eviotis79

Interesting post!, My wife and I just bought a new 2008 GS350 AWD in mid December 07. Beautiful car and one we thought we would never be able to afford. It finally came that we had the oportunity to get one so we bought it. This was our fourth Lexus from the same dealer since 2000'. We brought it home and later that same day, went to start it and had to go through two complete crank cycles before it finally fired off and ran. It stumbled a little then ran smooth and all seemed OK. I thought that was very odd for a brand new car with 25 miles on it to do that. I have an engine technical background so I knew the first day it did this, that there was something definately wrong. We continued to run it for a few days and it continued to be very hard starting on a regular basis, especially when it was cold. Once it was started, it would drive just fine and perform well. Filled the tank with a fresh batch of premium gas but made no difference.

Being a brand new car with now 300 miles on it, it went back to the dealer. They had the vehicle for about 2 weeks and determined the problem could not be corrected anytime soon. We really got no details on just what the problem was, but felt Lexus had a little "bug" here that needed to be figured out. The dealer then agreed that under the circumstances, they would offer us another car to replace it. We took our chances and they ordered us in another 08' GS350 like we had. This one so far has been just fine with no starting problems at all. We are very pleased with the car and all seems good once again.

I have to say that when this type of situation occurs, it typically breeds ill feelings between dealers and customers and in my experience, does not have a happy ending. I can not put into words how well we were treated by both our dealer, and Lexus in making sure we remained a very satisfied customer. We had no problems with any of the three previous Lexus vehicles we owned and knew that now when we did, they would stand behind the product and they truely did. This is why we buy Lexus vehicles and definately will continue to do so. Our dealer in Naperville bent over backwards to make good on this and again, I can not say enough good about them. I have no doubt that Lexus will get the starting "bug" fixed soon and it won't be an issue.

Hello I'm new to the forum and have the same issue you are having. I'm trying to get Lexus corporate to replace my vehicle, but they have not decided what to do yet. For the 2 of you on this post that got new vehicles out of this, how exactly did you get this done?? Did your dealers offer this out the kindness of their hearts, or did you have to fight for it?? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I just don't feel right keeping a vehicle that has an issue 400 miles into owning it. Thanks again.