SW03ES

Hope you and yours had the same Paul!

I think its the Fiat influence...

I'm not a fan of 16s on the LS430. They look fine on the LS400, but the LS430 has a bigger body look, and the 16s really look small on it IMHO. I also really dislike that original 16" wheel, I think the later painted adaptations of the 00 LS Platinum wheel looked better.

Really and truly though, going from the 18s just to 17s will help the ride a lot. My Dad had a 98 LS400 and went to an 04 LS430 with 17s and the 430 rode incredibly. Both the cars had air suspension. I noticed the cars with the 18s don't ride as well when I was shopping for a CPO 06 LS. Oddly enough the LS460 rides better on 18s than the LS430.

If you get a set of the 17" wheels with Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires, it will ride as good as your son's 98.

Can you post a picture of these wheels? Is your GS an F Sport? There is no "super chrome" wheel finish. There are two split 5 spoke options, the 18s on the premium package GS and the 19s on the F Sport, both are painted wheels and the F Sport's finish is referred to as "liquid graphite".

Lexus does not offer factory chrome wheels anymore. Any chrome wheel options that are offered by dealers are wheels chromed aftermarket, which can be a real issue with peeling and pitting. I've had 5 Lexus vehicles too, all of which have had painted wheels and have never had problems with peeling, nor do you see a lot of posts about peeling problems on forums...

And its especially bad because Jeep doesn't do loaners. Doesn't matter if they have it for a week, no loaner. It goes in for service every 8k miles, every time it does it has to stay there for 2 or 3 days getting a list of little annoying things replaced, switches that don't work, the HVAC panel was replaced, cruise control switch replaced twice, door handles replaced multiple times, buttons for the lift glass in the hatch, the list goes on. So we're left for those 2 or 3 days with one car. None of the dealers here even have rental cars available.

My favorite was that none of the sunroof drains were hooked up at the factory, and water was draining into the pillars. We noticed it when the rear passenger side seatbelt pulled out of the pillar dripping wet with stagnant water and soaked my mothers blouse on the way to dinner. Guy calls me:

Rep: "Just wanted to give you an update on the Jeep, someone disconnected all of your sunroof drains, thats whats causing water to build up in that pillar"

Me: "Why would someone do that? Someone just walked up to my Jeep and for grins disconnected all the sunroof drains?"

Rep: "I can't speak to that sir"

Me: "Isn't it a lot more likely that the drains were just never connected at the factory"

Rep: "I suppose its possible"

Me: "Lets proceed on that assumption. Fix it and I want all the wet seatbelts replaced"

Rep: "I don't know if they will authorize the seat belts sir"

Me: "New seat belts or you can keep it

I got new seat belts.

This was posted on the Jeep board I post on, this guy already had one Grand Cherokee bought back by Chrysler and this was his replacement, this is at 300 miles. He was just driving along and it freaked out, he pulled over in his neighborhood. Guess what the problem was? Disconnected sunroof drain poured water right into the computer module:

Most people don't have these problems, but a LOT of them do when you read the forums. The 2014s seem to be worse with electrical problems, and now a few people are having total engine failures under 5k miles...

I've had like 23 warranty failures on the Jeep LOL. 2 years. I love it though, its such a nice vehicle. We just drove it to NJ and back and I got it washed this afternoon...its a great looking truck. Aside from the LS, I would say the Jeep is probably the best highway car I've ever had, and thats really saying something seeing the great riding cars I've had, two LS's, two ES's and the GS. Its so smooth, stable and quiet, gobbles up the highway effortlessly. Seats are all day comfortable. Plenty of room for 4 adults. Really a nice truck, and mine isn't even a top model. When you get into the Overland with the upgraded leather, leather dash, real wood trim, and especially the quadra lift air suspension. They ride REALLY great...and value...I paid $32k for mine. I can buy a $49k Overland today for $41k. Its a TON of truck for $41k.

Too bad Chrysler can't get their !Removed! together with the reliability. This is one of my favorite cars I've ever had and it sucks to have to think about parting with it for something I like less because I'm afraid about reliability.

Are you sure it was a Grand Cherokee and not a Cherokee? The new Cherokee is absolutely hideous:

They tweaked the front of the Grand Cherokee a little from mine, but its not too different:

I do prefer the front end of mine:

Man SW kind of admitted it was bad and the website crashes and it is lost! :)

LOL! I know! I saw you responded in my email, came here to respond to your response when I got back from Thanksgiving and it was all gone!

It never happened. It was all a dream.

All kidding aside, I think ultimately over time it will work out but right now the implementation is clearly a disaster. I think part of your response was about us going from group and why we didn't have individual policies before. The reason we went group (only 5 of us) originally was because my partner has a pre-existing condition and could not get coverage for himself individually, so we formed the group to get around that even though it cost us more to do it that way. Now he can get coverage and its going to save us a LOT of money. So for us, Obamacare works.

BUT, we have yet to be successful when it comes to signing up. He's spent HOURS on the phone and trying to get it done on the website. When you consider what he and I bill out for...its an enormous time expense...so...I suppose it doesn't work if we can't sign up for the damn policies...

Congrats buddy! We need pics!

You'll get used to the new electric power steering. I have it in the GS. I noticed the same issue with finding center more in the ES, the steering in the GS is a good bit heavier.

Kind of in the same place you were with the Volvo with the Jeep...

The intention was not to limit off topic chat. The "General Car Chat" forum was supposed to combine both the car chat and off topic forums, its just a matter of wording. Post anything off topic in there you like, just as before. Steve will get the name changed.

