LexFather

This is ridiculous. 37-47k is affordable? lol
In general I cannot believe some of the commentary here, some of you are acting like the ES is the 2002 Nissan Altima when it debuted with the worst car interior in modern history. Its not that bad, geez.

The car offers a baby LS feel for a great price, the hyrbid cannot be touched by the competition and it looks good. What the bloody problem? What other car in its price range has an interior better? Surely not the TL or Lacrosse? So whats the issue? Its a 37k car base, not a 47k or 57k base for crying out loud.

SW17LS

The Hyundai Genesis. I think the interior of my Jeep is nicer, at least in most places. Chrysler 300. Cadillac ATS. Lincoln MKS.

Its not "that bad", but its not a class leading interior...thats my point.

UDel

Most would agree the interior in the TL is a good deal nicer then the new ES, the quality of materials and fit and finish in the TL is superior to the new ES. The interior design/materials is an area that almost everyone agrees the new TL excels in, I read very few complaints about it where it is pretty universal even on CL that the ES interior has quality issues and is a downgrade from the previous model which was a downgrade from the model before that. There are some things I like about the design of the new ES though like some of the center dash area.

I do agree that 37K-47K is not "affordable"

LexFather

Completely false and ridiculous. Some people are complaining. The Acura forums complain about their TL interiors as well. They both have pluses and minuses with interiors and no way the TL is better.

The ES is built in JApan the TL alongside the accord. The ES dash is far superior in materials to the TL fake aluminum and hard plastic and 4,000 buttons. We all agree the center console on the ES uses hard plastic just like the TL.

SW17LS

To be fair...I have not read a review of the new ES that doesn't mention interior material quality...at least in passing.

UDel

Wrong, there is no where near as many people complaining on Acura sites about the quality of the new TL interior compared to those complaining about the new ES interior. Most of the materials used in the TL are superior, the buttons and switches operate with higher precision, fit and finish is better, etc. Show me sources where it says the quality in the TL is not very good or downgraded. The TL has one of the nicest if not best interiors in its class along with the A4.

Not sure why you are so hung up on whether the car is built in Japan or the US, then you must think the Civic, Insight, Rav4, Infiniti G35/G37, 350/370Z, Murano, Cube, Versa, etc are the epitome of quality and the Camry, Accord, Avalon, Maxima, Caddy CTS/XTS etc are worse just because they are built in the US. Where a car is made has little to do with quality or reliability, it is the tolerances and materials the car is designed with, the workers simply screw parts in, make sure they clip together, etc, most other processes are automated in the car making production. The ES production is highly rumored to be coming to the US in the near future so what are you going to say then? Because of the expensive cost in making cars in Japan over the past few years, American made Japanese cars may be able to use better materials/tolerances at the same or lower cost which is part of the reason they are moving a lot of production to America to keep or enhance quality without the price going up substantially.

The TL's have mostly soft plastics in the interior and the trim is not "fake aluminum" or fake metal, it is real metal, same with what is on the previous model, it is real metal/aluminum trim. Toyota's and Lexus have silver painted plastic trim also, everyone uses some silver painted plastic, even the Germans. I have been in both cars, driven them, and compared them, my parents own a 2008 TL, the new TL's interior uses higher quality materials just about everywhere, the only part I noticed where the new TL was a little downgraded was some of the plastic surrounding the rear vent area. The new TL does have a lot of buttons and has more of a sporty high tech theme but I don't find lots of buttons to be a bad thing or something that indicates lower quality, everything is easy to figure out and straightforward, I would rather have lots of buttons then surfing through menu's to do many tasks.

http://www.edmunds.com/acura/tl/2012/#fullreview

http://wardsauto.com/auto-makers/acu...s-2011-judging

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1...e-year-winners

People are not saying the new ES interior is junk or no better then a Camry, it is still nice, many have just noticed a downgrade in quality/fit and finish from a previous model that also saw a downgrade in quality/fit and finish over the model before that. Many noticed the same thing in the 3rd gen GS compared to the 2nd and also the LS460 compared to the LS430.

LexFather

Good points.

Right another person on the internet talking about what other people are doing and saying Lets sum it up

Have you driven a TL? NO

Have you driven a new ES? NO

Are you good at youtube? Maybe

You like 3rd rate brands that compete with Buick and got passed by Hyundai, you will come here and tell us what you "think". I'm not arguing with you, I am telling you.

