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Lexus ES 300/ES 330
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Comments
So if there's something that you think you might want adjusted to your liking, look in the manual and the dealer might able to do it for you.
What is the maximum interval one should go before doing a tire rotation? (e.g. 10,000 miles)
Later...AH
Also, in your posts you didn't seem to have a beef that the dealer did more than the book called for, so that doesn't seem to be an issue. The dealer apparently did what was called for; thus you must be questioning only the price you paid.
So what was your mileage and what specific services did the dealer do? And was it really $500, or was that a rounded amount?
Al--
I was told that they were doing what it said to do in the book.
I am now questioning what they did and I want to find out what it should have really cost me. I will have a big problem with this dealership if they did overcharge and lie to me.
What about service on a new ES? How does that run. What is it you pay for norm. everyday stuff and what is it you pay for the milestone jobs? After I figure what Acura did to me, I think I’m going to purchase a new ES. What are some option combos you would recommend? I was thinking about the Nav/ML/Wood combo.
Does anyone have any experience with any of the dealerships in and around the Phoenix and Tucson area. I’m willing to drive to Phoenix if it is worth it.
Thanx for the help and when I find out what Acura did to me I will probably be causing a few problems at their local dealership!
duhblec wrote:
>>Does anyone have any experience with any of the dealerships in and around the Phoenix and Tucson area. I'm willing to drive to Phoenix if it is worth it.>>
Call Tom Himes (Himes Leasing & Sales) at 602.957.6601. He is an independent dealer who works with the fleet department at Bell Lexus. Tom is a total pro, and makes the buying experience a breeze.
My service experience with Bell Lexus has been great. All my friends who own Lexus vehicles say the same thing.
Email me off list (Robert@BassLawFirm.com) for more information.
Cordially,
RNBESQUIRE
It is not "Acura" who "did to you" !!! It is that particular dealership you frequent, who happened to service Acura vehicles. Also, have you tried servicing your vehicle at the local Honda dealerships ?
You were over-charged for the service. Period. Either you take it up with the dealership after getting comparative costs from elsewhere or take your car elsewhere (maybe to the local Honda dealership, if you do not have Acura dealerships in your vicinity). No point in blaming Acura.
I would assume that Lexus would with guaranteed certainity, charge you well above what Acura charges.
Later...AH
As for Lexus costs, they are not any higher than Acura (at least by me). My brother bought a 2002 CL-S in September and I checked the maintenance costs. Not much different from Lexus.
7.5K: ~$90
15K: ~$250
22.5K:~$90
30K: ~$350
37.5K:~$90
45K: ~$300
52.5K:~$90
60K: ~$650
At 120K miles I'm planning on changing the timing belt so total 120K service cost should be about $1.5K.
The servicing costs for my 2000 LS400 are pretty similar at least up to 20K miles.
I do feel the 7.5K oil changes are overinflated. All they really do is change oil, filter and rotate tires and wash the car for $90 bucks. That should really cost $50 bucks tops.
If you think the 7.5k service is overinflated at $90, then I would think that you would think the 15k service be overinflated as well. You're paying $160 more for air filter, wiper blades, and transmission fluid change.
Wiper blades...$10, easy to change yourself. Air filter...$30, easy to change yourself. That leaves $120 for a transmission fluid change. I don't think even Lexus would charge that much for a transmission fluid change as a separate service.
On another note, I take my Honda to the dealer for service and this dealer has pretty competitive prices ($20 for oil change, top off of all fluids, and the BS checks). My Lexus dealer charges $50 for the same, which is pretty expensive but not enough to make me want to risk service at a non-Lexus place.
Is this common for Acura? How is Lexus service? I may just buy a Benz because of the service if this is what it is like. The Chevy dealership I bought my son's car at is better than this!
First, this car is so different from the TL, they should not be compared to each other. The Lexus ES IS in a different league here. My TL was a nice ride, (don't forget, we also own a 00 3.5 RL, which we LOVE) but the 02 ES blow the TL away.
Sure the ES is not as quick as the acura, but that is not what the Lexus is about. The
Acura is a sports sedan, the Lexus is a luxury sedan. I am not suffering from the buyers remorse that was discussed on this thread. Again, the Lexus is a better car. Period.
Your posts show a little Canadian flag rather than a US flag, so I'm wondering if the costs you cited in your post #1761 and others are in Canadian or US dollars? They seem to be US, but if Canadian, you're getting a great deal. And if US, how come your posts show a Canadian flag? Just curious.
