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AZ08LexusES

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Everything posted by AZ08LexusES

  1. I too looked at what CR had said about the 07 ES, which was highly recommended, when I was making my decision about the 08 ES that I purchased. I have had it now for 5K miles and it has quite flawless as far as reliability. So, which customer satisfaction survey/study do I need to go to in order to provide my positive feedback about the car? My experience with CR is, if you like their rating, wait a couple of months and it will change. It happened with the plasma TV that I bought, here I am thinking that I am doing my DD in researching the model I want to buy, CR says it is a must have. Then, months after the purchase, not so great any more... It is back up there, but, what happened? And I didn't fill out any surveys on the TV.
  2. Ira, was I the sarcastic one? I know what you are stating is your opinion, and I am countering with my opinions. That's the problem with opinions, they're like a-holes, everybody has one. From reading other posts of yours, it doesn't seem like you've had much luck with yours, like the audio system cd-changer, volume controls, that's unnacceptable stuff. That would warrant system replacement in my (again) opinion. Maybe they could upgrade you to an ML system as a courtesy for your troubles (maybe a dream but it's worth a try). Now about things that wear out or go like tires, breaks, and shocks, things happen. Yesterday my boss was driving to work and hit a pot hole that bent the rim. Now he has to replace the rim. Unfortunate, but happens... The other day I hit a bad bump on the road and was worried that I might have hurt something with the suspension (it's just a fear of mine, but it could happen). And, with holiday traffic, I had to slam on my brakes to prevent rear-ending someone (I hate when a light turns green, you cross the intersection, and traffic suddenly stops!) and was worried about uneven wear on my tires and extra wear on my brakes. So, the breaks and tires might wear out, shocks might go, but it is not Lexus' fault. I tell you what, the car did stop quickly, I don't know if my 00 Honda would have stopped like that!
  3. Whoa, Carma, I hope you didn't cross off the ES because of what I said! I'll sell you my ES with 5K and take the risk myself with a new one. I know it doesn't happen on mine, and the fact that there is a TSIB on it means that there is a fix for it. And BTW, where did you see that the 08 had the same problem? Also, what I meant about CR was, that if you don't like the review, wait a couple of months, it will change... Anyway, what are you going to get now?
  4. I don't know, it still sounds like buyer's remorse. If an 07 ES is not a better all around car than the 01 Camry, we should all go find these 01 Camrys. I had an 00 Honda Accord Coupe which I LOVED, and the ES is what I got. I feel I have a heavier, sturdier more comfortable car with more features. Nav, Bluetooth, back-up camera are all fetures that I use almost daily. The ride is sweet and I am surrounded by luxury (although there isn't as much wood as in the previous versions of the ES, right SW?). Also, the resale value is still amazing for this car, there is a reason for that. There is no dropped ball when some components from other manufactures may have gone bad or worn quicker than expected in a few cars. I can't speak for anybody else but myself, I would not trade this car for anything else in the same price range. If you are unhappy with it, sell it and get a Camry, and a used one at that, because the last model is the same as the last ES except with slightly less expensive components like the struts and brake pads and other upgrades that the Lexus has.
  5. Buba, great to hear that you love your car again! Although Ira did point out that the tires are not the best, they are the ones that we get. But, if it was just a balancing issue, and the car is as near perfect as you can expect, then they can't be too bad, can they? Congrats on having your major PIA fixed!
  6. This fascinates me because I've heard it a couple times. Why would you trade a car because tires have worn out prematurely when Lexus doesn't even make tires? I saw it a couple of times as well, they also don't make the shocks, and brakes are so dependant on how one drives. To me it sounds more like buyer's remorse, it hurts to spend money on a nicer car to have some nuisances like tires getting worn out. If that is the case, then you should have bought a Camry, and if that is too scarry, maybe a Hyundai. Great looks and quality, they just don't come with the price tag... But beware, they may not come with the gas pressurized shocks, or nice soft brakes, oh, and the tires might wear out too.
  7. The TSIB mentions that it only happens during the first 10 minutes of a cold start between 3rd and 4th gears, and they have diagrams and instructions on replacing parts in the transmission to correct it. Personally, I have not experienced this flare in my 08, if it happens it is not perceptible by me. When you look at consumer reports, they do have a rating for car issues and when they happen. They use this by number of instances. I took notice of the Lexus over an Infiniti or anything else because of something I saw in CR. The chart showed that Toyota and Honda had much less issues during the first months of ownership than Nissan, Ford, GM, Mercedes or anybody else. Later in the car's life the Nissans normalized and kind of caught up with Toyota and Honda. The others were all above these three. But then CR is now reporting different overall quality in Toyota, lowering a bit. It's the same thing as when I bought my plasma television, the Panasonics were rated as the best buy for quality and price. I go out and bought one and they drop the Pannys to 3rd. Well heck, I already bought mine, and I am extremely happy with it! I look again a few months later and it is back on top of the list. Now the chart I mentioned above was put together with real numbers of cars with issues. The other reports are people trying to score things that they observe, different people score things a little differently. What is the real difference between scoring something an 8 or a 7 out of ten? So I learned to take those reports with a little bit of skepticism. What they see and observe are things that I could never see or feel anyway but it is good to know. Like I said, the ES will have this problem, the G45 will have that problem, the C-class another, and on, and on and on. If you pay too much attention to those things, you will never buy a car. Test drive the cars, see how they make you feel, see how they look, and how they make you happy. After you decide which car you want, then test drive it before you buy it. Then if it is still good, take the plunge! We would love to have you in the Lexus family and we hope that yours will not disappoint you. BTW - make sure you tour the service department, it may influence your decision as well.
