Used 2020 Lexus ES 350 Consumer Reviews
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better than prior generation
hjs, 04/14/2020
2020 Lexus ES 350 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 8A)
51 of 52 people found this review helpful
The good: better ride, more supple and softer suspension with improved cornering abitity, better appearance inside and out, plenty of important standard features. mpg is good for class, I average 28-30 back and forth to work. Power is superb and instant. The bad: stereo sucks!! 95% of sound comes from front speakers no matter what you do. One time transmission slammed so hard in reverse I honestly thought I crashed into the car parked in front of me. It was that loud! When you want power transmission often shifts down too many gears. Acoustic glass not available on base ES. Come on lexus! the base chrysler 300 and avalon comes standard with it! Not kidding here folks..the rear side glass is much thinner than the front..why you ask? to save $$. No wonder it sounds a bit louder towards the rear while driving. Touch controller is an ongoing issue with lexus. no problem since I do adjustments before I drive. Overall though my car "base model" is better than my 2017 in most respects..a bit quieter, sleeker, more comfortable ride, more power.
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F-Sport avoids looking like your grandparents car
Mark C., 08/07/2020
updated 02/10/2021
2020 Lexus ES 350 F SPORT 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 8A)
19 of 19 people found this review helpful
Started leasing an F Sport ES 350 in Feb of 2020. Was a bit of an impulse buy. Was driving a 2012 Chrysler 300 before that had loads of service issues. While the 300 was very comfortable, it would lean too much in turns and was just boring to drive compared to this car. The F-Sport gets dinged for not having more powerful engine, but the 302 HP is plenty unless you want to race high horsepower opponents on a regular basis. It is front wheel drive which might bother some, but it hasn't impacted daily driving experience in my opinion. The car will get up and go, especially in Sport Mode. Car slides down the freeway at 85 mph with tachometer at less than 1800 RPM. The best part of the car is the handling. The tuned suspension makes going around curves and turning at speed feel solid and confident.... always! Brakes are good, never nervous about getting from 60 mph to 0. It is a very nice balance of being tight but not rigid. I bought this car instead of a 2017 Mercedes CLS 550 due to back seat issues. The Benz was essentially a coupe with tight seating in back for smaller individuals. I'm 6'3 and usually that means the back seat behind the driver seat is useless. This car can comfortably fit a grown family of 4 in it for a longer trip. Head and leg room in the back is excellent. Front driving position is good, but could use a little more leg room if I am splitting hairs. B pillar does impede vision for me with seat moved back fully. Interior is generally very nice. The gauges on the F-sport and brushed aluminum around the dash give it a tech-aggressive feel that I like. The upgrade to the high end stereo would have been nice, but it required changing the head lamp configuration to small LED lights which are not as attractive as the base head lamps in my opinion. It was also a $2800 package upgrade. Only complaints about this car are that the standard stereo. When all windows are up, the surround features work well, but it needs to be louder when driving at speed with sunroof open, windows down. Also, to use the Apple Car Play need to plug into the jacks in front of shifter. Cord has to travel back to arm rest from there. There is a phone slot in front of jacks, but doesn't work with larger screen phones. Would have been nice if that jack was in arm rest. Agree with comments about the touch pad; it isn't great when driving. Not tactile/ specific enough. Have to spend more time looking at screen and fiddling with it than you should be when in motion. Outside of that, you might have to get used to the newer body lines (I did) when considering this car, but the car has good width and length dimensions. It has more presence than an Accord, Nissan, or Infinity which tend to be rather narrow. Stance could be a little more aggressive, but overall this car delivers if you want something that is comfortable, quiet, with a little edge. I think the standard model of this car suffers from the smaller wheels and the more standard instrumentation when sitting inside it. You would also miss out on the improved suspension of the F-Sport, which is no small matter if you are looking for a driver's car. It is a very fun car to drive and spend time in during your daily commute. Love the reliability so far and customer service of Lexus. It will be hard to shift gears to another brand once this lease expires.
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Serene and Engaging
Loyal Lexus Driver, 03/05/2020
2020 Lexus ES 350 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 8A)
26 of 28 people found this review helpful
The 2020 Lexus ES offers a near perfect driving experience. This car allows you to be perfectly insulated from surroundings, but driver engaged at the same time. Excellent handling and the lane assist keeps you perfectly in lane, even around curves. The Bridgestone Turanza tires could be less roll-resistant but are quiet and comfortable. The seats are very comfortable - perforated Nu-luxe man-made leather is as comfortable as real leather. I'd prefer a bit wider front seat - they must have taken an inch off to allow the center console to have more storage - it opens from either side! The driver seat front surface is a little too firm - sort of like an exercise ball, but you sink into the seat comfortably and it offers lots of adjustments to help with long drives (passenger as well). The often criticized touch pad can be adjusted by the dealer and is easy and accurate to use after the adjustment. I suspect Lexus did away with acoustic windshield as you can barely hear the wipers - not so in prior model. One especially new feature is the cruise control does not shut off if you slow to a crawl - it remains engaged - nice improvement. Mirrors self close with the Premium package or higher - a nice feature if you park in a small garage. The standard Pioneer 10 speaker stereo is crystal clear with great sound in the front but virtually no sound in the rear - making the surround sound a near impossibility. Lexus will have to improve the one weak rear speaker in the trunk. The interior and exterior are innovative and beautiful and the wrap around optional wood reminds me of the high end Lexus Models and the Jaguar XJ, costing much more . The paint is self sealing - something not available from many competitors; I’d suggest looking at eminent white pearl and also nightfall mica (dark blue) in direct sunlight to experience the amazing color changes - they have to be seen to be believed. car, rated a very high 87 by a major consumer organization, is a very good value and provides an exceptional ridership experience.
