virtual

This car served us well and originally we planned to buy it by the end of the lease term, but after a very long and serious consideration I decided to let it go. We are not keeping it.
I have 2 main reasons for that - one is transmission related and another one is the dreaded Bluetooth situation.
I wrote about the Bluetooth in the past. It's annoying. Can't be repaired and they say it's ok - but I can't use it. That thing is a disaster.
Distorted piece of ****. You can't drive and talk on the phone with it and you can't be on the phone legally without it.
And looks ridiculous when I drive it with hands free headphone set on my head. So that's that.

But the transmission was always weird on this car. It's just noisy. It always had this loud whining sound from the get go.
I don't like it. It feels like it's going to die one day and I just don't want to be the one responsible for the repair bill.
On the other hand though I drove several ES350 and they were all like that. So maybe I am just wrong? I don't know.

So this year I did not buy a Lexus.
I thought of leasing another one - but I preferred a non-nav dash with the ****. But then those have that bad bluetooth.
The navigation models have perfect bluetooth, but the mouse is the most annoying feature on this car. I was never able to get used to it. (and not that I didn't try - I spent days trying to get used to it.)
Why would Lexus give us a video game type of targeting device? Did they want us to feel miserable trying to hit some icons while driving? If that was their intention - they succeeded 100%.
Now it makes me feel bad as I wonder loudly if I made a right choice. Are we too demanding? Shouldn't we be more forgiving?
Maybe I should have stopped complaining and just buy a perfectly running car with a loud transmission, broken bluetooth and no AC button on dash?
Are we just too spoiled?

Mike728

Not all cars are meant for all people. I wish you well with your new vehicle. What did you get?

bc6152

Unfortunately, one can never find any car that has all options and features that one would want. That car doesn't exist. As nice as a Lexus is, it still lacks certain features that, to me, are common sense... However IMO the good outweighs the bad...

virtual

I agree. I think it is not possible to find a car that fits all. I drove off the Lexus yard with a heavy heart. I drove 2 new IS300 cars and I noticed something funny. The car cranked up weird.
It was like the battery was discharged. But then we drove the cars for quite long and it cranked like that again. In each of them. I didn't like it.
It felt like the thing was just about to break down or not crank at all. If a new car does that - what would happen if i bought it and drove it for 2 years?
Then the car felt small after the ES350.

But my most important impression here is that there exist small annoying things on cars - and if we keep noticing them, then we start disliking the model entirely.
So it is not the overall quality of things - but rather one or two annoying failures that make a consumer walk away.

If the ES350 had that AC button - I would probably look at it differently.
Someone might say - look - it's just a button, don't complain. Right?

But the hidden A/C enable option forced me to keep clicking the center fob for 3 years.
Lexus forced me to click and click and click on this and this pissed me off so much, that I stopped looking at bright sides of those cars and focused on the negatives only.
Buying an ES350 again - just because of that A/C ON/OFF seemed unacceptable. I think my impression will eventually go away - but right now I just don't want to see it again.
Ultimately the AC button was not the main reason why we chose to return it - but was definitely a contributing factor.

virtual

Mike, we got a new Mazda CX5.

Dave Mac

And that's the whole story of auto sales. My son has been looking at a Mazda6 which sit getting not attention in a sea of Mazda CX5's. The sales manager commented on it being because of the CX5 that they are expanding their building.

He eventually purchased a very nice fully optioned Camry SE that has been sitting for about 5 mos. while RAV 4's are selling like crazy.

Looks like a nice car - enjoy.

Dave Mac

reposado2

If I were to lease I'd go with a German brand. I am sticking with Lexus because I tend to buy my cars and keep it way over warranty expires.

virtual

I did buy BMWs before. I also had a Mercedes Benz, but just one. While the MZ seemed fine - then BMWs had all sorts of failures and I spent days at my local dealership - so I will never buy a BMW again.
Overall BMW was a way worse experience than any of the luxury brands I had so far.

virtual

I like the Mazda6. I spent few hours in it - the drivers seat felt so comfortable. Every button was within my reach. Mazda6 actually felt better than my ES350. What I found surprising was that the standard seat with a cloth was the most comfortable seat among all cars we test drove this month. On the other side of the scale was Lexus RX350. Oh, this was a terrible seat for me. I somehow couldn't adjust. My wife felt better about it - but she commented on the car as being a bus. She felt like she drove a bus while driving the RX.

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

i agree with the damn A/C switch (or lack of).. even in my GS, i find it overly annoying.

bc6152

And this is one of the "common sense" issues of which I speak.

Mike728

I've said this before, but I'll never understand the need. Just set the temp and forget it. I guess I'm the type of person that Lexus is catering to with these vehicles.

OP: Congrats on the CX5. I've heard a lot of good things about them. They really stepped it up!

virtual

Thanks. We love it. The AC is freezing. And I can turn it off at any moment with just 1 push of a button. Bluetooth works great too.

GES

Maybe Lexus thought, as a measure of luxury, all you have to do is to change the temperature up or down and the car will do its thing. Keep turning the AC on and off is for non luxury cars. But I guess most driver didn't see it that way.

virtual

Maybe. But I am a potential customer. And a better informed customer - because I drove it for the last 3 years and I could easily buy another ES350. Now why wouldn't I want another one? Well well...