mcmilwj

Bought a blue onyx pearl 2004 ES 330 w/34k miles on it a week ago for $24995 from McGrath Lexus Chicago. I am the second owner. As far as I can tell, it was a personal vehicle used on Staten Island before I got it. It came with heated leather seats (ivory), heated side mirrors, 6 CD changer, HID headlamps and all the other normal stuff. I love this car. It was hard to find any recent certified pre-owned ES 330s in this color. I only wish I could have found a 2005 or later that had ventilated seats. The only problem I've found so far is the front cigarette lighter seems to be dead...which I can easily fix. There are some minor dings all around and it would appear that after closer inspection that at least the rear driver side quarter panel has been repainted...grrr. I'm 36 and full coverage insurance from Country Companies costs about $860 a year. Tue 26 Dec 2006 $28 Installed new high beam bulbs: Silverstar 9005s replacing aged/yellowed bulbs Tue 26 Dec 2006 $10 Installed clear license plate covers, front cover extra high strength - removed dealer's plate frames. Thu 28 Dec 2006 $6 Replaced toyota oil filter with Purolator Pure One filter Thu 28 Dec 2006 $20 Added 12oz of Auto-RX to engine oil Still considering / upcoming stuff: When the Auto-RX treatment completes, I'll switch to 5w-30 Mobil1 synthetic. This car will soon need new tires. I thought about getting bigger wheels, but can't justify the cost. I intend to get Bridgestone Turanza LS-V's from tirerack.com some time this spring. I looked into getting a better head unit in this car, but am finding no shops are eager to take that on, not with this very integrated dash. Looks like I might be getting a CleanSweep device to bring the speaker outputs to line level, an external amp and upgraded speakers, but this will need to wait until after my bonus comes in. I got quotes for my favorite body shop to work their magic on some of the dings and less than stellar paint patches. This will run about $500. Not sure if I'll do it... it really looks quite good now already. I am currently shopping around for a remote starter solution. Dealer suggests the AutoMate AM9 (a DEI product) for $700 installed. I am leaning towards the CompuStar 2WSS-AS for $525 installed (but the dealer won't do that install). Anyone have suggestions regarding the comparison between these two remote start solutions? Thanks, Bill