Obviously we're in the process of trying to streamline some of our forums...

12,500 miles on mine and I love it like no car I've ever had!

I'm not a fan of these "snapshot" devices either. I worry about the day that they might be required to receive your coverage...

I saw a black F Sport on the road today for the first time....it is a GREAT looking car...

You're gonna be rich!

Absolutely I've noticed, thats the main reason I upgraded to the GS...

Too early to know for sales, but it takes time for a model to get out into the population enough to start seeing them places...

Great review!

Most luxury cars in general are leased, for Mercedes the % is more like 80-85%.

Wow, small world!

I do have a detailing contact in Northern VA, let me see if I can find it and I will be back in touch...

You can always trade out of a lease...

I think something like 75% of Lexus vehicles are leased...

Income of less than $2k...and a car payment of nearly $500. Thats absolutely crazy.

Which dealer did you take it to? Its probably that at some point during the PDI they lifted the wiper arm up, which if they aren't pulled up into winter mode will scratch the hood in the way you describe.

I would not repaint the hood, you're just asking for more trouble. I would ask for a couple hundred dollars and take it to a professional detailer and let them touch it up. They will do a better job.

On another note? Where in WV is your family? I'm from Fayetteville living in the DC area now.

I have found that sadly in the entry models (the IS, ES & RX) material quality inside has declined. For instance the new ES and IS now have hard plastic lower doors where they were always padded before, on the ES and RX that hard plastic creeps up to around where the door handles are, etc. Thats one of the big reasons why I upgraded to the GS this time. I've said this about Toyotas for some time, that Toyota nowadays makes the industry's crappiest interior...I hate to see that leaching into the Lexus lineup too...

I think when you look at the competition, the Lexus interiors on those lower end cars are still in it, but they aren't heads and shoulders above like they used to be.

For some reason the loaners do always seem worse I agree, I think its probably condition. I had an RX loaner last week with 3k on it and it was filthy...

SW03ES,

Without going through a childish back and forth pointless !Removed! match--I feel ya!. I would react in a similar way concerning Harley Davidson.

I'm glad you understand my point...

As to your other issue, at this point if the replacement didn't solve the problem I might ask them to replace it with an aftermarket windshield and see if that helps. If they won't, then I might just go and do it myself.

The service department manager at the local Lexus dealership contacted me last night and expressed concern about the windshield problem. He indicated that Lexus would fix the problem

I'm glad, hopefully it works out. In general they want to make their customers happy.

SWO3ES,

Take a deep breath and try to regain your dignity. You talk about paranoia, subversion, shills and hidden agendas is a little scary.

I'm not the one that accused LEX-SV of being the dealership rep that had been ducking their calls when he asked a very reasonable question about why the car had never been looked at by the dealer during the warranty.

As this is your first online exchange as you said, Imagine you are a member of a club, and you all sit in your club and talk about your shared interest in a certain topic. Lets say one day some random person off the street wandered into your club, and said they were having some issue with the product that is the focus of your club. When you tried to ask questions and offer guidance to the person, they accuse you of being somebody else and tell you that you're just trying to hamper their efforts to get their problem addressed. When you then point out to that person that your club is just a group of people who enjoy talking about your shared interests, and that you did not appreciate them barging in and making accusations of you...they then tell you that you should calm down and regain your "dignity".

Would you not think that person rude? Would you have any interest in helping that person after they behaved towards you in that way after coming into your club uninvited and making demands of you? Personal interactions online are just like interactions in person. Your post to LEX-SV was rude, as was your post towards me...and seeing that we are all trying to give you guidance when it isn't necessary for us to do so and nobody has been anything but completely kind and respectful towards you even in response to communication from you that is not that way... its not going to be tolerated.

I'm not saying you and the others are not having the issue, I'm just saying that if it were a common issue, we would have heard about it. Between here and the other forum there are hundreds of thousands of Lexus owners registered, if this were a common problem you'd hear a lot about it, and we have heard nothing until now. It's obviously uncommon, doesn't make it not real.

You have every right to be concerned and have your concerns dealt with, but we are a community of Lexus enthusiasts, you're damn right we have a bias towards the brand. If you think we're going to put up with people coming in here calling our longtime members dealership schills and somehow accusing us of being some part of your issue you've got another thing coming.

Voice your concerns, discuss your issue, but leave the paranoia at the door. This is an enthusiast website with membership at will, it is not your personal vehicle to further your own agenda. Nobody is trying to "subvert" you, and nobody has any agenda other than to enjoy talking about the Lexus brand.

In terms of the windshield. If you are under warranty, if you remain calm and firm they will replace the glass under warranty at least once, I've seen them do it for lesser issues. If you are out of warranty, unless there is some sort of NHTSA action, which I don't think there are enough complaints to warrant, you are going to be out of luck.

Lexus does not make glass, the company that manufactures the glass in every Japan built Lexus is a company called Aashi Glass Corporation. If you are convinced that the OEM Lexus windshield has this...whatever you describe, you can always pay $300 or so and have the windshield replaced with an aftermarket windshield from a different manufacturer like PPG or Pilkington. Thats a solution for the member who's parents' ES is out of warranty, and a solution for someone who has a replacement already from Lexus and has the same issue.

I have been posting on Lexus forums for over a decade, and I have never heard of this issue until now, so I would classify that as rare. I've driven several 2013 GS's and have one myself, no issues.

If you're so worried about it, trade the car.