oldcajun

The lease on my RX is up in June and I got a certificate that Lexus would forgive the last 3 months if I bought or leased another Lexus. Today I took a quick drive in an ES350 while my wife was in shopping. I really like the car. The one I drove was a loaded UL. It was very quiet and the ride was very good. A little bit of low speed harshness but really pretty good and better than my 2016 RX. Acceleration was excellent and the car felt light and responsive. I thought the seats were very comfortable and had plenty of room for my legs and shoulders. The interior was tan with a matt bamboo trim and I thought it was fantastic. Rear seat legroom is great and I did not have any headroom issues in the back at my 6'1" height. The trunk was very large and well finished. List price was $52000 so I have an issue compared to the K900 at $59000 with more room, performance, and luxury. I plan to request a 2019 ES350 for a loaner when I take my RX in for 25000 mile service. That way I can spend more time and check the window wind noise issue some have reported.

This is likely my last new car (I'm 79) so I want to get it right. If the dealer had a 2018 LS500 at a great price, I might go with that even though I don't like the new car as well as my LS460 back in 2010.

nsaldanh

Some people have got a 2018 LS500 for $20K off sticker. I got about $18K off back in November. I had a 2008 LS460 and 2012, 2014 and 2017 LS460Ls. I quite enjoy the LS500.

mikemu30

Ride really not comparable to the RX - we have both. As far as Kia is concerned, they make a good product as long as you don't mind staggering deprecation from day one - much worse than the rest of the industry so just make sure you get an enormous discount off MSRP.

LexBob2

Interesting write up. Thanks. I'm 74 and have thought about the time when we'll go to one car. The ES would be a very interesting option when the time comes. Even though we probably could go to one car right now it's hard to give up the convenience we're used to. I still enjoy buying new cars and sampling new brands (we have a BMW and Audi right now) so it's fun to speculate what would be a good all around choice when the times comes.