AJL0365

those wheels are the same as last generation optional 17" wheels. not a bad thing i really do like them, expecailly in chrome, but wish Lexus would have brought out a new wheel design, but im sure a newer design is in the works.

Shred

Blown out of the water.

Lexus tells me NO options in cloth.
I'm not going to buy a car with no options.

I'm back to where I started from not knowing what to do.

XeroK00L

I hope Edmunds is joking with that shot in the video and that you're just going along with their joke, Shred. That's the 6-spoke currently on the ES330.

Not sure why Edmunds would ever do that though. Very unprofessional.

XeroK00L

Be persistent. I'm sure you'll be able to special order one. Lexus sales people are generally too lazy to special order for customers. Show them that PDF that is directly downloaded from Toyota's Press Room. Make them admit that the base ES350 at the lowest possible MSRP does NOT include leather seats. They'll have to order it for you.

rai

Could be worse. IMO the options are overpriced and/or where Lexus makes most of it's money.

The ES has a double page full of standard equipment.

You can add what you want after you get it such as HIDs better stereo etc..

I'm not saying the gen-5 NAV or ML stereo is not great, but they charge you for it.

But you have to get what you want. I wonder how the cool-air leather will effect you.

Shred

The Dealer told me his ands are tied and he gave me the Lexus USA number and they told me it's a no go.

I'm not just dissappointed, I'm really pissed off.

This IS bull**** because they COULD do it if they wanted to.

I cannot find a decent luxury car, with good options in cloth seats.

My option now is to buy it with leather and have it reupholstered.

papachino

Discrimination of your medical condition I say, go in there with a medical report demanding for cloth. Consumer is always right!!!

MSUSparty

So one month before the car hits dealerships and still no pricing announcement?

Shred

Pricing for tha Camry appeared the day they revised the website for the 2007 model.
Test drive cars appeared about a week later and stock started coming in about a week after that. So expect a website revision and pricing in the third week of April, a test car right arount that time.

The dealer told me the allotment will be in about 30 days as they are placing orders for them right now.

Shred

Lexus USA tells me that Japan will simply not build it they way I want it.

The dealer cannot definitivly tell me what I can actually get with what options.

Can I get the Full Mark Levinson system without getting the Panoramic roof?
I don't want the roof. I don't want that Ultra Lux package.

In the Premium Plus Package is navigation possible.
Maybe then I could have the leather ripped out and cloth put in.

Let's face it. The "options" are not optional. They are packages that force you to have things you may not want like leather seating and the panoramic roof.

I should tell them I just want a base model and I'll put my own equipment into it like navigation and a great stereo.

I really don't know what to do now.

I never realized buying a new car would be this difficult or frustrating.

I thought this would be a fun experience.

But I'm just angry and depressed over the whole freaking thing.

I should just go buy a Camry and tell them to go themselves!

GFerg

DAMN dude...sorry to hear that. I had a feeling that Lexus wouldnt grant any options without getting a package that forces you to have leather. Thats the way Lexus has always did things. They always force you into things you may not want. But I did have doubts cause I noticed that ML/Navi and a few other things werent park of a specfic package (i.e. Premium Plus Package etc).

Well, I say be persistant and call Lexus USA. Tell them your condition. Maybe you can even special order it through them. I've heard of people doing that before. Its just rediculous that Lexus cant add options to a cloth seat car.

yESman

Given that the leather is ventilated and pretty soft, why not just compromise and drop the cloth seat request?

Maybe the dealer would do something extra for you in exchange for the final order...my Lexus dealers have always been very generous with me on my ESs...

Shred

Back to Lexus today.

After intense negotiations we finally came up with a deal.

They didn't know what was what so they were on the phone with corporate headquarters, and they were calling Japan.

While all this was going on the let me take out an IS so I could try out the ventilated seats.
I will say they do help. I was very impressed with the power and quickness of the car.
It's just a little cramped for my taste so I'm sticking to the ES.

I thought I was driving a 350 because of the great power and was shocked to find out when I got out and looked at the back that I was only driving the 250!!!

That 350 must be a monster because this car was already very quick and the ride was quite good.

The big question we had to day was what options were available with which packages.

I ended up ordering the car with Premium Plus Package which came with the ventilated leather seats and the Power Cushion extender.
I WAS able to get the Mark Levinson system with that as an add on.
I was also able to get Park Assist, and a leather/wood steering wheel, and the rear sunshade.

I could not get pre collision system but I wasn't that interested in it anyway. I did not get the panoramic roof which I did not want to be forced to get.

So, I guess I'm happy about it. I still wish I could have gotten cloth seats but I'll have to live with the ventilated leather.

But if I really get annoyed by them after a few hours of driving I will get them reupholstered in cloth. It would be nice if I could find a perforated upholstery so that I could still use the ventilated seat function.

We found out that the base cloth seat model is not available with ANY options.

I asked Lexus USA on the conference call we were all on why not.

They just said they thought they weren't going to sell very many cloth seat models so they are not bothering to do any options.

I asked what's the point of offering it, if they don't think they will sell many of them and there are no options available, to which they had no answer.

I can only guess it's to keep that base price model close to last years price.

In the end I guess it still worked out for me. Because the cloth seats are what got me in the Lexus dealership in the first place. I was not considering the ES as I was actually buy a Camry XLE.
When I found out the XLE with the 6 cylinder was only available in leather I was pretty annoyed and thought I was going to have to settle with a LE.

But then I found out the new ES would have a cloth option so I went in to Lexus.

In the end I didn't get exactly what I wanted, but I will try to live with the leather and the ventilation. But, I would say there is still a 75% chance I will have them recovered.

In a sense I guess that is good because the cloth seats do not have the cushion extender option. So had I gotten them I could not get the cushion extender, which I will be able to recover now.

I actually stopped at a shop that does seat recovering today and they look like they do good work.

They said they have only ripped out new leather from a car a few times, but they have done it and it came out nice.

But they also said they do rip out old messed up leather quite a bit and replace it with cloth because a lot of people don't want to pay for new leather when they redo a car.

They told me a story of a guy who wanted to rip out the leather in a $200,000 Ferrari because he hated leather. They said they did the job, and he was very happy with it.

Man, it's been an up / down / up week.

Now I only hope they hurry up with the order.

I got back into my 92 4cyl Camry after driving that IS and I felt like it was a Model T.!

XeroK00L

Good to hear you've come to a resolution albeit with a little compromise, Shred, and congrats on your new ride.

The ventilated seats in the ES330 loaners I've driven worked very well for me. Chances are that not only you'll grow used to it but you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. Congrats again!

Shred

I was just reading the Lexus website where it says the IS 250 AWD
I was driving today was 204 HP. I thought it was very fast.

I was thinking the ES might be a little slower but then I realized the 272 HP engine was a good bit bigger.

Then I thought the weight of the IS must be a lot lighter but to my surprise the curb weight of the IS 250 AWD is 3,651 lb..

The ES is actually lighter the lighter car at 3,580 lb.!

I was shocked to find that IS only did 0-60 in 8.3 seconds.

I thought it was very fast. I think my 92 Camry does 0-60 in about 4 1/2 minutes!!!

If the ES is rated at 0-60 at 7.1 seconds, and even faster than the IS 250 AWD I drove today, I am going to be very happy with the acceleration.