nc211

As my name to the side shows, I've had a LS, and now have a GS. If you're not comfortable with, or don't feel the need for, the size of an LS, and the ES doesn't quite ring your bell, the GS is a perfect fit between the two. It has a heavier and meatier feel to it over the ES, but not as lumbering as the LS. It's no corner screaming sports sedan. If you get one with the V8 (400/430), it will go forward very quickly, that's about it in terms of "sports sedan". Cornering is more inline with the LS. The ES is more nimble on it's feet, and quite fun to drive. It's perfect if you live in a high traffic area, as it's easier to manuver around and such. The GS isn't all that bad, but it feels more like a boulevard cruiser, just not quite at the level of the LS. As you can see on here from these posts, the LS is the top of the line pick in the Lexus sedan line up. But, as SWO said, they're all Lexus cars. Which means luxury, quiet, smooth, and dependable. If you're even somewhat handy with a wrench, maintaining one is no more costly then any other typical car. The expense of a Lexus in your garage isn't so much in the parts, but the labor! It's criminal what some of these mechanics, especially dealerships, charge for labor. It's not just the Lawyer-like hourly rates, but the book-times they charge for a repair. A repair could take 30 minutes in real time, but they'll charge you the 4 hours the "book" says it takes. Are they Toyotas? Yeah, they are. And if you ever buy a part for the car, it'll come in a Toyota box, not a Lexus box. But, are they nothing more then a dressed up Toyota? Well, not completely. Take the V8 4runner and GX470 comparison. Both have the same engine, same driveline, same frame. But, can you put 4runner brake rotors on a GX470? No. Can you hear the engine humming in a GX470 like you can in a 4runner? No. Can you hear road noise in the GX like in the 4runner? No. And the interiors are night and day in terms of luxury and comfort. I love my 4runner, now approaching 80k miles. But when the time comes to replace it, it'll probably be with a GX470, not another 4runner. In this day and age, you can't avoid the cross-sharing of components between badges of any car anymore. Porsche to VW and Audi. BMW to Mini and a couple of others I can't remember. MB used to tie to Chryster. Ford to Mazda, Lincoln, Jag, Volvo. GM = Caddy, GMC, Chevy, Pontiac, etc... Toyota to Lexus and formerly Pontiac via the Vibe. Nissan to Infiniti, Honda to Acura. If this sort of stuff bothers you....then there's always Hyndia, Kia, and Suzuki.

One day a year, my blood boils with anger....and this is that day. All I'm going to say is said for me below, by a guy who I will always feel was the right man for this job, until the day I die. I'll spare you from a rant...just search if you wish to see them...as I still feel the same way as I did years ago about this day. NC211 - Let's Roll... "Today, we focus on Afghanistan, but the battle is broader," he said. "Every nation has a choice to make. In this conflict, there is no neutral ground. If any government sponsors the outlaws and killers of innocents, they have become outlaws and murderers themselves. And they will take that lonely path at their own peril." Bush said Americans will need patience and be prepared to sacrifice in this war on terrorism. "Today, those sacrifices are being made by members of our armed forces, who now defend us so far from home," he said. "W" - 10/7/2001.

...but all joking aside......I thought he did a pretty damn good job last night. Took some of the "polish" off and showed some focus. First time I've viewed him as a President, not as a canidate. I certainly agree with you Steve, something has to be done, and I don't think we've ever been this close to tackling such a monster as healthcare. Hell, we're changing up everything these days anyway, why not healthcare too? You know fellas, sometimes a little dust in the air is exactly the right thing. But if he doesn't stop running the bus over Bush every chance he gets, he's going to make himself look bad. We don't need to hear "it's not my fault, I didn't do it, you can't blame me, I didn't screw up", and folks are going to form the conclusion that he's not a leader, but a janitor.

See Obama's speech? Sounds like a pretty good plan to me. I don't love the idea of a public option, I think that might be replacable by opening up the ability for people to purchase plans from other states to improve competition, but all in all I didn't hear much out of him that didn't make sense... YOU LIE!! Haha...did you see that idiot from South Carolina yell at him? Why is it always the southerners that can't help but make themselves look bad :chairshot: First Kelly Pickler and Clay Aiken, now this guy?

