2006 Gs

[Richard K]

Just Wondering!

Am I the only one that thinks the lack of lighting in the new GS series is a problem. Lexus told me to cary a flashlight or try useing the light for the vanity mirror ? I also have a problem with the box that drops down

for some of the adjustments. It is hard to see past the steering wheel to see them. Lexus said don't try to use them while driving??? No help from Lexus just telling me I should of seen these before I spent my $50,000. They didn't seem to realize most people buy their car durring the day, not night.

[Byran]

Just Wondering!

Am I the only one that thinks the lack of lighting in the new GS series is a problem. Lexus told me to cary a flashlight or try useing the light for the vanity mirror ? I also have a problem with the box that drops down

for some of the adjustments. It is hard to see past the steering wheel to see them. Lexus said don't try to use them while driving??? No help from Lexus just telling me I should of seen these before I spent my $50,000. They didn't seem to realize most people buy their car durring the day, not night.

Lack of lighting? Not really. What exactly are you trying to see that you can't? With all the front interior lights on, my 06 GS300 is completely illuminated. There are even lights in the footwell, for chrissake. Coupled with two lights which shine down directly onto peoples laps, and two spotlights which illuminate everything else. My guess is that the white LED's aren't doing it for you, which is why the Lexus dealer might have suggested for you to use a flashlight, or the vanity mirror light (which doesn't use LED's). My only gripe is the lack of a glove compartment light, and LED's which automatically come on when the trunk is open- two oversights, methinks.

And as for you not realizing that there was not enough light for you after the fact? No offense, but before I spent MY $50,000, I visited the car at different times of day AND night- if only to familiarize myself with it's look, and features. To me, the fact that the salesman might seem rushed, had absolutely no bearing on anything- I was at the dealership to spend more in a day than he makes in a year. I hate to sound harsh, and apologize for the tone, but in my opinion, you should have come to grips with all of the car's features (and lack thereof) before you bought it.

Just my two cents.

[SKperformance]

Led lighting is a great evolution in technology but to a few it is actually dimmer and can cause them not to see the light at all. Colour blind people can also find ill effects from the light distribution.

It may not sound like a proper fix but adding lighting for around $50 for the whole car could rectify the dim output to your eyes.

Personally i have been in the new LED cars at night and they produce more than enough light for me to function easily. That is also me and the way my eyes read the light.

[SW03ES]

Lack of lighting? Is the rheostat turned all the way up? What exactly are you trying to see?

As for the drop down, why do you need to see the controls contained in there while driving? Those controls are typically on the bottom sides of the dash anyways on other cars...

[zlee1]

This person is absolutely right! I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that the car is a cave. The lighting for the dials and dash are not the problem. The lights on the steering wheel are far too dim. If my family is sleeping while I'm driving at night, I can not operate the cruise control. I don't use it very often, and don't know the controls without seeing them. There is no way to see the cruise control stick in the dark. Next, most of the buttons on the driver's door are not illuminated. I park the car in an underground garage. If my wife drove the car last, and I need to press the seat memory button, I need to open the driver's door to see the button. Also, why aren't ALL the window buttons illuminated? I don't understand this stupidity. Have any of you tried to strap a child into a car seat in an underground garage? It is so dark that I can not find where to insert the seat belt clip. My son dropped a red miniature box of raisins to the rear "illuminated" foot well. I could not retrieve the raisins until I got into daylight. We are still looking for the yellow Power Ranger. The truck is so deep, why did they only give us one lousy light to illuminate the entire trunk? What if you need to change a flat, or get something out of a suitcase on a dark road? You folks will excuse my ranting, but while we are on the subject:

1) I have at least 3 different dashboard rattles

2 You have to take your eye off the road AND LOOK DOWN to adjust the seat temperature controls!

3)You can not clean the driver's wiper blade while the hood is closed - I could not believe this.

3) The bluetooth can not handle call waiting. I HATE THIS!

