I've decided to trade my 3 month old RX450h for an ES300h. Long story short, I could not get used to the harsh, bouncy ride (my descriptions, not everyone agrees) after owning several LS and ES models.

My ES is in transit and will be at the dealers around the end of this month. It is Nebula/Parchment with the Luxury Package, BSM, plus the "standard options". I am also having the wheels swapped for the standard 17" ES350 wheels. Just personal preference.

The ESh I test drove was pretty quiet, without any detectable rattles, which is unusual for a Lexus first year model, in my experience. I also haven't seen any posts on this forum discussing squeaks or rattles. Has Lexus finally learned to control rattles right out of the box.?

I have set up a few eFolders on my RX and would like to transfer them to the ESh when I take delivery. I don't know if I keep the same Enform account or it goes away with the RX and I create a new one. I'm going to give Lexus a call for the answers.

I'm looking forward to learning more about my ESh through you guys and maybe in time, I can start contributing my 2 cents to the discussions.

 

I am curious as to what you paid for your RX450h, what you are receiving in trade for it, and what you are paying for the ES300h.

 

Mike: I'll look forward to a picture of your car with the standard wheels. I too don't like the optional wheels and have an ES350 on order with standard wheels which if I don't like I can exchange for 2012 chrome wheels. I have not been able to locate a new Lexus with the standard wheels yet.

Dave Mac

 

Bottom line is it will be an even trade, including the tire swap. Based on offers from several dealers, I think I got a good deal, but considering my RX is about 4 months old with less than 3000 miles, buying the RX450h was about a $7000 mistake.

 

Dave, the ES300h does not offer an optional wheel like the ES350, which has an optional 17" wheel and an optional 18" wheel. I'm swapping the wheels on my ES300h for the standard "split 6 spoke" ES350 wheels. I saw the standard wheels on the ES350 at my local dealer. They were on an ES350 without Nav or other options, to be used as a service loaner.

 

I owned a '10 RX350 and didn't care much for the ride quality either.

 

Mike: That's right - no optional wheels on the 300h. I at first talked about trying to get the ES300h wheels on my ES350 but then went for the standard wheels. No one was willing to promise me 300h wheels and after looking at them a while I thought the standard wheels would be better anyway. I have seen both a 350 and a 300h with 5-spoke chrome 2012 wheels and they may be the best combination yet. Actually when I asked at the parts counter if they had any of the standard wheels to show me they brought out a 2012 chrome wheel and it took me a minute to realize it wasn't a 2013 wheel - which they never acknowledged.

Dave Mac

 

Dave, my preference has always been a simple 5 spoke wheel, not necessarily chrome, but something easy to clean. I like the current 18" 5 spoke wheel on the IS, but I don't know if it would fit an ES. I thought the standard ES300h wheels looked good from certain angles, but from other angles, just not my taste. They also looked more difficult to clean than the standard ES350 wheels. I was lucky my dealer agreed to swap them.

 

I had a 13' RX350 loaner for two days and thought it rode just fine compared to my '11 ES350. Earlier this year I got a GX450 loaner, I did not like the ride...it was too truck like, too harsh for my taste. From what I've heard (on this forum), the E300h is a little more quieter and smoother ride than the ES350.

 

I've had my ES 350 for about a month and a half and can honestly say I haven't heard a single rattle. One complaint I have, though, is that every time it rains when I'm driving, when I park and open the drivers-side door, a bit drip of water falls right down from the center of the open door. Annoying.

 

Thanks for your comment on the lack of rattles. That was actually the topic of this thread, but we kind of got off topic. There's nothing that frustrates me more than hearing a rattle and trying to locate and fix it, either myself or by the dealer.

The ES300h I test drove had no rattles either, so that's a good sign.

 

My 300h has 2 rattles, one near the glovebox, one near driver side seatbelt loop at pillar. I cant seem to fix them. We will see if they go away before my 1st service. Very disapointed, my mbz i replaced had none.

Mike

 

Mike, sorry to hear that. I'm nervous because I know my excitement is building while I wait the three weeks for my car to come in. I plan on taking an extensive test drive before signing the paperwork, but I hope that excitement doesn't prevent me from rejecting the car because of rattles. I don't trust the service department to identify and fix the problem, so I'd rather not begin a "relationship" with a new car I already know has problems. I wish you luck locating the sources of the rattles and eliminating them.

 

Thanks, dont get me wrong, I still love this car, but these squeeks gotta go. I expect to get them fixed. Stay tuned.

Mike

 

Mike after reading the manual the rattle for the seatbelt area could be caused by the tensioner, something about when you break the seatbelt will have a pretension function that makes the noise. I only notice the squeak/rattle in the pillar when I am applying the brakes.

Second what I also thought was the glovebox was actually the back seat magazine holder rattling. Not sure why they didnt go with a normal soft leather design for the flap instead they are using hard plastic to hold magazine in the backseat. Once I put some soft fabric down each of the back seats the noise is gone.

Overall not very impressed with the Q/A team on inspecting these vehicle before they leave the factory. Found many faint scratches on plastic components of the car from the AC vents to a small scratch near the cupholder. The leather also looked beat up slighlty, I had the black leather with the perforated holes. Overall not big deal for me to have the dealship try to replace these components, but for those of us who are particuliar about small issues likes these, do double check all the hard plastic areas that are prone to scratches like the door area, dash area, and so forth.