Originally Posted by suginami

Well, I've owned the car for over a month now, and I've put some miles on it in the week since I started this thread.

My opinion of the car has changed a bit. This is partly because I've driven the car much more, but also because my mother bought a brand new 2005 Lexus ES330, and I was able to drive it back-to-back with my E430.

I carefully reviewed my first post, and would like to amend with the following thoughts:

Perhaps I over emphasized the Lexus-ification of the car. The Lexus was quiet, and had good road noise isolation, but I was completely underwhelmed with the car. Frankly, the E430 is equal to if not better than the ES300 in every regard. It was as quiet, and while it was a draw as to which had better road noise isolation, but the Lexus did so at the expense of driver's feel. I believe the Stuttgart engineers hit the nail on the head. I still stand by my statement that a bit of "Mercedes-ness" was engineered out of the car when compared to the W124 car, it still feels like a Mercedes when compared to the Lexus. It frankly makes the Lexus' driving characteristics feel like that of Buick's Dynaride.

I still feel that the E430 is way over damped. I stated that my car wallowed like a whale. Let me be more creative. The ride on the E430 is like a bobblehead doll, that keeps moving up and down, and side to side after it has been shaken. I just can't take it anymore. Starting from today, I am going to investigate different suspension setups: springs, shocks / struts, and swaybar combinations to fix the deplorable ride.

Further, the fit and finish and quality of materials on my 2000 E430 is every bit as nice as my mother's 2005 ES330.

Last, at full throttle, the Lexus V6 made a gargling sound like a garbage disposal. And was sluggish. I can't believe that the engineers of this car paid so little attention to engine noise, harshness and vibration.

My V8 purrs like a kitten, with a sweet swiss-watch-like mechanical symphony.