Fizzboy7

Did a mini trip from L.A. to Santa Barbara and back. Overall, a nice ride and very quiet inside. Seats stay comfortable for the long haul. A/C cools well. Love the cooled seats. The styling of the body gets a lot of looks from other drivers. (This car has drawn more attention than any other I have owned.) Also observed plenty of power going up the Conejo Grade, but had to downshift two gears to get to it. No problem. Overall trip MPG average was 28.2. I'm quite satisfied with those figures.

My few gripes are the vibrating mirror with the sunroof open (as mentioned a while ago). Second, on choppy concrete slab freeways, the steering wheel has some kickback while going around turns at speed. Not sure if I used the right term there, but the steering wheel moves back and forth as the car bobs up and down over each slab. (I guess this is called kickback?) On ashphalt roads, it's fine. I also noticed the car sidesteps a little over ruts while going around turns at speed (maybe this is the same thing as above, but the next level?). Curious if the F-Sport springs would solve this with a lower center of gravity (?).

One thing I was neutral about was the orange ring that comes on after you hit a certain speed. I thought it was a bit annoying at first, but ended up using it to keep the speed down to conserve fuel. Not bad.

Regarding the vibrating mirror... My car's VIN doesn't fall into the TSB range, but I am going to request something be done since I like driving with the roof open most of the time. As it is now, I can't see jack crap behind me.

Anyway, was a good trip. Now I have a layer of bbq grease to wash off thanks to the bozo next to me who decided to bbq two feet away from my parking space. Sooooooome people....

Long live Lexus

Xanadu350

The vibrating mirror is a major defect with this model. I also don't fall in the TBS fix (supposidly it was fixed before my VIN) but it still vibrates bad at 65 or 70 mph. Some here have said it has to do with the sound system vibrating but that is not the case, I turned off my ML on highway doing 65 and it still vibrates, put your hand on the roof (sunroof closed) turn off your radio and you will feel the tremedous vibration that moves from the roof all the way to the front windshield. When you reduce speed under 55-65 the vibration stops and doesnt effect inside mirror.

However, I would still call this a major defect. Some have had it fixed under the TSB but still have vibration, so that tells me it's the way the car was designed. When I do play my ML loud at 65 mph it shakes so much you can't see out the back window. I really don't want the dealer to mess with it and make it worse since it appears there really is no fix to make it "completely" not vibrate at highway speeds. Not a huge deal for me but is kinda poor design for a $40K Lexus car mirror to vibrate.

My only real complaint with this car. It's the only thing I really can complain about cause everything else is great.

fotaman

Ah, the Conejo grade--it's a great test of a car's power. My brother had an old Honda Civic and it struggled to do 50 mph up the grade.

Fizzboy7

LOL! The Conejo grade is a riot. You got trucks in the slow lane doing 10 mph with their hazards on, and cars going 60 one lane next to them. It's a study of stupidity.

Fizzboy7

You are right with everything you say. I think it's a major design flaw and I am pretty surprised it passed design and testing. Did they not think people would drive with the roof open passed 60 mph? I drive everywhere with my roof open. But every car has some crazy thing that makes you scratch your head. My A4 had a folding armrest that hit the e-brake everytime you put it down. Doh! So I was thinking is this something I am going to have to live with for 3 years or is it fixable? I am starting to think it's something I am going to have to live with. The plan now is to start using my sideview mirrors instead to spot the Crown Victorias in the rear.

llamaboiz

in japan the street racers remove the windshield rearview mirror, racers dont need to see where they've been

IS350jet

I believe the technical term is called "bump steer".

Bichon

You do realize that you can set the points on both the speedo and tach where the orange ring illuminates? If you set them high enough, they'll effectively be disabled. You'll only see the red ring, which illuminates at 100mph, and as far as I know, can't be turned off.

15951

I'd call it an annoyance...certainly not a major defect. From what I understand, dealers are replacing the mirrors if you complain about the problem, which should be a quick diagnosis and repair.

They should have caught this when they were selecting parts for the car, and I am surprised that they're still using the same mirror on the current model year, but it should be an easy repair.

FiveOhNine

I agree, an annoyance at best, especially if dealers are fixing the problem. Just out of curiosity, what is different with the new mirrors/attachments?

Xanadu350

Maybe I shouldn't have used the word major but there is clearing a problem. I am going by those who have posted after having the TSB done and they say it still vibrates. Have you ever taken your hand and placed it on the headliner when traveling over 60, try it some time, the vibration is crazy strong. My car is outside the TSB so I doubt they would do anything. Again this is not a huge problem for me and I can live with it since I use the side mirrors. I keep my rear shade up all the time anyway. I'm just stating that the inside mirror should not vibrate at all but for someone that does use it to drive and depends on it (not me) then I can see how it could be a major problem for them.

LIS350A

You can turn the orange light warning off too, instead of setting them higher.

They can be distracting.