SW03ES

It does make the transmission shift smoother though. It will use more gas, but won't harm the engine.

That varies though. My aunt has a 96 Town and Country van with like 150k miles, and its even been in a pretty bad accident and repaired, and its still going strong. Leather still looks good, still rides and looks good. A little worn but not bad for a 8 year old car that hasn't really been cared for properly. There's exceptions to every rule.

Oh no! Good luck at getting it all sorted out guys, hope you didn't loose any information.

I don't believe so, but I'm not sure. I love the FX and my parents have one I've driven several times and I've driven them at dealerships and I didn't notice any hesitation either. If it DOES have an electronic throttle then its a much better system than the one currently being used by everyone else, so my guess its a throttle cable.

They must ship different packages in Canada. Thats how a Lexus dealer SHOULD be, glad you found a good one. I agree with their assessment, sometimes cars if the work hasn't been done on a regular basis can really get away from you and turn into a REAL mess...

It is programmable on every post 1997 Lexus through the C-BEST setting. $99 is rediculous as all they do is plug a pad into the computer and change the setting. Most dealers do it free. Any other dealers in the area you can call? On my ES this is driver-programmable. Do you have the owners manual?

I blow them out with a leaf blower when I'm drying ;)

The two Lexus rims (the LS430 18s and the LS400 16s) will be the cheapest. What wheels are on it now? I like wheels like the OZ opera myself, they should look great on the LS. A thin spoked wheel while sporty would look wrong on the LS.

Glad you're happy Bryan lol. Only thing, if the car doesn't have the nav it doesn't have the ML stereo, unless its different in Canada. byo- Don't let them get away with that. Did you ask for a loaner when you scheduled the service? That you have to do. To their credit they do run out of loaners depending on the number of cars they have. Its possible that they think you'll just wait either because of your age (I'm 23 and have no problem, but I look at least 10 years older) or because you haven't complained in the past. Here's how Lexus should handle it: You: I need to schedule X service, and I will need a loaner for the day. Dealer: Of course sir, in order to put you in a loaner we'll have to wait and schedule it for a week from Tuesday. You: Okay, can I actually drop it off the night before? (why sit in morning traffic?) Dealer: Of course sir, any time after 4 and we close at 7. You: Great, see you then, can you jot down that I'd like an RX330? Dealer: Sure, can't guarantee that but I'll write it down. You: Thank you, bye Thats how it should work, and thats how it does work whenever I schedule service at any dealership. I even get loaner cars and drop the car off the night before for a mini-maint (oil change and tire rotation) that takes an hour. Having the loaner car is the only reason to take the car to Lexus if its non-warranty work and it makes the cost worthwhile. If they complain and say it will only be 10 minutes say: You: "I simply cannot wait around the dealership, not even for 10 minutes. I can wait to be scheduled whenever you have a loaner availiable but I cannot come in and wait" If the dealer still refuses then hang up and call another dealer. When making the appointment inform them that "Lexus of X was not treating me as I believe a Lexus owner should be treated including not giving me a loaner car, I'm looking for a new dealership to handle my service for my Lexuses (always say plural, because in your life you will have more than one, maybe, right ;) )" You gotta play them right. They have hundreds of very wealthy customers to deal with, you've gotta make sure they think or know that you're one of them. If they think you aren't then yes they'll focus their efforts on others. Lexus dealers are used to dealing with demanding customers. You're paying them a lot of money, get what you're paying for.

If you don't have evidence of oil changes every 5k miles, don't buy the vehicle. The risk of engine sludge is just too great. If it has a good service history go for it! In all honesty people make Lexus service out to be way more expensive than it actually is. I've said it many times, a Lexus is nothing special or complicated. Its a very well engineered Toyota product that is just as simple and straightforward to work on as a Camry or a Avalon. Anyone can do the scheduled maintenance on your RX, and only the dealer will screw you on the pricing. Its not a Ferrari, Jiffy Lube can handle the oil changes, no reason to pay Lexus $150 to do a $30 job. I personally think we'll see Lexus offer free scheduled maintenance within a couple years, its becoming more and more common. Makes the customer happy, means more money for the dealers because they can guarantee the work and get paid by Lexus directly, and it makes for better used cars because you don't have to worry about things like engine sludge because of mistreatment. If its free owners have no excuse. BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Lincoln, Cadillac and Infiniti offer this now. Lexus will have to soon. If they don't by the time I trade my ES on something new in 2007 or so I'll buy something else. Owning a Lexus is only as expensive as you make it.

