Here's the short story...
My wife drives a 2000 RX300 with 115K miles on it. We bought this used last summer at 105K miles from the original owner. When shopping for a car I was looking for a one owner car that had been well maintained. Last week her oil light went on and two miles later the car stopped running. (Ya, I know she should have stopped driving when thje light went on.) It was towed to the Lexus dealer where they diagnosed sludge and indicated I needed a new engine.
My heart sank. After researching the problem, I found that Lexus had agreed to cover this issue for cars up to 8 years old and mine was 8 years and 6 months. I envisoned an ugly battle to try to get something covered but to my surprise I just got a call back from the dealer. He showed the car to a local Lexus rep who happened to be in for another reason and they agreed to cover the engine replacement fully. They are even providing a loaner.
I couldn't be happier. They have managed to turn a bad situation into a positive customer service experience. They could have lost me as a customer for life but instead a lexus/toyota car will be on my short list (with Honda) for my next new car purchase. I know you hear lots of horror stories on a forum like this and I just wanted to contibute something positive.