e-yes

You seem to be interested in objective logic but then are also meandering about. You have a few points you are using to argue, so lets enumerate them first BMW 5er is better than Lexus ES because it is RWD ? Yet, in the US which is a more established market, it sold more than the RWD BMW. So much more that it is competing in the market which is occupied by SUVs in which category again the Lexus product sold more than a German product. OR, the other interpretation is that Lexus ES is somehow RWD in US OR, laws of physics work differently in US and FWD is as good as RWD there. (Hint: it is not the laws of physics which work differently there, that market is a lot more mature purely due to the numbers involved) BMW 5er like to like priced is more luxurious than Lexus ES. Hence it sells more in the UK/Europe (hold that thought*) This is subjective. I don't want to argue. I remember from my BMW ownership that it used to start to creak at the door hinges and seems. At service the BMW dealership would sort that out by using some "product". That car I didn't own from new so this is just opinion. However I have had the ES since Jan 2021 now and it doesn't squeak, creak or rattle. It buzzes... a bit but not a lot. Lexus used to make good cars. Now they don't. Therefore BMW 5er is a better car. When I wanted to replace my used 3er (and it had done about 37k miles) I test drove newer 5er and 3er and my reaction was "what try truck did they do to the steering". Dead as stone. Test drove a Mazda 6 and my reaction was "The truck ! Is this really a FWD !" . The way Mazda are able to tune the rear multilink on that car, driven sensibly, that car made me feel it "rotates around my shoulders". That is one of the haloed "ethos" of a RWD car. But again since we are talking about "how a car feels" you are going to argue that this is merely opinion and not logic. The Lexus ES as well has a very confident steering feel in addition to other things I like about it. The same "they don't make it like they used to" argument applies to BMW as well (or for that matter any other "luxury" segment from German brands) About that (hold that thought*) earlier. Remember when Mazda won the LeMan with the legendary B7xx ? The German/Europen manufacturers went all the way to change the rules which disallowed Mazda from running that car ever again in LeMan. That's how "mafioso" the setup is. The German companies own a lot of brands (some of British near legendary or institutional brands) and have supply chain agreements with the ones they don't own yet (Aston Martin, Land Rover). I don't have evidence that the German brands are forcing the automotive press' hand here but one has to use their brains when something doesn't "feel right". If you still think you not missing out on something.. I welcome you to answer @Mincey's question above. --E

Yes.

https://www.motor1.com/features/633246/best-selling-luxury-cars-us-2022/ Europe/UK are not representative markets of Lexus (or any other non-German auto manufacturers). The auto-journalism has clear baises which become very clear once one has to spend ones money on getting a car and are left wanting when they expected the superior German cars to match basic expectations like to not start rattling in a mere three months of ownership from new.

😓 Yet another one - "holds the revs quite high" ! The revs are held high because they can be held high as that is what is needed to increase speed. What does the conventional gearbox do after the gear is changed ? Importantly, what does the conventional gearbox do when peak RPM is achieved... if it is automatic then it wastes fuel by disengaging the wheels from the engine during the moment it is switching the gear (the point where one notices from the engine sound that the RPM is reduced sharply. And then it (the ECU ie) tries to bring the RPM back up again to the one being demanded by the throttle load. With a manual gearbox an untrained driver can lug the engine to stall point trying to avoid bringing the RPM up... or act on instinct and select the right ratio and then... bring the RPM up. Conversely, what does the CVT setup do once the driver backs off the throttle once the desired speed is achieved. It brings the engine to lower RPMs as the load is no longer present. --E

Some of it I guess has to do with the motoring press as well. With pretty much all UK motoring brands being German (or European conglomerate) owned the press has to pander to those brands. There is a very popular reviewer on YouTube who reviewed cars from all the big three Germans and Lexus ES was included in that round up and according to that one reviewer .. the Lexus was the worst of them. I have personally owned Audi and BMW (Audi from brand new) and I am at least one single data point that does not agree with that outcome. The ES when I considered buying was priced in the BMW 3-series segment but had the space/comfort in the 5-series class. Compare U.K. with North America though and the situation flips (in my opinion) towards the right direction. The German cars over there are considered mostly lease-only products. If someone has disposable write-off eligible income they go and lease a German brand car. The fleet market in North America is majorly occupied by other Asian brands or budget American brands as well. I was able to rent a VW at one occasion somehow as I had a Hertz Emerald membership provided by my employer and I walked out of SFO arrivals and completely randomly this VW Jetta was the first car on the lot and I was in a rush. Every other time the rental was a Nissan or a Ford. Also, Lexus are not doing themselves a favour by marketing the ES (and pretty much all hybrids) as e-CVT. The press especially totally unfairly rags on the hybrid drive system. The ES makes less noise than the chain-rattley BMW 4-cylinder I had. Also, try to kick down a Volvo V90 (lowest powered petrol variant was the one I test drove) and it makes a proper racket... and doesn't go very fast too. The Audi A6 I had was on the awful S-Line suspension and not only the engine was droney, the tire noise was horrendous ! Lexus should simply take away that term e-CVT from their marketing materials and start using the proper term Planetary Power Split Device. But I think recently, newer Lexus products are getting favourable reviews from the press. But sadly, the newer products are quite expensive (The NX and the RX) The one reviewer I believe is quite a fair reviewer on YouTube (savagegeese) has reviewed the new products and has concluded that the ES is a far better Lexus than then new NX and RX are. --E

