SW17LS

I think you're over-emphasizing the risk of these technologies failing on a car like a Lexus. I've had these cars when they were old and high mileage, and my 2003 ES is still in the family at 190k miles. All the electronic goodies work on it just as they did when they were new. Navigation works great, auto wipers work great, the power sliding navigation screen works great, memory/power seats all operate like they always have. Electronics are the Japanese's thing...I would not at all be worried about this stuff failing.

You also have to understand that these are luxury cars, part of the allure of buying a luxury car is features and technologies that it has. I wouldn't want to purchase any car without memory seats, heated/AC seats, traction control, parking sensors, backup camera in this day and age, let alone a luxury car. Cars are designed for their new buyers, not for people who buy them 5-10 years down the line.

A Lexus ES350 basically is a Toyota Camry with more features and a nicer interior. If one doesn't want those features I do agree, why not just buy a Toyota Camry? If all you care about is reliability, you won't get more reliable than that.

Aron9000

Yeah that's what I love about Lexus, is even the old ones with a bunch of miles, everything still works. All the gizmos, dash lights, and stuff on my 1992 SC300 work, except the power antenna.

Had a couple of 90's Cadillacs, while they ran great and never had any mechanical maladies, I was always fixing something stupid like a power seat motor, a piece of interior trim that cracked/broke(several times), automatic parking brake release lever, rear seat belt wouldn't retract, climate control unit that had a couple of buttons that didn't work, power trunk pull down motor, a/c recharge, rebuilding the whole front end on a car with 100k miles on it because of sloppy steering, just piddly crap like that doesn't break on a Lexus, for the most part.

Personally I like the way the Lexus GS drives over the ES, handling is more direct and its RWD. Not a huge fan of the 2006-12 GS though, which is the generation you are looking at. They don't feel quite as solid as the previous gen or the current model on sale now. Plus the styling just doesn't do anything for me, and they all came with touch screen navigation systems which look really dated. In an older car, I'd rather just have a conventional radio without a screen, rather than a dated screen with windows 3.1 graphics.

stratovar

Nice car, I had to look up the SC300, hadn't paid much attention to the SC's in the past, I think for a lot of cars, the 3 liter is a great engine too.
It's funny , and I agree , some generations just don't get it right , for personal tastes ( mine at least) , I like Gen 4 vettes , but only 91 to 96, I like Gen 6 but not
Gen 5 so much. I love the Mustangs but not all generations ; Gen 1, 5 ,Love em', but not Gen 3, 4 and 6.......
I love the older 450SL's but not the middle generations of similar style, newer ones , yes.
For fairly modern Camaros, I like a 2011 V6 Convertible , pass on many of the others, my Dad had a 71' I wouldn't mind one of those...