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.
If boring were an Olympic sport, the Camry would take gold, and then run another 300,000 miles without needing a tune-up. This is transportation engineered by people who think 'excitement' means finding a gas station with clean restrooms, and owners love it precisely for that. The 2025 redesign went hybrid-only with 52 mpg and genuinely improved looks, but the real story is decades of owners pushing these past a quarter-million miles on oil changes and prayers. Steering's vague, the driving feel's about as engaging as oatmeal, and you'll pay more than an Accord for the privilege. But if you want a car that starts every morning for fifteen years without drama, and you're willing to trade fun for that kind of peace, this is still the safest bet in the class.