This is actually an excellent suggestion. It might not seem like it but a change in tires can make a world of difference in terms of the road noise that you experience. This is actually a very good suggestion from this forum member. +1 on the Continentals, by the way.

 

A very good point. Dealers are paying premium prices right now for good quality used cars knowing that they can hammer the next person who comes along.

 

If you have wind noise that is in excess of what you had in your IS, theres something wrong with the car. Go over all of the seals and all and make sure that they arent misaligned or anything like that. I would also go test drive another ES and see if that one has the same issues.

The ES is a quiet, nice riding car (not the best riding car on the road as someone else said, but nice). Some of the things you're experiencing like the vibration in the pedal are the difference between a FWD car and a RWD car. Sound system, I assume its the base system? I have always found that higher speed transmissions don't shift as well as the older units with less gears.

 

0I had road noise issue with my old ES which I was able to localize to right front side. Dealer replaced pulleys and something else, without improvement. One day I was a passenger in it and was able to hear air rushing in between dashboard and the car. I fixed noise with a plastic bag that I pushed deep into that space...

Also, I second suggestion on the tires, they make a big difference, I prefer Michelins and researched quieter ones.

Gas pedal vibration may be from some rust, happened to my Lexus when I didn't drive it for several weeks. This went away with daily driving.

There are threads on this forum about jerkiness of the transmission in 7th gen ES and with complaints about base sounds system.