SW03ES

If you're talking about the hesitation when applying throttle from start then no, that hesitation exists in RWD Lexus also.

Do you have the new gen 4 system or is it an early model RX330 with the old Gen III system? The update is out for the gen III mut not the gen IV yet.

The best way to get keys is online from www.lexus-parts.com. They take all your proof of ownership info and send the keys cut and programmed for remote. All you have to do is program the key for start which is easy using the master key you've got. I think they have the master remotes for $175. You can also purchase a "master key" that isn't a remote key if you don't want to spend that much for another key. They don't ship the cars with these keys but its just like the valet key only black not grey. They can also use non-remote master keys to program new remote master keys if yours is ever lost. I think Lexus-Parts have these for $50. Thats what I did, bought a non-remote master and put it in my safe deposit box at the bank. Replacing the ECU is like $4000 so you don't wanna screw around there.

I'm sure that depends on the dealership...

Yeah its super easy. Its a crime the dealer charges 2 hours labor to install it...

Very interesting... I know when Motorola released the V710 for Verizon (I have one) they disabled most of the bluetooth functions so customers would have to use their pay per use services to transfer data. Because of that the phone is incapable of transmitting the phonebook to the car just as it is incapable of ringing when connected to the car, and incapable of transmitting signal stregnth info to the car. Everyone hoped when the phone came out for other CDMA carriers like Alltell the Bluetooth would be intact. That may not be the case...

Try www.lexus-parts.com for the part. It is just a hard drive and I assume it would be pretty easy to swap it out. Bear in mind that the map won't LOOK like the 04's nav, it will just have updated streets and POIs.

I personally don't find the X type appealing other than the exterior. The interior is VERY small and some of the plastics are hard and cheap and there's some "Fordy-ness" to some of the controls. Jags are overrated IMHO, all show and no substance. I don't like the look of the Avalon but the styling of the G35 has grown on me, especially the coupe...

Clearcoats don't really make a difference, a clearcoat is just paint, its paint with no pigment. All the clearcoat does is lock in the gloss of the paint and help hide minor marring. Clearcoat paints are harder than say single stage black but thats just because black paint is pigmented with carbon making it soft, single stage white for instance is very hard and resists scratching. The clearcoat also employs some UV protective qualities, but thats a longevity thing. Yeah rubbing compound is a no-no on modern paints. What you've done is marr the surface, the reason it looks okay when its waxed is because the wax has temporarily hidden the marring. Only thing to do now is polish it out with a buffer. None of thats going to work because none of those steps are abrasive. Polishing a car is like sanding, in order to get the right surface you have to switch to finer and finer abrasives. Rubbing compounds and wetsanding have their place but they always leave marring behind that needs to be followed up with finer abrasives.

Check your PM new big400.

I mean even in the way they drive... Just because two cars share the same platform (In this case the Mondeo platform) doesn't mean they're "similar" cars in the way that they perform.

I don't see any reason why you couldn't drive it on the beach, it should do great.

No thats definately not normal, they must have adjusted the valves to compensate for the startup noise and inadvertently caused the new noise.

I've driven an X Type AND a Contour SVT and don't see any similarities in them at all... I also really like the look of the X Type but they're cramped and resale is really poor.

Well some of the horror stories used to be true, like Army said its modern paints and modern WAXES that have changed that. Car paint used to be single stage and really pretty soft. Waxes also used to be hard, full of abrasives and harsh chemicals (along the lines of kerosene and gasoline). It used to be that if you waxes too much the chemicals would dull/remove the paint and you could do damage. Today that isn't a problem because paints are so much harder and waxes don't include the abrasives and petroleums that they used to. Even modern cleaner waxes are much more mild. One thing that still holds true is polishing, you want to limit polishing your vehicle to twice a year, that is breaking out a buffer and polishing with abrasives. Whenever you polish with abrasives you're removing a portion of the paint film, over polishing can accelerate sun damage and clearcoat failure.

Colin- I think its because Americans are more married to "3 months, 3,000 miles" and are less willing to deviate from that perception.

Two big things are the transmission and the concern of oil gelling. Make sure that whatever RX you buy has maintenance records that show oil changes every 5k and a transmission fluid change every 15k.

We looked at the Mazda 3 Wagon when we were shopping for her and liked it, but I can't vouch that Mazda service would be any better. As long as you have a decent Toyota dealer I say go for the Matrix.

