Wow, Scott. It seems like this has taken forever. Congrats on the new car. Can't wait for the pix and the full write-up.

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Way to go Scott!!! I know EXACTLY what you went through!!! I got my '07 ES350 in July. After I got that infamous "tranny cold start" problem, I got it fixed with a new tranny. Two weeks later, tranny problem came back with a vengeance!!! At that time, I had enough of ES. Lexus corporate office gave me a choice of either a new ES350, full money back, or replacement with a different Lexus. And... 2 hours ago I just picked up my brand new '07 GS350 AWD!!! What a ride!!!!!!!!!

 

Congratulations and good luck with the new ride!

 

Kudos to Lexus Corporate for taking care of our members in the above mentioned cases. Completely the opposite response I and many others got from Acura last year.

 

I think that all of the initial allocation of GS350 RWD models had the 18" wheels, in California, at least. They aren't exactly "standard", but I haven't seen a GS350 RWD without them...yet.

 

Wow, at least Lexus is standing behind their customers. Congrats.

 

Yes, they are!!! I also got Mercury Metallic but with Black interior (similar to my original ES config). BTW, I will be looking forward to your write up between GS300 and GS350!!!

Also, did they give you a good deal on your GS350, considering all you went through? In my case, Ray Catena worked out an amazing deal below invoice!!!

 

They lemon lawed my 300. Nothing changed on my lease. Its called a substitution of collateral. They basically swap out the cars. Very cool.

 

Ah, forgot its a lease. Not sure if its too late, but you should request at least a free maintance for the duration of the lease. When I got my tranny replaced the first time, they gave me a free 100k extended warranty because I bought the car. If that would of been a lease, they would of given me a free maintanance.

 

The Lexus site says the 18" wheels get only 15000 miles on the tires - can that be true? I read a thread a couple weeks ago where a guy with a lemon got out of the car - on his list of gripes he mentioned that he had to replace the tires <20K miles after purchase of his gs300 - which probably had 17's. It's not realt to me that a car wears tires out like that? Say it aint so...?!?

 

Yeah, unfortunately, the tires are high performance run flats or high performance summer tires. Either way, they dont get much life on em so must either be switched at purchase as part of the deal or shortly thereafter at a tire shop or swapped with longer treadwear tires after they rub out in 15K miles. This sucks for those ppl like me who dont really want any more performance than all season regular tires provide. Also, don't forget that the high performance (high friction) brakes dont get much life on them as well. Anyone know if its possible to change these brake pads out with longer lasting ones with not much adverse impact on braking performance?

 

Congrats on the new car. I hope it gives you years of driving joy.

 

I remember all your problems,I had some of the same dash issuse with mine.It's nice to see Lexus stand by their product.I wish they gave us an early out on an upgrade without penalty.Don't get me wrong,I still love my GS but the exta HP of the 350 is tempting.

 

Congrats on the 350.

 

Wow this is some kind of success story! I'm glad your persistence paid off. I was just thinking that its so funny, the 400 had 300hp in 98 and it was the king of kings, now the base car has 300hp, pretty soon Honda Civic's are going to have 425hp standard! lol

The current horsepower of alot of current cars, really amaze me!

Enjoy your new car!