As with much of the Lexus range, the ES puts comfort ahead of other considerations, and it鈥檚 this aspect that dominates the driving experience. All cabin occupants will enjoy the smooth ride that deals well with a variety of surfaces and remains composed on motorways or in town. This is helped by the excellent refinement of the powertrain, with the petrol engine and electric motor combining well to provide quiet, fuss-free motoring. This is particularly apparent when driving in traffic, where the car鈥檚 ability to operate on electric power only emphasises the sense of quiet within the cabin. On more challenging roads, the ES retains its composure, and when driven at speed the steering responds well, with good feedback and accurate responses to the driver鈥檚 inputs. The Lexus ES also features a new type of suspension damper called a Swing Valve Shock Absorber, the idea being that a valve inside the system helps it to respond better to bumps in the road and cornering loads.
The result is that the ES corners relatively flat for a car of this size and is largely untroubled by road imperfections. What the Lexus ES lacks is the sharpness offered by rivals such as the BMW 5 Series and is more biased towards comfort than the Mercedes E-Class, which manages to be relaxing and enjoyable to drive too. Go for an F Sport model, and the standard adaptive suspension is firmer than the standard model. Combine this with the larger wheels that are also fitted, and the ES鈥檚 focus on comfort is lost somewhat. The powertrain of the ES is also not best suited to enthusiastic driving. When driven in normal conditions it operates very well, with the engine and electric motor combining with the CVT automatic transmission to keep the engine dormant or at low revs as much as possible. Demand brisk acceleration however and the ES struggles somewhat, with the engine revving hard but delivering less performance than diesel rivals. The ES is available with a single powertrain option, a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine matched with an electric motor and battery pack, to give a total output of 215bhp. There鈥檚 a single gearbox option, too, a CVT automatic transmission. When driven at normal speeds the powertrain delivers smooth and quiet operation, with the gearbox operating with impressive efficiency. However, when strong acceleration is demanded, the four-cylinder unit shows some harshness as it sits at high revs, with only modest acceleration delivered. The CVT is an improvement on past Lexus models, though, so will be pleasing to use for existing Lexus owners.
The message was received in the boardrooms of Stuttgart. One year after the R made its debut, Porsche reintroduced the manual for the GT3, and just a few months after that, brought out a Touring Package for that car, which was basically a 911 R by another name. Achleitner told me in 2017 that the Touring Package was Porsche鈥檚 response to R prices skyrocketing. If you were hoping the Carrera T would be a 911 R on a budget, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it isn't. It does carry some of the R's spirit, however. To save a little bit of weight, Porsche stripped out some of the 911's sound deadening. You'd need a stopwatch to determine any performance difference this measure makes, but you can hear it easily. Even though the engine is muted by its turbochargers, there's a lot of flat-six noise to fill the interior. Listen closely, and you can even hear air rushing when the throttle open up.
Getting rid of the insulation means there's more of the bad sounds, too. Enjoyment of real intake sound comes at the expense of more noise intrusion from the T's big Pirellis. In a world of increasingly isolated performance cars, where sound has to be played through speakers to fill the void, this is a refreshing change of pace. As is the seven-speed manual gearbox. It benefits from a slightly shorter overall ratio and a shortened gear lever, and I think it's a must-have. As much as Porsche's dual-clutch, PDK, impresses, it can't replace the involvement offered by a manual transmission. It's a big part of the 911 R's secret to success, and it makes the Carrera T feel like a real sports car. It handles like a real sports car, too. This Carrera T benefitted from optional rear-wheel steering which makes the car feel a little smaller than it is in reality. At lower speeds, the rear wheels turn in the same direction as the fronts, which virtually shortens the wheelbase, while at higher speeds, all four turn in the same direction, virtually lengthening it.
It's hard to feel the rear-wheel steering actively doing its job and that's what Porsche wanted. Porsche came under a lot of fire for adopting electric power steering for the 991, and early iterations of the system were especially not well received. The engineers figured out how to make it work, and while the steering in the Carrera T isn't quite as sweet as it is in a GT3 RS, it's still nice. Of course, it doesn't wriggle around like it does in old 911s, but it gives the driver what they need. Porsche's logic behind adopting twin-turbo engines for the Carrera range will be (rightfully) debated for some time, but there's no arguing with the quality of this 3.0-liter flat-six. It's as good as turbo motors get, with no perceptible lag and totally linear power delivery. It revs like a naturally aspirated engine, but it offers tons of low- and mid-range torque, too.
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