SW03ES

I disagree, I'm in sales and my father has been in sales for 30 years and he is the top of his field. While you don't want to appear "rich" as if you make TOO much money you do want to be successful. People like to do business with successful individuals. A Lexus, a Cadillac, or a Lincoln is really the perfect car for sales because its an expensive car, comfortable for your clients, but its not austentacious or showy like a BMW or a Mercedes or something of that nature. My business is doing well and is taking up less and less of my time and I'm considering getting my real estate license and selling some properties while I'm not working on my business. I've had meetings with several of the big brokers in the area and they all drive things like Cadillac Devilles, Lincoln Town Cars, Lexus LS' etc. Real estate isn't a business for Brioni suits and S600s, but a Hart Shaffner and Marx and a Lexus are well suited to it, IMHO. If you're afraid of looking successful to your clients you shouldn't be in sales. Sales is all about confidence. Of course it also has to do with your area and the types of clients that you're going to be coming in contact with. If you're in a less affluent area thats one thing, but people around here don't want to be shuffled around in a Maxima with 175,000 miles on it. As for lawsuits, real estate sales does include risk that most people don't realize, its actually fairly similar to being a doctor. BUT, you don't see doctors pretending to be poor to keep from having their patients sue them. Doctors have malpractice insurance, realtors have errors and omissions insurance to protect them. Whats important is your skills as a salesperson, the ability to size people up and know how to act around you. A doctor, his wife and his little girl sally in pigtails shopping for a million dollar house in Potomac isn't going to sue you over something frivilous just because you drive a Lexus, but that guy with the leather jacket who'se not too friendly and is looking for a condo in Silver Spring might. Personally? I just wouldn't do business with people that rub me that way. I know if I were shopping for a house, I'd be plain more comfortable being driven around all day for several weekends in a large car, like a Town Car or an LS that rides well and is comfortable. Welcome to the site!

You don't need a loan to trade something in...

Bear in mind I'm not saying he didn't win, he definately won. I'm just saying he and his supporters need a reality check if they think they've got a mandate, they don't. He's such an arrogant you know what he's going around acting like he won the election by 30%.

Unless I'm mistaken you're not a member of the Bush administration, hence don't buy into the spin they're selling because it isn't legitimate. In a 3 candidate election there is RARELY a majority, so why wouldn't this be the first clear majority since 1988? Its the first race since 1988 with only two national candidates.

I am Bush folks. You all can spout democrat talking points all you want, but it ain't gonna change a thing. ← I'm fully aware you're Bush folks, hence why you're spouting that spin. I'm saying I know its BS. And you couldn't have possibly read my post that quickly, meaning you have no intention to counter any of the arguments I've made. There's no counter argument to be made to what I've presented here because its cold hard numbers, no interpretation at all. So all you can do is write it off as "democratic" BS. And figure this one out, I'm a republican.

