SW03ES

I'd buy an ES330. Honestly I drove all those cars and the ES is the clear winner. Unless sportiness is important to you, but I don't know why you would include the Avalon if that were the case.

Do not buy the Motorola V710, it does not work with the Toyota/Lexus bluetooth system. It will synch up and you can dial calls but it won't ring or display signal stregnth and there is no way to transfer the phonebook. This is because of Verizon crippling the bluetooth features to keep customers from getting around their data transfer fees.

Actually no. 2001 was the second and last year of the refreshed version of the ES that came out in 1997. The refresh debuted on the 00 model. 02 is the first year for the current ES.

You can't wax a car too much. The frequency a car MUST be waxed depends on the color, the area, where its parked etc. Varies probably from every month in extreme cases to every 6 months in more usextreme cases.

I don't reccomend letting them install it on the parcel shelf, thats where my satellite antenna is installed. Depending on the area the install on the package tray may cause signal dropouts as the satellite moves around the car and the signal can't pass through the C pillars or roof. For best reception the trunk lid or preferably the roof should be used. I'm gonna have mine moved.

Weird... There's got to be a leak somewhere. You'd have to spill a LOT of liquid in order to cause a problem like that.

The dealer charges $300 or so for a remote master key.

Trust me, a good stereo shop has done MUCH more complicated installs on LS430s than this ;)

But if you think about it Lexus owners are the same way, some rave about the service while others are displeased to the point of being combative...

It was really disturbing.

Thats not really unreasonable when compared to nav updates on other Lexus cars. Benz charges you for the first disc when you buy the car.

Sure! Just go into the gallery section and upload your photos, you can link them to posts from there.

Yep, the radar is the better system.

Congratulations! What kind of deal did you wind up getting?

That just goes to show you how differing experiences can be, even depending on the individual salespeople at the same dealership. I had a TERRIBLE experience at Pohanka Lexus and stormed out vowing never to set foot in the place again. I had a salesman who was a total slimeball, seemed like he should have been selling used Yugos. He insulted my fiancee repeatedly during the test drive making comments about "women" and how features of the car were designed for "the women" who are "always cold" and "complain about things like that". Then he uses antiquated car salesman games using 4 squares and trying to chide profit from different sides of the transaction and quoted me a lease payment of $800 by artificially inflating the money factor and refusing to note the discount on the vehicle we had agreed upon, sales manager wasn't much better. Called me repeatedly saying things like "Enjoyed rappin' with you" and crap like that, very unprofessional. I wrote them a very stern letter and never recieved a response. I would never in good concience tell anyone to go to Pohanka Lexus.

One day LOL

When the Lexus is 13 years old I can understand why money would be an issue, its only worth $5-6,000. Anyways he's looking for under $120 a tire which puts many many great high performance tires in his reach, he's not wanting to put Sears brand on it or something.

Thats not all that uncommon on oldervehicles with clogged A/C evaporator and aging seals but thats unheard of on a 2003... There's got to be a leak somewhere. Did you buy the car new or used?

It shows you have a sense of humor :D

Yeah, the updates for the system come out every year. Its about $500 from the dealer, $288 online (easy to do yourself). You don't have to update every year, just when there are areas added that you're interested in. Mine is an 03 with 02 software thats never been updated and its fine around here.

Yes, radar cruise is availiable and has been since late in the 04 run.

This is the understatement of the century lol

Congrats! We need pics!

We need to have Matt put that in the smiley list LOL

Its simply the "LS XM Kit" you can pick it up from your dealer for $500 or so and I think they charge $750 to install it. You can also get it online for a little less at www.lexus-parts.com and have a stereo shop install it for you. Find a high end stereo shop and look for other expensive cars in having stereo equipment installed. My guess is anywhere form $75-$150 from an independent shop.