SW03ES

Sorry Chris, sometimes its hard to notice new posts in thread that are stickies at the top of the forum. I hope you get this. Basically a glaze is designed to be applied UNDERNEATH a wax and serves as "makeup" for the paint. Its not going to last long. I think your problem is in your prep, for the best look that lasts the paint needs to be as perfect as possible before you wax. Sounds like your problem is that you're relying on things like wax, glaze, and quick detailers to make the paint look good, these products will do that but the look won't last. Read around on here, on autopia.org and at lexuscarcare.com for ideas about products and tecniques. Hope that helps!

It should work fine on all years with the DVD nav. Its very easy to change, simply access the drive door by pulling off the cover in the trunk and eject the old disc.

PERSONALLY I don't really care for the IS. Its a good looking and fun little car but it rides poorly, the interior is far cheaper than the other Lexus offerings and it is *very* small. We looked at an IS300 for my fiance (I never considered it when shopping for the ES, she loves the IS) and its a neat little car, but you really can do better for the money. The G35 is an example, great car, more grown up looking with a nicer yet still sporty interior. Only tradeoff is in resale.

I've already let the situation drop and have moved on. Misunderstandings happen, no big deal. No reason that we can't discuss this topic, as long as you continue to respect my view as I respect yours then *I* have no problem. I do have a quick question for you though, about my advice of trying to adapt to the behavior of the throttle being dangerous, what advice would you give people? There is no fix, the only choices are A: Sell the vehicle or B: Try and live with it. I'm not sure exactly what your advice for these folks is. That may not make you happy in the long run. I've heard a lot of complaints about the new 7 and 5 series cars that they exhibit the same throttle lag. I have a client that has a new 530i, the lag is definately there also and she's commented about it. I haven't heard anything of this sort about Mercedes vehicles, that might be a better route to go down.

Thats my guess too. The ES has no feature to cause a beep when reversing.

Sirius definately for programming, but XM definately for their integration into the Lexus.

The fact of the matter is I simply will not allow you to discredit my opinion because of my age, which you still insist on doing. I DO in fact own a vehicle inflicted with this problem EVERY Lexus is inflicted with this problem. Drop into the ES forum and read some posts in there. Drop into the LS forum, Lexus just replaced the transmissions on ALL 2004 LS430s as a warranty item. I apologize for responding the way that I did but regardless of what you say your comment was designed to discredit me to the other poster. "Don't mind him he's a stupid kid". Well, I'm not a stupid kid I'm a 23 year old man that owns a business and is a college graduate. I am just as qualified to state my opinion as you are sir. I deal with car dealerships for a living, thats my job and I am very good at it. I think I may have some sort of unique insight into how to best deal with them, regardless of my age. I would never ban anyone for disagreeing with me, I myself was banned from another Lexus forum because I disagreed with an entire 3/4 of the members population (you don't want to prefer something other than a Lexus GS on this other particular forum) so trust me, that I would never do. That said I'm not going to allow members of this forum downtrod each other and discredit each other's points of view because of whatever differences there may be between them. This is something that happens a lot on luxury car forums, the older and the "wiser" tend to discredit the younger. Makes no difference here. That out of the way, I'm perfectly willing to go on discussing the matter at hand, on equal footing. If you want Lexus to address the hesitation issue in specific the first thing you're going to need to do is isolate a case lodged with the NHTSA where the delay in the e-throttle system is attributed to a collision, so far there aren't any. I know one member on the ES forum is having Lexus swap his ES300 (2003 year) for a new Lexus, either a 2005 ES330 or a GS300. This isn't really going to help him as both of those cars exhibit the same throttle lag but its definately a start, meaning Lexus has left the door at least partially open and is willing to consider buybacks on vehicles where the driver simply cannot deal with the throttle lag. I suggest anyone who wants info on how he's accomplished this check out the ES transmission thread that is at the top of the ES forum.

You prefer the 95-97 over the 98-00? I don't hear that from people much. Yeah tape pinstripes are VERY easily removed...

Pinstripes from Lexus are purely an aftermarket thing, they're always on top of the clearcoat. Let me ask around a little and I'll get back to you.

