xcntuatd77

It was a moonshell mica with gray interior. Looks very nice in person than in pictures. The color is a champage mixed with light purple.. Elegant looking.

The ride was VERY VERY quiet and handling was not stiff yet not relaxed either. Sound system of mark levinson was incredible...just incredible. The navigation system detail and color were truly crisp and so rich.

Its an excellent car for the money. Period

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

Did you get pics of the Moon Shell? I'm having a hard time trying to imagine the pics, especially since Lexus employees describe it as "purplish".

dp5

I saw a MSM in person today and I didn't think that it looked "purplish" at all. It is primarily silver with a slight touch of brown added; maybe a taupe? If it isn't next to a silver car, most people would call it silver. The color looks really good in person and seems like it would be fairly easy to keep clean. If it came with a tan interior, this is the color I would buy without any reservations. I prefer the tan interior to the light grey but I liked the looks of the MSM so much that I may buy it any way and just live with the light grey interior.

SilverLady

We took a test drive in the ES350 today, although the one we were able to drive did not have the NAV.

Very nice ride, and best of all - hubby actually fit in the vehicle (he had problems with the IS and even the new GS). I thought the engine was nice and responsive, with good acceleration. Ride was quiet.

Main complaints - front seats could have been a bit more spacious and luxurious (back seats actually seemed more comfy), not enough storage areas in front and the armrest/console is very poorly designed (hard to close, doesn't open all the way to get at things, and can't be slid forward to good arm support position), and the steering wheel is very hard on the hands.

Still to be seen - the Ultra Lux model, and the several colors we are interested in.

All in all, I do like the car and it is pretty much at the top of my list if I do decide to get a sedan.

GFerg

Nice reviews.
I would definitely say my biggest complaint right now with the new Lexus models is the center armrest and how it opens. I really dont like how they slide back and up. Very wierd. What if there is someone in the back seat?? Its gonna hit there leg. Wierd.

GS Doug

I test-drove one a couple of days ago. I think it was loaded (fancy moon roof, ML, nav). Overall I was very impressed. I currently have an '04 LS 430. You can now dial a phone number using the car's voice recognition software, but it seems like you have to wait for the voice to read a script to you before it allows you to dial. Also, the control for the center armrest is poorly located. I accidentally opened it several times. But it was powerful, quiet, roomy, and luxurious. Much better than the 96 ES I once owned, and not far off the mark set by my LS.

encore888

^^^
I asked this for the IS and people said that you could turn off the voice prompt, "Please say a command after the beep." I hope this is true for the ES as well.

SilverLady

It is.

We went to dealer today to look at the ultra package and some colors, and spent some time sitting in the ES350 with the acc power on. The "product specialist" said there was no way to turn the voice prompt off. I told him that was ridiculous - nobody was going to listen to a whole sentence each time before giving a voice command. He insisted that was the way it is.

I went into the setup screen and turned off some voice options. My daughter was actually the one who found the right one - I think it was voice prompt. After that all we got was the "ding" tone.

Rockville

Bermuda Sand to relate the beige/copper pink elements. To turn off the prompt go to Menu, Setup, Scroll down to page two, Voice Recognition Guidance, hit off. Then say "nearest ATM" after the beep....

Rock

encore888

That's very sharp!!! You and your daughter are pretty tech-savvy

I just watched the ES 350 dealer info video that was posted in the other thread, and it shows the voice command working with the vocal prompt and beep. There isn't anything about how to turn the prompt off--just 'consult the manual for more info.' So it's quite possible a salesperson who watched that vid for information didn't learn that function.

I'm guessing Lexus added the 'beep' element to improve voice recognition accuracy. Probably lots of people use the voice recognition like normal conversation, and in Gen IV the prompt appears on screen but there is no vocal prompt (which acts as a delay probably for the computer's loading process). I imagine including the prompt/beep in Gen V may actually improve speech recognition accuracy rates.

And did you tell the salesman? His future customers may benefit from this info. LOL and the 'I told you so!'

SilverLady

Enigma-
We have the Gen4 in our 2006GX, and the general setup is similar. We do get the note on the screen, but then we also get the audible "beep". Changing the setup on the ES pretty much matched our system. The product specialist was in the back seat with us, and hopefully made a note for future questions.

One thing I am curious - for most instructions, the Gen4 Nav will ding a couple of times and say "next right turn". This is very confusing, as a lot of times there are two turns very near each other and it isn't clear which it really means by next (I've made several wrong turns over this). If it actually said something like "next right on Ivy Street North" or somesuch, it would be much easier to follow. I've heard some systems actually say the name of the street - can Gen5 do this?

encore888

I don't know if Gen 5 can say the name of the street...I did hear that it can recognize voice dialing of numbers.

However, as for specific instructions, I have been in Acura cars and their NAVI systems seem to have more capability in this regard: the computer voice (which can be chosen as male or female) can 'read' words. I remember the NAVI system saying 'Peck Road' specifically, but I don't remember whether it said that as part of 'Destination selected, 231 Peck Road' or "turn right at Peck Road.'

The Acura system also allows you, I believe, to voice input destinations (not sure if Gen 5 allows that now). But the voice recognition was very spotty so maybe 'take me to Disneyland' might work but '2371 Johnson Drive' might not.

The thing with the Acura system is, because it uses a computer voice and software to 'read' from the database, it sounds somewhat jerky and artificial, sort of like an e-book reading function, or a computer OS' speech tool. The Lexus system seems to go for refinement, and thus has a limited number of 'smooth' commands and limited reading commands such as 'Highway US-23 North' or something. But they all sound much closer to what a normal person's speech would sound.

But the added functionality in the Acura system is why sometimes it has been rated better than the Lexus system, which is still regarded as tops for ease-of-use. I think the Gen 5 system should add some capability, but I'm not sure on the specifics, having barely tested one at an auto show.

Rockville

and once you see the high resolution screen and its new graphic interface you will not want to look at the Acura screen again IMO The voice commands were the main area we asked Lexus to improve on and they have delivered in the Gen. 5. The reason the voices sound real is that they are real women that record all of the possible words they can think of. The English speaking woman has been the same since 1998. The Gen. 5 has a new Spanish Chica to roll her R's at you. I have a certain fondness for the French woman's intonation....On the voice commands you can dial a phone number by saying the number, you can ask for an address but it's a little tedious: State, City, street address, with a confirmation each step...When you hear a single beep before a turn it's saying that it's getting close. When you hear a double beep you should actually be turning at that moment. The new graphics give you a better intersection overview especially for ramps and exits that divide once you take them...

Rock

dotbowels

Don't laugh but I am glad they improved the cupholders

jeffofla

Actually, I am too. I had the cupholders broken in the 2002 ES and they charged an arm and a leg to replace them.