  8. Now carma, is this your first time in a forum like this? People many times post their bad experiences here, not the good ones. You have to look very deeply into some of the threads to see positive comments, to find those posts where people actually do like the features. So the transmission problem, do you see a thread that says, "Hey, I was so surprised, my car does not have the transmission flare! Yipee, I got lucky, I got one of the few good ones." Also, the flare was a problem with the 07s, normally problems with TSBs and other manufacturing/assembly issues get corrected when they retool the plant floor in the model year change over. That's why it is a common rule of thumb not to buy a car in its first year of production, let them work the kinks out. So, I suggest you do your research in other owner forums, and then close your eyes and jump in. Whatever you get, you might get a lemon, but most likely you will not.
  9. Last Friday I needed to buy a part for my Navigator. So I went to the Lexus dealer, dropped my car off (they do a complimentary hand wash, I don't know if they do this at other ones) and walked across the street to the Ford, Lincoln, Mercury Dealership. OMG!!! They were under construction and the people were very nice, but I felt like I left the Apple Computer store and walked into a Walmart the day before Christmas. Just seems overcrowded and they must have over 50 mechanics and technicians working there. They seemed BUSY!!! I went back across the street to get my car, which was ready btw, and that calmness was so nice. Now, I hear about complaints about the Lexus service at the dealerships, but have you been to the other ones? What about your dealership, do you mind going there?
  10. In the 08 they took out the hook for hangers and put a reading light. The same white LEDs that people complain about but I like their subtle brightness! I just don't have a hook to hang my dry cleaning, which is a little of a bummer, I have to hang it on the "oh sh!@" handle above the door. What else do I love? The compliments, how many times do people say, "Nice car!" I have to get it washed, we just had 5 days of rain in Arizona, my car needs some scrubbin!!!
  11. I am with you Shep, I have just over 5K miles on my 08 ES, and I am so happy with it! All I read on this site is how people dislike the nav lock out while driving (we are an over-litigious society, I am suing Samsung because I dropped the phone on my foot and broke the foot. But since they didn't tell me this could happen, well, you know... JK), or the headlights are too low or have a dramatic cut off, or service techs that can't find what people are complaining about with their cars, or on and on and on. I am very happy with my car, my wife and I had two Honda Accords in our garage. They were great! Now we have a Lexus and a US made full-size SUV. The ES is so much more of a car than the Accords that we had, engine, transmission, interior, everything! The Nav system is great, I wish I could use it more, I need to do more road trips. I used to work for GM a long time ago and could not understand why people had such a stigma against American cars, but if I were to choose between a Lexus or the Cadillac (which has a couple better features like more HP and a 40 G HD that you can get in other Lexus models), I would go with the Lexus (obviously since that's what I got), I think it is better built. So, if you think the grass is greener on the other side, then go, jump that fence, join their forum, and post your complaints there! I do have issues with it, but nothing different than what I had with previous cars. Service so far has been great, better than the Honda or GM dealerships so far. My issues, the interior lighting for the openers and sun/moon roof buttons, and a slight creek from the driver's side window (working to resolve that). BTW, the Hondas did not have those lit either...
  12. You can also open the trunk from inside the car by pressing a button next to where the open the gas cap door button is. This is on the left of the steering wheel toward the bottom. I do not know if all cars are equipped with this.
  13. BTW - I was driving my '99 Navigator with Halogen beams the other night and boy, although there was a lot of light dispersed all over the place, I could not see any further down the road than the Lexus with the HID pointed downward. Luckily all the obstacles on the road had been cleared, who knows what I would have hit! Quick poll, who here does not think that the auto-leveling is the coolest thing ever?
  14. As SW03ES and Darustik are alluding to, these are the brightest headlights ever made on a vehicle. That is what makes the contrast between light and dark so noticeable. With the old headlights, the light dissipated much more and you couldn't notice such a severe contrast. They are pointed downward, and more so on the driver's side. That is to prevent from blinding on coming traffic, for the same reason you do not keep your high beams on when another car is coming. Also, there are regulations, normally local, as to how far up they can be pointed. There used to be a time (in the 70's) in Florida that car inspections would actually check if the headlamp alingment was "legal", if it was not, you would fail the inspection and would have to get them re-aligned. If you drive around blinding people, and one of these people happens to be a police officer, there is a good possibility that you will get cited for being unsafe. Here's an experiment you can try at home. Buy yourself a 2 Million Candlelight power spot light and a better than average flashlight. At night, with no other lights on, point your flashlight at a wall from about 20 feet away. Note how wide the beam is and how in the outer portions of the beam things are not as bright. The light is greatly diffused. Now, take your spotlight, go back 40 feet away and shine it at the same spot (the difference in distance is just to illustrate the difference in power). Note how the beam is much tighter, and the illuminated spot on the wall is much smaller. Also note the contrast and how sharp it is from the lighted portion to the dark. But, what is lit is very clearly seen, even at this distance as opposed to the flashlight. So, the question is, with which of these two do you see better? Then, if the spotlight is better, would you like to have it pointed at your eyes while driving? Of course, with this experiment, the difference in light sources is extreme which is not as in the case with the automobiles. One last thing, these roads that are being driven, if they have unexpected obstacles, wouldn't you drive slow, or at the very least with high beams on? The only time to drive these unsafe roads without the high beams would be when there was a car in front or one coming in the opposite direction, at which time, they would reach the obstacles first, and hopefully their cars' headlights will have lit them up to make them visible. I drive very dark roads in Arizona to get to my house through some very hilly terrain with plenty of wildlife and these headlights have not been an issue at all. Is it the headlights that are unsafe or the roads? Oh, and BTW, the new Acura TL also has HID, and the Cadillac CTS has "Projector Beam Tungsten-Halogen" headlamps. Projector beam is the key of how they work. It's the way of the future, get used to it. Now or later, it will not make a difference.
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