Used 2005 Lexus ES 330 Consumer Reviews
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TCM, ECM Problems
Henry Casimer, 03/13/2006
2005 Lexus ES 330 4dr Sedan (3.3L 6cyl 5A)
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
My wife is principal driver but in January 2006 I drove the ES330 4,000 miles from northern IN to Key West and return. The engine and transmission fails to respond to throttle commands and the vehcle does not downshift to third gear when needed. With the pedal to the metal at 60 mph it takes forever to get back up to 70/75 mph. Same problem on entrance ramps. Trying to merge in 4th or 5th gear at 2,000 rpm will not get you out of the way of 18 wheelers. Car is at the dealer now. Have reported this to NHTSA as a safety issue. 25 mph not too impressive. GM can do 30 mpg with 3.8 L.
The ES330, What's Not To Like...Well...
Tarkus98, 12/23/2022
2005 Lexus ES 330 4dr Sedan (3.3L 6cyl 5A)
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
After months of searching for a relatively reliable car for a small price I finally pulled the trigger on a 2005 Lexus ES330. The great news is that the car comes packed with all of the latest QOL and technology touches for a car of that year. I was absolutely shocked that the car came with a Navigation Screen which opens to reveille a CD player and a slot to install the latest Nav updates via disc. Under the middle console is a 6 CD changer. No Bluetooth or phone pairing for that year but there is a voice activation button on the steering wheel that will accept a slew of commands to the Nav system. Heated and cooled front leather seats, dual zone controls for the front driver and passenger. The good news, the wood trim and accents on the steering wheel, door trim and dash are really well integrated. The air conditioner and heater work very well and all controls and displays are very nicely integrated throughout the drivers controls. The car is also extremely quiet. There were a few times when I initially looked at the car that I couldn't tell it was running. The outside paint was mostly immaculate with no dents but a bit of rust on the rear driver side quarter panel. Now the not so good news, as I mentioned the rear quarter panel is beginning to rust around the tire slot panel. Nothing major but a shame considering how well the rest of the exterior was kept. The cars does have 173,000 miles on it, which for an upscaled Toyota wasn't very bothersome to me. I've had several Toyotas before and easily passed 200K miles on all of them. But with that amount of miles things are certainly starting to grow old. The front struts are beginning to go. This doesn't bother me too much, with care I will easily get another 75 to 100K miles before having to replace them. Hard to tell if I'll even have the car for that long but we'll see. I also noticed the transmission occasionally clunks into 2nd gear. This does concern me but it happens so rarely that it may just be a quirk of the tranny. The car really seems to have been babied for most of its life. I could go on about how responsive the 6 cylinder engine is and since it is the ES model it does not have the high compression engine and I can use regular gas instead of premium which the LS model needs. With the price difference between regular and premium being around a dollar per gallon it may have been a deal breaker for me. My Celica needed premium and I remember being aggravated every time I had to gas up. Tires were good, handling is exceptional for a sedan and the trunk actually has a lot of space, a full size spare tire and a tool set cleverly integrated into the trunks design. Overall I felt that for the price I was getting a lot of car compared to basically every other car I had looked at. I would also like to give a quick shout out to Lance Motors in Monroe Township. My brother had purchased several cars from them previously and after much searching both privately and dealer owned cars I found the ES330 at Lance. Also got a limited 3 month warranty on the drivetrain and transmission which I may take advantage of to check that 2nd gear clunk. I have already done a quick oil change putting in synthetic and noticed in the Nav system there is a maintenance area under info where it keeps track of oil changes, filters, tire changes, pretty much anything you do can be input and tracked to the miles you set on it. Pretty cool 😎. So yeah I am really enjoying this car so far. It is outside my normal area of cars which are normally little Japanese rice burners like the Celica, Honda Civic SI, Mitsubishi Eclipse,etc. I normally gravitate to small uncomfortable cars where I can feel the road and enjoy ripping them around. Guess I'm finally getting older, lol.
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Lexus fan for life
pooty711, 03/03/2008
2005 Lexus ES 330 4dr Sedan (3.3L 6cyl 5A)
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Well this is my 5th lexus. I buy lexus everytime, not only because of the fact it is a reliable and comfortable car with nice styling, but we have a very nice relationship with the dealer. In fact my whole family owns cars from this dealer,15 in all over the years.
2005 ES 330
Rich, 07/27/2008
2005 Lexus ES 330 4dr Sedan (3.3L 6cyl 5A)
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
The ES is a pleasure to drive and one of the quietest cars I have ever been in. It offers a great ride with nice power. Controls are logically laid out for easy operation while driving. My 3 points of criticism are: 1) Terrible cup holders 2) Transmission hesitates when accelerating from a slow roll is a very poor design on this model 3) Front seat should be longer to reach closer to your knee for improved comfort and better support "under leg".
Size vs me
mark, 07/10/2006
2005 Lexus ES 330 4dr Sedan (3.3L 6cyl 5A)
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
The Lexus ES 330 is a nice car. However it's a bit cramped inside. The between the seats cup holder is terrible and the acceleration is weak. Fuel mileage on trips is good, but poor around town.