SW03ES

I don't think he has Navigation. Its probably just the cold...

There are MANY MANY threads on tire reccomendations for the ES and other Lexuses, I'd do a search and see what information you can come up with. I had the same question in June and I know that thread was over 25 posts long. I have the Toyo Proxes TPTs on my car and like them a lot, they are very smooth and quiet and supposedly have a 60k treadwear warranty although I've heard from others that they don't last that long (common). I would highly reccomend them to you as long as you never drive in the snow, mine are so poor in the snow as to make them dangerous. They really shouldn't be an all season tire. I've never had Continentals but I did look at the Continental ContiExtremeContact and ContiPremierContact lines. I heard from some people that they ride hard so I stayed away from them. Typically the higher the treadwear rating the harder the rubber and the harder the ride. Why only Michelin Toyo or Continental? Many other manufacturers make great tires. The Dunlop SP Sport 5000 is an excellent tire despite relatively short treadwear, but they're pretty cheap at $85 or so each, they come original equipment on several Lexus models. Yokohama also makes a good tire, the Yokohama AVS dB S2 is a very highly rated tire that is supposedly very quiet. Michelin also just revamped its MXV4 line of tires with the MXV4 S8 that is supposed to be smoother, quieter, offer better handling and have better treadlife than the MXV4+ you have on your ES. Lots of choices lol, I like my Toyos but I'll never buy another set because of the snow traction. We had an inch yesterday and I almost couldn't even get the car back up the driveway.

Naa. A dawn wash after the polishing step would be neccisary to make sure there's no fillers. Those consumer grade polishes have all kinds of fillers. Dawn washing between the claying and polishing step isn't neccisary. A good polish for use underneath Zaino is Klasse AIO. You can use AIO and then layer on the Z2 right on top of it.

Cool, thanks for the input about the wheels! I'm not sure how it works, we'll have to wait for the input of someone more computorily inclined but the disk comes with a warning "Once this disk is installed no prior versions can be used"

Are the 17s noticably smoother than the 18s? No as far as I know theres no way to make the system recognize the original disc once its been upgraded. I'd sell the old 04's disc on ebay.

I doubt it will bond, I'm almost sure the #2 polish has fillers.

Nope, they're different nav systems entirely and the update won't work. I do have a quick question for you, does your 01 have the sport suspension? If not what are the ride differences between your 04 with 18"wheels and the 01? I'm thinking about upgrading to a new LS and I'm wondering about the 18" wheel option.

No you want to drive in D all the time. You CAN drive in 4 it just eliminates overdrive, this will lower your gas mileage. You dont have hesitation issues because your driving style doesn't create them.

Awesome, looking forward to your pics.

I'd call transmission replacement in every LS430 a pretty major recall. Point is everyone has recalls, be afraid of companies that never recall their vehicles!

But you aren't only paying for gas savings, the 400 will have additional equipment and more power, it will be the upmarket model. The gas savings aren't the focus, the power and amenities are. They're billing the gas savings as a "to boot" item. Gotta face it, a Lexus is not a purchase that is motivated by things being "worth the cost" in utility, its a luxury purchase and is priced accordingly.

Cool! I hope their brake by wire system works better than the throttle by wire or we're all dead...

It was before you edjumicated us ;)

Have you driven ES' to see if you feel the lag? Your driving style might not trip it. When I drive BMWs I can feel the lag.

Don't blame it on domestics (Saab arguably is still foreign, I doubt GM had anything to do with that engine) Toyota has the same problem with the V6 engine used in the ES. And Ford did have this issue with the 3.0L V6 used in the Taurus/Lincoln Continental between 1987 and 1994.

Keep in mind this thread is over a year old ;)

No such beast ;) The PT Cruiser is a Chrysler. You're considering different vehicles than I am when I think of "Sports sedans". Cars like the BMW 3 and 5 series, Cadillac CTS, Acura TL and TSX, I hadn't thought of the Audis. A turbo doesn't make a sports sedan, the overall character of the vehicle does. The ES is just not a sports sedan, and thats why the magazines don't like it. They don't care for the LS either but always begrudgingly give it 1st or 2nd place because they wouldn't be credible otherwise.

Same thing. LEDs can be any color.

Its actually real wood ;)

Plenty of sports sedans don't have turbos...in fact I can't think of one (outside of a Saab) that does.

Naa he's full of it. Thats not true at all. The memory setting only control the seat and the mirrors. The transmission is adaptive to your driving habits so it will feel different after one driver has driven it for a time but its not programmable based on the seat setting nor is it the cause of the throttle lag.

Put wax...on the wheels.

LOL, thats your decision. But don't fault insurance companies for !Removed! you over when thats all you intend to do to them. Cheap rates are nice, but its not so nice when the new cheaper company gives you the runaround on paying your claims if you should have an accident because you have no relationship to them. Then that savings has now turned into tripled rates again because they have no prior relationship to base that judgement on. Theres a reason everybody always !Removed! about their insurance companies, because they don't understand that you get what you pay for. Cheap insurance companies are cheap when it comes to insuring you.

Yes wwest, we've heard how you feel...repeatedly. Useless to argue. I would like to know where all these 2.4l MDXs that are getting these ACTUAL MPG ratings the RX400h "doesn't have" are though? They must be invisible. Sounds interesting, its good to get a real world acceleration figure. I'm also glad to hear that they've made the transitions smoother than the Prius. The brakes always sound metal on metal and it can be distracting when the motors switch at a redlight or something.

Oh yeah, you can make several thousand dollars more. Its up to you if thats worth the hassle.