My wife recently test drove a new ES300 since she's thinking of trading her old one in. To her surprise, the new ES seems to have less power than the old model which is already marginal. The salesman said the new ES performance got penalized by a slightly heavy weight and he said many of his customers have also complained about this "lack of power". In normal driving, the power seems to be adequate but the lack of power really shows up when accelerating hard or passing. She test drove a new Infiniti and the power was plentiful. Does anyone know whether Lexus plans to improve the power (increase horsepower) for the ES in the near future?

 

it's in either the 2003 or 2004 that they plan to go to a ES330

 

Acura TL, Infiniti I35, Audi A4 3.0.........

There are a number of car's in the ES300's class that could kick its *** in acceleration. Lexus needs to realize this and give the ES maybe another 30-40 or so more horsepower.

 

Lexus does realize this, they just don't care about speed as much as you do. The ES is now supposed to be pure luxury. They have split up their lower end and made the sporty IS and the Luxury ES. If you want speed, get an IS. The ES was never a really fast car, it just has some torque. If they were going to drop the .43 V8 in it, it would cost a lot more money. Maybe soon they will increase it's power, but for now, it isn't changing.

 

Its funny, because the ES300 has gradually gotten a lot softer from when it was introduced in 1992 to now. When it came out in '92, the car was supposed to compete with everything from Acura Legends to BMW 325is. The Bimmer will kick the ES's *** in anything performance-related, but nonetheless quite a few buyers cross-shopped the two cars. I believe the first generation ES was the sportiest version, especially the '92-'93 models with the 5-speed. The '97-01 versions supposedly had a quicker turn-in feel and slightly better handling, but it is largely indiscernable in regular driving.

Regardless of how the ES is now solely a luxo-car, it still needs more power. Even though it will not be a major priority for potential ES buyers, it is still appealing to have at least the same level of power as the competition offers. Both the Acura TL and the I35 will spank an ES in acceleration. I almost feel sorry to say this, but the Acura TL is simply a much better car than the ES.

 

if you are looking for is speed, why don't you buy a car that has some instead of buying a midsize luxo sedan. i know that power is an issue in that car, but it still is faster than ours (92-2000 stock ). complaining about it isn't going to make the car have any more power, just try and find some engine mods or something.

 

I'm not looking for speed in MY ES. However, when comparing the new ES to the cars its supposed to compete directly with, I think its lamentable that the main competition offers much more power.

 

the way it is out in southern cali, most other ES drivers (especially the newer models) are OLD people. maybe lexus figured these folks couldnt handle the quicker acceleration and light steering of our front wheel drive cars so they toned the ES down in terms of acceleration.

 

that sounds reasonable. front wheel drive is harder to control with a lot of power. anyone thought of making their car rear wheel?

 

making an ES rwd?? what a thought. IMO, if you "made" the ES rwd, the extra driveshaft would make the whole car heavier. you know that quick response you get when you punch the gas pedal? that would go away too cuz the propelling motion would have to go through the extra drive shaft to power the rear wheels. I wonder what'll happen if someone effectively created a left wheel or right wheel drive though.

 

left or right wheel drive? lol

Lexus understands rear wheel drive, that's why the IS, GS, LS, and SC are all rewar wheel drive. But at the same time, the ES is best left being front drive, because all its primary competitors are. An all wheel drive ES would be a good idea, though.

 

all wheel drive ES sounds cool but if they actually made it, I'm scared they'll turn what used to be our cars into subarus or something else the australians would love.

 

it was just a sugestion, lol.

 

Lexus knows where the average ES buyer's priority lies...luxury. As for as acceleration/power, just enough so that potential buyers wouldn't be deterred from buying the new ES. And Lexus knows they have a clear luxury advantage over the competition. The end result is that the '02 ES is outselling the competition easily month after month since its intro.

If they follow their pattern of making engine/powertrain upgrades in the 3rd year of the 5 year design cycle, we'll see a new 3.3L engine in the ES in '04. This also sounds about right considering newer generations of the competition's models should be around by then. The Infiniti I35 is being phased out and won't even make it to '04. Of course, I would've liked to see the more powerful engine in '02 instead. But it doesn't make much sense from a business standpoint for Lexus.

As far as speed, the track times for the '02 ES are curiously faster than previous generations. On the other hand, most owners of previous generation ES' who test drove the '02 ES think otherwise. Whether it just feels slower or it actually is slower is something I don't know.

I did read in a magazine review that the cabin isolation that the new ES provides makes its acceleration deceptive (something about how the test driver had to glance down to realize that he was already at some speed when it didn't feel like it...I hesitate to mention this because I know I've flubbed up how he described it).

And my 4-cylinder Honda Accord does feel zippier to me than my V8 LS400, perhaps partly for the same reason.

 

i agree, the ls430, i can be doing 90 and not even know it at all. it is very smooth and the power is so abundant. i would like to see the new 5.4L engine but into an LS540. they are making the vx540, based off of some japanese truck, not based off of a toyota here in america. it would be nice for an ls540 to be able to hit 60 in 5 seconds. it would be up there with the S600, and the audi avantismo