BMW's sport sedan flagship has split into two distinct eras: the beloved and the bloated. The E39 remains the gold standard, timeless design, balanced performance, and a driving character that still feels modern decades later. The G30 (2017-2023) carried that legacy forward with handsome proportions, a brilliant B58 engine in the 540i, and the kind of daily-driver refinement that makes long commutes feel effortless. Then the 2024 G60 arrived, swollen to 7 Series dimensions with cost-cut interior plastics and awkward styling that owners say looks front-wheel-drive. Experts praise its tech and smoothness; enthusiasts mourn the loss of athletic soul. The smart play? A used G30 540i combines steep depreciation with genuine excellence, just budget for BMW maintenance costs that don't depreciate with the sticker price. Skip the current generation unless you prioritize tech over driving character and can stomach the design.
If you want a luxury sedan that'll outlive your mortgage and still feel special at 200,000 miles, the 2019-2025 ES is the one to buy, owners report zero drama, 50+ mpg from the hybrid, and an interior that hasn't aged a day. It's the last ES with the smooth V6, and the last one that feels like a proper Lexus before the brand lost the plot. The 2026 redesign strips out the V6, replaces buttons with touch-capacitive surfaces, and swaps hand-stitched luxury for Tesla minimalism that screams 'cost-cutting.' Nobody's driven one yet, so the hate is all aesthetic, but when a brand kills its best engine, ditches the iconic L logo for spelled-out branding, and makes the interior look like a rental car, that's a red flag. Buy the outgoing generation while you still can, it's the last ES that knows what it is.