Just curious, will it need recalibration of the front parking sensors ? There is a way to recalibrate by turning the steering lock to lock but will that be sufficient after taking the bumper off ? --E

What is this recall regarding? Which model year is it affecting? Thanks —E

I am having Screen issues with my 2020 ES with the smaller screen. It is being handled by Lexus under warranty but I was told that the screen may need to be replaced and the screen (and possibly some other parts) will end up costing Lexus around £8000.00 just for the parts. If you absolutely must have the bigger screen, better to buy a car with the bigger screen. Maybe non dealership prices could be cheaper but that would definitely void warranty. —E

Mine were delivered one month after the car was delivered ! Even the cardboard packaging felt over engineered, and so do the mats of course. The securing locks feel as if they are dampened. Rubber floor mat doesn’t have to be this “nice” but oddly they are. -E

Interesting development actually. Got a call from Lexus Twickenham and was told they need the car for a couple of days as Lexus GB are going to try a software re-install before attempting to replace the part. Personally, I think that is a better way to go if software reinstall can fix the issue. I am quite antsy about the idea of having a part that costs over 20% the purchase price replaced... in case it doesn't work reliably. Fingers crossed... --E

I don't think the entire dashboard needs replacing. The main dashboard screen which displays speed, fuel consumption works perfectly. The reversing camera works as well in the central display. From what I gathered they do still need to replace the central display. But not sure if that display costs over 20% of the purchase price of the car. Considering Bill of Materials, £8000 should be even larger proportion. I was told during diagnostics they had to go "quite deep" and remove several wiring looms. Only guessing here but besides the central screen, some other part must also be replaced for that much money. My worry now is that after having such a critical part removed along with all the wiring etc, will it continue to work reliably after replacement ? Although when I drove the car back home all other functionality was intact even after all those wiring looms disconnected and reconnected and parts put back. Did try to force the car into AEB as well and that worked too.. so the Computer Vision based obstacle detection functionality is intact (maybe that is on a dedicated loop different from the one they took apart) Right now just waiting for them to inform me of the next steps and the expected time frames. --E

Managed to get an earlier appointment at Lexus Twickenham (where I bought the car from). They kept the car overnight for the diagnostics. So far they have agreed that it is going to be fixed under warranty. However the part that needs to be replaced costs £8000 !!! Keeping that in view they will have to engage Lexus GB before the repair is carried out. Seems like it is not going to be a quick turn around on this one 😕 At least it is not like the experience I had with Audi who tried fix a dashboard rattle with adhesive felt tape. --E

Not quite sure if I changed any settings other than connectivity. And not possible to find out now as the screen doesn’t turn on at all. Just been on the phone with Lexus Reading, the earliest they can take a look is in August. And if it is not a manufacturer’s fault then I will be charged £102.00 for the investigation.

This matches my experience to an extent. Cannot use the infotainment, not even Radio. Reversing camera works. But the restart loop is not mentioned in this article. https://www.consumerreports.org/lexus/what-to-do-if-your-lexus-infotainment-system-crashed/ Not sure if CarPlay caused it or an OTA Software Update.