Thats because its the first time there's been a true two party election since 1988. Don't buy into that line, its just spin by the Bush folks. I'm not saying he didnt win, he clearly won, but he didn't blow the doors off anything, the election was very close. Very true, but he's still not lying. The worst thing you can accuse him of is propagandizing. Its not depressing, thats politics. Its insulting when Bush supporters, the Bush administration, and Bush himself accuse people of being unamerican because they question his motives and decision. Its our job and our right as citizens to question the decisions of our president. If anything its the Bush people who are unamerican for calling our patriotism into question because we're doing our duty. He's the president, not the king. The whole point of America is we're free to like him or not and should be free from persecution because of our views. But as you Bush people so produly hailed in 2000, its not the popular vote that wins the election, its the electoral vote. This election was won by one state, Ohio and it was won by 150,000 votes. But for the sake of argument lets look at the popular vote. Bush recieved 59,459,765 votes, Kerry recieved 55,949,407 for a total of 115,409,172 votes cast for Bush or Kerry. Bush won by a margin of 3,510,358 votes, thats 3.4%. Those are the facts, as reported by CNN and with some math being done by me. Now, here's Bill Clinton's re-election in 1996. THIS is a clear mandate. Clinton recieved 47,402,357 votes, Dole recieved 39,198,755 votes for a total of 86,601,112 votes cast for Clinton or Dole. Clinton won by a margin of 8,203,602 votes, or 9.5%. And Ronald Reagan's re-election in 1984. Reagan recieved 54,455,075 votes to Mondale's 37,577,185. Total of votes cast, 92,032,260. Reagan won by a margin of 16,877,890 votes, or 18.3%. Another historic re-election, Richard Nixon in 1972. Nixon recieved 47,169,911 votes to McGovern's 29,170,383 for a total of 76,340294 votes cast. Nixon won by a margin of 17,999,528 votes, or 23.6%. So see here, this is election data from the last 3 successful re-elections in our history, leaving out the third party candidates. No spin here. THESE are mandates, these people had the support of the country behind them. They were ratified by much larger margins than their first elections, were re-hired. We've got Clinton with 9.5%, Reagan with 18.3% and Nixon with 23.6%. Now, these people didn't neccisarily win by a landslide either. Nixon won in 1968 by only 510,000 votes, and he'd already been defeated by JFK in 1960 by a mere 118,000 votes. Yet Nixon's victory in his 1972 re-election was a huge huge increase. Bush may think he has a mandate, and Bush supporters may pretend he's got a mandate by throwing around terms like "first clear majority since 1988" while ignoring the real reason thats so, but he doesn't. 10% is a mandate, 3% is not. As for the congressional seats, many of them were won for the republicans because of creative redistricting. Take Texas for instance, the republican leadership in texas redistricted the state so that republican incumbents and democratic incumbents were fighting each other in republican controlled areas. Very sneaky. There are multiple lawsuits that should eventually make it before the supreme court to decide how that redistricting can be done to close that control loophole.

Don't do it, check out the responses here: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=14952

Interesting, I'm sure it varies by area.

I wonder if the difference in ride you're experiencing is the 17 inch wheels on the 05. My dad has driven LS' since 98 and I extensively looked at pre-owned 2000 LS400s before I got my ES300 in 03. I found the two cars rode very similarly, the LS is a little smoother in every respect but not enough to notice really unless you consistently switch back and forth from one to the other. When I drove an 05 I thought the new 17 inch wheels had hardened the ride somewhat too. You also might want to check the air pressure in the tires. Dealerships always over inflate the tires and that hardens the ride, I don't know what the specs are on the 17s but on my 03 with 16s the spec is 29psi.

Who knows, could be driving style (I'm not aggressive but I'm not slow, actually my guess is our driving styles are pretty similar given your post. My figures however are only based on the car's computer readout. I've never thought it seemed right (after a full tank it rarely tops 300mi range) maybe I have a discrepency in that system somewhere.

I think a lot of it comes from the fact that the ES today is significantly larger and heavier than it was in the days of yore. Its only 200 or so pounds lighter than an LS430, and even the 330 model has a not very spirited power to weight ratio. From my experience the best mileage you'll ever get is 25mpg on a highway trip.

Great taste in colors! Trust me, get a good detailer and let only him touch the car. Don't let the dealer wash it, only him. This black garnet scratches so easy its difficult for *me* to keep it looking good (and I've been detailing cars for 13 years) and it really looks shoddy if it gets swirled up. ONE improper wash and you can find scratches. Its a beautiful color though, worth it when its nice and clean, very rich. I get a lot of compliments on it, but its a lot of work. It needs to be washed weekly, waxed at least every 3 months and polished out twice a year. The paint is really soft. I think the deal with the ML stereo is that they need to "wear in" I know thats the case of ML home audio components. Mine sounds great, but the Nakamichi was a great system too. The ML system in my dad's LS430 is way better than the ML in the ES, that might make a difference too. How do you feel about the ride and drive coming down from the LS?

