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By the way did you see Paul Mcartney in Red aquare on A&E. It was fantastic.
I love Separate Ways, and you give me the idea to try the Journey Greatest Hits on the ML.
Oh, I forgot to say yesterday that the Stereo in the LS is FAR better than the S500 Bose. NO comparison there. At LOUD levels, the cheapo materials in the cabin of the S500 actually starts to resonate while the LS sucks up the highs like an anarchic chamber. Sure, others like a live sound stage. I don't. I want an accurate one.
Good luck.
Not a big STYX fan but there is a CD called, STYX:"EXTENDED VERSIONS"
I picked it up at Best Buy for $5.99.
It is actually a live concert. Although no mention is made of that anywhere on the disc.
It flat out rocks. This is the lineup with the new drummer and he is completely over the top.
Journey put out a DVD called "Journey 2001".
I have been looking for a CD version of this, but it would be easy to burn it off the dvd.
Incredible performance. Sound better than they did in the 80's. Steve Perry is no longer with the band though. Deen Castronovo on drums replaces Steve Smith.
Keb' Mo' "Just Like You" and "Slow Down", both are very well recorded especially the track "Henry".
On the mellower side of things:
Sting...."All this Time".Recorded at his home in Tuscany the night the World Trade Center was attacked. Beautiful new arrangements and well recorded.
Diana Krall "Live in Paris" stunning recording with the European Orchestra.
Paul - I'm a huge James Taylor fan and he's as soothing as it gets on a long trip. Saw him in concert also this summer and he puts on a great show. Did you think of going up to Albany and splitting off the thruway onto the Northway to Lake George. The Northway is the most beautiful road I've ever been on. That would be a spectacular trip at this time of year. The best colors I've ever seen in our neck of the woods are up that way and on into Vermont. They should be at peak right now. But watch those troopers up there if you get above 75mph.
Wonder when the SACD or even DVD-A format(Acura excluded) will see more support from the auto manufacturers??
I have James Taylor "Hourglass" on SACD and it is pretty amazing.
I don't have an extensive Taylor collection; just his Top 40 hits. But his music is very much suited for the ML.
As for music - I'll stay out of this one. It's obvious that my personal taste in music has not been represented here yet and I won't admit to what it is!
By the way, ljflx - you ever hear/see merc1 anymore? He sure used to liven things up around here. (these new guys won't even remember him or his opinions, hehe).
In recent times a number of Lexus fans seem to be ganging up and making for some pretty spirited debate there.
Do "voices carry" well in your car?
flint350,
Country, right?
Lord, no. (Though I did used to like the Oak Ridge Boys some, before they became ancient).
The dealership only had a few cars. It will be interesting to see the sales volume for the redesign.
M
where's a good place on line to buy one, and is it hard to replace
thanks
WHY ???
Most modern day automotive A/C systems, most especially those of the automatic climate control variety, will automatically engage the A/C system to help dehumidify the incoming airstream (you wouldn't DARE be in recirulate at this point!).
At moderately cool outside temperatures, down to about 45F, this can often be a great advantage. But below these temperatures the efficiency of the A/C to dehumidify the incoming airstream declines precipetously, until at just above freezing, ~35F, there is NO dehumidification capability whatsoever.
With outside temperatures below 45F your system should never be in recirculate, and should ALWAYS remain in the mode wherein outlet airflow is significantly heated and routed through the footwell outlet ducts, with a portion bled off to the windshield defrost/defog/demist ducts. This latter air flow is there, by factory design, to help (hopefully) keep the interior of the windshield above dewpoint, the point at which condensation begins to form.
If you have a manually operated system then it will be up to you to remember to monitor the outside temperature and be sure the system has the proper airflow routing, footwell only, as the outside temperature declines.
If you happen to have one of the automatic climate control systems designed or manufactured by NipponDenso in Japan, or Denso USA, in the US, Toyota and Lexus for instance, it will be "biased" toward "cooling" mode (airflow outlet to the face and upper body) regardless of COLD outside temperatures and your personal discomfort due to radiant "cooling" from the COLD surrounding landscape.
Again, it will be up to you, as the driver and therefore "protector" of yourself and your passengers, to be extremely vigilent and ALWAYS over-ride the system from "automatic" outlet airflow control mode, to footwell and defrost/defog/demist mode manually when outside temperatures decline below 45F.
