The Refreshed 2026 Lexus ES is completely UNEXPECTED

#Lexus #ES350 #sedan #luxury

Lexus has just given its best-selling sedan the #lexuses another refresh...but we were expecting a redesign. Here's what's going on.

sources:
00:00 - 2026 Lexus ES refresh
10:00 - RZ got cheaper
11:32 - Toyota's Makeover

[JamaicanMeCrazy]

Kirk I'm gonna be completely honest. This is EXACTLY what i was expecting. This is a similar slight refresh that they call a redesign that we got for the Camry. I'm assuming they'll update the interior and add the 5th gen hybrid to it and call it a day for the American market And if I'm being honest its still gonna sell well.

[stephendibari]

Sleek, nice review. I'm still loving my 2002 ES300, 4th gen ES. Amazing build quality. I'm the 2nd owner with 186k miles. I change my own oil. The 1MZ-FE engine doesn't burn any oil between my 5k Pennzoil Platinum high mileage synthetic oil changes. Not a creak or rattle, every switch/button still works like new. It wIll out live me at 60 yrs young !!

[jeffa]

Do the rear seats fold down on the 2026? Thank you!

[Tritonal]

I still think that ES design is only for the Chinese market. A few years ago they released that picture with all the BEVs and in the back, they had all the current Lexus lineup, but with updates and I think that's how the ES will look like for the other markets

[mikaelbowzyk]

Exterior for that refreshed ES looks cool, but interior was best in pre-facelift (2020), it was only missing wireless apple carplay

[SuperSaqer]

No this isn't the 2026 ES. This is the 2025 ES for ChDM.

[NotNowCato]

Hey Kirk, just wanted to say that I appreciate the quality and quantity of your output. The effort you put in to deciphering the 'market speak' and giving the quoted numbers context, drawing on your trade experience, is obvious. As a Lexus owner and fan I especially appreciate your marque expertise. Thanks man 👌

[avdp]

Very nice refresh. That's what I like about lexus, every year mild updates. This ES is the best build E segment luxury sedan money can buy. Far better build than Mercedes E class and new Bmw 5 series.

[ericB]

I’m happy they added an indoor pool and the ability to drive itself in full autonomous mode. I’d like them to add a spa in 2027.

[connordurham]

I think there should be more than just three trim levels. I think there should be at least maybe four or five I feel like if Toyota applied their trim grades from the Camry to the other models, especially their SUV lineups. I think it would be beneficial because you can’t get all the features on a XSE RAV4 from the limited trim but when you look at the Camry, the XSE trim level gets all the features pretty much from the XLE some people want all the bells and whistles in a sporty package that’s why I think the Camry trim level lineup is genius I hope Toyota doesn’t get rid of some of their special models like nightshade I think instead of an actual trim level it should just be an appearance package, but I feel like the nightshade models kind of make them more mid grade/more basic models feel more unique and special

[thmdu]

The Toyota / Lexus hybrid drive train is pretty close to the pinnacle of engineering when it comes to internal combustion engines and how much efficiency you can get out of them while maintaining comfort and enough power AND reliability. Why would they change that? EV power trains are great, but the infrastructure and global market is far from ready for full electrification—I think Toyota knows that.

[kimd]

I miss the old mechanical processes of a car like a shift lever you can grab onto with your whole hand and hand brakes. Buttons on a dashboard or keys you need to turn to start the car.

[GavinKohAquascaping]

Inside Toyota's (well established) interior design department's meeting: "Yes! red, black AND BROWN goes amazing together! We win!".

[robsandler]

Owned ESs since 2002. My wife keeps her car cars for at least 10 years and averages around 160, 000 miles. So we’re are probably not the typical ES owners. We had a couple of large repairs this year so we decided to consider a new one and were extremely disappointed by the exterior and interior design and we read that there was a major redesign happening in 2026. So we decided to get the repairs done and wait to see the 2026 update. If this is it, we will be looking at Acura, Genesis, Mercedes and BMW.

[Wiseman]

Oh wow, new headlights design. Wow, amazing definitely worth the wait

[miraphycs]

Regarding Lexus RZ even the current RZ300e has CATL battery. The price reduction is not because of using chinese parts but rather they just now reflecting costs coming down internally. That's the whole beauty of the Toyota plan, after all. At no point do they ever need to dip into negative margin territory for markets like the US, since hybrids keep them well within compliance for EPA CAFE.

[judyArsh]

They need to simplify models. Some models have more than 1 “Fsport” trim that are performance in badge only.

[anthonyaubrey]

Why is it taking so long for the 4Runner to come out?

[db]

Dig the way Lexus vehicles talk to each other.

[xp]

It's a new trim level for the RZ Kirk lol. It even says that in the article. It has two trims currently and will get a third for 2025. Looks like it'll now be standard, premium, luxury on the 300e and 450e.