meangreen

Hi,
I just wanted to introduce myself here. I bought a RWD 2006 GS300 a month ago, it is Cypress Pearl/Beige with all options. It has been lowered on stock wheels with spacers, and dark tinted windows which is the perfect cruiser for me here in Las Vegas. So far I'm loving the ride and stance, and it gets great gas mileage.

I needed something with space, luxury, and some mature/civilized class. My other car is the weekend beast. I have a modded out pearl white 1999 3000GT VR4 with a ton of performance enhancements about 500hp to the wheels and super loud.
Its great fun but not for traffic or company or groceries etc. Besides that it spends almost as much time under the knife as on the road these days. So I am really glad to have a comfortable, reliable and great looking daily driver now.

The Lexus has 39k miles and I'm hoping this car will be very reliable for many more to come. I would really enjoy knowing your experiences here from a reliability standpoint. Are there any particular issues to watch out for?
I had my eyes set on a black/black GS hybrid but this one came along at a great price so I could not pass on it. The color is really growing on me because it changes so much in different lighting.

I already took it in for service to fix as much little stuff I could find before the 50k warranty is up. Nothing major just a sticky drivers mirror actuator and a slightly loose rear-view. Lexus has been great so far, they are ordering an updated version of the rear-view mirror for me. Oh and I did have an issue that they cant seem to reproduce. Sometimes the car takes 3-4 tries to start it will crank then immediately shut off. It doesn't happen often maybe once a week. They charged the battry but it still happens occasionally.

Ive already gotten spoiled by driving their brand new loaner cars!! The new RX350 mouse control is so cool.


I am getting the mod bug but I want to keep it tasteful and classy on this car. Just some updates/ functional improvements I guess you could say. I already have a full list of questions lined up for you veteran GS owners!

The newer Lexus models have a much nicer nav display graphics, honestly the 06 nav does not seem all that great to use. I already had them check to be sure I am running the latest revision, which it is. I was wondering if anyone has retrofitted a newer gs nav into an 06 model or if it is possible... would any functions be lost such as dvd playback? Is it plug and play replacement?

Also my AFS light flashes because of the lowered springs. I'm hoping that is an easy fix. I read somewhere about a sensor that needs to be inverted to make it work?

I want to get some kind of ipod/iphone adapter to work with the factory ML system and hopefully a mild plug and play subwoofer to add a little kick. I havent found anything yet but I want something prefab and vehicle specific to work with OEM, easily removable, and not take too much trunk space.

meangreen

The car is like brand new no dents, or blemishes inside. The trunk smells brand new and looks like it was never used.

meangreen

01a4man

iTrader: (2)

Congrats on the new car and welcome.

JBasco20

iTrader: (1)

Nice Car Man and Welcome.... I also have a weekend Beast its a 2003 Mustang Conv with a fully race built 4.6 and KB Supercharged im at 521 to the wheels with an auto right now but about to upgrade more :-) So I know what you mean about needing another vehicle that is more responsible.

ECUgs430

welcome to the club

diggin the wheels and stance

what size spacers and springs did you go with?

stvincent

iTrader: (5)

congrats! love the drop with your oem 18s. nice stance with spacers. very nice gto too.

yup, easy fix.

meangreen

thanks, that sounds like one bad pony. I remember drooling over a smoke gray anniversary cobra when it came out I think in 03. I guess you know very well what an expensive addiction...err "hobby" modding cars and going fast can be. mines still a work in progress too.

meangreen

I bought it from the dealership as it sits now. I havent had a chance to look closely at what springs/spacers are on it but it does ride very well for being dropped. The former owner is a Lexus tech I just wish he would've fixed the flashing AFS light with the drop haha.

meangreen

Thank you sir! I see you are familiar with the 3s platform the JDM GTOs are pretty rare. I think my 99 VR4 is one of 287 imported to the US. Way less than that if you consider color options and which ones are still actually on the road! I just cant bare to let her sit and collect dust though.

I like your wheel setup. What offset is that? Are the AWD models any different when considering wheel specs?

LexFather

Welcome and congrats, are you on 3si?

stvincent

iTrader: (5)

thx. it's custom made, so i'm not 100% sure. rolling diameter has to match, so i ended up getting same width all around..

meangreen

Yup, I'm "DC 95VR-4" there. Are you a 3si member too?

meangreen

Ya staggered widths on an AWD makes it tough to get perfect matching rolling diameter tires. You can do it but the choices become very limited. I ran into the same issue on the VR4. I wanted 10.5 wide rears to fill the wells but it got expensive in a hurry.

I am curious if the GS hubs stick out the same amount on both models. If I do end up buying rims for this one and then eventually upgrade to a hybrid AWD, I will most likely want to swap all the aftermarket equip to the new one.

kyang91

iTrader: (5)

Congrats on the new car and welcome to the club.