SW03ES

Nah, its functional, I just don't like the interface.

I've used PIAA's silicone blades, they're excellent.

That wouldn't surprise me...

My guess is the alternator. I'd replace the battery at the same time since often a failing alternator will take the battery with it...

Haha

Oh man... I wish you could take it to Nelson! Damn dealers are going to bleed you dry...

No! We need commitment now LOL

I'm sure the new ES will have 18s as an option...maybe even standard.

Actually I was agreeing with your agreement LOL. So...I think we're all in agreement! LOL

Its the same Garmin operating system thats in my handheld Garmin Nuvi. I've only used that a couple of times, but I got it out to compare and they are the same. Awful...

LOL! I can only imagine!

Certainly a non biased source of information. He's also wrong on a lot of points. People need to actually read the healthcare bill (again, the right doesn't want to because they want to cram it down the throats of well meaning, but frankly uneducated and ignorant middle American conservative voters to scare the bejeezus out of them). Nobody is making healthcare free. There is no public option, no single payer system in this bill. If you add 46M people...you add 46M PAYING customers. RIGHT NOW those 46M receive healthcare for free because they are uninsured. The bill provides subsidies and tax credits for the lower end of the spectrum to help them PAY FOR THE COVERAGE. It must be PAID FOR. Can I vote for him now or do I have to wait until next year? And what a monster he is...wanting everyone to go to college. This man MUST be stopped! This is a major issue. Something has to be done to make a college education more affordable for ordinary people. I was fortunate enough that my parents were able to pay for my college education, my wife was not. I have no student loans, she has $80k worth...and that was after some grants and scholarships. We went to the same school and got the same degree. If you look at all the other nations we compete with, ALL OF THEM have some sort of public university system. Private universities too sure, but some public university system that is accessible to everyone as long as they work hard and get good grades. The costs of college are skyrocketing out of control. I sit here around the time when we're thinking of having kids and my main concern is being able to send them to college. I want to be able to give my kids what I had, the understanding that college is the normal stepping stone beyond high school, I want there to be no chance my kids might not go to college. Yet, the costs are so huge now...imagine what they will be like 20 years from now when our kids would be going to college. Will it even be possible to save up enough money within those 20 years without sacrificing our own retirement? If this is my concern with the amount of money I make, what must other people be going through? If we want to be able to compete with the rest of the world, we need some sort of public university system that still doesn't cost a family $40k to send their kids to college. Describe how please. Please list these clauses.

As far as winter, I think my ES is pretty good in the snow as it is. Anything much deeper than 5" or so and AWD isn't going to help because its going to overcome the car's ground clearance, and less than that...I didn't have any problems getting around and that was on sh!tty tires.

Its absurd! You have the 3, which is still more than the ES and half the size, you have the 5 which is about the same size as the ES, albeit more car with a RWD drivetrain etc. To equip it like the ES its $60k! The only cars that can even be compared to the ES in equipment for money is the Hyundai Genesis, the Chrysler 300, or the Buick Lacrosse, and none of them have the brand prestige or ownership experience, nor the resale value.

I have a Garmin nav in our Jeep, and my wife and I HATE it. Its awful...I honestly don't see how anybody could like that abysmal system better than whats in the Lexus. Only thing we dislike about the Jeep. Oh...and Jeep cuts out the destination input when driving too...even though its Garmin. For me I'd like to see the ES be RWD. Never gonna happen though.

Seeing that its Lexus' bestselling car the buying public obviously disagrees. In fact I think the ES is a tremendous value for the money, which is why I've bought two I suppose. I get a *lot* of compliments on the Lexus. My ES stickered at $41k, when you look at the equipment for the money...its a pretty good value. My favorite vehicle in the Lexus line is still the LS, and I almost bought 3 year old CPO LS's before my '03 ES and my 350. Each time thought I went with the ES mainly because it was new, but I would suggest that you drive a 460 back to back with the ES before deciding to do that. The LS is more car without question, but the differences are pretty subtle nowadays when you aren't switching back between them all the time. I describe it as "When you drive the LS you think "I have to have this car", but then when you get back into the ES you start to think "This is pretty close" and you don't really miss the LS. Before I decided I did that, drove an '07 LS460, and the new ES back to back to back to back. So...I don't know if I would say theres $25,000 in quantitative difference between them anymore. I prefer the RWD architecture, but as someone else said when you don't push it, its not that apparent and neither the LS or the ES are the type of car you'd feel the need to push. To Tim, you have to pay to play. You can't be down on the ES for being as you described it the "best in class". Its an entry level luxury car, want $70k refinement? Gotta spend $70k or buy a used one.

Man, I bet you could sell the movie rights for that!

Remember...no new cars until you close on the house! LOL ;) Yeah VW has "Americanized" its lineup...meaning they've made the cars cheaper, bigger, and reduced performance. Have you heard them talk? They have a pretty low opinion of us. Its like "See, its fat, ugly, and slow...just perfect for the American market!"

Enough crazy ramblings...sheesh...

Yeah no changes have been made to these engines, they're simply adjusting the performance numbers so that they can market them as running on regular fuel. If gas prices go down (I don't see that happening) I agree they'll go back to recommending premium,

Then you yourself are saying that this data does not support your statement that buyers who otherwise would have bought luxury cars are buying mid market cars. This is what you said: So if you are now saying this: So...what ARE you saying? This is the crux of what you don't understand, the mid market auto market and the luxury marked are different markets, with different buyers and demographics. This is why I said superficially I can see where you are drawing this conclusion (although...you said in your post you disagree with your own conclusion so I don't see the purpose of this discussion at all). You can make a determination of overall automotive market share from this data, but since the mid market and luxury markets are different markets, that determination is meaningless. Ford doesn't compare their share to Mercedes, because they aren't direct competitors...for instance.

I think you need to do a little research into how statistics work and how to interpret them. I can tell you as a businessman who routinely looks at reports pertaining to market share that you aren't correct. Superficially I see where you are coming from, but what I'm trying to tell you is that its not that simple. The data you are looking at can be used to make inferences about market share in the same market segment, so you can see that Toyota and Honda has shrinking market share compared to that of Hyundai, which is growing. However, you cannot use this data to infer that the market share of entire market segments. You can compare them within market segments, but not across market segments, and you cannot compare the comparative share of the market segments themselves with this data. What you are asserting is that mid market carmakers are TAKING buyers away from luxury carmakers, and theres just nothing in this data that proves that. It shows that mid market carmakers are growing more, but there is no corollary relationship displayed here. Its like saying Neiman Marcus has sold less, and Kohls has sold more, so Neiman Marcus buyers must be shopping at Kohls. It doesn't mean that at all. They may be shopping at Nordstrom, they may not be shopping at all...

You're assigning your own bias into this data. Just because the luxury car segment is not growing at the same rate as the mid market segment doesn't mean that luxury car buyers are buying mid market cars instead of luxury cars. It means...that all segments are growing, its just mid market segments are growing more. It could mean many other things, that luxury car owners are keeping their cars longer, that there aren't as many new luxury car models as new mid market car models out in 2011 vs 2010 that would skew the data. For instance, Honda shows a fairly big decline in sales from 2010 to 2011, using your logic that means Honda buyers must be buying Mercedes...since their numbers are up. It doesn't mean that at all. You are also assuming that a carmaker would view flat sales from 2010 to 2011 as a bad thing. The data you are looking for is not included in this link you've shown us.

Yeah...I'd vote for a second opinion too...

I would refer you to the site's terms of service to teach you some manners. I obviously was incorrect, but simply politely pointing that out as the OP did is all thats necessary.