SW03ES

The transmission hesitation is found on all Lexus cars with electronic throttles. My dad had a 98 LS400 before his 04 LS430, it had the hesitation and so does his new one, so does my ES300. As for the seat, have you tried adjusting the legnth of the seat bottom?

And I have heard of every one of those models, could point them out in pictures and could give you a breif general timeline of their lineage. Again, please stop talking to me like I'm not a car enthusiast because I don't have a BMW.

Thats just simply not true. I can name your probably 10 people off the top of my head who purchased brand new BMWs and then had serious reliability and quality problems right after purchase, some of them getting new cars from BMW and some of them selling the cars themselves within a matter of months after purchase. My dad has a client that had an LS400 and traded it on a 750iL. He had so many problems he sold it 3 months later and bought an LS430 at a substantial loss. I'm not saying ALL BMWs have these problems, but they definately have more reliability and quality issues than Lexus, Acura, Infiniti, Cadillac, or Lincoln. I believe they're still rated higher than Mercedes though. This has been proven through comparitive owner surveys. High maintenance vehicles and are designed to be as such? Thats something all BMWophiles say and it doesn't make any sense. You're saying they DESIGN the electrical systems to get screwy if driven on salty roads or that they DESIGN simple convenience components such as power windows and navigation systems that exhibit electrical gremlins that cause irreperable system failures? They didn't design these things that way, its poor engineering. I'm not saying BMWs are bad cars but saying they're reliable cars is far from the truth, all the evidence supports the OPPOSITE of that view. Thats another thing BMWophiles always purport, that they are the only true enthusiast and owners of "lesser" vehicles like Lexus, Mercedes, whatever simply aren't enthusiasts or car people. Thats simply rediculous, like I said before, look around these and other Lexus forums and you will find PLENTY of tuners, PLENTY of DIYers, and PLENTY of people that track race their cars. Thats not unique to BMW owners and they don't corner the market on car enthusiasts. Niether has my Ford Explorer, but I'd never call it well built or reliable.

What he's saying is you should leave O/D on and only turn it off when towing or when driving the car under load.

Alan- Yep, once we've paid our $50 ;)

If its not possible thats perfectly okay, but those members that can PLEASE chip in ;)

LOL, if BMW owners are as DIY as you say, why does BMW now offer all scheduled maintenance free at the dealer? There had to have been some sort of demand for that. I have a client that has a new BMW 530i, I noticed it had a nail in the tire and showed her and her response was "Wow...will that give me a flat eventually?" LOL, THAT is the typical BMW owner. Face it, people that fork over the small fortunes it costs to buy these cars new or lightly used simply aren't interested in doing their own maintenance anymore. For one thing the more complex these cars get, the more difficult it becomes to do so, but mostly its just out of laziness. I love cars and I'm reasonably knowledgable. More about the industry than the mechanics but knowledgable nonetheless. The fact of the matter is though, the extent at which i have the time or the desire to do things to my car myself is washing it and detailing it. Thats all I'm interested in doing to it. I'm more than thrilled to drop it off at the dealer and let them do the maintenance. I'm just not interested in doing it myself. As for modifications, no real interest in that either. Thats not unique to Lexus owners though BMW owners are the same way. Look around here and other Lexus forums, PLENTY of Lexus owners into doing their own work and doing all kinds of modifications, even on brand new cars. What you have to understand though is these people are the vast minority when compared to most owners of all of these cars, Mercedes, Lexus, BMW doesn't make a difference. "there are people who do that sort of thing" thats the mentality at work here. See thats the whole point you're missing, as a BMW owner you have to be prepared for that sort of thing. I drive a Lexus, my car runs. Everyday. No being broken down on the side of the road for me. ;) When I push a button, it does what its SUPPOSED TO DO! I can drive it in the salt, I can drive it in the rain, it runs the same regardless, I can drive it for 250,000 miles and my biggest complaints will be a clunky suspension and a sunbleached dashboard. I know BMW owners that can't say that after 60k miles!

Nor do I care to B)

If you're not experienced I'd stay away from the rotary polisher on the car, at least until you've mastered the PC and have had plenty of practice time with the rotary on some junk panels. Basically the PC is the "novice's friendly friend" it maximizes the results a hobby detailer can get, but its not suited for hardcore paint correction, which the rotary is. The rotary can also burn through your paint, which the PC can't do. Check out the tutorials at www.lexuscarcare.com about proper use of the PC.

Please everyone! Nobody makes any money off these forums, its just to help keep the costs to the admins down as low as possible. Thanks!

Or any BMW thats out of warranty ;)

Please! Everyone who can, upgrade your membership to gold status. Nobody makes any money off of these forums, all this does is try and offset the ever expanding cost of running this place.

Thats probably a completely seperate issue...

We just bought a new puppy! We drove up to PA yesterday to meet her and to give the breeder the deposit. She's a 6wk old Sheltie pup, bi blue color and she only weighs about 4lbs! We get to go back and get her in 3 wks. I have pics, I'll post them.

Actually it worked pretty well, I intuitively knew how to operate all the functions without the book. This system and Audi's similar system are very easy to use. BMWs is the one that takes some learning. Eventually all cars are going to have to have these things because of the sheer number of buttons neccisary to run the vehicle's components. The new LS430 in 2007 is supposed to have one.

Best thing to do is find a used car broker. They can search the whole country for them, buy them at auctions etc.

Thats the matra of all the BMWphiles I've known "They're just little problems!" "You need to learn some troubleshooting skills!" or "These cars are just tempermental" or "They have character, unlike that Lexus". Well if having no character means it always runs properly then I'm pleased my Lexus doesn't have any. Why would I want to buy a car thats going to have its electrical system go screwy if I drive it on salty roads? Thats not "a thing" with BMW, thats poor engineering... I like my $40,000 purchase to run, and stay out of the shop. I don't want to nor should I have to learn any troubleshooting skills.

Like jrag said, don't be overly concerned about this problem. According to the independent investigation by the NHTSA they found that the accidents where the car was accused of accelerating unintentionally have all been deemed driver error. I think there were 6 reports filed with the NHTSA on the ES, which is not a lot compared to other models and not many at all when compared to the total # of ES on the road. I would be more concerned about the e-throttle lag do some research on that, odds are you probbaly won't even feel that though, most owners don't.

I'm gonna move this to the detailing forum. You can try a dedicated plastic polish, such as Novus #2 followed by Novus #1 or Plexus etc or you can try a metal polish.

Not directly, I just heard that somewhere

LOL

Nice work!

LOL, I'm sure there's no motor but there's definately something there when you pull the key out.

If he had minor annoyances with the Lexus, the LAST thing he needs is a BMW ;)

True lol