shcowgo

We've had our ES350 ten days now and we're very much enjoying it. This is our second car in the luxury class, the first being a 2001 Infiniti I30. I really liked the I30. I've never been much of a Lexus fan. Didn't know too much about them except the RX300 was like the suburban soccer Mom's car and the big Lexus was like the Northshore Grandpa car. Nothing too appealing in between. Until the 2007 ES350. I was reluctant to move away from Infiniti. I really saw myself getting another one. However, the same size car in Infiniti's line now would have been the M35. At close to $50K, that was just more "luxury" then I wanted to buy. The G35 is just to cramped.

The I30, ES350, and M35 are almost identical size wise. However I find the interior styling of the ES350 very similar to the I30 and much nicer than the M35. Don't like the M35. So, the ES350 was a comfortable move.

I'm loving all the bells and whistles on the ES350. The nav, the bluetooth, the parking assist, backup camera and others. And of course the power is awesome.

So far, pretty much all is well. There's a few minor annoyances, like the bluetooth only recongizing the last phone it connect to. If you have more than one phone registered with the car, you have to manually choose the other phone if you don't have the last one that connected. Also, some things on the nav display are not how I would have layed them out. But, such is life, I wasn't asked by the designers.

One bigger annoyance is the lack of body side modling of some kind. I tell ya this car isn't going to many parking lots anytime soon. And the car stays in garage as I take the subway to the White Sox games. Has anybody applied after market side molding? How's it look? And hold up?

The I30 we had was black, it was a really stylish looking car. I'm glad we opted to forgo black for the blue onyx in the ES350. The I30 and ES350 are so similar if we had gone with black, I'm not sure I'd feel like I got a new car.

That's life so far in my new Lexus world. We're very happy with our decision.

Cheers.

Kaius88

Congrats on your new ES350! I'm sure you will love it more each day. I test drive the I30 in 2004. The acceleration and details are excellent. I wonder why it's no longer available. I remember the Infiniti J class was pretty hot for a while also. I guess they want to concentrate on their hottest seller, which is no doubt the G35.

I have only seen a picture of the side moulding. Doesnt look great.... looks kinda "aftermarket". Also, how could one predict the height of the ding impact, as SUV and sedans ding you at different heights.

amf1932

I opted to not get the side moulding for exactly what Kaius88 said in the above post, plus it seems that most new models are not using this seemingly old fashioned look.

twister

I would add "G35 coupe w/spoiler" as their hottest seller

Yeah, side molding is not a bullet proof coverage. One thing would be nice is to have some kind of a plastic molding on the edge of the door. I already caught myself coming very close with an edge of the door next to the other car. Actually, I already got a tiny edge scratch and marked a car next to me when I was getting my daughter out from the car seat in the back...

dreyfus

I think car manufacturers should put full-panel airbags on the outside of their cars. Then when some idiot opens their door or pushes a shopping cart, bike, whatever, into your car the airbag will deploy and prevent the ding.

Of course the airbag will have to be resuable.

Kaius88

I think everyone should get a clear door guard that prevents GIVING other people dings. Im gonna get one for my highlander because I always fear my wife would open the door too wide when getting the baby out, and my car is parked right beside hers in the garage.