SW03ES

No, cell phone service won't help your credit. Its one of those things where you need credit to get it, but it won't reflect on your credit report. All it shows are peices of credit, no utility bills, no rent, etc. So, credit cards, car loans, department store accounts, personal loans, student loans, mortgages, etc. To build credit you need: 4 credit cards or 4 total peices of ACTIVE credit. If you have no credit you wont be able to get a car loan. Lenders want to see 4, active (meaning used every 6 months or so), and responsibly used (no balances over 30-50% of the availiable credit) peices of credit. These can be credit cards, loans, etc. Bear in mind you'll be sub prime until you have a credit history of 5-10 years, putting you automatically out of top tier car and home loans regardless of how perfect your credit is so get started now. Since you have one card thats begun a credit history which is a great start. Start slowly opening new accounts, every 3-4 months or so and charge something to each and pay it off. It will pay off in the long run, trust me.

Not me ;) Don't get me wrong, the LS is a wonderful car and its what drew me to Lexus, but IMHO the driving experience isn't THAT much different between the LS and the current ES. I've been driving a lot of them because I'm going to upgrade here in a year or so and when I drive the LS its a reaction like "Wow, this is such an amazing car why would anyone want to drive something else, where do I sign?" but then I get back in my ES and its like "Wow, for $30,000 less this thing is still pretty close, I can wait..." If I had the decision I made to make again new ES vs 3 year old LS I'd have made the same decision. The moral of the story is Lexus just makes a great car, all the model lines are great bargains for the buck.

Man oh man, three! You're gonna be homeless at this rate ;)

First of all don't look to magazines like car and driver to get any kind of statistical ratings. They have no controls or standards in their testing. Thats why the magazines all have such wildly different numbers. As for tires, the MXV4s are allright but are hardly the best on the market contrary to what their price would suggest. Tires are very important on a Lexus for the reasons VGR mentioned. If you want it quieter or more similar to a Cadillac to take the edge off the tires you could always have the floor dynamatted by a stereo shop.

Texas- I can try and find the studies but the studies showed that people were decapitated and killed in accidents that they may not have been had they been unbelted. I think that holds more water than the idea that American car companies "traded" autolocking for electric belts. If thats true then why arent all cars required by the NHTSA to have autolocking doors? They aren't. Electric seatbelts however were BANNED from American sold automobiles. As for the door locks, when you pull the handle on the front doors the door unlocks. In the water you probably wouldnt be able to open the door anyways because of the pressure differential. If you're that concerned about it, carry a life hammer. Honestly the best way? Just lock the doors when you get in.

Wait and see ;) People always do this, you can't really tell anything by these artist renderings, you don't even know if its genuine.

Audis can be very expensive to maintain, moreso than a Lexus. They require special diagnostic equipment that is about the most expensive in the industry.

We'll let you live, THIS time ;)

I have a friend from high school. Now, I grew up in a very ritzy area, the town my parents live in is Potomac, MD the richest town in the United States. Not many poor or even middle class people around. His family isn't poor, but they're not partners in a law firm either and he has 9 brothers. So, they can't put all of them through college. Whenever he came home...he worked. Winter, spring breaks. All summer. Even for a weekend he'd always work at least a day because he had his tuition bill to pay. Be glad you don't have to do that. Keggers are no fun when you've worked 40 hours AND gone to school AND done your work ;)

Your dad doesn't want you doing any mods to your car because its not your car, its his car. If anything happens to it, it comes out of HIS pocket to repair it. People who don't do mods or understand mods don't get that something simple along those lines isn't going to affect the reliability of the car, but he pays the bills and he calls the shots. You may drive it, but that doesn't make it yours. Unfortunately thats how life works, dependence has downpoints and one of those is that it gives someone else control over your life and your affairs. I agree with him, $1200 for maintenance on a 12 year old Lexus is not a smart business decision, thats more than 10% of what the car is worth. Theres nothing wrong with having an independent mechanic do the service as long as they know the car, your dad got an AMAZING deal with that service. He'd have been stupid to pay the dealer when he has that resource. And no, I'm not a dad. I'm 23. When I was in college my dad paid my way too, paid for my car (An Explorer at the time), my tuition, etc. He's a great person and a great dad and he would do anything for me, but we have had a much better relationship since I've been financially independent. The only think he continued paying for after I started my business when I was a sophomore was my tuition because he felt it was his obligation. The moral of the story is, be happy that you've got a dad that not only is willing to help you, but is capable of helping you. I know a lot of people whose college life was not what it could have been because they had to work their asses off every day to pay for it. I didn't have to do that, and niether do you so be happy. If you think your dad is cheap because he didnt want to spend more than he had to to get your LEXUS serviced you're in for a rude awakening when life hits you in the face in a couple years. Most people your age have to graduate and WORK just to afford a Lexus, even a 12 year old one. Count your blessings because one day you're going to graduate, dad's gonna say "I'm proud of you son, now go get em" and kick you out of the nest and you'll find out what its all about. Its not easy.

