bclebaron

Y'all, I am with Lexus of Portland - been with Lexus since 1990. Haven't seen this posted anywhere, but just go the new prices on the 04 model. This will blow you away... the leather seats/memory option are now standard, BUT the base price of the ES stays the same. Translated (since everything we order has leather in our part of the world), you just got a factory price break of around $1585! In addition to that, power lumbar support has been added to the passenger side... hp (as earlier noted) increases to 225 from 210, torque is not 240 @ (iirc) 5600 rpm, EPA mileage is 20/29... and the 0-60 drops by .5 second. There's more, but that's the best of the good news for now. Who woulda thunk a price... decrease??

squarehat

It's a tight segment the ES is running in--customers are going to be cross-shopping cars from the TL (which is probably the closest competitor to the ES as a FWD mid-size, entry-lux sedan), loaded Maximas and Avalons, and from the US the Lincoln LS (if they don't mind RWD and the depreciation), CTS (if they like the styling and the RWD), finally from Sweden the Volvo S60/S80 and Saab 9-5--- and If they're willing to give up a little room in the cabin and trunk for sporty handling and the AWD option (on some of the following) , a whole mess of cars--A4, X-Type, G35, 3-series, C-class, Saab 9-3, and Lexus's own IS 300 compete in that price bracket.

kreativ

I figured no price increase, but a price decrease and a bigger engine...that's pretty nice. And I remember someone even mentioning they were told a couple $K increase.

DF Atlanta

How could a price decrease be bad news? Well, what if you bought a 2003 model just last week? And then you learn that a 2004 with a bigger engine, smoother transmission (we'll see) and a few other features would be $1500 less? I guess that would be bad news...

dreday68

Do u know the price for the mark lev and nav package? Do u know when they are going to start shipping them to the US?

pushpin30

according to my dealer, the ES330 should arrive to the US sometime next week, and should arrive in the dealer showroom the first week of September, hope the price you got for the 04 is true.

bclebaron

Question was raised, what about Nav/Lev... here in Portland (and keep in mind, we're the first port of entry to receive cars from Japan) we are looking at ETA of 8/27 for our first ES models. The first group we're looking at don't appear to be full-meal cars, in fact we're not seeing VSC appearing on what we consider our "second tier" options grouping just yet. What I do know is that the Nav this year is considered Tier 4, with enhanced graphics, possibly increased speed, and a new feature that shows the "footprint" of buildings. That will be interesting to see, eh?

On the subject of a downside, if you will, to the ES being downpriced, clearly from the perspective of the consumer who's just bought an '03, that would make one a bit salty. That said, I certainly understand now why Lexus waited verrrrry patiently to release new msrp figures until, in our case at Lexus of Portland, we had just two cars (both demos) remaining. Shrewd move, but I like what another poster wrote, i.e. this move will posture the ES all the closer into TL territory... unless Honda elects to counter with its own price redux.

Gekko

bclebaron - thanks for the great info. can you tell us if the '04 ES gets radio controls on the steering wheel like the RX330? also - do you think this '04 price decrease will significantly impact '02 and '03 resale values? I was looking at buying a CPO '02 ES with prem pkg, ~20k miles, for about $29K. I hope that the intro/price of the new '04 pushes that price down to $25-26k. I may just buy an '04 though but I would like to save $10k.

bclebaron

I haven't seen the '04 models of ES yet; the vanguard arrives this mid-week sometime. Like you, I'd love to see the redundant audio controls on the steering wheel, but I've seen nothing pointed to that in the factory advisory. As to your question about recommendation as to whether to purchase an 02 ES, I doubt that you'll see an immediate effect on the resale market... that usually takes a while to settle in. Given the minor conundrum you describe, I'd probably try to do a tight little buy in your area on an 04, frankly. It's gotta be worth the cost differential IMO.

XeroK00L

Well I guess it's impossible to please everyone eh?
That's bad news to me too BTW.