blake918

I remember that article (Someone scanned it on CL.). I wasn't surprised after hearing that Lexus came in last place. Lexus cars are just not meant for competitions in which the winner is mostly based on who is the sportiest of the group.I really like the Jag XJ8 (I like looking at it at least! haha); I'm sure it's because of the "J gate" and hood ornament. lol Not to mention you could buy one from 1982 and have it mistaken for a 2005 model because they've stayed with a similar style for a very, very long time! LOL

MT COTY....it's always a surprise as to what they are going to pick. My favorite had to be in '96 when they picked the Chrysler Cirrus! LMAO What a joke! I think the Camry is a pretty good choice. I can't see Camry excelling in the "significance" area of the score card, but I'm sure it is a good car and don't doubt that it excelled in the superiority and affordability categories. Of the cars they tested, I would have liked to see the LS460 or S550 win because they are more significant than the Camry to me, but I know they factor in affordability, so I'm sure that's why they didn't win. A Camry Hybrid wouldn't be too far of a reach considering we've had a Prius rental before. ;) We just requested [whatever class they call a Prius], and that's what they gave us.

YES!!!! I really like the bench because it makes the front of the car seem more spacious, and in a pinch, you can squeeze another passenger in. Front bench seats were optional on the Avalons. I wish Toyota would have brought that option to Lexus (yes, I know, in my dreams.). This is so cool....

Speaking of crash tests, here are the LSs in action: '97: '01: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQRWOO9Dcjw&NR I don't know if it's me, but the 430 looks to hold up a lot better than the 400.

Yeah, I'd check the O2's first before replacing the cats. Bob (95ls400....) started a thread with a lot of info about this trouble code. ;)

How so? Of course the Benz board is full of complaints....that's what the whole point of an automotive forum is. People don't make daily posts about their cars starting up on the first try. I never said that they were perfect, but I also don't think that they deserve the bad press that they get either.

LOL I didn't have any time to detail the car over the holidays; I fixed the egr pipe instead--I feel like I've died and gone to heaven! :D I just have a really hard time taking them seriously when most of my experiences with the products they test have been the exact opposite. CR has a stellar reputation, but I just don't see it it's all about. I don't know why they bother putting out the annual auto issue because their isn't much that changes from year to year. I can sum it up for you, buy a Toyota or Honda (they recommend all of them except for one or two.), American, European, and other Japanese cars are mostly poor to average or if you get lucky, above average. The Ford Focus and VW Passat are two fine cars, but we can't recommend them even though they killed the competition in our tests. Their ya go, that's their auto issue! I don't blame Mercedes for attacking them. I know 6 or 7 people who drive or drove Mercedes, and Jim is the only one that I know of to have serious problems. 1.3M responses to the survey? I'd love to know how many of them were from Mercedes owners; I'd bet very, very few. I can't imagine someone reading CR right before they drop $110,000 on a S550--it's paradoxical. It always fascinates me that JD and CR rate Cadillacs on opposite ends of the spectrum. JD says they are pretty good, CR does not. I tend to trust JD more than CR, but I think the ultimate source for common problems and what to expect over the years of owning the car is an owners forum like this one!

I really wish we got them here. Instead they stick us with hybrids. :( I've read about the IS220d, and I keep wondering why we don't get them here. I think my next car will be a diesel, probably an E320 CDI. It's fast, efficient, spacious, and gorgeous. After a pleasurable day of driving in a relative's 320 CDI, I'll certainly check it out when it's time for a new car in a couple years. I'm still drawn to the Caddy DTS and Town Car because I'm an odd duck and LOVE bench seats and cars that really float down the highway.

Oh yeah, I do it all that all the time! The LS has a great little (well, I guess it's somewhat large if I can shove my big foot up there huh?!?! lol) space for your foot between the gas and brake. I think your adaptor will work quite well!! ;) Please keep us updated if you do end up buying the LS and move the seat!

You have a few parts departments to pick from: Sewell, Park Place, etc. Search the forum for the links, they've been mentioned a number of times. ;)

Yeah, I think in most cases 6' or 6'1 is the cut off height to be most comfortable. "Most" being the key word here! lolThe farthest I've driven in my LS was from Chicago (Midway), IL to Bowling Green, KY (toured the Corvette plant) to Jackson, MS--roughly 900 miles in less than a day. It wasn't great, but I wasn't miserable either.

Tony, I hope you'll keep us posted on the progress of your project! The arrows in the picture of my gutted car do point to the the holes that the seat bolts to (The first group of pictures you posted are pictures of GS and ES seats, btw.). ;) I believe that the first gen seat has a similar bolt pattern for the seat. That's a very nice looking adaptor that you made for your bike--it looks like factory! B) I drove a relative's '06 GX470 extensively last weekend, and I found it to be another typical Lexus--it drives and looks fantastic, but it was too small especially in the hip and leg room. It had the smoothest drive-by-wire of any car I've ever driven.

It seems pretty clear to me, but apparently not to everyone else. Allow me to reiterate. No more posts about political correctness or Asia or whatever in this thread, if yall want to discuss it those topics further, start a thread about it because any further mention in this thread will be deleted. Thanks.

