No auto-fold mirrors.

 

caverman, if you have a preference on the material used for the seating surfaces and the driver's seat adjustability features...

All base and F Sport models have NuLux® seating surfaces and 10-way power-adjustable driver's seat.

All Ultra Luxury models have semi-aniline leather seating surfaces and 14-way power-adjustable driver's seat (which includes the driver's seat power cushion extender).

The 2019 through 2021 model year Luxury models have "regular" leather seating surfaces and 14-way power-adjustable driver's seat (which includes the driver's seat power cushion extender). Starting with the 2022 model year, the seating surfaces material changed to semi-aniline leather.

A quick means of determining whether NuLux® or leather is used for the seating surfaces is to look at the stitching in the seat cushion. See the NuLuxe vs. Standard Leather vs. Semi-Aniline thread and in particular ESh's post #2 for photos showing the differences in stitching patterns.

If you have a preference for heated and ventilated front seats be advised all model types except for the base model types have that feature. Base model types equipped with the premium package do have that feature. This also applies to the Lexus Memory System feature (up to 3 saved recallable driver seat, steering wheel, and outside mirrors positions), the base model doesn't have the feature unless equipped with the premium package. That provides a quick means of visually checking if an advertised base model is equipped with the premium package - does it have the 3 switch driver's memory position panel in the driver's door panel, if it there it has the preium package.

If you desire power folding outside mirrors, only 2020 and later model years have that feature. The 2019 model year has just manually folding mirrors. Also, only 2020 and later model years base model types with the Premium package have power folding outside mirrors.

Lastly, if the Texas location in your profile is still correct, you may have a preference for a power rear sunshade, if so, all Luxury and Ultra Luxury model types are equipped with that feature. For base and F Sport model types it is always has been an add-on option.

 

Thanks for all of that info! That helps quite a bit. My preference would be a Red Luxury edition with the LED headlights. Not sure I'll find that especially since I would like to get a used one and not take the new car hit but these kind of differences you mentioned help out with the decision process.

 

Thanks for your input. At some point I knew I was going to have to give up my LS430 but honestly it's been very, very hard to do willingly. This hail storm just pushes me to do it sooner than I was hoping for. You're actual experience between the LS and ES are a huge help. Now that I've had more time to think over the insurance thing, I think I'm going to buy back my LS and drive it all dented up like a golf ball for now and that will allow me more time to look for exactly what we want in an ES. My LS is running flawlessly right now and I just did all of the major maintenance to it. Not sure I'll be able to wait out for a '23 model but you never know. Thanks again for the input and I might hit up up for more opinions on your experiences with your ES vs LS in the future.

 

Hit me up anytime,I still miss my LS430.Dont blame you for not letting it go,

 

The red color for this generation of ES is called "Matador Red Mica"; however, quite a few used car for sale web sites still use "Red" for the color search filter.

For this generation of ES, all the headlights are LED type. There's two choices: the standard feature "Bi-LED headlamps, LED taillamps and daytime running lamps" or the extra cost option "Premium Triple-Beam LED headlamps". With the Bi-LED headlamps configuration, the turn signal and side marker lights are incandescent light bulbs.

Both headlight types' design changed starting with the 2022 model year. The Triple-Beam LED headlamps change was mostly in looks with some relatively minor tweaks in illumination performance. The change in the Bi-LED headlamps was a significant improvement in illumination performance. If you're interested in the illumination performance differences between the 2019 to 2021 model year versions and the 2022 and later model year versions see my Adaptive Headlights -- How do I find these? post #9 where I posted comparison tables I constructed from IIHS headlight measurement data.

 

Great! Thanks for all of this info. You can tell by my questions I'm new with the ES. As mentioned before, this is exactly the info I can use and I really appreciate the help. Now that I've decided to buy back my LS430 for now, I can take my time looking for a car that I want. Still hoping I can find something by this summer.

 

Caverman, I know little about this subject, but wondering if you'll be able to easily get a clean/drivable title after insurance has totaled the vehicle (i.e. will you have to rehabilitate the title)?

 

Don't know that yet but will be finding out soon. All of this just happened and I asked the Insurance adjuster if he could give me a couple days to decide on buy back or not. I'm going to have to get back to him within the next couple days but I have been putting it off a little because I have to make the buy back decision on 3 of my cars that got totaled that day. It has not been a fun couple of days in my house hold.

 

Have you received a check from insurance co? Chances are anyway that it hasn't been titled as salvage yet. Even if it has it will just be a salvage title and depending on your state it would have to be inspected anyway. No big deal.

 

No check or anything yet. I haven't told my adjuster that I'm doing the buy back yet but will be soon. Trying to buy a day or two before I do that for other reasons on my other cars. I should know more within a week or so. I'm curious on how all of this will work out as well since this will be the first time I've done a buy back.

 

Need to find out from adjuster how much they will give you and you keep the car. No title change. What figure makes this totaled and any figure below that should go to you and you keep the car. Contact adjuster and tell him what you are thinking and see what he can do.

 

Talked to the insurance adjuster this morning and got everything squared away. Here are all the details I have.

Kelly Blue book shows 2005 LS430 with 180k in the $7,500 range for good shape.

• After deductible and buy back option, I'm getting just under $4,800. The money should be in the bank today and nothing else I need to do.
• In Texas, my title is not going get to become salvage. He said TX changed not too long ago that hail damage doesn't re-title as salvage any more.
• I can keep collision/comprehensive and they will pay out again if I show receipts from a certified auto body shop (not sure what certified means here) that the repairs were done. However, if I keep full coverage without repairing and something happens and they see there is still hail damage they will more than likely deny repair costs.
• I can also just drop collision/comprehensive to save money on my monthly insurance payments and I'll be out of pocket for any future damage. With as cheap that they are letting me buy back the car, I can't really go wrong. I know I'll get a majority if not all of my buy back price if I were to sell it as parts car. I already have a friend that is in the autobody industry interested in it once I find me a new car. That takes a lot of pressure off of me to rush out and settle on a car I may not be as happy with long term.

 

Wonder what a painless dent specialist could do to get all the dents out.

 

I need to get some pictures just so I can remember what all happened. Trust me, it's beyond a paint less dent repair this time. I actually even have some small missing paint spots around the trunk area already. I went through this 9 months ago and had the car fully taken care of then. Total bill was about $6k to get it done. This time it's even more damage. Windshield got hit this time, last time only one fender but both fenders this time, same with back quarter panels were hit worse, etc. I have a friend in the PDR industry and he said that a lot of times with that high of velocity and big hail that he can pull up the dents but almost guaranteed it would need to be painted again. Paint isn't cheap anymore and I know for sure I would need to have my hood, top of fenders, roof, and truck painted at minimum. That's after after all the time to PDR if they would even do that. It would probably be cheaper and easer to just replace the hood and trunk than deal with trying to pull out the dents. The whole situation just sucks! but nothing I can really do about it at this point but to just move forward.