ArchieES350

They had a sale back in Feb or march. 2 jugs for $99 but I still am using my CG5050. I know on autopia most say Cg5050 is at the same level as the Souveran if not better. Not saying Cg is the best hands down but for a $25+ in savings, with the reviews it has gotten, I am sold. Sorry for my ignorance (newbie). What does CG5050 stand for? I searched Autopia and other sites and can't find the product. I figure CG must be an abbrev for brand but couldn't figure out which brand and who sells it. thanks.

Willie, You might want to go to Consumer Reports and get an Auto Pricing Report on the ES. http://www.consumerreports.org/main/newaps...Y=nc5-crpricepg they can tell you how much the dealer actually pays for a car (with specific options) including factoring in for dealer incentives which makes their actual cost lower than their "dealer invoice" price. I got about about $4000 off MSRP but that was for an ES350 Ultra with DVD/Nav and Mark Levinson Sound system and the Preferred Assesory Package. In "theory" they could go lower than $2000 off MSRP for a base model BUT I'm not a dealer and don't know how they think. I'm not sure what they want in terms of a percentage above their actual cost for a base unit versus one that has nearly all options included. Obviously they would make for for a fully loaded one compared to a base unit at the same "Percentage" above cost. Get a report from CR. Its only $14 for the report for a specific model car. It will give you the info you need to "discuss pricing" with them. Also check out the "dealer and pricing forum" to 1) get an idea of what price others may be paying for their car and 2) an idea about dealerships and possibly experiences of others in your area with particular dealers. Not sure where in Alaska you are but hopefully you have at least a couple of dealers within a reasonable driving distance. I've read on the forum about some good dealers and some "not so good" dealers. Experience for me so far: I just bought my ES about a month ago. It definitely handles differently than my Honda Accord and I have to get use to it. Its a quiter more comfortable ride for sure but it seems like I have less of a sense of the road (which may simply be that I need to drive it more to get a better sense of what it can and how it handles). So at least for now I'm not as confident as to how fast I can take particular turns because I can't 'feel the road' as much with the ES. Not familiar with the SAABs and what kind of handling you are looking for but you definitely want to test drive the ES and possibly the IS which if I'm right is more sportier and handles differently. Since this is my first Lexus and I've only had it for a month, I can't help you with more info but hope the above helps.

Joeyde, I just bought my ES350 a month ago, and found this forum afterwards. Started reading all the concerns and opinions. Kinda of scared me for a second but then I thought as other have said, not everyone goes on the forums (probably a very small percentage of the total number of Lexus customers.) I had check Consumer Reports on the ES's track record and Lexus overall has a fine reputation. As they said, there are thousands of ES owners who don't log on the forums. I'm guessing some do because they have a complaint, others (like myself) to learn more about our cars and how to take care of them. So it is more likely to get someone who has a problem to log on than those who are satisfied. If you buy from Amazon, do you always log in and provide a user review on all products you bought? I don't. But if you were the unfortunate one to get the one unit with a problem (out of how many thousands with no problem) you'd be more likely to provide feedback. Also if you were extremely pleased or pleasantly surprised with a product and/or its performance then you might want to provide feedback but most satisfied customers don't provide any reviews. I love my new ES350. Its a definite step up from a fully loaded Accord or a Camry. I looked at the current Camary. Avalon, Accord and Acura when shopping). Yes some who had the ES300 may have seen some changes that to them were on the negative side but hey when your 'moving up' as I am (and comparing my past cars with the ES), its all great. I do agree that it would be nice if the GPS would work while your driving so that the front passenger (when there is one) could access it. But hey, I guess I'll have to live with it KNOWING that it helps protect me from many of the incompetent drivers on the road who can bearly drive much less try to talk on the phone (even with a handfree connection) while driving. If you like the ES, I say go for it. You have a higher percentage of getting an ES with no problems than some cars from some other vendors.

