SeaDuck79

Marine Corps - 1977 - 1980. All on the same team, though! Semper Fi!

I asked my dealer to do it, and they did. Much better now! ← did you have to pay for this service? Do you happen to know how they did it or did they use a special tool? Thanks! ← They didn't charge me. I explained that it was a safety problem because I was basically driving blind at night if I was going faster than about 45 mph. They noted that it was out of adjustment.

Thanks for the information on the E 815. It appears Verizon has replaced the V710 with the E815. Looks like a nice little phone ! I like it better then the LG VX8100 Verizon offers. Thanks again Lexus411 ← I have the E815, and I love it! It's not integrated w/my 330, cause it's the '04, but maybe someday...

I asked my dealer to do it, and they did. Much better now!

Didn't have much choice. Our dealer (Lexus of Bellevue) said that all of the 330s shipped to the NorthWest were all AWD. Certainly all I saw on their lot were. I don't mind - makes the spousal unit feel better about driving in inclement weather.

The 2 Lexus dealers close to me: Sewell Lexus in Dallas and Park Place Lexus in Plano, TX have plenty of RX330 and ES330 to loan out. ← Lexus of Bellevue usually has enough Lexus loaners, especially if you give them a day or two notice. Since I just need a ride to work and back, I usually just get their shuttle driver to get me there and back.

I have RX330 2004 AWD. I only use premium gas, and get about 17~18 in city. When my wife drives it, she gets about 19 mpg. :) ← My wife gets about 18-19 in normal city driving. We just took a long trip that was lots of freeway, but some mountain driving, too, and got 24 for the trip, with 4 adults and our gear, averaged over 3 tanks of Regular.

Well, I can see why you said what you said, but I think we're still misunderstanding one another. What I did in my manual tests was attempt to emulate the conditions under which the cruise control was operating. Since it's function is to maintain a constant speed, that's what I did, too. Rather than reiterate the rest of the story, which I think you probably understand, let me ask you a question, based on your statements about servo operation. Are you saying that what I'm expecting to be done (tunability of the CC servo to decrease sensitivity) is not physically possible or practical? Is there another technology that would or should take the place of the current one to act as a speed control - one that would better emulate manual driving conditions and not diminish fuel economy in the process?

I'm sorry, west, I appreciate your knowledge, but when exactly were you in the car with me during this testing? I have a very steady foot on the gas, and I understand that my complaint would hold no water if I didn't compare my foot to the CC under IDENTICAL conditions. I held the gas steady - didn't pre-accelerate up the hill or let off the gas, I held it steady like the CC would. Multiple tests, and all had the same results. Without the CC, it did NOT downshift nearly as often or as soon as with it. The transmission should react the same way whether my foot or the CC is controlling throttle pressure. My contention remains that something in the CC workings is the problem - not a broken part, but a design flaw.

Yes, the concept IS simple, but the implementation may not be, and certainly not unique. The computer remembers the set speed and maintains it, as you say, but how it goes about it is SeaDuck79's complaint. I'm not an automotive insider, but judging from other gizmos found on Lexus vehicles, I'd think it should be easy to program the CC so that throttle opening is proportional to (or at least dependent on) the difference between set and actual speeds. From the description, it sounds like the CC operates as a simple "bang-bang" control system, all or nothing on the throttle. ← Thank you - someone else understands! The issue is why it STILL does what it does, when there's such a much better way of doing it using existing technology and information on the vehicle. Yes, CC technology hasn't markedly improved in years, but WHY NOT? I think I'll ask Lexus, for whatever good it will do.

Are you saying that the CC uses different data than the tranny to determine engine load? Because under identical load and road conditions, the CC is far more sensitive than my foot. I know the topo map idea is for the future - maybe someday! First things first, though. The other stuff I suggested is already doable, with information that is already being stored and used.

I'm talking Jethro Clampett dumb here, folks. Dumb, dumb, dumb. With the Cruise Control on, driving over an incline as small as a freeway overpass causes the engine to downshift - despite the fact that it would not with the CC off (maintaining the same speed under the same conditions). I have seen this happen multiple times since buying this vehicle over a year ago. It also seems to think that it must take the fastest means possible to resume a set speed, even if it is already almost there. I had it downshift - on a flat road - at 68, when I told it to resume the set speed of 70. This is absolutely an insane waste of gas. OK, now that I'm done ranting, I'll ask some who are perhaps more learned than I about a suggestion for improvement. Why can't the CC be more intelligent? The transmission already stores information about driving patterns (which include shift points), the CC servo stores the set speed, and the current speed, if not known, could certainly easily be accessed from other on-board computers. So why couldn't a cruise control keep track of the difference between the set speed and the current speed, and recognize that it doesn't need to open the throttle all the way to move up 5 mph? Why couldn't the sensitivity be relaxed so that it could slip 1-2 mph, or see a modest increase in engine compression, on a small incline before deciding that it needs to downshift? This seems very doable with the current technology; all it requires is a bit more integration between the systems. Carrying it a bit further into future possibilities, why not make the Nav systems topographical (i.e. 3D), to allow the CC to see the severity and length of a grade, and use that information to plot out when a downshift might really be most efficient prior to reaching that point? Why, Lexus, is a usable, intelligent cruise control not a part of your otherwise fine collection of technology?

