Greetings - I am just about to take my '04 in for its spring service, the first major one since I bought it last summer (not that there's anything really wrong with it). However, as a Lexus owner, the car has raised my expectations quite a bit beyond my last vehicle, an SUV. Here's the list of things that I am thinking of raising with my service manager, and I wanted to see what the people out there think should be covered by my extended warranty (called "ECP" or "Extended Care Protection" in Canada). Let me know which ones will probably be covered, and which ones I have no chance on... In Canada, you have to pay for labour charges on diagnosis of issues.

I want to mention that OVERALL, I think the car is AMAZING! I love everything about the way it looks, rides, and drives. However, for this price you can afford to get picky...

1. Ride occasionally feels rough (coming from front). I would like them to check the front suspension.

2. Outer rubber seals on left rear door need to be replaced - this is the very thin one right at the top edges of the door/window; it has broken down and cracked, not from misuse. This is the only one that has done this on the car.

3. Front drivers seat cooling/heating seems to take a long time to get rolling.

4. Engine is making noise (minor belt squeals and squeaks, etc.)

5. Struts in trunk not holding up well (bit of a pun) - almost had my hands removed a couple of times.

6. Rear Parking Sensors - the car was involved in a light rear-ender before I bought it, and so the bumper had to be replaced by the Lexus dealer and its bodyshop. At the time, they also replaced one of the sensors, but did a ****-poor job at it. I am wondering if this could still be covered.

7. VSC comes on too easily - on totally dry roads, have a hard time taking a turn quickly, VSC comes on and cuts power to the wheels pretty quick.

8. Acceleration issues - if I slow down while accelerating but then need to hit the gas (i.e. merging into traffic on the freeway) occasionally the car just "hangs" for what seems like a long time (but is probably only a portion of a second) before accelerating. I know a few others have reported this issue, is there a fix for it?

In any case, any and all comments are appreciated!

 

Well.. nobody has replied to this so I thought I'd jump in here. I'm not sure what will be covered by the warranty in CA, but I have spent a lot of time lately driving various LS430's from dealers lots. My comments are:

1) What tires do you have? The biggest difference in ride quality seems to come from the tires. Check Tirerack for reviews and you may find others complain about similar harshness on the LS430.

2) Outer rubber seals - very common problem on the rear doors. I've seen this on plenty of 04 models, and a few 05 models. Just seems to be a part that wears out. I don't believe this item is covered in the US Platinum Ext warranty though.

3) Some cars seem to be better than others in this regard. All seem to take some time to get going though. Sounds fairly normal.

4) Not normal - should probably be covered under warranty as it's mechanical. Engine should be quiet - period.

7) Tires and Tires. What tires do you have? VSC shouldn't be kicking in easily unless you've got bad tires, or a bad type of tire.

8) Possibly normal. Depends on your driving style to some degree I suspect.

 

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