shadoboxer

Why make the purchase if you don't like the ride?? I bought my GS400 because of the ride, not the name - if it didn't live up to what I was looking for then I wouldn't have purchased it. BTW I also own a Yukon Denali which has one of the best rides for a full sized SUV - not just my opinion but everyone who's riden in it. I drove an RX330 as a loaner car and, quite frankly, you couldn't pay me to buy one (given my experience with my Denali.) My comments on the RX pretty well match yours on the GX.

I've got a Garmin 2610 GPS - it's great, it has a removable compact flash (comes with 128K) which I can pop into my computer and load up with maps, routes, etc. I particuarly like the touch screen which allows for faster input (I also used this on my motorcycle, which comes in very handy.) It also comes with a remote that allows you or a passenger to enter info w/o having to pickup the unit or lean over to the dash. Its the same operation with the 2620, however, the 2620 comes with a builtin hard drive instead of the compact flash and has all the maps preloaded. For me the 2610 wins out since I also use it on my bike making the unit more suseptable to bumps, which hard drives don't like. Either Garmin makes a great choice!!

I recently purchased a 2000 GS 400 and LOVE IT!!!! I got a great deal via a dealer contact and ended up paying a little less than the car's trade in value. I initially was looking at a '98 but reconsidered after checking out the JD Edwards quality sight, which rated the 2000 higher. The 2000 also includes the brake assist feature which helps control the car when braking around curves. Even though the car looks and runs great, the first thing I did was take it to my local lexus dealer to get it checked out and all the fluids checked - my advice to anyone purchasing used. And then I had it professionally detailed. Even driving it off the lot the first day, I got positve comments (from both sexes) but the detailing gave it that showroom look. As for navigation, I've got a stand alone unit (Garmin 2600), which works just fine for me - I also use this portable unit in my other vehicle and my motorcycle. Another consideration is that 2001 models no longer have the manual shift paddles on the steering wheel. Not a big deal if you're not really in to pushing the engine (in all reality the automatic does just fine at blowing the doors off other cars.) I did an awful lot of research (including reading almost every related posting on this site) and found the car rates very favorably up against competition from BMW and Mercedes in terms of performance and blows away the competition in terms of quality. Goodluck!!!!