Oh yeah, I remember those very well!
Growing up in the Memphis area, lots of people bought them.
At that time, the Japanese were already a few years into their absolute domination of automotive quality, and everyone was absolutely just astounded by the quality and refinement that cars like the (new for 1989, and aimed squarely at Mercedes) LS400 offered, for the price.
The ES250 always looked a lot like the Cressida to me, but it was Camry-based, FWD/V6 instead of RWD/I6 like the contemporary Cressida:
Wikipedia says less than 40,000 were made, and only 2 years for this body style: 1990 & 1991. Cool that they also offered it in a stick.
If I’d been in the market for something like this back then, my money probably would have gone to a Nissan Maxima SE 5-speed or a Legend 5-speed, as both are sportier and quicker than this.
