2011 Lexus ES 350 Electronics Review

My two year old Lexus LS is in the shop getting valve springs replaced as part of a recall. Apparently, a small percentage of these springs have impurities in the metals which may cause them to break apart. The job is going to take several days so I have a loaner ES 350. I've taken this opportunity to check out the new electronics in the ES 350.

Lexus made several improvements to bluetooth support versus my system. First, they added a "phone" label to the "Info" button so that users can actually find the phone setup. This change alone probably saves new Lexus drivers thousands of minutes everyday. The on-screen menus are also improved so I was able to setup handsfree in just a few seconds. The phone power and signal meters are also accurate which isn't true with the LS screens. The LS often indicates incorrectly that the phone battery is near death or that I have signal when I don't. The biggest improvement is bluetooth audio support. Music can be streamed from  bluetooth audio devices such as the iPhone through the car stereo. I'd heard that the sound quality wasn't great but it sounds fine to me. The steering wheel controls also work to switch songs and volume. The coolest thing about bluetooth audio is that music playback automatically starts up again when I come back to the car with my phone.

Lexus ES 350 Bluetooth Audio

Amazingly, the voice command "dial by number" also worked. I was able to successfully make a handsfree call the first try! Of course, the kids weren't in the car so maybe that's an easy test but it should be noted that it's a test the LS can't pass.

Lexus ES 350 Screen Playing USB Music Files

The center console on the ES 350 has a USB port. I connected the USB drive I had been using with the Vaistech Multimedia LinQ. That's a FAT32 formatted drive with folders at the top level and music under each folder. It works really well.  Unlike the LS system much of the ES music navigation functions continue to work while driving. I am able to jump directly to folders and songs that were displayed when I started moving. Unfortunately, some functionality such as scrolling around folders locks down while driving.  Maddeningly, the LS the screen blanks out information while driving and that hasn't happened on the ES 350. One last observation is that the whole ES LCD screen is used. On the LS much of the screen is left blank cutting off song, album, and artist names needlessly. Overall, the newer ES system is much less frustrating than the older system. It still locks up too much functionality while driving but I appreciate that you can do more than on the older LS system. Too bad you need to buy a new car to get the update.

I've only driven the ES 350 for an hour but it's already clear that the controls for the entertainment system are improved versus my two year old LS. I'm reminded of a T-Shirt I saw Apple guys wearing at a developer conference, "System 7.5 Sucks Less." Well, it's definitely true that the "Lexus Entertainment System 2011 Sucks Less."