Really the only way you can do it is with a tape adapter. Tape adapters have very good sound generally. I have Sirius satellite radio in my ES and have it hardwired into the antenna plugin through an FM switchbox. If your wireless FM transmitter has an FM out jack then you could have this done for $25 (cost of the switch box) plus the cost of any installation, or you could do it yourself. This would still be FM transmitted but you wont have the problem of breakins because the switchbox cancels out all other FM frequencies when the FM transmitter is turned on. This is how I have my Sirius tuner wired. The sound is good, not CD quality but like the strongest FM channel. Sound would probably be better with the cassete adapter but then you've got that wire. The problem is that a hard install like what was done to your husband's BMW isn't possible because the Lexus has no aux inputs in the factory stereo. Good luck! Let us all know how it turns out.

Has nothing to do with a power trip at all, we have one rule here, treat everyone with respect. His comments were unprovoked and totally out of line. This isn't the first time I've brought this to his attention either. My job is to enforce that one rule. Normally thats a very easy job as 99% of our membership is great, but since we only have one rule we take it very seriously. All members agreed to it when they signed up. There's no excuse for it whatsoever. Anyways scratch the comment about the loaner RX I have not having the throttle lag. We went out to grab a bite to eat and I let my fiance drive since someday down the road we might trade her Prius in on an RX hybrid. As soon as she pulled out onto our street there was that lag. I guess I'm just so used to it now I don't even notice it. Every time she accelerated there was that lag. Its the same way when she drives my car. Now, her Prius is throttle by wire too but doesn't have the same problem. It may have something to do with the torque of the electric motor as I remember one member on here saying he had an F250 diesel truck with a throttle by wire and no hesitation. Both electric motors and diesel engines have a lot more low end torque. The way I look at it is this, I try and make the best out of everything thats thrown at me. Yes it sucks that Lexus has designed a system that creates such a problem for some drivers, yes even if it is a problem inherant to the technology then it sucks that Lexus would implement it before adequately making sure all their customers would be happy with it. That leaves you with two choices. One you can get all tied up and yell and scream and complain and try and get Lexus to "do something" without knowing just what they should do, OR you can try an adapt to the way the vehicle preforms and enjoy your $45,000 purchase. To me the Lexus is a great looking car, very well built, rides great and is silent, reliable, easy to maintain, a lot of car for the money. Sure the hesitation is annoying but the car has so many other attributes that I find appealing, why get so out of shape because of this one thing? if it upsets you that much and causes you that much grief and ulcers, just sell it and be rid of the whole deal?

Is it pinstripe tape or is it painted on?

Sounds like a perfectly reasonable argument to me. The air bag module especially as a safety feature should last if not the life of the vehicle, then a significantly longer period of time than 5 years. Push it all the way to Lexus corporate and threaten to file a complaint with the NHTSA. My guess is they'll choose to eat the $384 part to avoid the hassle. If you can't get anywhere with them and its just the actual module that is bad look around at wrecking yards and ebay, you can find one cheaper.

I have a brand new RX330 as a loaner right now, just picked it up. Its actually much smoother in the e-throttle department than my ES300 is. I can drive the ES300 smoothly but I can make the e-throttle hesitate when I want. Try as I did I could not get the e-throttle on the RX330 to hesitate, its very smooth. THis was a fairly new car though with only 2500 miles so they could have made a change, but I always request an RX as a loaner and I don't remember them being different. I'm not saying that you're not experiencing a problem, I'm saying its not a unique problem for Lexus. I've heard people complain of this hesitation on many different marques of vehicles, BMWs, Audis, Nissans. When Lexus says there is nothing they can do there legitimately may be nothing they can do. You're doing the right thing by taking your business elsewhere if you're unhappy with your vehicle. Lexus has one of the highest returning owner percentages in the industry, so obviously more people are satisfied than not. One more thing RX in NC, do not disrespect me or any other member of this forum or its administration again. I may be younger than you but I know more about cars, the auto industry and Lexus than you will ever forget. Apparently I know more about being respectful to my fellow forum members than you as well. My age vs your age has nothing to do with the value of my opinion or view on this or any other subject and I thank you to respect that in the future. If I ever see you insinuate otherwise to me or anyone else I will ban you from the LOC, clear? I am sorry that you are frustrated with this vehicle, I understand your frustration. You do not have any right to treat me or anyone else like that however simply because we disagree. If you feel otherwise then you are not welcome to be a member of this forum.

