ttriolo05

OK, well I bought a new ES330 last week. It's a georgeous Alabaster Metallic with heated and cooled seats, rear sunshade, 6-CD, etc. Passed up on the NAV and Mark Levinson. I too looked at the Acura, the Infiniti G35, Avalon among others. After some pretty good research: Consumer's Reports, forum like this, car reviews, etc. and a couple of test drives, I concluded that the ES was by far the best deal for the money. The Avalon was a close second but I did not like the stying or the interior as much as the ES. The posts about the transmission problems did give me pause, I'll admit but in the end it was not enough to keep me from the ES. When I saw the car with the colors and options that I wanted on my dealer's lot, I couldn't resist. Although I have only been driving it only a week now, I think I made the right choice. Good luck on yours.

OK, I'm ready to buy my first Lexus......or......maybe an Acura.

Convince me to buy the Lexus ES330.  My sister owns the RX300 (her second) and her husband owns an Acura. 

I was at the Lexus dealers last week and they keep calling me and emailing me, when are you coming back?  Are you ready to B-U-Y????   

I'm leaning to the Lexus.  What kind of a price can I expect off the sticker?

Thanks very much!  :D

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The BMW 3 Series is a different breed of car all together. I just traded in my 2001 325i for an '05 ES330 so I guess I'd know. I did have the 5-speed manual which is somewhat of an unfair comparison however. The BMW, even with the smaller 2.5l engine is very quick because that's the way it's set up to be. It will get you in and around traffic like nothing else on the road. As for the "ultimate driving machine" I never realized the hype. It's fun to drive in certain situations like a twisty mountain or coastal road but in heavy city traffic, it's just another car. The ride is hard especially the "sport" edition I had and it went through performance tires like they were made out of marshmellows ( three sets of tires in 55K miles). Mechanically it had it's problems especially with the electric window motors. Had to replace two in less than four years. So far, much happier with the ES even with the lack of power.

I know you dont want to hear it, but that has got to be the issue. The transmission "shifting enhancements" are designed to do one thing, to try and compensate for, or hide, the lag from the electronic throttle. Its the only explanation that makes sense. If this was a transmission shift logic problem it would be solved by now. Even if it meant giving up the ULEV status I think they'd have done that by now. Its got to be hardware related and the only culprit I can think of that couldn't be readily replaced is the drive by wire system. Lexus has even replaced entire transmissions before. If that would have fixed this, they'd have done it.

I'm still happy with mine but the issue is not 100% cured I agree. It does kick some when sitting in stop and go traffic at those speeds. Were you stuck on the NY Thruway? I was coming back from the Catskills yesterday, we might have been stuck in the same traffic LOL.

The only other suggestion I could offer you is to look into some aftermarket solutions, shifting kits and performance transmission reprogramming. I think aside from that we're gonna be S-O-L.

As for finding something you like as much as the Lexus, thats gonna be tough I agree. I've driven just about everything in that price range and I've found NOTHING I like as much as my Lexus. To get something else I'd be happy with I'd have to move up to a 5 series BMW or E Class Benz, or maybe a new Infiniti M35. You also may want to look at the Acura RL. I still think a lot of these cars could potentially have the same issue though.

You might also want to look at the new BMW 3. I like the styling MUCH more than the older one, and while I'm certain it doesn't ride like a Lexus you can probably count on it to have a tranny that knows what gear its supposed to be in...or you could get a manual.

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