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Mixed feelings after a year
JustinS, 08/27/2021
2020 Lexus ES 350 Luxury 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 8A)
10 of 10 people found this review helpful
I purchased a 2020 ES 350 Luxury in June 2020 and sold it just over a year later in August 2021. This review will give you my impressions based on approximately a year of ownership and 14,000 miles of driving. THE GOOD: * Comfortable - the car was extremely comfortable no matter which seat you were in. Front seats were incredible and back seats have so much leg room and head room, you feel like you’re in the LS and being chauffeured around. * Quiet - This car was dead silent when driving. The Luxury trim brings dual pane front windows, and I had the 18” noise reduction wheels. Anyone who rode in the car commented on how quiet it was. * Smooth driving experience - This car does a fantastic job isolating you from the day-to-day road imperfections. * Quick acceleration - I enjoy a nice quick car, and I always felt the ES had more than enough power. * Peace of mind in knowing that it “should be” mechanically reliable long-term. This engine has been around for a long time. Lexus IS known for reliability. I knew if I wanted to keep this car for 10+ years it would be perfectly fine. * Mark Levinson - Sound was really great when tuned correctly, with audio plugged in via USB, and volume up loud. If these weren’t the case, I found something a little bit off with the speakers compared to the Mark Lev systems I’ve had in other Lexus models (with the most recent being in a 2018 RX Hybrid, which sounded better to me even though the specs aren’t technically as good). 12 inch screen - this is a must-have in my opinion. The standard screen makes the car feel outdated whereas this was a bright, modern screen. I actually did not mind the touch pad and lack of touch screen whatsoever. * Luxury trim features were well worth the upgraded price. These included driver’s seat thigh extender, power rear sunshade, more details on seats and armrests, softer material on back of seats, additional wood trim, etc.) * No need for premium fuel. This car takes and recommends regular gas. * Maintenance costs were low. Other than the fit and finish issues that were all under warranty, I only paid for the standard 5k, 10k and 15k mile services. THE BAD: * Rattles - this car had rattles in both front doors and the dealership had to address them multiple times. When I traded the car in, it still had a rattle. They kept coming back. * Center armrest console - This thing creaks really bad when you lean on it. It drove me nuts. Also, the passenger seat was much too close to the armrest and whenever I would go around a corner or bend in the road, and I had a passenger, the seat leather would rub against the center armrest and make an annoying sound. I’ve never seen this on a car before. * Cupholders - The way the front cupholders are designed is terrible. The one closest to the dashboard is just fine, but the second cupholder closer to the driver was more of a square shape and my drinks (water bottle, or a cup from a restaurant) would also slide or slightly tip over. There’s also a button to expose or hide a plastic piece to control the depth but I always found it either too deep or too short and resulting in the drinks tipping over even more often. * Rear seats don’t fold flat. You’re basically limited to just the standard trunk and no way to accommodate larger items. * Dashboard easily scuffed - I’m not sure what material Lexus is using in this model but the slightest impact with the dashboard just above the glovebox resulted in scuff marks. It was so bad that even taking a brand new microfiber cloth to wipe dust off would scuff it. This is very common on the forums and there’s no fix. * Head-up display appeared crooked and blurry no matter how much I adjusted the rotation or position. I realized this was due to the windshield angle/design and the HUD was actually perfectly aligned, but this was frustrating being that HUD was one feature I loved in my previous 2018 RX 450h. Overall, I would give this car three out of five stars. It was a comfortable car and I know we will see these on the road for YEARS without issue, but I couldn’t get past the imperfections and I felt it was lacking personality on the outside.
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900 Miles in a day with my 2020 ES350 F Sport
J. D., 10/12/2020
2020 Lexus ES 350 F SPORT 4dr Sedan (3.5L 6cyl 8A)
20 of 22 people found this review helpful
I took delivery of a 2020 ES350 F Sport about 2 weeks ago. Absolutely love the interior and the Mark Levenson audio system. The acceleration reminds me of my Benz E350 and the profile of the car looks so nice. Did I mention that it is the quietist car I've ever driven. Last Friday, I drove 900 Miles in 14 hrs from Michigan to Boston in my ES350 and it is such a joyful trip. I took advantages of the radar cruise control and lane centering function to do a lot of semi-automatic highway driving and then listened to my music and podcast along the way. I can't believe that I ended up with 35 MPG using 87 regular gas. Initially, I was a little concerned about the seat since it is harder than a regular ES350. However, at the end, it has been very comfortable! Can't say enough about the good things about ES350. Love it!
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