Hi all, I bought a brand new es350 luxury and so far enjoy it. One thing I noticed is that in the first few minutes of drive from a cold start, the transmission is very jerky when shifting from 1st to 2nd. The car literally lurches forward with the rough shift. The shift from 2nd to the 3rd is not as harsh but still bothers me a little. Once the drive chain warms up, shifting seems to be smooth. Just wonder any other members here experience that? Or should I notify my dealer?

if you go search for this specific issue it is well know for the 8 speed camry as well. Hopefully it can get fixed via an update.

Does it behave better if you do the first few minutes in Sports or Sports +?

Not sure, maybe I will try next time. Are you also experiencing this? Guess if you live in FL, it would not be severe. I live in Seattle so it does not get too cold. The jerky transmission disappears after 2-3miles of driving when it warms up. But I concerns me a little bit regarding long term reliability.

I noticed the same issue when I first purchased my vehicle in March 2019. Once summer hit the issue disappeared but now that it's cold again the issue has returned. It's a small annoyance but between that and the brake noise, cheap windshield wipers, hallow sounding front door issues I had to fix my next vehicle probably won't be a Lexus.

yes, I think switching to sport helps it a little bit. It is less jerky as in normal or eco mode. Hope this is a software programming issue and Lexus can fix it via an update.

I've noticed this on many other cars in cold weather if you don't let it warm up a bit. Actually haven't noticed it though on the ES probably because I remote start every morning this time of the year.

Are you talking about the ultra clunky sounding brake pedal and slightly less clunky sounding gas pedal?

I mention this and demonstrated when I was at the dealer for my 5k service. They said "yes that is loud when you let off the pedals immediately" and then said "all the other cars on the lot sound this way.". I lit up one of their recent technical surveys about it... and their technology issues.

No, the brake pads are squeaking and sometimes the steering wheel shakes when braking hard. My 10k maintenance is due soon so I will bring it up then. But this is the first vehicle I have owned with brake issues under 10k miles. Not to mention that I haven't pushed this vehicle as hard as the others since she makes me want to drive like a boomer.

Front rotors probably warped. Happens sometimes when lugs are over-tightened.

Yep! This ^

Thats very normal. They program the transmission to hold gears longer when cold to speed up the engine warming to operating temp which results in a rough shift from first to second.

My situation is a bit different, the first few minutes after start up I cannot feel my transmission shifting at all extremely smooth, after that the shift from first to second to third is extremely rough and stays that way as I continue driving.
Will post after Lexus dealer looks at this.

This just sounds like another benefit of the hybrid and the CVT transmission.