Niece’s 1997 Camry finally kicked the bucket. Helping her look for a new used-car. Thinking the ES is good bet.

Kid’s in school, working full-time, deserves a reliable comfortable car that’s more interesting than a civic. $10k-$15k budget.

Is there a specific year/trim/motor/trans known to be the most reliable?

Any known issues we should avoid?

Thank you very much in advance!

 

Welcome to CL. Do some searching here as others have asked this question many times. Also look at the sticky section.

All of the 5th gen ES350's have the same engine and transmission and are equally reliable. It is basically a V6 Camry with more soundproofing, better options, comfort and safety. So maybe consider similar year Camry's too.
You are better off finding the newest model years your can afford.
Avoid the first model year 2007 (and maybe 8 & 9) just because they are all very old by now and had an oil pipe leak problem (due to use of a rubber hose instead of metal) that probably has been fixed on most by now.
Focus on the 10-12 model years.

With any used vehicle the most important thing is the maintenance history and second is mileage.
Luckily there is a Lexus site you can join for free call Lexus Drivers where you can enter the VIN of any vehicle you are interested in and it will show you the dealer service history. You can also see what equipment was built on the vehicle.
https://drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers

 

Info appreciated. I’ll go through threads and look for common issues.

 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...009-es350.html