SW03ES

I agree.

How do you have the system set, on Auto?

Here's the pics! This is the chipping on the trim: And this is where he repaired the mount: Like I told him in email that chipping on the trim is very common and isn't a big deal.

Planned obsolescence of european cars? I can see that for American cars but not european cars, the european luxury car makers have longer design cycles than Lexus... As for American cars I'd say the same but the new STS is impressive.

Nobody on Autopia is going to tell him anything he hasn't been told on here, I know because I'm one of them ;)

If you hold the lock button the panic goes off lol

Do you have the 18" wheels? I think a lot of it is the tires, unfortunately the higher diameter wheel designs lower the vehicle's performance in the snow. It may be just as simple as switching to another all season tire on your rims or getting some snows.

You won't, the LTX is a very soft tire. Michelin should have a 30 day test ride don't they? You could try them out. As for which are more sedate the Michelin website has "ratings" of each tire that at least tells you how they feel.

Lexus has traditionally been afraid of having multiple packages. Japanese carmakers don't go for niche marketing, if it wont appeal to everyone they won't do it. It looks like thats starting to change though. The new IS is supposed to have all kinds of packages, a coupe and even a convertible and there is talk that the LS will to, the LS430 being the base model moving up to a high performance hybrid version with V12 performance with a sporty S55ish car somewhere in between. As for the styling, you should know by now not to trust spy drawings, Lexus is VERY tight lipped about styling and we wont see anything that looks like the new LS until they want us to, sometime early next year. I personally love the style of the new GS and think the Lexuses in the model line now are starting to look a little dated next to designs from BMW, Cadillac, even Infiniti and Acura. The new LS will be awesome, just wait and see. And if its not I'll buy an 06 LS430 and keep it until the wheels fall off ;)

Very true especially if you're young in my(and in yours) case. ← Oh yes! I've always looked older than I am but when I started my business in College (which involved selling to car dealerships) I learned that people in their late teens/early 20s get no respect at all, if you want to get results you HAVE to look older. Its funny, I was in that real estate class last week and we were talking, turns out one of the people in there went to my high school. Turns out he was in my graduating class! None of them could believe it when they heard how old I was. I've learned. SO, I always wear business casual attire and dress for business (a suit) whenever I'm dealing with people like car dealerships. A nice watch helps too, so does a mature style of haircut. If you're wearing a suit, wear conservative suits. etc

If you live near JPI go there, I wish I lived near him.

Thats how all the dealerships should be, but sadly not all of them are.

You'd be surprised the difference it makes.

Thats always the way LOL

I always wear a suit whenever I deal with people like this. It makes them MUCH more pleasant. Shouldn't be that way, but it is.

I definately will. What I really want is a new LS but I'm going to wait until I see some pictures of the new 07 body style so I can see if I want to wait for it. I'm still happy with my ES I'd just like something a little bigger at times.

If it were me it would be a contest between: LS430 Modern Luxury package BMW 530i/545i Cadillac STS 2006 GS300AWD/GS430 (providing it were out)

If you were replacing your Lexus now, what kind of car would you replace it with?

Yeah if you keep up on the paint using something like a cleaner wax since new you wouldn't need to do any kind of more aggressive paint preperation, especially on white. The question is what kind of condition is his paint in now, and what does it need because of that condition and because of it being a darker color. Imperfections will show on his you'd never be able to see on yours, trust me my last car was white too and this will be the last dark colored car I ever buy. They need much more attention. I just went through 3 hours trying to get it cleaned up a little after all this rain, finding a touchless carwash, the rinse was broken so I had to spray it off at a wash bay real quick before the soap dried on the paint and etched it. If it had been silver I could have just run it through the car wash. The only reason mine needs to be polished out twice a year is because of the color. My dad's 98 LS was never buffed once and it looked new at 160k when he traded it because it was silver, washed weekly, and waxed several times a year. The dark colors just magnify everything and they look terrible when they're swirled up. A cleaner wax isn't going to do any kind of correction of problems that may already exist. Thats why I suggested he have a professional polish it out with a rotary to get it to where it needs to be and he can just maintain it.

Or maybe look into the possibility of adding some sort of transmission cooler. Although the damage may be done if it wasn't installed when new.

I can't speak for the Cross Terrains or the Pilot LTX's but the Michelin LTX M/S are the longest wearing tires I've ever had, I replaced my last set on my Explorer after 100k miles and they could have gone another 15k or so. I'd never put any other tire on an SUV. Never any loss of air or any problems with the sidewalls. Your mechanic is right about the OEM, a lot of times the same model tire purchased aftermarket will be higher quality than OEM.

Yep, all Lexus do that. Now, this is weird. Only SOME models will close all the windows if you hold the key in the lock position on the drivers door. Why they all don't do that I don't know.

Yeah I didnt know that the issuewas with getting the old 01 disc to work, the system is designed so that if you successfully upgrade it it will never play the old disc again, for instance if you try and load the old 03 disc in your 04 that you've now upgraded to the 04 disc it won't read it. Since the 03 disc wouldnt upgrade the 01 though I don't understand why it wouldnt go back to the 00 disc. Weird, oh well glad its fixed!

Yeah somethings wrong, It says that there is no global space left on the server for attatchments. I'm sure this is just an error, I'll see what I can do. His car looks great though, you'll all get to see it soon I promise!

I'm trying to post Gumart's pics now. Man, you guys are right this gallery is rediculous! I'll definately say something to Matt. Don't worry Gumart, I'll get em up here some how!