wbarnwell

Completely new to this forum!

My wife drives an 05 Rx330, which with 170k still drives amazingly. I'm in the market for a car with lower milage than my Ford Focus I had from college. I'm going to graduate school for the next three years and require a reliable vehicle for my long commute (around 200 miles round trip).

I'm considering a 2006 ES330 with 49,000 miles. Its listed for the roughly the same price as a 2007 Accord EX with 40,000 miles I am looking at. I know they are both good choices, and both around the same price 13-14k. I'm curious to know the experiences of some of you who might own an 06 330. Any common problems I should consider? Thanks in advance!

xclusiv01

I had two ES models--an 05 and an 06 model. I am currently driving the 06 model with about 87K miles with all the bells and whistles. Lexus is Toyota, so try to put premium gas on it so later on you don't get the check engine light with the O2 sensor problem. Hasn't happened to mine, but it definitely runs better with premium gas. Our families have had Toyotas and/or Lexus. Pretty biased, but that car for sure will last you forever.

Oro

An 02-06 ES300 can be an excellent choice for that.

Since there is very little difference between 02 and 06, I'd not pay $14k for an 06 when nearly identical models are MUCH cheaper a few years older. I'd look at an 04 model or more. Once cars are 10+ years old and commercial used loans dry up, prices plummet and often times the exact same thing is considerably cheaper.

I know the 06 had a reputation for transmission flare since it was the 1st year of the 6 speed. I only know that as a comment and have no practical experience, but I'd like to run that down a bit before getting an 06.

xclusiv01

I had no idea that 06 models had this type of problem. Cross my fingers it doesn't happen on my end.

hypervish

No, that isn't an issue on the 2006. That issue started in 2007 with the ES350.

Oro

What was the first year for the U660 in these cars? There is conflicting info on that and maybe that is the confusion.

speedkar9

The Lexus ES330 will make an excellent commuting car especially for a long trip. 2006 was the last of the 4th generation, although $13K is more like 5th generation territory.

There aren't any known mechanical problems with these cars. Make sure the timing belt has been changed (as its been 9 years already). Test drive the car in stop and go traffic to see if you are okay with the throttle lag and weird transmission shifts.

hypervish

The U660E was introduced in the 5th generation ES, i.e. 2007 ES350.

Oro

One source listed it as starting in the 2006 my, so I'll assume that's wrong. So was the flare issue only the 1st my with that transmission, or longer (if you know)?

hypervish

Yeah, thats wrong. 2006 ES330 still had the u151e.

I've been researching ES350 lately, and from what I've read the issues persisted from 2007 to at least till 2008. After which it seems the issues were mostly resolved. Lexus replaced transmission on 07's and 08's under warranty to help fix the issue. There was also a TSB for 07's where they replaced the transmission valve body.

One thing a few members do to alleviate the flare is right after a cold start, they use the tip-tronic function and select all of the gears and then put it back into D and start driving. This way there is no flare. Not sure how that helps anything, because technically all you are doing is limiting the max gears. But, thats a story for another thread.

Oro

Thanks for the detailed reply. That is helpful and good to know.

hypervish

You're welcome!

KLF

Big difference in the engine from '04+. ES300 is the 3.0L 1MZ (210 HP), ES330 is the 3.3L 3MZ (225 HP).

Seems like I've seen some of the '06 have Bluetooth? Maybe not.

Oro

No, not a big difference. It is still the same 1mz-fe, just bored out a little and named 3mz-fe. There are very few differences 02-06. The next year was a new engine, the 2gr-fe, as well as body and trans.