4) The MODE button on the steering wheel is prone to be inadvertently pushed when blowing the horn. If the radio is off, pressing the mode button turns the radio on.

5) When the radio is muted for the phone call, after the call is ended, It comes back at full volume and usually scares the daylights out of me. Same with the MODE button. It would be nice if it would gradually return to volume.

6) If the voice command does not understand you, instead of telling you to repeat the command, it guesses. So, now it's changed some nav setting, and you have to get the owners manual to figure out how to undo what the voice command has done.

7) The nav should automatically delete the destination once you arrive. I don't understand why I need to manually delete the destination.

8) I don't know if you guys like the rain sensing wipers, but I think that they are not sensitive enough. If it is drizzling, it takes far too long in between intervals.

9) Why do we need 4 buttons for the sun roof? Not only is it a waste of space, again, you need to take your eyes off the road to find the right button.

10) Lousy paint. Chips easily. And typical of all Lexus, the body dings easily.

11) It would be nice if the electric mirror folding was a retained power feature. I usually decide to fold that the mirrors need to be folded after the engine is off.

12) HID headlights are good, it is a shame the foglights don't match.

13) The automatic tilt down feature for the mirrors is useless for me, because the degree of how far the tilt goes is not adjustable. The mirrors do not tilt down far enough.

To be fair, I love the driving comfort. The seats are great. The fuel economy comparatively is pretty good. The nav is fantastic. The radio is pretty good, however I still can not solve the mystery of how to make a DVD audio disk. The AWD works well. I drove the car in a blizzard. The whole push-button start and key fob system is my favorite feature. And to my surprise, I use the backup camera all the time. The intuitive parking system (sonar) is worth every penny. I wish I could have gotten the parking system together with the rear sunshade. My dealer told me that it was one or the other. I did not know this until I picked up the car. Apparently this is a huge engineering challenge for Lexus. It's not so much that I care about the sunshade, But I have a sunshade button that has no function. Something like a button with no function can drive a person with a Type-A personality up the wall.

[SW03ES]

ThThe lights on the steering wheel are far too dim. If my family is sleeping while I'm driving at night, I can not operate the cruise control. I don't use it very often, and don't know the controls without seeing them. There is no way to see the cruise control stick in the dark. Next, most of the buttons on the driver's door are not illuminated. I park the car in an underground garage. If my wife drove the car last, and I need to press the seat memory button, I need to open the driver's door to see the button. Also, why aren't ALL the window buttons illuminated? I don't understand this stupidity.

Have you ever driven another car? Lights on the control stalks are never illuminated. It sounds to me like you need to take a little time to learn how to operate your vehicle. The cruise control is very simple and its not designed for you to look at it while driving. Push in to activate, down to set or decellerate, up to resume or accelerate.

Its always a balancing act when the designers choose what to illuminate and what not to illuminate. You can't illuminate everything or the driver will be blinded when driving at night.

2 You have to take your eye off the road AND LOOK DOWN to adjust the seat temperature controls!

Again, have you ever driven another car? Where do you expect the seat temperature controls to be? Controls are arranged according to their frequency of use. The seat heater controls are seldom used, thats why they're below the driver's sightline.

6) If the voice command does not understand you, instead of telling you to repeat the command, it guesses. So, now it's changed some nav setting, and you have to get the owners manual to figure out how to undo what the voice command has done.

The voice command sucks, I'll give you that.

8) I don't know if you guys like the rain sensing wipers, but I think that they are not sensitive enough. If it is drizzling, it takes far too long in between intervals.

They take some getting used to.

10) Lousy paint. Chips easily. And typical of all Lexus, the body dings easily.

Unfortunately the chipping paint comes from the new environmental VOC regulations, its not a unique problem to Lexus. A clear bra will solve the issues. The metal does ding easily though.

12) HID headlights are good, it is a shame the foglights don't match.

Nobody has HID foglights.

