This poll feels like someone voting in a Beauty Pagent with only ONE contestant.

 

Are you saying she could have a glass eye and a wooden chin and still win?

 

If all her other parts work ----- YES

 

LOL, I thought so.

I had a young lady who used to always visit me at my business...picture Claudia Schiffer showing up several times weekly to go to lunch or visit and hang out to give you an idea along with similar playfull personality....one of the vendors stopped me and said, "that woman could have a glass eye and wooden chin and still be a perfect 10."

 

Having been in BMW's, Cadilacs, MBs, Audis and then a variety of standard Ford, Dodge, Chevy varieties, I think it would be hard to classify they ES350 as any worse than above average.

 

Overall look and feel are very good but:
Dashboard rattles
Lighted gauges look like many other cars - Cadillac for example
Map Light, Homelink impossible to find at night and not so easy during the day
Interior lighting is too moody. Rear reading lamps are a joke and have no rear passenger switch!
Carpet is not very dense
Speaker fabric on doors will deteriorate
Console arm rest is too hard

 

plus, that arm rest will creak badly if it hasn't already. does it in mine, and older loaner es350's.

 

When you say creak, do you mean the front or rear of the console?

I really like these polls. It's kind of cool to get an average view from everyone.

 

The interior hardware quality was noticeably better in the ES330...most of the ES350's interior pieces have a thinner, less substantial feel. In addition, the cost-cutters were obviously at work when it came to the wood trim as well......the ES330 had superb wood quality all across the dash, upper steering wheel, console, and on all four door panels. The ES350 has it only on the forward console, steering wheel, and four small pieces on each of the door arm rests....a joke compared to the old car. In addition, though it is not directly interior-related, the more aggressive tires and stiffer suspension on the ES350 ( which was NOT needed ), together with the poorer build quality and worse fit-and-finish of the new interior, combine to cause more interior rattles on the new car...this is because the stiffer underpinnings now transmit more road shock to the interior that was the case in the past, and make the parts work loose.

However, to be fair, ONE great thing WAS kept with the new interior....the extremely low noise level of the old car (other than the new car's rattles ) .

 

mmarshall - thanks for joining us on the ES350 forum in talking about our cars. I really like your reviews over at Car Talk. I should stop by there and see if you've reviewed the S80 yet.

I was at the Volvo dealer today and spent some time in the new S80. Sure the interior looks 'nicer' than the old one, but the materials just seemed cheaper. The dash console in the centre is cluttered now, and the whole dash if boring and 'flat' going left to right. The doors have this cheap looking design, with some hard plastic at the top. It looks like a Ford now on the inside. I'm driving a rental Ford Five Hundred this week and it has the same 'flat' dash running left to right, and the door design is very similar to the new S80's.

The new S80 looks nicer on the inside from a design perspective. The material choice isn't great though. I think the older car had better materials.

How does this relate to the ES interior? The new ES interior has a new design and looks nice. But IMO the interior grade of materials has been lessened compared to the ES330. So the ES350 has a nicer design, but the ES330 had better materials.

I think this might be the new reality with car manufacturers. Nicer looking design, cheaper inside materials. I'm still waiting for someone to tell me how the new ES uses premium carpet

 

horrible carpet. you can see patches of carpet lining between the carpet fibers.


Does anyone have black carpet? How does that look? Does it help hide the cheap thin appearance?


The plastics are thin. I bet there's 50% less plastic. I can push down the plastic with slight pressure, whereas i couldn't in the last es300.



Just lean on the armrest, and it will creak. so it's not really the rear end.

 

These things are real pieces of junk! Why did we ever buy the car??

 

Yes I have black carpet and it hides the more thinness better.

 

Mine does not creak when leaning on it, maybe something is not tightened on your armrest.

 

Freezing **** cold in NH this morning and my ES started creaking above or at the very top of the center ac vents. I can push the vent straight in and make it stop, briefly.

Will it stop when it warms up?