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I enquired with the Service Center, they didn’t touch door alignment. The Squeak was front left side and the creaking noise was from rear doors which was fixed by removing inner door panels and refixing the wood trim.

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@Dhruv29, I am both surprised and disappointed to learn of the sheer number of issues you are facing with your car. My car is only a little older at 42k kms and we have faced almost no trouble in any part. Why was the car in the garage for 9 days? Best of luck.

The investigation took time because each part had to be removed from the car. I was told beforehand that it’ll take at least 4-5 days for the problems to be rectified and i accepted it because i was pretty frustrated with the rattling. For 3 days we waited for another ES (8,000km demo car) to come as there was no other example of this specific model of ES, so that a comparison video can be made for warranty replacement procedure because that’s how warranty replacement procedure is for Lexus. Unless and until something is truly broken and is not functioning, they won’t accept note of technician or customer feedback. In the mean time they worked upon the rattling parts, they had to remove rear seats to access the shelf which was rattling due to subwoofer. It took time.
On 6th day, the car was supposedly ready. I took the car back to my residence along with the technician for confirmation drive because being a gated community we can hear noises clearly. There again, the sunroof creaked and rear suspension made noise. I again gave the car back to them. Then it took further 3 days to trace and sort out roof and suspension noise.
Yes it took 9 days, but to me timing was really not much of a big deal as i wanted my car to be fixed.
My opinion from what i saw and what i felt from a brand new ES waiting for PDI, another customer’s ES (7,500km), demo ES (8,000km), and my car (33,000km), is that the the quality of parts constantly degrades with time and age. Be it the swinging action of the door (feels loose now), hinge action of center console (again, it feels loose), the indicator stalk, rattling etc.
For this i was given an explanation that every part wears out over time. I replied that it means i expect the car to fall apart in my hands once it reaches 1,00,000km.
My car had the the least amount of noises cause it’s being cared for and driven carefully after being compared to other examples except brand new ES. The Demo car was especially a rattle trap, I don’t know how someone can buy ES after driving that demo car.
Some issues like rear door creaks and indicator stalk movement is documented on “ClubLexus” forum too.
Lexus has cut a lot of corners in this generation of ES and it shows, at least to me.
Or maybe it was Friday at the Lexus Tahara plant when my car was being made. :)

Dhruv,

How about checking ride of Mr. Narayan sometime and letting him try yours?

One thing I can safely say across brands, whenever interiors like dash or door trims are opened and refitted, it never comes back as original fitted. You can always find some marks at one place or the other. That’s one reason that Toyota dealers normally do not try to open and check things unlike other brands. Even though your car is a demo, I don’t think they would have opened the roof or door trims when they owned the car.

Sure, I’d love that.

True, the plastic trim clips loose a part of their tension once they are pulled apart. But the rattles from dashboard, shelf and the creaky roof developed over time when the car was with me. They wouldn’t have done anything else. Most of the car’s mileage during it’s demo phase was on Yamuna Expressway.

Update 35000km:

The replacement parts, Indicator Stalk and Driver Side Seat frame arrived at the S.C for replacement.
Last week i faced issue with the stereo, it was skipping and fast forwarding songs, switching on/off automatically without any user input. I was not able to take video of this behaviour as i was driving on highway and by the time i stopped to take video, it returned to normalcy. I'll keep an eye on this.



MRP for Indicator Stalk was Rs.17,000, was not charged for it. After replacement, the movement is smooth and slick. I've posted about it on "Clublexus" forum too, some users report the same issue and some don't. Probably a faulty batch of stalk is at fault here. Hopefully others also get this problem solved.



The Replacement Frame had an MRP of Rs.87,000, again, was not charged for it.



The old frame had play with the rivets joint. The new one is tight and sturdy.



Dashboard rattling from screen area again resurfaced, on deeper inspection after removing the screen, it was found that a nut was completely loose from the factory itself. The washer in the nut used to rattle on rough roads.



The steering wheel used to make clicking/ticking noise while turning. This noise was traced back to insulation material on audio controls/cruise control wiring harness inside the steering wheel. The black sleeve used to make noise when steering was moved. It was fixed after tightening the sleeve through zip ties.

Atlast, the ES is driving the way an Lexus should, smooth and noiseless. It took time but the issues are sorted. Lexus needs to ramp up there quality control at the factory because these problems are the type of problems which can be expected in first Model Year vehicle. But as long as the company stands up to the fault of their product, it's fine by me.
On a separate note, the vehicle comes with 3 years warranty, and it'll cost Rs.1,05,000 to extend it to 5 years. Supposedly, Grace Toyota were supposed to extend it, but we all know the hoopla going on that front.
I'll take the extended warranty if the ownership issue resolves in a way that the car stays with me.

Another day, another visit to OCD town. My quest for having a creak free car will probably lead me to driving a car with fully stripped and bare metal interior:uncontrol
Obviously i can’t bug the A.S.S people, I know they’ll oblige to fix the issues but still, I know whenever I turn up the gate, all of them think here comes the maniac again. stupid:
And not to mention, the lockdown. 
Having a Healthcare Laboratory running COVID-19 tests, I need to turn up for work everyday. It’s an eery feeling driving the car on empty roads with occasional Police Checkposts. 
During first few weeks, it was haunting to say the least, to see Gurugram with its usual buzz, turn into a town which looks abandoned. But it got normal after a while.
Due to empty roads I could pinpoint the creaks in dashboard which emanated due to dips on road or when the car flexed in potholes. 
The culprits were the usual, plastic to plastic trim joints. So, after having a micropore tape handy, I set off with the task of disassembly.

