SW03ES

I wonder if they would be as kind if the car weren't leased through Toyota Financial Services.

That is very cool that they did that for you! See it only cost them a little bit of money and they made a customer forever, thats how you do business. I'm glad to see Lexus still recognizes that.

Cool!

Oh yeah the improved handling comes from the 17 inch wheels vs the 16 inch wheels. The tradeoff is a little drop in ride quality and more tire noise. If you want to make your 04 drive the same way put the 05's 17 inch wheels on it and buy some good quality tires. I've never driven an AVS car but they're supposed to have mushier handling. As for the delay, there hasn't been any change to the transmission or the throttle by wire system on the 05, my guess is when the 05 got broken in you'd experience the same hesitation. The 05 I drove behaved just like my 03.

I wish I had a JPI!

So you're gonna take the $700 taillight plunge? Damn...now I have to too. ;)

Again though, the statement "carnuaba outlasts synthetic" is hardly true across the board, in fact its *USUALLY* the opposite. Synthetics were designed as a longer tern solution in car care. Fact of the matter is you can't really say which product will last longer it all depends on the prepwork done, the environment, the continued maintenance, the application of booster products like QDs etc. I've used synthetics that had outstanding durability and lousy durability, and carnuabas that are the same.

They gave you a Cadillac loaner? Thats kinda strange... I HAVE heard of refunded lease payments before, but like RX in NC I doubt if that'll fly when you were recieving a similar stature loaner car.

I agree, carpeted dash covers aren't great but they're better than cracked dashes.

I should have given you the contact info of the detailer in Dallas! My guess is he'd have gone over to JP and done it for you there. I'll PM you it now.

Body shops typically don't strip paint they just sand it down to prep. The cracks wouldn't transfer as they'd be sanded out.

It needs to be repainted, proper prep before the repaint including sanding down the bumper should be fine.

They actually do come from the factory chromed, Lexus just doesn't ship chromed wheels to certain areas of the country. Lexus can order you factory chromed wheels they're just very expensive, so expensive they usually don't offer it as an option. In FL and CA for example almost all Lexus' come stock with factory chromes, you can find them on ebay if you look hard enough. The Factory chromes are MUCH more durable than rechromes. So, yours are re-chromed which means they are much more delicate and not clearcoated. I'd use a nice gentle metal polish followed by a high quality wax or sealant.

And the V710's bluetooth capabilities are limited, think of how useful it is with a phone that integrates properly.

Basically everything, there are too many differences between the two to even list.

Mine's leased for tax purposes as I'm self employed. My lease has a running buyout option though and I'm tempted to buy it outright sometimes. I really like it and would like to keep it for a while and every month spent leasing makes it less and less wise to buy it out. Maybe I'll sit down with an accountant and figure out what would be best to do.

If they are OEM Lexus chromes, meaning they came from the factory then you can use anything on them you can use on the paint as they are clearcoated ;)

Actually thats not true. The ONLY street legal color temp is 4100k, all OEM HID lights are 4100k be they on Audis, BMWs, Mercedes or Lexus. Some look different colors but that is because of the design of the projector housings NOT because of the color temp.

Try setting the resolution on your computer lower. TVs are much lower resolution than computer monitors (for the most part) and computer images seldom look on a TV like they look on a monitor.

Once you find all the buttons though I don't see how its more complicated than the car without nav.

I am a costco shopper and they do have good deals on tires... Hell maybe I'll give it a shot next time.

True, but I'm not really comfortable with the idea of having Costco service my car, and I don't have the time to drive to multiple locations or to wait and have service done...

If you'll look over my posts again you'll see that I reccomended Zaino to him already. You're not presenting a dissenting view from mine, I stated that the statement that all carnuabas last only a few weeks is false and that Zaino will not always last 6 months, these are facts not opinions. Longevity is almost completely contingient on the environment, washing procedures etc. Zaino will usually last longer than a carnuaba but thats not always the case. It is true that proper prep SHOULD include a swirl free exterior, but its oftentimes impossible to achieve a 100% swirl free exterior on a daily driver, especially if its a dark color. I take extremely good care of my car and it isn't 100% swirl free, maybe 90%. Nobody else on earth can see them but I can. Working constantly to remove all swirls does two things, it eats up your time and it constantly removes paint. 5,6,7 years down the line when the clearcoat starts to fail that will suddenly become a problem. So, thats why I don't use Zaino or Klasse, I can get the paint to a good looking place without overly risking the clearcoat depth then I can hide whatever minor is left with a final polish and a carnuaba that makes it look perfect. When its nice I enjoy waxing so I usually throw on another coat of something every week or two. I have EX-P sealant x2 and Meg's #16 on my car for 6 weeks now and its holding up fine. Its supposed to be fine this week I'll probably throw on another coat of #16. That said, if I had a silver car (which my next one will be) I'd definately use Zaino as its an excellent product. A miracle product though, or the best product its not. There are too many great products out there to call any product the best as they all have good and bad points, Zaino's no different.

And also keep in mind that a more accurate price is good or even fair condition.

Steve- I just replaced mine with heavyweight mats from Lloyd mats. They're 4 times as thick as the OEM mats and look and feel wonderful...