As long as you don't use something thats 3000 psi etc you should be fine. Pick a nice low yield washer, 800psi or so.

You don't have to take it to the dealer, I'm actually surprised that the Jiffy Lube said they couldn't check the air filter, its very easy and I've had Quick Lube places do it before. I service mine at the dealer USUALLY because I need the loaner car. As a matter of fact I'm dropping it off today at 3...

Supposedly Lexus' built after 2001 have been redesigned to alleviate the sludging issue. We'll have to wait and see if thats true. I do agree that Lexus has been giving people the runaround here, but in all honesty I can see their point of view as well. Point one, the electronic fly by wire throttle. That lag associated it is intrinsic to the throttle not just Lexus in specifics, but most vehicles that have electronic throttles. That truly is an operating condition of the throttle and you can adapt your driving style around it completely so that the car operates smoothly. This is something we're all going to have to get used to as e-throttles become the industry standard.

The water level in the battery may be low, but I'm almost positive its a maintenance free battery meaning you can't actually add to the water level. If its the original battery from 1996 its WAY due to be replaced. I replace my batteries every 3 years as a maintenance item to avoid getting stranded, the rule of thumb is really that 3-4 years is the life expectency of the battery. Batteries are cheap why not change it early to avoid problems like you're having now? Unless you have a system or something else that causes serious drains on the battery the Optima batteries are overkill, go Diehard thats what I always use.

Its really a shame because VW has several really appealing cars, especially in the Audi line that I would be just plain afraid to buy... Talk about insane waits for service. My mother's beetle had a serviceable battery, meaning you have to check and add to the electrolyte levels circa 1982. I have never even seen a servicable battery in a car and I'm 23 years old and have been poking around our cars my whole life. Why VW woiuld use servicable batteries and say NOTHING IN THE SERVICE LITERATURE about it on a 2000 car is simply beyond me. It never would of occured to me to check the electrolyte levels in the battery, and apparently it never would have occured to the dealer either. One day on startup the battery exploded due to low levels. Well she had it towed to the VW dealer where they preceeded to keep it 4 DAYS simply to replace the battery. Horrible service. How they think they can keep the owner of $40,000 vehicles and $60,000 vehicles happy is beyond me.

No real physical changes to the 05 330. As for the dash I think you could make an argument that the exterior of the 98-03 is better looking than the exterior or the RX330 but I've never heard anyone say the RX300 has a better interior than the RX330. The RX330's interior is one of the best in the Lexus line.

Like the Lexus dealer we definately can't let this out on the public forums. I'll leave your post here though in case someone can email you the info. Sorry

I've seen all the new Sirius tuners, I'd definately still take the Lexus XM system. The quality of programming isn't that different, definately not enough to choose a much less integrated and incomplete install with lower sound quality over a totally seamless one. I bought the home kit for my PNP too and to this day it hasn't left the car.

I have Sirius too and love it, prefer Sirius programming to XM but I would never choose a Sirius plug and play tuner over the professionally installed and seemlessly integrated to the nav Lexus XM kit with digital CD quality sound. Its worth the slightly less appealing programming not to have to worry about either having a big ugly Sirius box on your dash or hidden somewhere in a compartment like mine (where you risk careening off the road when you go to change channels) connected with poor (comparitively) FM modulator reception. My dad has the XM kit in his 04 LS430 and the seemless install and sound quality outweigh the better programming of Sirius. If the kit would work on an 03 ES then I would have gone that route no question.

Simoniz is maybe one of the oldest brands of car care products around. Simoniz used to be so synonimus with car care that the act of waxing used to be called "Simonizing" (ever read or see the play Death of a Salesman?) Just a fun factoid. Nowadays Simoniz mostly sells products on the professional end, powedered soaps to carwashes and bulk car care items to dealerships and such. No doubt the dealer was trying to cash in on the relatively worldly (nice way of saying pretty old) Lexus purchasers that remember what "Simonizing" is. Don't buy it, don't buy ANY dealer paint protection program. All they do is apply some sort of polymer sealant for $400 that you can do yourself with $25-30 worth of Klasse or Zaino. There's no such thing as a "forever" car wax. If you wax your new car every 6 months it will be far better protected than with this paint protection package.

Its just lower quality than whats found in the LS400. The LS400 used coated leather until 2001 also. Coated leather feels just like normal leather really.