Rune, I'm getting ready to do the same on mine. I have oem parts, but I can't remember if the GS has two little brass screws that center the rotor on the hub. Did you happen to see these holes on the hub for two screws?

90, this car is cleaning your clock man... maybe it's time for the fork? I know you love it, but your threads seem to be getting more and more expensive.... I'd say go the cheapest route you can to get it running right and sell it to a non-family member if you can. You might find coal in your stocking if you sell it to your folks, only to have them incur the problems you've been dealing with as well...

I tried to save some money on my old LS by buying Contintential tires instead of replacing the existing MIchelins with another set. Long story short, I wasted over $300 !Removed! around with tires only to end up with a new set of Michelins anyway.

The tires will make a huge difference. It's those stiff sidewalls that cause a good bit of that "chop" feeling. My GS has those Goodyear GT3's on it too, and they're horrible! I've also got the entire service history on the car, done at Arlington Lexus here in Chicago from day one. LOTS of balancings done to the car! And my current set of tires were put on by the dealership to replace the worn out oem's...also Goodyear GT's. But, where I live, I'm not willing to invest the kind of money decent tires require to fix it. There isn't a smooth road up here. By the way, what part of Oklahoma are you from? I've got some history in Oklahoma, including Edmond and Grand Lake for the past 17 years. Love that 75 mph speed limit you guys got down there!

Is that "Taps" I hear playing in your back yard JC? Dang man, Blake and I were just getting ready to tell you about torn differential mount bushings and all the fun that goes with them! And you have to go all Dukes of Hazzard on us! Party pooper...... J/K Glad you're ok amigo! Lots of cars out there to be had, but not a lot of JCromes.... You'd probably like the GS series, especially with the V8. It's still a soft ride, like the LS, but a little tighter. It's certainly no Mazda 3 though with it comes to that "edge of a needle" handling feeling. I've never owned a car that handled like or was as much fun to drive as our former 07' 3GT. You can get them pretty darn cheap too, with lots of cool little toys. I'm on the fence with Nissan's stuff. I've had two of their cars, liked them both until around 40k miles, when they seemed to transmit more and more road noise into the cabin. But, they are certianly fun cars to drive! Have you thought about the Q45? Those seem to be sleepers in the segment. I'm not up to speed on their engine problems though, and don't know what to look for, which is why I've never bought one. I just returned from a 1,300 mile road trip from Chicago to about 45 miles outside of Tulsa in the 4runner. Striaght down Illinois to St. Louis, and straight across Missouri to Oklahoma. I had a couple seconds there were the eyes were getting a bit blurry, but that's probably from the 60th play of "Old McDonald had a farm" on the cd for my son's entertainment purposes. I kid you not, we hit the east side of St. Louis yesterday coming back, and I was ready to foreclose on that *BLEEP*'s farm and eat a bacon-cheese-burger! And we only had 300 miles to go to Chicago....all flat...all corn fields...all hell!

I haven't seen this, and won't watch it. Foxnews.com has picked up on it's popularity and says it shows the lifeless eyes of a baby. Too much for me. I get the point. I've got a blackberry, but won't touch it unless I'm sitting at a light or pulled over. Never in motion..... Maybe you should post this in the threads on here about folks complaining about not being able to work their navagation units while doing 80mph down the road? muffalones.....whew! Close call and lucky for you and your family! I'd of probably made sure that kid was texting with bung-hole for the rest of his life.