Wait and see some real pictures before you pass judgement, I'm sure it'll be great looking.

My guess is the std wheelbase will be similar to the current LS, which is actually considerably smaller than the 745Li or the S class. They wont make the LS anything like the RL, they have the GS to compete with it.

Verizon most certainly does NOT offer Bluetooth. They cripple all the bluetooth features in their bluetooth phones except whats neccisary to run a bluetooth headset so you have to use their pay per use data services. No file transfer or dial up networking which is where Bluetooth really shines. Verizon is also the slowest carrier to add new phones to their lineup because they are suspicious of how new technologies will effect their bottom line. I have 2 of Verizons POS excuses for Bluetooth phones. Cingular for instance may not have as strong service (depending on where you are) but their phones come with all their features intact.

And the ES.

There were actually some studies that showed the automatic belts are unsafe if the lap portion is not buckled, there were several decapitation scares. My understanding is thats why we no longer have automatic belts.

My guess is it wont be an SC330 it'll be an SC300 with the new V6 from the GS or an SC350 with the new 3.5l varient coming out.

The lines make it look pretty credible, you can see the resemblance to the new GS. Not bad, glad to hear about the two wheelbases.

As long as you're not interested in high line features like Bluetooth and having the latest in phone technology availiable to you Verizon will be fine. I'd do Verizon too to avoid a $500 deposit requirement. Get some credit! Unfortunately in this country people who have no debt and only buy what they can afford are at a disadvantage.

You're not likely to find a buyer on here, if you're serious about selling it the best thing to do is to use things like Autotrader etc.

Black is nice... If you get it though, do yourself a favor and get a good detailer and let him wash it every week at least and polish/wax it every 3 months. Lexus black has no clearcoat and needs special care.

Where did you buy them Steve? I still have the ones you made installed in the rear ;) How hard was it to swap the fronts?

Yep, membership at each club is individual.

Welcome!

It'll happen to you too Alan ;)

For your information I never waste salesmen's time. Usually if you tell them that you just want to test the car out and aren't interested in buying they'll let you take it alone. Plus I have relationships with many car dealers of different brands of cars so people basically just let me drive whatever I want. Nothing wrong with test driving a car as long as you're upfront to the guy that you're not interested in buying. That contact is valuable to a salesman too because its an avenue for future sales and referrals. Good salesmen are always thinking about the long term. I've never had a salesman refuse me a test drive after I've said "I'm not interested in buying but I'll take a few of your cards and sign your contact book" they're greatful for the opportunity to use me to get more business, sometimes they ride with me sometimes they don't. Again, thank you for your sage wisdom on the car industry but you're wrong. Service departments have no idea nor do they care where you purchased the car or what you paid. Car dealerships don't make money selling cars, car sales are a loss leader, they make money SERVICING cars. So you see, it doesnt make any sense for them to treat you badly because of what you paid once for a car because they'll be turning away your service and future sales and referral business which is more valuable to them than one car sale. Plus service advisors get paid a commission also, so why would they treat you badly because you didnt put money in some guy's pocket they don't even know? I know this because I consult with car dealers to help them turn sales business into service and lifetime business. Look at Toyota's customer dealer satisfaction ratings, they're near the bottom. For what its worth I paid MSRP for the Prius (obviously) and I paid $700 over invoice for the Lexus ($4000 off MSRP) and if Lexus would service the Prius, I'd pay them to. Toyota's service is not even in the same league. I also have a Ford, Ford service is better bar none and its pretty bad too. I don't service either car at the purchasing dealer because they're too far away. What you paid for the car has no bearing on what kind of service you get.