Maybe that is the case. The car came with CarPlay from factory. It is a 2020 manufacture (I took delivery in January 2021 thus is 70 reg) But yesterday when it happened the phone was not connected. I took a video of it... it quite resembles a "glitch in the matrix". Today a similar Red smearing was happening but that was when I clicked on the "Continue" button after the start up animation finishes and a disclaimer is displayed. (But this time the phone was connected to the CarPlay USB socket) The video from yesterday is attached... IMG_5325.mov

It is quite strange and not sure if it is isolated just to the head unit or precursor to a bigger issue. A few weeks ago I noticed when I turned the ignition on the steering wheel did not move back into the set position. Turned the car off and on again and then the memory position was recalled. But after that when I connected my iPhone the phone seemed to have gone into a loop where it was connecting/disconnecting rapidly. Turned the car off and on again and that problem went away. Then yesterday it went as I described. Today however, on a rather long journey. The screen came on. I connected the phone and CarPlay started working. However it went into a loop now ie CarPlay worked/froze and screen restarted several times. Then it went into the mode where it showed “Starting…” and looped between that and dead screen several times. And then finally went dead entirely for the rest of the journey. Will setup an appointment and see how it goes. — E

Hi, Has this happened with someone before ? The central screen won't come on any more. The initial thing that happened was it showed that "Starting..." message but never started and then after about 10 minutes completely died. Dead screen ! However after another 10 minutes it showed the Lexus Animation, and then the LEXUS in silver fonts over a blue screen... I thought just a glitch... but then it just remained stuck there and was pulsating Red outline around the LEXUS text for a few seconds. And then back again to dead screen. Radio and Bluetooth don't work. When I connect my iPhone to the USB socket it doesn't charge as well. Seems like a major fault to me. Still under warranty and will have to chase up Lexus on this. Just wanted to check if this has happened with someone before ? --E

The driving plan is a bit boring tbh. Drive to Folkestone Eurotunnel, get on the transporter train, then drive to Versaille and then no driving locally until drive back to U.K.

Yes that is true... but even after going through with the process of adding all the details and specifically adding comprehensive European cover, the policy wording downloaded from the quote generation page still states "minimum cover". That's why I didn't go ahead with making the payment. Asking the question here seemed like better thing to do before I bought the cover 🙂 --E

My insurer does provide the minimum cover. I contacted them to get additional comprehensive cover for the holiday period but they said they can only do that at beginning of the cover.

Hi, I am planning to drive to France in summer. However, my insurer doesn't provide a fully comprehensive cover outside the U.K. I have tried other brokers like Tempcover or Dayinsure but even their policy wording states "provide only the minimum cover required for that country". Dayinsure did allow me to add a fully comprehensive EU cover at an additional cost however the policy wording still didn't change ! Any ideas on how I can get a fully comprehensive cover for about a week of driving in France ? (Oh and also, any general tips for using a Right Hand Drive car in France. I have driven in Europe and US before but those were local rental cars) Thanks, --E

In cold weather, 200 mile round trip (no traffic): 51 mpg Worse short trip to the supermarket: 32 mpg In warm weather 200 mile round trip (no traffic): 53 mpg Worse short trip to the supermarket: 36 mpg Motorway journey with some traffic (involves frequent breaking, I think breaking helps perpetuate the hybrid cycle) : 62 mpg Best ever seen on a fairly warm day to the supermarket : 100 mpg In my observation, the climate control has the most parasitic draw on fuel consumption in cold weather. In cold when the outside temperature is around 5 C and I set the climate control to 22 C then the engine needs to cover a gap of 17 degrees or more. In summers even if the outside temperature is 30 C and I set the climate control to 22 C then the delta is 8 degrees (about half of the cold weather gap). If Lexus could come up with a heat pump solution or some other way of keeping the cabin warm (radiant heating as in RZ) that could help in covering that energy loss in cold weather. I didn't get the courage to try this winter but maybe next winter I am thinking of trying this experiment. Turn the climate control to Low, but wear warm clothing and gloves and see if I can claw back some of the lost fuel efficiency (not sure if I will ever gather the patience to be able to do that though 😄 ) Couldn't even get myself to keep that car in Eco mode on that run as that "weakens" the climate control (Eco mode surprisingly doesn't have that bad an effect on a long motorway run at average cruising speeds with the cruise control turned on. However I would not dare use Eco mode in town traffic... need to apply too much throttle input to get the car going) Overall I am hovering around 49 mpg long term. If I don't have to do that 200 mile round trip where I never have to use breaks for the most part of it then I might get closer to Lexus claimed 51mpg. Or as an another experiment I could try not using the cruise control and do pulse and glide in eco mode for some time and see if I can get close. But again... why bother. HTH, --E

Which email address should we be sending this email to Peniole ? Thanks, --E

Apologies on sounding a bit vain here, but would also like to know in addition to what @Cs150 asked whether using the steering lock such as Disklok leaves any "battle scars" on the leather/wood material on the steering wheel ? Thanks, --E

That then can be easily avoided using various laws available for people who earn way above that threshold 😄 Will make keeping the “company Range Rover” even more affordable.