SW03ES

Can't speak to your 450h, but 4,000 miles is not exactly new for a loaner. Loaners live a hard life...

No, I believe it comes on a thumb drive or something else, because you can order it on the internet... Plugs into the USB input in the console.

Its because you're a lot more mature than you used to be. You've got other things in your life that are more important, and thats how it should be.

The system is HDD, not a DVD system. Its updated with a computer uplink.

They aren't supposed to. Those are map lights, only the center light comes on when the doors are opened. You'd have to rewire the whole unit to accomplish what you want to accomplish.

Actually the manual has always said you can run down to 87 with diminished performance. I mean...its a luxury car. I'm sure they assumed that people wanted to get the best performance out of the engine as possible, and they tuned it to do that with premium fuel. Its a different world nowadays, so you're seeing companies going to regular even with diminished performance. They think we all are willing to pay extra for the best performance, which is why we bought a Lexus...and not a Toyota.

I put them on about 2 years ago, Sept of 2008. Nah, not worth the hassle...

Thats a great deal on a UL...

My money is on it needing a new 12V battery...

Uh, no. The PWR mode does nothing but change some shift points, the 350 is WAY quicker than the 250, PWR mode or not. He's just trying to sell you a 250 because thats what he has to sell you.

The only tire I'd put on the car is the Michelin Primacy MXV4. They're fine in the snow, but if you get a lot of snow I'd recommend separate winter tires.

My Primacy MXV4s on the 2003 are completely bald, unsafe to drive on at 45k miles. Should have been replaced at 35k, 60k treadwear warranty. Regardless of whatever the warranty is, I have never had tires on a Lexus last past 30k or so. I think the factory PSI is low, to maximize ride but that hurts treadwear.

My guess is theres no change since they amended the HP and torque ratings with the regular fuel...

They're okay, I don't have any other tires on the 350 to compare them to. It handles better than my 300...but thats likely the 350 not the tires. They're the EL400. Threadwear is only 200...I expect it to be terrible lol. They already show wear on the front shoulders at 5000 miles.

Can ya go look? Check the PSI of the tires too while you're at it. Consumer Reports have never impressed me with their tire ratings, and different tires react differently on different vehicles. Really what you need to do is get the firsthand experience of people who own your exact car. I've driven Lexus sedans for 13 years and have put well over 300,000 miles on them, 160,000 of those miles in the ES. I'd consider myself a pretty good resource. Believe me when I tell you, the wrong tires will make you think your Lexus rides like a dog. The right set of tires will consistently impress you. Other than tires it could be worn ball joints...but my ball joints were about ready to come apart on my ES before I had them replaced...and I noticed none of what you are experiencing. Could be a bad motor or tranny mount...but I had a falling apart dogbone mount and experienced none of what you are experiencing. Have you tried having them road force balanced? If the ball joints are fine, the mounts are fine and the road force balancing shows nothing and does nothing...it must be the tires. The gradual declination of the quality could come from the aging of the tires, which was my experience with several other tire brands on the Lexus, including Bridgestone which is the same company as Firestone. Firestone makes a sh!tty tire, and sh!tty tires are very hard to balance and keep in balance and balance is incredibly important to how a Lexus rides.

Durability is a relative term LOL. I wouldn't expect more than 30k life.

Its the tires. I cannot think of a single Firestone tire model that would be appropriate for the car, what model did you buy? What PSI are the tires aired to? Tires are very important to the ride of a Lexus, and all tires are not created equal. In my experience, lots of less expensive tires start out okay, but then as they age they get rough, out of round, and loud. This was your experience as well. If you want the best ride...you have to pay for the right tires on this car. The car rides VERY differently depending on the tires, I know I had the same car for 155,000 miles and had a lot of different tires on it. The ONLY tires that made the car ride the way I felt it should ride were Michelin MXV4s. The common denominator here is the tires.

Yep, at night look down at the console, there's a cool blue LED light that shines down on the shifter and console...

Mine has LED ambient lighting on the console at night, and ambient lighting in both the front footwells at night. They went from LED reading lights and overhead lights back to incandescent because of complaints about poor lighting.

Bold statement...and not true. The tires are the Primacy MXV4, the MXV4 S8 is a different tire, much more expensive and not as highly rated, the S8 is the OEM tire on the car alongside the Bridgestone Turanza. The Turanzas aren't bad, but the Primacy MXV4 is THE tire for the ES...I've had a lot of tires on ES cars and the Michelin is my top pick.

I've never tried the Primacy MXM4, but the previous MXM4 was a inferior tire to the MXV4. The MXM4 is a sportier, more handling biased tire I know which personally I think is out of character for the ES. I know you already bought them, but I would have gone for the MXV4...H rated vs V rated isn't a big deal.

I haven't gotten around to it. The Bridgies aren't so bad...they flatspot when the car has been sitting for a few days...but other than that not bad. I'll put the Michelins on when they wear out...

Its not fraud, I agree. Like RX in NC said, Carfax is just over-hyped and not the perfectly accurate resource people assume that it is. You knew that the vehicle had been repaired and had been in an accident, the only thing you didn't know was that the airbag had deployed. Doesn't carfax have a "Vehicle history guarantee"? I'd contact them and see if you can submit a claim under that guarantee, should be easy since you have both reports. I'd look to recover that $1,000 value writeoff they indicated in that new report. Sucks...but don't let it get to you...

Poor SOB!

Now now, a man of your advanced age must be careful with the bubbly ;)