I stand corrected. My ES and GS both have the same feel. I can't compare with the leather in the ES UL package.

There is a significant difference in engine noise isolation. It's very obvious to me as soon as I get in the ES. Road noise, yes, there is a significant amount of tire noise but that's due to the 18" low profile summer tires. It actually depends on the road surface.

My original post was presenting the "facts". My 2nd post was a "mean spirited" response to the "mean spitited" post.

I thought Stuart Smalley was funny. The skit got old fast but he was memorable to say the least. Quoting a memorable character from a comedic skit is not so much self identification as it is an opportune moment to interject some humor.

 

2th,

Sounds like you have done some work to resolve, but in addition to door gaskets, the window gaskets can be pulled down and then allow only glass of window to reset them when going up in channel.

Also check the underside black plugs for any missing, I count 5 so far each side of car, 2 smaller near and behind front wheels, 2 larger more or less midline of doors and about 6 inches in from edge of frame and 1 near rear wheel. If missing, replace them, and the 2 larger each side may be in upside down if writing side on plug material faces down to driveway on them, they fit better turned over with writing side up in opening IMO.

My Mom learned pimp slap from me relating story of MIL's Camry, when she learned of new car and plans for Camry to go to FIL, she said, oh, he is such a good boy. Then I told her about maybe pimp slapping MIL's friends over comments, and she wanted to know what awful thing they had done to you. She called them ...Meddlesome Matties...when she learned of their Camry comments. Not sure I can translate that Australian expression.

Out of the blue, first ride in my newer car, she says she could just haul off and pimp slap those at Lexus over what I had been through with former when she noticed just the difference in ride and level of wind noise. When she gets excited the Australian accent is present and thick when I otherwise don't notice it too often, it was funny to hear it from her out of the blue like that, and she is near 82 and wants to take on Lexus and pimp slap some folks over defects and excuses.

 

Members,

Please keep this post focused on the topic at hand and not make personal comments about the other members posting.

Thank you

 

Off topic but CONGRATS on your wedding Dave, not sure I'd return from Hawaii once I actually got there.

 

I drove a 2007 ES350 for a week, courtesy of the dealer, while my 2002 ES was in for repair. I am happy to say that other than the difference in power, my 2002 is a better car. Maybe they will get the bugs out of the ES350 for next years model?

 

Wayne,

Hang on to the one you have is what I'd say, I am envious actually of the quietness alone that you enjoy with your 02.

 

Terrific story Bob! Your mother seems like she would loads of fun to hang out with! I'm glad that I was able to pass along something she could use on a daily basis with her friends. My original plan was to get into geriatric dentistry because I love meeting people like your mother but I ended up doing a complete 180 and went into pediatric dentistry instead. Go figure!

I did a student research project with a guy from Adelade while @ UCLA and have a couple of cousins living somewhere in Australia as well. Gotta love those Aussie accents!

I seriously have my fingers crossed that your ES remains trouble free. I think I will make an appointment to get the door aligned on mine. I will check on the bottom plugs and re-seat the gasket per your suggestion in the meantime.

One last thing I wanted to bring up is that the "turning" headlights are far better on the ES than on the GS. I notice it right away when I drive the ES, they actually rotate with the steering wheel and illuminate where you are turning quite well. The GS for some reason has headlights that rotate relative to speed. I can't quite figure out the pattern but it seems that at some speeds, the lights don't rotate very much while at other speeds, they rotate quite a bit. Whatever the case may be, the ES' system works far better.

 

Check your GS for any missing underside plugs as well even if you feel there is no reason too, when even one is out, you do hear more tire on road noise, etc.

Not sure why the rotation of lights is different unless you have added anything sig electrical and maybe they are getting just barely enough power to operate in contrast to those on ES. Try them with AC turned off and blower at lowest setting and no radio etc., and see if you notice a difference and if so bring it to service attention for a solution to be sought that allows you to operate everything you want. Maybe a more robust alternator is a possibility, or the one you have is barely operating at spec.

Yeah, Mom is a classic character for sure, so are many elderly and I can see why you would have had interest in helping them and interacting with them. They are like kids in their straightforwardness, though kids, past fear of dentistry moments, must be a trip to work with, like little adults at times. Both enrich your life and teach, certainly teach patience if you lack it and add to that you already had.

Maybe you could approach a retirement community where many are more or less independent and do some interacting at clubhouse, like an ask the dentist session about commonly available off the shelf items so as not too deep into actual practice expertise type questions or something like that, just to see if you are missing anything and to identify what they are missing and see if it spikes the interest to help both kids and the elderly. I find many seem to accept the adequate and don't want to be a "bother" to a dentist where what they think is a bother would otherwise thrill a dentist to help them with.

As for a character, my Mom actually called a motorcycle shop thinking it was a dentist office because it had Choppers in it's sign title on a road I take her down.....she wanted something, one metal spot, buffed down on a partial plate she has that her "former" grouchy dentist would not do, they told her bring it in if she couldn't find a dentist to help her and they'd see what they could do....LOL ..I'd have given anything to have had that conversation recorded...Can you just imagine what they thought and she when they and she realized, and YET they were at her beck and call if she needed them....????..unreal what she gets herself into at times....

she fesses up these things to me days or weeks later when this type of thing or remotely close happens laughing at herself the whole time she is telling me. I asked her how could that happen and she said it said Choppers and she started off the converstaion by saying she had a metal area on a plate she wanted buffed down and it took a few back and forths for both to realize...LOL...

 

That is sooo funny!

 

Yeah she is quite the character that one, don't get me wrong, she is brilliant but at times what an airhead, a runaway stagecoach...LOL

Like the time she was helping her friend garner as many responses for her market research firm and dragged in and interviewed, according to her, two extremely tall good looking black gentlemen in the mall.

She interviewed them, wrote down their names, openly stated to them they are tall enough to play basketball and should and they said yes mam, turns out it was Magic Johnson and I forget the other one's name...LOL..He, they never let on to her who they were, and she had said to him the spelling of your name seperates you from the rest of the Johnsons...Clueless to who he was.

The daughter of her friend she was helping was a gym teacher and came running out after she turned in the interview responses asking where is Magic Johnson, is he still here....she only knew him as some very tall, very polite guy named Ervin...

 

When we were shopping for our car, the dealer had a couple of very nice, low mileage Certified Pre-Owned 06 ES330's on the lot, which carried good warranties. Something to consider if someone prefers the 300/330 to the 350.

 

That was what I originally went to the Lexus dealer for when I was shopping back in June. But then I saw the ES350 - 54 more horses and better gas mileage to boot. The choice was simple after that.

 

I actually was going to look at a new '06 hoping they might have a little deeper discount than normal since the '07's were coming in. No luck, they were already out of the 06's and the sales rep said they never did discount them much, as they let their inventory run down and didn't have that many to begin with. I'm glad now that I got the 350 for the reasons you mentioned.