Normally I take it easy on my '96 ES when I'm off the highway, but this morning (temps in the 30s) I decided to give it a little burst before coming to work. I sat to a stop on a traffic light, and there was a straightaway road that's about 1500 ft long. As the light turned green, I floored it and got the RPM up to 5+ before the 1st gear. I think I hit 60 in about 7-8 sec before merging with another lane. I was also watching the gages and listening to the engine. The stock engine sounds great when revved up, yet retains the smoothness quality Lexus engines are known for (quiet in the cabin). All the gages, including engine temp, are normal and not fluctuating, and still the same afterwards. I felt pretty happy and content with this little performance test of my car with over 123,000 miles. I'm quite positive it'll last

 

its great that you know how to enjoy your ES. unfortuately, i can say that my engine sounded great last week, too, before the car stalled out on me. hopefully i can get video of that up sometime

 

i've read this thread yesterday and this morning, wanted to hear what my engine sounded like.
i've had this es for a couple years now and forgot what the engine sounded like when revved because of my stereo.
all i have to say is....i miss my honda.
just this morning, i thought of my car as boring and remembered in high school with my civic, how fun it was to drive and how loud it was. it cornered good with my suspension and sounded good with my exhaust.
maybe i should mod my car??
i like it being quiet and such, but sometime i want some excitement. is that a contradictive statement?
in any case....the es engine is nice but IMHO i don't agree with i know i'm gonna get flamed about this....i'm ready.

 

no flame
definatly they are different cars
hey i enjoy driving my civic in the winter
although my wife hates it
says i jerk her up too much in it
i like being able to park it anywhere since i don't really care if it gets dents like the lex
but it does move nice for a little 4 cyl but hey it is an si with mods.
oh by the way you probably bought the wrong car you
should have gotten a GS 400 ,lots of ***** and looks and still
drives like velvet
i know i wanted a gs when i bought my es 6 years ago but cash is always a problem and i had to settle ,but i am not complaining just aspiring.
now if only lexus would get into gear and make a car to fight the m5
with out looking like the newly styled es and ls
definatly not my taste at all
later

 

I think I do this on a daily basis.

No flames here either, everybody's taste is different; but I like the quietness of the ES, and I think the engine sounds good when revved. Real smooth. I wouldn't mind it being a little louder and deeper, but I don't care for the real loud Honda's etc. The way I see it, it's much more acceptable for a vehicle to be loud if it's actually fast, but I always laugh at a car that's making all kinds of noise and not accelerating fast; that's what I'd be afraid of doing to the ES.