I personally think I'm going to hold out for a nice '08 ES - one with the UL package if possible.

Hopefully the bugs were worked out by then.

For me I plan on keeping the car - well past 100k most likely. I'm hoping that in the long term, it won't nickel and dime me. I also don't want it falling or rattling apart as it ages.

Sure my LS shows some wear with the miles it has, but I just want something newer. My cousin who is a long-time Toyota mechanic tells me I won't be happy with anything in the price range I'm looking for (~$25k) since nothing is built as solid as my LS was 10 yrs ago. I agree with him to some extent - that car was really over engineered, but I also have to keep in mind it was the flagship vehicle too.

 

those were my thoughts exactly...if you can dig deeper in pockets...look for 08 will be very satisfied or late manuf 07....I guess worse case if financial reasons dictate I would consider the early 07 YEAR build that you found at one of the dealerships.

 

If possible, i would recommend looking for an owner trade-in car vs. one that was a loaner or even a lease turn in. There is a good chance that the car was cared for better.

 

My wife has a 05 ES 330, and I have an 09. In terms of color (blk/blk) and options it's almost exactly like mine ( nav, rear-sun shade, heated/cooled seats, etc but no blue-tooth though). Although I like the styling of the 07-09 model more, her car is still super nice. I would go with the 06 because of the lower miles. I love driving her car as much as mine and they both look sharp!!. Now, with a build date of 5/06, the 07 averaged about 21K miles/yr, which is over the average of 12-15. If the car is CPO then there is less worry, but the 06 seems hardly ever driven at all, 8k miles a year. How well was the 07 maintained? What kind of climate was it in? 1 owner vehicle? IMHO I would still opt for the 06, unless there are some options in the 07 you can't do without or the styling issue.

 

You can always add bluetooth to the ES 330.

 

THANK YOU to all who provided opinions.

We bought an black '07 ES350 with 59K miles and the full CPO yesterday for a couple grand under blue book. Rides great, beautiful, I'm thrilled.

Thanks again everyone.

 

Awesome - hope you enjoy your new ride. Glad to hear you got a fair price. Since you're in IL do you mind me asking where you got it and how the experience was?

 

Sure. Got it from Arlington Lexus in Palatine. Good experience, but also the standard car salesman schitck...ok, hang on, let me go back to our business manager...leaves for 5 minutes, returns with piece of paper with scratch marks, prices crossed out and circled (as if they've REALLY been working it back there)...etc... But in the end we got them to CPO the car essentially for free and then got another $500 off the list price. You have to be literally ready to walk out the door and start doing it. I'd give the whole thing a B. I recommend them.