The G Man

The quality is not so much different among stations, its the additives you have to worry about. I usually stick with the name brands, but its up to you.

The smell is most likely sulfur, from un burn gasoline when accelerating hard. Wasn’t there a sulfur TSB out to change the catalytic converter. You might want to check into that. The noise you hear from the engine is most like your clutch fan, when its on, its noisy, feels like you are driving on low gear. Good Luck

If you buy the key from sewell or on E-bay, most of the time, they come with programming instructions for the immobilizer and the door locks, but you will have to find a locksmith that can cut that key.

Ask the dealer why they cannot certify it, then run a carfax on that VIN. If you still want that car after that, ask for a 3 to 4 thousand dollar discount, since thats much the certification is worth.

No Noise Here!!!

On the 06, the gas cap saids 91 octance require, on the 05, the manual saids 91 octane recommanded. They both have the same engine, dont know why Lexus change the premium fuel requirement. 03 and 04, the engine is different, the compression ratio is lower, so you can difinitely use 87 octane. I also have try both 87 and 93 for a few tank at a time. The 93 does make a difference performance wise. Barely noticable during everyday driving and at low rpm, but difinitely noticable at higher rpms. Gas mileage wise, on the computer, it show about a 0.5 mpg difference.

Studies have shown that even hand free cell phones are a distraction the the driver. Radio is also is distraction as well as well talking to the passengers while you are driving. Smoking is not only dangerious to you health but it is also a dangerious thing to do while you are driving. Nav. system is another distraction, so is DVD entertaining systems. Fixing your hair or putting on make up is also dangerious, but people do that everyday. Drinking a cup of coffee while you are driving, that has been the cause of many accidents. All these things above that everybody do everyday cause accidents, these accidents drives your insurance rate up. Seat belt is a good safety tool, but the lack of its usage is not the reason our insurance rate is so high.

Talking on the cell phone while driving is unsafe too, even with bluetooth, and people still do it. If he choose not to wear his seat belt he doesnt have to. Auto manufacturers are becoming too much of a big brother. Pretty soon they will make cars that will start unless you have your seatbelt and a helmet on.

Turning off the DRL is more unsafe than a burned out turn signal.

No Comment!

Doesnt that light mean the VSC has a fault?

The GX comes with a free 5000 miles schedule maintence, at that time, the Lexus Personalized Settings can be change for free. The side mirror tilting in reverse can be disable by putting the switch in the middle. There is nothing to be nervous about the size of the GX, it is smaller than the Escalade and it drives smaller too. I got paint protection from the dealer as well, its nothing more than a expensive paint job. After a year, the teflon coating is still working, no need to wax so far. I had a Bose system on my MDX, the Mark Levinson is way better than Bose. I can truely say that the Mark Levinson system is one of the best OEM system I have ever heard. The remote fob programing is on the Lexus site itself. I think the only things on the fob that can be program is the window open function and the one push to open driver door and two push to open all door function. Good Luck, it will be safe to say you wouldnt be getting any sleep tonight.

The old BMW are more relieable because it has less electronics, but they are still troublesome when compare to Toyotas. Its usually nothing major, but bunch of little things that breaks. Believe me, people dont buy BMW because of their reliabilty, they buy it for performance. In fact, some people might even consider BMW to be a high maintenance vehicle. I agree with denslexusgx470, at least Lexus try to fix the problem. I remember reading a BMW forum about how the BMW 5 series XI had the same clucking problem and BMW didnt even try to fix it. They re-design it at the next model re-design.

My brother and one of my co-worker both drives late model BMWs, their cars are in the shop every 3-4 months. If only thing you change on your 86 BMW is the driveshaft after 225,000 miles, you must have a one of a kind BMW. I bet BMW would buy that car back from so they can use it for R&D.

My GX's seatbelt doesnt rattle, try moving it up and down.

If the brakes feel like they are biting and releasing, then its a warp rotor. Warp rotors are a common problem for the GX, it is a tough call, some dealer will replace it under warrenty and some would not. A lot has to do with how demanding you are. The problem with re-surfacing warp rotor is that the rotor is now even thinner, therefore easier to warp again. I usually just change the rotors out, since it is not that much more expensive.

3 Years is not bad, considering this problem is not a safety issue. I know of many many other manufacturers that had problem which they refuse to address until the re-design. I think we should give Lexus credit for their try after try to fix this problem. You can almost bet that 95% of the manufacturers out their would not go that extra mile like Lexus did.

That makes sense, I did not think that a Navi could replace a LoJack.

So what are you saying. If a car has Navi, then you dont need to buy a LoJack system? Who would track your Navi's GPS location? The local police? Do they have the equipment to do it or would you need to go to a Toyota dealer? What if the car and the Navi is not on, there would be no GPS signal.

I didn't notice the cluck at first either, after about 2500 miles, I started to notice it. It has gotten worst now that I am at 6000 miles. My GX is going in next Monday for the TSB.

I think dbw needs to talk to you reggie, since it is pretty much impossible for the GX to get 25 mpg. The EPA rated the GX for 19 mpg in the highway and thats under perfect conditions.

Let me re-phrase that, how on earth are you going to save gas by towing a camper around? By changing a chip? I know that a chip can do more than just change shift points. It can also change air to fuel mixture and firing points, but lets get real here, if a chip get you from 10 MPG to 12 MPG while you are towing without sacrificing performance, Lexus would have put that chip in there from the factory. Lets look at what you are trying to move here. The GX itself is almost 5000 pounds and add your camper on top of that, you are talking about around 10000 pounds. Realistically, how many miles per gallon do you think you can improve by? If you want to save gas, dump the GX and the camper and go buy a Prius.

If you are worry about fuel economy, why on earth would you buy a GX. You should have done your homework before you buy a car. The only way a chip can improve economy is to shift to higher gears sooner, this will decrease the engine's performance. Almost all the chips out there on the market does the opposite, it tried to increase the engine's performance.

So why do you drive a GX, is it that you are a supporter of the oil producing counties?

I would go with E85 if the GX can use it, just to stick it to all those oil producing countries that are holding us hostage. We need to become a energy independent country again, at least somewhat independent.