Al in Seattle area
P.S. I called both Lexus dealers in the Greater Seattle area for the cost of a 10,000 mile service on my 2000 ES 300 (just the routine LOF, tire rotation, fluid level checks, wash and vaccuum.) The Bellevue Lexus dealer quoted $135!! (which I confirmed by a callback--and got a different voice on the phone--the next day.) The Seattle Lexus dealer quoted $79.95 for the same thing. Guess which one I used? Wrong!! I took it to the local Toyota dealer for $69 (didn't get the car wash, but G-d did that for me on the way home.)
Moral: if you have more than one Lexus and/or Toyota dealership in your area, or a trustworthy independent (non-dealer) shop, call around for pricing, especially for routine servicing.
Brought it to Fletcher Jones in Vegas for service. I was very happy that I didn't get the 3rd degree about where I bought the car.
The porters, service writer, greeter......everyone came out to look at the color. They all said it was rare and couldn't stop complimenting it. They may do this to all colors for all I know. LOL!!!
I did have 2 complaints that were deemed normal. Found out that "clunk" upon roll out is the ABS going through a self check. The wind noise complaint was funny. The service mgr. drove it and could not duplicate at 65 MPH. I told him that it buffeted around 80. He said he can't drive a customer's car that fast. I told him I could, get in!! We did 90ish and he did hear it but said at those speeds it was just outside air. Oh well, the car is perfect except for those 2 things and the dealer service was great.
I did the first oil change myself(the filter is a PITA to get to)at 1500 miles and will let Lexus do the 5000 mile change for free. 3000 miles there after.
Not to start a flame war but if a Ford or GM made this type of noise would it be accepted??
"If the E-Class - and Mercedes-Benz in general - has an Achilles' heel, it's in the area of dealer service, which topped our survey respondents' gripe list. Relative to competeing luxury marques, Mercedes dealers did not fare well in our survey. 75% of the owners gave their dealers good or excellent marks, compared to 97% for Lexus..."
Later the article says "...the most likely answer comes down to the high cost of dealer service; it's appallingly high. A whopping 65% of the owners rated dealer prices for parts and labor as either expensive or very expensive. Compare this to...40% of the Lexus owners who said the same."
The article also said Mercedes in Southern california charges $60 for a simple oil change.
The one time I had a minor complaint about a service I had Lexus Corporate called me the next day at work to follow up and then sent me a golf shirt.
As an aside, I think the service database is Lexus only. If you get work done at a Toyota dealer it will not show up.
afinegold, That is US dollars. I am Canadian by birth and citizenship but live in the United States. Adopt antisaddam as your name. Gotta do your part to mock those evil people as the Pres calls them.
Actually, it does not matter at all, whether it shows up in their database or not. You can even get the car serviced at jiffy lube or any other quick service places, to maintain your warranty. You can even change the oil yourself at home, just be sure to save your receipts. That is all it takes to keep your warranty active. When there is warranty work however, it is preferable to take it to a Lexus dealer.
For all other services, you can get it done anywhere, as long as you keep the receipts.
Of course, I personally would get my car (3.2TL) serviced at the Acura dealership, even though I would un-hesitatingly take it to a Honda dealership, if the Acura dealers overcharge me.
Later...AH
Just because......
I do not care about NAV because I can find my way to work and back pretty easily, but I would like to have VSC, I consider it a safety feature.
Did anybody succeed to buy a new 2002 ES300 with VSC but without NAV? Or is a special order from the factory the only solution?
Geez man, you're getting a bitchin' car, why compromise? I love the NAV and ML on ours. I even love the rear window shade. None of it is really needed to get to work.......but it is soooo cool to have it.
A piece of mail was delivered to us the other day with an address totally different than ours. Hopped in the ES, entered address and delivered the mail. No, we didn't get it for that reason(even though it would make pizza delivery easier!)
But it was just FUN being able to do it. And it's always a conversation piece when friends or family ride with you.
Try that route and see what happens, and of course you can check other posts on this forum for details on how others have gotten Internet quotes on specific color/equipment choices and then e-mailed those choices to about a dozen or so dealers in their part of the country, along with some specific language asking for "bids" on the bottom line cost of that car. Seemed to work every time, as the post will show, with at least several or more dealers responding. And of course it's well worth driving or flying to another location, say Portland or Medford or Spokane, etc. in your case, if the quote from one of those more distant dealers comes back considerably better than from closer ones.
Good luck and let us know what steps you take, as I plan to do the same in a year or two when it's time to replace/upgrade my 2000 ES300.
Al98008--
The Nav is fantastic. I agree that it takes some getting used to, most problems reported are issues with what options are selected on the menu screen. I have already had the system help me save alot of time. The 33 mile drive was backed up for 10 miles so I simply asked the system for an alternate route that excluded freeways. I took direct backroads that hardly no other drivers knew about. Another time, I was almost out of gas (only 6 miles left according to the trip computer) so I asked the Nav to show me all of the gas stations and I got gas within 2 miles. If anyone has any complaints, ask your salesperson to help and they will gladly oblige. The system is the best out there (other than possibly the Acura).
