ng123ray

i got my ES350 in July and so far all has been great. Then i started paying attention to the little things such as how much i need to step on the brake pedal before the car actually slows down. my brother has this problem too when he drives it. he says the brake lines probally has air bubbles in it. however when i took it to LONGO Lexus today, they said thats a normal characteristic for the ES350's. the mechanic drove my car along with other ES350 and all of them were the same. if others are experiencing this and is becoming a nussiance please notify your Lexus dealership

with such a heavy car on the road you really do need good brakes...

dreyfus

ng123ray and I were just talking about this on the Scratched Rim thread.

I does seem that the ES350 brakes are softer than at least what I'm used to. But they're in no way unsafe or uncomfortable - just not as stiff as I'd like.

ES350Bob

I'm glad you posted this as I brought this up early in the month to dealer svc., on the way to my car for test drive for other complaints I had, they asked me to describe what I mean by my concern about the brakes and I said it is like a car that you had changed the master cylinder on and there was air left in the lines, though not as severe.

They pronounced my brakes normal.

The brakes are too spongy for my taste and I get concerned with that fact and the fact my RPM spikes upward as the car downshifts like a stick shift does when you take your foot off the gas or press brakes, spikes upward 400 RPM or more but as though that is fighting against the brakes too rather than a conventional stick shift like downshift.

I give up on bringing concerns up because I am always told it's normal, no matter what I bring up and I am sick and tired of hearing what I feel are outright lies to explain away both serious and nuisance level actual defects.
Here are some of the normal things for an ES350 as told to me.

Normal for my wipers to rock my car back and forth.
Normal for my engine to knock and tap,"it's timing chain".
Normal for transmission to slip multiple gears, "it's learning".
Normal and only buffeting not excessive wind noise.
Normal for steering to veer right, placing clockwise pressure on your hands

LexBob2

Bob, it sounds like it's time you get rid of the ES350 and get into something else. A car shouldn't cause this much aggravation. Bite the bullet and move on. You'll probably feel better.

ES350Bob

LexBob2,
It is not as easy as you think to do that for several reasons, but here is a good example. When considering a trade it seems dealers will give VIN to say a Lexus dealer they wish to sell your car to as opposed to putting it in auction due to it's "newness" and it's history comes up for that dealer and of course they low ball what they will buy it for and you are asked to pay another small fortune to compensate.

It's a no brainer I am going to be asked why on earth I am selling a brand new car, it just looks odd I am wanting to do it, been there answered that one and it was awkward for both me and sales manager I was talking with.

Also, there is my honesty issue about the vehicle, how could I go to say an Infiniti, BMW, MB, any dealer and if asked is my vehicle in good condition lie through my teeth about this car?

And if for some reason I did lie and they drove the car and it chose that time to slip it's gears what would I say, gee I didn't know it would do that. What if they notice the wind noise, or the vibration or the knocking tapping noise did it's thing at hot which it does now at times? I couldn't lie if asked anyway, but even if I could my luck would be that is when this car would demonstrate everything it should not do under any circumstances.

Right now I am in a position, feeling I have to think this through longer to come up with the right decision but I am not happy about the predicament.

wanderer99

My brakes are actually OK. I used to get the downshifting RPM thing early on in the trans life where it would 'push' the car forward and kind of work against you when braking. This type of behaviour was on a dead flat road surface, but that has disappeared since I reached around ~4000kms.

LexBob2

Take the car to a CarMax location. They will inspect and drive the car while you wait in the store. After the drive/inspection, if any of your problems occured, they'll list them in their write up and written offer for the car. You won't be put in a position to lie to them. If they should ask about anything specific, just tell them the truth. You're not out anything but time, and know what they'll give you for the car. They offer warranties on all of the cars they sell, so anyone buying it would be covered.

wanderer99

Given what we all know about the new ES, would any of you actually buy a used one from a dealers lot with say 5000kms\miles on it right now?

LexBob2

From personal experience, I probably would if I hadn't been reading many of the posts here. We've had zero problems with our 4/06 build, mid-May purchase, ES350. As I mentioned in another thread, there are 4 of them in our small development, and 2 of the 3 other drivers that I've talked to, haven't had any problems at all. I see your point though, since a lot of issues are discussed on this forum.

ES350Bob

Thanks for your thoughts on this. That may be the final solution, but I was trying to avoid taking the loss in value and also avoid the taxes on an amount I would have sold it for when I put that cash on a new vehicle.

Whatever I sell this car for, that amount of money will be taxed when I use it to purchase a new car. If I sell it, as example, for 29,000 that is 1,740 dollars in tax I otherwise would not have had to pay if I had used it in trade instead.

From very recent experience, it seems at auction you can pick one of these up for 29,000 to 30,000.

toneman

I agree w/ the comments regarding the ES 350 brake pedal feel; the brakes themselves seem to work pretty well, as far as slowing down/stopping is concerned, but to me I don't seem to get that feeling of "reassurance" when I press down on the brake pedal--i.e., I have to keep pressing down really hard in order to get the vehicle to stop. Not that I would actually need to press down that hard, but that's the kind of feedback I'm getting from the brake pedal--namely, that I'm not pressing the pedal hard enough.

MD350

There is no help from the engine in braking. Feels like the car is in neutral. On my previous Acura, I would get some engine braking to assist in stopping the car.