Very much so, Bush's problem is that he operates like he's a Clinton or a Reagan, presidents who very much had the will of the American people behind them. He only won the election by 51%, and his approval rating continues to run beneath 50%. Half the people in the country like this guy, on a good day. He talks about this re-election like its some huge victory for him, he actually won the popular vote this time, guess thats a victory. He has proven time and time again that he simply doesn't care what the other half thinks. THATS why I feel he's a poor president. Look at his latest chosen appointment for head of the FDA. Some christian fundamentalist that can be quoted saying birth control is abortion and that women suffering from PMS should read the bible and pray more. Is this the guy that even 1/2 the American people would choose to have the say over what new drugs and technologies become availiable to us? Does this forshadow bad things about these supreme court judge appointments, you bet. When there's a case of reported suicide because a president wins re-election, something is wrong.

Its also common for Bush supporters to imply that people that don't like the President are unpatriotic. Its that kind of bullheaded imperialism that makes me so afraid of Bush. Keep going on like that, one day the world's gonna rise up and put us in our place. As for Rudy, I'd vote for Rudy. His politics are very different from Bush, he's actually a republican. Bush is a christian fundamentalist, not a republican.

There ya go!

You should update it, mine works very well.

I get 20 tops around town.

In my experience the LS gets better mileage than the ES. The best I can hope for is 25 or so on a trip and it stays 18/19 around town. I think while the LS is a bigger engine its even over powered for its weight, meaning the engine doesn't have to work as hard as the ES, where the power is just adequate.

Plus the Gen II or Gen III fenders aren't going to match up to the doors of the first gen. Not worth it. A conversion from a gen II to a gen III would be more worthwhile

Naa, the RL HAS to command that price. Thats part of Acura's marketing program, they have to make people spend the money just because "Its an RL". Think about the LS? You could buy two loaded ES330s almost for what an LS430 loaded costs. I've already talked about how similarly they ride and drive. Why buy the LS430? Because "Its an LS430". Acura has to at least try to compete with that.

Not neccisarily. So much of getting elected is getting the party nomination and support. Americans love their past presidents but they always tend to look forward. Historically presidents who have already served, then leave, don't do well when they run again. Teddy Roosevelt for instance was a well regarded president who didn't run for a second term of his own, but ran as a third party candidate against Woodrow Wilson and someone else who'se name escapes me. He lost. Johnson and Ford could have served 9 years and 10 years respectively. Kennedy was shot in 1963 with 1964 being an election year. Johnson ran in 1964 and won but did not run in 1968 because of Vietnam. Ford took over for Nixon in 1974, ran in 1976 and lost to Carter. Most of that has to do with American's anger towards the republicans after Watergate moreso than anything having to do with Jimmy Carter. Much like Kerry Carter was "not Ford" and "not Nixon" and he ran on a platform of basically saying nothing and just using those things to his advantage.

Nope, no way to do it.

$260 to put oil in it every couple of weeks? What kinda oil you usin ;)

Moore didn't lie, he presented his version of the truth. Politicians are pretty much exempt from slander laws, freedom of speech and opinion. Lying and misrepresentation aren't illegal unless you do it under oath. Think about Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, he blatantly lied about it to the American people, but he was impeached for obstruction of justice, asking OTHERS to lie. No. There was a loophole in the constitution and it was more of a combination of a "gentleman's understanding" that a president not run after 2 terms served in office. Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran and was elected 4 times and after that new legislation was created locking down the 2 term limit. A president having served two terms cannot again hold the office of president or any office that would lead him to be president such as VP, pres. pro tem of the senate, secretary of state etc. Clinton could be a senator etc, but not President. Now, the 2 term limit doesn't have to be consecutive, so Bush Sr. could run again if he wanted to. The only time a president gets to serve more than 8 years in office is if heis the VP and becomes president because of something happening to the president. And even then only if the outgoing (or dead) president has something like half or less of their term remaining can the VP run himself for re-election twice.

That line is called the "cutoff" and thats normal with HID lights.