Also great
Costs & verdict
Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is
Running costs are arguably the Lexus ES’s strongest suit, especially if you pay company car tax. The WLTP CO2 emissions figure is just 119g/km for the base model, rising to 127g/km for the F Sport (the bigger wheels take their toll on efficiency).
The icing on the cake is that – being petrol powered – the ES doesn’t fall foul of the 4% benefit-in-kind (BIK) surcharge that clobbers many diesel drivers. An awful lot of plug-in hybrids, such as the 530e BMW 5 Series and E300e Mercedes E-Class dip below the 50g/km mark, driving down BIK tax costs further, but are more expensive to buy outright.