Today, I took my ES 350 UL in for a free carwash and looked at one of the new RXs in the showroom. I could not believe how cheap-looking the wood trim was, and come to find out, it wasn't even real. Has this turned anyone else off, or am I being too critical of what I think "luxury" should be today?

 

my RX has no wood that I can think of, real or fake. Get the trim you like. Personally, I like the aluminum in my RX.

 

2024 Lexus ES350 Luxury or Ultra Luxury has the same exact "Macadamia semi-aniline leather and Ash Bamboo trim" that the 2024 Lexus RX has. So not sure what's plasticky about it, unless you are saying 2024 ES is also plasticky and previous design had real wood, which I don't know. In any case we have the Macadamia semi-aniline leather and Ash Bamboo trim and it looks fantastic to me. I like the Matt finish and I hate shiny wood trims in cars.
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^^^^ Ditto X10. Just love the looks of this interior.

 

The bamboo & black are real wood. Maybe the finish makes it look to some as if it is plastic. I have the black wood but with the high gloss lacquer can make it look like plastic.

 

Don't just look at the wood trim, knock on it and tell me how cheap and clicky it sounds. If it is real wood, is it the thickness of a strand of hair?

 

And you are saying the same exact trim in the ES350 which starts at a few thousand dollars lower than the RX is and sounds like solid wood? Ok I have to try this next time I'm at the dealership.

 

This is real wood?

 

Check out the picture I posted, I look forward to your feedback.

 

From what I read, it's real wood grain which is then laminated like all manufacturers do (at least in this price range). But that part you have shown definitely shows more of the laminated aspect. If it had a rounded off finish instead of the 90 degree angle and if the wood look continued it would look lot more like wood and less like laminate. I will compare it with another model like an ES and see if it feels any different when I get a chance.

 

Thanks for the information! I am sure you are correct that it is a laminate piece, but I think they should have just gone the way of the TX. Even though that model doesn't have any wood, the interior appears nicer, in my opinion. My ES does have what I believe is laminated wood, but it is in areas that you don't touch, such as the dash and door.

 

Interesting, I actually think the RX has a nicer interior than the TX, the TX interior looked a bit too cold for me. I prefer some wood splashed around in small amounts to break the monotony of the front dash, especially in a luxury trim. Sports car or sports trim is a different matter. We love our RX interior, including the suede inserts on the seats. The suede insert on the door is probably the one thing that we were not too much a fan of, but with the mark Levinson logo it looks slightly better than without, IMO. But yeah, that's why they say "to each his/her own"

 

Even Rolls Royce, Maybach, and other super luxury brands use veneers for the wood trim like Lexus does.

 

The ES brochure lists two trims as wood, walnut and ash bamboo. I would assume that those are or have wood products. The RX brochure does list Black Open Pore as Black Open Pore Wood and also has the Ash Bamboo product, so I would assume both of those would have some wood.

Per the ES brochure:

 

We have Macadamia / Ash Bamboo. The steering wheel trim looks and feels like real wood. The rest of the trim looks and feels like plastic. I do wish all of the trim looked and felt like the steering wheel trim, but it's a pretty minor quibble, for me.