timzter

Actually, the vibration is still happening, but only felt when the car is moving at around 60+ mph DOWN a slightly inclined road, say 15 degrees or more, AND I step lightly (AND maintain my step) on the brakes. So the rotor polishing did NOT solve it. At this point, I don't care anymore since my lease ends in the beginning of January, and I plan to have the dealership put me on a new lease of the 2013 ES350 well before the lease on my current 2010 ES350 ends. But I can't believe the vibration is happening at all for such a relatively new car. I had the same thing happen on my previous Infiniti J30 and the diagnosis was that some "strut bearing" (??) had to be replaced. (Definitely "strut" something....can't remember the exact part name.) And that DID resolve it. I mentioned it to Lexus in case it was the same issue, but they brushed me off and insisted it was due to the rotors.

Is the MSRP for the new 2013 ES350 the same everywhere in the US? I just received an email from my local Lexus dealership showing the attached info. I am guessing that is without nav?

My 2010 ES 350 had been having this issue for several months. When the car was going down a slope (say 20 degrees) at 60+ mph and I tapped on the brakes to prevent the car from accelerating due to the slope, the car would shake/vibrate/chatter (however, you want to call it). Releasing my foot from the brake pedal stopped the shaking. Applying the brakes again resumed the shaking immediately. I brought the car in recently to the Lexus service center for my oil change and told them to take a look at the problem. They found out that it was caused by patchy rust build-up on the ______ (oops! the name of the part suddenly escapes me) on all 4 wheels--I think it's the metal part that comes into contact with the brake pads. I had to leave my car there for a day for them to polish the part on all 4 wheels. It's working fine now. So if you feel the chattering vibrations when you step on the brakes when going down an incline, bring the car in. They said it is dangerous if it doesn't get addressed.

I haven't had a problem transferring contacts from my iPhone to the Nav of my 2010 ES 350, but if you're in the middle of listening to music on your iPhone through the Nav's Bluetooth (BT) audio system, you may have to do "Connect to Phone" again to reconnect the BlueTooth to transfer the phone contacts.

Good to know. Wish the lexus.com site is ready with a "build your own ES 2013" page. I wonder what the color palette for the exterior and interior will be this time.

I have been taking my Lexus in for service at the Lexus service center and, yes, they charge an arm and a leg. They toss some free donuts at you and make you think it's all worth it. I am considering taking my Lexus (it's leased anyway) to Pep Boys for my next oil change. Do you all know if Pep Boys and other similar body shops have the capability to reset the oil change warning light and set it to illuminate again 5000 miles later? Or can that sort of thing only doable at the Lexus service center?

I always wonder how they park the Scion. It is almost kissing the road. So any news on what the MSRP will be for the 2013 ES 350, with nav package? I hope it's the same as the 2010 in 2010.

The "lower stance" means more likelihood of scraping the bottom of the front bumper against the curb. I hate it when that happens. You realize what you just did and then reverse to pull back the car from the curb and hear that god-awful scraping sound.

Looks like this is the official 2013 ES 350 website: http://www.lexus.com/ES-2013/ Nice!

It sure looks a lot like the 2013 GS though, both inside and outside.

OK, from what little I saw in the video, I think I like it enough to swap out my 2010 ES 350 with the 2013 ES 350. I like the more "serious-looking" dashboard (not that horse-shoe shape that I have now) and the butt viewed straight on from behind seems to look a bit more substantial (wider?) than my current ES's. The front grill also looks pretty neat. So, yeah, I think I will swap it out this December or so.

Anyone know where I can get the official specs and exterior/interior pics of the 2013 ES350? When I google for it, I just get random links showing cars of different shapes. :-) I think those are just pics of what people speculate it will look like.

Did you use a low-octane gas? When I "cheated" by using the lowest octane gas on my old Infiniti J30 which required the highest octane gas, it caused noises in the engine. The mechanic immediately asked me if I had been using low octane gas and I had to 'fess up. The phenomenon is called "knocking."

I saved a contact on my iPhone labeled as "AA Reservation" (for American Airlines). The other day while driving, I tried to place a hands-free call by saying, "Call Ay Ay Reh-ser-vay-shun." It doesn't understand that. I tried again with "Call Aah Reh-ser-vay-shun" (thinking that the system thought "AA" was pronounced as "Aah" like the sound you make when your doctor examines your throat). Didn't help either! At the end, I had to pull out my iPhone from my jeans pocket while driving, alternate between watching the road and scrolling through my contact list at the same time to place the call "by hand." Do you guys think the voice recognition system of the ES350 is a piece of crap also or is it just me??? It would help if there was a "button" on-screen that would speak back to me what the system thinks my contact labels sound like, so I can at least imitate it and try to pronounce it the way it wants. So far I know that "Ed" (as in Edward) is supposed to be pronounced as "Ee Dee" (as in the letters "E" and "D"). It doesn't understand "Ed" the way you and I normally would. "Cafe" is pronounced as "kef", not "keh-fay". Forget "Dr" (as in doctor). So what are your experiences like with the voice recognition system and how have you guys overcome the issues, if at all?

Try this link.

My ES *does* have Nav. Anyway, I don't like the way this front defogger switch behaves. Seems like every time I use it, I have to tapdance around it and the AC OFF switch with my fingers to turn the front defogger LED off. Totally not intuitive.

