Buyer Research

2023 Lexus ES — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $27,000–$40,000. This is one of the more reliable vehicles in its class — here's what to watch for anyway.

Deciding between model years? Compare the 15 Lexus ES years we've written up →

Kestrel Take

Twelve complaints, spread across eight different components, and not one recall campaign on the year. That is about as quiet as the public record gets — but twelve filings is too thin a base to grade a car on, and a short file means few owners wrote in, not that nothing can go wrong. What is there is worth reading rather than counting: one stall at 40 mph with the brakes and steering going heavy, one unintended-acceleration report, a brake squeal in reverse that a Lexus mechanic called common, and one car with a road noise the dealer could not find. Inspect this one the way you would any three-year-old luxury car, and pay for the pre-purchase inspection.

What we checked

Checked against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 12 owner complaints for the 2023 Lexus ES, and 2 recall campaigns.

That is too small a record to read a pattern from, so we are not going to pretend otherwise — with numbers this low one owner moves the percentage by a lot. What has been filed is grouped under electrics and electronics (2), the brakes (2), wheels and bearings (1). Treat those as things to look at, not as the vehicle's known weaknesses. A thin file usually means few of these were sold or few owners filed. It is not evidence the vehicle is trouble-free, and the issues below are our own research rather than a reading of this record.

2 recall campaigns cover this model year. Recalls are repaired free, for any owner, with no time limit on most safety campaigns — but only if someone books it in. Ask the seller to show it was done, or have any dealer check the VIN; it takes them a couple of minutes and costs nothing.

Counts come from the NHTSA complaint and recall database — free, public, and worth checking yourself.

Known Issues for the 2023 Lexus ES

Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.

One report of the car stalling at 40 mph with power brakes and steering lostMedium

An owner describes the car dying at speed, the dash reading "High Power Consumption Temporarily Limited" and "Braking Temporarily Disabled", and the brakes and steering going heavy with the engine off. That wording points at the 12-volt electrical side — a tired battery or a charging fault — rather than the engine itself. It is one filing, not a pattern, but it is cheap to rule out: have the battery load-tested and the charging voltage checked at idle before you buy.

Repair cost (estimate): $250–$800 for a battery and charging system diagnosis and replacement

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (2).

Brake squeal in reverse at walking pace, and one unintended-acceleration reportLow

One owner reports the brakes squeaking only when reversing slowly, and says the Lexus dealer called it common on the newer cars — embarrassing rather than dangerous, and usually pad material and hardware. The other brake filing is more serious: a driver says the car accelerated on its own as they touched the pedal while coasting into a parking space, and they hit a hedge avoiding a building. Two filings is not a defect pattern; do a few slow reverse stops on the test drive and listen.

Repair cost (estimate): $0–$450 for pads, shims and hardware if a shop chases the noise

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the brakes (2).

A road noise that got louder after new tyres and was never tracedMedium

One owner took a car under three years old to Lexus for a loud noise on the move, was told it was the tyres, replaced the fronts anyway and found the noise worse. A drone or growl that rises with road speed and changes pitch when you weave gently from side to side is the classic wheel bearing signature, and that is what to check for. Drive the car on a coarse, quiet road with the radio off and the windows up before you decide the cabin is as silent as an ES should be.

Repair cost (estimate): $350–$900 per wheel bearing and hub assembly

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under wheels and bearings (1).

Driver-assist faults are cheap to see and expensive to put right on this carMedium

One lane-departure filing and one forward-collision filing sit in the record — single reports, not a pattern. They matter mainly for what they cost: the ES carries its forward camera behind the windshield and its radar in the nose, so a cracked screen or a minor front-end knock turns into glass plus a calibration session, not a $300 windshield. Sit in the car at startup and make sure every driver-assist warning clears off the dash rather than staying lit.

Repair cost (estimate): $900–$1,800 for windshield glass with camera recalibration

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under lane departure (1), the driver-assist and automatic braking systems (1).

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Any dash message about power consumption or braking being temporarily limited
✗Drone or growl that rises with road speed and changes when you weave gently
✗A chip or crack in the windshield on a car with a camera behind it
✗Driver-assist warning lamps that stay lit after startup
✗Mismatched tyre brands, which often means a noise someone tried to chase

Good Signs

✓Lexus dealer stamps covering the first two scheduled services
✓A 12-volt battery that reads 12.6V at rest and 13.8–14.4V at idle
✓A quiet 60 mph cruise on coarse tarmac with the radio off
✓Brake pad and rotor thickness measured and written down at a pre-purchase inspection
✓Matching tyres on all four corners with even wear across the tread