Its not only MPG its air and road noise as well. On their own the little things Lexus throws in to curb wind noise or smooth out vibration may seem trivial, but all together they make the Lexus as quiet as it is. Lexus makes their cars so aerodynamic (the LS has had the most aerodynamic car in the world title each time it has been redesigned. First .29, then .28 with the 95 then .25 with the LS430 and now .24 with the 04.) to make them quiet, not to maximize fuel economy. The weight of all the sound deadening negates any fuel economy gained by the aerodynamics. There's probably 200lbs of sound deadening material in that car. Its so smooth and quiet in fact, that something out of place can really reduce the ride quality of the car. I'd leave it on, it was put there for a reason.

Both your Benz and your BMW have cabled throttles. Drive a new 745Li and you'll feel the lag, it has a throttle by wire system. Also bear in mind you usually don't notice it on test drives, you've got to spend real time with the car. You probably didn't feel it on your 02 because you weren't looking for it. Unfortunately I'm afraid its something we're going to have to get used to and its going to bleed over into other systems as well as they become electronic. Currently processors just can't operate as fast as a simple cable can. You can learn to adapt to it though. I believe the S class Benz is the only big luxo car with a cabled throttle left, and that will be gone when it gets redone next year trust me. All the Lexus dealer is going to tell you though is "All lexuses do that, its the electronic throttle and its normal" and they're right.

They don't even share the same platform. That information is false ;) The Camry and the ES share a platform, the Corolla and IS do not. Just because two cars are similar in size doesn't make them platform mates. Usually the dead giveaway is if the car is FWD or RWD. It requires so much modification to the platform to set it up to hold a RWD vs a FWD car its no longer cost effective to share platforms. The Avalon and LS430 are similar in size (the Avalon is actually slightly larger), but they do not share the same platform. The Avalon is on a stretched Camry platform while the LS rides on the celsior platform shared with the Lexus SC/Toyota Soarer and some of the Crown line of JDM high end Toyotas. The IS platorm is probably shared with some Japan spec high end Toyotas, maybe the Brevis or something but certainly not the Corolla. If you think about it it just wouldn't make any sense. Toyota offers several IS-sized RWD cars in Japan and they offer several Corolla sized FWD cars. With the extensive modification neccisary to change the drive end, it would be cheaper for them to have two basic structures to work from, one built to be a RWD car, one built to be a FWD car. Some of the linkages and maybe a crossmember or two may be shared (as they are between all vehicles made by any given company) but thats certainly not enough to say they share the same platform. Do your friends at Toyota work for dealerships? If they do then they don't have any access to information we can't get. Its VERY common for Toyota salespeople and managers to brainwash their salespeople into thinking all the Lexus products are simply rebranded Toyota cars, that way they can present the Toyota as a cheaper alternative to a Lexus. Just because someone works for Toyota, even Toyota corporate doesn't mean they have access to any kind of design specifications that we can't get access to. In the dealings I've had with Toyota brand employees is that they have a fair amount of anymosity towards Lexus brand employees and designers and the two don't mesh very well. That also biases the information you get from them. Regardless of what your friends come back with I can assure you the Corolla and the IS do not share the same platform. I can come up with the individual specs and exact information about what DOES ride on the Altezza (IS) platform. I know the Supra does, and I expect the smaller RWD and AWD high end Toyotas like the Brevis do as well.

Sorry, square is right. The ES330 does not have bluetooth capability, only the LS430, LX470 and Toyota Prius have it in the Toyota/Lexus line currently. Its not even slated to be introduced in the refreshed 05. There are some aftermakret bluetooth kits that can be installed in the car, is this what you're talking about?

How much are you looking to spend?

Whoever told you the IS was built on the Corolla platform was very misinformed. The two cars are not similar in any way. The IS is on a rear drive platform and shares the engine and transmissions with the GS300, prior SC300s and the Toyota Supra. The Corolla is a front drive car on a totally different platform with a completely different drivetrain. The IS is sold in Japan as the Toyota Altezza and if it shares any platform parts with another Toyota vehicle its the Supra.

