kingofire

I was in the market for a new car and was seriously looking at the ES350. Pulled the trigger a couple of days ago on a Ruby Red UL a couple of days ago and they told me to come in today at the end of the day to pick it up! A great christmas present to myself YAY! For some reason i went in early just to take a second test-drive, and sure enough the flare happened to me too! Too bad they let me test drive it solo!! So i went back and nixed the deal after a lengthy fight with the Sales Manager....who was giving me the BS that i already signed and that the deal was done and i could not go back on the deal, since there were 5 other people wanting the same car! So I said, good then it should sell fast....blah blah blah... He was being a jerk so i showed him this website with the host of problems discussed, well eventually he let me nix the deal. I was going to buy another car, maybe a GS or an IS, but after putting me thru what he did, heck i was no stupid to do business with them. I went out of my way to another dealership 45 miles away and had a pleasant experience. I ended up buying a 2006 ES330 with 10,000 miles with no transmission hesitation issue as of yet for 24,995 plus TTL! From the internet and kbb, the car should be retailed at 31-32 grand. Its fully loaded blue onyx with nav BUT no ML I am okay with it since i got a great deal.
If it wasnt for onshkt and es350bob and twister and others, i would have bought the car blindly but reading up on this forum made me take that second test drive that i have never taken during other car purchases and with gods grace, the flare happened and am happy i didnt buy it.
Moral of the story to other new buyers is, heed the advise you get here and if you buy the ES350, take atleast 3 testdrives to confirm your choice of buying this vehicle.
I owe you guys one!

Thanks!!

P.S. My profile says es350 because i made it a couple of days ago, i dont know how to change it.

ES350Bob

Congrats on your ES330 and I hope you enjoy it!!!!

twister

I'm happy to hear this good news Did you get a chance to look up a build date of that UL? Wish you the best of luck!!!

MD350

Wow, what a story. Hopefully Lexus is reading! This goes to show it really does not matter what your build date is, that Ruby UL must be fairly new. Then, I have a 7/06 build date with 7300 miles and not one flair. I tried so hard to get it to act up and it won't. So, I think it is purely a roll of the dice.

Lexucan

So it's "good news" that there's another ES350 out there with tranny flare issues? Or is the "good news" the fact that the dealership tried desparately to force him to buy it, defects and all?

(j/k)

I get it - the good news is that kingofire managed to talk his way out of the deal in time, and instead got a nice car with zero problems (hopefully).

e-man

Wow. The power of information is an incredible thing. For all the naysayers out there who maintain that it's the same "handful" of people complaining over and over again, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one. An informed buyer walks into the dealership to pick up his new ES350, takes it for a test drive, it flares, and he backs out of the deal. Good for him.

LexFather

First congrats to the OP on his new ES 330.
Second, I am happy CL helped the OP change his mind about the 350 and he still stuck with Lexus. Seems you "handful" are doing your job.

ES350Bob

Santa lives, look how happy the guy is!

I saw Santa tracked on the weather guy's radar last night.

kingofire

I actually did look at the build date, its 08/06......

Thanks guys for the well wishes, I had a chance to drive the ES330 today, and it is quieter on city roads but louder on the highway in comparison to ES350. There is a little hesitation at lower speeds(~10-20mph)but only happens when the car was cold. Time will tell. I just changed the ATF with synthetic Redline, see if that helps.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Santa sure has been nice to me.

ES350Bob

Yes he sure has been and with such a small "handful" of little reindeer helpers he manages to bring joy to many

2thfixr

Thumbs up for the "whiners"!

MD350

Hey King, my wife's Sienna has the 3.3L engine in it and we had a "flash" performed to the computer for the hesitation. Might want to check with your service department on that. There is a TSB on it. Good luck and enjoy the ride.

e-man

LOL. Some of you are probably too young to remember this, but this reminded me of the SNL skit with Doug and Wendy Weiner. Maybe Bob and 2thfixr could change their CL screen names to Doug and Wendy.

ES350Bob

I'll be Doug

Unless 2th can do a zoro snap in which case we can do a sketch of Men On Cars...

kingofire

I cant do the flash because the tsb was for cars before beginning of 2005 or so. Lexus claims that cars built after that date already come with the updated flash. Thanks for the input though, the very reason why i like being a member on this forum because its people like you trying to help others! It has not been that bad though, only happened once throughout the day even after me taking the backroads and slowing down to 5mph and suddenly accelerating but it wouldnt hesitate again. Sounds like it only happens when the tranny is cold or me changing out to Redline ATF might have helped. Tomorrow we shall see!