SW03ES

Love the car, I've put about 100 miles on it so far and its a blast, quiet and effortless like a Lexus should be in normal mode, and its a beast in Sport +, super happy camper.

My incredibly maintained, washed twice a week, not a nick or mark on it, always garaged, synthetic oil run 2010 ES350 is going to be coming up for sale at Lexus of Rockville. Its truffle mica with parchment, nav, 41k miles. They have another one just like it that has 35k miles, that one isn't mine.

You won't find a better maintained CPO ES, just letting everyone know...

If you see it and you're interested PM me and I'll share what they gave me so you know the basis for negotiating...

Drove off the lot tonight in a brand new silver/flaxen 2013 GS350 with the luxury package! Had about 7 months left on the ES lease, but this deal was too good to pass up. I'm driving a $60k GS for about $70 a month more than my $40k ES. December to Remember for the win!

I love the car, huge upgrade in terms of solidity and quality...which you'd expect for $20k more. Reminds me of the LS in normal mode, but in Sport + it gets mean!

Pics to come!

I know a few people have made some comments about the XTS competing with the ES, I was in the neighborhood of my friendly local Caddy dealer the other day and stopped by and drove the new XTS, I have some thoughts compared to the ES, and some thoughts about the car in general.

First of all the car is not really comparable to the ES, its larger and more expensive. Its a *really* big car, you have to see it in person to get the full feel for it. Very long rear overhang with a short decklid, almost like a fastback. Very attractive, I think its a great looking car. Very premium feeling, excellent trim and fit and finish.

Love the interior too as well as the technology. Great materials, beautiful wood trim, LCD gauge cluster is very nice and very customizable, nav interface is good while the touch sensitive buttons and all are kind of goofy. Great audio system. Upgrade from the ES inside.

However...I was very disappointed in how it rode. I drove a Platinum trim car with 20" chrome wheels and they rode very hard. Suspension was soft, but impacts were hard and jarring because of the wheels, lots of road noise. I'd be interested to drive one of the lower trims with the 19s and see if they are better.

Equipped similarly to the UL ES its probably $58k or so. A lot of money for a Cadillac. I'd pass.

Hey gang,

Went over and drove the ES300h today, the dealer got one in. I liked it overall, not for me though. One thing I noted was how hard it rode compared to my car and the gas car, looking through the displays I found the tire pressure readout (which now reads the actual pressure in all the tires by the way) and saw the PSI was 55! That explained that. In normal driving you really don't feel the differences in the hybrid and gas powertrains, the hybrid is very smooth and the transitions between gas and electric are almost imperceptible. I don't care for the bamboo trim, and I didn't care for the hybrid wheels. I also don't like the way a CVT feels during acceleration. Nothing against it, its just not for me.

So, they did have a ES350 optioned the way my 2010 is optioned, silver with grey interior with the better looking liquid graphite 17" wheels. I took that for a spin, I really do like the car a lot. The interior is just great, ride and drive is great as well. MSRP was $43,800...max discount was maybe $500.

So, I have 10 months left on my lease. I let them go ahead and appraise the car and run the numbers. Trade in came in where I'd be upside down a little bit, with the lack of discount and even with the high residual (60%, same between the 350 and 300h) we're talking $150 a month more than I'm paying now, which doesn't make sense for me to get out of what I've got early. I'll keep mine for a while, let the payoff get lower, let the 2013s get out a little more and get some bargaining room, and see what we can do.