So,
Long to make a long story short here..........bought a new Honda Odyssey last fall and when snow hit, it was LOUSY......threw some snow tires on, which helped, but still not acceptable to strap my wife and kids into, so I picked up an LX450 cheap to get her through the winter, and fell in love with the damn thing.
Now my wife has decided she'd like something newer, with LATCH for the kids, Stability Control, and less miles to drive through the winter, so I picked up a gorgeous 2005 LX470...she can drive it in the winter, and I'll play with it in the summer! (a win-win!)
Initially didn't care between LC and LX, but for the same money used, the LX has nicer leather, wood on the dash, Projector lights, etc. I am up here in Michigan, with diddly squat to pick from, so I went to Autotrader and found one at Lexus of Orlando.
Black on grey leather 2005 with 107k on it, rear DVD, hitch, clean CarFax, body is clean, interior is *immaculate*, was a previous CPO Lexus through same dealership and has service records
Timing belt was already done, brakes good, tires decent. Price was in-line with what I would have paid if I could have found one in MI, even once I paid to have it shipped ($795, had it in a week!)
Car is beautiful, I couldn't be happier.
Power delivery is a night and day difference from my FJZ80..........it's still not FAST, but it doesn't sound strained. Sound proofing is amazing, I had this 4.7 in a Sequoia and Tundra years ago, and you can't even HEAR it in the LX
Interior is great. Factory NAV kinda bugs me, it looks and feels very antiquated, I never use NAV where we live, and it sucks that all the HVAC controls run through there and that you can't swap it for something else, but I knew that going in and didn't have much choice. Stereo sounds great but has horrific FM reception for some reason (antenna does go up and down).
Ride is a mixed bag........not sure if it's the ACH, or the selectable-suspension settings, but this car doesn't feel as heavy or planted as my FZJ80 which has 175k and original shocks still. It's OK, just not fantastic. I would say that bump control/rebound is not as good in the rear. It also wants to follow EVERY bump in the road, and on a road with heavy crown, wants to constantly pull off the road to the right-hand side. I wonder if the front end needs to be re-aligned (it was theoretically just done).....RF tire has 6/32, the rest have 7/32, I doubt that is making the difference. PSI is all correct. Under accel and braking, no pull either direction.
The ACH seems to be working great, I have 9 or 10 graduations variance between LO and HI settings on the suspension, though from the middle position, it doesn't like to raise if you're sitting in Park (the N light is steady and the HI light flashes)........it works better if you drop to LO and then go back to HI (it works perfectly then).........I never use it anyway, and I figure if the ACH fails, I'll swap a steel LC suspension in.
Overall, we love it More thoughts to come over the next few weeks.
Enjoy the pics (sorry for the tag line under the first one, I tried editing, but photobucket didn't save it, apparently)
Long to make a long story short here..........bought a new Honda Odyssey last fall and when snow hit, it was LOUSY......threw some snow tires on, which helped, but still not acceptable to strap my wife and kids into, so I picked up an LX450 cheap to get her through the winter, and fell in love with the damn thing.
Now my wife has decided she'd like something newer, with LATCH for the kids, Stability Control, and less miles to drive through the winter, so I picked up a gorgeous 2005 LX470...she can drive it in the winter, and I'll play with it in the summer! (a win-win!)
Initially didn't care between LC and LX, but for the same money used, the LX has nicer leather, wood on the dash, Projector lights, etc. I am up here in Michigan, with diddly squat to pick from, so I went to Autotrader and found one at Lexus of Orlando.
Black on grey leather 2005 with 107k on it, rear DVD, hitch, clean CarFax, body is clean, interior is *immaculate*, was a previous CPO Lexus through same dealership and has service records
Timing belt was already done, brakes good, tires decent. Price was in-line with what I would have paid if I could have found one in MI, even once I paid to have it shipped ($795, had it in a week!)Car is beautiful, I couldn't be happier.
Power delivery is a night and day difference from my FJZ80..........it's still not FAST, but it doesn't sound strained. Sound proofing is amazing, I had this 4.7 in a Sequoia and Tundra years ago, and you can't even HEAR it in the LX
Interior is great. Factory NAV kinda bugs me, it looks and feels very antiquated, I never use NAV where we live, and it sucks that all the HVAC controls run through there and that you can't swap it for something else, but I knew that going in and didn't have much choice. Stereo sounds great but has horrific FM reception for some reason (antenna does go up and down).
Ride is a mixed bag........not sure if it's the ACH, or the selectable-suspension settings, but this car doesn't feel as heavy or planted as my FZJ80 which has 175k and original shocks still. It's OK, just not fantastic. I would say that bump control/rebound is not as good in the rear. It also wants to follow EVERY bump in the road, and on a road with heavy crown, wants to constantly pull off the road to the right-hand side. I wonder if the front end needs to be re-aligned (it was theoretically just done).....RF tire has 6/32, the rest have 7/32, I doubt that is making the difference. PSI is all correct. Under accel and braking, no pull either direction.
The ACH seems to be working great, I have 9 or 10 graduations variance between LO and HI settings on the suspension, though from the middle position, it doesn't like to raise if you're sitting in Park (the N light is steady and the HI light flashes)........it works better if you drop to LO and then go back to HI (it works perfectly then).........I never use it anyway, and I figure if the ACH fails, I'll swap a steel LC suspension in.
Overall, we love it
More thoughts to come over the next few weeks.Enjoy the pics (sorry for the tag line under the first one, I tried editing, but photobucket didn't save it, apparently)
BURN!
