SW03ES

LF- Sure, thats your decision and it works for you. You don't accuse the Lexus dealer of ripping people off though. There are reasons people use the Lexus dealer, they provide a service and just because you don't choose to use it doesn't mean it shouldn't be offered. Why do some people buy clothes at Nordstrom they can buy at Macy's or Hechts? Many times they're the same clothes but they're as much as 50% more at Nordstrom. You pay for the atmosphere, you pay to have your !Removed! kissed, you pay so they bring your packages to you from around the counter instead of handing them to you etc. Its the same way having your car serviced at Lexus vs. Toyota. I just bought a couple new suits, one I bought at Nordstrom for $1300 one I bought at Syms for $500. Same brand of suit, Hickey Freeman. Why buy suits at Nordstrom? Well there I got a personal fitting, suit was well pressed, got a really nice solid wood hangar, nice thick canvas suit bag and they carried it out to my car. At syms I changed clothes in a room that was like a locker room (everyone changes out in one big room) and I got the suit back on a plastic hangar wrapped in a plastic bag LOL. You get what you pay for, some people care about that, some don't. I do sometimes but not always. Sorry about the clothes analogy, I've been Christmas shopping

Lex- Newer engines have adaptive ECUs and are much more forgiving when it comes to using lower grades of fuel.

They get that they sell a lot of cars, power is big right now, thats what buyers want. People want good gas mileage but not at the expense of power. Nissan is going to use the Toyota hybrid system too.

When we bought my fiance's Prius she wanted black, her car sits outside behind my car that sits in the garage and I told her no way, the black would be WAY too hard to keep up with it sitting outside.

Not neccisarily as people are buying in January to stock for Feb. You'd probably do better in Dec.

The LS/Celsior was designed for the American luxury buyer and the American highway system specifically and the Celsior came out at the same time.

Something was wrong with that ES then. You can't use rental/loaner cars as examples of particular cars because of the hard life they lead. The 300C I drove was brand new and had 8 miles on it. Its not that its not "Lexus" smooth, its not smooth as in its unrefined. BMWs don't ride like Lexuses, there's road feel and engine noise thats designed to be there. BMWs though are still "smooth" they're refined in everything they do. Ferraris aren't Lexus riding but they're "smooth". The 300C's problem is that its unrefined and coarse in places that its competition in luxury brands are not. That "smoothness" is the marque of a well engineered car. the 300C is not smooth in the way a Ford Truck isn't smooth. Its coarse and unrefined in places. Now, the tradeoff is the style and power, the 300C's competition can't match it for power but I'd rather trade smooth refined engineering for some ponies. I also disagree that people that buy sedans aren't looking for practicality, they definately are. People who don't need the car for its space or people seating and want power buy sports cars, plenty of 2 door sporty cars in the 300C's price bracket that are much quicker and better handling than the 300C. The ONLY reason to buy a sedan is that you need it for something, a practical consideration. The 300C isn't designed to appeal to a young 20something who doesn't care about practicality. The 300C is a great car for the money, but its not going to take buyers away from Lexuses, BMWs, Mercedes, Acuras, Infinitis etc.

Are you sure its a 2005? 2005 models have already been released. I'd bet that its actually a 2006 model. All the spy shots of it say its a 2006. Bear in mind that the all new ES comes out as a 2007 model, so it'll have all that equipment and more.

Alan- No Lexus cars are built in the US. They build SOME RX330s in Canada now but thats it, the rest are made in Japan.

Is it? Cool, it wasn't availiable when I looked at them a couple months ago.

But if you know how to wash it you wont have any swirls, mine doesn't have any swirls. On a clearcoated black car you aren't getting any more swirls than you'd get on say your silver RX, its just on the silver you can't see them.

Interesting point...I didnt think of that That would also help for people who want to tint their windows. You can't use metallic tint on cars with GPS because it interferes with the antenna.

Yeah theres really no reason to put 93 octane in the car, thats true of all Lexus engines.

Gotta keep in mind though at Lexus you're paying for things they don't do at Toyota: 1. A loaner car, a rental comparable to an RX330 would cost you probably $60 a day. 2. Free wash 3. Upgraded waiting area with refreshments and satellite TV 4. Higher paid service techs with more seniority and experience in customer service 5. Pickup and dropoff. Lexus dealers will come get your car and bring you a loaner, then bring it back when they're done. It doesn't totally excuse the cost, but you've got to understand that you're not comparing equal service to equal service. Most Lexus owners are content to pay the Lexus service prices so they're not being underhanded. If they FORCED you to use Lexus that would be one thing, but they don't and Lexus service costs are comparable to other luxury brands.

If you put the time into a dark color and keep it sealed and detailed properly then it will last just as long as a light color. I've got the black garnet now and its gorgeous but I will be honest with you, it will be my last dark color. Its beautiful but its so much work and it scratches SO easily. The worry over brushing up against it or bumping the top of the rear bumper when loading is annoying and you don't get that with a white, silver, light green etc car. Another thing to keep in mind is Lexus black has no clearcoat which means it will need to be detailed more frequently and it is VERY soft, probably the softest paint in the industry. I've detailed many Lexus' in black and while they clean up really well also because the paint is soft, they need cleaning up a lot more. My advice? Go for the black if you have a good detailer you trust to wash it every week and to wax it every other month or so. If not, skip it. Lexus has a lot of really nice lighter colors that are much easier to take care of.

I don't know that its in the front windshield, its usually on the rear window. The tech will probably refuse to mount it on the rear shelf because the instructions from Lexus say to mount it on the trunk lid and they're not "supposed" to deviate from that. Its not the tech's fault he could get in serious trouble for mounting it elsewhere.

Jill- If you want to send me a check I'll pay your gold membership with a credit card.

The 3liter V6 is sensitive to the type of gas and it will knock from time to time. Mine knocked once and the dealer told me the same thing. I switched gas brands and it hasn't knocked since. Just for fun, try going down a grade in gas from 93 to 89 and see what happens with the knock. I've heard some people say that actually going DOWN a grade remedies the intermittant knocking.

I have the same car and I have a satellite radio antenna on the rear deck, no reception problems on the GPS.

By domestic though they mean produced by an American carmaker. Chrysler is only arguably a domestic carmaker though...

If its a temporary stepping stone then it may be worthwhile as simply a means to an end. How long do you think you'd have to do it? As for the train I'm sure that there are trains leaving Sacrimento in all directions. I've never been to CA but I know how it works here. Here we have the metro system in the city and Amtrak and Marc trains. Amtrak services the northeastern corridor (up 95 towards New York) and Marc services the northwestern corridor (up towards Pittsburgh). A lot of people come into DC to work and take trains up into western Maryland and Delaware where its cheaper (and nicer really) to live. It all really depends on where your work would be relative to a train station.

No AWD in the states, at least not yet. I drove a 300C. I love its style, its definately the best looking car for the money no question there. My qualms with it were its interior and its build quality. Materials still aren't as good as entry level luxury cars most notably the ES and I also experienced some rattles even on a brand new one. Dash is made of cheap hard plastic and the seats aren't even triple stitched. The C model rode harder than the base premium model which had a more traditional ride. I didn't notice any significant visibility problems compared to my ES. Its a nice car but its nothing like a Lexus, Infiniti, BMW etc.

There's a safety plate on the sander? I didn't know that. No problem getting it from Coastal Tool, I think they probably have the best price on it anyways.

These are similar but they're a little bit different: http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/1161656/c/1154.html The grain on the deerskin of mine is a little more pronounced.

I'm trying to find some pics of them online...