Used 2019 Lexus ES 350 Ultra Luxury 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 8A) Consumer Reviews
Used ES 350 for sale
Great car......radio sounds like an AM radio
Robert , West Chester, PA, 04/10/2019
updated 04/10/2020
Lexus ES 350 Ultra Luxury 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 8A)
47 of 52 people found this review helpful
If you drive while never listening to the radio.....this is your car. If you like any sound source, BEWARE!!!! There is ZERO sound from the back speakers unless you put the fader all the way to the rear and volume all the way up. Then you will hear some faint noise. Otherwise, it all appears to be coming from one speaker at the base of the windshield, like my 1970 pickup with an AM radio. I am in a fight with Lexus over this. Test drive this car and while sitting in the lot, play with the sound system and try and balance the sound.....you will get out of the car and walk away having never started the engine. Who would know this?!? I will get my pound of flesh from Toyota. I just want to give the car back.
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TERRIBLE SOUND SYSTEM
KEISHA BROWN, Powder Springs, GA, 12/31/2019
Lexus ES 350 Ultra Luxury 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 8A)
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
Please beware before you purchase the 2019 Lesxus ES 350. The dealership and manufacturer are aware of the defect in the sound system that is suppose to be top of the line; but they are not notifying consumers when they a purchase.
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2019 Ultra Luxury ES350: Not just "Entry" level!
Kentucky Lexus Owner, Lexington, KY, 12/20/2018
updated 06/25/2019
Lexus ES 350 Ultra Luxury 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 8A)
25 of 45 people found this review helpful
This is the fourth Lexus we have owned, and the third ES. We had looked at the new LS500, which is an exceedingly nice vehicle, and seriously considered purchasing a 2019 model as we wanted to step up to some additional features not found in our 2018 ES350. Just for the heck of it, however, we drove the 2019 ES350 and were so pleasantly surprised at the quiet (make that very quiet) and very comfortable ride, and the amenities that the Ultra Luxury model offered at a substantially lower cost without comprising the features we first sought in the LS500 (even our neighbors who went to dinner with us last night remarked on their own how very differently the ride in this 2019 model compared to our 2018 model). In addition to using regular gas (it's just an issue with me not to be required to use premium to get the sports feel of acceleration, when needed) the great gas mileage is a plus. We are particularly enjoying the many features in this model: HUD feature, the large (but not too large) navigation/information display, the extra quality leather seating, the climate control that automatically sets temperature, seat heating/cooling, and steering wheel heating (when required) is so much nicer than the manual controls we had in our 2018 Luxury ES350. As advertised, the 2019 is just a very different car in so many respects from the 2018 model. The only gripe I have is that I am disappointed in the radio sound quality of the Mark Levinson audio system. All in all, however, I don't believe you will be disappointed in the 2019 Ultra Luxury version of the 2019 ES350. It represents a solid quality price point for Lexus and offers a very exciting vehicle to drive and own at a significant costs savings from the LS500 model. UPDATE: The car was purchased primarily for use by my wife, and I (hubby) drove little, but when I drove on longer trips with her I noticed that the audio system (Mark Levinson, "17-speaker, 1800-watt, PurePlay Surround Sound") is not as good as the standard/'Premium' audio system I have in my 2016 RX350. I tried working with the Lexus technician, and finally called Lexus Consumer Care on the matter. All this is to no avail, as the Lexus Consumer Care person decided to close my case (the Mark Levinson audio system 'works as designed', she said). Ah, therein lies the issue, as it may work as designed, but not as Lexus holds out the Mark Levinson system in this model to perform. Definitely not Surround Sound, questionable whether the 10 speaker ports operate as 17 speakers, and now (get this, you'll love this...), I'm told the descriptive of the audio system performance is ... wait, wait...here it comes..."Concert facing audio quality", which seems the new term to replace "Surround Sound". So Lexus seems to be digging their heels in on the issue, and where do we go from here??
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The good outweighs the bad
Blacksmith, Ramsey, NJ, 10/02/2019
updated 08/25/2021
Lexus ES 350 Ultra Luxury 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 8A)
10 of 21 people found this review helpful
If you like the styling, great. I find it gee-whiz fussy, and the cowcatcher grill is over the top. That said, the ride is very good, handling for this kind of car is very good, and it is very comfortable and quiet. Fit and finish are very good, and highway mileage on regular is 35-39 mpg. Surprising. The head-up display is great, and voice commands generally work well. The map display is impressive. Rain-sensing wipers and auto headlamp dimming are implemented nicely. The overhead camera view should be on every car. Seat adjustments are fine and real leg room is impressive. The interior is not well designed, however. The peculiar hump over the cluster has two of the least-used controls front and center like horns on a cow. How often do you need to turn off stability control in this kind of car? Or switch from ECO to SPORT? The trip reset is hidden behind the light stalk, the gas cap release is down in the dark where you are as likely to release the trunk. The touchpad is miserable until you get used to it, and then it's merely a dangerous distraction. The USB port for the phone is under a flip-up cover that also reveals the second cup holder. The manual warns about liquids getting in the port. Terrific. If you plug in the phone the wire can be routed into the console box, and the flip-up cover needs to be open so the CD slot isn't accessible and the second port is open to spills from the cup holder. Why not put the ports in the console box? There is no switch to turn off the AC compressor without turning the entire climate control system off. The stereo fader needs to be tuned after you sandpaper your fingers--it is that fussy. Your left leg rests against a metal edge on the armrest (that should be higher). The cluster displays more information than the space shuttle cockpit, most of which is distracting. The adaptive cruise control works well but the controls are small, cramped and have no tactile feedback so you have to look until you are trained. Annoyingly, it always defaults to the longest distance. There are too many switches on the steering wheel--more distractions. The designers need to drive a Honda for a while. Visibility to sides and rear isn't the best, but the blind spot monitors work well enough to compensate, it you pay attention to them. Getting all the bells and whistles for $50k is a decent deal, but if the Genesis G80 AWD got better mileage on regular gas the choice would not have been so clear. Overall, I'm getting used to (if not happy with) the interior quirks and the ride qualities make up for a lot. You need to drive one to see if the same compromises work for you. Update: The trackpad is still a distraction, but once you train yourself to find the click stops without looking (too much) it is more acceptable. Despite the scathing reviews of the sound system (Mark Levenson) I find it acceptable. I listen to classical music and don't want exaggerated surround sound or booming bass; I suspect that the system was tuned more for that than rap, country, or rock. YMMV. The navigation system, however, has become a real annoyance. It will choose routes that are ridiculous, including the ones suggested. It can't be trusted if you don't have some outside knowledge. Google Maps via iPhone is preferable. The owners manuals are a chore given the uncountable "lawyer boxes" peppering every page. Clarity wasn't a priority when the documents were written. I'm still enjoying the car over all, niggling annoyances aside. The Lexus so-called "Dealer Experience" is a crap shoot, and routine service is expensive.
