New owner...
 

Hey all,

I'd like to say hi and introduce myself. My name is Vikram, and I just moved to Georgia for my masters program about three weeks ago. Just last night I bought a 97 es300. It's dark blue and has 108k on it. It's in excellent condition and the previous owner took great care of it. I used to manage my own detailing business, so no worries about me keeping the car looking good.

I've been browsing the forum for a little while now, and thought I should just post up. I absolutely love this car, and have always liked Lexus. Two of my uncles owned identical cars (one a 98 and the other a 2000). However, I never thought I'd own one as it's a far cry from my last car. I'm in the process of selling a 96 cobra with lots and lots of mods.

Anyways, just thought I'd say hi and start posting. :)

Hello Vikram, welcome to ClubLexus! My name is Doug, and I'm one of the moderators for this forum (ES330/300). Please stick around here; you'll find plenty of knowledgeable and easygoing people here in no time.

Also, if you're looking for a specific type of info in regards to your car, you can always use the search engine that's always located on the top left of your page, or under the "Search" pulldown menu when you are in the main ES forum page. It's a very helpful tool, and you'll uncover tons of useful other tidbits about your car. Of course, if you can't find what you're looking for, feel free to ask by creating a new thread or sending a PM to a certain individual :thumbup:

About your recent ES purchase... that's a nice find, and I've always loved that factory color Dark Blue Pearl on the '97-'99 models. Be sure to do the oil changes at a regular basis, as these 3.0L V6 engine models are tend to instigate sludge-like problems if the oil changes are not kept up. Also, be wary of your transmission; I've heard from other '97-'98 owners that their trannies develop sluggish problems and behavior in time. I talked to one '98 ES owner at the dealership yesterday when I was getting some parts, and he said that his transmission had to be replaced at 71K miles, which to me is a sad affair :( It's really based on the previous history of the car, and how the maintenance was kept up by the prior owner.

If you have some time around this website, please check out the Automotive Detailing forum. There are many intelligent detailers participating in that forum, so based on your detailing background, I'm sure you can benefit from that forum :)

Doug,

Thanks for responding. I keep a very detailed log of maintenance, so hopefully I can spot something before it's too late. I didn't realize how often the transmission problem(s) occured though. I do have the prior records and they look fine, so hopefully everything is ok.

I'll definately check out the detailing forum. Since I just moved, most of my detailing supplies are back in Oklahoma. I'm really busy with school, but if another member needs help or has has any questions, please feel free to contact me.

I'd eventually like to do a few things to the car, but nothing major (isn't that what we all say). I was thinking some more performance oriented tires, some trd/eibach springs and shocks, maybe a swaybar, etc..

I wish I had access to a camera as I would take some pictures, but the only pictures I have are of my cobra...

hey. there. i wouldn't mind checking out your Cobra. post it UP..

Welcome! :thumbup:

:D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4/DSC06005.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4/DSC05992.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4/DSC05977.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4/DSC05997.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4/DSC05985.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4/DSC05963.jpg

And for the mandatory reflection shots... :cool:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4/DSC05987.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4/DSC06032.jpg

Welcome! Why are you getting rid of the cobra?

CUZ he got a LEXUS.. that's WHY!!!!!.. out of all people. you should of known that.. McElligott... :ban:


that is a nice CAR... mind letting me know what type of wax or whatever special stuff you use to make your car shine like that??

Why not just have both?

http://www.turbotoyota.com/lexcobra.jpg

WELCOME :woot:

Thanks for the welcome.

About the cobra, long story. My t-stat went out when racing and you can guess what happened to the motor. I only had three weeks to get it back together, so we didn't have time for a rebuild. I decided to put another motor in and sell my old one. I got a great motor from a 99 cobra (no more imrc's, c-heads, better intake manifold design, etc) and we swapped that in. The plan was to bring that here to Georgia, but it took some parts to a while to get in. The guy putting it together wanted to buy it, his friend wanted to buy it, and a few others were interested. As many of you on the site, the car means a LOT to me.

Got to Athens, GA and noticed the roads weren't too hot. Plus, my class schedule is very intense (7 hours of class a day), so I don't have time to race it or really have fun with it. Decided to go ahead and sell it. It should be sold this upcoming weekend. :( It just made sense as the car wasn't a great daily driver due to being very low, a stiff ride, very loud, drag radials, etc...

I've always wanted a lex, and now was the perfect time. Great reliability, style, smooth and quiet (I'll be making trips back to Oklahoma) and all the other good things about owning a lexus. :)

Lol, thanks man.

I didn't really do a full detail on it. I wanted to try a faster combo instead of using two polishes and then the wax. At the time the pics were taken, I had used mothers powerpolish and s100 wax. I applied the polish with a porter cable and the wax by hand.

Remember, the end result is 90% process and 10% product. It really pays off to really take the time to clay and polish it. These steps really bring out the shine.

Haha, I'd love to have both but being in grad school doesn't help much with that. We'll see what happens afterward. I'd really like to pick up an 03/04 and set it up for open-track events and the occasional blast down the 1320.

Nice snake you have there. 01 right? Any mods or future plans?

My fault for the triple post. :egads: