SW03ES

We had an Aerostar. RWD not AWD but it was a PIG in the snow...

The Freestyle hasn't been discontinued, its been renamed the "Taurus X" but its the same vehicle. The Aviator was a short lived Lincoln version of the Explorer. Its since been replaced by the MkZ which is a Lincoln version of the Ford Edge crossover. My father in-law has an 03 Navigator and its a great vehicle! He had some electrical glitches at first but they're ironed out and it still rides as good and tight as when it was new. All the interior materials have aged very well too.

The issue is she doesn't have the values or the skill set to realize these opportunities exist. Thats not her fault, its her parents fault. This is pretty common with young hollywood types. Look at Angelina Jolie, she spent her entire youth doing CRAZY things and was wild. Now that she's grown up she does a lot of good in the world. Well this goes without saying, of course I wouldn't. Some parents have niether the ability nor the desire to control their children. If you raise them right they won't act like Britney Spears. I never did, my fiance never did. I have many many friends I grew up with that never did. But I do know people who did, and the issue always went back to their parents. I think the funniest part of this is Spears' mother was going to release a book on parenting until daughter number two got knocked up at 16. The publisher canned it lol. Again I wasn't condoning it, I was just saying she's not so different from a LOT of other girls in the world. People were like that long before she was around too. Don't think that I don't care, thats absolutely not true. I think its a serious issue that parents need to deal with. I'm just not sure what is the best way to handle the issue. You have a cultural issue here, my generation and the generations below us have a fascination with celebrity that is fueled by this media empire. I'm not sure anything can be done about it. I think all we can do is try and do as good a job raising our own children as we can...

In fact the ASL is so sophisticated you can't tell a difference in the volume, but it does change. As soon as you drive a car without the ASL you'll appreciate it. The increase in volume isn't registered as a volume level, and its syncronized with the increase in noise so its always in proportion. Systems you can hear the difference with aren't as sophisticated.

I'd still ask the dealer if they can calibrate it and/or adjust the car's location.

If they read 30 PSI and the door pillar says 33 they need to be 33, 30 is too low and that will create a poor ride too. The adaptive variable suspension is not the issue, the car should ride properly without it, the LS430 did.

I wasn't admonishing your remarks at all, I was simply talking out loud about the situation in general. Remember this girl is only 25 years old. Her bahvior is unacceptable but many girls her age act that way its just not broadcast all over the world. I don't have to condone her behavior to feel sorry for her. I was taught not to judge lest ye be judged. I'm not perfect either, and nither are you. As for child molesters, the two scenarios can't be compared. Child molesters often have a psychosocial sickness that drives them to do what they do, its an entirely different situation. You obviously feel very strongly about Britnery Spears.

No offense wwest, but if the last Ford you had was an '84 your opinion is meaningless. Ford vehicles have come a long way from the late '90s let alone the mid '80s. LexKid, The Aviators are based on the Explorer, they're nice. The Aviator is also a very nice vehicle.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone!

All I know is I have one of these things with 100k miles and the transmission still shifts as it has since its new. Never any shavings in the pan, no problems. I do MAINTAIN the transmission, which not everyone does. My Dad had a 98 Ls400 with 160k, transmission shifted flawlessly. He has an 04 now with 70k or no, no transmission trouble. I know MANY MANY people with the Lexus ES series, and Realtors with TONS of miles (its an extremely popular car in my business, as is the Avalon). I drive 22k a year but many people in my industry drive 50k miles plus a year and I know of no one who has ever had a transmission problem...EVER. So yes please, list these cars with all these problems...

Merry Christmas!

Did you ever have that issue with your 03? I never have, nor have we in the Prius. The system CAN be calibrated, but its complicated. Did the dealer try calibrating it? I think they can also manually adjust the location of the car a few ticks ahead if its consistently behind.

Absolutely Lexus makes great cars. I am a huge Lexus fan. However, you have a right to be satisfied with your purchase. If you feel your car doesn't ride like it should they should repair it. Thats why I suggested you drive another LS460 to compare to yours. A lot of people who come on here with issues act like they deserve the moon and the stars and thats too far, but I think you're too far the other way. You're a repeat $70k LS buyer and you deserve to be satisfied with your purchase. A LOT of the Lexus ride is in the tires, its always been that way. A lot of times the dealer and the factory over inflate the tires and that ruins the ride. For instance the PSI on the doorframe for my ES is 29 and it always comes back from the dealer at 37. TSB, what is the PSI on the driver doorframe of youe LS460?

