5ft 9”

There is a certain calmness that comes with knowing you are above average. Ask any guy out there, the thought of a man falling below average especially in certain “regions” can be a deadly blow to his ego.

My reason for this thought, the Kwazimodo. That’s the name giving to the Lexus ES300 which I recently helped a goon of mine acquire. This will be my third stint with any Lexus. Some say I have a huge bias for Toyota’s luxury line up, in a way I do believe this to be true.

What is clear to me is my grave animosity for bland vehicles. A large percentage if not all Toyota's are built this way. Reliability, economy and least performance are the criteria with Toyota’s are set up on.

2014 Toyota Corolla interior

Lexus on the other hand are set up to be Luxurious and performance driven. In my opinion, Lexus is what every Toyota should have been. Let me highlight a clear example.

interior of 2004 Toyota Camry XLE V6 test car

Interior of 2003 Lexus ES300 test car 

Though separated by a few months by date of manufacture, power on these cars above are clearly identical as highlighted below:

Car	2003 Lexus ES300	2004 Toyota Camry XLE V6
Hp	210	210
Cylinders	6	6

2003 Lexus ES300 test ca

2004 Toyota Camry XLE V6 Test Car

Strangely both owners of these cars are close buddies. The drive and feel of both cars are strangely very similar but widely different.

The Lexus is deafeningly quiet and shifts require you to keep your eyes on the tachometer to know when it happens. The Toyota is more audible and doesn’t like to be pushed around corners a lot. They acceleration on the Lexus is very direct, intense and linear. The Camry goes but you get a sense of it wanting you to put an effort into it.

2003 Lexus ES300 test car

2004 Toyota Camry XLE V6 test car

The picture above should explain the simple difference between these two cars. The item highlighted in RED in the Lexus is called the front strut Bar. It basically acts as an anti-roll bar. It keeps things nice, turgid and neat. This for me is the basic reason the Lexus drives so very well.

Make no mistake, the ES300 doesn’t drive like a BMW 3 series. It also doesn’t drive like a Toyota. But like a Toyota it possesses the ease of mind factor. You know this car will take you out, bring you back home and if it does fail on the open road it won’t cost an arm and a leg to fix.