tex2670

There's a Technical Service Bulletin on the brake dust--they'll swap out the pads for ones that won't generate so much dust.

My 350 got 15 mpg, winter and city only driving when I first got it, it has climbed over time and now with 6K miles, and 10 months old, it is up to 20mpg city only driving, and I park and start my car alot, typically 6 times in the about 14 miles I drive on a typical day. If I jump on the highway right after I fill up I can pull 31mpg if I take it easy and run for max gas miles. I would say give it 7-10K miles and see what happens, I'll bet it loosens up. I have 3600 mi ono my 250 AWD, and consistently get 20-21 mpg; mostly city/suburban driving. Even when I went to 89 octane for a few tanks--no change in MPG.

It doesn't tell you which. You need to carry a tire guage in the car, as it's hard to just look at the tires to see it's flat since they have a low profile.

Is there a copy of the TSIB anywhere? My dash is doing this too, and I'd rather give them a copy of the TSIB rather than rely on them to "check" with the manager.

Wow. What a crappy attitude. Are you a salesman?? Thankfully, I'll never be shopping at your dealership. You must work a lot of magic at building up good will, and excellent word of mouth and referrals.

Let's not all panic. It doesn't LOWER resale value--you just don't get back the same percentage of what you paid. Saying it lowers your resale value, to me, implies that a non-nav used car will be MORE EXPENSIVE than the exact same model with nav. That's not the case. What the article says is that if a particular model has a 50% resale value, it will be slightly lower if you have nav. So, if the nav model was originally $40,000 and the non-nav was originally $38,000, on the used market, the non-nav would be $19,000, but the nav might be $19,250 or $19,500; but won't be $20,000.

You're exactly right, only, you actually have to "retrain" yourself not to do this and I can totally understand how someone can leave without pressing the button. I've done it myself, only I've never actually left the vicinity of the car. You can understand how a person can walk away from a running car, and not realize it needs to be turned off? I realize the engine is quiet, but not that quiet. Very good point on "assuming"--why on earth would you just walk away from a running car and "assume" it will shut off without testing that theory out. Retraining yourself shouldn't be that hard--you park the car, reach up for the conventional key, it's not there, and you push the button. Very similar to when I drive my wife's Pilot--I reach down to the console for the gearshift, but it's not there; so, I then reach up to the steering column instead. If you forgot something in your house, and ran in to get it, and left the engine running with a conventional key, it's not any different than with the smart key--it just happens to be in your pocket rather than in the ignition. I'd be annoyed if the car just shut off if I did this, in part because I do it a lot. I see people do that all the time at Starbucks or 7-11. In fact, you're better off in the Lexus, because once they shut the car off, they can't restart it; but if you left your conventional key in there, they can start and stop it as many times as they want.

I'm not sure how the 350s are selling in the Northeast, but is any dealer getting MSRP these days? None of the 9 dealers I spoke to were demanding MSRP on the 250 AWD.

The only way to get rid of the "I Agree" is to trade up to an '08... Disabling Seat Belt Alarm 1. turn the key to the ON position which means pressing the start button twice on the new IS since it doesn't has the key, foot off the brake 2. Press the trip reset button couple of times until the ODO is displayed (not trip A or B) 3. turn the ignition to the LOCK (OFF) position 4. unbuckle the driver's seatbelt if it was buckled. 5. turn the key to the ON position again press the start button twice. when the dash lights comes on, press and hold the trip reset button and count a slow 12 seconds. (editor's note, hold it more like 30 sec) 6. while still holding the trip reset button, buckle the driver's side seatbelt. 7.and the odometer display should read "b ON" or "b OFF". toggle the beep OFF with the trip reset. 8. the process should be completed when you unbuckle or turn the key off.

There actually is a post today on Club Lexus (sorry!) about this, with pix, in the 2nd Gen IS Forums.

It's either a few hundred dollars to truck it, or a plane ticket to fly there and get it. Unless Hunter Ford's tip comes through, you probably end up ahead by getting a better deal buying a car on the Ohio lot (as compared to the special order price your local dealer will quote you), even factoring in the shipping (the dealer isn't just going to eat the shipping charge). Of course, if you are going to pay to have it trucked, you may even check the So Cal dealers, where IS 250 deals tend to be BELOW dealer invoice prices.

Your service dept is just dumb. That's totally amazing that the dealer is clueless on that one. Colby's right--that's one of the few LPS you can do yourself--it's right in the manual. For the dealer to scratch their heads is just unacceptable.

To the extent you can compare '07-'08, in May, I paid $36,150 for an '07 AWD w/Nav, Lux Pkg, wood trim, headlight washers and all weather mats (note that the options and packages were re-tooled a bit in '08: there was no "Premium Pkg" available on AWD, but now there is one). MSRP was $40,601. Tax is not included in my price here.

Yes, it's just a couple hundred bucks for the portable unit. The factory unit on the other hand adds 2.5-3k to the price of the car, which is still significant even on a 40k car. While you are correct that there are good quality portable nav units out there, that give you a lot for your money, you have to accept that some people would just rather spend the money on the factory nav. Each has good points and bad points.

I guess you don't still have your original window sticker? If you scroll thru the options on the adjustment button to the left of the steering wheel that looks like this: <o> you should see an option for "AFS ON/OFF". If you have HIDs, you have AFS; but not if you don't.

5000 mi service is free. I'd call the dlr and ask if u can wait.

Here in Southeastern PA, the only vehicles I see with chains are the mail truck, the school bus, and police/ambulance/emergency vehicles.

As long as you hide the suction cup each time, too--otherwise, they'll take 3 seconds to look in the console. Not living in a high crime area may help, but if you buddy up with a mall security guard, ask how many smash and grabs they see in the mall parking lot. I bet it's much higher then you think.

Make sure you keep your insurance company's number in your cell phone speed dial, when someone smashes your window looking for the portable nav unit in the car. I used to have a removevable stereo and also a removeable faceplate, as did my roomate at the time--I can't tell you how many times it was stored in the car. Who wants to lug that thing around? Soooo--you take your Garmin in the car with you only when you think you'll need it, and you end up in some huge traffic jam and you need to take another route. Or--you take it with you all the time, but you don't want to carry it around. While I do think they are great, and much more economical, I'm plenty happy with my factory nav.

It modifies the transmission shift points, holding each gear longer. I recently purchased a 2006 IS350. Does it do any harm to the transmission or other components to use this mode all the time? I realize it probably reduces the fuel economy. But, does it harm the transmission? If it hurt the tranny, they wouldn't have made the button so you can put it in PWR and leave it there. They would have made it like the SNOW feature, which resets each time you turn the car on.

That is definitely Sterling. The Cashmere does NOT have the black carpets like the Sterling does--Cashmere carpets are black.

I dont have pix, but you can try doing a really broad radius search on cars.com for an IS, and you'll see lots of pix.

it wont lock by pushing the button on outside door handle. using manual lock doesnt lock it either..when i sit in the passenger seat and get out from there to try to check if the drivers side is locked, i just open the door like it was never locked. i havent tried the mechanical key. thanks for all your help!!! Is your 2nd key inside the car somewhere? The car wont lock with the key in it.

I got black mats from weatertech.com, the front are only 70.00 That's not really much of a bargain--Lexus OEM mats are $99 for 4. You just can't get tan.

i just keep it in the armrest