I haven't read all of these replies, skimmed them mostly. Hot topic, for sure! I'm going to use myself as an example of some of the difference in today's healthcare world. See that little guy in my avatar? He was born in May of 2008. My insurance is a HMO. My wife was working (where I use to work) up until about 3 months prior to his birth. She was covered by a PPO (I think that's the right name). We were eachother's secondary insurance as well. Her plan would of cost us north of $2,000 out of pocket for the entire process. Mine, you want to know how much it actually cost us out of pocket? You won't believe me, but it's true..... $24 bucks. The first co-pay in month 3, that's it. All the doctor visits, the scans, the delivery, the 3 day hospital stay afterwards, and all the followups for my son....for less then a large pizza at Pizza Hut. My monthly contribution to insure all of us via my employer program? About $150 including vision and dental. Do I think this is fair? Nope. But do I think the sacrafices I've made in my life to position myself to have the career I have - including the benefits associated with it - play a huge part in this? You betcha'! At the end of the day, we're all accountable for the choices and decisions we make and take in this life. You, and you alone. Blaming others, is a loser's game. But, do I think the healthcare of this country is out of whack and needs some serious help? Yep, 110%. It breaks my heart when I hear or see a person, especially a child or elderly person, who needs medical help but can't get it because they don't have a "card". The world needs ditch diggers too, and I don't think it's fair they can't take care of themselves and their family within the system that we have built, without having to live in a tent and eat out of a dumpster to do it. I make more money than I need, and I'm ok with the idea of having to pay more so those who just dug that ditch in my back yard to prevent it from flooding everytime it rains, can go get their broken arm fixed without having to put one of their kids on craigslist to pay for it. I couldn't care less if it's the government, or a third party admistor to the program. Just get it fixed!! Stop pointing fingers, stop stalling, stop with the !Removed! comments (Rush Limbahl), stop with the socialism mumbo-jumbo, and get that guy to the hospital! Doctors getting screwed: Seriously? I should feel bad because a person who choose to go into a career path of healing those who need help, is upset because he can't keep his Flying Spur Rolls Royce? Those doctors should have their own healthcare benefits stripped from them for thinking sick people are profit centers to line their own coffers with at the country club. Not everybody in this country gets to be on the white-collar side of the street. And I do think it's unfair those with the rough hands, strong backs, bad knees, and leaking roofs, are living with one foot in the Chapter 13 coffin if someone gets sick or hurt. Should be an interesting flu season, especially when Ms. Piggy and her H1N1 buddies show up in a few weeks. If the published estimates of 30,000+ dead this winter from this flu are correct...well...shame on us, shame on this history of ANY nation who was built under the values of "Gives us your sick, your tired, your poor". That's my $2 cents (adjusted for inflation - minus the deductible). PS: Had I not decided to take the move to chicago and quit without another job, COBRA would have cost me north of $800/month for a shell of my current plan. That was the final nail in our decision to leave our home and family in NC. I'm a dad, and my boy will have health insurance, period. Don't care if it costs me 20 years off my life. I'm the one to provide, and I'm going to, no matter what! A lesson of responsibility that he too will learn someday when he's earned the title of "DaDa".

I literally understood none of that LOL Blake, I actually wound up ordering it from MacMall and cancelled the order through my company. MacMall was like $7 cheaper than the rep at my company, but I would have had to pay tax through Apple and didn't have to pay tax from MacMall. Thats only on the 13" one though, the pricing through my company is tiered and on the more expensive models is cheaper, the 17" for instance is 10% off through my company. Although, once you factor in the tax MacMall is still cheaper... That depends on whether MacMall has to charge you tax in your state. I got Office and I got Paralells, it was free with the purchase of the Mac and Office was only $50. I'm going to try and not use the Paralells, but since it was free I figured I may as well go ahead and get it and I'll have it if I need it. You get a free printer too...so in the end I wound up with the Mac, Office, Paralells, and a printer for $1,150...not bad. It arrives tomorrow :snoooorrrtttt: I literally understood none of that LOL Hahaa....neither did I! Where does the flux-capacitor go? You all know what this means don't you, with Steve getting a fancy new laptop? He'll be on here 24/7 bird-doggin' us! Watch out - when the cat's away, the mice shall play....Got a feeling the cat's coming back!

That's great, we'll forward the bill to your office, Daddy Big Bucks!!!

Well well well, talk about timing.... below is a snippet from a new article on cnn.com, discussing the Iphone and it's exclusive relationship with AT&T. You know what they say about competition, and what it does to price! http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/01/iphone....iers/index.html But if other carriers, such as Verizon, were to offer the iPhone, AT&T could see many of its existing iPhone customers leave. And it would likely cease to see any substantial uptick in new customers due to iPhone sales. AT&T executives have said they realize that the iPhone exclusivity deal won't last forever. And they say they are prepared for that day. But the truth is the longer the company can keep the iPhone exclusive to its network, the better off it will be. However, it looks like AT&T's chances of holding onto the iPhone in the U.S. for much longer are getting slimmer and slimmer. Even though Apple has said that it's happy in its relationship with AT&T, it only makes sense for the company to get out of its exclusive deal as soon as it can.

