2009 Lexus ES 350 4-door Sedan

I love the look of my new car, but riding in it is a huge disappointment. The drivers seat is small, short in the leg and just butt-numbing. The seat only comes to the back of the thigh at least 4 inches short of the knee. And I'm just 5'4". There is no good adjustment of this seat for a long trip. It provides no leg support and when you step out of the car after a few hundred miles or a few dozen, the discomfort is the same. Numb and stiff! The car has great zip. But, I don't feel safe in it. It has a squashy suspension and tends to float as in a boat. When on the highway, it has less control than in town and I feel i could lose control in a high speed, high traffic interstate situation. It does not hold the road well. The dealer has been accommodating and hopefully this will improve after the four wheel alignment they promised. I bought this car August 1, 2009 with 12880 miles. The radio et al is poorly located as is the fan/heat/ac controls. The interior lighting is TERRIBLE. The outside is gorgeous, with a Moon Shell paint color that actually changes with the time of day, from purple to pink, silver to gold. Amazing. Rear window visibility is terrible as is judging the parameters of the exterior. There are many blind spots. The side view mirrors are not shaped for good visibility. The luxury features are just okay. I really expected more since I came out of a 7 year 2002 Explorer ride. The Lexus is very noisy and the idle is very loud. I don't think I will ever buy another Lexus.

We have always had European sedans but my wife has always wanted a Lexus - so we traded in our 2004 Audi A6 and leased an ES 350. I made the mistake of letting one of my employees pick up the car so I did not drive the car until a week after I signed the paperwork. All I can say is that it was one of the most disappointing events of my life. My wife was beaming of course but I felt like I was driving my grandmothers car. No handling, no personality, no sound - in fact when we returned from dinner I discovered I had left the motor running in the car park. Driving it up the coast to Pebble Beach for a golf weekend was not only hard work, after two hours on Highway 1 trying to following my friend's BMW - I gave up and arrived over an hour behind them. One thing I was expecting was better reliability and lower service cost than our previous Audis. It not only needed service as often, it actually cost more each trip to the dealer. It has been 3 years now and the wife still loves the car but when we head up to Napa Valley for the weekend, we take my Navigator which believe it or not handles much better than the Lexus. The Lexus is extremely quiet and gets good mileage but the absence of any character or soul makes this car a real disappointment for me. When this is turned back in, we will go back to the Audi or Mercedes and pay a little more so that driving can be fun again.

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