JCtx

Picking it up in San Antonio Saturday morning. I thought I did pretty good on a brand spanking new '03 with only 7 miles (put by the port and service manager): $57K, and has the spoilelr and run flats, plus wheel locks, trunk mat, sun shade and front-end mask (bra). Couldn't justify $5K+ more for an identical '04, plus I plan to keep it for a long time. Will drive it back to El Paso on Sunday.
Since I didn't hear much about max speed to drive it back, will ask dealer and see what they say.

I'm just going to change the hub caps for the star ones, de-badge the car ('lexus', 'sc430' on back; 'L' in front), and tint the windows; that's it. Hey, where are the instructions how to leave the front grille with the horizontal slats looking all conncected? The 'L' seems to cut them off, huh?

Thanks, and will post my trip experience when I come back.

JC

stevelaw

I wouldn't go over 165

Congrats on the purchase. Make sure you take the appropriate CD's with you for the ride back!!!!!!

Your comment re the front end mask "bra" reminds me of a funny story. Last time I was at my local Lexus dealership, there was a page through the Lexus dealership speaker system:

"Mr Smith, please report to service, Mr Smith please report to service, your customer Mr Jones needs help putting on his bra"

The laughter was pretty loud in the normally reserved showroom.

pvo

iTrader: (2)

Congratulations!!!

flatfoot

Congratulations!
Enjoy,enjoy.
Post some pics. Best of luck with it.

Flatfoot

Phu

Congrats ELP, Welcome to the Club

Gojirra99

Congratulations !! Enjoy your new baby & have a safe drive home.

NYU02

Congratulations and welcome!!!!!!!!!!

Joe Peters

Happy for you!
Now dump the run flats.

ponytail 4

Just remove the screw holding the emblem (the emblem has the cut outs to fit over the slats) blacken the tab with a marker or black paint and it won't be too noticeable and you'll be good to go. Good luck with the car and enjoy.

Larry

Good luck JC ! Happy Motoring !

JCtx

Great news on the grille; will be doing that right away, and possibly just grind down the 'tab' if it bothers me. The 2 rear side badges will be gone in a second as well. Center will stay, since the front will be gone.
Just curious: does the rear emblem has holes in it? Somebody mentioned that, but my GS400 didn't have any holes. I think the emblem is too thin to have holes, and I doubt one Lexus car has them and others don't, but I could be wrong. Maybe somebody who has swapped emblems (black chrome) could comment.

Good day people.

JCtx

As you know the new '03 is now an '04 in Albuquerque; same color: silver/ecru.
Still waiting for that stupid phone call... since Monday. These guys are killing me!

I requested the car not to be touched inside, but to remove all outside wrapping to make sure there're no defects on the paint. Ah, but NO WASH; I'll do it myself, as my dealer badly scratched my first 2 lexuses (I did this same thing with the GS4). Will have to find a carwash there to detail the front, then install the lexus bra for the way back. Pics should follow soon; can't wait.

JC

Doc C

ELP-JC,

I've had horrible experience with Lexus of Albuquerque. Stay away from their service dept. Grease Monkey will do a better job than them. I wrote 3 letters to Lexus and to the dealership. I will never buy from them or have service there again. Rob Jordan was my service coordinator and was horrible. I hope your car is alright when you get it. It sounds like you've take precautions though.

Take care.

Doc C

JCtx

Thanks for the warning Doc; greatly appreciated. I'll never use them for service due to the distance though.
I'd prefer they don't touch the car other than just to unload it from the truck, but I'm not sure if the port are still driving them to check them out, or the dealer has to do it. The car in San Antonio was damaged when they took it to a nearby gas station to fill it up; am glad I hadn't left. Sales manager said cars arrived with cardboard on the wheels, or something like that. I also instructed them to program the C-BEST features I wanted.
Hey, let me tell you my only local dealer also $ucks, so I do all the service on my cars, unless I have to take it there for warranty work.

Please let me know what instrucitons would you give to the dealer if you were in my position.

Thanks Doc.

JC

ceboyd

the oil change on the SC430 is pretty easy too.... which is the most you'll need to do for a while...

Heck, I even have an extra OEM oil filter and 2 drain plug washers ...I still gotta throw up on ebay LOL