Tiredoldman

The stupid car won't start and we've only had it a week. Does AAA need to bring a flatbed because of the AWD? Or is it okay to tow it with their regular tow truck?

Our mechanic(who is really great and very honest) said that if it blows he can fix it for $3000. That's little comfort since my girlfriend waits tables and for 3 grand the car would have to sit for years if the tranny blows. He said that out of the high number of these cars made, sure some transmissions are going to go out. He said that transmissions go out on ALL cars. He thinks that I'm a worrywort. Thing is, I had SC's and never had a hint of trouble. And I know that they go 2 or 3 hundred K, trouble free. So I'm shocked to see transmissions blowing out at 70 and 80K. I still think I'll probably flip it, because just the idea that it might blow and I'll have to pay for it will keep me up at night.

I might not keep it very long if I have to live with the fear of expensive repairs.

Hi everybody. I used to drop in when I had my SC300 a few years back. Well, I just bought a 99 RX300 yesterday. It has 81,000 miles and seems to have been well maintained. My mechanic checked it and gave his approval. Anyway, after the fact, I've been reading about the car and I've managed to freak myself out regarding the possibility of transmission problems and oil gelling. The transmission does seem to whine just a bit. No way could I afford 4 grand to fix it if it goes out. The oil looks clean, but from what I've read now, even the folks who did proper oil changes have had the gelling problem on some cars. To be honest I'm shocked as hell about this stuff because my former impression of Lexus cars was that they were almost bullet proof. Am I a worry wort or are these problems that I should concern myself with? I'm not sure I would have purchased the car if I had known about these possible problems. The car actually did spend some time in Chicago in a cold climate before the owner moved here to CA.