13) The automatic tilt down feature for the mirrors is useless for me, because the degree of how far the tilt goes is not adjustable. The mirrors do not tilt down far enough. [/quote/]

I'll also give you this, I don't know why you can't adjust how far they tilt.

[micnn]

About your #10 rant, I was driving behind a small pickup on the fast land. Speed was about 80mph. The truck drove over a piece of steel board and soon I realized that piece of steel was flying towards me. No way I could avoid it. Bang! The object slammed on the hood, made a huge sound of horror, and then was out of my sight. You see, I just had my car about two months ealier... I was totally disappointed until I got home, got out of the car and looked all over the hood.... umm.. no chip, no nuthin. You can call me lucky or unlucky... :)

BTW, I drive a 2002 gs300. To me, the body of this car outshines any latest bmw on the street to a mile... ok maybe umm... not including M5.

[Rx330driver]

i think they just started using this paint technology, not in 2002. Also, i would love to have mercedes nano paint technology. As for the illuminated problems, yes, the cruise control stick is never illuminated, lol, but i guess it would be a good idea if it were? I dont understand the original question, what cant he see in the dark and what box comes down? lol if he is talking about the eyeglass holder next to all the moon roof controls, which i dont think he does, can someone tell me if there is a quick fix, cause if i run over a large bump, it comes down and blocks my rear view mirror, tho it isnt an entire hassel to push it back up, but still!

[Shoemaker]

This person is absolutely right! I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that the car is a cave. The lighting for the dials and dash are not the problem. The lights on the steering wheel are far too dim. If my family is sleeping while I'm driving at night, I can not operate the cruise control. I don't use it very often, and don't know the controls without seeing them. There is no way to see the cruise control stick in the dark. Next, most of the buttons on the driver's door are not illuminated. I park the car in an underground garage. If my wife drove the car last, and I need to press the seat memory button, I need to open the driver's door to see the button. Also, why aren't ALL the window buttons illuminated? I don't understand this stupidity. Have any of you tried to strap a child into a car seat in an underground garage? It is so dark that I can not find where to insert the seat belt clip. My son dropped a red miniature box of raisins to the rear "illuminated" foot well. I could not retrieve the raisins until I got into daylight. We are still looking for the yellow Power Ranger. The truck is so deep, why did they only give us one lousy light to illuminate the entire trunk? What if you need to change a flat, or get something out of a suitcase on a dark road? You folks will excuse my ranting, but while we are on the subject:

1) I have at least 3 different dashboard rattles

2 You have to take your eye off the road AND LOOK DOWN to adjust the seat temperature controls!

3)You can not clean the driver's wiper blade while the hood is closed - I could not believe this.

3) The bluetooth can not handle call waiting. I HATE THIS!

4) The MODE button on the steering wheel is prone to be inadvertently pushed when blowing the horn. If the radio is off, pressing the mode button turns the radio on.

5) When the radio is muted for the phone call, after the call is ended, It comes back at full volume and usually scares the daylights out of me. Same with the MODE button. It would be nice if it would gradually return to volume.

6) If the voice command does not understand you, instead of telling you to repeat the command, it guesses. So, now it's changed some nav setting, and you have to get the owners manual to figure out how to undo what the voice command has done.

7) The nav should automatically delete the destination once you arrive. I don't understand why I need to manually delete the destination.

8) I don't know if you guys like the rain sensing wipers, but I think that they are not sensitive enough. If it is drizzling, it takes far too long in between intervals.

9) Why do we need 4 buttons for the sun roof? Not only is it a waste of space, again, you need to take your eyes off the road to find the right button.

10) Lousy paint. Chips easily. And typical of all Lexus, the body dings easily.

11) It would be nice if the electric mirror folding was a retained power feature. I usually decide to fold that the mirrors need to be folded after the engine is off.

12) HID headlights are good, it is a shame the foglights don't match.

