way to extend it — a narrow ski pass-through behind the armrest is the entire flexibility story. No roof rails, no hitch, no underfloor bins.

The GA-K platform gave this generation real body control — lean is restrained and the car stays composed through quick direction changes, which is a clear step on from the old soft ES. It is still tuned for isolation over involvement, on comfort-biased tyres and front-drive, so it is secure and unremarkable rather than engaging.

The electric rack is accurate and consistent off-centre and never feels nervous, but it is deliberately light and filters out surface texture almost entirely — the ES tells you where the front wheels are pointed and nothing about what they are doing.

Lexus's regen-to-friction blending in the ES 300h is among the better calibrations in the hybrid world — the handover is undetectable in normal driving and the pedal stays consistent rather than grabbing at low speed. Outright stopping power is merely adequate for the class on comfort tyres, and there is no firm, deep pedal to lean on when hurried.

Gas-to-electric handoffs are genuinely imperceptible and the car pulls away on motor torque with no tip-in lag or stop/start shudder — there is no engine restart event to feel because the engine never cold-cranks the way a belt-alternator system does. It is held out of the 90s only by the eCVT's habit of flaring revs under full throttle rather than by any roughness.

At cruise the ES 300h is close to silent — the engine is often off, and when it runs, Lexus's insulation buries it. The penalty comes at full throttle, where the Atkinson four is held at high revs by the planetary eCVT and drones audibly; it is inoffensive rather than pleasant, and it is the one noise the otherwise hushed cabin cannot hide.

A 38-foot curb-to-curb circle is unremarkable for a mid-size sedan and a direct consequence of the ES's 113-inch wheelbase and 195.9-inch length — U-turns and multi-storey ramps take more room than a Camry's.

10-way power front seats, a tilt/telescoping wheel (power-adjustable on upper grades), a low cowl and a clear forward view make this an easy car to get comfortable in at any size, and Lexus kept physical climate knobs and a volume dial rather than burying them in the screen. Points come off for the high rear deck's effect on over-the-shoulder visibility and for the low-slung seating that makes ingress less effortless than the crossovers buyers cross-shop.

Nobody takes the long way home in an ES 300h. 215 combined horsepower through the front wheels, an eCVT, numb steering and a soundtrack of muted four-cylinder drone make it an exceptionally accomplished appliance — the F Sport grades add firmer damping and a meter display but no extra engagement, and the enthusiast versions of this platform are not the hybrid.

A base 2025 ES 300h already includes a power moonroof, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 10-speaker premium audio system, 10-way power front seats, dual-zone climate, Bi-LED headlamps, 10 airbags, Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert and the full Lexus Safety System+ 2.5 suite — content a BMW 530i or Mercedes E350 still bills for. Two real gaps keep it out of the top band: heated and ventilated front seats plus wireless charging sit inside the Premium Package, and the base infotainment screen is an 8.0-inch unit with the 12.3-inch display reserved for the Technology Package, Luxury option list and Ultra Luxury.

The content-per-dollar standout of the mid-size luxury sedan class: $44,590 buys a hybrid rated 44 MPG combined, a quiet well-finished cabin, the full active-safety suite and Lexus reliability, where a BMW 530i, Mercedes E350 or Audi A6 starts roughly $14,000–$19,000 higher and a Genesis G80 about $13,000 higher. Buyers give up rear-drive dynamics, outright pace and badge cachet, but no direct rival matches what the ES delivers per dollar, and U.S. News rates it a very good value for the class.

One of the widest lineups in the class — three distinct powertrains (2.5L four with standard AWD as the ES 250, 302-hp 3.5L V6 as the ES 350, and the 215-hp hybrid ES 300h) across a base / Premium Package / Luxury / Ultra Luxury ladder plus F Sport Design and F Sport Handling variants, roughly 14 configurations in all. The one real gap for the scored configuration is drivetrain: the ES 300h is front-drive only, so a buyer who wants both the hybrid and all-wheel drive cannot have them.

The ES was the best-selling luxury sedan in the United States over the 2025 model year, outselling even the BMW 3 Series by roughly 21%, and remains the volume anchor of the Lexus car line. It is scored just short of the top band because the trend is downward — about 7.5% year over year — in a segment steadily losing buyers to SUVs, and because the seventh generation was visibly winding down by the end of the run.

Lexus carries exceptional brand equity on dependability, dealer experience and owner satisfaction, with unusually strong repeat-buyer loyalty that directly supports the ES's resale performance. It sits a notch below Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche on pure aspirational cachet and enthusiast credibility — the gap the more dramatic eighth-generation redesign was explicitly aimed at closing.

A good year to buy one. Lexus Financial Services supported the 2025 ES with subvented rates and lease programs — 2.99% APR up to 48 months, 3.99% over 60, a financing bonus of up to $1,500 and a $1,000 loyalty reward — and the run-out of the seventh generation ahead of the all-new 2026 car added real dealer discounting on remaining stock. Short of the top band because Lexus remains a firm-pricing brand with thinner cash-on-the-hood than the German rivals it competes against.

The ES's weakest dimension by far in 2025. This is the seventh and final model year of the XZ10 generation launched for 2019, three years past its 2022 facelift, and it carries over into 2025 with no substantive changes — while the mechanically related Camry was fully redesigned for the same year. Worse for a buyer, Lexus revealed the all-new eighth-generation ES at Auto Shanghai in April 2025, so the replacement was public before the 2025 car finished its run.

Reviewers rate the 2025 ES very highly as a thing to own — KBB gives it 4.7/5 and ranks it among the best luxury midsize cars, U.S. News praises its value, and Edmunds's instrumented verdict was literally "slow, old and brilliant." It rarely wins a dynamics-weighted comparison test against the 5 Series or G80, though, and its 2025 awards record is thin: NHTSA gave it five stars overall but IIHS ratings were mixed and it did not earn a Top Safety Pick, unlike the Lexus NX and RX.