SW03ES

Did they use OEM "Toyota" glass?

No you'll need to strip the tape and use new. Automotive foam tape can be bought at any automotive store.

My ES300 is dead solid in the snow and its FWD, so the RX must be fine. RWD Lexus are another story...

I still haven't experienced this foggong/switching to cooling mode on any Lexus I've ever driven, including mine, my dad's old and new LS's, and numerous loaner RX and IS models ;) I also still dont understand how FWD is so dangerous in adverse conditions... Anywho, looking at the two I think a drive of each will make your decision for you. The RX feels so superior and higher quality. Not to say Mercedes isn't a high quality car, it is, but the ML is not.

You mentioned the boulevard ride? Well the best riding Lexus is the LS430 sedan...

Here's the new GS thread if anyone has further comments ;)

Scroll down to the "New GS Wow!" thread, check em out ;) In order to post as imbedded pics they need to be hosted somewhere (like in our gallery) and the picture's URL has to be pasted into the IMG tags. Check out the tutorial in the code help section.

When Matt asked for suggestions about a mod to add to the LS forum, VMF seemed like the obvious choice ;)

Anybody watch the Simpsons? Speed holes! :D

Sorry I didnt chime in on this earlier... Anywho, 00 was a half model year. They stopped production partway through the year to gear up for the launch of the LS430, LS400s were beyond scarce to see at Lexus dealers. Thats why you dont see many 00s. As for HID on the 98s. MOST 98s have HID, wood/leather wheel etc. However it was an option that came in a package, made standard in 99. My dad's 98 had HID and the wood/leather wheel. A couple other things, Air ride is very rare in all third gen LS400s, my dads had it too (the only one I've ever seen), and Nakamichi was rare in 99 (for some reason)... And no laser distronic cruise on the 00, that came on the LS430 in 01. 98/99/00 are vertually identical in equipment, meaning everything was availiable the same. Only change in 99 was that the woodwheel/HID was made standard and electronic brake force distribution and daytime running lights were introduced. Only change for 00 was the availiability of the Platinum edition.

No big deal, now we have a "door kit" thread :D I for one am wondering the same thing as mine will be going in the shop soon and I'm going to be having this done.

Do you have all the maintenance records for the first 125,000 miles? Thats the problem with buying any car with that much mileage, thats a lifetime of use and abuse the likes of which you have no idea. Lexus hold up much better to abuse than other cars, and just because the car LOOKS pampered doesn't mean it was. Hardly can be called a lemon at this point ;) Now if it had 4500 miles on it and you'd had it the whole time, that would be different... 125,000 miles is...8 tranny flushes if you do it every 15k, 4 if every 30, even 2 if every 60...

Its very easy. All you do is remove the plastic cover over the unit in the tunk and swap the DVD disc, then follow the instructions on the nav screen. I didnt get the update because not much in my area was changed. You can get a list of whats new from www.lexus-parts.com they have a good price on the update too.

For some reason the Black Garnet ONLY comes on the ES, I dont know why. The LS and GS have a color called "Black Cherry" which isn't as attractive (its too purple). I don't get it, its a beautiful color and I get LOTS of compliments on it... Have you seen the Black Forest Pearl on the RX? That would be my choice.

Oh! duh, sorry lol Its actually not that expensive to just replace, its $60 or so I think...

Nice camera, I got my fiancee a Olympus C5000 for Christmas, looked at the C-50. They're pretty similar.

I get 17-18 city driving with a pretty heavy foot. Do you use premium fuel?

Looks good! What kind of camera?

Its just plug and play, detatch the old ones, swap the bulbs and reattatch the new one.

You'd have tape residue and possible buff marks from where the protector had contacted the bumper of the years its been on. Why remove it?

Eh... What I find more attractive than the RX330 on a whole is the FX35, but I'd get an RX330 over the X3 or X5 anyday.

He was blowing you smoke with that one, no manufacturer sells a installed radar detector, they're ALL aftermarket.

The delayed response is normal and all Lexus experience it. Thats weird, Lexus says its drive by wire, we need JPI to chime in here...

Have you had the car since new?

I'm interested in the comment "FWD is inherently unsafe in these conditions" FWD unsafe in snow? I don't buy that... You have to bear in mind a couple things. One, the RX is a FWD vehicle, and its AWD is front biased meaning it transfers power to the rear when there is slippage. So, If it were a scam, I see no point in putting chains on the car... Also, the RX being a car based AWD system without locking diffs is never going to be as stable in the snow as something like your Yukon. Its just how it is, the vehicle is more of a compromise between the good aspects of a car and the good aspects of an SUV. So in a way yeah, the AWD system is "fake 4WD".