Hank Lehrer

Jim, thanks for the Kansas GS report on AWD. Having lived in Omaha for many years, I can't imagine having a lot of winter driving pleasure with a RWD GS. I did have my LS400 for a few years in NE and it was always a challenge with the icy hills even with sandbags in the trunk. So, Recommended in one and Not Recommended in another. I've got to find the CR 2010 Buying Guide; my wife must have taken it to her bathroom! LOL

The December 2009 CR on page 62 talks about the GS 350 AWD (I've got a 2007 with 30K) is now Not Recommended and Least Reliable for several reasons. As I recall in the auto issue, the 2007 was getting some negative owner reports on body integrity, radio problems, and brakes. I have had two of these three issues (brake noise and lots of body noise) and am not happy. Everything else seems fine Lexus took two days to pull the dash to add sound-proofing and other fixes that were covered under warranty. In another thread, the dash noises are discussed at length. There are now some new rattles but things are better but this is my third Lexus (ES300 and LS400) and it is the noisiest ever. My son is driving the LS400 and it is as tight and quiet as ever. My lease is up in June and I think I'm going to return the car and go back to a TL again. If I kept the GS and wanted to trade later, I'd take a bath with the Not Recommended rating.

Thanks, G Man. I called Lexus of Toledo today and am scheduled for after the holidays. The service guy seemed to know very well what was happening. He said "when it's 90 degrees there is no problem but when we get down about 10 or 20, there are ...." I'll need to leave the car for a day or two and there is a loaner so I'll report back. He also implied that Lexus knew about this so I'm sure that there will be warranty coverage. Jan 5, 2009 Update: I took the car in to Lexus of Toledo today and the service writer said there are two service bulletins out. Evidently, there is a lot of plastic in the dash and when things get cold, the plastic shrinks and becomes a little brittle and does not make a solid contact with the windshield which may be one of them. I'm guessing the other is when the radio or nav stack as well as the glove box bump the underside of the dash on a hard bump. We'll see what happens. Jan 8, 2009; The car is back and the rattle appears to be fixed although I did not have a chance to really take some back rods as a test. It was a warranty repair with an nice RX as the loaner (my request to try one) and I saved a lot of money because my wife's 8 year old MDX is still better than this new Lexus. Funny how stuff works out. December 2009 Update: It has turned cold here again and in a couple of recent drives, there was just a few little creaks and noise in the dash. Much better but I really want a very quiet car (the LS400, ES300, and an Acura TL that I have owned over the last 15 years were like tombs inside). My lease is up in June and I'm thinking that the new TL AWD looks very, very good.

I have the same problem with a GS 350 with about 20K. Always when it gets cold. I've had the car for about 18 months so the initial warranty is over. Did Lexus do anyone's fix as a warranty claim or did you have to pony up? I've shoved some cardboard between the windshield and the dash to see if that eliminates the problem. Just an attempt to see what's up.