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Excellent car!
happydriver, Toano, VA, 03/12/2019
updated 04/01/2021
Lexus ES 350 Ultra Luxury 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 8A)
17 of 38 people found this review helpful
In December we bought a 2019 ES 350, ultra luxury trim fully loaded including nav & Mark Levinson audio. We put a few hundred miles on the car before driving it on a cross-country road trip. By the time we arrived home in late February we had over 6000 miles on the car. So we got to know the car very well, very quickly. First the negatives; which are few & minor. First, there's not enough storage space in the front seat. The side door pockets will hold few maps & that's about it. They are not even deep enough to hold a water bottle. Also, the sun visors are too small. They don't totally cover the whole width of the window. There's a small opening on each side of the visor and they are not deep enough. This was very annoying driving east into the sun. Cabin lights could be a little brighter and finally, all the buttons on the dash should be larger. They are fine for me but not for someone with larger fingers. Now for the positives, which are many. The car is supremely quiet and comfortable and with the exception of the points noted above, beautifully appointed. We had 10 hour driving days and the seats and cabin were very comfortable. The Lexus dynamic navigation is outstanding with the maps being continually updated from the cloud. It also alerts to upcoming traffic/road issues. We got excellent gas mileage, a solid 33 mpg highway. We don't have good numbers yet for local driving but it looks like it will likely be 23/24 mpg. Contrary to other reports, our experience with the Mark levinson audio is nothing less than outstanding. We love music, listen to everything from classical to country and how it sounds in our car is very important. The fade works perfectly. In our cars, we always listen with the fade set just behind center. That's how it's set in the Lexus and it sounds as excellent. We've also tweeked the bass & treble to suit. In addition, we turned off the surround sound. The difference in sound is not subtle. When the surround sound is set to "on" it seems to flatten the sound. I don't know how else to explain it. So even with surround sound set to "off", we are listening to beautiful, rich surround sound. It's gorgeous sound. We can hear all the speakers, including the sub in the back. We read all the on-line audio complaints when we first started looking at the car. We took our iPod with us to the dealer so we could listen to our music at the dealer. In the course of our purchase experience, we listened in 2 different cars and had no issue with the fader. The touch pad works just fine for us. There was no steep learning curve and we didn't find it finicky. There's a series of logical, nested menus. It could be a problem if you had to constantly use the touch pad while driving but we don't find that necessary. Everything I need while driving is accessed either on the steering wheel or the small buttons on the dash. In addition, the voice recognition is excellent so you just talk to the car. For example, after we brought the car home I carefully set up all the radio presets we had in our old car. However, we've never once used the presets in the Lexus because it's so easy to talk to the car. It's just a matter of learning the voice commands. We made a little cheat sheet. I have just a couple of other notes. We had an excellent Lexus dealer experience. Also, Lexus has an 800 number you can call for technical support. I've called twice with questions & was completely satisfied with the response. I wasn't put on hold & the individuals I spoke with were knowledgeable & helpful. Bottom line, we love our ES 350 & would certainly recommend the car. September 2019 Update - We've had the car 9 months & we continue to be extremely pleased with our ES 350 Ultra Luxury Lexus. It is one fine car! Our only complaint, as mentioned in the earlier review, is the lack of adequate storage in the front seat. It's not an issue when driving around town but it does become a problem on long trips. Gas mileage is excellent. We just returned from a 1500 mile road trip. It was all highway driving (I-40) and perfect driving conditions & we averaged an incredible 40 mpg! Around town we're getting 23/24 mpg. The car is supremely comfortable & fun to drive. In spite of all the negative comments, we find the Mark Levinson audio to be superior. We're pretty fussy about our audio systems, both in our home & our car, & ML audio is outstanding. We've adjusted the fade to 3 clicks to the rear & the other audio settings to suit & it's beautiful sound. We also really like the dynamic nav & the car's voice recognition is excellent. We have no issues with the touch pad; the learning curve was minimal. In summary, we love the car & would certainly recommend it.
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