Now.
If the outside temperature is below 45F and IF the interior of your windshield beings to fog over, even ever so slightly, you need to take IMMEDIATE action.
1. Turn the temperature control all the way UP, to MAX HEAT.
2. Turn the system Blower all the way to MAXIMUM speed.
3. THEN....
Change the system outlet airflow mode to defrost/defog/demist.
So, why did this happen, why did the windshield start to fog over?
First, let's assume you followed the above instructions and the system was in heating mode, footwell and defrost/defog/demist airflow mode, and NOT IN RECIRCULATE!
At, say, 65MPH on a really cold day your windshield is being quite thoroughly chilled with the COLD airstream impinging on the outside at 65MPH even though there is a significant level of warming airflow from the system flowing its interior surface.
But now you just picked up two sweaty and wet snow skiers and you're headed back down the mountain. Or you were headed up to the slopes and your passengers became stressed out (sweating profusely) due to the ice and snow covered roadbed and the sometimes unavoidable side-slipping of the vehicle.
Moisture = higher humidity + a cool windshield surface = condensation.
Cracking a rear window slightly will almost always help move the cool dry air through the vehicle.
If you have not disabled your A/C for wintertime driving there may be yet another cause for the windshield fogging over.
Your A/C system was running but now isn't.
1. It may have shut down of it's own accord, automatically, a few moments ago, due to declining outside temperatures, 35F or below. Many modern systems will do this automatically, with no warning or obvious indication to the operator.
2. You may have just previosuly used the defrost/defog/demist mode, unaware that this mode automatically activates the A/C system to assist in dehumidification. Once you return the system to normal operation the A/C will shutdown provided you have used the control functionality to turn it off.
3. You may have just noticed that the temperatures have declined and manually turned off the useless A/C.
But why would any of these actions lead to windshield fogging to the point of being a real safety issue??
Long story, but first a short version.
When the A/C is operating it will almost always "gather" airborne water vapor onto the evaporator vanes. As more and more moisture accumulates it will eventually become dropletts large enough that gravity overcomes viscosity and then run down the face of the evaporator and out the drain provided for this purpose.
When the A/C compressor is first shut down the temperature of the evaporator surfaces will begin to rise. And remember ALL system inlet airflow, fresh and recirculated, comes through the evaporator. So that thin film of moisture, the film of moisture that had not yet gained enough mass to overcome viscosity, will begin to evaporate into the atmosphere within the passenger cabin.
BINGO!
Cold windshield, high atmospheric humidity.
The windshield begins to fog over!
Modern day exacerbating circumstances...
1. New, less efficient refrigerant.
With the advent of the use of the new less efficient refrigerants automotive designers were fored to come up with ways to make up for the loss of efficiency.
The most obvious way, and the one most often chosen, was to make the evaporator itsself a lot more efficient. The evaporator in my 1984 T-bird had about 2500 square inches of evaporator cooling surface. The one in the newer vehicles is more typically in the range of 10,000 square inches.
More evaporator surface area = more moisture left over to humidify the passenger cabin once the A/C is turned off.
2. Reduce the cabin atmosphere's "exhaust" outflow.
On a minute by minute basis, the less "conditioned" air that leaves the controlled environment the less incoming airflow that must be cooled.
3. Lower the system blower speed.
The slower the airflow moves through the evaporator vanes the more "heat" it gives up. A lower blower speed also results in even less exhaust outflow due to blower induced pressure differentials.
The Lexus car series is very well insulated for sound deadening and wind noise. MY 92 LS400, in fully automatic mode, could be using recirculate for 90% of the flow in the winter or summer, with the indicator light showing "fresh" mode.
Wwest you really know your stuff. Thanks for that informative post.
16 days and $5,280 later, I finally have my 92 LS back. (For those that don't know, a foolish woman ran a red light and hit the Left Front Panel and Wheel at 30 MPH) They ended up rebuilding most of the LF suspension and the car rides great. They did use all OEM Parts.
