Audi A4 vs Lexus ES

What's the difference?

The Audi A4 allroad is the off-roader of the A4 line-up. I’m using the term ‘off-roader’ loosely here because this wagon is obviously best suited to daily duties in a city and suburbs, with perhaps an occasional foray into very light off-roading, i.e. driving on a well-maintained gravel or dirt road with few, if any, corrugations, and in dry weather only. 

But that’s not a negative factor because the great thing about adventures is that they can be scaled to suit you, your lifestyle and your vehicle of choice.

However, is this allroad your best option for a comfortable, nice-driving all-rounder? Read on.

Luxury vehicles are better because of the quality, reliability and care that Lexus has brought since 1990, upending the status quo like no other brand before.

The ES, however, has been an outlier.

Inexplicably inferior to the far-cheaper Toyota Camry on which it’s long been based on, the bloated mid-sized “Executive Sedan” series created especially for America ignored “The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection” ethos that Lexus originals like the LS, IS, LFA and even the most-recent NX have striven for.

The eighth-generation ES redesign, however, is different, despite remaining Camry -ased, with an extended, beefed-up body and platform, multi-link rear suspension featuring adaptive dampers, an advanced new operating system that drags connectivity into this decade and an electric option.

Suddenly, the ES is poised to lure Polestar 2, Tesla Model 3 and Mercedes-Benz CLA buyers with a high-quality electric vehicle (EV) from Japan brimming with technology, refinements, space and features, at a price that cannot be ignored.

Has the ES finally understood the Lexus memo?