The G Man

You can buy a Lexus extended warranty from this guy Troy for about 30 to 40% off what the dealer will charge you and it is the same warranty, but like others have said, I would wait until right before the bumper to bumper warranty runs out. http://fd-warranty.com/

A good place to start is filing a complain aginst the dealer and Lexus with the BBB, believe it or not, Lexus takes BBB complains very seriously. Now might be a bad time though, since I am sure Toyota have their hands full with complains from the gas pedal issue.

I appreciated your post, our dealer had no interest in taking our '04 RX330 in trade on a 2010. The thing was a rare treasured gem when they sold it, but it was like a lump of radioactive waste at trade in time. We like the RX, and the dealer has a great service department but this will probably be our last Lexus because of the reprehensible sales tactics of our local Somerset County NJ Lexus dealer. Apparently our dealer is not the only bad apple out there though. I have purchased many vehicles and our Lexus dealer is the only one so far that could by its own actions substantiate all those bad stereotypes of polyester-clad, slimy car salesmen out to cheat the customer. Despite a high-quality veneer the sales staff has left us with a lingering sense of distrust that cannot help but cloud our thoughts of Lexus vehicles. What did you think of the MDX? A 04 RX would have to be wholesale out by the dealer, so expect to get wholesale pricing for your trade in. NJ doesnt have a carmax store so you are stuck with either trading it into the dealer or selling it yourself. This would be the same for any 7 year old car, not just the RX. Some Lexus dealers are pretty slimy, but for the most part, they are one of the best in customer service. The MDX is over price and poorly build. The ugly bird beak front grille is enough to turn anybody off. It has nice seat but the panel gaps are inconsistant, the wood trims are plastic and there are way too many buttons on the dash, kind of look like the space shuttle. Besides that, the technology is good and it handles pretty good for a big truck, but it is too wide to manuver around the city and it does not feel like it has 300 HP. The sheet metals are paper thin and the gas mileage is terrible.

There is a tap either at the bottom or the top of the rubber insert that locks the rubber insert in place, pull on the tap side outward and the whole rubber insert will come out. Take out the two metal pieces are reverse the procedure to re-install.

SW03ES, I test drove all three of thsoe cars last year when I was shopping for a new car as well, didnt end up with any of those 3 but my impression was that both the Genesis V6 and the MKS was overall a better car than the ES. I generally like a more control suspension, the soft ES suspension was a real turn off. Sure it was comfortable going over pot holes, but driving on a twisty road or try to change lanes fast on the highway and you will realized pretty quick that the ES was not design for that. I found the Genesis and the MKS both handle better and yet, almost as smooth as the ES. The MKS and the Genesis is a better compromise between handling and suspension smoothness in my opinion.

The stop sale is suppose to be short term. Those poor guys at the Toyota factories are force to take a un-paid vacation. The dealer's sales department can still sell the Toyotas that is not on the list, but I would imagine they will try to reduce staff for a few weeks. I would not over react and sell your ES, it would not be worth too much right now anyways with all this going on. Just know what to do if sudden accelaration happens to you, anyone driving any brand of car should know this anyways.

So far, Toyota have state that they will recall all vehicle for the floor mats, sticky gas pedal and the gas and brake interlock software. The software will monitor vehicle speed when the brake pedal is being depress, if the car does not slow down when the brake is apply, it will cut throttle to prevent a run away situation. A lot of European cars have this safety feature, Toyota use to have this software in place about 10 years ago, but for what ever reason, they have gotten rid of it.

Come on, we are going to blame China for the raw materials now? If anybody is to be blame, it should be Toyota, after all they design the part. If its a quality problem, then CTS corp should be to blame since they are in charge of quality control and long term relaibility testing.

You guys should really get your facts straight before you bash China. The faulty part was manufactured by Indiana-based supplier CTS Corp. (NYSE:CTS) at a plant in Mississauga, just west of Toronto. http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianp...Yi62BSvKAe5oyLg

As far as recalls are concerned, this is as big as it gets. People getting killed, hundreds or thousands of cases, millions of cars recall, a total stop production and stop sale. There is no doubt Toyota will face some set back by this. How the buying public will react after it’s all said and done will make or break Toyota. A few family member of mine owns Toyotas, they are in the panic mode. My sister in law want to sell her Highlander even though it’s not on the list. She use the Highlander to drive her kids to school and day care. What I have been telling her and others is what Toyota recommend to do in the case of sudden acceleration. Put both feet on the brake, shift into neutral and shut of the engine. You guys will be very surprise to know how many drivers do not know this sequence of action.

I installed a McCullen kit in my GX with philips bulb and the eban pattern is great. The Halogen projector in the GX works pretty good with HID.

That price sounds about right, I dont see a way to get to the back of the sensor without removing the bumper cover.

There is a option on your nav that lets you select, arrow pointing north or arrow pointing toward the direction of travel, my guess is that you selected pointing north. I believe the button is on the compass arrow itself on the top right or top left of the screen.

The 2010 is due out at the end of this year. lexus is actually making less of the Gx470 due to slow sales, so invoice is about the best price you are going to get. As others have said, the 3rd row seat is ok if you only use it once a while for children under 10. Anything more, you will need a full size SUV or a mini van.

The timing chain can make some noise too. Listen to the noise at a cold start, if its the valves or the lifters making the noise, it will be louder when the engine is cold.

All the 3GS makes the ticking noise, some much louder than others. If the noise in the car you look at bothers you, then look for another GS, because the noise cannot be fix. The Nav will be very expensive to add, you need to change the center console, nav screen and add all the electronics and voice command.

$130? you can buy a Optima for that price.

If you break that flapper when changing the HVAC filter, its a $1200 job to replace it.

Mobil 1 oil change and tire rotation only at my dealer cost $150. I think your dealer did your schedule maintenance too, which is inspect that and check this and that. Thats why the labor cost is so high.

I'm looking at buying a 2004 GX and noticed some rust on the wheels in the pictures. Could this be covered under the CPO warranty? Paint is not covered under the CPO warranty, maybe you can make the repair a pre-purchase condition.

They are going to give you a rebuilt engine, thats usually how it works. I would wait till you get the car back to see if there is any problem that the dealer cannot fix before you sell the car.

There is no security code.

Try calling Lexus headquarter and complain and bet :) Sometimes they will do a good will TSB.

Open the sunroof all the way, hold the button for 10 seconds, close the roof, hold for another 10 sec, that should work.

Lexus always have high re-sale value, that good for the owner trading in their car but not good for bargain hunters likr yourself looking to save a few buck on a low mileage used car.