I hate birds. I would wash my Honda Accord and step back into the house for two minutes, come out and find that that the stupid birds did their number on my roof. (Its a dark green Accord). Now I just got a Black Sapphire Lexus ES (newbie to Lexus & the forum) and just read various discussions about bird poo which makes me not want to leave the car out in front of my house ever even for a second (pull it out of the garage and drive off and if I forgot to bring something with me, drive the car back in the garage, get what I forgot and then backout and drive off.) I have two questions: a) SW03ES, you mentioned you carry around a bottle of QD. What is QD? Is that a Quick Detailer spray? So I should keep some in a small spray bottle along with a microfiber towel in my trunk in case this happens when I'm out in order to wipe off the poo? B) you also mention that black Lexus paint has no clearcoat. Does this apply to other very dark colors such as Black Sapphire which is a dark blue? Does this 'affect' my choices when it comes to polish, sealants, waxes, etc.? c) I've seen a few members mention that some waxes provide a little more protection and sealants may help (I guess giving you more time to get the poo off), but no one mentions any specific product names? Can anyone suggest some brands. thanks.

I also have to agree, there are several other synthetic brands that are very good. As for Mobil 1 being "guaranteed" for 15k miles, where does Mobil make any such guarantee? Mobil 1 has no mileage guarantee at all. Mobil does have new new Extended Performance synthetic oil that supposedly is good for 15k (not in my car, every 5k synthetic or not since Lexus says oil change intervals cannot be extended with synthetic oil), but ordinary Mobil 1 is not. SW, I just bought my ES350. Since Lexus requires us to change the oil every 5K or 6 months (regardless of synthetic or not), do you use synthetic or just whatever the dealership puts in? If you do use synthentic then would it be safe to assume you still feel there is sufficent long term benefits to your engine to justify the additional cost even with the frequent oil changes required. thanks

Steve, where does one find the 'build date' ?

Akhawaja, when you say you try to connect manually, are you attempting this connection on the cellphone or on the Lexus? The following may or may not help. Since I don't know what options you have turned "on" or "off" on your cell phone consider this as kind of a checklist. I have a Motorola Razr 3m (not sure what the difference is between the "i" and the "m" except possibly which carrier its designed for.) The dealer paired my phone with the ES for me before I left so the phone automatically connects. However I changed the setting on my cellphone so that I manually have to connect the phone to the Lexus each time. I have set up Bluetooth on my cell phone with 'power=off'. This extends the life of my cellphone battery. Each time I get in the car, I 'temporarily set bluetooth power=on" and the phone and the Lexus find each other. If you want the phone to automatically connect with the Lexus each time you get in, you can set bluetooth power=on 'permanently'. On my Razr you can do this under "Settings and Tools", select "Connections", select "Bluetooth", select "Setup", change Power=On. I have it set for OFF. When I get in my car, on the Razr, I go to "Connections", select "Bluetooth" and then select "Handsfree". It shows me Bluetooth power is Off and asks me if I want to temporarily turn it on. I select Yes. As I mentioned earlier, this is to reduce battery usage so I don't have to charge as often. The only other possibilty is that you use other bluetooth devices with your cellphone, like a wireless bluetooth headset. According to my Razr's manual, you can only connect the phone to one bluetooth device at a time, ... so you have to make sure the connection to the wireless headset has been disconnected before your phone is willing to connect to the Lexus. Simply powering off your wireless bluetooth headset may not cause your cellphone's bluetooth to disconnect completely right away. The cellphone may think it has temporarily loss its connection to the headset and the phone may attempt to reconnect. After a length of time of being unable to reconnect, it would finally shut down its connection. If you shutdown your wireless headset just as you approach or get in your car, the cellphone may be still attempting to re-connect to your wireless headset. (This is an educated guess on this because I just got a bluetooth headset as a gift and having tried using it yet or testing out this 'theory'.) hoping this helps.

Here are some tips I found online and I ran them past the guys at the detailing shop where I take my GS300. They agreed with them. As for brands, everyone has their favorite but the important thing is the process. Check it out: Get an automotive clay bar, and run it along every body panel. This pulls out all sorts of nasty road debris that can barely be felt by your hand but does roughen the texture of the paint, leading to a flatter finish. Polish the car using a good polish. Wax is not polish, so don't confuse the two. Polish will remove oxidation that dulls the paint, and will smooth out all of the deformities that are left over after the clay bar pulls the crap out of the paint. Wax the car. Do that once a year and your car's paint will be smoother than a baby's butt and your paint will stay looking great. I'd give credit to the source but I can't remember where I got it. Given that bgpilot's car is brand new and just purchased a few days ago, would he really need to use a clay bar and polish? When the car comes off the assembly line, doesn't Lexus put some kind of protection on the car. You would think so because they and the dealerships would want the cars to look good in order to sell them?? If polish removes oxidation, and his car is new and no oxidation to speak of, does the polish remove some of the top coating ? Wouldn't a good washing and then waxing be appropriate for a brand new car? I'm new and just got my ES at the end of March so I'm interested as well. thanks.

