amphipri0n

How have the problems and technical issues you've read online about the All-New Lexus ES350 affected your decision to buy an ES350?

MD350

Would do it all over again in a New York minute.

LexBob2

Same as MD350. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. 4/06 build date, purchased in mid-May.

Lex13

As a potential ES350 buyer, I've read all of the posts regarding problems and complaints about the vehicle. However, after a few test drives and my prior experience with Toyota products, you can change "potential ES350 buyer" to "future ES350 owner". I will be purchasing my first Lexus after the start of the new year.

I think the number of problem posts on this forum represent a small percentage of the total ES sales. Granted, the transmission issues, wind noise problems, rattles, engine noise, ect. were beginning to sour this vehicle for me, but the one theme that I constantly hear from the owners is " I love this car". That's the same feeling that I still have after 15 years with my first Japanese built Camry (which is still driven to work daily). I have no problem giving this car a try. My only problem now is selecting a color.

GumboChief

Waiting on the 2008s
07s came out in april, I believe, so not much longer

brio

I would be very cautious buying this car. My previous Lexus was a delight. This one is not. I have driven three and all are flawed in ways that I find unacceptable. I assume that a Lexus ES350 will be very quiet and smooth in every way. The wind noise, cold start-up noise, rough idle are not what I expect in a Lexus. The ride is truly smooth and engine is powerful and economical. For me these problems are like the sound of chalk up a blackboard. They grate on my nerves everyday. I would never buy another car in it's first model year. Big mistake.

twister

Amen to that, brio!!!

ES350Bob

I believe those who view this forum and it's member contributions of actual owner data on ES350 as some "small percentage" should maintain their view and jump on in, the water is fine, the more the merrier, is what I'd say to those with that view of the data contained in this forum.

I also believe that those who have respect for the data provided by CL members and the means to share it created by the owners of this site and it's moderators, should exercise extreme caution in deciding and reviewing one for purchase using checklists created by CL members prior to signing. Perhaps keep an eye out for a TSIB on diesel engine like noise, wind noise, before purchasing and certainly a final remedy for the transmission issue before purchase.

Vandam

I would definitely do it all again.

While still very new to me, this ES is damn near perfect...all doors and trim are perfectly aligned, no cold start chatter, no shift flair, no wind noise at any speed, and best of all...my sunglasses fit the holder!

I absolutely love it, and everyone who has ridden in it has been VERY impressed.

wanderer99

You're probably in a better situation than almost anyone to make an informed judgement if you should buy an ES350 or not. Every problem with this car is documented here at CL. The good, bad and ugly. There is polls on a variety of topics and you can see what is really going on.

If you get a good ES350 that has no problems, you'll likely have a wonderful and troublefree experience.

If you get an ES350 that has issues - and you then expect those issues to be addressed and fixed by the dealer or Lexus - get ready for a very long, bumpy and frustrating ride.

BMT22033

After several weeks of looking and then finally test driving, I was convinced that I wanted an ES 350. Then I found this forum and started reading all the posts about transmission problems, diesel engine sounds, wind noise, etc. Needless to say, after reading about all these problems, I was extremely hesitant about buying the car. I've never owned a Lexus before (been driving an Accord for the last 6 years) and $40,000+ is a lot of money for a car (at least for me) especially after reading about the problems that some people have had with the car. So I decided, albeit reluctantly, to look at other cars. First I looked at BMW and Audi. Then Infiniti. Then Acura. In the end, I always kept coming back to the ES 350. This morning, I spent about an hour looking at an ES 350 and another 45 minutes or so driving it. In the brief time that I spent with the car, I didn't notice any of the problems that other people here have described. Ultimately, I decided to take a chance and by early afternoon, I'd bought my first Lexus. It's pretty much everything that I wanted in a new car and in the end, that was enough to make me take a chance and buy it. Here's hoping that my decision turns out to be a good one!

e-man

Hey BMT, congrats on the new car. I'm just curious as to how the salesman/dealership addressed your concerns about the various issues discussed on this forum (assuming, of course, that you raised these issues prior to buying the car). Please let us know.

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ES350Bob

BMT...,

I think you going in aware and previewing the car the length of time you did should allow you to be comfortable you avoided issues like wind noise and even diesel engine sound.

I hope it all turns out well for you, in the meantime go have a blast, you just got a new car!!!!

dreyfus

I'd buy another one without any hesitation.

It was below freezing here last night and my car was parked outside. This morning I purposely drove it hard when cold to try and create both the startup engine noise and the shift flare. As with the half dozen other times I've tried, I couldn't get anything but a quiet, smooth drive.

Like wanderer99 said, you're in a better position to make a decision with all the input from owners on this board. The probems with various noises and some transmissions are very real, so you now know to look out for them when test driving and/or purchasing.

BMT22033

Hi e-man,

I live in the Washington DC metro area and there are five Lexus dealers in or very near this area. After I found this forum and started reading about the problems that people were having, I called all five dealerships and asked to speak to the service department manager. I asked them about the transmission flare problem and received these responses (I was taking notes, so these aren't verbatim, but very close):

- "Yes, there was a transmission problem that affected a very small percentage of cars built in the first few months of production. It has since been resolved in manufacturing."

- "Lexus has issued a technical service bulletin to address this problem but it's very uncommon. We've only seen 1 or 2 cars that suffered from this issue."

- "Yes, there was a transmission problem but it only affected a small number of cars early in production. It wasn't a widespread problem or else Lexus would have issued a recall. We've only seen a couple of cars that had this problem and in those cases, we were able to repair it by replacing a part, or replacing the entire transmission or by buying back the car."

Before I purchased my car, I had pretty much narrowed the decision of which dealership to purchase from down to the two largest dealerships in the area based on price. I visited both dealerships to look at and test drive the car. When I asked this same question to the two salespeople that I was working with, I got a couple of "questionable" answers.

The salesman at the first dealership I went to said, "Yes, that was a problem in some of the early cars. The transmission in those cars were made by an American supplier and unfortunately, some of them did have problems. All of the cars produced since late August, and certainly every ES 350 that we have in our inventory now, have a transmission that was made in Japan". Presumably, he was implying that a transmission built in Japan is somehow "better" than a transmission built in the US...

The salesman at the other dealership explained it this way: "Yes, that was a problem. I didn't even know about it myself until a few weeks ago when I was talking to our service manager. You know what the problem was? An o-ring was put on backwards. It was fixed in production and any car that you buy from us now would have already had that fixed when the car was built."

Again, neither of these responses is verbatim, but it's not far from being exact, either. When I went for the test drive at the dealership that I eventually bought the car from, I was telling the salesman about the problems that I'd been reading about here and his response was this: "Well, you know you can't really put what you read on the Internet in perspective because it's easy for a problem that affects a small percentage of owners to seem much more widespread than it really is. There are really only two kinds of people who post on these message boards. The people who are really happy with their car and, more often than not, the people who had a problem and have an axe to grind with Lexus."

I didn't hear any wind noise in the car that I bought so I didn't ask about that. I also didn't really notice any tapping or knocking sounds from the engine, either. It was around 43 degrees when I drove the car and judging from where the car was parked when I got in it (between several other cars), I don't think it had been driven today prior to my test drive. Maybe 43 degrees isn't cold enough to cause the engine to exhibit this diesel tapping/knocking sound that some people have complained of?

As I said before, this was a HUGE purchase for me and I would certainly have felt more confident about it if other people hadn't experienced problems (especially the transmission problem). But no matter how hard I tried not to like the ES 350, I just kept coming back to it. If I do end up having problems, I hope that Lexus and, my local dealer in particular, will be as good about fixing them as I've been lead to believe.