seohenning

I just wanted to voice my concern about an oil change I received about 30 min ago at New Country Lexus in Latham NY. As I drove out of the parking lot the "Hood Open" notice came on. I don't mind closing the hood of my car as I did. However, I do expect that if they are going to charge $63.00 (half of that labor) for an oil change that the hood is at least closed correctly at the end of the service. Is that too much to ask? At least they washed and cleaned the inside of the car... I guess if I am going to crash it when the hood flys open on the freeway it might as well be clean! UPDATE: I e-mailed the dealership stating what I wrote above... they are going to offer a credit to my next service for the error.

I'd Like to know what the Honda Civic uses for Pads... I had that before the AWD250 and they were amazing.. never had Break Dust. I am having the same issue as everyone else with the Lexus. Does anyone make a two spoke wheel ... at least it would be less to clean?haha

I drive the AWD250 - I am happy with it thus far. If you are looking for a performance based machine I suggest driving either the VW R32 or the Mazda Speed6, - I drove both and they would out perform this car. I chose the AWD250 for the style, comfort and features, the performance is still satisfactory and I am happy with my decision as I am sure everyone else who bought one is as well. I am with you on the AWD350!! But then againI would imagine the price would be well over $40k!

They always say it's better to learn when your young.... lets just hope that is the case for our cars learning to deal with the white stuff in snow prone areas! I had 6 inches on mine the 2nd week, but haven't had any since... and it appears it is going to be a brown christmas here in the northeast. Suny Albany is a Great school also a great party school... I had a lot of friends that went there. It was a bit to close to home for me so I ended up going to Geneseo.

I'll trade you my clean car and house in NY (it hasn't snowed yet) for your place and dirty car in snowy Denver? haha Don't get distraught about the blizzard... the new car will be just fine and they clean up just as nice!

A few questions on this post: 1. How much were those wheels/tires? I personally like them and want to pick something up come spring. 2. Will they fit on the AWD? 3. Do you have a link to a website where I could order those or something similar? Thanks, and great job on the color of the car/rims.

From what I heard at the dealership when I was buying mine was that the ML blew away the stock system. But I honestly haven't heard the comparison between the two. If you’re really worried about it though I would go listen to both and use your best judgment. I am plenty happy with the stock system in mine if it makes any dif. (IS250 AWD w/ Nav)

I am having a bit of trouble believing the Georgia does not impose sales tax on used cars. That is great if this is the case but I am skeptical none the less. Did you buy these from used car dealers? I could see if you bought them private party and "didn't" have to pay tax. As in most states it is up to you to report this to the state and if you don't it is considered tax evasion... most states are now going to a "book value" for used cars as to stop people from selling them for $1 and thus paying almost no tax. I found this information below but couldn't find anything about used cars being tax exempt. If I am wrong please correct me and I'll move to Georgia before I buy my next car. "Georgia has a 4% state sales tax rate. Food is exempt from the state sales tax rate, but subject to tax by the local sales tax rate. Counties may impose local sales tax of 1% to 3%, consisting of up to three 1% local option sales taxes (out of a set of five) as permitted by Georgia law. Also, the city of Atlanta imposes an additional 1% Municipal Option Sales Tax. As of July 2006, sales tax rates in Georgia vary from 6% to 7%, except for the City of Atlanta at 8%." "All Georgia licensed dealers are required to have an established place of business, public liability insurance and post a $20,000 Surety Bond. They are also required to have a sign and a working telephone listed in the trade name. Every licensed independent dealer charges, collects and remits state sales tax on every sale they make as well as any local option county tax(s)." In my opinion sales tax should not be imposed on used cars, and I completely agree with Georgia's "law" if in fact it is the case. Sales tax is something that you should pay only on the original sale of the item, states are making a mint off of one car being sold multiple times, to me it seems ridiculous that they can charge $3k now, and if I sell my car tomorrow they get another $2.99K. Oh well.

Two thoughts – the AWD Auto is not the best in class for high speed acceleration. If your buying it for that than your looking for mild disappointment. There will always be faster car out there but I am happy with the performance of the 250 thus far. If some punk wants to shred his tires and toast me at the line I can live with that. I’ll just sit back in my leather seat, switch on a Nav find a faster route to the destination and know that no other person has a better looking car on the road. Then I’ll wait till we are at the same light in a snow storm and toast his RWD tricked out low profile tired ice-skater and cruise away in AWD style. On another note, I was a "Stick Shifter" for 9 years before the AWD 250 - I never thought I'd enjoy an Auto Trans but have been pleasantly surprised. I can't say that I don't miss the clutch every once in a while and the feel of shifting through gears but I can say that I caught myself smiling the other day while down shifting and then back up coming out of a tight corner … I thought at that moment (smile ear to ear) that I can live with the auto transy.

