They say timing is everything in well, everything. In terms of cars, many machines that deserve fully to flourish on Singaporean soil have faltered in the monolithic face of towering Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices.

Granted many of these deserving machines aren’t even here for you to see their deservation (is that even a word?), such as the Kia Picanto or the Volkswagen Up!. And the word from their distributors is that they’re monitoring the situation until it becomes viable to sell them.

The Lexus ES suffers little from the presence of such negative external factors. It’s no stretch of the truth to say that the ES is one of those cars, like the Toyota Corolla or Camry incidentally, that are surefire sellers in Singapore because of powerful brand associations, comfort and ease of use.

That the ES is closely-related to the Camry is also no coincidence – the fourth-gen was very popular as the logical choice for those upgrading from Toyota’s mainstream brand to Lexus. It also shares platform and engines with the US-only Avalon, which is a ‘mid-sized sedan’ back in the Land Of The Frito-Lay.

Just as the ES 250 has the same 2.5-litre inline four-cylinder as the Camry 2.5, so to does the ES 300h share the majority of its drivetrain components with the Camry Hybrid: an Atkinson-cycle 2.5-litre engine, 141bhp electric motor, CVT gearbox and 1.6kWh nickel metal-hydride battery that resides under the boot.

One of the accusations against the ES is that it’s a tarted-up Camry, something which its chief designer refuted, saying that there are many parts, besides the design, that the car has for itself.

We say that having a Camry Hybrid drivetrain is certainly no step down for a Leuxs, since we found the former machine to be the most comfy and Lexus-like of the entire Toyota line-up.

You won’t be setting fast times at Pasir Gudang with this baby, but to do that would be to miss the entire point of the ES (not to mention be pretty hilarious and a good idea for a story). Right from the start it remains totally silent, since it can run on the electric motor at speeds of up to 45km/h.

You can select various drive modes with the mode dial, but aside from Eco and Normal it’s not really useful since the inherent character of the ES doesn’t really push you to go quickly, but rather to sit back and enjoy the ride.

When more power is required, the 2.5-litre engine kicks in with a near-imperceptible tingle and you can feel the car slowly surge forward. If you’re in a rush, the drivetrain still delivers the goods in a decent, linear pulse, although you can hear the engine start to protest.

In handling terms, the car is well-judged and accurate if you take a lot of steering input and slight understeer into account, so it’s by no means an ill-handling machine, just perhaps a little less nose-eager than its petrol brother without extra mass in the boot. What makes it all worthwhile is the impeccable ride quality, which along with the refinement of the car, insulates you from the rigours of driving and leaves you surprisingly at ease.

The upscale interior of the ES helps with this too, thanks to air conditioned seats, super-comfy thrones and a simple design aesthetic that puts a premium on execution than complication.

And if the physical aspects of the machine make your body feel relaxed then the green ones will set your wallet and conscience at ease as well. During our test drive, it was easy to achieve superb fuel economy figures – ours was nearly 6.2L/100km, and the we didn’t even have to engage our own personal eco-mode to do it. Given the 65-litre fuel tank, that’s 1,020km on a single tank of petrol.

The ES 250’s $10,000 cheaper, and does almost everything the hybrid does. But we think, in the long run, the ES 300h has an edge over its conventional brother. The hybrid has a rare combination of refinement and green-ness in an easy-to-use package that some might find a breath of fresh air from the technik-laden German milieu.

Lexus ES 300h

NEED TO KNOW
Engine 2,494cc, 16V, inline four cylinder
Power 156bhp at 5700rpm
Torque 211Nm at 4500rpm
Electric Motor 141bhp, 270Nm
Battery 1.6 kWh, NiMh
System Total 204bhp
Gearbox CVT
Top Speed 180km/h
0-100km/h 8.5 seconds
Fuel efficiency 5.4L/100km
CO2 127g/km
Price $257,000 with COE

Also Consider: Audi A6 Hybrid, BMW ActiveHybrid 5, Infiniti M37h

Photos by Derryn Wong