OK, to me the operation of the rear defogger switch on the 2010 ES350 makes sense. It starts off with NO defoggers turned on. I tap the rear defogger switch once. Its LED light comes on and the rear window gradually defogs from the heat of the heating element in the glass. I then tap the same rear defogger switch a second time and its LED goes OFF and the heating element stops producing heat. Makes sense. But the front defogger switch is confusing! OK, so it starts off with NO defoggers turned on and the A/C fan is also NOT turned on. I tap the front defogger switch once. Its LED light comes on and the blast of air over the windshield gradually clears the fog away. I then tap the same front defogger switch a second time. Its LED light turns OFF and the blast of air stops blowing across the windshield, but now the AC's "Auto" light turns on automatically, and a full blast of air now comes out from the OTHER AC vents. (WHY???? I did NOT request for the AC to come on!!!) I must tap the AC "Off" button to turn the AC off. If after the front defogger LED comes on and the blast of air blows across the windshield and I tap the AC OFF button instead, the blast of air across the windshield DOES stop, but the front defogger LED remains LIT. So now if I want to REALLY turn OFF the front defogger LED light, I must tap it yet again, but, of course, this causes the AC's "Auto" to be engaged and the full blast of air comes through the other vents like I described above. Why is the behavior of the front defogger switch so damn confusing? What am I missing here? Why did they not make it behave exactly like the rear defogger switch??? Keep it simple! (Yet another thing I don't like about the Lexus ES350. Perhaps it behaves the same way in the higher models!)

Call me crazy, but when I spend $45,000 on something I usually look at it first before I sign the check. Did you see your car or drive it before you bought it? Every single dislike you list for your ES is something one would expect a potential buyer to weed out in the shopping process. All of your dislikes are legitimate, but are also personal preferences; things based on ones personal taste such as color, shape, sound level, etc. It just seems a waste that you would have purchased a car that you truly don't like when there are so many other choices out there. Actually I did shop around before I got my ES. To be honest the ES350 was the best in that price range. I checked out the Audi A4, but the interior felt more like a sports car than a luxury car. They should hire Martha Stewart to dress it up. I also checked out the Infiniti GS35. It drove great. Very solid handling. Felt like it hugged the road when doing sharp turns. But again, it didn't ooze luxury. So the ES350 still came out ahead in terms of the luxury feel, but like I said, it still falls short in my opinion. Perhaps only something like the LS460 or Audi A7 will satisfy me, but alas, it is beyond my reach financially at this time, unless maybe I get a preowned one. So yeah, I admit I am merely *settling* for the ES350.

I have been driving my 2010 ES350 for almost 2 years now (got it new), but I must admit I don't *feel* luxury when I drive it or when I look at it. The exterior design of the car does not scream luxury. There is no distinguishing feature that makes it stand out among other cars in its class. My least favorite aspect of the exterior is the view directly facing the back of the car. The "butt" looks small and unflattering. In fact, I prefer the older ES330's "butt" which was more substantial looking. The ES350's profile and front views are OK. As for the inside of the car, I don't like the look of the sound system. The rounded inverted horseshoe look needs to go. The carpet lining the lower walls of the interior is very cheap looking with a very low pile. You can easily create a mark on the carpet pile by swiping your finger across it. Its yellowish color also does not go with the rest of the interior. If you push your finger into the carpeted "wall" below the gear compartment, it actually buckles and sinks in. It's as though they just wrapped the hollow area with some cheap plastic and slap the cheap carpet over it to hide it. Very disappointing. The 2010 ES350's ride is smooth especially at highway speeds, but the cheaper wheels that came with it do produce a pretty loud rumble especially if the road surface is just concrete and not asphalt. My old 1994 Infiniti J30 won hands down as far as cabin quietness. Perhaps the thing that makes me not love my 2010 ES350 is knowing I am just driving a souped-up Camry which IT IS, and knowing that my friends know that as well. That whole "Ooooooh, you're driving a Lexus" is totally not there at all. Totally no brag factor. While the Hyundai Genesis is not quite there yet, it definitely holds promise to becoming something really great. I love the fancy tail pipes and the overall look of the back of the car. Maybe I will swap out my ES350 for a used LS460 which fits more to my perception of luxury.

Oh no, you took it the wrong way. I emphasized WHILE I was driving to assert that it is something that can be done while driving, unlike, say, the navigation system which prohibits you from typing in an address or entering a new stock symbol while driving.

Yes, I tried it last night. OK, I am not sure if "maplight" is the right word. I think it is called the "front and rear interior lights." All 4 lights at the same time. I didn't notice if it also turned on the footwell lights. But the whole cabin is definitely brightly illuminated. And yes, WHILE driving.

So it turns out that Paul A. is right. There is, in fact, an "all lights on" switch to turn on the front and rear map lights on the ceiling at the same time. It is the first switch with the "light icon" (looks like a half "sun") right behind the 1st garage door switch. See the switch marked with a red circle in the attached image.

But can I turn on the rear passengers' maplights from the driver's seat? For example, I am driving at night and there is toddler strapped to the back seat. He is crying while I am driving. I want to turn on the rear maplights so I can quickly turn around to see what's happening.

My ES350 has a sunroof so there's no dome light but I dont know if other 350s without sunroofs have dome lights. Mine has two lights under the dash that light up the front floor area and two lights on the bottom of the rear doors for the back floor area. The only way I can get any of those lights to come on it to unlock the car with the remote or open the doors. Mine has a sunroof too. Hmm....honestly I haven't yet inspected the back seat area, but I guess there is no way for a backseat passenger to turn on some light to read a book while traveling at night, for example.

I have been driving my 2010 Lexus ES350 for 1.5 years and I still don't know how to turn on the cabin light while driving (or while I am stopped at the traffic light). Most non-luxury cars have a light on the ceiling of the car right about the middle of the roof which can be manually turned on by pushing a lever switch. There is no such light in the ES350. How do I illuminate the back seat area while I am driving (assuming there are no back seat passengers) or when I am stopped at the traffic light?