98es

Thanks for the advice... which one is the next one up above T? Is it H? So Lexus recommends a V rating? T might be a problem because I already seem to have a lot of "give" going around corners. But it is a lexus so i shouldn't expect great handling.

I went by firestone today because one of my back tires (all 4 toyo proxes TPT) has some type of lump in it. The firestone guy looked at all of them and said i really needed a new set. The back one's were worn pretty bad, with the front one's being not as bad but still in need of replacement. Pretty dissapointing after only 30k, but i guess they're not high mileage tires and i'm very dissapointed in the ride. Anyways, they're doing the buy 3 get one free sale. He quoted me $414 for a set of Turanza LS-T's including tax and mounting. The tires are also guaranteed for 80,000 miles. If one shows up with a defect at, say, 79,000 miles, they replace it for FREE (no pro-rating!). That is definitely one advantage over the michelin's, which from my understanding do not offer that. Should I try costco or sams before I jump on this price? He also offered me the firestone affinity for the same price. I've never heard of this tire though. ps... this thread has been very helpful!

I've got the Toyo Proxes TPT's on my '98. I was extremely happy with them soon after I got them. Now, after about 30k on them, they are terrible. The ride has dramatically detiorated since they were new. I think one of the back one's has a lump in it, i haven't had time to get it checked out yet though. They seem to be wearing really fast too. I'll have to be replacing them pretty soon. Our '02 has the MXV4's on it. They seem to be really good tires, but I'm not sure if they'd be good on my '98. I'm still leaning toward the MXV4 on replacements though(for the '98)... or now I'm hearing everyone talk about LSV's, so who knows!? just my opinion... i would love to hear what other 97-01 es owners are riding on.

very true. It's actually a 2 coat process. The base coat is plain white, and the top coat is the pearl. I think they sell for like $5 a piece at the dealership.

Or even old enough to drive the car for that matter. He probably paid her in candy necklaces and barbies.

WOW... nothing shocks me anymore. The sad thing is that this car is being sold about 15 minutes from where i'm living now. Aint nothin' like some low class backwoods tennesseans! Did anyone else catch the comment about having to go home and look at a fat chick nawin' on a turkey leg?!?!?! HAHA

Just thought I'd give credit where credit is due... to the author of DC's original post, Robert Tracinski. http://tiadaily.com/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=1026 Unless, of course, this is you DC :)

Right on DC. The situation is terrible, and your heart can't help but go out to the victims. But at some point you have to look at how social conditions deteriorated in the way they did, and you hit the nail on the head. On Fox News the other night, I saw a woman screaming to the camera, "I HAVEN'T HAD A HOT MEAL IN 3 DAYS! I CAN'T EAT THIS CRAP THAT THEY ARE GIVING US, I DON'T LIKE NO CRACKERS!" It was at that point I came to the realization you did. The government has enabled these people to the point of destruction. They've gotten a handout from the government their whole lives in just about every aspect, so can you blame them for not being able to rise to the occasion? Sure, personal responsibility has to come in somewhere. Yes, the federal government was slow to respond, but obviously this isn't something they have experience dealing with. If the mayor of N.O. really cared about his poor, he would have bussed them out of the city, don't you think? Everyone knew that this disaster would happen someday. When you have a catagory 4/5 hurricane headed right for you, and your below sea level... DUH. As for Kanye West, Sean Hannity brought up a good question whether you like him or not. What was the decline in $$$ coming in immediately after he said that? My guess would be thousands of dollars, because he wanted to score some political points during one of the worst national disasters at the expense of a president with the most minority (including blacks) appointments in his administration EVER?! Just my two cents.....

The mpg on our 02 keeps getting worse. The last tank, with 80% city, got 15.5 mpg. That's not driving agressively either. The reflash does seem to help the hesitation a bit. Ray- if you're willing to sacrifice a few mpg for less hesitation, go for the reflash. It's still not anywhere near perfect though... just my two cents....

I think that you're thinking of the Maybach. Mercedes actually makes it, i think the exterior looks just like it. I exterior's cool looking, but the interior is defintely an ugly ripoff of the 7 series.

Anyone else notice the 3 inches of dust over the instrument panel too?? Now that would REALLY drive me crazy.

