"we Don't Work On Lexus"

[vcv10guy]

Ya I know the Camry equipment or stuff needed to service it is no different than my ES300. I think they said that just as an excuse not to do it. Anyway I actually found another Toyota dealer who is willing to work on my car, which is great news because I'll have them do my valve cover gaskets (Toyota said $379 versus Lexus wanted $525). If anyone lives in the peninsula region of the Bay Area go to Melody Toyota if you want to get your Lexus serviced by a Toyota dealer instead. They're located in San Bruno.

[SW03ES]

I can't help but think how much business this Toyota dealer is loosing with their attitude towards Lexus for simple maintenance    Not to mention the bad taste it leaves in the mouths of customers......because word of mouth spreads like wildfire!  :whistles:  Sound like this dealer is operated by a bunch of "Gilligan's" & "Stumblebum's"  :chairshot:   

   

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They're not turning any business away, any business they're interested in anyways. Its the right of any business to pick and choose what they want to do. If the Toyota dealer won't work on your Lexus why get so bent up about it? Toyota service is terrible anyways (we have a Prius and I will never buy another Toyota brand product because the dealer support is so terrible. Shocking when Lexus service is so great) just find an independent shop to change your oil.

[steviej]

Hey Steve, now that the Lexus service guys are gearing up for the RX400h, will Lexus service your Prius?

steviej

[SW03ES]

If they will I'd gladly pay them the $98 an hour to do so. The real problem is warranty work, we've had some problems with the Prius (CD changer needing replacement, odd charging problem in the Hybrid system) and Toyota is extremely uncooperative, we've tried 4 dealers now. Stark difference to Lexus who will just replace things on your word, Toyota always has a chip on their shoulder.

[bartkat]

If they will I'd gladly pay them the $98 an hour to do so. The real problem is warranty work, we've had some problems with the Prius (CD changer needing replacement, odd charging problem in the Hybrid system) and Toyota is extremely uncooperative, we've tried 4 dealers now. Stark difference to Lexus who will just replace things on your word, Toyota always has a chip on their shoulder.

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Damn. That's rotten, especially with Toyota touting those hybrid cars so much. :(

[SW03ES]

It is. Its a great car and we really like it, we'd be 100% satisfied if the dealers would take us seriously with this problem. The problem is that the gas mileage has dropped recently, my fiance was getting between 48-50mpg now she's lucky if she can stay north of 35. The hybrid system includes a battery meter, the meter should never be full or empty. Sometimes you'll shut it off and the meter is right where it should be, then you turn it on the next morning and its empty. When its empty the car drives extremely rough and the mileage goes down to the single digits. The dealer "can't find anything wrong" and whenever we mention fuel mileage they always say "You can't go by the EPA ratings". I've tried to explain that we're not, but its not normal that the car WAS getting 48-50MPG now its getting 35. I always say "Even if it were a normal car, a 25% dropoff in fuel economy coupled with a drivability concern must warrent some sort of diagnostic attempt". I always get "We'll look into it" etc and never get called back, from multiple dealerships. Its really frustrating.

We thought we found a dealer that had a recall but it was for the OLDER Prius. So we go to pick it up and they try and stick us for a $50 loaner charge. The loaner was supposed to be free because of the warranty work. Well, they thought the recall was for our car, but it was really for the old Prius. So they try and stick us for the loaner on the grounds that no warranty work was preformed. Bunch of crooks.

At this same dealership we were talking to the service manager trying to replicate the problem and describe it to him. Carla makes the mistake of saying that she's discussed it on a Prius board, he looks at her and says in a smart assed tone "You heard this on the Internet? He's trying to sell us that he "helped design the hybrid system" (come on, he's the service manager at some crappy Toyota dealer in Washington DC, he didn't help design the hybrid system. Maybe he filled out a questionaire or something) and blah blah blah. I say "Look, this isn't the first car I've ever owned. Something has changed in the car and it doesn't drive right, its rough and sluggish. It wasn't rough and sluggish before, a $26,000 car shouldn't be rough and sluggish. It might be a Hybrid but its still a car, if it has a 25% dropoff in fuel economy something is wrong." The battery is still a battery, if its charged one second you shouldn't check it 3 hours later and find it dead. Makes no sense. He had no response to that, he's gonna "make some calls" and "call me back" which he of course never did.

My next step is going to be getting a regional Toyota rep involved.

We've had a couple other problems too. The CD changer jammed trapping all the CDs inside. It took 4 attempts to replace it. The first dealer said they would call back when the part came in, never called. So I took it to another dealer. Ordered the part, called when it was in. I took it over and waited, they ordered the wrong part. So put the dash back together and we'll order a new one. 6 weeks go by and they don't call so I call. Oh whoops, its been here all along! Take it in, get a call an hour later "Sorry, this unit has a scratch on the face of it, we're gonna put the dash back together come get it and we'll get another one to you. 6 more weeks, no call. Oh whoops we've had it the whole time! Finally done that time.

All this, no loaners. A real pain in the !Removed!.

Plus there's a problem with the smart entry system, the doors don't want to lock when you push the lock button. Plus I lost my key because of the stupid key design. The smart key is the size of a normal keyfob. It has a slide out metal key in case the battery goes dead so you can get in the car, you move a switch and the metal key comes totally out and seperate from the rest of the fob. Well guess what? The key is attatched to the key ring by this removable part. So, if that switch gets bumped in your pocket, you loose the $300 key. I'm fighting to get that covered under warranty too.

All in all its a great car, has a few issues but it has a lot of tech too. I'd be more understanding if there were ANY decent dealers out there at all. As it stands though, the only Toyota products I'll buy again will be from Lexus.

[Lexusfreak]

If they will I'd gladly pay them the $98 an hour to do so. The real problem is warranty work, we've had some problems with the Prius (CD changer needing replacement, odd charging problem in the Hybrid system) and Toyota is extremely uncooperative, we've tried 4 dealers now. Stark difference to Lexus who will just replace things on your word, Toyota always has a chip on their shoulder.

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Sounds much like the 'minor' problems I was having with Nissan during the 2 1/2 years I owned my 01 Maxima :chairshot: I was on my 4th dealer before I found the ES. B)

I do take my ES to an independent mechanic for basic maintenance, I was just commenting on the fact that my wife is intrested in one of several cars when her lease is do (Toyota Matrix is one of them, as is the Mazda 6 Sport Wagon) & if they would do her oil changes at the Toyota dealer & refused to do mine.......it would be the last time she would ever go there simply because the ES is so close to the Camry in it's mechanicals. Lucky for us, there are quite a few Lexus/Toyota dealers that sell & service BOTH brands. B)

[SW03ES]

We looked at the Mazda 3 Wagon when we were shopping for her and liked it, but I can't vouch that Mazda service would be any better. As long as you have a decent Toyota dealer I say go for the Matrix.

[Lexusfreak]

My wife's kind of leaning to get a 6 cyl next time although she loves the Matrix. Were not minivan folks, not do we want to have the heavy fuel expense of an SUV. I think were going to test drive a 2005 Mazda 6 Sport Wagon as it's practical with loads of cargo space (for kids & their stuff down the road) even more than many compact & mid-size SUV's actually I like Mazda's 3 year or 50,000 mile (80,000 kms) warranty which is 14,000 miles more than what's average these days. The 2005 has a new 6 speed Automatic transmission as well, along with the 220 HP V6. :)