SW03ES

We'll try it out again tomorrow, 6-10 inches here.

That depends on whether or not you want 4 doors. I personally could never drive a 2 door car.

Yeah I did think it looked a little bit like an Escalade. I think a lot of that is because its so huge though, the actual car will be MUCH shorter. What I found funny about that article lol, the Canadian Prime Minister has a...Chevy Impala?!?! Thats kinda pathetic ;)

No problem at all, once we set you up as an authorized trader you can do that all you want. Click the link under my post that says "PM" its a Private Message.

GS400, smaller than the LS, same (even faster) engine and a sportier overall character. You can get into a 99 for that money, you don't want a 98.

I really like the rear. The grille looks fine from the front (kind of like the LS430 actually) but from the side it looked strange. As for the ride I'm sure it rides great, take a look at the tires they're HUGE! Plus it weighs several tons so I'm sure that helps in the ride department. Supposedly that wasn't the official new car as it wasn't completed in time, it was the old car with the new front and rear ends added on. As for Lincolns, the Presidential limo used to always be a Lincoln until I think Bush Sr or Clinton when they went with a Cadillac because of their "better" reputation.

Ron- If youre going to advertise yourself on the board I need to set you up as an authorized trader, shoot me a PM ;)

I'm happy with the noise isolation and the ride, mine seem to be getting quieter as they age.

Blake- I know that lol. Thats why the presidential limo isn't actually a Deville, the frame/drivetrain/passenger compartment are fully designed and built by the secret service and Cadillac just melds the front and rear ends on. Think about it, you don't see nearly as many Cadillac limos as you used to when the RWD/full frame Fleetwood was around. I've been watching it, not bad. The big grille looks strange...

Cool! Glad you're having fun. We need new pics! Your polishes are on the way BTW. Might take a while mailing anything from/to Washington takes a while.

LOL

You need to buy a race scanner and pick up the frequencies of all the drivers. If you don't want to buy one they rent them there already all programmed. You can pick up each drivers frequency and listen in on them as they talk to their pit crews.

The dealers wont have any idea about the add on kit until it falls in their lap.

I'm not saying the Bridgestones were good in the snow, I'm just saying the car handled better in the snow with them than it did yesterday in the snow with the Toyos. Whether that was because of any extraneous variables I don't know but we have a bigger snow coming Saturday and we'll see how it drives in that. I don't have any experience with any other tires in the snow on this car, I have experience with the Dunlop 4000s and 5000s in the snow but that was on the LS and it'd take snow tires to make it driveable. All I know is there was no confidence in the car at all, whereas it felt very confident in the snow before. A FWD car with all the sophisticated skid control systems it has should be drivable in 2 inches of snow. I called my dad and asked him what he thought of the Toyos yesterday (he has them on his 04 LS) and he said they didn't make it any worse than it usually is.

Check the air pressure. My guess is the tires are way overinflated and maybe even inflated to different pressures. They should all be 30 PSI.

If you're not used to driving in the snow (and why would you be, having lived in FL) especially in a RWD car like the GS you MUST get some instruction. There are quick one day driving courses in skid cars that can simulate loss of traction conditions and really teach you a lot. The GS is a disaster in the snow without snow tires, they'll be neccisary in Michigan. It should be great with snows though.

LOL, I wasn't saying you didn't, I was thinking out loud ;)

Its not REALLY cold here, but it was 22-25 farenheit so I guess that falls into the -7 degree celsius category. I can't recall whether or not other storms I've driven the car in have been that cold but I doubt it, we really don't usually get that cold here and when we do have snow it stays around freezing. I did take our Prius out right after I got home for comparison and it did much better on the stock Goodyear Integrity's, all the same VSC equipment and FWD. Bear in mind that the sideways pulling on takeoff is DESPITE the VSC, just like the LS does. Never had that with the Bridgestones and didn't get that with the Prius. Air pressures are all fine. Steering stability was also not as good as the Prius but the Lexus is a lot heavier. Not really possible to alter my driving habits, I've got a lot of experience driving in the snow and my experience today was happening while I was being very careful because of the poor traction. I've been searching around and I can't find any serious complaints about the tires in the snow, if everyone was having experiences like these trust me you'd read complaints all over the place... Maybe it was just a combined set of variables that reduced the tire's performance. Different rubber compounds would react differently, and different brand tires have different rubber compounds...

I have to vote for Rusty, because without him I'd never get to go lol

Snows around here don't make any sense, we don't get enough snow to warrant them. Its a real shame, I really like the tires in all other respects and I'd hate like hell to have to pay for another new set of tires... No ice at all, just snow. Its also really cold so its not even a wet snow. It is very slick though.

Well, we got about 3 inches of snow here today, our road crews are notoriously bad. By the time I was out in it the main roads were more or less clear while the surface streets, and all the streets leading to my house were still snow covered. I got to try my new Toyos out in the snow for the first time... What a dissapointment. These tires took what was a pretty good snow car and turned it into a total pig. Its as bad as my dad's RWD LS which I consider almost undrivable in the snow. I drove the car through several snowstorms on the original Bridgestone Potenza RE92 tires and they were exponentially better. Takeoff with the Toyos is a sideways proposition, and turning and stopping all require much more care than the Bridgestones. What a black eye on such a great tire, they're just so much better than the Bridgestones in every way...except in the snow. I won't drive it in the snow again with those tires if I can help it. That leaves me with an interesting dillemma, we're supposed to have a pretty bad winter here this year, but the Toyos have only a little over 10k on them and they have 90% of the tread life left probably. I'm tempted to go back and have something else put on it...

Lexus JUST came out with winter mats for the ES. You'll have to ask for winter mats for the 05 ES330, they'll argue with you about fitment if you say you have an 04. They will fit perfectly though, I have them.

I'd drive a 2005 and find out ;)

All fixed ;)

Sure, I've seen GS limos, LS limos and an ES limo once. Thing is Lexuses don't make very good limos because they're not body on frame, thats why most limos you see nowadays are Lincoln Town Cars or SUVs, they're cheaper to stretch than a unibody car like a Lexus.