2005 ES-330 have hesitation prolbems?

I just test drove the es330 at a car and driver editor for a day event. The other cars were Caddy CTS and STS, and the BMW 530i.

The es330 hesitates when the pedal is pressed all the way. You can noticably see that the downshifts are too slow. The other cars did not have this problem. Also, i thought the car was a little too soft, and did not feel comfartable corning at high speeds.

I liked the es330 interior, and lexus' customer service and reliability are great. So you can't go wrong w/ a lexus.

Personally I would hold off on getting one. I had the 2004 and traded it in on a 2005 Toyota Sienna Minivan (hesitation was only one reason, also needed a bigger van for the kids).. anyway, even the Sienna with the same engine and tranny has the hesitation issue. Until they work it out, I would really look at Honda.

I have a month old 330es and there is no hesitation off the line. On downshifting, to pass at 40-60 mph, for example, there not enough hesitation to be a problem. In normal driving, the shifting is almost flawless. I agree that the transmission does not perform as well as my 2000 ES, but it was a 4 speed auto, not a five speed. The handling is certainly acceptable for a 4 door sedan. I have the 17inch summer tires and they are fairly sticky. For all around comfort, safety, and reliability, you can't beat this one. I traded in my 2003 BMW which handled better, but compared to the Lexus was noisier and harder riding....what you might expect. In the end though, I found it fatiguing. My wife's 2005 Subaru Outback has the 6 and a

When I roll and am almost stopped then accelerate occasionally I'll get a jolt as if the transmission slipped and then took hold on my 2005 es 330

Same here, happens mostly while rolling up to a light where I have to wait to slow or wait to turn. The accelerator is fly by wire and I was told that there is some lag in the system. Seems to me they could do better.

Very nice car otherwise. If I ever hear my wife complain, she'll be sport'n roller-skates.

This is a well known problem. You can check on club lexus, for example.

My 3 month old ES doesn't do this, but a loaner I drove did.

Lexus has what it claims to be a 'fix' by chang>Same here, happens mostly while rolling up to a light where I have to wait

I had the latest fix (Summer 2005) installed about a month ago. First few weeks, it worked great. Now it's starting its same old lag on acceleration from a slow roll. It looked very promising when the software was installed last month, but it looks more and more like Lexus has no clue how to program a "learning" transmission...it gets worse once it builds enough data on my driving habits to form its own decisions about when to allow me to accelerate. Real pain in the butt to have a damn buggy computer program decide when to let me hit the gas...

I had the new "fix" done a few weeks ago. While the "hesitation when accelerating from slow-roll" is noticeably better, the result is still an un-Lexus-like driving experience. Lexus has made a little progress in their "Relentless Pursuit" of a transmission fix, but I hope there's still someone at the drawing board.

I now hear a strange whining at times (no, my wife wasn't in the car at the time) , when the trans trying to decide what to do, but at least it's not slamming into gear, hesitating, etc, ......

I wish they'd post a picture somewhere of the person at Lexus/Toyota who signed off on going ahead with this transmission in the first place. Some individual gave the go-ahead to this, and well, I'd just be curious to what he or she looks like. While the person should probably now be found on an unemployment line somewhere in Japan, I have this feeling the person in is an oak-paneled executive suite in some office building, having gotten a promotion somehow.

Sad, how much image damage can be done to a stellar brand by one decision.

( I might mention that the dealer did not place the under-hood sticker, which is part of the procedure. That could be critical, as troubleshooting codes now have different meanings. I called the service dept. and they're mailing me the sticker. )

sticker? what sticker? i guess i should be asking for one too!

When you open the hood, look up. To the left of the latch mechanism. You should see a label titled TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION AUTHORIZED MODIFICATIONS.

At the bottom edge of the label, in the field labeled CHANGE AUTHORITY, it should read: "TSIB TC004-03", which is the latest trans firmware fix.

It's important, with future service issues, for the tech to know if the fix had been applied to the car he's working on, and the label would determine which service manual to use when looking up OBD II logic power train diagnostic trouble codes.

If a 2002 ES300 had the TSIB done, the tech would no longer refer to 2002 trouble codes, but would rather refer to the "2003" ES300 service manual codes. A 2004 ES, after the fix, would use 2005 OBD II codes.

I got the update for my `03 about 2 mos. ago and the hesitation was hardly noticeable. About a week ago, I noticed that it sometimes stays in a lower gear a bit longer when I accelerate (30-40mph). I guess that's better than the hesitation, but it does make me wonder about that electronic transmission.

-larry

I guess I've got this problem. I have a new ES 330 (17" high performance tires, but that's another story). I sometimes get a mild jolt when I step on the gas. Mostly, it's after I slow down - like when I'm coming to a red light that changes back to green before I stop. Sometimes, I have to do no more than take my foot off the gas and then step down on it again (not too hard) and I get the jolt after a slight hesitation.

I called the service manager at the Lexus dealer. I only had 800 miles on the car. He said the transmission was still learning and that I should put another 800 miles on it before bringing it in. He said there is a technical bulletin on this and it involves some modification to the software. He thought I should try it. I will, but I still have another 600 miles to go. I intend to get this looked at sufficiently in order to qualify under the Lemon Law, if that becomes necessary. You have to give them something like at least 3 opportunities to fix the problem during the first year. When you buy a Lexus, you shouldn't have any mild jolts or jerks from stepping on the gas pedal. Al

You know, since I've never heard *anyone* complain about how the ES300 transmission behaves when the car is new or after the transmission module has been reset, there are *easy* solutions to this problem, if Lexus would just do one of them:

2 Set the transmission module to reset itself on every startup.

These options would be child's play for automobile engineers.

For me, I'd like #3, but #1 might be best for everyone involved.

CB

Are LS400s known to have this hesitation? I have this hesitation exactly as describe. I bought a used '99 LS400 in April and it was doing this. I took it back to the dealer, and he said I probably had a different driving style than the previous owner and would reset the transmission module. It noticeably improved, but by the end of the week it was back to the hesitation and has been that way ever since.

I've read some stuff about the hesitation with the fly by wire system, but it doesn't seem to be this. With the hesitation, you begin to press the pedal after a rolling stop, the engine responds instantly a few hundred RPMs and then the transmission engages and off you go with a noticeable jerk. I can lessen the effect by driving around in stop and go traffic with the transmission in "4" or "3" and not "D". To me it seems like the transmission is still in a higher gear when slowing down and has not yet downshifted and then you fool it by stepping on the gas and it takes about a second for it downshift.

Have other experienced this on the LS and not just the ES?

Thanks

I experienced this with a '98 SC400 which had a 5-speed automatic transmission. I had a '95 SC400 with a 4-speed automatic transmission that did not have the problem.

David

I'd love to Control/Alt/Delete my 2002 ES300 tranny... ;-)