However, the car "hums" at idle..It doesn't idle as low as it used to in Drive.(Talking about 200 RPM here..) Before I couldn't hear anything, now I get this feeling that's the engine is running a little rough. Lose ground wire perhaps? The impact was pretty hard. Anyone know what this could be? It was perfect before it got hit. (I'd just spent $1,700 on the 90K service)
Am I being too picky about this? To the unschooled observer you can't tell anything happened to the car. I'm just annoyed, b/c it was perfect beforehand. I'm a little apprehensive to harass the dealer over something so minor, I can hear the "Get Lost" coming..
SV
Take IMMEDIATE steps. Take off your pants. Turn off the A/C. Drive AWAY from the cloud formations. Stop the car and wait until the clouds are gone.
I've never had any condensation problems but if I ever do I have a better source than Lexus for a solution to the problem.
Raised on a farm.
If it's broke, fix it, and get back to work.
My dealer wants my nav 2002 LS430 (12k mi.) to trade me into one like it of 2004 vintage. Can anyone provide me with a link to an online site that provides this pricing info free and without trying to broker a car for me?
>> Can anyone provide me with a link to an online site that provides this pricing info free and without trying to broker a car for me?
Heh, isn't that a little like being invited to someone's house to have dinner, taking a look around and then telling that person I don't like it here, please tell me where else I can get a free dinner instead? :-)
TMV is a very helpful tool - Edmunds has been praised for it in all kinds of publications and consumer advocacy type sites. Just take a minute to read about it and you'll see how it can help you. Pricing, reviews, specs etc. are on the Vehicle Detail Pages that can be accessed a number of ways. You'll find everything you need, I promise!
Oh and by the way, links to competing sites are not allowed by the terms of use, actually.
Also, TMV might be good for used cars, but it is certainly worthless for the 2004 Lexus LS430. If I were to follow its advice I would way overpay for this car. For instance it says my 2004 car should list for $61,730 and I should be happy to get a price of $61,548. That is rediculous! My dealer has already offered the car to me at this point for nearly $4,000 less than your TMV says. Also, my trade-in is offered at this point for another $2,500 more than what your TMV says. Frankly, I just don't see any value in TMV as it appears to be a gimmic of the Edmunds car brokering department to make us think we are getting a good deal when in fact we are getting the short end of the stick.
I have read many posts here in the past that provide links to outside sites. Perhaps you have just recently begun enforcing the rules, but a year ago they were proliferate.
Sometimes it is better not to change things too much. However, it probably changed to capture a larger profit for Edmunds.com.
After you go to "Invoice and TMV Pricing"
click on "Price with Options"
I found it in about 20 seconds.
Better yet, click on this:
http://www.edmunds.com/new/2004/lexus/ls430/100322033/options.htm- - l?tid=edmunds.n.prices.npt..6.Lexus*
What you don't sometimes get with edmund's and the others too, is which options can be combined together.
Therefore, there is no dealer invoice pricing available at this time.
I went to the LS430 info to try and get percentages of list price.
Got messed up by the destination charge which is fixed, so i left that out and concentrated on base price and option prices.
Base price X 86.998% = INVOICE
Options price X 80% to 80.9% = INVOICE. (differnet profit on some options)
Chrome wheels were MSRP X 50% = INVOICE
Then add $625 destination charge to "INVOICE" price.
Or you could search on some other sites to find invoice pricing.
Expect to pay $2500-3000 over invoice.
You can also go to www.lexusus.com and use their pricing to negotiate.
thank u
Here is a list of what is available.
Kind of hard to use because we don't know what the MSRP is on these cars without calling them.
http://fleetrates.com/index.asp?site=Lexus
$288.00 and it installed flawlessly on my 2001 LS430. Big improvement, all the updated POIs make this a very worthy upgrade.
Thanks to the recent mail on installation instructions. Definitely no need to have the dealership do this for beaucoupe bucks.
I notice my 2001 LS430 has a few of these problems.
They are:
Groaning sound when the steering column automatically goes into its resting position
Occasional sulfur smell
Rattle in the moonroof area when it is open
- Anybody out there have these or other problems, and if you had them fixed by the Lexus dealership did they give you any hassles or did they just fix them for free and no quibbles? Any feedback appreciated.
Thanks ( otherwise this is an awesome car )
Front view of LF-S
Another view of LF-S