Hello! New to Lexus.
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: WA
Hello! New to Lexus.
Hey, everyone. Nice looking forum It's quite the informational resource.
I reside in the blisteringly sunny capitol of Washington state. I'm new to the Lexus brand and have called my 2000 Lexus GS 300 my car ( home ) since this past summer. It's been pretty good to me thus far with only a few exceptions. I've come here to learn what I can, share information, help out of I can, chat and simply talk cars. Heavy Metal and film are my other two "hobbies", but cars are up there. In fact, most of my youtube time goes to watching repair videos if that tells you something. I've owned about 13 cars in my life, never a Lexus or Toyota product.
What's good about the car: Power. Comfortable seats. Cockpit feel despite it being a large car. Fairly easy to work on, all things considered. The "bug lights". Friggin' love those. Stock rims. 5 speed transmisson is smooth.
What I find lame:
Key fob. The design is horrid with all the pressure going to the hollow point of the key fob. Heavy duty compound fixed the issue when it cracked, but still.
Speakers and amp are abysmal. I have the 6 disc changer that doesn't like CD-Rs for anything, so that had to go. And because a new stereo had to be put in, all wiring goes through the speaker and not the amp. It's a pretty awful sound, but it's surely better than nothing. I hear good things about the K.L. set up.
Back seat doesn't fold down.
Cost of parts to repair.
A few days after I bought it the rear taillight went out. It was easy to fix. I've noticed a semi clunking sound when I stop. I think the pads need some grease on the backside. No harm there. The yellow/grime on the headlight lenses buffed out alright. A week later the check engine light came on and I got the dreaded p0420 code. Seems the bank 1 exhaust threw a code. Unfortunately, it's a California emissions code. Can't replace the cat, have to do the entire bank. Lame-o. There's no way a Lexus cast goes out under 15 years. No way. I know the warning light goes off when there's just a small amount of inefficiency in the system. So, I dumped a gallon of lacquer thinner ( acetone was way more expensive, so I stuck with the cheaper stuff ) in less than half a tank of gas and drove it for 2.5 hours to clear out whatever might be gunking up the system--whoever had the car before me must have used cheap gas all of its life. It ran better than I ever thought it would and my mpg spiked. I had a scangauge at the time and on flat land @60mph, I achieved a consistent 33mpg. Awesome. The check engine light went off about 1 mile from home when I got back. I consider that a good day. 1 month later, and it's still doing great.
So far, I think Lexus cars are good. I like the options and haven't really had anything major go wrong. It's smooth. Just wish there were setting for the butt heat. Black exterior would be nice too, but again, I should be thankful I have transportation.
I reside in the blisteringly sunny capitol of Washington state. I'm new to the Lexus brand and have called my 2000 Lexus GS 300 my car ( home ) since this past summer. It's been pretty good to me thus far with only a few exceptions. I've come here to learn what I can, share information, help out of I can, chat and simply talk cars. Heavy Metal and film are my other two "hobbies", but cars are up there. In fact, most of my youtube time goes to watching repair videos if that tells you something. I've owned about 13 cars in my life, never a Lexus or Toyota product.
What's good about the car: Power. Comfortable seats. Cockpit feel despite it being a large car. Fairly easy to work on, all things considered. The "bug lights". Friggin' love those. Stock rims. 5 speed transmisson is smooth.
What I find lame:
Key fob. The design is horrid with all the pressure going to the hollow point of the key fob. Heavy duty compound fixed the issue when it cracked, but still.
Speakers and amp are abysmal. I have the 6 disc changer that doesn't like CD-Rs for anything, so that had to go. And because a new stereo had to be put in, all wiring goes through the speaker and not the amp. It's a pretty awful sound, but it's surely better than nothing. I hear good things about the K.L. set up.
Back seat doesn't fold down.
Cost of parts to repair.
A few days after I bought it the rear taillight went out. It was easy to fix. I've noticed a semi clunking sound when I stop. I think the pads need some grease on the backside. No harm there. The yellow/grime on the headlight lenses buffed out alright. A week later the check engine light came on and I got the dreaded p0420 code. Seems the bank 1 exhaust threw a code. Unfortunately, it's a California emissions code. Can't replace the cat, have to do the entire bank. Lame-o. There's no way a Lexus cast goes out under 15 years. No way. I know the warning light goes off when there's just a small amount of inefficiency in the system. So, I dumped a gallon of lacquer thinner ( acetone was way more expensive, so I stuck with the cheaper stuff ) in less than half a tank of gas and drove it for 2.5 hours to clear out whatever might be gunking up the system--whoever had the car before me must have used cheap gas all of its life. It ran better than I ever thought it would and my mpg spiked. I had a scangauge at the time and on flat land @60mph, I achieved a consistent 33mpg. Awesome. The check engine light went off about 1 mile from home when I got back. I consider that a good day. 1 month later, and it's still doing great.
So far, I think Lexus cars are good. I like the options and haven't really had anything major go wrong. It's smooth. Just wish there were setting for the butt heat. Black exterior would be nice too, but again, I should be thankful I have transportation.
Welcome, glad to hear you taking care of her and fixing her as needed. I'm new to the Lexus game as well, I've owned my car for only about a month and a half and I love it, then again my prior temp means of transportation was a 92 silverado with no AC in the cloudy cold climate of Las Vegas :P. Again, welcome
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Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: WA
Thanks for the welcome. A pic? Hmm. If I ever buy a lens that isn't a macro, I'll take one. But it's really just a stock silver GS 300 with black interior. I also think I'm the only one in Olympia with a car like that blasting Death/Black/Speed/Heavy Metal. I get a lot of funny looks.
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jessejames
GS - 3rd Gen (2006-2011)
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Nov 6, 2005 04:45 AM