13) The automatic tilt down feature for the mirrors is useless for me, because the degree of how far the tilt goes is not adjustable. The mirrors do not tilt down far enough.

To be fair, I love the driving comfort. The seats are great. The fuel economy comparatively is pretty good. The nav is fantastic. The radio is pretty good, however I still can not solve the mystery of how to make a DVD audio disk. The AWD works well. I drove the car in a blizzard. The whole push-button start and key fob system is my favorite feature. And to my surprise, I use the backup camera all the time. The intuitive parking system (sonar) is worth every penny. I wish I could have gotten the parking system together with the rear sunshade. My dealer told me that it was one or the other. I did not know this until I picked up the car. Apparently this is a huge engineering challenge for Lexus. It's not so much that I care about the sunshade, But I have a sunshade button that has no function. Something like a button with no function can drive a person with a Type-A personality up the wall.

lol Why don't you tell us how you really feel ...

Shoe

[bartkat]

Something like a button with no function can drive a person with a Type-A personality up the wall.

They put buttons like that in there to keep you busy so you aren't messing with all the real buttons. :D

[zlee1]

Friends,

My past cars: Nissan 200sx, BMW 325i, BMW 328i, BMW 330xi, MB E430. I regularly drive throughout the US and much of Europe. There are not too many cars out there that I have not driven. I don't need lessons about familiarizing myself about the cruise control salk. Most lux cars have that have the cruise controls, brightly illuminated on the steering wheel. Even where other manufacturers use non-illuminated salk controls, they seem more "intuitive". Maybe I can best summarize: I feel as if the GS was designed by a computer, not by a driver. My point was not to offend anyone. It is my hope that Lexus would read about my complaints and correct them. For example, I see no reason that the "call waiting" issue could not be fixed with a firmware update. They can improve the voice control with software, as well.

SW03ES -

1) "You can't illuminate everything or the driver will be blinded when driving at night." Yes, I see your point. Illuminated seat memory buttons and window control buttons ON THE DOOR could really blind you. If the ambiance lighting (by the sunglass holder) would be brighter, the driver would be able to see the stalks. I don't remember which car it was, but I once drove a car, where the printing on the salks was glow in the dark (like a wristwatch.). Look at the effort Lexus put into the whole instrument cluster auto tinting BS. It would have been nice if they would have put that effort into solving nav screen glare instead.

2) "Controls are arranged according to their frequency of use. The seat heater controls are seldom used, thats why they're below the driver's sightline." You have to look down and to the right and slide the armrest! Ridiculous. What if they put them near the ashtray (like the LS), where only a small quick glance would be enough. They could also put them on the door, but then they would not be illuminated.

3) My assessment of the rain sensing wipers is indeed based on comparison to other comparable cars.

4) I don't buy the whole VOC paint argument. Other can manufactures have overcome this obstacle. That's what makes a great company; the ability to be creative and engineer a solution. My wife's Town & Country has better paint then the Lexus. And every one of the 30 buttons is illuminated, and it does not blind anyone. There must be some geniuses at Chrysler.

5) "Nobody has HID foglights." That's just not true. Porsche and BMW both have white fogs. And I did not mean that they should necessarily be HID, they should have matching white light. Just like the license plate bulbs.

Rx330driver - He's talking about the hidden compartment the GS has on the left hand side. You push a button and it comes down. You can't see the buttons while driving. Aside from the mirror control, there really is nothing there you need (or rather I need) while driving. I think they should move the mirror control to the door.

Shoemaker -Again, It was my hope that a Lexus reads my comments and improve the cars.

[new big400]

"There must be some geniuses at Chrysler" Maybe you should trade your GS on a new PT !!!

[knmaynard]

"There must be some geniuses at Chrysler" Maybe you should trade your GS on a new PT !!!

I think that's called sarcasm, big400, rendering your response similar to saying "I know you are but what am I?" :whistles:

Sorry, I don't usually get into these thread that turn into *BLEEP*ing matches, but it sounded too much like a line from Napolean Dynamite to pass up.