There are a couple of questions I have for other owners: It seems like the trip computer for miles remaining always tries to get you to fill up when there is still at least 2 gallons in the tank. I understand the reasoning and the sense that this makes, but the gauge then is fairly inaccurate. On the occasion noted above, the trip computer told me 4 miles left, yet I filled the tank with only 16 gallons (and a 18.5 gallon tank). Is everyone else getting the same reading? Some of my previous cars allowed me to recalculate the miles remaining feature based on the speed I was going, thus giving me more miles left if I was on the freeway and much less if travelling in traffic.
I also notice the very quiet 'thud' when first driving the car. It sounds like a box is sliding from one end of the trunk to the other. From previous posts it appears that this is an ABS test. Has anyone heard anything else like this?
I have averaged about 24 miles per gallon with an even blend of city and highway miles. The rain sensing wipers are pretty cool, but do take some adjustment. We have had great weather in the last month so I have only used them a couple of times. The auto dimming mirrors are fantastic, even when a truck or SUV has their brights on, it helps quite a bit. The rear sunshade is a great feature and helps also if a car is trying to blind you. One neat feature that my salesperson forgot to mention (but is in the manual) is that holding the unlock button on the remore down will roll down all of the windows and the sunroof. (I was parked by a pizza place at a local college and 4 or 5 guys were standing around the car. I showed them the Nav (and how it slides down for CD/tape access) and the self-sdjusting lights (very cool upon starting the car) but the auto opening windows were the "sweetest" things about the car (according to them) as well as the clear and powerful ML stereo.
Like previous mentions on this board, I find excuses to get in my car. I even 'forget' things on my weekend errand list, so I can get back in my car and drive around. 2500 miles in 6 weeks of regular driving can attest to that.
The only drawback, I feel, of this car is that it is by far, the best option in this price category as well as a couple of notches above it. How is that a bad thing? I think within a year or two they may be everywhere you go. It is the best car I have ever had and much better than 95% of the cars on the road. The 5% that may be better are all double the price. I could not be more pleased with my purchase.
Please keep us advised of your highway mpg because with the new 5-speed the mpg highway should be better than the previous generation ES300. The EPA figures are 29 mpg highway. Thanks again and please keep us updated as the mileage grows on your new vehicle.
<<I also notice the very quiet 'thud' when first driving the car. It sounds like a box is sliding from one end of the trunk to the other. From previous posts it appears that this is an ABS test. Has anyone heard anything else like this?>>
I was at a different Lexus dealer today and they told me that the GS300 wheels will not fit properly. Who do I believe? Does anyone have experience doing this? Do they fit/function properly?
The local Honda dealer charges $99.95 for the 15,000 mile service. $200 is way too expensive. See if you can go to another Honda dealer, or check around for independent Honda repair centers. There's quite a few of those here in LA.
<$25 for a HOnda oil change to $60 for a simple Lexus oil change is questionable. That is a 140% increase in price. $200 for a 15K service at a Honda dealer vs. $250 for a 15K service at a Lexus dealer(which includes trans. fluid) is a 25% increase but you're getting your trans. fluid changed also. Doesn't seem bad at all. The oil change does though.>
$100 vs. $250 would be a big difference.
Later...AH
01 Honda S2000, and a 01 Toyota 4Runner. So we feel any voids these sedans may have are filled with the others.
I do have 2 minor issues with the ES. The transmission will abruptly downshift from 5th into 4th. And the lighting for the Stereo/climate control at nightime is diffucult to read. (green backlights with small light black numbers) Other than that its a great car
The thud is the ABS doing a self test. Bugs the heck out of me. Dealer says it's normal.
Heatmiser said:
>>I was speaking to the a local Lexus dealer in the other day about swapping out the ES300 wheels for the GS300 wheels. The sales rep said both wheels and tires are the same exact size. He also said that they have done this before and it works fine.
I was at a different Lexus dealer today and they told me that the GS300 wheels will not fit properly. Who do I believe? Does anyone have experience doing this? Do they fit/function properly? >>
Believe me, for I have been driving with a set of beautiful GS chrome wheels on my new ES. No problems at all. The swap cost me $900, and they make the car look great!
The dealer couldn't wait to get their hands on my stock wheels, so they could ship them out to be chromed, and they can re-sell them.
Cordially,
RNBESQUIRE
The thud is the ABS doing a self test. Bugs the heck out of me. Dealer says it's normal.
The ABS self test (priming), I would suppose would be more of a hum than a thud. I could be wrong but I would bet on the hydraulic mounts of the engine being the source of the "thud".
Later...AH
The dealer goes by the book. None of the independent Honda repair shops in the area charge more than $110.