ArchieES350

Can I ask where you got the deal on Souveran? I've always wanted some, but I'll have to wait a while at 70/80 dollars.

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.

Thinking about trading my new SAAB 93 SportCombi Aero purchased in January 07 for a 07 ES350 and few thousand more. To get all the options that are included in my Saab I figured it will cost about $8000 more. But I am willing to give up some of those options for car of better quality and consistency and most importantly better service. As purchasing and owning a car is about relationships, I have not been satisfied with Saab or my local dealer. I wanted to know what are the nuisances of the new ES350 in particular base models or ones without NAV. I cannot really justify (budget) stepping up to a loaded one. Just would like some overall thoughts/feedback from current owners. Handling, ride quality, squeaks, rattles, road noise, sound system, comfort, parking, features, ect. Also, based on other post it looks like $2,000 off MSP is about the best deal to expect?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.

I am considering buying a 2007 350 ES. However, I just logged into this forum and found that there has been transmission problems, wind noise problems, Motor noise, etc. Are these just exceptions, or are they common?

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.

Not much more I can add here as these 2 pretty much summed it up. Bird crap is nasty stuff and can etch into the paint in short order. Waxes generally won't help, sealants will but only to a point. I carry around a bottle of QD and a MF towel for cleaning up bird crap the second I see it.

That good news is black Lexus paint has no clearcoat and its very soft making it easier to remove things like this.

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.

Another good brand is penzoil and castrol... Anything else is JUNK... sorry...

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

I have not experienced this in the ES350s I've driven (only a couple) but I do know from reading the issues of ES350 owners that this is a common 350 issue. At present I don't believe Lexus has a fix, the running hypothesis is that it comes from the direct injection system in the engine. Direct injection is inherantly a louder technology than the electronic fuel injection system used on older Lexus vehicles like your and my 03s.

I don't know why for some people they hear it and for some they don't, what was the build date of your 350?

Steve,

where does one find the 'build date' ?

I used to get into my car with my old phone Moto Razr V3 and it used to connect with the car bluetooth handsfree in seconds with no problems. I have bought a new phone which is the same but instead of Moto Razr V3 i bought Moto Razr V3i. It's doesn't seem to connect automatically and i have done so many things to try it. it does connect when I try to connect manually going thru all the settings/register etc. any reason anybody can think of?

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.

Hi,

I just picked up my 2007 IS 250 AWD yesterday. I have the Smokey Granite Metallic. I want to start shopping for a wax to use once the weather here breaks in Cleveland. In the past I have always used Maguires Gold Class. Worked fine on my Subaru's. However, I want to get something that is really going to hold its shine and protect as well. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

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:

1. 
   
   
2. 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.
   
3. 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.
   
4. 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.

Has anyone on this forum had any experience with Lexus of Concord - good or bad? Trying to decide if I should buy there.

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.

When I bought my 2001 Corvette and later my 2006 Corvette, I was disappointed with the local Dealers who didn't have the specific car and was determined to sell their Vettes at MSRP, sometimes higher or at best, just a bit lower.

So, with the help of CorvetteForum.com, I was able to locate a dealer in the midwest who I sold me the specific car I wanted at a great price. The key was what is called a Courtesy Delivery. The selling dealer never took delivery of the car, instead it was sent directly to a local dealer, who charged $300-500 to take delivery, besides that cost, there was no other costs associated with this type of purchase. The bottom line, is that this method allowed me to get the car I wanted at a price that was not inflated by the local market.

Anyways, does Lexus have something like this? Am I likely to get a better deal this way or will local dealers sell me a 400h at anything near invoice?

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.

She's not back until the end of May so she doesn't know yet, so keep it on the DL. :D

The location marker seems like it's consistently off a hundred feet or so. I always get to an intersection before it show's me arriving. But the POI icons are waaaay off, like most times in the completely wrong block and often on the wrong side of the street.

When I got the car it was set up for the east coast before I changed the region setting. Wonder if that has anything to do with it.

Oh, and here's another question - anybody know how you record a CD-R so that it displays Track/Album/Artist info in the car? I burned two CDs last night (using Media Player 11), one as an mp3 and another as wma and neither displayed track info in the car.

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.

Someone broke into my car at an Ikea's parking lot. The job was pretty clean, nothing was scratched, nothing was bent, and nothing "valuable" was taken except a lot of clothes that I left to dry clean (winter coats, sweaters, and pants), one of my books, and the my registration and insurance cards. I thought keyless entry cars were more difficult to get into, but I guess not..

Feels really grimy knowing that some sucker has my home address and my car/insurance informations..

A close up. There were a lot of grease left overs, and notice how the O-shape has cracked by the 6 o'clock mark.

Anyone with a good guess as to why they stole the registration/insurance cards? Anything I should be cautious with?

Thanks and thieves suck.

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.

Well here on the west coast, regular $3.17 and premium 3.41 sucks big time

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

Why does everyone seem to find a better deal than me??? :cries:

I'm taking delivery of an 07 G35x in a few weeks and I'm in search for 3M/XPel protection.

The dealer is a 3M certified installer, but they want $695 for the Hood, Fenders and Mirrors.

Bumper and lower spoiler add another $600

Door handle cups... $20/per door

I've called every 3M and XPel certified in MA, CT, and RI and all appear to be about the same price.

Hood, Fender and Mirror Kit on an IS250, depending on coverage, starts at $199.95 and goes up to $279.99

Bumper and Lower Bumper Kit adds another $349.95

These prices are for the kit alone from XPel, this doesn't include installation.

$279.95

$349.95

---------

$629.90 - Plus installation

How can anyone manage to get this coverage for the prices mentioned here?

I'm looking at a grand easy, as the G kits are even more expensive. :cries:

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.