Kaius88

Starting from tommorrow, I am going to arrive work early and take the end wide parking space so to minimize the probability of getting dinged, scratched, or looked at. I realize along with a new car comes a new way of life and certain amount of paranoia. Sometimes I think my dad has the right idea... He drives his 1997 Corolla to work, and drives his ES330 on weekends. Im kinda considering a Toyota Yaris to be my beatup ride for work, and my Lexus for weekend cruising. I think I would have one less stress during the week. I'd do it if i were a single guy.....but now as you would expect.... wife would kill me.

My only complaint about the ES350 at this point is the visibility. Sometimes when I backup, I feel as though I'm doing it blindly. I think my Bizarro Bro Twister has mentioned that the windows are shaped in a way that kinda limits visibility. This car feels larger than it is. Sometimes I feel I am parked really close to a wall, and when i come out there is like 2 ft of clearance left. I must say this car is kinda hard to park.... being from California I am a terrible parallel parker.

I think the wife is a little annoyed that im visiting the dealership for trivial stuff like that small scratch. I guess it's a curse that the dealership is only 4 miles away. I promise I'll see them less often from here on out. Dont wanna be a pain anymore. Hopefully, next time I see them will be at 5k service where i might have them adjust my rear bumper (seems like the TP loaner has a slightly tighter fit). For now, I'll just learn to park this thing.

Celibon

I have the same feeling as well. I guess I'm still getting used to the size of this car. Of course since it's a new car, I'm more careful (paranoid) about it getting too close to anything.

dreyfus

Yeah, I'm still having trouble adjusting to the size of this car. The backup camera really helps, but estimating the car's exact location when in tight spaces is still difficult for me. I suppose it will come with time.

Park where you're comfortable. I absolutely won't be held hostage to dings and dingbats. I'll park my car wherever I bloody well please and live with the consequences. Normal life just doesn't allow for blemish-free cars (or people) and I can accept that - though each ding or scratch is still a source of sadness.

My sister-in-law has carpeted mats to protect the carpet in her '05 Maxima. But to protect the carpeted mats she turns them upside down so your feet are resting on the ugly spikey rubber bottom! She gets on my case for leaving my floor mats right side up because they might get dirty. "Don't you want your car to still look nice and new?" she asks.

Well, yes I do. But life is meant to be lived, cars are meant to be driven, and carpeted floormats are meant to be right side up!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Kaius88

Dreyfus I'm gonna try to be like you in a few months, after the new feeling has worn off. This is the first new car i have ever owned, so i try to keep it perfect, but im sure it will get old like everything else. It's just a machine. Ill try to take pictures and savor the newness while it's still fresh. Soon, i will re-enter the world of dings and dingbats, and regain my sanity.

dreyfus

This is the first Lexus I've ever owned, and I sure wish neither of us had to regain our sanity... just carefree living in a world without shopping carts, idots opening car doors, trucks kicking up stones, acid rain, road debris, pollen, dust, and bird droppings.

Oh, and car payments too.

CyclopStan

Its funny that so many ppl. are complaining about the rear vision and parking capabilities of this car, while I find it just the opposite. The rear window is defineately smaller, but I find the huge sideview mirrors with the tilt down capabilities more than make up for that. And I find the handling to be excellent for a car of its size, which isn't really that large. I've only owned 1 other 4 door car before, a Mazda6. The Lexus is only 4.3" longer & just 3.3" longer than my wife's Accord coupe. Its also 3.3 shorter than the Maxima & 6.1" less than the Avalon. So its a decent sized car for a luxury sedan and it has a smaller turning radius than all but the Accord.
As a side note I really am a cyclops and a cars visual lines play a huge part in my car buying decision.

dshahs420

You paid all this money on the car for what, to see it sitting in the garage? I would rather see my car get dings than sitting in the garage. I look forward to getting in my car and be isolated from the world. I work hard, so the toys i buy i am going to use not see it sitting pretty. Wake up in the morning, get in the car and have an assemblance of achievement. Tell yourself that you worked hard to drive this car albeit it be dings or no dings. Sooner or later we all lose our virginity. DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT!

Macklin

dreyfus, that is so funny about your sister. You are so right....we are lucky enough to own this incredible car....use it for what it's worth. I did just buy some black mats because I was tired of having to clean the brown foot marks off my gray mat.

I do park in the end spot close to the curb to help reduce the number of door dings. I already have a couple. The first one made me cry. I also have a tiny rock chip on the hood. Darnit, i forgot to get some touch up paint while I was at the dealership yesterday.

This car does feel much bigger than my ES300. It is definitely taller because I have to really stretch to wash the top of the car. Did not have to do that with the 300.

PDG810810

Perception is so strange. This car feels smaller to me than my ES300. Perhaps due to the color choice (ES 300 was silver, 350 medium dark blue)
I agree with the poor rear visibility, but with Park Assist and the rear camera backing up is safer.
I can't help my protective nature on this car. It is certainly the most beautiful I have ever owned (especially that Aquamarine Pearl blue) but with no side protective panels I park as far away as possible from everyone, & curse every rock throwing truck I come across. (Is it me or are there 10x as many 18 wheelers as ther used to be?)
Ah, the paranoia of new...

Kaius88

I have decided to park only on right-ends of a row of parking spaces (at work or other parking areas). To be at the end, you automatically reduce your ding probablilty by 50% because only one side is exposed. I leave extra space to the left, which reduces ding probablity by another 30-40% because only coupes with long doors can get you. Then there is the reduction in probability because people generally drive alone to work, so passenger side is seldom opened to ding you. By making this effort, I am trying to reduce the overall chances of being dinged in the 1st 6 months, since as of yesterday I am once again DING-FREE thanks to the dealership.

After 6 months, it's MAD MAX RACING CUTTING-OFF RUDE LA-STYLE DRIVING and PARKING for me, like the way I treated my old Miata....

Celibon

No no no man... It's a Lexus. You gotta drive with class and style in a Lexus.

shcowgo

The parking assist option, something I didn't really want, works very well. I didn't think it necessary so I didn't really want it.

However, seems all the cars being delivered now have it. So we didn't have much of a choice.

But it works very well.

The tilt down side mirrors almost seem to tilt too far down. I need to see what's down low, but when they tilt that's all you can see. They should tilt about 1/3 less so you can still see somewhat past the rear bumper.

Celibon

I agree with the side mirrors tilting too far down. When I'm backing up I don't want the mirrors to show only the ground. It doesn't give me a complete picture of what my surrounding is.

rboyle23

Why spend the money on those when you can get a used Corolla/Civic/Stanza/etc. Spend like 10 grand less and get a car that runs well and gets good mileage. My buddy bought a '93 Civic from his neighbor for $750 so he didnt have to drive the Suburban and get killed on gas mileage. A few other co-workers have done the same and we now have the "dumpy" car collection.

toneman

I agree--on my '04 Yukon XL Denali, I can adjust how much I want the side mirrors to tilt down when I put it in reverse; matter-of-fact, each side mirror can be independently adjusted (i.e., one side could tilt down further than the other if desired), and can be configured so that either one or both can tilt down in reverse. Yeah, yeah--but it's not a Lexus, you say...true, but one might think that Lexus could have put in such a tilt-adjust capability on the ES 350 if a company like GM was willing to implement it on a "lesser" vehicle (I believe even Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon--all of them less-luxurious versions compared to the Denali/Escalade--have this feature also).