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Sorry, I got Lexus Link confused with sonar in nofeer's post.
Just two interior colors and both with kind of wierd woods. Give me grey with a wood that looks like wood.
Just two interior colors and both with kind of wierd woods. Give me grey with a wood that looks like wood.
My only other complaint is a lack of wheel mounted shift capability since I like to have some interaction with the transmission even with an auto. The same complaint applies to the older MBs although the new models have this feature.
mounted shift capability". Do you mean a shift lever that is mounted on the steering wheel column, instead of the one on the floor? If so, how does that give you more control? My '99 MB E320 just has the floor shift, no shift capability on the steering wheel column that I am aware of. Let me know what I'm missing.
Regards, Renny
The shift lever can be moved to a 'manual' position which then lets you select the maximum gear via up/down buttons on the steering wheel (or paddles behind in some cases).
Am I overly concerned? What will switching to the standard wheels cost?
I saw a gorgeous black cherry LS430 today. Wasn't
sure I was going to like that color from the brochure, but it was stunning with the ivory interior and maple wood.
www.insidelexus.com/passion
Nice pix of new SC also.
Thanks Flint!
you can see the oil spot in your garage or have to
refill the fluid often) , have the booster replace
ASAP before the power steering fluid damages your
alternator.
I have replaced two alternators in mine and
finally was informed by the mechanic that it was
caused by the power steering fluid get into the
alternator.
The cost for replacing the booster is under 200 at
the independent garage. I don't know how much
Lexus will charge.
Speaking about the charge, if your car out of
warrantee, have it serviced at an independent
mechanic especially for tune up, water pump, timing
belt or alike, you'll save half of the cost.
Good luck
The Platinum edition wheels are nice.
Swaping 17" with 16" wheels on a LS430 will not throw the speedo off. The speedo's come configured the same whether you have 16" or 17" wheels. As long as you use the +1, +2, etc. concept you are fine.
I'm not bothered by the wood at all, but like so many others. I hate the grey wood so I went with the black interior. I'm very pleased. The black is really a blue/black. Aniline means "dyed with indigo". The wood and leather go very well together. Just avoid looking at it in direct sunlight. The wood looks bright purple.
I went to a reception last Thursday night and fell in love, too. I went in on Saturday to put up my deposit and begin the wait. Turned out someone who's silver/black car was arriving monday canceled his order. I grabbed it and love it.
Lexus seems to be taking a lesson from Henry Ford, who said you can have any body color - as long as it's black.
What has happened was one day the alternator just went dead so I bought a "new" reconditioned one at Lexus dealer and have it replaced by an independent mechanic. The whole thing cost me almost 600 bucks ( 480 for the alt and 100 bucks for labor). This mechanic didn't know about the power steering fluid can destroy the alt.
Little more than a year later, my alt died again. I took the car to another mechanic and this guy pointed out the power steering fluid problem. He replace the alt and replaced the pump ( I guess resealed one ) for 400 bucks.
it has been almost two years and 60K passed and there's no sight of leaking fluid. I'm watching it. The car has 180K and still runs great except for the LCD leaking problem that I am sure most of 90-93 LS owner already known about. I just leave the LCD alone though I can replace it for around 400 bucks.
white--birdeye maple--nav/lev-lexus link--ecru standard leather. I couldn't get availablity of the
custom luxury package so i went with this one.
It's supposed to be "the most customizable lexus" but that ls430 is due "spring" or next year.
will keep you up to date. hope not waiting for the eurotuned susp won't make me jealous. the base suspension should be fine. But none are available to test, and i don't think any reviews included standard suspension evaluation. if there has let me know. Is the new ls430 air suspension better than the old one? maybe the base is better than last year. any suggestions? hopefully it won't take long to get.
I was ready to sign 3 year lease for the ultra lux, now i ordered a much less expensive (less profitable car for lexus) so in essence they "lost"a 10k sale because their most luxurious model only comes with 2 different woods, only one option if you get the light interior, which was a very popular choice. From salesmen they say they can get 2k more on used ls400 if its the light exterior and interior. what was lexus thinking? That the same people that bought all those white, cream, maple ls400 are going to change their tastes?
I don't think so. it's a big mistake.
also, instead of these boards talking about happy customer singing the praises of ls430 you get grumbling, which is completely in their control. poor choices on a vehicle that was to have many.
Yes Sir!!!!
onyx or black cherry ultra with ecru leather, but am concerned about the wood. The greyish wood may
actually look good combined with dark blue or black cherry, but will wait and see. If we don't like it, I don't know what I'll do bcz I absolutely don't want dark leather and dark wood together. Saw that, didn't like it.
Only other problem is the tire selection. The ultra comes with 17" summer and I, like many, want all season or winter.
Supposed to get a test drive in the next couple of days, but with standard susp., not air.
This is my first Lexus and the deal went smoothly. I asked for a discount and was offered $3000.00 off list which, all things considered, I viewed as quite fair. I anticipate many happy years of driving this car and can only shake my head in disbelief at those who think an MB can hold a candle to this car.
did they say to expect?
2 dealers in my area(NJ) have waiting lists until March and April of 2001 currently. And both dealers are getting 10 to 15 LS430's a month by winter.
I have waited 14 months for a ls430. the ecru wood looks like plastic. trying to order some simple things, nav/lev-lexus link, isn't possible as per my elite dealer. Why oh Why did lexus abandon us...why oh why has lexus dropped what worked. namely the most popular color historically has been white with light interior and that classic "lexus maple" why oh why didn't they keep things simple. THis is supposed to be a classic luxury car. others have it, i would think the following a minimum for this class of lux vehicle Leather--wood-nav, safety including "on star, mayday, lexus link" They could have done the following--two models ultra lux and base with nav/wood/lexus link. this has been a very frustrating time for me.
