yelloguy

I am looking at buying a CPO ES 350 2019. I did a test drive yesterday and I noticed that the acceleration is not smooth as expected. When I am doing about 30 miles an hour, I push the pedal steadily but the car keeps doing the same speed for about 3-4 seconds. And then the car zooms about 3-4 seconds too late. This was a very jarring behavior. The salesman of course said there is nothing wrong with the transmission and everything is fine. But I cannot ignore this as I tried the same thing 3-4 times in Sports and Normal modes. I am going to back to pick up the car today but I have told the dealer to have the shop look at it. Thoughts?

ionian

That is a red flag there. It isn't normal. That car is most likely dealing with a fuel/air mixture that is too lean. Don't sign anything until you take it to an independent mechanic to have a full inspection done.

UltraLux22

I noticed on my 2019 Lux that there were some hesitation issues during acceleration but nothing as significant as what you are describing. Being a CPO if this particular ES needed the Fuel Pump replaced as part of a recall, you would think it would have been completed but I would check none-the-less. When I addressed the hesitation issue with service dept. they acted as though it wasn't a major issue and tried to explain it away. They went so far as to try and convince me that due to the advanced transmission that this might occur so I new it was B.S. One work around they said was to drive it constantly in Sport Mode. I politely told them that their "fix" was ridiculous and they needed to try harder on the B.S. front. I've read of others experiencing this to a much lesser degree on many 2019's but so far I haven't experienced it with my 22'. If driving in Sport Mode and the issue still persists, I would definitely think twice even if the vehicle is covered under the CPO warranty, it's not a problem I would want to inherit. Unfortunately the salesman telling you everything is fine isn't unexpected b/c they want that sale but ignoring your concern isn't a great way to instill confidence or foster goodwill. As Ionian said, having a trusted mechanic inspect the car is definitely the way to go here.

mikemu30

Try the paddles to downshift. At 30 mph in NORMAL, it may just be trying to hang onto a higher gear for fuel economy.

ESh

That is not normal, 3-4 seconds is waaaaay too much.

mcomer

Fuel Injected cars "learn" from your driving pattern and adapt. If you always drive hard it will be ready
but will be hard to maximize MPG when you decide to drive gently. With this example it is possible that
the former owner and then the lot personnel just drove slowly. It learned to ramp up the throttle response
gently. Once you own it you might try to disconnect the 12v battery for 10 minutes to clear the memory.
This will also clear radio stations etc, but you have not really "moved into" this one yet, right? Once reconnected
you can begin driving at your normal pace and see how it accommodates you. Earlier comments here may well
apply, could be fuel pump/filter, air filter, sub-par fuel (only needs 87 Regular anyway).

ESh

On these cars removing the battery will not reset anything.

yelloguy

Thanks folks! Great inputs.

The salesman says he had his tech drive the car and the tech thinks there is nothing wrong with the car. Everything is normal.

I spoke to the salesman on the phone and he insists that the car is fine. He says he has owned an ES 350 and these transmissions respond the same way he watched it respond to me.

The car does have pep so when it responds it shows the power under the hood. I am wondering if I am imagining things here.

Because of all this back and forth, I could not keep the appointment today. So now I am going back on Saturday.

UltraLux22

Don't let them decide for you! They can tell you and we can tell you all day long what drive behaviors you can or should expect but you've gotta feel good about it. If YOU feel like something is not right, then it could nag at you until you are sure it's not an issue. I would compare a similar vehicle under similar circumstances. Recreate the situation in another ES if possible. 2019-22 ES 350's would have the same v6 engines. The drive might vary slightly, as I personally think my 22 is better than my 19 in several ways. I know they are scarce so it does make this a bit tougher considering there is probably several other buyers waiting just around the corner to ****** up the car. Don't let that force you into a rush decision, but you have to be diligent. Besides you are trying to determine a pretty significant "issue" from what you described so it should be evident pretty quickly if what you experience in the CP0 19 is different than any other 19-22 ES 350 you drive. Just my 2 cents.

CJS57

See if it does it at 30 mph when the shift lever is in S3. That will tell you if it is fuel/engine problem or slow jerk shift transmission. (which they All have)

yelloguy

This is so awesome! I am glad I posted here. I was short of ideas and now I have several to work with.
Best part of owning a Lexus seems like I get to join this community! Hopefully I will graduate to learn the club lexus secret handshake in 4 years.

veeinc

This happened to me a few times recently when I tried to accelerate quickly after coming to a stop (like at a stop sign). When I pushed on the accelerator, the car seemed to hesitate for about three seconds. At first, I thought it had something to do with the car being stuck in a higher gear, but this wasn't the case. The issue seems to have gone away after I started driving consistently in sport mode.
I plan on reporting this issue during my next visit to the dealership and will let you know if they find an issue.

mikemu30

The stop sign jerk happens even in SPORT. I've learned to live with it.

E46CT

If there were anything wrong with the fuel mixture (highly unlikely anyway) you'd have an STFT and/or LTFT codes. Not likely on such a new car anyway unless a bunch of rats attacked the engine or you drove into a light pole--in other words something terribly obvious.

My guess is just the OP is used to a certain kind of response from sportier cars and/ or not used to a stepped auto on a Lexus. His description of 3-4 seconds is obviously perceived then translated through his brain then a keyboard then onto the forum. I don't think he took a stop watch out to time it lol.

Even with my 2016 IS200T F Sport, a very sporty car, I would "perceive" a similarly long delay when flooring it. One mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi...shift... ok folks lets accelerate. it was always frustrating if i wanted to pass someone, but if i waited long enough for the power to build up, then would come the satisfaction.

Not to turn this into a 350 vs hybrid thread but it is objectively one of the things i appreciate about the hybrid drivetrain. while outright measured acceleration #s may not be as fast over a timed period (I'll give the 350 that), the response with the hybrid *when you want* to go, is instantaneous as the electric motor spins up -- say if you want to merge into traffic or pass someone. It's always gratifying not having to wait for a computer to perceive the signal to shift, execute the actual physical shift, *then* accelerate.

TL;dr, more than likely what OP is experiencing is normal.

mikemu30

There's maybe a one second delay when I pound the pedal - three or four would be outrageous.