[Rx330driver]

now that i think of it, that box that comes down with all the controls that lexus was so proud about when the car came out should be lighted...or have a back light to it. that makes sense to me. as for the cruise control stick, i have never, ever ,ever seen a car with a lighted cruise control stick. THe reason why you can see them on the German cars is because its towards the top of the steering wheel and not on the bottom.

[SW03ES]

Friends,

My past cars: Nissan 200sx, BMW 325i, BMW 328i, BMW 330xi, MB E430. I don't need lessons about familiarizing myself about the cruise control salk. Most lux cars have that have the cruise controls, brightly illuminated on the steering wheel.

Must be driving different luxury cars than I am.

Even where other manufacturers use non-illuminated salk controls, they seem more "intuitive". Maybe I can best summarize: I feel as if the GS was designed by a computer, not by a driver. My point was not to offend anyone.

How can you get more intuitive than this?:

-Push in to activate the system

-Push the stalk down to set

There, thats all you have to do. Why is that hard?

If the ambiance lighting (by the sunglass holder) would be brighter, the driver would be able to see the stalks.

Mine has no ambient lighting at all, nor has any other car I've ever had. Somehow I've survived.

4) I don't buy the whole VOC paint argument. Other can manufactures have overcome this obstacle. That's what makes a great company; the ability to be creative and engineer a solution. My wife's Town & Country has better paint then the Lexus. And every one of the 30 buttons is illuminated, and it does not blind anyone. There must be some geniuses at Chrysler.

Well you can not buy into it all you want, but its the truth. What year is your wife's Town and Country? Also keep in mind that the VOC regs don't go into effect until 08 and not all carmakers have complied early like Lexus has.

As for the lights, I know all the lights aren't illuminated because my aunt has one. No more lights than Lexus puts in.

5) "Nobody has HID foglights." That's just not true. Porsche and BMW both have white fogs. And I did not mean that they should necessarily be HID, they should have matching white light. Just like the license plate bulbs.

All automotive bulbs put out the same light, the only two DOT approved types are 3700k halogen either clear or tinted yellow, or 4100k HID. Nothing special about the fogs on a Porsche or BMW, they're the same lights. If it bothers you so, spend $40 on some Silverstars and install them.

As for the license plate bulbs, they're LED and totally different. BMW still uses incandescent bulbs for their license plate lights.

Rx330driver - He's talking about the hidden compartment the GS has on the left hand side. You push a button and it comes down. You can't see the buttons while driving. Aside from the mirror control, there really is nothing there you need (or rather I need) while driving. I think they should move the mirror control to the door.

And why do you need the mirror control while driving? The proper procedure is to align the mirrors before you start driving, and the memory system will remember your settings.

Shoemaker -Again, It was my hope that a Lexus reads my comments and improve the cars.

I think you need to take a step back for a second and entertain the idea that its you that needs to take some time to get used to how your new car operates. You've never had a Lexus before and have been driving German cars. This is not a German car, this is a japanese car. They're different.

[motocopter]

This person is absolutely right! I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that the car is a cave. The lighting for the dials and dash are not the problem. The lights on the steering wheel are far too dim. If my family is sleeping while I'm driving at night, I can not operate the cruise control. I don't use it very often, and don't know the controls without seeing them. There is no way to see the cruise control stick in the dark. Next, most of the buttons on the driver's door are not illuminated. I park the car in an underground garage. If my wife drove the car last, and I need to press the seat memory button, I need to open the driver's door to see the button. Also, why aren't ALL the window buttons illuminated? I don't understand this stupidity. Have any of you tried to strap a child into a car seat in an underground garage? It is so dark that I can not find where to insert the seat belt clip. My son dropped a red miniature box of raisins to the rear "illuminated" foot well. I could not retrieve the raisins until I got into daylight. We are still looking for the yellow Power Ranger. The truck is so deep, why did they only give us one lousy light to illuminate the entire trunk? What if you need to change a flat, or get something out of a suitcase on a dark road? You folks will excuse my ranting, but while we are on the subject:

1) I have at least 3 different dashboard rattles

2 You have to take your eye off the road AND LOOK DOWN to adjust the seat temperature controls!

3)You can not clean the driver's wiper blade while the hood is closed - I could not believe this.