The Avalon is a VERY popular car by the way... As for your Lexus, why are you still having it repaired and serviced at the dealer?!?! I'd have found a good independent mechanic by now, especially if the dealer was that far and I disliked them so. Nothing so complicated about an LS400 a good independent mechanic with some experience with foreign cars can't handle. The LS is one of the most reliable cars on the road. I bet if you had a better dealer experience you'd be happier. Anywho as far as the 4 axis acceleromiter that was a joke. Such a peice of equipment would be VERY expensive. Just go drive one, drive it for an extended period, try and drive it alone without the salesman, and see what you think.

Honestly...you do get used to it.

I would hardly call one issue with one transmission on one model for two model years "a history of transmission issues". You won't find a car company anywhere that doesn't have at least one model somewhere in its history that has had some reliability foible. Lexus has one of the most stellar records for reliability in the industry, thats an undisputable fact. What manufacturer will you choose that has never had a model with a powertrain issue?

In all honesty...I'd sell the car and get something more economical. Seriously, its a lot of fun to have a great car like that but these are expensive cars to own and fuel. $60 a week on gas, and gas isn't getting cheaper, plus the potential costs for repairs and parts can bankrupt someone such as yourself real quick. Believe it or not when you get to college you'll have LESS money than you have now. You should be having fun, not worrying about how to fill up the V8 Lexus or how you're going to come up with $1500 for an alternator or a starter for the thing. Plenty of time left in your life to own a Lexus. JMHO.

The times they are a changin' I think the issue with Britney is the classic too much too soon syndrome. You have a simple, uneducated, young person thrust into all this fame and money and it just destroys their lives. Honestly, none of us can even comment on it because it has to be such a surreal existance we have no idea how we'd react. Plus on top of that you have all these paparazzi catching every little thing you do on tape which causes even the slightest mistake on film or camera and turning it into a huge fiasco when they are things that happen to people. I feel really sorry for her.

I think I was quoted $900 from Toyota for mine, they'd charge $600 just to do the timing belt. Its a big job. Lexus charged me $1200 so I figured it was worth the extra $300 to let my guy take care of it.

Tell the dealer you want to drive another one to compare yours to. They must have a demo they let sales customers drive. Even if you only drive it for an hour. They'll give you one. They let you drive the LS460L they were trying to sell you. Go to another dealer and take one for a test drive. Drive a test loop in yours. Drive the other one on the same loop, and then drive the loop again with yours. If you feel a difference make the service manager do the same thing with you in the passenger seat.

Can you post that file here so everyone can benefit from it?

You still have to be aware that the people who post on internet forums are not representative of the population of car owners as a whole. For instance my generation ES (and most cars built between 98-05 with a DBW throttle) has a throttle hesitation when accelerating under some load characteristics that you'd think was rampant given the forum postings, but its never bothered me and when I meet and talk with ES of my generation owners I have never met ONE who felt the throttle had any lag. Not ONE, and I know a lot of 02-06 ES owners. Its a very popular car in my industry. As for the RX, the RX had some transaxle failures for two years, 99-00 and only on AWD RX300s. Doesn't apply to the ES even of that generation and certainly not the ES350. As far as jerking surges, Alan here at the LOC had an 03 ES and he was one of the people who took great issue with the throttle lag on his 03 ES. He traded it on an early run 07 ES350 and has nothing but praise for the transmission. Given all the complaining he did before I have zero reason to believe he wouldn't complain if he had problems now... Given the fact that you're this convinced of the issue you probably would never enjoy the car. However, having been privy to all of this knowledge I'd still buy an ES350 without hesitation.

Please don't type in all caps ;) I had the exact thing happen to mine, it was a bad A/C relay I just went back in my service records to see.

If the battery has completely discharged then yes, nothing electronic will work. Thats a pretty rare scenario though...