I would agree - its a nice looking car. I was in a situation similar to yours as I had a budget to work with and I had to ask myself if upgrading was financially worth it. In my case it wasn't but I'm so low tech that I don't even know my own cell phone number (its a pre-paid too). Needless to say, not having bluetooth wasn't a big sacrifice for me.

 

Bought it!!!! Suede headliner!

I wanted the 05 CL but I just couldn't justify paying the premium. I have found my nirvana in this and all for $19,900...

 

thank you to all for your input and especially you Caddy for putting up with me!

 

Here she is...

 

Congrats! You chose well.

 

Thank you! now one last question about the CL (not that it matters)... what are the laminated windows?

 

Not that I know anything about the manufacturing process at all, but I believe the laminated windows are comprised of two layers of glass that are sandwiched together. On the 2007 & 2008 LS460's, one of the TSB fixes for a chronic wind noise that many owners were experiencing, was to replace the single layer glass on the front passenger and drivers windows with laminated glass. In 2009 Lexus switched to laminated glass as the standard on the LS460.

Jim

 

Got it.... I remember when the S class had that. Go Sox!

 

If you lower a side window a bit on a car with laminated glass and look at the top edge of the window, you can see the layers. If you're interested, there are a number of threads about the laminated side windows fogging in between the layers. IIRC, they are about $600-$800 per window to replace.

BTW, Go Tigers!

 

I wonder if laminated side glass would be difficult to break with a life hammer or similar device. We carry one of these items in each of our cars.

 

Take a ride to your local dealership and try it out on one of the cars in the lot.

 

You're the one with the dealer that lets you drive around on other peoples tires. Maybe you can bring up this idea on your next visit.

 

Yea we ordered the life hammer things after my 2cd line manager (and a friend) was one of 4 people that died in a Toyota Avalon the day after Christmas 2009. Their car flipped over and landed in a small pond (4-5 feet deep) and they all drowned. Folks attempting rescue found the car doors were jammed likely due to weight/pressure of car resting on its roof. Anyway I ordered 4 of the hammer things (one for each front door pocket) for both of our vehicles.

Another person, a school teacher, a couple of years ago, in my neighborhood, was in a relatively minor accident but did have her SUV flip as it went into a low shoulder, in the street and land upside down. The car very quickly caught fire and she burned to death because she could not get her seat belt off - not a good way to go. Rescuers could see her struggling...but flames to hot to get near the car. The Life Hammer gizmo has a inbuilt seat belt cutter.
Likely the law of fate will be that now that I have them I will never have to use them - which would be just great with me.

The laminated windows would concern me although they are likely safer in a normal average accident.

Back in the 70s my head went thru the non laminated windshield of a 60s Volkswagen in an accident. I had some minor cuts in my scalp but have been crazy as an outhouse rat ever since : )

 

haha... I'll do that CaddyOwner...

On a more serious note...

Jabberwock,

Sorry about your friend and your neighbor. Where do you store the life hammer in the car? Even having it in the glove box might not be close enough depending on the situation. A call to either Life Hammer, Lexus Corporate, or maybe your local fire department, since they may have some first hand experience with breaking through laminated side windows. My guess is that it would be possible with the life hammer but might take a little more effort because of the thickness.

 

I have a life hammer (silly name) in each front door map pocket of each vehicle, wrapped in a small 12x12 microfiber towel.

Don't know how useful this actually would be. In case of accident where perhaps its dark, and car is flipped, and even worse submerged - the chance of finding one of the two life hammers after the interior has been tossed and damaged is likely not too good.

But some hope is better than nothing. If you want to be hard core this kind of stuff can be hard mounted to the interior in strategic locations. But obviously I am not prepared to hard mount things like window breakers and fire extinguishers in my car. I would do that if i was driving a custom off-road race car in the Baha 1000. I think I ordered the silly life hammers as a reaction to my friend's horrible demise. I try not to think about her trapped upside down in 5 feet of cold muddy pond water struggling to get that seat belt off. Sorry did not mean to go off topic.