I've got a relative who only buys Mercedes cars, and I've driven most of them, and I do the same thing with the seat! haha It takes some getting used to to drive a car while being comfortable. You mentioned an Accord in your initial post, is that your daily driver or your wife's? I hope my input hasn't completely put the kibosh on the LS. I''m looking forward to hearing if you can manage to fold yourself up in to a LS! ;) Yeah, it's a tight fit for me! I used to drive an ES300, and that was even worse than the LS is, much worse actually. Like I said, because of this, I'll be shopping around when I put the LS to pasture in a couple years. Reliability will be secondary to comfort this time.I suppose actual lengths of the inseams can vary from manufacture to manufacture (I usually get my pants taylored anyway--it is well worth the marginal costs if you don't have an average build.). I'm 6'4. ;) You'd be surprised that a lot mid-sizers and some small cars are actually very comfortable--sit in a mid 2000's VW Passat, it's a very, very comfortable, the Jetta and Beetle too (almost any European model has good seat travel). The thing that really gets me is that the LS has ample space to let the seat slide back another foot, but they choose not to.

I enjoyed reading his remarks. Big deal, the LS wasn't enough fun to drive for him. Lexus cars don't tickle his fancy, and their is nothing wrong with that. He's partial to the driving characteristics of BMWs and Mercedes, that comes as a HUGE shock considering he's an automotive writer....right....

Hey Tony! I'm just saying that it's a very good possibility based on my own Lexus experiences (none of them are with ultra low mileage though.) and what I've read about on this forum. Lexus will not sell you a plain ole bushing except for the strut rods, and those upper and lower control arms aren't cheap (aftermarket polyurathane is an option though...unless the upper ball joint is bad, then you are at the mercy of the parts department!)!! I guess just be prepared is all that I was getting at, and don't let the mileage tell you everything because we have some members here with low mileage first gens that have had some problems despite the mileage. With a 38" inseam, I think you are going to have some trouble. I have a 33" inseam (I'd say that I have slightly more length in my torso than legs.), and I could certainly use about 5 more inches of legroom to call myself truly "comfortable" (I've unbolted the seat and mocked it up to tease myself.). I love Lexus cars, but the lack of interior space is going to make it very easy for me to replace this car with another brand in a few years. But hey, I'm a glutton for punishment and it gives me something to !Removed! about for the time being! LOL Here I am in my '95...to give you an idea of what you are up against: I've always really liked the MB 140s, especially the way they look. I've heard that they are very spacious in their head and legroom dimensions. I'm anxious to go sit in one now just for the fun of it!

It's every 90k miles or 72 months. You are going to be looking at $1,200-$1,XXX for the 90k service at the dealer. An independent Lexus garage would probably charge around $1k. I wouldn't let a bad belt experience deter you from a car with a timing belt. What happened to you was very, very rare. Carmy...yawn, Maxima...blah, get the CPO 430 and be done with it. B) Lexus_maintenance_schedule.pdf

I don't know if I'd hold my breath on that since the car is 16 years old, and that's asking a lot of any car. Suspension bushings are probably the biggest trouble spots for these cars, and if that pristine looking '90 isn't clunking already, it probably won't be long before it does. Also, have them check the timing belt because it probably should have been changed just because of the age. I think that you'll get what you are hoping for! LOL I'm a couple inches shorter than you, and my knees are pretty much on the dash in my '95 (I find the first and second gens to have very similar dimensions.). The lack of driver's legroom is my biggest complaint about this car. Headroom is tight was well. Were you comfortable in your W126?

If you want to send the seafoam through the intake, pull the vacuum line off of the brake booster, and it will suck the seafoam in--the car will immediately die. I was very unimpressed with the results--it smoked a lot, but that's about all it did besides messing my plugs up. However, it did work nicely in my oil.I think your O2s will be ok. Whenever I ran Seafoam through my intake, the plugs needed to be replaced afterwards. I don't know how you can run it through the intake and have the spark plugs stay clean (I suppose if your car is brand new.). Get Lexus wires. I'm partial to Denso IK20 iridium plugs, but you will pay out the wazoo for 8 of them.

I know what you are saying....you cut off my quote right where I agreed and said that all of your points are very valid. ;) Now that the warranty has expired, I'd entertain the thought of getting rid of it as well...

Same here. Although my car seems to be ok with it as well, it drives me crazy (especially if I'm tryung to park). In the manual, they don't tell you much more than the car should idle at 600-700rpms in neutral w/ no accessories. Mine does that just fine. Put it in drive, and it's a whole other story... I've cleaned my MAF, air filter is replaced regularly, retuned the TPS (which is a nightmare to do if you do it the Lexus way) still with no 600-700rpm idle while in gear. My car technically idles as the repair manual says it should, but 400rpms is not normal.

I know; it really doesn't take you much more than 5 minutes! It's a miracle that nothing rattles seeing how a lot of things just snap in place!

That's some connotation for telling someone they expect too much from their car! LOL :D Those are all good points though. I remember seeing the 0-60 of Craig's car. It sounded and seemed to perform just like a LS should except for it being really slow. It almost seems like there is a governor on it or something. The lemon idea seems quite plausible. An elderly lady would probably never know if her car was taking more time than it should to reach 60mph.

Very nice looking cars you have there!! B) Hang on to them because the new ones aren't built (overbuilt??) like the old ones! If you haven't found it already, there is (or was) a tutorial on how to clean those courtesy switches by "obergc" in the LS forum. ;)

This wouldn't be Dean's neighbor's '99 would it?!?! :D