wik009

Tell us your story. Sometimes you discover Good or Bad surprises after you buy a car.

I'll start:
Windshield wipers can be put into winter mode where the wiper at rest/off is ~4 inches above its normal mode stowed position. The wipers can be flipped out and it won't run into the hood edge when in winter mode.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

The outside mirrors are heated - they turn on with the activation of the rear defroster.

LeX2K

The auto headlight feature is adjustable by turning the "button" at the base of the windshield.

On the wipers, Lexus was very stupid not to put rubber guards on the arms. My hood had chipped paint because someone must have opened the hood when the wipers were standing up. Two rubber pieces would have prevented this, heck my 1990 Camry has them on the arms for this very reason.

imherenow

hmm i thought there was similar thread to this. anyways there are not many interesting features but i can think of 4 things:
1) put the key into drivers door and turn AND KEEP HOLDING in lock position. The front driver, passenger and the sunroof will close automatically. that is neat feature i like instead of putting the key into ignition.
2) can change the direction of the wiper nozzle.. using this thread https://www.clublexus.com/forums/6435338-post4.html (but probably standard in all cars i assume)
3) front driver, passenger and sunroof have a safety feature where if any object is way while the glass is closing, it will retract back. I have tried putting my hand and it doesn't even hurt
4) When you lock/unlock the car one can adjust the sound level . The **** for it is located beneath the drivers dash and just above the brake/gas pedal.

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

'how' adjustable? As-in when it engages?

The only button i see is the light sensor, and it will trigger when the light come on regardless from what i can see.

LeX2K

Yes. The sensor rotates.

imherenow

ya i have heard of the feature been adjustable but how do you adjust it. have you tried it?
There are 2 sensors right? one is for headlight and other for ambient temp??wait it cant be ambient it has to be on the outside

LeX2K

I've rotated the sensor but then just left it in the middle, I did not take the time to test the trigger point.

adreano17

1st gear until 3000 RPM when engine is cold.

Toyota Lock/Unlock beep =] now my remote is broke =[ Viper here I come.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

The paint chips happened because somebody attempted to lift the wiper blades in the "down" position. I noticed this when I discovered the "winter mode". What's funny is that I touched up the affected area with some paint, and then later chipped it again by pulling up on the wiper blade

rlx101

that i could register the vin online and pull all service records from the dealer since the car was new. everything that was done to it, including the reason why the previous owner took the car in for service on every occasion.

Power6

- There is no "mist" function on the wipers, sort of ridiculous omission I thought every car had that. To get a single wipe you have click the wipers on/off.

- In addition as mentioned above about closing the front windows/roof , you can open them as well turning they key to unlock position and holding. This is only the 00-01 models, the auto up/down windows make this possible.

- The mirror control pad is illuminated with the dash lights. I never knew 'til I pulled it out and realized it had a burnt out bulb in it.

- The car has position sensors on the door locks. Many cars will prevent you from locking the driver's door with the power lock switch if the key is in the ignition and the door is open. The 3ES will even unlock the driver's door if you manually lock it. They make use of the position sensor in the DIY programming of the keyless remotes

Really geeky stuff:

- All cars appear to be wired for the adjustable shock system, the plug for the shock ECU is taped up under the dash in my car.

- DO NOT test the dimming driver's mirror glass by hooking up power directly to it...pop snap ouch. I guess that is why the stock system sloooowly dims it. Good I had a spare!

imherenow

1) i believe ASL (automatic sound level) is standard? well @least in my (2000 year model). I didnt know that it had this feature. I was driving with the radio on in the city speed limit --> then turned off the radio---> drove into the hwy speed--> turned back the radio---> and after few seconds the volume automatically increased. Impressive . BUT there is no way to turn if off tho. My Volvo S80 has option to turn it off. Wish the ES had it too

2) the sun visors on both driver and passenger has a extra extension (lenghtwise) that can be extended for additional sun glare. pretty cool thing. I found out after a year of ownership. lol

LeX2K

Terrible omission. My Camry has it for cripes sake.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Not really a feature of the car, but just an observation.

When I was first thinking about buying this car, I figured that it would be really easy to find spare parts, because the ES is essentially a Camry (big mistake). What I later realized is that even though the car is based on the Camry, it really doesn't share a lot of its parts. Also, because these cars are so damn reliable, not a lot of them are in junk yards. And the ones that are, will often be scrapped by resellers for ridiculous prices. The moral of the story is - spare parts are expensive!