8.0

pretty bad
Typical Repair Cost:
No data
Average Mileage:
70,000 miles
Total Complaints:
1 complaints

Most common solutions:

  1. not sure (1 reports)
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problem #1

Feb 202022

ES 350 3.5L V6

  • Automatic transmission
  • 70,000 miles

I got a Lexus because I wanted to stop worrying about things breaking and drivability issues. I want to enjoy my driving. I don’t fly around like a mad man, I just want to be comfortable. The 6 speed in this car feels like it’s broken but it’s not. I have no warning lights. No damage. Fluid should be fine it only has 70k. But driving it in stop and go traffic or even just residential areas is an absolute headache. Makes me want to throw the car away.

It lunges all the time from gear changes that aren’t even intuitive. I basically have to always have a little bit of the throttle open at all times or the transmission just starts acting out. Gear searching especially going slightly downhill. If I let off on the gas coming up hill and I haven’t reached the peak, it jerks so hard it feels like a bad motor mount (but it’s not). I have to keep the car in eco mode because it dumbs down the car enough that the issues are more subtle. Sometimes sport mode is okay and I can change the gears myself as needed but even that isn’t very responsive and I’m left at the whim of this horrendous transmission.

I’ve reset the ecu and Tcm to make sure it wasn’t a computer issue and no fix. I’m tempted to trade it in. I love this car when it acts right, some days it’s smooth as silk. But not very often. I just don’t understand. As far as I can tell is some people have this problem and some people have no clue what I’m talking about. I'm about to just go get a Honda again. I really wanted to be on the Toyota team, they have a stellar reputation for reliability, but I just can’t drive a car like this much longer. Hope there’s a fix and someone lets me know.

- Joshua L., West Mifflin, US