gveng

Going to look at a 2005 ES330, besides the obvious used car stuff is there anything else I should be aware of.

I know I need to check for a timing belt/water pump service but is there anything else?

Thanks!

Edit: The car has 126k miles

LeX2K

Regular transmission maintenance. If you can't verify it has been done then be wary. And the obvious, major body damage/repair. In Canada Carfax is next to useless and not much better in the U.S. from what I hear, the better option is Carproof I am not sure what the better services are in the U.S.

JetsonES

Look around for any degraded rubber components and get the maintenance records. Really not much to look out for on this gen of cars, they are pretty solid and seem like they should go 300k.

gveng

Crap... they have transmission issues? Should I be looking at Rx330 instead? I'm coming from an Honda Accord V6, notorious for transmission issues, so i'm looking for reliability.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

These cars don't have transmission issues. Nothing like the generation before, and nothing like the imploding transmissions from Acura/Honda. They have a strange shifting pattern though and the first thing i would do on the car would be a few transmission drain and fills. Besides that, make sure the rear windows open and close, timing belt has been done, and that's about it. These are solid cars, ours has been trouble free besides having to have a new flex pipe welded in and currently a bad Mark Levinson amp. (Knock on wood)

gveng

i'm okay with a strange shifting pattern. I'll try to test drive it in traffic and see what's it all about.

Thank you!

speedkar9

+1 The tranny shift pattern and lag is the worse thing about this car. I still hate the way my ES330 behaves in stop and go traffic.

Nevertheless these are very reliable and solid cars and have no known mechanical issues. It will be a nice upgrade from your Honda Accord V6, although not as nimble.

The RX330 shares its powertrain with the ES330 and also shares the characteristic shift-lag response.

JetsonES

They just really really love being in fifth gear, I drive around in 4 or 3 most of the time.

Safetybob

Having been a Honda guy since mid 80's (yes I am dating myself), the Toyota transmission in these things is much different than our Hondas.


Think of it this way, Toyota wanted to prove that they were doing the environmentally right thing, so let's have the car upshift as quick as possible. You will find the difference that 1, 2, and 3 come really, really quick (like before 30mph), unlike our Hondas that basically with 1 to 2 at 25mph roughly. It's different. I have gotten used to it and over it too.


If you can find the records, I believe there is a timing belt tensioner pulley just like our Hondas that we normally replace every time we do belts. I had to tell my Lexus dealer here in OKC to replace it. They were only just going to "check" it. It could last until the next belt change, but why? Again, they weren't going to change the water pump either at the belt change time....we both know Hondas, change the belt, change the pump and tensioner pulley = no problems for 100,000.


No matter what, if you do get the car, look here for the transmission change interval thread on the first page of the forum. Get a case of tranny fluid, and do the full replace by putting your own hose in the cooler return line and put it in a bucket. Replace all the old fluid, it more than likely will make the tranny shift and perform just like new. My ES330 was garage kept every day of it's like except for roughly 7 days. With 50,000 my fluid looked good on the dipstick, but not when I drained and replaced it. More maroon than bright red (as it looked on the dipstick). It's easy and straight forward to do.


Bob E.