I drive an 2006 AWD and I don't mind the AWD "bump" Box at all. I didn't even notice it until my Fiance sat in it and pointed it out. On long drives I actually like it because you can sit back with the cruise on and let your calf/leg rest on it keeping your foot close to the gas and break. On a side note I think that AWD does make a big difference between an RW even with VDIM - 4 wheels with the ability to drive is always better than two especially driving up hills and while accelerating through turns. (I'd like to hear from someone who has driven both in the snow for a period of time though.)

That’s great to hear! I am looking forward to the snow in the North East... though we are close the warmest November ever on record and set the lowest snowfall amount ... send some snow this way! Anyway, a quick word about snow tires... they add 30%+ in traction over a all-season and do make a dif. If you can afford them they are worth the change. For those of us in the north who have 2 seasons, snow and rain I would suggest doing the following: If you have 17" factory put your snows on those and buy 18"+ rims w/ performance tires for the rainy season. Then just swap them out when the snow changes to rain and vise versa.. This "should" get you through a full 2 seasons without buying new tires again. There are a few threads that give suggestions on snows and dealing with the TPMS... (just a pain). If you can't afford them it sounds like the all seasons should do just fine for driving... just have to remember that driving and turning with all-seasons usually isn't a problem, it's stopping where most of the issues arise. I suggest using the manual shifting to downshift in order to slow you down on straight sections before a turn or a stop, the less breaking the better.

I am wondering if anyone has purchased a roof rack for their IS250 AWD car. I know Lexus sells one but am looking for suggestions on alternatives that might fit? (Primarily used for Skiing, but would like it to double as a bike rack if possible)

If you are worried about scratching the door, just leave the remote in the trunk and lock all the doors. use the "key" to get in your trunk and access the remote and then unlock the doors with that? Just an idea, not sure if it will work or not?

I am just wondering if anyone has religiously been using a lower grade than 93 octane in their IS250/350 and if they have noticed a difference in gas mileage/performance and or noticed any problems? I have heard that you can use as low as 87 without any problems however I have also heard the opposite and the dealer states that the car might make some knocking noise's w/ lower octane. It is understandable that you might get worse mileage with lower the octane but I was wondering if anyone has tried and had good enough gas mileage to make paying less worth it?

Mine Beeps - If you read the manual there are ways to shut off some of the audible alerts.

I just wanted to follow up as I just got off the phone with Verizon wireless customer support. I wanted to verify the Lexus claims that it was a problem with Verizon not the car. To make a long story short it could be an issue with the version of Bluetooth software your phone is currently using. I would verify that you are using the latest software, version 05. You should be able to do this on your phone and you can figure out how to do this or call / read the manual for your phone. Here is how the long version went: The rep said that it was a possibility that the phone might not work 100% of the time. They have a list of every phone and were able to check with the make and model of the car to see if it was compatible. My LG VX8100 should have no problems connecting and talking. (Thus ruling out Lexus’s claim that it was the phones fault). He then had me check the software on my phone to see what version of the Bluetooth software I had and suggested that I upgrade to the latest software at a Verizon store (free of charge to do so). I happened to have Version 04 - Version 05 is on the market and "should solve my problem with dropped calls". He also said that Motorola phones seem to work the best with Lexus cars due to the fact that Denzo makes the Bluetooth connection devise for Lexus? Sounded good to me, but who knows if that is true. I am going to the store today and will let everyone know if it solved my problem.

I thought the same thing today. I filled up today on my way to work and had 6 miles left on the "estimate ticker" I filled her up - total of 15gal. I would guess the reserve tank is 2 Gal and you could probably drive a good 40 miles past 0... though I wouldn't want to be the first one to test that theory.

I had a similar problem with my Verizon LG VX8100, I inquired at my dealership and found out this was not the first time they had the question. The answer is quite simple actually, there are only 3 service providers that the bluetooth devise will work 100% of the time, Cingular, Sprint and T-Mobile I believe were the three. Verizon (in their ploy to make more money) wants you to use their bluetooth headsets and thus have the phones made to work well with their devises only. So basically your droped calls are a result of your service provider tying to profit off of you. You must restart your car to get the connection working again. One more thing, the call is not droped, only the bluetooth is, the call will transfer back to you phone and you can continue talking on that. If the call was droped you probably hit a bad service area and there's not much you can do about that. On a side note, I am pretty angry about this and I hope someone finds out something different You can check out your phones compatibility at: http://www.lexus.com/models/IS/accessories...ml?s_ocid=30013