SW03ES

Brent- Thats an excellent price, you couldn't have hoped to do much better than that. How hard was it to negotiate to there? I've found most Lexus dealers are pretty fair and will quote you a fair rpice right off the bat, at least around here.

God works in mysterious ways ;)

Unfortunately without the master key the entire car must be re-keyed and the ECU must be replaced. No way around it, thats how the system is designed.

There really is no way to pop the dents out yourself reliably unfortunately. PDR is a highly specialized skill.

How would you know rocks were hitting your hood? Hundreds of rocks and pebbles hit your hood everyday, unless its a peice of gravel you're not going to notice it. Who knows why your Lexus got hit and your van hasn't, like I said its just bad luck. Thats why we test drive cars extensively before we buy them. If you want a car that is exactly like your LS was, don't cheap out next time. Thats also not a fault of Lexus or the car. You want the best of both worlds, something as good as your LS in all of these ways but you want to save $600 a month too, well it just doesn't work that way. The ES is the highest quality car in its class and that class does not include the LS. Lexus designed a great entry level luxury car, and a great flagship luxury car. They didn't design the ES to make people who were used to driving LS' totally happy, what business sense would that be? There'd be no reason to trade up. I love my ES but I never would have traded an LS that I had since new that was only 5 years old on a new ES. Nobody's bashing anything here except you, simple because we disagree with you we're biased? From your original postings to this thread and these latest ones it seems apparant to me that all you're interested in is a place to complain and a bunch of people to agree for you and support you that you've been handed such a raw deal. We've continuously given you ideas and alternatives and just like before you aren't interested in fixing your problem, you either want it fixed for you or you just want to complain about it. If thats your view on what an owners club should be then I can't say I'm sorry to hear you won't be back. I think you're more than a little over dramatic about this whole situation. Ranting and raving about a dealer !Removed! you over, saying "Maybe this is a sign, maybe God doesn't want me to buy a Lexus" freaking out over a few rock chips and letting them completely sour you on the car. Come on, I don't think God or anyone else cares what you drive. If you've got a problem, fix it. We will and have tried to help with advice. You have to decide whether you want to take that advice and try to be happy with your purchase or if you want to keep complaining about it. Whining doesn't solve anything, a phone call and $600 will keep you from ever having this problem again. You've rejected that course of action because its close to Christmas and you feel you shouldn't have to pay $600 to protect the front of a brand new $40,000 car. Well thats your decision but you've got to live with the chips then. I decided against the clear bra and decided I would take my chances, and I don't cry foul every time a rock hits my hood. I could have protected it, I chose not to.

Yep, gotta give them credit there.

Yeah, the dealer can do the install now just like they would have if it were brand new ;) You can also buy the kit online and have a stereo place install it, its not hard.

Still trying to get this done? You might want to try getting the reccomendation of an installer from your Lexus dealer. The install on the ES is pretty straightforward. You might be out of luck though about the FM modulator, I can't think of any other way to connect it currently...

Jag has made HUGE improvements in quality and dealer service.

I own the exact same car in the exact same color, mine has almost 40,000 miles of DC beltway driving and I don't have a significant chipping problem. Sure I have some chips but thats to be expected after 40,000 miles, especially around here. Like I've said before I think you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that happens. Problem is solved forever with a $600 clear bra. You spent $40,000 on this car, whats another $600 for a clear bra? What I find a problem and I assume others do too is your wild swings in mood. You post one day talking about how beautiful it is and about how great the color is, and how you don't want to park it anywhere, you take your van grocery shopping so the Lexus doesn't get damaged. Then the next day the paint gets chipped and now the car is substandard to this van that you were willing to put in harms way as something inferior to save the Lexus before? It just doesn't make any sense. Rock chips are just bad luck. Not the car's fault or your fault. The same thing happened with your dealer, some independent dealer screws you over and suddenly the Lexus is a substandard car. As for being impressed with your LS and not the ES, well sometimes that happens when you switch to a car that costs almost half what your previous car cost, thats not Lexus' fault either. You're simply not being fair. You can't compare a $37,000 car to a $70,000 car, thats insane. The ES is a great car, and its very similar to the LS (it was designed to be so) but its NOT an LS. If they made it equal to the LS in every way nobody would buy an LS. If you wanted to have exactly the same experience you had with your LS you should have kept it or ponied up the bucks for a new one. As for the lease payment, this is off topic but $660 is WAY WAY high for a lease payment on an ES, you can get into a GS430 for that, and you could ALMOST lease a base LS430. My lease payment is just over $500 with $0 down and mines a 2003, with every option, the 2003s were even a couple thousand dollars more expensive than the 04s and the 05s. I could have bought my car for $660 a month... The purpose of this forum is to be a place where Lexus owners can discuss both positive and negative aspects of their vehicles, seek help to common problems, and find great benefits and services to help make the ownership of their Lexus more fulfilling. Its NOT a place to offhandedly whine about your vehicle and expect everyone to hold your hands. A couple of paint chips within the first couple weeks do not a problem with the car make. It means you were out on the road and a couple pebbles off a truck found their way to your hood. Could have happened to anyone. We've told you what you can do to keep the problem from happening again, keeping your car chip free is not Lexus' responsibility.

