SW03ES

In the US all ES' have the wood wheel. I've only seen one that doesn't. jrag- I've seen people destroy far more expensive cars in far less time. I've detailed 12,000 mile $80,000 Mercedes that look like 10 year old cars outside and ash trays inside. Its just unbelievable what some people do to cars. These are before pictures of an Avalon a member on Autopia (ebpcivicsi) detailed. It was last detailed by him about 6 months ago, so all this was done in 6 months. Her excuse was that "she works out of the car" my question was if she hauls livestock. I work out of my car, doesn't look like that. Here are a couple of after pictures, he does great work.

Thats true of a repaint but not of a new car, its even getting that bodyshops have such sophisticated paints and ovens for curing that some paint jobs can be waxed immediately even when they're repaints. For instance his car was built in December 2004, its 4 months old the paint is well cured. Most cars, especially foreign cars are well over a month old even when you buy them RIGHT off the lot. Plus they're hard cured with huge amounts of heat at the factory after they're painted.

Thats the case with all Dunlop tires. Good smooth quiet tires with good traction but TERRIBLE treadwear.

Yeah the new doors still pee, even though they're no longer fully frameless. I think this is a common problem on anything that doesn't have limousine doors.

Actually no, the Blue Onyx with the cashmere interior isn't special ordered, thats the standard interior for that car. Had it had a black interior or to a lesser extent a grey one it would have been rare. My dealer has several Blue Onyx/Cashmere ES' on the lot. It may have been a dealer requisition or something and thats why she said it had been special ordered. She does sound ignorant, but most salespeople usually are. I had to explain to a computer salesman at CompUSA yesterday what wireless internet was and show him the wireless routers...that he sells...and explain how they work. His name tag said "Certified Product Specialist". As a salesman (a fully competent one knowledgable about his field) dumb salespeople who don't know their product really irritate me. Its because of them we hesitate to tell people what we do for a living... As for the remote, some keys have the down arrow and some don't, I don't know why. Both of mine don't but the keys to my dad's 98 LS did, and I've had loaner ES' that have the arrow and some that don't. My guess is the keys are made two different places. As for the ride, I've had my car 2 years now and 45k miles and I still "wow" at how it rides sometimes. I've been in training seminars all week up in Gaithersburg and its about a 25 minute ride on the highway each way and I glided home today relaxing with the radio turned off. Its a very smooth and quiet car, moreso than the GS (which is designed to be sportier). The LS is smoother and quieter, but not by much. The ES is a lot of car for the money.

Moved ;)

You didn't actually spend $39,980 on the ES did you? Thats list price!!! You might be interested to know that the ES is actually larger than the GS, both in interior volume and in exterior size. I just mentioned that because you mentioned it seemed much smaller. I guess its all in the eyes of the individual because the ES seems significantly larger than the GS to me. There also aren't any differences about the interior of the 04 vs the 05 except the color of the wood on the cashmere and ash interiors and the color of the cladding around the door handles and the center stack, other than obviously the new steering wheel. Not sure what would make one appealing and the other boring ;) As for not waxing it the dealer is wrong (as they usually are about detailing) there's no reason not to wax it. In fact, their prep department waxed it. On modern cars paint has been long since cured when you take delivery. Since its that dark blue (which is a different blue than your GS, your GS was Indigo Ink Pearl which would be a special order on the ES, the ES is Blue Onyx Pearl). I would find a good detailer and have it washed weekly and detailed twice a year. Get references and make sure you pick a quality detailer. Touchless washes are okay if there's no option but they aren't very thorough and will leave film on the paint surface and wont flush the wheel wells etc. If you're going to wash it yourself its worth taking the time to buy the right materials and learn how to do it right. Washing a car (especially a dark colored car) properly so as not to damage the paint surface actually requires quite a bit of skill... As for maintenance I don't have anything to add to jrag's post. It should last you just as long. The GS cost more because it was simply a higher line vehicle, not neccisarily higher quality. When it gets dinged or damaged make sure that its properly repaired and with proper appearance and maintenance care it should be in much better shape after 80k than your GS430 was.

blake- Some areas of the country have lower octane ratings.

I think that must depend on your area, that certainly is not the case here.

Yeah the Potenza RE92s are some of the worse high line tires on the market, drive an ES without them and you'll see the difference. They did have better snow traction than my Proxes TPTs though, but the Toyos are better in every other respect. As for Kumhos I've heard good things actually, and at their price... But...no tire for this car costs $200 a peice.

If you hit "POI" on the base of the screen while its in map mode you can activate and deactivate the POI icons.

Congratulations on your purchase! I think you'll be more than pleased with the upgrades. Yes the tails, headlights, trunk trim, grille, and front bumper on the 05 will all bolt right up to your 02. If you wanted to you could make it look identical to a 2005 for about $1500 or so. Steve- You bought them? Cool, can't wait to see.

No...

Thats pretty impressive, congratulations!

I'd stay away from Bridgestone simply because of their business practices. They concealed the safety issues on the Radial ATX on the Explorer for years even knowing that these tires were killing people. I think probably the Falkens are a good bet, the Dunlop SP Sport 5000 is OEM on Lexus and is a good quiet tire. My next set of tires will be Dunlop SP SPort 5000s or Michelin MXV4 S8s. My Toyos seem to be wearing well though. I like them again now that winter is coming to an end.

Plus you also have the lower warranty range and the horrible Toyota customer service (I have a Lexus and a Toyota, the differences in dealer quality and customer service are staggering, hard to imagine they're the same company). You also miss out on Lexus resale and prestige.

The product you're thinking of is called "Vinylex" )

Check out some tech boards and read all the problems with the Treo 650... lexus- So the only problem with the LG is that you can't send phonebooks, it rings fine etc?

VGR- We've been through this before, those life expectancies might look good on paper but from what we've seen here, on our members cars, proves in the real world its just not accurate. You posted a list of lives of these parts some time ago that was simply unrealistic. Yes, I agree on the whole asian parts are more reliable, but the blanket statement that ALL asian parts WILL last twice as long as their American counterparts is just not true. If that were the case these cars would run forever needing NO repairs, and thats just not the case.

The GX is also more modern, the LX is 7 model years old at this point.

You should READ the article ;) Who said anything about 8k?

Eh maybe, but mast antennas etc are the same way.

Lexus' install is no better. They put the antenna on the side of the trunk lid. In all fairness the only way to get the BEST reception is to do it like that. The antenna is supposed to have 6" of metal on all sides. Mine's on my rear parcel shelf too though lol

Boring ;)

The Kia Amanti is nice, but its nowhere near as high quality inside as the ES330 and let alone the LS430?!?! They may look like high quality luxury vehicles, but they're not. When you sit in them and drive them they're obviously $25,000 cars, or even less.