It is. Its a great car and we really like it, we'd be 100% satisfied if the dealers would take us seriously with this problem. The problem is that the gas mileage has dropped recently, my fiance was getting between 48-50mpg now she's lucky if she can stay north of 35. The hybrid system includes a battery meter, the meter should never be full or empty. Sometimes you'll shut it off and the meter is right where it should be, then you turn it on the next morning and its empty. When its empty the car drives extremely rough and the mileage goes down to the single digits. The dealer "can't find anything wrong" and whenever we mention fuel mileage they always say "You can't go by the EPA ratings". I've tried to explain that we're not, but its not normal that the car WAS getting 48-50MPG now its getting 35. I always say "Even if it were a normal car, a 25% dropoff in fuel economy coupled with a drivability concern must warrent some sort of diagnostic attempt". I always get "We'll look into it" etc and never get called back, from multiple dealerships. Its really frustrating. We thought we found a dealer that had a recall but it was for the OLDER Prius. So we go to pick it up and they try and stick us for a $50 loaner charge. The loaner was supposed to be free because of the warranty work. Well, they thought the recall was for our car, but it was really for the old Prius. So they try and stick us for the loaner on the grounds that no warranty work was preformed. Bunch of crooks. At this same dealership we were talking to the service manager trying to replicate the problem and describe it to him. Carla makes the mistake of saying that she's discussed it on a Prius board, he looks at her and says in a smart assed tone "You heard this on the Internet? He's trying to sell us that he "helped design the hybrid system" (come on, he's the service manager at some crappy Toyota dealer in Washington DC, he didn't help design the hybrid system. Maybe he filled out a questionaire or something) and blah blah blah. I say "Look, this isn't the first car I've ever owned. Something has changed in the car and it doesn't drive right, its rough and sluggish. It wasn't rough and sluggish before, a $26,000 car shouldn't be rough and sluggish. It might be a Hybrid but its still a car, if it has a 25% dropoff in fuel economy something is wrong." The battery is still a battery, if its charged one second you shouldn't check it 3 hours later and find it dead. Makes no sense. He had no response to that, he's gonna "make some calls" and "call me back" which he of course never did. My next step is going to be getting a regional Toyota rep involved. We've had a couple other problems too. The CD changer jammed trapping all the CDs inside. It took 4 attempts to replace it. The first dealer said they would call back when the part came in, never called. So I took it to another dealer. Ordered the part, called when it was in. I took it over and waited, they ordered the wrong part. So put the dash back together and we'll order a new one. 6 weeks go by and they don't call so I call. Oh whoops, its been here all along! Take it in, get a call an hour later "Sorry, this unit has a scratch on the face of it, we're gonna put the dash back together come get it and we'll get another one to you. 6 more weeks, no call. Oh whoops we've had it the whole time! Finally done that time. All this, no loaners. A real pain in the !Removed!. Plus there's a problem with the smart entry system, the doors don't want to lock when you push the lock button. Plus I lost my key because of the stupid key design. The smart key is the size of a normal keyfob. It has a slide out metal key in case the battery goes dead so you can get in the car, you move a switch and the metal key comes totally out and seperate from the rest of the fob. Well guess what? The key is attatched to the key ring by this removable part. So, if that switch gets bumped in your pocket, you loose the $300 key. I'm fighting to get that covered under warranty too. All in all its a great car, has a few issues but it has a lot of tech too. I'd be more understanding if there were ANY decent dealers out there at all. As it stands though, the only Toyota products I'll buy again will be from Lexus.

If they will I'd gladly pay them the $98 an hour to do so. The real problem is warranty work, we've had some problems with the Prius (CD changer needing replacement, odd charging problem in the Hybrid system) and Toyota is extremely uncooperative, we've tried 4 dealers now. Stark difference to Lexus who will just replace things on your word, Toyota always has a chip on their shoulder.

Then thats going to require that you reduce the time between waxings.

Yep its pretty straightforward if you follow the manual.

Yeah thats about the best price you're going to be able to find. If you want cheaper you're going to have to go to a seperate tuner and control panel.

Yeah it should work fine.

They're not turning any business away, any business they're interested in anyways. Its the right of any business to pick and choose what they want to do. If the Toyota dealer won't work on your Lexus why get so bent up about it? Toyota service is terrible anyways (we have a Prius and I will never buy another Toyota brand product because the dealer support is so terrible. Shocking when Lexus service is so great) just find an independent shop to change your oil.