SW03ES

Not that I know of. The dealer has a whole list of C_BEST settings that can be altered, ask them to fax it to you. I don't remember there being anything about that beeper though.

99ls- The RX330 is significantly more stylish than the 300 ;)

Generally they have two loaners, an RX330 or an ES330. If you have a Lexus car they give you a ES330 if a Lexus SUV they give you an RX330, unless you specify one or the other.

Keep in mind sk isn't calling you a hoebag LOL, thats the name of a member in Houston ;)

I don't think there really is a way to stop that beeper, cars have been equipped with those beepers for the last 20 years...

Yeah thats a very good price in the market for that car even today. I definately agree with your advice about maintaining relationships, a lot of people try to wring every last dollar out of the dealership as opposed to treating them with respect and realizing that they need to make a living too. Anyone who says they hate buying a car is really making the situation unpleasant for themselves. Treat a car salesman with respect and reach a fair deal for both parties and you'll have an ally to help you purchase cars at a good price way down the line. The woman I bought my Lexus from and I had a great transaction and she even sends my car birthday cards lol. Don't worry about the fiscal advice, keep it comin ;)

They gave you a trailblazer as a loaner? Yuck.

From what I've heard actually the 18s don't seem to make that big a difference on the ride of the LS vs the 17s. My dad has an 04 with 17s and I agree the 18s look much nicer.

You do awesome awesome work. Ever thought of doing some stuff for profit? If you were closer to me I can think of several things I'd gladly pay you to do!

What was the total cost, if you don't mind me asking? I think the salesman would have gone down to $33k on the one I looked at but it was CPO.

A KIA?!?!? ;) That sounds pretty in the ballpark to me.

Those stick on wood appliques they install on areas of the car that don't have wood are very prone to peeling, thats not really Lexus' fault. They sold the kit and cover it under their warranty but they don't make the kits nor do they probably install them, its more likely another company they had come in and install the kit. As for getting their attention about the problem, good luck and keep us posted!

The armor all will come off with a good all purpose cleaner lol. Used car dealers do that all the time, its terrible. As for comfort you should drive it and then drive one 2002 and up, the 2002 is designed to be less sporty, its significantly larger, and it should be closer to that big car feel you're used to in the 740iL. IMHO it would be a hard adjustment to go from a 740iL to a 2000 ES, less hard with an 02+. I know of a couple people that have traded their LS400 Lexuses in for 02+ ES's and have been happy. I have back problems too (not as serious as yours) and I find my ES very comfortable on the highway. One thing you need to make SURE of is that you have oil change records. The engines on 97-01 ES300s gel up fast if oil changes are spread out. Look for oil changes every 5k.

The wood was peeling around the clock area or off to the sides around the guages or below the pass. airbag? I ask because if you have wood around the clock that wood is aftermarket, the ES doesn't come with wood there. The rear window could be any number of things, that should be covered under warranty too. My car has 30some,000 miles now and I haven't had any of those problems, they've fixed a couple rattles and swapped out the brakes because of grinding but thats it. They replaced the drive belts yesterday because it was idling kind of loud, again under warranty. Unfortunately Lexus is really in a position where they don't have to do anything because the NHTSA deemed there was nothing wrong with the car causing the unintended acceleration. My guess is this is another problem having to do with the terrible DBW system on these cars. Only thing I can suggest you do is file a complaint with the NHTSA. You also might want to try contacting Lexus directly as opposed to communicating with them through the dealer.

RX in NC has it on the head. 26 is going to give you the ride Lexus intended but at the expense of treadwear. Of course you care more about ride than treadwear right? lol, kidding. On the 16inch equipped ES's (00-04) the reccomended PSI is 29, my Lexus dealer inflates them to 32 because they feel 29 is too low, I air them down to ~31. I actually think it rides better at 31 than 29. Basically treat the 16 as the low end with the max pressure on the tire as the high end, you can adjust it freely in there to your liking.

Main problem ith the SP Sprt 5000 is that Dunlop doesn't have great quality control or consistency among sets. My dad put a set of SP 5000s on his 98 LS and while they started out good they became noisy as they got old, became cupped and vibrated terribly on the highway from 5000 miles on. They were terrible tires and I'd never buy another set of Dunlops again because of them. Also Dunlops tend to have treadwear ratings way at the bottom end of the spectrum. I have the Toyo Proxes TPT's on my car and am VERY happy with them, and he just put them on his 04 LS also on my reccomendation and is also very happy with them.

Yes, something causes the vehicle to surge forward when resting at a stop or slowing down. I'm not sure what it is but every once and a while I can feel it start to load onto the brakes. Thats certainly never happened to me though. The NHTSA did an investigation of the Toyota Camry, the ES300/330, the RX300/330, the Highlander, and the Lexus LS430 because of reports of cars suddently accelerating causing accidents. The NHTSA found that these reports were due to driver error and were not the fault of the car company. Really all you can do is file a report with the NHTSA. As for the wood, does the car sit outside all the time? Do you use any kind of lotions on your hands or use anything like armor all on the actual wood? I've seen wood wheels fade on cars that sit outside in the sun all the time. The peeling is a new one for me though. Can you post some pictures of that for us? The wood used on the ES is natural and like any peice of wood furnature it needs to be protected so that it won't fade when exposed to the elements. Use of wood polishes like pledge or even car wax are advised. Lexus SHOULD cover these things under warranty though. That steering wheel is almost $2000 and that console is around that too.

Should be the same, my guess is it depends on the year. Or that may be the built in cellular antenna.

Its been a while since you had the new transmission put in so I didn't remember the specifics. What you have to understand is you and I are talking about entirely different topics and I believe some members are too. I'm talking about a slight delay when pushing the throttle too quickly from a rolling stop, 1-5mph. The throttle will lag and the car will kick. This doesn't happen at speeds and the freezing issue your transmission exhibited was certainly very different. THIS you can drive around by learning to be smoother on the throttle, I don't see how you could drive around your problem and I agree, it is dangerous.

But he's authorized here ;)

Yep, almost exactly. They had a black on black 2000 LS with 33,000 miles for $34,500 and my $39,670 ES went for 35k. The LS had everything but nav, but it had Nakamichi and was in near perfect shape. It took extensive driving of them back to back to back to decide lol One big difference is though that I wanted to lease and the lease wouldn't work out on the 2000 LS because of how the money factors are set up. My payment on the ES is just shy of $500 and the lease payment on the LS would have been $700 and some.

Yep, and "the harder it is to take off, the longer it lasts!"

I was faced with the same choice, I chose a new ES over a CPO 2000 LS for a couple reasons: 1. Its new. I can't help it but I was buying my first Lexus and I wanted a new one. The ES was pretty close to the ride and drive of the LS anyways, was fWD, had a bigger trunk and it was new. 2. Its cheaper to maintain. As you know the dealerships have a whole 'nother price book for the V8 cars. 3. DVD vs hard drive navigation. 4. It was new. 5. It was new. ;)

Acura TL is another good choice.

What year BMW?