By Matthew Rudy
Photos By Chris Stanford
November 2008
The first clue that I'm not exactly part of the demographic Lexus is targeting with the upscale Pebble Beach Edition of its midsize ES350 sedan is the official name for my test car's smoky exterior color.
Truffle Mica.
(That's not such a bad thing. The world can't be filled with 500-horse hot rods and swoopy British roadsters, right? There just aren't enough tow trucks.)
But all earthy euphemisms for "dark gray" aside, the ES350 does its job exceptionally well. I made a circuit through the mountain passes around Denver without a hint of elevation-related protest from the Lexus' refined 272-horsepower engine. No matter what row you're in, it feels like a really nice waiting room, with air-conditioned seats in front and generous legroom and climate-control vents in the back. The instrument cluster is easy to understand, and you can punch up stations on the satellite radio without pulling over to read the owner's manual or to buy reading glasses.
Map: Jason Lee
If that sounds more comfortable and sensible than exciting and dramatic, well, that's the point. The Lexus is an expertly executed acknowledgement that not everybody lives to drive. It does exactly what it's supposed to do -- take four adults to dinner, without embarrassing them at the valet.
The $4,170 Pebble Beach package ratchets up the level of luxury from the already-cushy base ES350 with special paint, 17-inch wheels, nicer leather and wood inside, and tasteful Lone Cypress badges. You also get to choose something from a menu of "lifestyle merchandise": Callaway drivers and personalized golf balls, matching leather luggage or lessons at a Viking culinary school. Strangely enough, you can't pick a round at Pebble Beach. Of course, at $495 per person, a foursome costs almost as much as the Lexus' optional navigation system.
Our ES350 stubbornly refused to be provoked by the S-curves on the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway, north of Denver, plowing us sedately -- and silently -- through the Rocky Mountain foothills, so it was time to find some external stimulation.
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