Again though, that doesn't make any sense. There are no changes to the audio system on the 05 330 nor to the nav except for the inclusion of voice activation, which you could ALSO retorfit to your 04! The "05 ES kit" should plug right into your 04 just like the LS430 kit, but it will probably also void the warranty... Damn! Thats got to be so frustrating

Nope, the Windom has existed in Japan ever since there has been an ES. I'm not sure if Toyota will replace the model names of the cars in Japan (In Japan your LS is a Toyota Celsior) with the alphanumeric model names from the US or not. I expect the Windom will become the ES there as well.

The reason nobody answers is because there really isn't a way, people ask all the time without performing a search beforehand and people get tired of posting the same reply. This is probably the 15th time I've written this reply. The system relies on a component called the speed sensor to help extrapolate the vehicle's speed and position. Contact with the GPS satellites is intermittant, and its because of the speed sensor and the last GPS fixed location that the system can pinpoint the vehicle's location and heading and deliver uninterupted performance. The speed sensor also tells the system when to disable certain functions. Making the system operate at speed is as easy as disconnecting the speed sensor, but then you seriously reduce the system's effectiveness. I have seen people with advanced wiring experience install switches so the sensor can be deactivated to allow address input and re-activated to allow proper system performance but this is difficult and will certainly void the navigation warranty. Basically, unfortunately, you're stuck with it as-is.

That doesn't mean they're lying. They may be OEM Lexus wheels, but once they chrome them for some reason they loose the ability to use the genuine Lexus logo. So more likely they are genuine Lexus wheels, they've just been chromed. You can always replace the center caps with genuine Lexus chrome ones purchased from a Lexus dealer if you want to be rid of the upside down 7. Thats what I would do.

At least on my car its not the sunvisor...

This is an American Eskimo Dog BTW...

Sorry to be late but I'm sorry about your dog Blake. My sheltie Melanie died about a month ago at 14. She had the same kinds of symptoms Rosey had, incontenance in the house. She was deaf and getting pretty blind because of cateracts and had pretty severe arthritis in her spine. We had to have her put down. We're getting ready to get us a new pup, probably a American Eskimo Dog. Aside from the coming dog my fiance and I have 4....count em 4 ferrets. Ferrets aren't the kind of pet I'd neccisarily have chosen, but she has always wanted one so we got one. Then another. Then another. Then....another. I've put my foot down at 4 They're actually good pets and we've grown to have an...understanding. They have the run of the house and sleep in a 6 foot cage. They go everywhere with us and travel in a little carrier my fiance designed for the car. We go away for a weekend I have one bag, she has one bag, the "kids" have 4 bags! They live the high life big time LOL. Ferrets are weird pets. They aren't cage animals like rabbits or guniea pigs but they aren't quite house pets like dogs or cats. They have to be both, which is really annoying. They also require rabies shots like dogs and cats. They get into HUGE amounts of trouble so all ferret sized holes and spaces have to be secured. They are litter trained like cats though, unless you make them mad. They're female dominated, so Emlie (I didnt name them lol) is the ringleader, and I've seen her make 80lb dogs roll on their backs in submission. They're like cats most of the time, and like dogs some times. They're a riot. She has a "ferret stroller" which is a gunia pig cage bolted onto a baby stroller she bought and likes to push them around the neighborhood and take them to Petco. They always get quite a response. Let me see if I can find some pictures. There's actually one of Tobey, one of the boys with his paws up on the steering wheel of my Lexus...

It definately will be voice activated. Don't get too excited though. We have the voice activated nav on our new Prius (same as the Lexus system) and my father has it on his 04 LS430 and in my opinion it is 110% useless. It doesn't understand any commands unless you speak right into the microphone and forget about while driving, misinterprets all commands. Its a total gimmick. Don't wait until 05 just for the voice activated nav.

I know you've heard this before but thats totally normal. Its not actually a transmission lag, its a throttle response lag. Every Lexus behaves that way, as does every other car with an electronic throttle. Its an inherant "characteristic" of electronic throttles. I've gotten so used to it after driving Lexus cars regularly for the past 6 years I ALMOST forget it exists until I drive a car with a standard throttle cable. I don't understand why carmakers insist on using electronic throttles, I've felt the lag in cars from Lexus to BMW to new Nissans like the Titan truck with the electronic throttle. There's not anything Lexus can do about that, and the transmission replacement won't make it any better. If it helps I always found when driving my dad's old 98 LS400 putting the transmission in "ECT PWR" mode seemed to make the hesitation less noticeable. My ES300 doesn't have an ECT PWR mode and I haven't driven his 04 LS enough to see if this still works.