3) The bluetooth can not handle call waiting. I HATE THIS!

4) The MODE button on the steering wheel is prone to be inadvertently pushed when blowing the horn. If the radio is off, pressing the mode button turns the radio on.

5) When the radio is muted for the phone call, after the call is ended, It comes back at full volume and usually scares the daylights out of me. Same with the MODE button. It would be nice if it would gradually return to volume.

6) If the voice command does not understand you, instead of telling you to repeat the command, it guesses. So, now it's changed some nav setting, and you have to get the owners manual to figure out how to undo what the voice command has done.

7) The nav should automatically delete the destination once you arrive. I don't understand why I need to manually delete the destination.

8) I don't know if you guys like the rain sensing wipers, but I think that they are not sensitive enough. If it is drizzling, it takes far too long in between intervals.

9) Why do we need 4 buttons for the sun roof? Not only is it a waste of space, again, you need to take your eyes off the road to find the right button.

10) Lousy paint. Chips easily. And typical of all Lexus, the body dings easily.

11) It would be nice if the electric mirror folding was a retained power feature. I usually decide to fold that the mirrors need to be folded after the engine is off.

12) HID headlights are good, it is a shame the foglights don't match.

13) The automatic tilt down feature for the mirrors is useless for me, because the degree of how far the tilt goes is not adjustable. The mirrors do not tilt down far enough.

To be fair, I love the driving comfort. The seats are great. The fuel economy comparatively is pretty good. The nav is fantastic. The radio is pretty good, however I still can not solve the mystery of how to make a DVD audio disk. The AWD works well. I drove the car in a blizzard. The whole push-button start and key fob system is my favorite feature. And to my surprise, I use the backup camera all the time. The intuitive parking system (sonar) is worth every penny. I wish I could have gotten the parking system together with the rear sunshade. My dealer told me that it was one or the other. I did not know this until I picked up the car. Apparently this is a huge engineering challenge for Lexus. It's not so much that I care about the sunshade, But I have a sunshade button that has no function. Something like a button with no function can drive a person with a Type-A personality up the wall.

No issues with lighting for us. Do you really want to witness a cave experience? Go rent a Ford Mustang and drive it at night!

We fold our mirrors driving down the road just prior to reaching our home and driving into the garage - no issue there.

Yeah the paint chips suck but I'm pretty sure that is the way all paint from any manufacturer is going to be. Body design has a lot to do with how many chips we experience. If our frontal area is mostly paint we will see lots of chips. On the other hand if our frontal area is made up of chrome bumpers and grills the chip count will be down. Protect the paint with the 3M clear film protectant.

Overall it is a great car. We have had it for a year now and sadly will be trading it next March....for a newer car - like the GS350. :D

[zlee1]

We fold our mirrors driving down the road just prior to reaching our home and driving into the garage - no issue there.

No, The folding mirrors are fine. I was compaining about the angle if the "tilt down" feature, when the car is shifted in reverse.

[motocopter]

We fold our mirrors driving down the road just prior to reaching our home and driving into the garage - no issue there.

No, The folding mirrors are fine. I was compaining about the angle if the "tilt down" feature, when the car is shifted in reverse.

Yeah, you're right. The tilting downward of the mirrors when going into reverse sucks and is useless for me. I found on our RX330 we had that when the mirror selection (L or R) switch was in the middle position the mirrors didn't tilt. I can't remember if that is the case with the new GS or not. I'll have to look again.