Most people don't realize the transformation that went into the 02 ES over the older models, it really is a vastly different car. Bigger, heavier, smoother, quieter. The older versions of the ES were actually pretty sporty in comparison. It really is designed to go after a different buyer. I for instance was never interested in the ES until I drove the 03, I had driven older ES' several times over the years and wasn't really considering it in my shopping (I was looking at the GS and used LS', Acura TL, Infiniti I35, Lincoln LS, BMW 5 series, A6) but when I drove the 03 ES it was just the perfect car, and really totally different than the ones I'd driven before. I've actually heard several owners lament the fact that Lexus really doesn't have a entry sport luxury car to compete with the likes of the 3 series and Acura TL, the ES is too smooth and detatched and the IS isn't luxurious enough. Supposedly that'll be rectified in the next IS with a more traditional interior.

Armor all is actually a pretty decent product nowadays as its not water based not solvent based. 303 is special (and expensive) because it actually molecularly bonds to the plastic material that its spread on and its the only protectant on the market that has been proven to actually have UV protective properties. Its used by Nasa and our government to protect plastic surfaces on fighter jets, ships, etc etc. You probably wont find it anywhere locally but your best bet would be to find a marine store or an outdoor store that sells kayaks.

Bend a tab? LOL. I had two rattles on mine, one in the rear doors and one in the windshield. To fix the doors they pulled off a peice of weatherstripping that causes the noise, all fixed, and removed two "useless" tabs on the windshield, problem solved. Sounds like quality control needs to tighten up some.

That sounds familiar. Hopefully Bush can find some way of doing SOMETHING to force people to be more responsible with their right to seek damages in court...

wwest- I believe the old addage "they don't make em like they used to" applies. Even the new LS's aren't as solid as the old ones, still very solid though.

That sucks, I hate it when they have to compromize the fit of the door panels... They probably just adjust the upper limit of the motor to cut out the sound.

From what I've heard from others aftermarket stereos in the RX are difficult, but not impossible. I'll let those who know more about the subject tell you further...

Yeah having the Lexus loaner always takes the edge off being without mine when its in the shop, I always request an RX so I can have fun driving something different.

Yeah the advent of the IS allowed Lexus to concentrate soley on luxury, theres nothing sporty about the new ES. I absolutely love mine, I like it more every mile I drive it. Its a great car, feels like something twice as expensive.

Thats the first complaint I've heard about the seats in a Gen II or III, plenty of people complain about the seats in the gen I.

In all honestly silver, skip the nav on a gen III. The system has a small screen and is very difficult to update compared to the gen IV cars. Not to mention it has reduced functionality and less POIs.n Get Nakamichi instead. And 99.9% of 99s and 00s have HID ;)

You can't really copmpare a van and a Lexus though. The Odyssey is a nice van, but its no Lexus. Rock chips are just a part of life, my guess is you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

No, thats a JDM Toyota Crown Athlete. Its actually smaller than the LS. You wont see any pics of the new LS, Lexus is VERY tight about that sort of thing. You wont see it until it debuts at some auto show.

Yeah, definately something to keep in mind...

Thats a part of doing business in this day and age unfortunately.