LexFinally

Note that OP doesn't necessarily know that answer to tell you; what he found was a used one. Last I heard, the new ones were severely back-ordered.

mikemu30

$70k plus "market adjustment"

bc6152

Hmmm. Too much for me... I'll stick with Lexus... Not worth the difference IMO...

I had the opportunity to ride in and drive one of these out in California. I found the interior to be finished off very nicely. The infotainment system was IMO superior to Lexus. I have the ML system which is a disappointment for me, but didn't find their radio much better. Driving was very similar as this one was a rear drive only, not AWD. I do like the looks of the G80.
Well hey, this is why they make chocolate and vanilla...

mikemu30

Yeah at that price point, I'd jump into an Audi regardless of long term reliability.

LexFinally

Obviously this is a Lexus board, and we love our Lexi. But to be fair to the Genesis and its new owner, in this case it's more like "This is why they make vanilla and premium full-fat French vanilla with solid gold sprinkles on top."

AllinCLE

The sunroof was a factor, and with the cold weather back sure enough it started to drip again. But mostly I just wanted something else. I cycle through daily drivers quite a bit, and with the used market prices being insanely high it was worth more than it was a year ago with way fewer miles. So I decided it'd be as good a time as any to move on, if I could find something else new that wasn't a completely terrible deal.

I'd say the poor dealership experience I had while experiencing the leaky roof made me more willing to give Genesis a try. Besides the lack of brand cachet, the dealership experience is the next biggest drawback for Genesis. In my case, that's not a drawback with how bad the closest Lexus dealership is.

Like mikemu30 said, lots of highway driving. My commute is 120mi/day and mostly highway, so that keeps my average pretty high.


That's fair, and I drove the A6. I liked it as well, but preferred the G80 in almost every way. Still a little sour on the Audi experience after the 2018 Q5 we had.

AllinCLE

That's fair, and you're not alone. The ES will far outsell the G80...probably for as long as both are made. I think the ES is such a great value that it really feels like a point of diminishing returns when moving up the price ladder. A lot of that difference in price is spent on the RWD platform, which has some pretty sophisticated features that make it expensive to build.

AllinCLE

Thanks, yeah hopefully these turbos don't cook themselves! No way I was getting the 2.5, I wanted more power for sure. One thing I like about this 3.5T versus Genesis' older 3.3T engines is that it has port and direct injection, which should help its longevity and fighting off carbon build up.

mikemu30

My daughter has an 18 Q5 and pretty trouble free after four years other than a blown turbo at 5k miles😐

mikemu30

Hyundai in general makes great products other than some of the widespread blown engine issues they've had over the years. I have a coworker with about 310k on the clock of an Elantra!!

LexFinally

In this market, I think that's a very good deal. And I agree that if you were getting a lousy dealer experience, that slaps away one of Lexus's biggest advantages. Enjoy the hell out of your G80.

DavidZ

Genesis gets rave reviews for technology. What cool tech features does your G80 have that the ES doesn't? My favorite tech feature is the bird's eye view. Does the G80 have the same? If so, how does the implementation compare? Does the ES have any cool features that the G80 doesn't?

ionian

Their camera is very good. It puts the Lexus egg to shame:

AllinCLE

It does have the birdseye/360 camera, one of my favorites too. It largely works the same, but the resolution is much higher on the G80...much is made of this in reviews but view on my ES never bothered me. What is cool though is how at slow speeds, the same camera screen can identify spots the car will self park into, (parallel, pull in, and back in). Kinda neat but I've never actually tried it. I think I saw the self parking also can be done outside the car via the fob.

A few other neat tech features of the G80:
The camera in that pops up in the gauges when the turn signal is activated is mildly helpful.
The app on the phone is better than Lexus, because you can use it as a key once you enroll it. You can also use it to take and view photos using the surround view cameras.
All of the driving assist features are a whole different level, they work incredibly well. There's a neat view on the HUD and gauges when all of the Highway Driving Assist features are on, showing the car placed in the lane the cameras see and all of the other vehicles it detects.


I can't think of anything tech wise the ES had that's not on the G80. But some more things I liked better with the ES:

• I think the Lexus triple beam LEDs are better, especially on Low. Oncoming drivers may not agree lol
• In the cabin, Lexus' experience sweating the details shines through in the way some of the features are easier to use and/or you don't have to think about. Features that look the same on paper are easier to use in the ES. I forget what it was called, climate concierge or something like that, but I could set the seats, steering wheel, and climate all to auto and the car would turn it all on if its cold or switch to cooling on a long drive because it knew my back was too warm.
  • Same deal with the auto high beams stayed, which stayed in "auto" until taken out. In the G80 I have to reengage the auto high beams every time I start the car if I want to use that feature. Which is annoying
  • Same deal with the parking brake.

CruiseGuy

[QUOTE=AllinCLE;11221483]Well, I decided to part ways with my '19 ES 350 Ultra Luxury. I enjoyed my time with it overall, sunroof issues notwithstanding. It was a great car and exactly what I expected it to be: a supremely comfortable and quiet cruiser to eat up the miles on my long commute. Competent if you pushed the pace, but not an ounce of sporting pretension to speak of. The G80's certainly possesses more athleticism, but it isn't particularly sporty either, with an identity that is also firmly in the comfort end of the luxury spectrum. I'm not going to make unfair comparisons, there is a big gap in price and the G80 has its sights set on the German competition. Obviously I think its better or I wouldn't have parted with the ES plus a hefty amount of cash, but here's some areas I think the ES was/is superior:

Value: No question, the ES is a great car and an even better value.

Stereo: The Mark Levinson sounds wonderful in the ES, and initially I give it the edge over the Lexicon in my G80...I say initially because I haven't played with the settings to get it optimized like I did with the ML.

Fuel Economy. The 7th Gen ES 350 is shockingly efficient in my experience (and yes, of course the hybrid is even better still). I logged every mile driven and every gallon of gas I pumped into my ES, and over just under 52K miles averaged 30.4 MPG (or 3.29 g/100mi). Comparing to the EPA's 3.8 gallons per 100 mile rating (a better, linear indicator of efficiency), I beat it by 13.41%. Best tank was 35.9 MPG, worst was 25.8. To me that's incredible in a luxury sedan of this size/weight and with a NA V6 engine making 300HP. The G80 is nowhere near as efficient, averaging 26mpg so far in my hands. Still not bad considering it's much heavier, twin turbo's, and AWD. It costs me about 3 cents per mile more in fuel, due both to the decreased efficiency and the use of premium.

Steering wheel: I loved the steering wheel in in the ES, it looks and feels much better than the odd design of the G80's.

Forum: Way better forum here! And a lot more active users.

If there's anything you're curious about between the two cars, I'm happy to give my opinion. I plan stick around, as we've got my partners 21 Rx 350 still as well.[/QUOTE
CONGRATULATIONS! i am sure you did some VERY serious thinking before you signed on the dotted line.
The Genesis is the new kid on the block compared to the Lexus, it will be interesting to see how the Genesis holds up.