Will do. The weather's crummy right now but when it clears will get some snaps.

 

Congrats on joining the Lexus family. My first one was a ES 300. Moved on from that into a 01 gs 430 and just traded it in for an 09 gs 460.

Great cars.

 

pictures.

 

Wow congrats, officially a Lexus brother I loved the 5th gen Max, I think most here do too, great car.

 

Thanks! They couldn't even get my old plates off the Max they had been on for so long. They ended up mangling them so I have to get new plates. But I'm loving this car so far. Glad to be in the club.

 

That is loaded to the gills?

 

Would have loved having the panoramic sunroof. Aside from that can't think of any other option I would want or need.

 

The glass roof is just one item on the Ultra Luxury package, the Semi-aniline leather and the Driver's seat power cushion extender is a must have, it totally changes the feels of the interior. The unique wheel is nice too.

Don't get me wrong, your car is nice, I am not making fun of it. Is just when you said it is "loaded to the gills", it is missing a bunch of important available options. Since owning a Lexus is about the total self indulgent, more is more. Is not about "needs".

Ultra-Luxury Package:
Semi-aniline leather-trimmed interior
Wood- and leather-trimmed steering wheel and shift ****
Heated and ventilated front seats
Driver's seat power cushion extender
Lexus Memory System to control power driver's and front passenger's seats (except lumbar), outside mirrors and steering wheel
Rear-seat side air bags (SRS) [14]
Remote keyless entry-linked memory [6]
Panorama glass roof
Power rear sunshade
High-Intensity Discharge (HID) headlamps
Dual-swivel Adaptive Front Lighting System (AFS)
Electrochromic (auto-dimming) outside mirrors with tilt-down in reverse
Rain-sensing intermittent windshield wipers with mist cycle
17 x 7.0-in 10-spoke Graphite-polished alloy wheels [2]
Full-size spare tire with 17-in alloy wheel [2]

 

I'm not sure how the various packages shake out. I've put an "x" by everything I have. I think I have everything up to the Ultra Lux package. I know that some options packages aren't available by themselves and require you have other packages. This is what I gather about the car.


Premium Plus Pkg.
Premium Pkg. plus heated/cooled front seats, power driver-seat cushion extender, rain-sensing wipers. Requires rear side airbags, wireless cell phone link.

Navigation System/Mark Levinson Audio Pkg.
Navigation system w/voice recognition, rearview camera, Mark Levinson AM/FM/cassette w/in-dash 6-disc CD/DVD Audio changer, wireless cell phone link. Requires Premium Pkg., Premium Plus Pkg., or Ultra Luxury Pkg.

Steering-linked adaptive xenon headlights
Requires Premium Pkg. or Premium Plus Pkg.

Wireless cell phone link
Requires Premium Pkg. or Premium Plus Pkg.

Heated/cooled front seats
Requires Premium Pkg.

Front-and rear-obstacle-detection system
Requires Premium Pkg., Premium Plus Pkg., or Ultra Luxury Pkg.

Preferred Accessory Pkg.
Cargo mat and net, wheel locks.

Full-size spare tire

 

When I was looking at the Ultra Luxury package on the ES350 back in 2008, I remembered the Semi-aniline leather and the Driver's seat power cushion extender is only available on the Ultra package. You can't buy it separately. I know many features are available separately, but some works differently. Like the Remote keyless entry-linked memory means the key fob have memory that remember all the settings of the seat and mirrors....., it activate the memory setting when you unlock the door by touching the door handle. As oppose to the regular keyless entry that only unlock the door.

When I was buying my LS430 Ultra Luxury, I was obsessed about having every available options from Lexus. There are lots of subtle differences on the details and functions of various features.

Anyway, I was just picking on your "loaded to the gills" line. Sorry about that, as long as you are happy with it, that is all that matters.

Enjoy your new car.

 

Car looks great! Congrat's on your new ride, enjoy it in good health!

 

No worries. It has everything I could want and more (minus that big sunroof).

I'm not familiar with the option packages but I checked and definitely do have the lumbar and seat cushion adjusters. I guess I have you to thank for my looking for them because I hadn't noticed them before.

 

Yes there are lots of hidden features

 

Congratulations on the new car, my father had an ES350, I liked everything about the car except how it handled going around turns, a slightly wider tire and wheel package to give that car the planted road feel it need is the only upgrade it needs besides tint

 

I'm not sure if that's entirely accurate. I don't have the UL model but mine does have the cushion extender for the driver's seat. I think I have most everything that can be had except what the UL includes (ML sound system, pan roof, upgraded leather). This is my second ES350 and even my 2007 was the same way.

Pretty sure I have the Premium Plus pkg since I have everything in the list mentioned except for the above three things. This one even has the XM tuner.

To the OP - enjoy the car! My 2008 is pretty much the same as yours. For 2009 they changed it from Royal Ruby Metallic (what I have) to Matador Red Mica which is a little brighter. I also have the light gray interior which doesn't seem as common.

My commute is about the same as yours and even in stop & go traffic I still manage low/mid 20s for mileage with reg gas - not bad considering I don't drive it like an old man.

I also owned a 2002 Maxima SE (first new car) and while it was fairly quick, the MPG wasn't nearly as good. Mine was a lease and it had its share of issues so I was glad to give it back after 3 yrs. I still miss the heated steering wheel on that car.