ES350Bob

Wow, is all I can say, that and those darn "enthusiasts" and those people who head for a website with a gripe...LOL..

LexBob2

Edmunds has a good site too, under Consumer Ratings & Reviews. BTW, the ES 350 recieved an average of 9.4 out of a possible 10 from 66 reviewers, which is about the same as the 9.0 on MSN. Interesting reading.

ES350Bob

I'll make a prediction far more accurate than I believe the prediction done by consumer reports.

I predict that in considering there are 40 voters on MSN and 66 stated as those at Edmunds that not one person will come behind those and post the kind of things posted about our own poll of 104 voters.

You won't see very many posts claiming that Edmunds and MSN are a small number of people, or enthusiasts who found their way to a website or that the number of respondants does not reflect the whole picture of what is out there.

In contrast, for our own poll of actual owners more than double and nearly double those you see post after post denying there could be any level of accuracy associated with it and likely the the same said about the Yahoo post by 19 who rated 2 and a 1/2 stars out of 5.

CRB

It is a speculative predicted reliablility for the new ES350. Consumer Reports is guessing that given the past history of the Lexus models, and the ES model in particular , the new model will continue to maintain the high standard.

CR does this for select manufacterers on certain models, for example the new Acura RL was downgraded from much better than average (the guess of CR at launch) to just average when the surveys for the first year of production were tallied.

I think "pure fiction" may be overstating the case a bit but certainly not a rating accrued from a sufficient sample based on survey data, as you would expect from a journal such a CR. By the way, Consumer Reports seldom has to "downgrade" one of their projected rankings and I doubt the ES data will force them to, the transmission problems notwithstanding I think it will still be much better than average for the model year based on survey.

ES350Bob

I like psych's take on it, but prefer to view it more along the lines of psychic friends network as who knows maybe even he might now that it is obvious these are predictions and not based on actual owners stating any degree of reliability or lack thereof as implied.

When they do not even indicate this is a new model seems something is up, but more importantly when an engine is changed and a transmission is changed, new in fact, and body style too, they might want to rethink using completely different prior years data to make their predictions on any auto manufacturer they do this for.

LexBob2

Psych also said, "so I suspect the data will be positive when it comes in". Pretty much what C.R. is saying.

toneman

Maybe because many of the same folks that rated the ES on Edmunds probably offered their same opinions on MSN as well? LOL!!!!! j/k!

LexBob2

You are probably correct, sir....As they say in Chicago, "vote early & vote often".