kwc_diesel

Whoa! The new 2004 Lexus ES330 has more horsepower and torque than the new 2004 BMW E60 525i ! and more max torque than the 530i ! Since last August, my brother has been on a reserve list at Prestige BMW in NJ for the 525i, but recently we've been considering getting another lexus instead (RX330 or Infiniti FX35) Same price about, if you load all the options. More torque with the ES330 and FX35 would mean beating some of the BMW's 3's and 5's off the line?

BTW, someone mentioned that they rid the new 2004 ES300 of the tape player slot? Then how would someone like me be able to hook up a 30GB IPOD to the audio system!? They should throw an audio line in.

Toysrme

Na I doubt it. They still come in manuals and quicker shifting autos.

Between that and the fact that they wiegh a good deal less Will be nice to have a dead even race I would think though.

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Congrats to Lexusk8!

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Wheel controls... Yummy! I had them on my last car.
My uncle has steering wheels radio controls on his mint condition '73 Lincoln Mark IV. Even the quadriphonic 8-track buttons are on the wheel.

If Every other car maker on earth puts controls on the wheel why dosen't Lexus?
Becuase they don't want to spend the money changing the wheels in all the Camrys too!!!

jp82729

Unfortunately, you may be out of luck. The tape unit had to be sacraficed to combine everything into the head unit. But I think it allowed the price of the nav system to be lowered by a few hundred bucks.

All other Lexus models use an integrated nav system, but I guess the ES still uses the head unit because of its kinship to the Camry. Not certain on that though.

XeroK00L

An FM modulator can still do the trick though.
http://www.carplayer.com/ssi/cpm25/fmmod.shtml

dreday68

XeroK00L instead of using the tape adapter, use "itrip", it allows the ipod to play over your car's FM radio wireless, that's what i plan on doing! a link can be found below:


http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/itrip/

Buster

Quote:

Originally posted by amf1932
mrweaver7,
How was the new transmission in the '04ES? Did it feel any different than than the previous year?

I'm very interested in this tranny glitch and will be keeping an eye on all the Camry and ES330 forums. I am more interested in the somewhat sportier 2004 Camry SE right now, but if I wanted a luxury car, the ES330 would be my only choice. However, this tranny glitch must be eliminated before I sell my bulletproof 1997 Maxima and buy the Camry SE.

Since the Camry SE will have the same drivetrain and a few other parts in common with the ES330, I'll be keeping track of everything being said about both cars as well as the RX330 drivetrain.

Any input after a thorough investigation of the 2004 ES transmission would be appreciated. By thorough, I mean living with the car and deliberately trying many times to duplicate the hesitation and fumbling reported on the '03 tranny. I'll be test driving an ES330 and a couple Camry SE's in the coming weeks, but won't be convinced the problem has been eliminated until reports of tranny glitches in the 2004 models fail to materialize in the forums.

I hope there is a satisfactory solution on the horizon for everyone involved. A malfunctioning tranny is unacceptable in a modern car -- especially a Lexus.

XeroK00L

The Camry has a 4-speed transmission, unlike the 5-speed in the ES. So if you replacing your Maxima with Camry, the transmission glitch in ES300 should by no means be taken into your consideration as it is purely specific to the ES300.

<VENOM>

XeroK00L
Current V6 Camrys are equipped with the 210hp V6 and 5speed auto, I don't know exactly when but sometime during Feburary/March of 2003 Toyota made a running change in the middle of the 2003 models with an upgraded V6 from the 190 something hp engine, those camrys with the 19Xhp have 4 speed autos, now for 2004 the V6 Camry is getting yet another V6 upgrade the 225hp engine with the 5 speed auto.

Since the SE Camry is sporty and the ES is pure Luxury I would guess the problems in the ES would not reflect in the V6 Camry but they do share almost identical components

edit: just look at the Toyota website and only the SE Camry get the 225hp V6, the LE and XLE stay with the 210hp but all V6 models have the 5speed auto

XeroK00L

You're right.
I think my impression of the 4-speed must have come from the 4-cyninder models, in which case it is indeed quite likely the transmission in the XLE V6 be programmed the same way as in the ES300 so the glitch can affect both. The SE should be safe from that alright.