2025 Lexus ES 350 F Sport Black Line First Test: Muscle Cruiser
Does the new Black Line Special Edition model move the needle for the ES in the luxury midsize sedan space?
Pros
- Quiet, refined conveyance
- Decent efficiency and grunt for a V-6
- Not as pricey as many rivals
Cons
- Underperforming tires
- Unexciting at-limit dynamics
- Unimpressionable cabin
For the seventh-generation ES luxury midsize sedan’s possibly final model year, Lexus adds a new top V-6 gas-only grade called the Black Line Special Edition. If the trim sounds familiar, it might be because it was previously used for the 2021 model and came with similar upgrades. The Black Line is built on top of an ES 350 F Sport Handling that already boasts niceties like aluminum pedals, power-folding side mirrors, wireless phone charger, Intuitive Parking Assist, and distinctive F Sport body embellishments.
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Although the carmaker hasn’t let a year go by without updating the ES, in the past we’ve accused the Lexus of being a staid sedan. How does the Black Line Special stack up against other ES 350 F Sport Handling models? How does it fare against its closest competitor?
Why Is the Black Line Edition Special?
The sedan is essentially the top non-hybrid ES this year. To the ES 350 F Sport Handling, the Black Line Special Edition adds a black trunklid spoiler, black rocker panel accents, and F Sport logo puddle lights, all of which we do not hate. Like the Ultra Luxury trim, a head-up display and the bigger 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen come standard with the Black Line (up from an 8.0-inch center screen interface).
We appreciate the upgrades, because on some levels the ES seems due for even more significant modernization. Little about the luxury car cabin strikes us as all that contemporary. The analog clock on the dash and shift lever with perforated leather-wrapped knob protruding from the center console feel familiar but also look like they’re from a previous era. Even some of our 350’s most interesting tech—like the sliding gauge face in the cluster and available power rear window shade—aren’t all that impressive anymore.
That said, technological improvements over the years do help the car integrate into everyday life a little more readily. In over a week of heavy use, we had only one minor hiccup with the standard wireless Apple CarPlay. The ES’s blind-spot monitoring and Lexus Safety System+ 2.5 features all functioned as billed.
Decent ES 350 Efficiency
The ES 350 remains relatively efficient, as well. Other 2025 ES models return much better fuel economy, but compared to class rivals in the same price range, the thirsty V-6 combustion-only model holds its own, mostly because the engine drives only the front wheels.
EPA ratings come in at 22/31 mpg city/highway, outperforming the same-year turbo V-6 Genesis G80 AWD sedan that returns a much worse 16/24 mpg. ES 350 fuel economy is also better than the next-closest price competitor, the now discontinued Jaguar XF P300 R-Dynamic SE AWD, which delivered just 21/28 mpg with a smaller, less powerful turbo-four powertrain.
Both bogeys are equipped with bigger 19-plus-gallon fuel tanks, but the ES 350—with its 15.9-gallon reservoir—can go farther than the G80, up to 398 miles, compared to the Genesis’ 367 miles of driving range.
Leave the Lead Foot at Home
The Black Line Special doesn’t add any performance upgrades to the 2025 ES 350 F Sport Handling, which means the sedan comes with the same 3.5-liter V-6 and eight-speed automatic transmission as other ES 350s. Making 302 hp and 267 lb-ft of torque as before, this ES is predictably about as quick as the 2019 FWD F Sport we tested when the generation was new. The 2019 version was swifter by 0.1 second both to 60 mph (with a time of 5.9 seconds) and in the quarter mile (14.4 seconds) and sprinted at a barely faster 99.5 mph instead of 99.2 mph like the 2025 version.
Old or new, that’s decently quick for a luxury midsize sedan, certainly enough to move confidently up to interstate speeds. Output from the FWD powertrain is healthy, but launches are tricky. In our experience, mashing the throttle from a standstill often induces wheelspin. For the best launches, we had to apply the gas and brake pedals and let off the brakes at about 1,800 rpm, managing any wheelspin with a judicious accelerator.
The luxury midsize sedan class has more than a half dozen competitors, but none of them are FWD. The turbo-four Jaguar XF ranked as the most comparable to the ES 350 from a power standpoint, developing 296 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. The 2021 XF we tested was also 360 pounds heavier than this Lexus and explains why the ES is about 0.5 second quicker to 60 mph and in the quarter mile.