My MB dealer is 3 miles down the road with an s430 at 66% residual and 120miles is my elite lexus dealer. I'm going to call lexus customer service and complain. how come so difficult to get something of what i wanted. Why did lexus think that traditional lux car buyers would like the non traditional wood--no other lux car has a non-wood looking wood.
sorry for the above, every turn i get a brick wall. no euro tuned with lexus link, no this no that this might change my mind.
I paid list and really doubt anyone is giving a 3K discount.
Noangerdoc: I was also just about to buy an S430 and put it on hold until the LS 430 arrived. It was no contest. The MB dealer kept his head in the sand. They should be discounting the S Class big time. Lexus did indeed, do it again. Mine is silver w/aniline black. Goes very well. You're going to love it. BTW. I was very lucky. I went in last SAT to get on the waiting list for next year. Some poor slob cancelled his silver black scheduled to arrive the next day. So I only had to wait 1 day to get mine.
I paid list and really doubt anyone is giving a 3K discount.
Noangerdoc: I was also just about to buy an S430 and put it on hold until the LS 430 arrived. It was no contest. The MB dealer kept his head in the sand. They should be discounting the S Class big time. Lexus did indeed, do it again. Mine is silver w/aniline black. Goes very well. You're going to love it. BTW. I was very lucky. I went in last SAT to get on the waiting list for next year. Some poor slob cancelled his silver black scheduled to arrive the next day. So I only had to wait 1 day to get mine.
Anyway, extensive test drive. Let me preface I currently have a 1998 BMW M3 5-speed. I thought the performance was very good. Acceleration from the start ws good passing on the highway downshifted nice.
I wasn't impressed with the Mark Levinson stereo, I think it is highly overrated. The Harmon Kardon in my BMW actually sounds better (by the way Mark Levinson is supposed to be the high end of Harmon Kardon). The JBL stereo also sounds almost as good. I never did hear a Nachamichi, But the say the Mark Levinson is better I was really unimpressed when I had the Bass, Mid, Treble up all the way and I could understand a person speaking and it was buffeting the sound.
I liked the Nav system easy to read and to use. I just wish you could orient the map so it showed the direction you were driving as up instead of it always being north. You still have to switch regions, but at least your not inserting in another harddrive or cdrom at additional cost.
I was also not impressed with the road quietness; there was noise going over bumps. I had heard tomb quiet and I guess I expected more. Controls including heat/cool seat fans were almost noiseless. It is much quieter than my Acura Integra GSR, only slightly quieter than my BMW and 2000 Avalon. Amazing the interior volume of the LS430 is now .5 cubic feet larger than the Avalon. The Avalon is a bargain with less power at half the price. But the Avalon only has heated front memory seats. DSC, traction control, brake assist, trip computer and homelink. The Avalon does have one option that I not seen in any other car a 115 volt outlet for plugging in tvs, game machines, portable PCs, etc.
The ultra really has great backseat comfort. Besides the center HVAC vents there are two under the seats and two in the ceiling just pass the B pillars. There is a separate compressor for the back airconditioning/ heating so there are actual three zones of temperature control. A backseat passenger can change the audio. And there is even memory setting on both sides for the back seat passengers.
Wasn't impressed with the dynamic laser control. Just a gimmick. Even on the shortest setting you are still back about 5-6 car lengths and it is easy for someone to cut in front of you. I had trouble setting a speed and then increasing it. The digital speed setting indication was a nice touch.
Couldn't tell much difference between sport and normal suspension. Power mode on the transmission did seem peppier.
The sensors around the car are pretty neat when my wife got out of the car to go around and try the back seat it set the sensor off.
Articulating fron center air vents. Now I have seen everything.
If my test drive was any indication, by the way I had a long test drive sans salesman, the mileage will be significantly less than the advertised 18/25 Sporty highway and town driving was about 14
I saw the eru wood in the ultra luxury and although it goes weel with the Ecru leather it looks like polished gray formica. The Bordeaux looks kind of like a purple mahogoney.
I looked on the dealer's lot today and they had in two that were non ultra lux and the non ultra lux wood looks much much better. One was Crystal white with ivory and Calfornia walnut. It had chrome wheels, which are beautiful, with the euro suspension and the Mark levison stereo. Is MSRP was $59,000. The other was Parchment Crystal with Ecru and Golden Birdseye Maple and was the wood color that I think should have been in the Ultra.
I think Lexus made a mistake offering only certain combincations for the Ultra Luxury package.
The price has already gone up on the Ultra Luxury $12,502 (which doesn't include the perforated aniline leather cost) up $300 and up $100 on the Chrome wheels now $1,800
Good luck , I am going to wait a couple of months. Mark my words the latent demand that Lexus thought existed isn't there and the cost will go down dramatically in the Spring of 2001.
Excellent car!
Thanks,
Bill the M and LS Car Nut
A class of synthetic, organic dyes originally obtained from aniline (coal tars), which were, in fact, the first synthetic dyes. Today the term is used with reference to any synthetic organic dyes...
The road noise you hear is from those stupid 17" summer tires being installed on all ULs. It will be better when they wear out at 15,000 miles and you replace them with normal luxury tires from Michelin.
I expect Lexus will very quickly offer more interior options for the UL. Customers and dealers are all screaming. Of course that will increase demand.
My dealer wondered why lexus abandoned the standard classy wood for that grey stuff( we are not the only ones complaining of this "wood"--no other lux car has anything like it, i wonder why). he feels that lexus would have done better if they had two models
ultra lux and one with nav/lev-lexus link and choice of wood and color only.