SW03ES

Toyotas are not the same. I've tried them and I can absolutely tell the difference between the blades the Lexus dealer sells and the blades Toyota sells.

I don't know. I have no idea whether they sold well or not though, but I do know they're excellent tires. My guess is they were expensive and when most buyers in retail situations looked at them they decided to purchase tires that they were more familiar with for the money (MXV4s probably). They were only $10 or so a tire cheaper. I've read that too ;) Eh, to me they just seem like a lot of marketing hype that Goodyear is famous for, along the lines of the Aquatreads etc. I'm just not a Goodyear fan.

You have an older car and you don't live in an urban highway area. The newer finishes with low VOC paints chip much more easily than the older finished. I am truly sorry I did not buy it when I bought my car, and my next car will absolutely have it before I ever even drive one mile. Every mark on my car is relegated to the parts of the front end that would have been protected by a clear bra. Its not horrible, but its definately noticable if only to me. Those are the older films, and even then if you kept them protected with wax or sealant and polished them regularly that didn't happen. If that ever should happen, you can always just remove and replace the film.

It could, but if you never had any problems with the other ES, I wouldn't worry.

Point taken, and I agree, in order to maintain the warranty and get fair value at the end of the lease you have to do the scheduled service. That's not what I meant to say. I'm talking about a lessee who leaves the sunroof/window cracked when it's raining, or uses cheap/low octane fuel, constant hard driving... Lease, imo, often equates to a utilitarian disposable commodity much like a rental where as long as you don't ding it you don't have any responsiblity or motivation for babying the car. I'd rather buy a car from the original owner with documentation than pick up one that's just been turned in at the end of a lease no matter how well it's been serviced. As someone who leases luxury cars himself, as someone who'se father leased luxury cars for 30 years, and as someone who knows a LOT of people who lease luxury cars (almost everyone in my profession leases) I disagree. Most people, even when they lease, see it as a significant use of financial resources and treat the vehicle accordingly. I mean, leasing an LS costs around $1k a month, thats not a insignificant amount of money to anyone. I agree with you that on the whole owners are going to take care of the car better than lessees. However, if you're looking at a 2-3 year old car theres not going to be a significant difference in the quality of the car whether it was owned or leased. If it was owned and then traded in 2-3 years it shows that the owner didn't have a long term plan with the car and that they aren't concerned with significant financial loss. How is this different then how you're categorizing people who lease cars? I would have absolutely no fear buying a pre-owned car of this caliber that had come off a 2-3 year lease. Who cares if they never vaccumed it, washed it, or conditioned the leather. Those are things you can see when you examine the car, and since the car is so new those are things you can remedy and it won't have any lasting effect on the quality of the car. As for hard driving, you can see evedince of that in terms of curb rashing, suspension wear, rattling and looseness, etc.

The important thing to remember is that all the dealerships are independently owned and the salespeople are employed by the dealership. The quality of your experience will differ. It sounds like the salesperson at the first dealer just sucked. The sales manager knew it. As for the survey, it has a lot of bearing on what rates dealers pay to hold onto their inventory and what inventory they get, its a serious thing. That however is not your problem, and you did the right thing. I'm glad you found someone that satisfied you.

New headlights for these cars are extremely expensive...

I have them but haven't had a chance to try them yet.

Hahaha

I don't think we'll see Krissy back.

I've never driven a car with the AVS, but the reviews I've read weren't very enthusiastic. They said the car was too wallowy in comfort, too firm in sport, and just like the normal car in regular. Given my experience with air ride vs not on the LS400 and 430 I could see how they'd think that.

Longer treadlife often equals harder louder ride In terms of snow performance, I actually would venture to say the LS-Vs would be better than the TripleTreds in the snow. The siping and directional pattern of the TripleTreads will help in the rain, but I don't know about the snow. I don't think Bridgestone is replacing them with anything...at least not yet.

Money well spent...

Really?!? I did not know the airbags would not deploy at all if the driver is unbelted, are you sure about that?

Yep, they're common in Canada, and common on the west coast.

But I think you can find tires with excellent winter traction with less agressive, quieter, non-directional tread patterns. They may not be LOUD, but they are loudER than more sedate tires like the MXV4s, the LS-Vs, etc etc. I don't know why Bridgestone discontinued the LS line, mine are great.

The OEM was the Turanza EL42. The dealers sell tires, they should have a selection of tires in stock. Ask them. As for reccomendations. I have Bridgestone Turanza LS-Vs on my car and they are an excellent tire. Bridgestone discontinued them recently though. If I were buying tires for it right now I probably would choose the new Michelin Primacy MXV4. IMHO the TripleTreads are too aggressive a tire for the ES.

The AVS suspension is all but unavailable in the US, especially on the east coast. I've never even seen one with the AVS in person. In terms of the ride. Mine has 16s and I've driven a ton of 330s with the 17s and its a little firmer with the 17s, but not much at all. I like the way the 17s fill the wheel well better but I don't care for the style of the 330s 17s.

I would imagine the seat backs are also heated. They are in other Lexus models.

LOL!

Again, you're talking about ALL SEASON TIRES new2, wwest is talking about SUMMER tires. If you live in an area where you don't get a lot of snow no need to buy winter tires. I don't own winter tires. I don't however openly advocate the use of summer tires in the winter across the board and purport that they are better in the snow than winter tires like wwest does.

Why is that? If you don't mind me asking. I agree 100%. For many years I never used any protectant on the dash for that very reason. I've tried a couple that I don't find offensive, 1Z Lederfpledge, and Ultima Interior Sealant. Both make the dash vinyl look uniform but leave the factory matte finish.

Who knows. I believe the Celsior debuted in Japan a year before the LS did here.

Holy ancient threads batman!

The dealer sells just the inserts. Honestly the Lexus OEM blades are the best I've found. PIAA inserts will fit in the OEM housings, but I prefer the OEM blades.