SW03ES

Oh yeah, they're great tires.

The Highlander comes in a 4cyl?!

Nice! The lower cladding on the 98 for 14 has been painted to match the top too. You might want to make sure there havent been any accidents with it, in my experience a lot of times cars have the two tone done in one color it was because body work was being done anyway and they figured why not. The VSC is the traction control and if the car has air suspension then you'd see the switch on the console. That series LS is a fantastic car, all the series are fantastic but that series remains my favorite. Does it have the wood/leather wheel and HID lights? If all checks out with the 14k car I'd go that route, the difference between 78 and 91k on an LS is negligable and vertainly not worth $5000.

15%? Yikes!

LOL, same here.

$150 is what all Lexus dealers charge for an oil change.

Yep, tire rack has it too.

Gotta figure out the exchange. My guess is in the US the GS300 will start at 45k, and the GS430 will start at 52-55k and top out around 62k or so. Keep in mind they've moved the GS upmarket into 5 series territory to put more distance between the GS300 and ES330. The new LS probably wont see a sub 60k model.

I talked about noise ;)

Why? The RX400h has a totally different transmission than the 330, it has a CVT, a constantly variable transmission that has no gears. The engine is the same engine the RX has now, its just mated to two electrical motors, electrical motors are very reliable. Plus the hybrid system is under warranty for something like 150k miles. As for gas mileage, 30MPG city on an SUV that does 0-60 in 6.5 seconds isn't impressive? thats over 10MPG and 2 seconds faster to 60 than the RX330. I don't see why anyone would want an RX330 with figures like that.

No, the LS430s haven't gotten old enough yet. My dad was starting to have problems with his 98 when he traded it at 160k Its 150k or so the problems start popping up.

I wouldnt have a 96 serviced at the dealer. Its one thing for a brand new one where you're trying to establish a service history for resale or give Lexus extra incentinve to help you with any problems down the road but on a 9 year old car you're just spending way more money than neccisary to have the car serviced properly.

Well actually the frame is stonger than a steel frame, so its actually HARDER to distort. Any kind of body damage and its got to go to one of those special repair shops. You can't even have paintless dent repair done on them. Jag did it right, the frame is alluminum but the exterior panels are steel.

Yep, belt tensioner needs to be tightened, mines doing it too.

You should try an MF sponge Silver, I was using a mitt too until I tried the sponge, it holds a lot more liquid.

Yeah when I was helping my dad shop for a replacement for his LS400 we drove the A8. Its a beautiful machine, especially the new one (I think the 02 is the old model right?) but the reliability and the alluminum spaceframe just turned us off. Having had previous experience with Volkswagen niether him nor I will ever buy a Volkswagen product. The worst customer service in the industry and average reliability at best. One issue you may notice with your A8 is that you wont be able to find anyone to service it, except the dealer. Thats because VW/Audi has some of the most expensive diagnostic equipment in the industry and very few independent shops can afford it (Machines upwards of $40,000 in cost just to diagnose). Plus their dealers have a weird policy where you can't have your car serviced at just any dealer, they have to transfer your account like a doctors office. Very strange. Plus because of the alluminum frame bodywork and even windshield replacement can only be done at about 11 service centers around the country, and if there isn't one in your area your car will have to be shipped. Plus their resale is horrendus as you saw because of the alluminum frame and the preconcived image of Audi reliability. Nice car to drive once and a while but I wouldnt want to own one. Couple things... First there was no modern luxury package in 2003, the modern luxury package came out in 2004. If the car had nav and Mark Levinson it was a "Nav/Lev" package. Secondly make sure that you don't need a license to do that. What you're talking about is actually a career, its called being a car broker. In a lot of states individual brokers have to be licensed. I know car salesmen have to be licensed in all 50 states. 10% commission is also quite high. 10% commission on a $40,000 car is $4000, dealers wont markup cars much more than that. Also, if you do decide to look into being a car broker I'll need to set you up as an authorized trader for a fee if you want to market those services to others on the site for a profit. Oh, and with VSC on there is no way to get an LS sideways, I've tried even in the snow. EDIT- I just remembered your from DC. You definately need a brokers license to resell vehicles for profit like that.

Oh yeah, upgrading the wheel size makes a huge difference in the handling characteristics of the car. The reduced sidewal makes turn in much more responsive and makes the car seem much more nimble. The tradeoff is theres less sidewall to absorb bumps and less overall inner tire area to diffuse noise. LF- Bear in mind though that the MXV4 line was just updated with the MXV4 S8. I had those tires on an RX330 loaner and they were very quiet, maybe even quieter than the Toyos.

Having had grey and black interiors I'd always choose black. Gray does stay cleaner, but black is so sharp, it never gets old.

I use a microfiber sponge to wash and waffle weave microfiber towels to dry ;)

Yeah loose those tires as soon as you can, you will enjoy the car so much more with tires befitting its design. I kept my OEM tires way too long. I don't know why Lexus always fits its cars with such shoddy tires...

I was surprised to find out it doesn't come with an ivory interior! Thats very strange for Lexus, only grey and black. Tsquared-That green is very sharp too.

I was driving by Lexus of Rockville tonight and thought I'd stop real quick to look at a blue LS430 sitting there (I've been toying with the idea of trading up to an LS430 some time this summer, but thats another thread ;) ) and I saw an 05 ES in the blue shale mica with a grey interior. Very nice! I'd never seen one in this color before and I was very impressed. Comes with a black interior too, very nice. If I were buying an 05 thats probably what I would get, visually interesting but hides dirt better than my Black Garnet. Can't beat the glow of the garnet when its clean though... Just thought I'd share... Oh and there was a silver UL LS430 sitting there with black interior...thats what I'd get...maybe a CL package. Probably won't do it though...

Plus as has been expressed here before the hesitation is really a function of how you drive. Mine doesn't have any hesitation and its an 03. Which Michelin tires are you looking at? You might want to look at the Toyo Proxes TPTs instead, they're a much higher line tire than what comes on the cars from the factory. I have them on mine and my dad has them on his 04 LS430 (with 17" tires) and we're both very satisfied with them. Much cheaper than the Michelins.

The maintenance cost is really only high if you let the dealer do the service. If you find a good independent mechanic and a wholesale source for parts or even better learn to do some of the work yourself its not any more expensive to keep than any other car.

The reason there's not a lot of responses is all of this material has been covered before and the answers can be found by using a search. One thing I can set you straight on is the years and models, only the 98-00 model was still called the LS400, the LS430 came out in 2001 and the model is still called the LS430.