I saw this last week
On 8/8/2012 3:05 PM, relng...@aol.com wrote:
When my father passed in 1991, my mom stated that she was not going to be
stuck at home. Since she had never had a driver's license she would have to
learn. So after seven driving test failures (she was 80), the State of
Washington issued her a license.
The next thing was to find a suitable car since I had sold dad's Lincoln
Town Car when he could no longer drive, I thought a Camry would be the right
car. After looking at them and talking to a sales drone, we drove up the road
to the Lexus store. After looking in the window of an ES300, she said she
wanted one. After calling the dealer and telling them what we wanted and
required a 10% discount, the deal was made and the car was delivered to the
house. It was one of those metallic beige cars with tan leather, etc. During the
period she owned it, she drove it four times. The first time was when I
offered to buy her lunch in Vancouver BC and she would be driving. Which she
did as far as the Canadian border, one way. All Interstate, of course and
aside from the first merge onto I-5 things went well.
There came a time when driving was no longer an option for her and
eventually the car was sold to a neighbor down the street, showing 6000 miles,
completely unmarked. It was to be the second car and the lady of the house drove
it. During all that time there were zero problems with the car and the
dealer service when required was impeccable. Their only answer was, no matter
the
question, was "Yes sir, we'll take care of that."
Sadly, about a year ago the car was totaled when the driver attempted to
knock down a three story brick apartment house with little success except
bricks all over the car. At that time the car had 51000 miles showing.
And now to the point, finally. At 50K miles, it was time to replace the cam
drive belt and in the transverse Toyota V-6, it's expensive. Didn't get
done, needless to say.
The ES is a nice car, quiet with a decent ride but not quite as good as MBs
of the period. Braking was very good with 4-wheel disc. Steering feel would
never be confused with a German car. Around town fuel economy was poor but
hiway mileage was around 28mpg. HVAC was very good but the liquid crystal
readouts on the center stack were invisible if polarized sunglasses were worn.
The interior looks bigger than it is because the seats have short cushions
with less thigh support. The truck was vast with a ski-sack but the rear
seats did not fold.
As to why a new Lexus vs. a Camry, since the shared the same drive train, a
Camry equipped nearly the same as the ES was only $2500 cheaper but when
sale time came around, the ES was worth about $5500 more and is a much nicer
car and certainly not as common as the average Camry.
So, aside from the 50K mile service items (belts, ets.) this should be a
painless car to own with no black clouds on the horizon.
One last thing, previously mentioned, is the possible negative impression
made on a client who may be a "Buy American" type and would disapprove of
something shiny and German , no matter how old.
RLE
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