LarES30014

The ES line from Lexus is a good car, but lacks a few things that would make it a great car. I don't see that any or these drawbacks have been addressed with the new 2016 model:

1. The ride is far from luxury. If I drive over a quarter in my 2014 ES300h, I can tell if it's a heads or tales.

2. Road noise is evident. The car itself is quite quiet except for the road noise.

3. The Mark Levinson sound system has terrible tone. At flat setting, it screeches with very strident treble, and has little bass. I had to turn the treble all the way down, and bass all the way up to get the best sound. Even with those settings the treble is still too extreme though the bass is solid and tight. For the high cost of this system, this is just unacceptable. It could possibly be improved a bit with inclusion of an equalizer.

I have an SC430 with Mark Levinson and it's sound is superb at flat settings. It's not because the car is smaller, but because the engineers adjusted the frequencies to be flat when set at flat. I am really disappointed with the ES Mark Levinson sound system.

jollick

I do not have your issues # 1 & 2. Perhaps it is your tires, I have the Michelin 17" and 18" tires and keep them at 33 cold psi. I agree that the ML unit is not what it should be. I also had it in a GS, LS, and SC.

SW17LS

You have to understand that the ES is an entry level car. You can't compare it to your SC, adjusted for inflation your ES costs about half what your SC cost. It's not going to ride as well, be as quiet, or have as good an audio system.

LarES30014

I also have the Michelin 17" and keep cold psi at recommended pressure as stated on label on door. I feel every imperfection on the roadway. My brother's Buick Lacrosse rides better than this. I wish Lexus would address this issue before my lease is up in 2017. I'd definitely replace my 2014 if they did. I understand that Lexus added more soundproofing on the 2016 which may have helped with road noise.

The quote below from Motor Trend might help to explain the harsh ride. Perhaps it IS the tires as they elude to. I have the hybrid ES300h which must have these "brick" tires. I wonder if changing to the all-seasons would drop my MPG significantly. Do you have the ES300h, or the ES350?

Quote from Motor Trend on 2013 ES:
"Not so the new ES. Amazingly, neither version rides particularly well. The ES 300h has a semblance of a defense: for maximum mpg -- its raison d'etre -- it sits on hard, low-rolling-resistance Michelins. Curiously, though, our ES 350 test car wore the same 17-inch rubber bricks. An 18-inch all-season tire is optional on the ES 350 and might soften the ride a tad, but it's hard to imagine anyone describing this sedan as "plush." Tire noise intruding on the cockpit is an issue, too. That's the really unpardonable sin here: no DNA from the LFA, but not enough from the LS 460 either."

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/new_cars/0...#ixzz3h6TMVr00

LarES30014

Any entry level luxury car should have a luxury ride, or at least a better ride than a non-luxury car.

chrisexv6

Odd.

We had a '15 ES350 loaner for a day and the 17" Michelins were soft and smooth over everything. In fact I felt like they made the car act more like a boat than a car.

The 18" Bridgestones that came with our ES were horrible. Harsh over bumps and pretty loud. Swapped them out with the 18" Michelins which are a bit quieter but the biggest improvement was the harsh ride over imperfections. Now I can only feel bumps and they feel much less harsh. Not as "floaty" as with the 17" Michelins, but much better than the 18" Bridgestones/

Keep in mind, that review was for a '13 ES350....Im thinking the tires they use (or the tires themselves) could have changed in the last 2+ years.

jollick

Lar, I was referring to my E2013 S300h. My 2015 ES350 also rides good even on the 18" Michelin tires. I just took the 2015 on a road trip to Orlando and was very happy with it even though there were 4 passengers and the trunk was full.

SW17LS

I've had plenty of 2013+ ES loaners, and I think they ride quite well on the 17" tires. Thats coming from an LS owner.

lesz

I suspect that the varying opinions about the ES ride quality come largely as a result of the fact that different people have different opinions as to what constants "good ride quality". There are some who want to feel every imperfection in the road surface. At the other extreme, there are those who want the vehicle to float over imperfections in the road, much like with the ride of a 1972 Buick or Oldsmobile. Somewhere in the middle are those who are okay with noticing those imperfections in the road surface but who want to feel them once and, then, have have suspension system quickly dampen them without creating the feeling that the vehicle is floating on waves. I would describe the ES suspension as being in this last group.

Among the things that I'm quite certain about is the fact that the ES with 18 wheels is going to have a noticeably harsher ride than the ES with 17 inch wheels. I know that the "in" look (with some) these days is the look that comes with very low profile tires. But that look comes with a price, and that price is going to be a harsher ride because, simply, there is less air between the wheels and the road. I'm also confident in saying that the ride quality of the Generation 6 ES is quite similar to that of the Generation 4 and Generation 5 ES, and, if there is any small difference, it comes as the result of the fact that, with the Generation 6 ES, recommended tire pressures are higher, and, even with the 17 inch wheels on a Generation 6 ES, the tires are lower profile tires than the tires on the ES in the previous generations.

With the varying opinions about what is "good ride quality", it seems to me that, before one buys a vehicle, he or she should thoroughly test the ride quality. If, as a result of such testing, the ride quality of the ES seems to be "good", then it should be considered for possible purchase. If it doesn't meet ones thinking about what good ride quality is, then, that person should be looking at other vehicles. The bottom line, I think, is that there is no such as a single kind of ride quality that is going to meet everyone's definition of "good ride quality".

Lex222

Lexus' website has the 2016 configurator up.

dchar

Ugh...why did they have to pair flaxen seats with brown dash, steering wheel, carpet, and trim. I think it would've looked better paired with black (like in the GS). It's weird that the configurator shows flaxen paired with brown, while the gallery on the website has some pics of flaxen paired with black.

JDR76

^^^ I'm a bit surprised, but I actually like the brown dash and trim. I wasn't expecting to, but I find it to be a nice change from all of the black dashboards that seem to be the trend now.

SW17LS

I like the brown dash too.

chromedome

Maybe some people expect a modern Lexus to have a soft, floaty luxo-barge ride like old Buicks or even old Lexuses. Lexi? Anyway, on the ES hybrid at least, I can feel the road surface but the ride isn't harsh and back breaking. The car has little roll and handles well enough for a big, heavy FWD sedan.

I came from a TSX and smaller hot hatches so the ES feels a lot softer for me, but for someone coming from the older ES or similar cars, the current ES has a firmer ride that's close to European sedans like the A6.

As for the brown dash, that surprisingly looks very classy with the flaxen interior. Too bad you can't get something striking like a brown dash with red seats...

355F1

Yep. And no more semi-aniline leather with the Ultra Luxury package on either model.