Lexus has done something unusual with the new ES: instead of refreshing the existing car, it collapsed two model lines into one. The 2027 ES stretches to 5.14 meters, making it 16.5 centimeters longer than the previous ES and shorter than the outgoing LS, which puts it between a BMW 5 Series and a 7 Series in terms of footprint. It comes in both pure electric and hybrid forms, starts around $50,000 in North America and from roughly 60,000 euros in Europe, and delivers what is genuinely one of the better luxury sedan interiors available at the price. The seats, described here as extraordinary, use a perforated synthetic material that manages to feel premium without involving animal products, and the noise insulation, especially in the electric version with laminated glass front and rear, creates a cabin that is unusually quiet at highway speeds.
The battery is the sticking point on the electric version, and it is worth being direct about it. The front-wheel-drive ES 350e uses a 72 kWh pack; the all-wheel-drive 500e uses 71 kWh. For a car this size in 2026, those figures are behind the curve. The Mercedes CLA, a smaller car, ships with an 85 kWh battery. The BMW i3, which sits one or two segments below, approaches 90 kWh on some trims. DC charging peaks at around 150 kW, and a 10-to-80% charge takes 28 minutes. That is not slow by old standards, but it is not competitive in a market where 200-plus kW charging is increasingly common. Under mild conditions at highway cruise speed, real-world testing returned roughly 300 miles of usable range, which Lexus says is intentional for their target of fleet and urban operators who prioritize battery longevity over long-haul capability. It is a defensible position, but buyers expecting an ES to serve as a primary vehicle for varied driving will find the hybrid more convincing.
The hybrid powertrain, a 2.5-liter four-cylinder paired with electric motors in the Toyota tradition, returned around 46 to 47 MPG in real-world testing and offers a claimed 600-mile range on a full tank. Both versions use a 19-inch or 21-inch wheel option; the 19-inch setup delivers noticeably better ride quality and is worth the slightly softer visual impression. The all-wheel-drive electric version does the 0-to-100 km/h run in 5.5 seconds; hybrid variants are in the 7.5 to 8-second range. An executive rear package with ottoman seating is available on the top electric trim, bringing heated and cooled rear seats, a massage function, and a powered front passenger recline. Trunk space is 520 liters for the EV and 490 for the hybrid. The Mark Levinson 17-speaker audio upgrade is worth the money; the base 10-speaker system is ordinary.
Bottom line: Buy the hybrid. The interior quality, ride comfort, and cabin refinement are genuinely impressive for the price, and the powertrain that delivers all of that most completely is the one Toyota has been perfecting for two decades. The electric version is not bad, but in a world where competitors are fitting 85-plus kWh batteries into smaller cars, shipping a 5.14-meter flagship with 71 kWh and 150 kW charging is a choice that will age poorly. Mid-trim hybrid, 19-inch wheels, splurge on the Levinson audio.