Thanks guys, I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way. It seems they think that I take time out of my day and make up crap for them to fix just for the crappy car wash or something. I would switch dealers, but unfortunately this is the only one in memphis. While talking to the dealer's customer service rep, i did mention more than once that I was calling the dealer as the first step, and if needed I would keep going up. I was promised a phone call wednesday evening or thursday by noon, but no one called. I'm sick of being nice to these people. If they want to be jerks, then fine, but you better believe that they're paying for that stupid service. I almost don't even want people riding in the car, it's embarassing. Anyways, if no word by noon tomorrow i'm calling back. I'm not about to mess with trying to remedy this myself. I've done my part, I changed the filter, this is obviously a design flaw and something that I am not responsible for, ecspecially since we just bought it CPO less than 3 months/3,000 miles ago. exdotcomer- It's funny you say that, everytime I bring in either of the cars, it's on my day off from work/school and i'm wearing shorts and a ball cap and get the same response you mentioned.

So ever since we bought our '02 CPO ES300, it's had a HORRIBLE smell coming out of the vents. We bought it right after the 45k mile service was done, which replaces the cabin air filter, so this is not the problem. So the first time I take it in for the smell and a host of other things, they said that they had sprayed deodarizer in the air filter, but if the smell returned that they would have to do some type of "induction" service. Well, needless to say the smell returned and then got WORSE. So I make an appointment for this morning, to do the induction service, realign the windshield wiper that's messed up, and to do something about the noise thats coming from the steering column. Out of about 6 service writers, it's my luck to ALWAYS get the same guy that's a jerk. Everytime I'm there I get the feeling he's thinking "Oh, you again? What do you want now?" Anyways, he continues to inform me that this "induction" service will cost ME $130. After arguing that this is not something I should pay for because it's always been there since april when i bought it, I finally just refuse to have the service done. So by this time i'm walking out to get a loaner, and notice my service writer talking to the service manager. Now I will say I am kind of "nitpicky" when it comes to my cars, but hey that's why i bought a lexus and paid even more for CPO. I do notice little things that others might not notice, but that's just me. So I can only imagine what the service writer is telling the manager, he finally walks over to me and says, "Could you come back and show us what you want done, because we just don't understand." His tone was not something I was pleased with. So he leads me back to the car, and I'm trying to show him everything that i want done. After everything I tell him, he says "Is that it???" I got the feeling his one purpose for coming over to me and dragging me to the back was to dismiss ALL my complaints and send me back home with my car. This guy was the most passive-agressive person I think i've ever met. So after being belittled, I'm finally led back to the loaner station, only to be met by two new, young guys who could CARE LESS about what they were doing. Now I understand that I'm only in my early twenties, but this is rediculous, that should have nothing to do with it. I was appalled not only by the way I was treated, but lexus' refusal to pay for my service. Not to mention when he pulled me back there, I was about to step into a NEW '06 GS300 as a loaner, but only to return to an '04 ES300. So anyways I called the customer service guy, told him everything, and he's going to get back with me. Sorry that this is so long, I guess I just needed to vent. So, am I wrong to think that Lexus should pay for this??? The owners manual clearly states that my only responsibility in regards to this as the owner is to change the in cabin air filter. I would appreciate ANY thoughts/comments.

I've got Toyo Proxes TPT on my '98 and I'm only moderately pleased with them. They've only got 30k miles on them and seem to be wearing quickly. Snow traction isn't that great either (don't get much of it but when we do the tires are borderline dangerous). I'll probably be in the market for new tires within the next year, so I too am interested in seeing what other LOC members have to say about this.

1992 Honda Accord EX- Got it when I was 15. 5 speed manual, really fast for a 4 cyl. Lots of fun to drive. Excellent car, only spent $$ on maintenance. I still miss it to this day. (There's just something about your first car :D ) Sold it with 140k miles. 1997 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer- Got this truck when I graduated high school. Good looking truck, had a V-8 though, DRANK gas. Only kept it a year because college was far away and gas was costing too much. I was actually surprised at the quality of the truck. Towed my boat well. AWD was good in the snow. Really cool onboard computer. Sold it w/125k miles on it, only replaced an oxygen sensor. 1996 Nissan Maxima GLE- Not the best looking car in my opinion, but I was looking for something fun to drive and better on gas, and this was definitely both of those. Unfortunately it hadn't been taken care of as well as I would have hoped. It had a BOSE stereo that was the best sounding stereo I have ever heard still to this day. It was pretty fast, but not as smooth as the Lexus. Tranny was funky, that generation maxima wouldn't downshift for anything. At 145k miles, air started going out, and tranny started shifting harder. I could tell it was time to trade up.... 1998 Lexus ES300 <Current Car> First time I drove it, I was blown away and knew I had to have it. Bought it with 95,000 miles on it and have put 26,000 miles on it in the past year. I plan on keeping this car for a LONG time, I love the way it drives!

