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Lexus ES 350
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Comments
I was able to rent an Infiniti G from Hertz, but not an M. Loved it except for the "Vroom-vroom" every time you accelerate. Drove me nuts on local errands.
The best way to compare is to set appointments so that you can drive them both one after the other over the same route. Your memory can really fool you. I found that my attitude toward the sales rep also affected my perception of the test drives.
I drove the M and ES 350 back to back three times.
The cars are very different. M is IMO a midlife crisis hotrod. ES is a luxury boat in a small package.
M is taller and 10% heavier and therefore has lower mileage and shorter range.
Fewer Infinitis are sold, so there are fewer dealers to compete for your sales and service business. In my area there are four Lexus dealers but only one actual Infiniti dealer (two stores under same ownership.)
Infiniti M is more powerful but, like the G, very noisy. They even bragged about their noisy exhaust system in a two-page ad in Car & Driver. I don't think I would get used to the distracting giant horizontal dashboard.
ES 350 is very quiet. Not as powerful feeling. I don't like the swoopy interior and the giant blind spots vs the ES330.
Wound up with a 15-month-old 330. Very good except, as with all Toyotas and Lexuses with that engine, it is loud when idling. Wonderfully quiet and smooth on the freeway. Much less fatiguing to drive long distances than other cars I rented or tested.
(For example, I rented a Lincoln Zephyr. Liked it a lot except that it is very noisy and fatiguing on freeway, has some cheesiness in the interior, and poor crashtest results. One Fusion/Milan/Zephyr broke the crash test dummy's ankle; the other had welds that came loose between body and chassis.)
The 330 does hesitate sometimes, but it never hesitates if I stab the throttle. So I stab the throttle when I need to do a merge and otherwise drive gently and don't worry about it. I gather that this is a side effect of tuning the engine computer for mileage and low emissions.
The ES is designed to make the car feel bigger than it is. This is done via the exterior looks; the interior layout, driver position, and detailing; and via the engine computer's programming. This is taking me a while to get used to.
I am going to ask the dealer to see if they can reduce the idle RPMs or otherwise reduce idle noise, but I don't expect much result.
Yes, I had similar problem and noticed that the rpm=2000 for ~30sec before it comes down to ~1200rpm and the noise level comes down too accordingly. Once you know the pattern, it doesn't bother me too much any more, except I do wonder sometimes why Toyota engineers couldn't fix the problem at the design stage.
Has anyone got similar problems?
For other owners who claim no noises on cold start, I wonder if you guys listen careful enough when you start the engine first time in the morning, with all accessories, fan/ac turned off. The sound is not really loud. I know noise level is very subjective as our ears may have different sensitivities.
Only 15% of the ES350 owners on the Club Lexus forum indicate that they have the cold start engine noise issue.
I wonder how that percentage compares with the number of ES 350 owners who actually bother checking their engine oil level routinely? The ES350's motor is essentially the same as the new Camry's 3.5L V6. Several posters on the Camry boards have noted that their dealers are still using bulk 10W-30 motor oil pumped out of a drum through a hose for service fill even though the oil filler caps are clearly imprinted with "5W-20". If these accounts are accurate, I wonder whether the higher viscosity 10W-30 oil may flow sluggishly enough in cooler weather to result in brief hydraulic tappet noise after overnight drainback. Might ask your dealerships or independent shops what they're putting in your ESs, guys.
Wow...Double that, WOW..!
I have NEVER seen a more direct admission of the hazards of engine braking on a FWD or front biased AWD in my life, never really expected too, from FORD yet. Good-o.
You should note that the FEH/MMH regenerative braking is significantly reduced ONLY at, near, or below freezing.
Regenerative braking is instantly reduced to zero if ABS needs to release the brakes to prevent lockup. But what about the ICE itself, does it raise the ICE RPM simultaneously to prevent actual engine braking?
Now I am very sure, certain, sure, I never want to drive a FWD or front torque biased AWD in wintertime conditions.
It still would be nice for the passenger(s) to be able to view a DVD while the vehicle is in motion. Has anyone heard of a solution to allow this function?
I brought it up to my dealer yesterday when I brought my car in for environmental coating... the dealer said it is normal. It is just the characteristics of injector in the new design. They told me in fact they had to do a complete check when they first received an ES350 because of this sound.
My loaner Es350 (with 6K milage, and build date of 03/2006) also has the same sound. So I am pretty sure this is pretty common in ES350. If only 15% of the eS350 have such problems, chances I have two ES350s having the exact same noise would be close to none(0.15*0.15=~2%). Maybe other owners just did not pay much attention to it.
Don't get me wrong though.. I love this ES350 a lot compared to the ES300. It would have been perfect without this tapping sound in the morning though.
(They'll have to tear my 10W-30 out of my cold, dead fingers. )
When I opened the door and got out, since my car was on a small incline, the car preceded to roll backwards. Thankfully I was able to jump in and apply the brakes. Boy, did that frightened me. Has this happened to anyone else? How can an engine be turned off in any gear and just park? Is my car normal or is something wrong?
I WILL remember to shift into park for now on.
Thanks, Tony
Every car I've had has allowed me to turn off the engine without putting the car in park. What I've haven't been able to do is turn the key past "off" to "lock," which has reminded me to put the car in park. Without a key, it would be nice to have an audible warning that the car is not in park, though I'm sure someone can come up with a reason that isn't practical either.
Finally, way back in high school drivers training, I was taught to always put the parking brake on when parking the car. It is dangerous to depend on the pawl in the transmission to hold the car, especially on a hill. And it's hard on the transmission, too, to have the entire weight of the car pressing on the PARK pawl.
onyx pearl with light grey interion; with e-wheels.
pictures just posted on carspace ( richard333 ).
body molding will be put on ( $165 part[with calif taxes ]
and $85 to put on )
love the car; have 2 negatives:
1. i don't have nav; the radio/cd read-out is very, very
hard to see in the daytime
2. a replacement key will cost $500 plus $50 to program it
this is ridiculous
on carspace should
have said "richard43" not "richard333"