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Transmission problems with Lexus ES?

1381 messages, Last post on Nov 26, 2009 at 12:56 PM
You are in the Lexus ES Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
| The lousy drivetrain remains a lousy drivetrain in an otherwise nice car. Buyers beware. | |
| I saw a notation on the dealers copy of the service order that said "beyond trans update calibration", so I assume this means that my car has the latest software update available, especially since it's only 1 1/2 months old. The service guy did say that the only thing they could do is erase the computer's memory of our driving style, but he didn't think that would help in my case since I've been trying to "train" the car rather aggresively. I fear that vcheng may be right. | |
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I recently had the re-set done, and I think that it has helped some. I intentionally drove aggressively during this second "break-in" period, as they suggested. I bought the car new, out of state, and drove it 500 mi home with little change in the highway speed. I may be getting use to it's jerky habits as it now has close to 10K miles. Anyway, just suggestions that might help. |
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| Thanks. I think I will take the car back and have them erase the memory and break it in a second time. It couldn't hurt. Are there any Lexus service techs out there who can shed any light on these transmission woes? | |
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I test drove an ES330 and loved the car except for some rough shifting. I read this forum and went back for another test drive with a more focused attention. I could make the transmission misbehave pretty easily. After all of you folks experiences I changed my mind and bought a used (19,000) Mazda Millenia that drives just as well and and has a silky smooth engine and transmission for $15,000. I'm happy and saved $17,000. Thanks folks, the Internet rocks! |
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I just read the Edmund's review of the ES330; don't see any mention of the transmission problem. Aren't these professional drivers who are reviewing the cars? They must have put the car through it's paces. In fact, they called it the best affordable luxury car. http://www.edmunds.com/new/2004/lexus/es330/100322064/review.html- ?tid=edmunds.h..reviews.reviews.1.* |
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| It may not be in the best interest of Edmunds.com to single-handedly report that the Lexus 330 has a bad transmission. Just food for thought. | |
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Obviously, Lexus as well as all other manufacturers pay Edmunds for advertising. Does Edmund's pass on website chatter to reviewers?? Probably not. You'd think that if you were in the business of reviewing cars, that you'd know and factor in what is being said by the customer base (those of us on this website). Good question for our host. Why don't Edmund's reviewers comment on the transmission issues with the ES ???
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Probably because it didn't happen to them, would be the most logical answer I could come up with. The reviewers are usually pretty good about jumping on a glaring defect, if you read through some of the other reviews. However, your comments (basic content, not identities) are very helpful and are directed to management for possible forwarding to manufacturers. We hosts often note any reptitive mention of problems with a car and send that observation along. You have to remember that even a 10% failure rate in a car's component would be very unusual, so it makes sense that the Edmunds car wouldn't show it. |
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Believe it or not there is an honest person that is reviewing this car. Ann M. Job of the Associated Press reviewed the Lexus ES330, and was quite honest. Direct quote from her review,"I just wish more attention had been put into how the transmission and engine worked together in the test car. Occasional, clumsy-feeling upshifts were felt by passengers. There were enough of them during my test drive that I wondered what had happened to the silky smooth shifts that I had enjoyed from the predecessor ES. I also noticed occasional hesitation, as if the transmission were indecisive about which gear to be in , when I travelled on hilly highways". That is a perfect review of an imperfect car, this is what we are all complaining about. Stay away from the ES330 until Lexus fixes the problem, it's been 3+ years an counting!!!!!!!!!!
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