King - Hello and welcome, I read your es350 ruby red story and wow did you do the right thing. I noticed you have a interest in why the ES interior looks --- well kind of plane. Not so much luxury as before like in the 06. I found an interesting article on the ES 350 project from the chief engineer him self Hiroyuki Hirata. Here is the link. http://www.autofieldguide.com/articles/040601.html

 

I agree, I drove the GS and while it is wondefull car I would not buy this as a sport sedan, too many out there that will smoke it and particularly in that price range. I was looking for some room, luxury and a non sport sedan ride. I was actually disapointed with the 07 GS compared to my buddys 5 year old GS, it was small and uncomfortable to me...my 02 everyones different but there was no way I was going to pay 50K or more for it over the 525 or E350. I like the LS a lot though......

 

Oct. 2006 build date...
900 miles to first flare...
Lexus hasn't fixed the problem through Oct builds ....

 

Really sorry to hear this 1seeker1. That's just bad news. Let us know how you make out with your service dept on this. Don't let them TSIB you for a valve body swap - the latest info here seems to be that you'll be in for a direct trans swap.

 

Hang in there. I am sure a fix will be available soon. The car has not been out all that long. Lexus is trying various remedies and will eventually hit the sweet spot.

 

question? He has only about 2weeks of use on the car, It's a new-new car. In a case like this would the dealer simply replace the car? Is there a 30 day I don't like the car thing he can do?

 

It is entirely possible that the dealer will step up and acknowledge this issue and provide some assistance. I guess we'll see when 1seeker1 reports what happens. Kingofire recently went through this, but his happened in the first 5 mins of ownership. I don't think Lexus Corp in the US has replaced cars for slipping trans until the second unit also has issues. With Lexus Canada you'll definitely not be getting a new car.

I agree it is a new-new car, but Lexus must be in a really difficult situation here. From posts here at CL it seems that a 3rd revision of the trans in cars manufactured after mid-late Dec may fix this issue. What does this mean for all the earlier inventory sitting on the dealer lots awaiting sales?? Lexus knows these may have problems, but the only thing they could do is put a 'stop sale' out to the dealers and they most certainly (IMO) will not do that. So the only end result here is that the customer ends up with a potentially faulty car. We've had both Kingofire and 1seeker1 report in the last 2 weeks that they've purchased newly sold faulty cars.

 

Well the one I am picking up tomorrow is an October build.

 

Wow..... If you feel comfortable with this, then OK. If not, you might want to ask your dealer for some type of guarantee of what will happen if you have a problem. It can't hurt to ask at this point. This would be a very difficult decision for me if I was in your position. Good luck!!!!

 

They have already said that they can't make guarantees, but claim (as most dealers seem to) that they have only had 1 transmission that had to be replaced.

I am going into this fully aware that I might have to have a transmission replaced, possibly the car bought back if there are recurring problems, but I am betting that Lexus will fix the problem (eventually) if I end up with problems.

This is what my wife wants, and as it does not appear to be a safety issue, I am willing to give it a shot, as we have not found another car that suits her better or that comes from a car company with such a sterling reputation that there are guarantees that no problems will exist.

Safety is my main concern, and from all accounts, this is not a safety issue.

 

I wish you the best on this. I'm crossing my fingers that you'll have no problems. Best of luck tnedator, and congrats to you and your wife on your new-to-you-tomorrow es350!

 

Thanks. I'm crossing them, too. I am not trying to minimize what others have gone through, and a month from now I could be talking about how big a mistake I made, but right now I am betting on Lexus to fix the problem (if I get it).

 

Odds are you'll be fine. Enjoy your excellent new ride.

 

I wish for you a speedy resolution.

 

Let's hope it's just fine, otherwise isn't it the husband that gets the blame