VBdenny

Like you Becki, in the past I was a throttler.I'd run up through gaps at a buck then ride on the train until it cleared again. Sick to say but it is fun and I still enjoy it when playing with my race car. I will also add that with that vicious 5.7L V-8 in my Silverado. Just something about V-8's that are enjoyable.

Almost sound like you bought a BMW badged as a Lexus.

Maybe not all. Not sure if I mentioned "Left Lane Bandits" one of my old series on youtube.

The sulfur smell has to do with the catalytic converter. Had a Nissan that smelt bad like that all the time. Dealer said it was nothing several times. Luckily (or unluckily depending) when the car was a year old, my wife backed it hard into a Jersey wall on the Capital Beltway when some black ice appeared out of nowhere.

white smoke typically indicates water being in the combustion chamber where it shouldn't be. You said the pistons were replaced? that means a complete engine teardown at which point any of a dozen things with gaskets and such could have been done incorrectly. The MOST common reason for the smoke is a compromised headgasket. I'd be VERY unhappy with the runaround but it is something Lexus dealerships excel at doing. Good coffee though. Denny

No, no need to post, my imagination is amazing.

No, I don't see it getting any better either. With my wife in Boston, I run the eastern seaboard a lot. The roads are mostly adequate, it is the drivers that are not. Here are a few of my opinions on how traffic flow could be improved eliminating the need for more roads, at least temporarily. INCREASE the speed limits and stop the cop and robber nonsense on our highways. MANY people would drive faster if they weren't scared, but with all the cops and low speed limits, they are. Well yeah, getting caught is expensive in many ways. IF we had higher limits, the scared people wouldn't be and things would flow. ENFORCE the drive right and pass left rules. Nearly every time I encounter a long, slow backup, it is caused by some moron lingering in the left lane. When cars pace the one in the left lane, it creates a very dangerous situation for those behind, unknown to the oblivious bandit. Everyone knows these type of people and everybody hates them with a passion. EDUCATE people how to use their cruise control. Many apparently are unaware that you can coast or accelerate with the buttons. Seems once many people put it on they take some kind of sick pride in seeing how long they can go without touching anything. Of course this means they must pull out in front of faster traffic approaching in the hammer lane or they might have to shut it off therefore breaking their record setting event. ACCELERATE away from traffic signals. Throw that AARP and AAA handbook on driving in the trash. The egg between the foot and accelerator thing they promote means dozens of cars behind they will not make the signal because they were trying to save an ounce of gas in their Suburban. Establishing and enforcing simple rules means everyone gets places faster and without stress and frustration which too often leads to road rage. Yeah, some people do deserve to get knocked off the road but that is still very illegal.

Nice cars but rather annoying having everything in reverse. Add to that the annoying music and I lasted about 1/2 way through.

what is a front camera?

Hey now. Liked that, especially with the white cars.

Since you have juice and all, kind of leaves fuel. I had a Chevy that did that which turned out to be clogged throttle body. Of that was when I was using only el cheapo gasoline. Never had the problem since switching to Top Tier.

Not to degrade my wonderful wife one iota BUT here expertise with cars appears to be the ability to pick out the most expensive on the road with a "that's nice" comment. Uh yeah, S550's and Maseratis are nice. At least she doesn't give a like to Buicks. I deal with all car stuff so... Now Becki, I do appreciate that she appreciates her cars, her V-8's, and twisties in the mountains. Not mention anyone but having people feel car sick in your car from your driving can easily cause marital issues. I have to drive 3 ways. One for personal, long distance travel, one for fun in my race car, and one when my wife is in the car. Nothing worse for a driver is having a passenger in the car. I take my wife to Logan, then drive to VB. I ain't scared of flying, I just like driving more.

The ES330 I have in the fleet makes similar noises. Made them for several years, maybe the whole time I have owned it but my wife is oblivious to car noises and she drove it for several yerars. When I got it, I thought at first I was imagining the noises as it was rather freaky when the radio was off. At some point it bothered me enough that I gave the car to my future son in law to drive and that solved that problem since now the noise haunts him, not me. He is a mechanical engineer so how bad can I feel? Something with the ventilation system on the ES.

Read through all the threads and never saw BATTERY mentioned. I do know from experiences at Logan airport that the LS400's need a LOT of juice to run correctly. Even corroded terminals or connections can cause intermittent nightmare problems. Of course I have also found even new batteries can be bad. I would seriously consider this before all that other technical stuff. Just saying.

Ahhh, Forgot to add that now I certainly enjoy burning gasoline. With prices like this, I'm redlining my "race car" frequently.

Paul, like you, I pumped it at that price. Bought it for 17.9 cents during a "gas war" back then. NOBODY thinks we are running out of oil and the earthquakes in Oklahoma and Texas prove that there IS a lot of oil under there but that there is a price to be paid. Since Oklahoma and Texas are owned by the energy industries, no problem fracking there. Good for them I say. At some point in the future oil will become a liability rather than an asset. The shift has already begun with the slow, but steady shift toward renewable energy. Perhaps the largest obstacle we, as regular people, face is our elected people who represent the business side but not much the people side. When you have a lot of money one of the biggest dangers is always craving more even when you have no earthly need for more. In the end, everything comes down to money. Denny

Mark, did you have the engine level, warmed up to operating temperature and running when you checked the transmission fluid level? Also, the red kind of raises a question with me. I seem to remember Toyota transmission fluid being kind of an amber color. The only red fluid would be the Dextron used in the power steering system.

Now you can't really blame the "corn sugar" for people being fat. The fork operator certainly has the most to do with that.

I really do like the sound of the pipes at full throttle. The shifters take a little to get accustom to using but really are much fun. As a professional seeker of fun I suggest trying them. They are only useful on twisties but still fun.

Interesting question James. I never tried what you said. I really do need to get to the dealer and spend some time with the tech guy. Still have a lot of things I don't understand about the electronics that I should know. Welcome

So my car has these paddle shifters that I really never played with much. Lately, when I have been using them when I'm having fun (which is often) on back roads. While not nearly as exciting as a traditional manual shift, it is an okay compromise for fun. I do like that you can hold the engine in the higher RPM range which makes the exhaust give that nasty growl. The paddles do shift very quickly unlike the "slapstick" shifter we had in a Chrysler 300 we had which took about 3 seconds to respond. The Lexus semi-automatic responds almost (not quite) instantly. Of course my first experience with paddle shifter was on my PS3 GT5 game. Interestingly enough, driving my IS is very much like a video game. Sometimes a challenge to remember it is real.

Looks nice but of course the example was white so. Really doesn't look all that much different than current car. I do agree with the comment that bigger wheels and larger size tires would be a great addition.

The main reason we even have alcohol added to fuel has mainly to do with elected representatives from corn states. Apparently they were not selling enough corn for other reasons and got this wild idea to force alcohol into everyones vehicles. The alcohol dissolves rubber parts which caused all kinds of leaks in lawn equipment and older cars. That along with the reduced fuel economy is reason enough to stop the practice. Good intentions, bad practice.

Thanks!

people don't like links that they don't know what they are posted by someone they don't know. The world today. Maybe give us your perspective and details then post a link for us to see. I didn't look.