• Steering wheel:

The lower plastic trim of the Steering used to creak due to contact with faux metal trim piece of the steering buttons. I didn’t tried to remove the airbag because it would mean disconnecting the negative terminal of battery and then all my settings in stereo would’ve been lost. Rather than that, I placed a microfibre cloth on top of the steering and rested the airbag module on it.
To remove the Airbag module on Lexus:
1. Remove both trim pieces on the backside of steering wheel.
2. On the left side, there are two metal clips which upon pressing releases the lock holding the module to the steering, same on the right side but instead of two, one metal clip.
3. Airbag Module then pops out and can be easily removed from its housing.

• Center Stack:

Here, the creaks were with the internal plastic housing of the HVAC and Stereo Controls. I had to remove the trim piece with the help of trim removal tool, and then pull out the center trim piece. Then, I was able to pull and remove the HVAC control module as it was attached with just plastic clips. Then I carefully disassembled the HVAC and Stereo control unit, which is held together by clips and 10 screws, also keeping in mind sensitive ribbon cables to temperature display. Then i applied the tape on the perimeter.

• Center Console:

Again the culprit is plastic to plastic trim joints. It used to creak whenever a slight pressure is applied laterally. It was quite easy to remove by pulling the trim upwards, as it's just held together by plastic clips, probably also the reason of creaks in the first place. Again, applied micropore tape on the perimeter and on the clips so that there is a fabric between the plastics.






Final Step:

Switch on the stereo and listen to your favorite music, while appreciating your work and the subtle interior lighting of the ES.

wow! if you did all this by yourself, am sure you can easily open a Lexus workshop :D

Finally! Are you satisfied now?

Haha, no actually, It was all because of Hardwork of my family. I just joined recently. The workshop part is on a backburner when I'm in my 50s .:)


Actually not yet! In March, we purchased an Launch Edition S500 2014 will be indulged in restoring it.

The "Made in India" ES comes in 2 variants: Exquisite and Luxury. Luxury comes equipped with all bells and features of the CBU. Exquisite has notable deletions
- Replaces the 3 eyed headlights with a projector one
- doesn't get the noise reducing alloys
- no powered tailgate
- no HUD
- 10 speaker lexus audio system in place of 17 speaker mark-levinson
- no wireless charging

Have anyone noticed the rear speakers on the ES lacking power? The audio output seems to be front biased. I found others with similar complaints in the Club lexus forum.

You can turn off "Virtual Surround" for better sound distribution between front and rear speakers.
But yes, definitely the sound is more front biased. Lexus designed it like this to have front stage sound effect. This is more pronounced in Non-ML sound system.

50,000KM Update:
It was a general service along with replacement of brake pads and brake discs. I was feeling faint vibration in steering wheel when braking from speed of 100 KM/H. Normally, in hybrid vehicles we don't need to worry about brake pads replacement at 50,000km especially replacement of rotors.
But I blame this to the fact that car was used roughly during demo period.

I had to split my visit to the service centre because disc brakes were not in stock had to visit again when they were available.

Replacement parts cost:
Front Brake pads: 17,000
Front Rotors: 28,000
Door checks (4 doors): 33,000
Rear brake caliper rubber boot: 4,000
Servicing & dry cleaning (inclusive of labour): 27,000
Fuel Pump Replacement: Surprisingly my car were in recall list for fuel pump replacement even after being manufactured in 2018.
Total cost of service (inclusive of labour): 1,15,000

I know the cumulative cost seems excessive for a Lexus vehicle. I could've gotten away with just skimming of rotors at Toyota instead of full brake job but my experience says that the discs gets warped again over period of time and they were 70% gone anyway.
Also, the door checks were replaced because they were getting weak. I can blame it on additional sound damping I did which made the door heavier, consequently inducing additional stress on them or again, I can blame it on demo period because the doors were probably opened hundreds of time every week compared to private vehicle whose doors might be opened 20 times a week.
Resultantly, door used to come back when parked on slope and were started to miss that "feel" when doors are locked in a stage when opened.
My bill could've been reduced by 40k for brake overhaul or 33k for door checks. But I want my car to feel mechanically perfect as it makes every drive pleasurable for me.

Hi Guys,

Does it make sense to sign up for the extended warranty for the ES?
The 3 year factory warranty will expire in 2023, and EW will take care of the car till 2025.

Cost is around Rs. 1.4-1.5L since the vehicle is in its second year.
We already have the EW for the battery, this is for everything else.

Generally we've never missed not having the EW warranty on our Toyotas, but it's mandatory on our Germans. But given this car has a few more motors than the typical Toyota not sure if it makes sense given the perceived reliability.

I would like to err on buying such risk covers if the prices are reasonable/affordable. More of a superstition than anything statistical.