Cushy Is King
As with straight-line testing, handling assessments illustrate the 2025 ES 350 might be a skosh less capable than the same-gen 2019 model, but it’s essentially about the same. The older car averaged 0.86 g on the skidpad for 0.01 g higher than the 2025, and was 0.3 second quicker than the 2025’s 26.5 seconds through our tiny-track figure-eight test. As for the competition, the XF shines a little brighter in these disciplines, hanging on for a slightly better 0.89-g average in lateral acceleration and a faster 26.3 seconds in the figure eight.
For an almost two-ton luxury car, the ES 350 shows some athletic potential. The F Sport model includes drive mode selection with Sport S/S+ and Custom modes, and a slick adaptive suspension that’s reasonably effective at ironing out body motions. At high revs, the V-6 sounds good, and in Sport+ mode, S drive, with VSC off, the car’s heated, leather-trimmed steering wheel provides some weight and even a little feedback.
That said, we found the vehicle’s dynamic limits quickly. Here, again, wheelspin reared its head, this time as the car’s all-season tires reached the limits of adhesion on the skidpad. Throttle too soon for corner exit? The fronts will slip.
Brake pedal travel is short and direct in panic stops, and there’s hardly any dive from the ES’ body. But tire bite was lacking, with this year’s shortest stopping distance from 60 mph coming in 4 feet longer than the 2019’s 114 feet and 3 feet more than the XF.
It may wear F Sport badges, but as ever, the ES 350 is probably best enjoyed as a powerful cruiser. The transmission gets a little lazier in Comfort mode (though no less refined), but the ride is cushy, the standard bolstered F Sport heated and ventilated front seats are comfortable, and the cabin is fairly quiet.
Is the 2025 ES 350 Black Line Worth It?
In addition to Black Line upgrades, our ES 350 came with another $1,260 in options that include a power trunklid and Ultra White premium paint. To get a 2025 ES 350 F Sport Handling with the Black Line Special Edition gear, you’ll lay out $53,640. The options we got grew that figure to $54,900.
For the segment, the ES 350 Black Line Special Edition is priced competitively, as is most of the ES lineup. If you need the top gas model, the Black Line isn’t a bad way to go. Fuel economy is OK for a six-cylinder engine, especially one that kicks out plenty of grunt, though the car is more content to loaf along quietly, staying away from its limits.
The value might be better with lesser ES models, though, than with the Black Line Special. And that’s only if you can be happy with a vehicle range that’ll probably be heavily updated in the next year or two, if past product cycles are any indication. Better tires, especially up front, should help channel better performance, but beyond that, the sedan is showing its age and stodginess. Here’s hoping the next-gen model rectifies that—but if you can’t wait, the class offers a few compelling yet likely not-as-affordable alternatives.
My dad was a do-it-yourselfer, which is where my interest in cars began. To save money, he used to service his own vehicles, and I often got sent to the garage to hold a flashlight or fetch a tool for him while he was on his back under a car. Those formative experiences activated and fostered a curiosity in Japanese automobiles because that’s all my Mexican immigrant folks owned then. For as far back as I can remember, my family always had Hondas and Toyotas. There was a Mazda and a Subaru in there, too, a Datsun as well. My dad loved their fuel efficiency and build quality, so that’s how he spent and still chooses to spend his vehicle budget. Then, like a lot of young men in Southern California, fast modified cars entered the picture in my late teens and early 20s. Back then my best bud and I occasionally got into inadvisable high-speed shenanigans in his Honda. Coincidentally, that same dear friend got me my first job in publishing, where I wrote and copy edited for action sports lifestyle magazines. It was my first “real job” post college, and it gave me the experience to move just a couple years later to Auto Sound & Security magazine, my first gig in the car enthusiast space. From there, I was extremely fortunate to land staff positions at some highly regarded tuner media brands: Honda Tuning, UrbanRacer.com, and Super Street. I see myself as a Honda guy, and that’s mostly what I’ve owned, though not that many—I’ve had one each Civic, Accord, and, currently, an Acura RSX Type S. I also had a fourth-gen Toyota pickup when I met my wife, with its bulletproof single-cam 22R inline-four, way before the brand started calling its trucks Tacoma and Tundra. I’m seriously in lust with the motorsport of drifting, partly because it reminds me of my boarding and BMX days, partly because it’s uncorked vehicle performance, and partly because it has Japanese roots. I’ve never been much of a car modifier, but my DC5 is lowered, has a few bolt-ons, and the ECU is re-flashed. I love being behind the wheel of most vehicles, whether that’s road tripping or circuit flogging, although a lifetime exposed to traffic in the greater L.A. area has dulled that passion some. And unlike my dear ol’ dad, I am not a DIYer, because frankly I break everything I touch.
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