Who owns it? If it's Herb Chambers thats good. I've had great experiance w/Lexus of Norwood. It's not for me. Chambers is in Norwood, MA - this dealer is in Concord, CA - West Coast (outside of San Francisco). Since I'm from East Coast, that's why I'm asking since I know nothing about West Coast dealers. Rockee, since your location is listed as Northeast, I guess thats why there is confusion. I haven't dealt with the one in Concord (its a longer drive from San Francisco) though one of my friends has and he is happy with his car. I just bought from Lexus of Marin and they were very nice. Serramonte Lexus has friendly staff. However they just didn't have the car in the color and options I wanted, Lexus of Marin did. Just to note: I bought my car a couple of weeks ago and last week I had my birthday. The general manager of Lexus of Marin left me a voice mail message thanking me for buying from them and wishing me a happy birthday. The parts manager a few days later left me a voice mail introducing himself in case I had any questions.

Chris, I just make a decent deal on a Lexus ES350 in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can send the dealers an email inquiring about the model you want to buy. You should know not just the model but the options you want included. Several of them have "Internet Reps" which focus entirely on sales via the net. One dealership offered me an ES for $500 above their invoice. Of course with dealer incentives they make more than merely $500. I knew they would be making about 4.1% above their actual cost which is on the low side of what is a reasonable profit for a car. Unfortunately the dealer didn't have the car in the color I wanted but another dealer (whom I contacted via email) did and he was willing to match the price, so I drove from SF across the Golden Gate Bridge to the dealership and bought the car. I can't say how close to dealer invoice you can get a 400h, but you should email the local dealers and provide specifics. You can go to the Lexus web site can 'custom build' your car. then email the specifics to the dealers and ask them how much they would be willing to sell the car. If you email them, these inquiries would be forwarded to their Internet sales rep if they have one. If you want, go to consumer reports web site and you can pay them to provide information on the model you are interested in. They will tell you the dealer's actual cost, not just dealer invoice (but including incentives that they get.) This will tell you how much above their actual cost they are asking. Consumer reports says 4% to 8% is a reasonable price which allows the dealer to make some profit.

Beautiful color. I just bought my ES350 in Black Sapphire. I just went down to my car in the garage to see how precisely it displays the position of car on the map. It shows the car on the map exactly where my house is relative to the intersection. I also know the when I need to make a turn, the navigation system 'beeps' exactly as I hit the corner where the turn is to be made. In San Francisco driving through Golden Gate park, there are two road running parallel to each other and less than 100 feet apart. One road is just inside the park and the other is just outside the park. The nav doesn't sound the beep till I've reach the corner outside the park (where I need to make the right turn). Also as I've glance at the display while driving on a winding road, and it displays where I am on the road fairly precise (in relation to the curves on the road.) I'm fairly sure my dealer didn't calibrate the system. They just got the car recently when I bought it. The dealer told me no one even had a chance to test drive it. Question: are those custom wheels? They are really nice. I've see the standard 7 spoke alloy wheels and I have the 10 spoke ones that come with the Ultra and I've see the 'wired' ones (I believe they refer to them as the Graphite-polished wheels) but I never saw the chrome ones you have on your car.

Sorry to hear about that. I don't leave my registration and insurance in the car. I keep a copy in my wallet along with my driver's license. The reason I don't is specifically because it has my address on it. Why would they want your reg/insurance: I hope you have still have your garage door opener. You might want to change the code on it even if you still have it. Depending upon the type of remote you have and how the codes work, the thief might be able to duplicate or clone the security and get into your house some day. If your remote works on 'dip switches' then change the code on the switches on both remotes and the opener. If it doesn't, then there are ways (I believe) to re-synch the remotes with the garage door in terms of the security codes they pass each other.

In San Francisco think $3.34 as a cheap price for Regular and $3.68 for Premium.

I just bought an ES350 and the dealer is asking $1075 for "3M Clear Armor" protection. It has a 3 yr. warranty. It covers the hood, bumpers, mirror, lights, door handles. They didn't use the term XPEL but it sounds like the same products which are from 3M. Can anyone suggest a reliable installer in the San Francisco Bay Area at a reasonable price? Thanks.