SW03ES

I agree...

Check out www.lexus-parts.com ;)

I wouldn't be so sure about that lol ;)

Since the new cars and the new updates both come out around October, each model year always has the older software. Example. 2003s come out in September 2002, Nav update for 2003 comes out October 2003 with the 2004 models. So the recent upgrade is actually from the year prior, we both have version 2002, version 2003 came out last October, version 2004 comes out this October. I have heard of people getting the nav update for free by complaining that something is wrong with the nav system and having the disc comped under warranty. Pretty much the best price on the disc is $250...

Thats terrible lol... Try another Lexus dealer or call a Toyota dealer. My dealer charges about $350 for that service.

Tire Rack sells the same tires as everybody else. That would be like saying your Lexus isn't as good as a Lexus bought from a dealership because it was bought at Carmax or something. Its the same Lexus sold everywhere. TireRack sells brand name tires just like everyone else, Michelin, Dunlop, Continental, Pirelli, they're just at discount prices. You bought your Michelin tires at a Sams Club (Wal Mart) thats a discount store, are they not as good because you didn't buy them from the Lexus dealership? Of course not, they're the same tires and you could have ordered them from Tire Rack. The reason Tire Rack is cheaper is simple volume, they sell an INSANE amount of tires. They're also quite good about returns for out of round wheels etc. I've been buying tires from TireRack for 5-6 years now and have never been dissapointed. Blame the tire manufacturer not the reseller. As for the Dunlops, Dunlop is a nice quality quiet tire but the treadwear is dismal I agree. Its because they use high quality soft compounds. Gives a great ride and grippy handling but they wear 2-3 times faster. However, Michelins are twice as expensive, so really Dunlops not so bad...

For $250 ;) you can't turn the HD unit into the DVD unit, you can just upgrade the HD to have all the latest maps and POIs. The interface will be the same. Also the HD unit can't incorporate as many POIs as the DVD unit. For the HD its about 1.5 million, for the DVD its currently at 5 million.

Well using anything creates wear...

If you pay more than $30 for it its a waste of money. All they do is apply some sort of Polymer sealant to the paint. You can do that at home with Zaino, Klasse, Platinum UPP, Blackfire, Poorboys EX, Meguiars NXT, Meguiars #20, and a host of others. Something NXT you can buy at Pep Boys. All of these will offer better protection at less cost, and if you dont care about how it looks no propwork is needed (NXT actually looks great with no prepwork). They re-apply it every year but in reality its only going to last a couple of months, so you're going 10 months without protection which you just dont want to do. If you really want to care for the car pay a detailer $60 twice a year (really should be 4 times a year) to do a good quality wax job with a high quality product. If you want to spend that money on something the dealer offers that is REALLY worthwhile, get Lojack.

They all SHOULD work its just a question of getting it to interface properly, thats the whole point of Bluetooth connectivity. The sheet from Lexus was just the ones they endorsed.

Its just a whole lot easier to update the DVD system, doesn't cost less if you do it yourself its just easier (both parts are $250).

ALL Bluetooth phones should work.

Yeah have Lojack installed. $800 is a deal for Lexus re-keying the car, usually it well between $1000-$2000.

The car wash should pay to replace that damage...

My dad's 98 had no rattles when he traded it with 150,000 miles on it... Its not normal. The dealer can investigate them, but at this point they will charge you an hourly rate to do so...

SOME Toyota dealers wont service the Lexuses, mainly because they are linked in some way to an area Lexus dealer and they don't want to take business away from them. For instance we have a huge chain here called "Darcars". Darcars owns Lexus of Silver Spring and 355 Toyota, along with probably 100 other dealerships. 355 Toyota will NOT service any Lexus, they forwarded me to Lexus of Silver Spring. Jim Coleman Toyota however, who does not own a Lexus dealership will service a Lexus just fine.

The Lexus website is wrong, the 2000 navi is NOT DVD based. I drove a whole bunch of 2000 GS400s and LS400s and the nav is the hard drive unit just like 98-99. The DVD nav came out in 2001. I would avoid a 98 since it was the first model year, but otherwise no real problems!

You don't want to put any money down on a lease, no reason to. For one thing if you total the car you will loose your down payment because the insurance pays the leasing company not you. If you have a sizeable amount of money and you want to lower yuour payments put it in a savings account and make your payments out of it until its gone, much smarter than putting a down payment. Plus with a purchase you're always paying towards a goal, so making double payments and putting money down is wise, but leasing is renting, why give these people thousands of dollars of your money? Keep in mind the average lease payment will drip $15 for every $1000 you put down. In 36 months thats only $540 saved so you just gave them $460 of your money for nothing. Even with no down payment the lease will be less. I was quoted $550 a month on a GS300 with $0 down. My ES lease is about $525 with $0 down. This is why I always caution people who lease a car they couldn't otherwise afford and put a bunch of money down. Leasing can be good, it can save you a lot of money and put you in a better position for claiming as a business expense etc, and it takes a lot of the hassles out of driving a new car every 3 years but its not for people who are trying to drive something they can't afford. I could have liquidated some assets and put a lot of money down on an LS430 and had a lease payment a couple hundred bucks more than mine, I could have afforded that payment. I want an LS430, but I can't afford one yet. Next time.

The previous nav system has 4 changeable background colors also. It can also be set to change according to season. The gen 4 actually has 5 Million POIs ;) People with 2002 nav like the gen 3 can upgrade and get the additional POIs. One really cool feature of the gen 4 that is only availiable in LA and I think NYC is the building footprint deal where it shows the outlines of buildings. In Japan they have a totally different nav system that blows ours away, its 3D.

TECHNICALLY you're supposed to use the parking brake whenever you park. I however rarely use mine. You should use it every once in a while though so the components dont rust up and sieze. Welcome back!

What upgrade do you mean, the nav map update?

Agreed, total waste. The reason they're pushing it so hard is that its pure profit. The reason your LS400 held up so well is thats how Lexuses are. Check out www.lexuscarcare.com and learn how to protect the paint yourself ;) If they wont let up say "Hey, you can quit with the Simonizing or you're going to loose this sale" they'll shut up immediately. I once walked out on a computer purchase because they wouldn't quit about the warranty. All these add ons are wastes of money. I had it on a dolly right next to the checkout and the guy had been working on me for 15 minutes. I told him "If you want to sell this computer you really need to drop the warrany pushing" he actually got really nasty, so I just took my hands off the cart and said "You can explain to your manager why this needs to be restocked" and walked out. No reason to deal with people like that. Plenty other people to sell you stuff that will do it on your terms.

If you want the laser cruise now you've got to wait, its temporarily unaviailable while Lexus re-engineers it into a radar based system to make it more accurate.

The 02/03 sold significantly better than the 00/01. Sales are down a little for the 330 but they are in the whole entry level market. I like the way Cadillac does it. They have regional warehouses where they keep cars of all different configurations and colors not normally shipped to dealers. When a customer wants a unique car they can usually have one shipped from one of these warehouses. Only problem with implementing something like this for Lexus is the Japanese don't take the risk of waste, they're too conservative. Thats another reason they ship the way they do, they've analyzed what people want and it lessens the risk that any car will be carried over on a lot to the next model year. If you think about it, at the end of the model year, most Lexus dealerships are completely out of cars whereas on other lots there are lots of previous years that were never sold. BMWs are typical of this, you can find brand new 2002 BMWs still on dealer lots unsold because they were of a configuration nobody wanted.

Glad it helped Jeff, what did you air them up to? Another possible future fix is to switch to a harder Ultra High Performance tire maybe with a Z speed raring vs the Michelin Touring tires you've got.