jragosta

I don't know if arbitration applies on used cars. On a new car, the contact information is in the owners' manual. You might try that number anyway to see if they also do CPO used cars. If that doesn't work, check your purchase documents. There is probably a section on arbitration. On new cars, the arbitration process costs the purchaser nothing - Lexus has to pick up the entire cost. If you have to go to a third party arbitrator, it might cost you something. Another option you have is small claims court. Take all your documentation (including photographs) in to small claims court. It will typically cost you just something like $35 to file. There is an upper limit on how much you can sue for, but it's typically several thousand dollars, so you should be OK (unless you've decided you want your money back). The other alternative is to consult an attorney. If you actually have to sue them, that's likely to get expensive, but sometimes just a letter from a lawyer (shouldn't cost more than $200) will make things happen. Personally, my choice would be (from best to worst): Arbitration Small Claims Court Letter from lawyer Lawyer sues them Good luck.

I forgot one - the car I'll probably never own: A Duesenberg. Perhaps the best car ever built. Ever. As an example, you could accelerate from 4 mph to over 100 mph without shifting out of top gear. Talk about torque. Not to mention it being one of the most beautiful cars ever built.

My understanding is that there won't be a 2005 GS. Instead, they'll introduce a 2006 model in January. Your best bet is to do several things: 1. Visit the Lexus web site to get information and determine the differences. 2. Go to www.edmunds.com and do a side-by-side comparison. You'll be able to compare internal dimenions, features, and so on. 3. Visit the dealer. My impressions are: The ES seems to be a bit more 'modern', but the GS may actually be perceived as a bit more luxurious. The sizes are similar with the GS being a bit larger in some areas and a tiny bit smaller in others. The GS is, of course, available with a V8 if you want to spend that kind of money. There are some minor feature differences - the ES has optional pedal adjustment and the GS doesn't. Perhaps the biggest difference is that the ES is front wheel drive. The GS is rear wheel drive with traction control. If you're in an icy enviornment, you may choose to go with the ES for that reason alone. One difference that's easy to overlook - the ES has rear air bags, the GS does not. If that matters to you, it could be a big difference. However, rumor has it that the 2006 GS will add them. Good luck.

If jiggling the fader control causes the speakers to start working, then you probably don't have a speaker problem. I'd agree with the other poster who said you have an oxidized fader control. Get some spray and put it into the fader. If that doesn't fix it, you're probably looking at a new head unit. Good luck.

If money's no object, why only one? I'd probably have a Maserati for fun, a Rolls for comfort, an Odyssey for when I have to haul everyone, and so on.

I finally got around to checking it out and you're right - the GS does appear to have the same problem. So much for getting the problem fixed by moving up to a GS. Maybe the PWR mode will help enough to make it worthwhile. If they offer me one, I'll have to drive it to see if it's good enough. Imagine - 'good enough' is now the standard for the Lexus. Sad, really.

Sorry to hear about your disappointment. I don't know if arbitration applies on CPO cars, but you might check your purchase agreement. You'll probably get better attention if you begin that process. If not, it may take a letter from an attorney. I don't know what percentage of used car purchases go as bad as yours, but it's one thing that people need to keep in mind when looking at prices of used cars-especially high end used cars which are a large fraction of the price of a new one. If you are saving $3,000, but have a 1/10 chance of getting into this type of mess, it may not be worth it.

Or you can find car specs at edmunds.com.

Sorry, I forgot the smiley on my response. Of course there are always mods that can be done. I would never do them, personally, because they generally cost a lot of money for a modest gain - and you'd often be better off buying a more powerful car to start with. Because of that, I didn't have a serious answer. I realize that others do it for the fun and challenge and I hope someone else can help him.

Trade it for a GS430?

I haven't heard any complaints about the GS. For example, try nhtsa.dot.gov. Over the past 3 years, there are a couple hundred complaints about the ES - with nearly half of them related to the hesitation problem. There are only a few GS complaints - and I didn't see any that seemed to be related to any hesitation problem. I realize that the GS has been considerably less popular than the ES, but I'd expect SOME sign of the problem on nhtsa. I'll have to drive one some time.

As nearly as I can tell, with one exception (*), nearly every year has been an improvement over the previous years. Sometimes only a trivial change (addition of some minor feature), sometimes a major one. Therefore, I pick the 2005 as my favorite, followed by the 2004, and so on . * Except for the dodgy transmission introduced in 2002. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have a single significant complaint about my 04.

