jgcec

I leased a 2010 ES for 2 years that ended 1 year ago and I put 30k miles on it.
I absolutely LOVED the car. I am in outside sales and spend a lot of time in the car.
Now I want to buy a CPO ES from 2007-12.
I am trying to recreate the new ES driving experience as much as possible.

The 3-4 CPO ES cars that I have driven lately fall short my previous ES.
Here are my concerns
1 The seats seem too hard compared to new.
2 The ride doesn’t feel as good.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
SEATS - I have talked to Lexus parts dept and they say you can get new cushions
for around $200 each or $400 total installed on the seat bottom and back of seat.
Has anyone ever done this? Did it return the seats to like new condition?

RIDE – The CPO ride ES seem to be noticeably worse than new ES.
What annoys me the most is feeling every manhole cover and bump in the road.
I noticed that when test drive new midsized cars, costing an average
of 15k less than the ES, that the smoothness of the ride is very good,
that you don’t really notice
or feel the imperfections in the road.

With the ride, there seems to be 2 parts, the tires and the suspension
Does anyone know what percentage of total driving experience, tires and suspension
play? I know that new tires ride better than used.
Does anyone know why that is? With my new ES, I noticed that the ride was worse
after I took the car into the mountains in winter and then returned to coastal
California where I live.

Does anyone know what parts of the suspension wear out?
I know that shock absorbers determine how bouncy the ride is.

Has anyone determined what is the most effective way to improve
the ride in an ES that is several years old?

John U

Tires harden with age....and 13/32" of thread on a new tire absorbs better then a half worn, hardened tire at 6/32". Struts start to wear out the day it leaves the dealers lot. They loose efficiency so slowly many think their cars still ride like new at 100,000 miles. I drive my vehicles rapidly into the 300,000 mile range so I feel the difference of new struts every 125,000 miles or so...(3yrs for me)

garsarno

New tires, alignment and new struts will restore the new car ride but at what cost? Probably for Michelin tires, installation, alignment and new struts all around, your looking at $2500 or so.

John U

Sounds like you should have bought your car at the end of the lease.