...and now I just get this email from my wife..... "Apparently I did something to the tv because it's working upstairs. Figures." I just had to get the HD-DVR.....which always freezes.... :chairshot:

LOL, very true. Yeah you better go down to the old folks home when the people from Jitterbug are there and see if you can snap one up ;) The industry is absolutely moving towards data phones and texting phones. Won't be long and phones without a full keyboard won't even exist, they just aren't compatible with how people communicate nowadays... And here I am, on the verge of turning 36, complaining to my wife this morning as it's only about 45 degress outside, in August (I have told you how bad this place sucks yet?) that "I'm not aging very well, got any advil, my back is killing me"! I don't think we would be so against these new devices and where things are going in the industry, if it weren't for the "add-on" data packages. If they're going to go 90/10 on data phones/normal phones, then they need to do a better job at blending the service packages. $70 for 700 minutes plus $60 for "data add on" is too rich for my blood for something that neither one of us really want, beyond the ability to call someone. I think if the service packages come inside of $100/month, then we might bite. But until then, we're good with what we've got! Actually, it's all we really want or need! All of this "stuff" is starting to bug me, because it seems like so much of my free time is being eaten up with the maintaining of this "stuff". I mean, just last night, we finally got our son to go to sleep. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down to watch a recorded Top Gear after a very long and tiring day. I sat down, pushed play, and as I was taking my first sip of the suds, the damn Wii started glowing blue, indicating a message. And, the stupid thing won't stop blinking until you check the message, which means I had to stop Top Gear, fumble with the 4 remotes to switch the input on the tv over to the Wii, and dig out the Wii remote to operate it....all to learn that some new game from 1986 is now available on the Wii..... Just ticked me off. All I wanted to do is drink a good beer and watch my favorite show. Today's battle, the damn blackberry won't sync up to my office computer anymore. And Google Earth crashes the machine, and I can't get the color printer to print right.....it just goes on and on and on. 60% of my time is spent fixing things that I thought were meant to free up my time!!

Sure would love to know where the Coolant Temp Senor is on a 430 engine. I can't find a diagram of it anywhere here, on the net, or in my pdf repair manual..... :cries: anyone?

Just look in your car manual in the glove box, it should be in the back. One suggestion though before doing this (I've got a V8 4runner - our cars are pretty much identical mechanically speaking)....never undo the drain plug before loosening up the fill plug first. The last thing you want is a drained transfer case that you can't refill because the fill plug won't budge.

I saw someone start their week in one of the worst possible ways ever this morning. Sitting in the turn lane this morning into my office building, I notice a massive piece of concrete sitting in the road, in the straight-through lane next to me. This was not a rock, but a chunk about 9 inches tall, 9 inches wide, and probably 12 inches long. It was clearly an "accident maker". I was going to get out and grab it quickly, but looked in my mirror and saw the next wave of cars coming up behind me. I was on a main road. So, I had to watch in horror, and hope that I didn't get hit. First up, a truck, clears it no problem. But right behind him, a caddy - skirts it with his passenger side wheel, which kicks it over a lane and further away from me. But, right in the path of a new Volvo convertible....WHAM! She goes right over it and it hits what I can only assume is her oil pan...smoke come pouring out from underneath her car, as does a ton of fluid down the road. She kept going beyond my line of sight, but no doubt didn't make it far. It gets worse.......next car up: a 4runner...clears it, but right on the 4runner's tail "tailgater", either a 95 or 96 LS400 (had the antenta mask up)......KAPOWIEEEEE!!! I saw the LS lunge up about 3 inches. The rock got stuck under the car in the back, the engine cover went flying off into the middle of the road, as did the lower oil pan. I know it was the pan, as I had to replace mine once and know exactly what they look like. That pan and all the oil went spewing everywhere. The LS slammed on the brakes and zipped into a gas station on the other side of the innersection. Good thing is, the rock was still under his car and now off the busy road. The bad thing is that everybody just kept on going like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. I could tell this guy took good care of his LS, as it was all nice and clean, looked just detailed. I don't know if I would be mad, upset, or just glad that I didn't just get into a fatal accident, as they were all probably going 45-55mph. Now, that's what you call "a case of the Mondays".....