You also might check out Make magazine - a mag that helps people modify things in non-conventional ways. The current issue has an iPod integration in it, I think, and I know they have some electronic car mods in it. http://www.makezine.com.

For those of you in either camp, would flashing the ECM be of some benefit when changing to the higher octane gas? Wouldn't it learn about the new octane on it's own?

I would question why you'd want it. I own a 330 with that wheel, and it's difficult to regulate when coming out of a turn, because the different surfaces of the slick wood and the tackier leather make normal wheel-handling more challenging. It does look cool, but that's its main benefit.

Our local Toyota dealer, at a recent oil change, talked my wife into using the Castrol oil with some synthetic blend. Since I don't have a real problem with synthetic oil, and it doesn't violate the warranty, I was ok with it. Does anyone have any experience or feelings about this before I do it the next time? We have about 12k miles on our 330.

← Wrong! I actually liked some of the old Chevys my family owned in the '70s. It's the recent ones that suck (although the trend started in the '80s). I'm talking about almost new ones that are already falling apart. The sad part is that if they spent maybe $50 to upgrade the plastics in their interior, it would increase the saleability much more than that. Shortsighted morons.

Thats just GM's excuse. They havent been able to build an interior yet as nice as the Japanese and German competition. They're not willing to spend the money. Somehow the new C6 delivers all that performance with a much better interior... As for the RX, I've always found the interiors high quality, haven't seen a 400h yet though. ← Too right, that! Every time I drive a nearly new GM rental car, it's in worse shape than my 5 yr old Focus with over 100k miles, not to mention my RX330. GM uses crap parts, which break easily and won't last. Road & Track or some car mag did a head-to-head between the Vette and the 911, and the results were pretty much what you'd expect. The Porsche beat the Vette on the curves, and the Vette was faster on the straights. Overall, it was about a push - except that even in a brand new car, there were rattles and squeaks that made testers think that the $40k difference in price wasn't as significant as it would appear. Until they deal with the fit and finish issues and spend a few more bucks on better parts, I will NEVER own a GM vehicle.

I've picked up 3 screws in 2 months in my factory Goodyears. Driving patterns, destinations, etc. haven't changed, so it could just be the way the cookie crumbles, or maybe the tread pattern on those is more conducive to welcoming the little buggers than other tires are. The only saving grace is that the tires (3 different ones, natch) stayed inflated for days until we took it to get it fixed. Has anyone else had this happen to theirs?

I'd rather wait for a perfect car than have a flawed one on the date I was told I could have it. I see too often in the software world the push toward delivering whatever it looks like on X date, rather than waiting until a release free of major bugs is ready, and anyone who even uses software does as well. Don't you wish Microsquash was quality driven vs. market driven? Why would you want to buy a car from a company that wasn't? I know I won't.

Wife doesn't want a Wal-mart bag hung from the front armrests to collect the refuse, and I don't want crap all over the car. Is there a more aesthetic solution that someone out there is using, and where could I get that? Thanks!

I just got the TSB performed on my 330 a few weeks ago - it helped a lot, but still smears a bit at the top. Is that what everyone else is seeing as well? I sure with it worked as well as the front ones do - those suckers WIPE!

Anyone with a 330 should be seeing this. It's a product of an airtight construction. If only one window is open, the air pressure is working to equalize, and it doesn't very well. That's why opening a second window stops it. It's not a flaw in the car, it's a product of the quality of the construction of the car. We just have to make adjustments for this particular quirk.

I would apply the same logic as that of SW032 and say to myself "Hmmm...the transmission has almost nothing to do with starting the engine, so it must mean when I start to move the car. Since the presence of snow would also not make any difference when starting the engine (issues of temperature aside), I would have to corroborate my initial hunch with the likelihood that the only snow issues that could have anything to do with the transmission would have to do with traction. Since the most likely way the tranny could affect traction when starting to move the car would be to reduce wheel slip by starting in 2nd gear, and since I was taught to do this manually 30 years ago, I would need no more convincing that this was not only the intent, but the function, of the ETC button. So knowledge of the language is secondary to knowledge of driving and cars. I'm no expert on either, but I'm not the one who doesn't understand this particular point. When the manual isn't written clearly (and I agree that this isn't), we must use deductive reasoning to discern the true intent.

I would assume those are Canuck $ they're quoting. Brings it down to the $40-45K range for American $. That said, I, too, am glad I live in America instead of America Jr. It's lovely up there, and I love visiting, but...I'll just leave it at that.