21/ Male- Graduate in May 2006 with a degree in Business Finance. From there it's on to investment banking. Currently I'm taking advantage of the college life and living off my parents.... I work as a banquet server at a resort called the Opryland Hotel to make a few extra bucks every now and then.

Sunbeam- I had a similiar experience with my '98 about 10 months ago. It seemed it was starting great and then one day while getting an oil change it would just make those loud clicking noises. I too still had the OEM battery. Once I replaced it I was amazed at the difference. It started much quicker, I guess I had just gotten used to it. I bought the $80 one from autozone, but now if I had it all to do over again I would of bought OEM. No particular reason, this one's been great so far, but for a battery to last that long it makes me think twice about putting something else in it. Good Luck

Quick question- are the 02-03 nozzles adjustable? Mine seem to be spraying too low.

My 02-03 nozzles just came in today for my '98! I think I paid $9 per nozzle from newlexusparts.com. I'm going to install them today as well as new rear brake pads. Thanks for the "how to" lexusk8.

Dang, that's a lot better mpg than i'm getting after the reflash. I'm still averaging 16-17 around town and 24-25 highway. It still seems it's kind of dragging the gears out about 500 rpm's more than it should be. Other than that it seems much better than before!

agreed- I learned that "braking with the clutch" was definitely not good when I was 16 with a 5 speed accord. Pads are MUCH cheaper to replace than a dang clutch. But believe it or not, downshifting to stop is something that a lot of manual tranny drivers have ingrained in their heads. I got out of that habit real quick after paying to replace the clutch instead of the $40 brake pads, but it was hard.

steviej- any noticable drop in MPG for you? We're still running around 16mpg city, 2 MPG less than before the reflash. Just curious....

It's been a week since the reflash. Not too much has changed, hesitation hasn't come back like it was before. I've definitely seen a change in gas milage though. With about 95% city driving, before the reflash I was getting around 19 MPG, now its down to 16-17. I did kind of figure this would happen, since it really seems to drag out the gears. It seems like 2nd gear doesn't change until around 4000 rpms with normal acceleration, when before it was around 2500. Anyone else tried the new reflash?

So here's the deal- Tuesday morning I brought our 2002 CPO into Lexus for the first time since we've owned it. Wednesday afternoon, they called and said it was ready. I come to pick it up, they bring it around, and the first thing i notice is the windshield molding that had completely worked its way out on one side was not fixed to my liking. I call the service technician over and show him, and he goes to get the windshield guy. While I'm waiting, I open the door, and there's a HUGE oil/grease stain on my BRAND NEW floor mat. So I call the technian over AGAIN, show him the stain. He was very apologetic, and took the mat and was able to completely get the stain out. So after I make another appointment to get the windshield fixed, I go home. By the time I get home, it's after 6, service deptartment is closed. As I'm walking around the car, the sunlight hit's the bumper and I see what's looks to me to be a slight crease, like it had been backed into something. I get right up to the bumper, and not only is there a crease, but what looks to be a "1" and an "S" imprinted backwards on my bumper, like whatever they hit had raised numbers and letters on it. Under that, there are 2 small creases that extend up to 12 inches. This is all on the drivers side corner of the back bumper. Now the way I'm explaining, it probably sounds really bad. Honestly, it's not that bad. It just really makes me mad that this happened. Lexus of Memphis has been WONDERFUL so far, so we'll see how this plays out. But I would go so far as to say they buffed this area to make it look better because I'm sure whatever they hit scratched up the bumper. So Thursday afternoon, I call and ask to speak to the service manager. He's not in, so i talk to some woman who was apologetic and she says he'll call me in the morning. Friday, the same woman calls back and says the service manager is not going to be in for the rest of the week, but wants to set up a time for me to come by so they can see it. I will say she was already making plans for me to have another car while mine is being fixed. So I guess my questions are: Has anyone else experienced this? What should I be on the look out for? Does Lexus do their own body work? Should I just let it go becuase nothing's going to be as good as my factory paint? I'm going to try to post some pictures once I find my digital camera. I really appreciate everyone's input!

I'm not sure if anyone has done this yet, but I just got back our 2002 ES from the dealer, and they updated the tranny software. MAN what a difference!!! This thing drives like a TOTALLY different car! It says something like "recalibrated shift points" on the service invoice too. Hesitation is almost gone. I'm not sure when the last time the software in this car was updated, we just bout it CPO, but going through the records i don't think it ever was. The newest update seems to drag out the gears a little longer, which makes this car feel a lot more peppier. I wouldn't be surprised to see gas milage go down a little, but it would definitely be worth it to me. I honestly didn't think any software upgrade would help, but I'm very pleased with the results.