Hahahaa..... I knew the second I read that line, we'd be seeing you shortly.... ;) For the record: I'm not really complaining about Obama, as much as I am about the Democratic party in general. My vote is still out on Obama, as he has certainly come to office in a very interesting time. I think he deserves a little extra breathing room before I make up my mind. I know where I'm leaning towards at the moment though, but not finalized on that decision just yet. There's just something about the manner in which the democratic party conducts themselves that throws me off a little. Probably much in the same manner as those who feel that way about the republican party and their "I don't want to hear it" attitude sometimes.

Me too!!! Especially since my version of XP Pro isn't exactly on the "up n' up", if you know what I mean! They've figured it out too, and if I don't tell every single program to never communicate with the "!Removed!-ship" for updates, they send some kind of bug that requires me to redu the entire machine. I've had this copy-able version of XP for 7 years now. I think I've gotten my money's worth, and it's getting tougher and tougher to avoid the "update bugs". When it comes time to cough up the dough to go legit, I'm going to assign that $300 for the operating system alone, to a Mac!

What, no "I have your inheritance, waiting for instructions on what account number wire to it for me of payment"? No "I bottle sell jack of quality card credit required"? I love the english these idiots use!

Well, we went shopping this weekend for some new phones, and came home with a necklace from Tiffany's instead! How's that for the "two ends of a stick" approach! Friday night I called ATT to see if we were ready for an upgrade, and were told yes. Only one of the seven stores around us actually carried the I-phone. So, I called the store...no answer. Called again a few minutes later, still no answer. So, we decided to just go over there and look. I know why nobody answered...because the idiots working there were all out front looking at some kid's motorcycle. I told my wife "you sure you want to mess with this crap tonight". But, we decided to go in and have a look. Conclusion is: Thanks, but we'll pass. I'm very disappointed in ATT and their desire to move away from quality flip phones, and to "data" phones instead. Maybe it's the industry in general, but there doesn't seem to be a flip phone on the market that comes close to the quality of what we've already got, a pair of Motorola RAZR's. Of the flip phones they had "all three of them", they were cheap plastic crap that remined me of what phones use to be around 2000-2001. We looked at some of the new "data" phones, but the added costs of the data plans just don't make sense to us, at all. We could buy a pair of I phone 3G for $100 a pop, which isn't bad. But, the required $30/month data plan for EACH phone was nuts! It's what we pay now a month! We have the "family plan" for our phones. If ATT would just charge $30/month per plan, instead of per phone, then we might have bought them. But an extra $1,440 for the required 2 year contract, for something that we really don't need "or really want", just didn't make sense. So, we're going to just keep our phones, and go month-to-month on our contract now and wait for someone to either (1) come out with a flip phone and plan that makes sense, or (2) just buy another razr or krzr off of ebay. I've got a blackberry (my 3rd so far), and I have my boss's old one as backup (corporate seems to know my patience with receiving work emails while on vacation and what happens to their blackberry as a result). I agree with you Steve, they're extrememly handy, and extremely annoying. I told you what the founder of RIM told me two years ago in a bar in Toronto during the Canadian Open golf tournement, didn't I? We had the loan on the course, and were guests of the owner to the event. We were sitting in the hotel bar one night having a beer. When the owner of the course was sitting at a booth on the other end, with his buddy, the founder of RIM. They sent us a couple of beers. As we were walking out, we stopped and said thanks, and introduced ourselves to the founder of RIM (I can't remember his name anymore). He had the UBER' BLACKBERRY in his hands, emailing his buddy Lance Armstrong. I asked him if anyone has ever fussed at him for inventing the Blackberry. His response was classic, perfect, and spot on the money: "Everyone who doesn't need one, loves them. Everyone who does need one, hates them!" Truer words never spoken...truer words...

I've got my mobile HD with me today, which has all of my pictures on it. You've heard me talk about my dad's 73' Caddy with only 14k original miles before. Well, here are some pictures of the beast! It's still in storage, about 50 miles outside of Tulsa. Gets driven about 50 miles a year total to keep things lubricated and such. The only thing not original is the exhaust, which was upgraded in 01' with a glass pack set up. Man, you start this monster, and it just rumbles like an old WWII bomber plane!

you guys do realize that you're discussing a thread that is nearly 3 years old, right?