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Lexus ES 300/ES 330
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Comments
Doug
shipmated@aol.com
I'm approaching 5,000 miles now. I had the 5K service done today. No charge. Dealer service at Bell Lexus in Phoenix is superb.
I reported no complaints or problems. My ES is performing quite well. I drove it from Scottsdale to Sedona today, and it is a pleasure on the road. Very surefooted even in wet weather.
The auto wipers work very well, right when they should.
Can't wait to show it to my buddy Tracy; he's got a 2001 Lincoln LS V-8. He really had me "thinkin' Lincoln" for a while, but the new ES just blew me away. Glad I waited. I'll convert him after he drives it; no problem.
I'm alternating tanks of premium and the middle octane. I haven't noticed any indication of pinging.
Still getting a lot of admiring glances, and comments.
Cordially,
RNBESQUIRE
1. standard stereo ("Premium sound system" with 6-disc in-dash as part of Premium Package) has too much background noise, too low power (86w). Sounds great as long as the volume isn't low enough where the ever-present background hiss becomes noticeable. With the engine off is when the background noise becomes readily apparent. My other Lexus with standard audio doesn't have this "problem."
2. transmission takes some urging to downshift for acceleration sprints and uphill climb.
That's all I can think of right now.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone. We all are slowly recovering from 9/11 and with God's help it will be a good year.
Buying this car was something of a nightmare, though. I am in South Florida. We've got like 4 lexus dealers in a 50 mile radius, so I had my pick.
Naively, I went to the highest-volume lexus dealer in the state (and one of the largest privately-owned businesses in the whole state.) I thought I could actually strike a decent deal b/c of their volume. Wrong. Terrible experience; high-pressure sales people, bait-and-switch tactics (!). They even had the gaul to pull the "we've finally got the car you want in stock, come down immediately to get it"... and by the time i got there "sorry, it was sold while you were gone! but we have another, more expensive one here..". This went on for a couple of weeks.
All-around awful, and very un-lexus like. (Should i let lexus corporate know about my experience? would they care?)
I must give a plug to the place where I actually purchased the car. Countyline Lexus in Hollywood. Ask for Wayne Sommer, who handles internet sales. He gave me the lowest price in the area, without any game-playing. All negotiations handled by email. The first time i met wayne in person was when i picked up the car! The whole process took < 2 hours. The best buying experience i've ever had.
BTW, when I picked the car up, it became clear to me why Countyline can afford to offer low prices; they have low overhead. The dealership is in kind of a sketchy neighborhood near proplayer stadium, and it looks sort of desheveled. No big coffee bars or waterfalls here... but the people were great, and i got my car. Highly recommended.
It's tolerable because the noise from the engine/wind will easily cover up any background hiss the sound system is making. But it is still poor design. It would be good if I could listen to the standard audio system in an '01 ES, as my only basis for comparison is the standard audio system in an LS.
Background noise aside, the standard audio system does sound quite good. My suggestion is to just try it for yourself and see whether the background noise is an issue for you or not.
Yes, I would definitely contact corporate Lexus about the other dealer experience. It is long overdue that such tactics will no longer be tolerated. As far as I know, Lexus prides itself in the buyer experience and hopefully would not condone such tactics as "bait-and-switch". I also urge you to contact the local Better Business Bureau to find out if the experience you received violated any State laws. If so, I would contact the States Attorney General who would also investigate. This sounds like a lot of work but you would be doing all of us a big favor. Please let us know if you decide to follow-up on this complaint. At the very minimum I would contact corporate Lexus and be sure to compliment Countyline Lexus at the same time. There has to be some evaluation of Lexus dealers by corporate Lexus and your opinion would help. Please keep us informed.
Would you also keep us advised of the ES300 driving experience periodically; such things as gas mileage, problems, or maintenance. Happy New Year to you and thanks for sharing your buying experience with us.
http://home.earthlink.net/~kreativ/Lexus/
I finally went with the certified ES (and it was a bit lower in price than the other two options, though that was not really the determining factor). The car is in splendid condition, and even came with chrome wheels. The one major thing I will miss is the dual climate control--this would make driving with the significant other more enjoyable. But I suppose I will manage somehow.
I have only two issues after driving the car for a little under a thousand miles. First, there is a rattle in the back and toward the right somewhere. It is faint, intermittent, and not really bothersome. It may be something as simple as the seat belt bumping up against the door or maybe the tools not firmly secure in the truck. My SO things I am silly for even giving it thought, as the car is still very quiet. I probably agree, and if I cannot find the cause I will still like the car. But I figure that I will give it a shot. The other issue is the wind noise from the driver's side window/seal (or lack thereof). I only really here it when on a windy highway. I was prepared for this by reading this board, and I do not find it unbearable. I will see if the dealer recommends anything when I take it in for its first oil change.
Overall, I am satisfied. I must say, though, that I expected that making the choice between these 3 cars would be less difficult. I did a great deal of research on each, drove all 3 more than once, and still had a hard time. In the end, I think I would have been well off with any of the choices, but I believe the exterior of the ES300 settled it for me. It is fairly conservative, quite clean, yet still very good to the eye. The exterior of the Avalon was a little less appealing to me, but not by a great margin. And if I needed back seat room, this would have been my choice probably. And I think the Camry fell back because I could feel the pickup difference between the 210 and 192 hp engines. This definitely would not have prevented me from buying the camry under any circumstance (pickup was fairly good, actually), but this set it slightly behind the other two in this category.
I should also add as footnote that I was not considering the new ES300. I like it quite a bit (some people seem to be put off by the exterior but I am not), but it is a bit more than I need and a little more than I wanted to spend.