The TL and ES interiors are fine but the ES interior does not have a giant wave of cheap plastics like the TL and the TL does NOT have soft touch plastics unless you have troll hands. The TL has AWFUL Halloween Costume Iron Man plastic trying to be fake aluminum throughout the dash. You come and say what other people say about the ES then ignore people complaining about the plastics in the TL? You cannot be serious, what kind of logic is that?



2008 TL, you mean cracked dashboards? The interior is fine but it is not some amazingly well built interior. It has great ergonomics and it looks great but its cheap plastic that can crack.

lol at taking up for the interior of the TL over the ES. This is hilarious. Acura makes nice interiors but they have never been first in class like Lexus or rated highly like Lexus. The ES has soft touch french stitching, something Acura can't find on a map.

mmarshall

There seems to be a lot of posts in this thread (some rather sharply-worded), both pro and con, about the new ES's interior. I won't add any more of my own (after a review/test-drive, I've pretty much had my say about the car anyway). But I think one thing needs to be brought up that apparantly hasn't been mentioned on either side. The relatively weak yen/dollar exchange-rate in recent years has forced most Japanese automakers to cut some corners in the design and production of their models that are going to be sold in the American market (perhaps that's also why some American-spec VWs aren't as nicely-done as those produced for European markets). While, of course, that alone doesn't explain the increasing firmness of the chassis/suspension/tires in newer ES models, it might (?) explain why some of the interior materials and sound-insulation, while not necessarily Civic or Versa-cheap, aren't quite up to what we've seen on past Lexus models. Twenty years ago, it was the Germans (particularly Mercedes) who were forced into cost/material cutbacks on their cars with newly-Lexus competition......now, to some extent, it's the other way around.

I don't necessarily like to see cost-cutting myself, especially with nickel-and-dime items like hood struts and body-side mouldings. But, like it or not, auto-company development budgets aren't unlimited, are subject to outside forces beyond their control, and sometimes compromises have to be made.

LexFather

And again all these cars in the 35-45k range have pretty decent interiors to me with of course shortcuts which should be expected as they are entry level. There is no car in that class with just some amazing jaw dropping interior that leaves all the others behind. So I'm unsure what the issue is, we can break them all down.

You want a full blown nice interior, you got to step to the GS and cars of that level for the most part.

The ES never had an interior as nice as the GS, not even sure why its a talking point. It can't its 10k less base.

mmarshall

I'd agree, except for the superb 4Gen ES. To borrow one of your own phrases......Got Daymn, was that interior nice.

While I admittedly liked the IS300 I had for several reasons, I almost wish I'd bought a new 4Gen ES instead.

SW17LS

The difference between the ES and GS has never been so clear as it is now though.

Infra

iTrader: (1)

I thought the ES I drove as a loaner was OK, really just 3 complaints -

1) Lots of plastic on the center console. I had the beige interior, and it was really glaring. Perhaps black would be better.

2) I didn't like the way the silver trim fit into the wood. There were large gaps between the two in every trim piece - not accidental gaps, they are intended - I just feel like they should fit a bit more snug than they do, or just remove the silver trim altogether (why is it even there? They already are doing wood for each piece, it can't cost much more to make each piece slightly larger)

3) The molded seam that runs across the top of the dash. I totally don't understand this detail. It doesn't particularly look nice, and once you realize it's not a real seam, it totally feels un-Lexus-like.

Aside from that, erognomics were great and it was extremely comfortable. A few visual slip-ups, but none of it detracts from the FUNCTION of the car, which is likely (I can't say because I'm not one) what ES buyers are most about - the Lexus quality and dealership experience.

yowps3

The 90s ES300 had by far the highest quality interior. Gotta admire the Japanese & Lexus cars of that era. Not only the highest quality but also oozing with class. Who remembers the frameless windows of the 90s ES300? Those were nice!! Looking at the interior it is all quality. Thickly molded interior plastics, not only nice to the touch and eye but they also last forever. Plush velour upholstery, this gave a nice touch and again was very durable. Paddings everywhere, door padding was all rich leather, also nice colour combinations were used to create nice contrast and a general nice ambiance. And of the best aspects were the fit n finish. All the panels had incredibley even gaps, were of vault like solidity and all the interior storage compartments and ashtrays were dampened to give a beautiful luxury touch.











You guys gotta remember now Lexus is no longer the challenger, but is the Gold Standard instead.

Even today, Lexus interiors are far superior to everything else.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

That's just what I did.
After owning two ES350's and looking in to getting a '13,I found the '13 ES interior to be cheap and disappointing.
Agreeing much with Infra's post adding the door panels are awful.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

i think that's a stretch. the interiors of the current ES and RX, lexus 2 best sellers, don't feel that luxurious to me, or far superior to everything else.