I doubt if a fluid change alone will do it. If you're really, really lucky, you might do the trick by completely flushing the transmission AND CLEANING THE SCREEN. You might see if your dealer will test drive it to give you their thoughts on what it needs. It's a long shot (they're more likely to say it needs to be disassembled and they won't know for sure until it's open), but maybe worth a try. I don't know about the needles. Other people have commented here- so try searching the board for 'speedometer'.

That's pretty much what I figured - the 05's would have the same problem. I don't see much reason to swap if it's not going to fix the problem. There are some nice features in the '05, but if it doesn't solve the problem, I'm not sure I'd bother. Thanks for the input, though.

If it's fogged on the inside, use fresh air with A/C on (that removes moisture from the outside air). Set the temperature at a comfortable level. If it's fogged on the outside (as yours appears to be), you need to warm it up - so set to a high setting. recirc vs fresh won't matter, nor will A/C since the air from your defroster doesn't go outside the windshield.

Good point.

Once again, you're making yourself look bad. I don't doubt that you're a reputable company. But your postings here are destroying your credibility. He complained on the 25th. You claimed that it was sent on Monday (presumably the 23rd). He complained again on the 30th - and you said that no shippers have ran [sic] since his original post. That statement must clearly be wrong - unless he's situated in Antarctica and only gets a shipper once a week. Take my advice. THINK before posting - you're only making yourself look bad. It wouldn't take you more than a few seconds to make a reasonable response rather than just shooting back at him.

As always, look before you leap. There's nothing to stop a company from taking your money. Getting it back if you have an accident is often a different story. Do your homework and check various rating agencies before changing to a no-name insurance company. Insurance is one of those things where the cheapest is rarely the best.

In this and the other thread, you've indicated that you don't really understand how the car works, but you don't want to take it to the dealer. If you're not going to take it to the dealer, you really need to learn something about basic auto mechanics. No one's going to be able to diagnose all your problems remotely - and simply replacing parts at random is arguably the worst possible way to fix things that are broken. Try finding a course at your local library or community college. Or bite the bullet and find someone who DOES know how cars work.

If you're going to ignore my earlier posts, I don't really see why I should bother..... I already answered your question about the mechanic having the car in the air. Bottom line is simple. If you don't even know what wheel bearings are, you're in over your head. Take it back to the mechanic and show him how to reproduce the sound and let him find it.

As I explained, bad struts can often cause an intermittent problem. I've had a situation where a bad strut was quiet over a big bump, but noisy on a small one. It sounds odd, but it can happen. Of course, I don't know that your problem is bad struts. I would, however, urge you to get it taken care of. A number of problems that cause a noise in the rear end could be very dangerous. A bad strut can let go and cause an accident. Wheel bearing failure can also cause an accident. Even if you're right and it's nothing more than a loose exhaust, it will be far less expensive to fix it now than after the exhaust system falls off.

The first start shouldn't take very long. Back in the days of carbeurated engines, that was common, but with a modern fuel-injected engine, it should start right up. Maybe a second or two, but certainly not longer than that. It's hard to say what the problem is. It could be anything from dirty fuel injectors to a dirty fuel filter to a dirty air filter (or quite a few other things). My guess is that it's been a while since the car has been fully maintained. Personally, I'd take it to a dealer, but if you really want to do things yourself, I'd start by changing the fuel and air filters to see if that helps. If you have high mileage (> 60 K miles), I'd change the plugs, too. If you haven't been the owner long, try to get the service records from the dealer or previous owner so you can see what's been done and what hasn't.

I don't think I'd agree to it so quickly - unless you're absolutely sure they're not going to negotiate further. I would probaby tell them I'd like a test drive. If the test drive is OK, I'd take the car. If the 05 has the same problem, I'd ask for an 04 GS (which should be worth roughly the same as the 05 ES) instead. As far as I know, there are no reported problems with the GS - of any year.

Good luck. However, I'm pretty disappointed that there were that many problems on a CPO car. You're paying a good bit more for the car, so it should have been thoroughly inspected before they tried to deliver it to you. If there were that many flaws, it looks like someone didn't do the inspection properly.

For what it's worth, a bad strut is one of those problems that can be hard to diagnose. First, it's often intermittent. Second, the problem may only be obvious with weight on the strut - so it doesn't occur when the car's up on the dealer's rack. Ultimately, the best success will usually be if you can find a way to reproduce it consistently so you can take the service manager on a test drive to demonstrate the noise. These guys have a huge amount of experience identifying odd noises. Bad bushings can behave the same way.