Re Starlight Pearl: Lexus is not currently offering that color in the West Coast, at least not in California--the car capital of the world! Unbelievable. I would love to see pics.
When my wife and me were negotiating for Lexus ES300, he offered us a Silver one, and he promised he can give it to us right away. I hesitated for a while for the price concern. Just one minutes later when I came back from bathroom, I saw he congratulates to another guy, saying his car had just arrived. And I talked to Dany that I want the silver car, but he said the car had just been sold. It turns out that the guy got the car Dany was offering us after we talked with that guy. The guy had been waiting for the car for a long time.
I still placed an order for a silver car there. Dany brags that all other deals in LA get the car from them, and he get the car first. But he said he can not give me the VIN until 5 days before it arrived. I trust him(stupid!).
I can only take the car on weekends. But whenever I asked Dany if the car will be ready in the weekend, he said he could not know until the Friday. Obviously he is playing the same game with me as with the previous guy.
Maybe I will have the car some day, but I felt disgusting when I think of the salesman Dany. Is it any "Lexus" buying experience? I have to talk it out. Let's see what happens.
hk2la - I think you got a good salesman. If I had to go back, Bob Uchida would be the only guy I'd talk to. And he gave you a heck of a deal, $1000 over invoice. I haven't heard of anyone getting that kind of deal without having some sort of connection, let alone on the most popular color combination. What did it take to get that price?
The first dealer that i went to refused to give us a VIN number, wouldn't negotiate on price at all, etc... It was a miserable experience.
We went to the other dealer in our area (countyline lexus/hollywood,fla) and once we determined exactly what options we wanted & price we were willing to pay, they immediately searched for a car & gave us a specific VIN.
We were able to track this car every step along the way. (it took about a month to get it from "the boat" to my driveway.)
If a dealer says that they can't reserve you a particular car or give you a VIN number, they are lying. It's not the kind of place that you want to give your business. My $0.02 as a happy new ES300 driver.
I'm curious how many miles are on an ES purchased before arriving at the dealer. Can you tell me how many were on yours when you went to pick it up?
Mike E. Smith,
The digital camera I used was an HP 1.3MP, which is on the limits of acceptability as far as image quality is concerned. I recommend getting a digital camera from Olympus, Nikon, or Canon instead.
I was quoted on a I35 from infinity $408 before even hageling. and the I35 is around the same price of a car.
I do love Lexus service and would not know where to start on how great there service is. But I will not pay over $100 more a month for a $35,000 car. When Infinity and Jag are lower. Any ideas?
My ES300 had 6 miles on it when we picked it up. According to the dealer, that's about as low as you can get. (The miles come from rolling it around in shipping & when it's prepped.)
I think that's another advantage of putting down a deposit/getting a VIN number -- everyone else keeps their paws off "your" car :-)
Kreativ, I see you did a little bit of research. This whole VIN thing makes me a little doubtful about Bob now. Well, I was not in a rush to get a new car, and saw that some people here have gotten the $1K over invoice in Calif. so I knew I could too. Frankly, I would not buy if I had to pay more than that. But that's me. Plus I just wasn't that interested at the time. So I could take it or leave it, and I guess salespeople can sense that. Beverly Hills is still after me to buy from them.
~alpha
Thanks,
metmdx
I Leased my GS300 in the Year 1999 and it was brand new for $479 a month with 12k miles aloud each year.
If I was to lease a new Es this year 2002 I was told it was $530 which is a low price for me . The regular price I was told is $610-$630.
I feel that is NUTS why would I lease a car that is less approx $35k when I leased my GS300 in 1999 that was $42,000.
Do you understand what I am saying now? What is a good lease rate for a NEW es300 2002.
Thanks
hk2la - I'd be quite happy if I were in your place. Waiting a month and a half is long, but silver/gray is one of the harder colors to get (due to popularity) and Bob gave you a great price on one. It'd be a different story if you've waited this long and still don't have a VIN. But it sounds like you didn't have to wait too long for a VIN.
If you can't get as good a deal as you want now, just wait. They'll surely drop again. The release of the Infiniti G35 in a couple months, while not a direct competitor to the ES, should help drive ES prices down nonetheless.
If you're one to want to really maintain your car's apperance:
For the exterior: Purchase a high quality polymer sealant such as Klasse. It doesn't cost more than $20 for a bottle that will last through 10+ applications, with each one providing ~6 months of paint protection. And the shine is incredible, especially if you put on multiple layers.
For interior:
ES leather has a finished treatment consisting basically of a vinyl topcoat, so leather conditioner won't do your leather much good. If you're itching to use some sort of protectant on the dash or leather seats (not necessary), 303 Aerospace Protectant is the best you can get on the mass market.
Follow the instructions in your owner's manual on cleaning the interior. Don't go out and buy random cleaning products. A lot of them will hurt more than help in the long run.
I am looking for a lease price for 36 or 39 months. with 12k miles to use a year
Could use that Info.
thanks
I looked through the manual and didn't see anything about the moonroof automatically closing when you shut the engine off. But you might want to check with one of the service techs and see if they can configure it like that. I know there are a bunch of other options that are configurable by the dealer.
By the way, about the miles upon delivery, did you preorder or buy one off the lot?
hk2la,
I bet you've thought of going to Long Beach and getting the car yourself. It should be at your dealer very soon. Exactly how long did you have to wait before you found out your VIN?
Also, why didn't you buy a BMW with automatic if that's what your wife wanted?
Just curious, that's all.