gs350on22s

today is the first day my black gs350 actually drove in the snow. i was driving to work and next thing i know that i drive right by the trucks that shoot out salt .the salt flew all over my side doors . leaving work i get back to where i parked my car and i check it out to see if there is no chips from the rock salt .another truck passes by shooting salt all over the other side . i don't know how you guys would feel but it really pisses me off .i didn't get a chance to get a good look cause the car is wet . knowing me the way i take care of the color i am most deff gonna find something which i hope not. ****ing salt

caha14

I feel your pain. We drove my wife's GS in a snow storm the very day we picked it up, and I was sweating bullets all the way home. The snow basically arrived a few hours earlier than expected, and I wasn't happy. I've had several instances where salt has hit my car like that, and there typically has been no chipping at all, just salt stains and maybe some fine scratches from the sand/salt crap gliding on the paint, but nothing major. It has just made me as well!

Not to digress too much, but besides the storm that night, to add insult to injury, we arrived at the dealership and found the brand new GS parked outside in the snow while 2 used cars were parked in the indoor delivery area. Unbelievable!

Good luck to you!

Yang1815

iTrader: (1)

Whoever scheduled delivery earlier gets the delivery bay...

Maybe you shouldn't have driven by the truck? I usually see that the truck's shooting out salt pretty well...

gs350on22s

yeah i watch them also . the truck was on the other side of the road and it still hit my car . also when your parked they go down every block . what can you do its ny lol.

The G Man

caha14, thats not very good service from your dealer. Which MA dealer was it? I would have demanded a car wash and a few free oil change. I always stay like 50 feet away from sand trucks.

caha14

I beg to differ... These were two old, non-Lexus cars in a Lexus showroom, and again, it was snowing. It would've been a no-brainer to me if I was the one running the show over there. But anyway, that's beside the point... guess I was just venting a bit, since this reminded me.

Around here many times you'll be going on a narrow street and will be able to see the plow coming in the opposite direction and pull over as far as possible (safely) and avoid the undesirable. Other times it isn't that easy. And well, when you're parked and they drive by, it's too late! Not a huge fan of winter, that's for sure!

caha14

Hi G Man,

Fortunately, while at the dealer's lot, the car didn't get sanded/salted (the action started shortly after), so there wasn't much reason to push for anything else. It was just covered with snow, and it was dark outside, which makes it hard to inspect a new car. I mentioned it to my salesman, and in no time, he had the car inside and a young kid came out to dry it while I watched.

Another interesting thing... We bought the car in early Dec and negotiated that winter mats be included. When we picked up the car in late Jan (7 weeks later), we were told "sorry, we don't have the mats in stock and had to order them. can you come back next week to pick them up?". So, we drove off with paper over the carpeted mats, and you can imagine how well that went with all the snow.

This is the dealer that has the annoying "call me" commercials. Not bad people - actually, their internet dept was the best I dealt with in this area - but utterly incompetent, or perhaps simply unmotivated. The other two places I tried in the area were extremely deceptive in their sales tactics, and I chose not to play their game, even though I really had no desire to go to where I ultimately went.

The G Man

I went to IRA too, I thought they were horrible. The whole experience drove me away and vow never to going back. I am not sure which 2 other dealer you went to, but I bought my last 3 Lexus from Lexus of Watertown and they have been great.

caha14

Watertown and Chambers were the other two. I bought the GX at L of W back in '04, and it was the best car buying experience I've ever had. Despite having read mixed things since then and also having a mediocre experience when accompanying a friend to buy a car there a few yrs later, I still gave them a chance.

The people I dealt with were a joke. In particular, in the middle of the negotiation, the sales manager couldn't help himself and to support his point that I had to pay close to MSRP, he arrogantly said "you see, the luxury car market is different". Of course, we were trading a Honda, and he didn't know we had a GX. After about 2.5 hours there, we just left, cordially though. The salesman said "I'll call you". In my mind, I gave him 3 days, and at that point went with IRA, even though it's 45 miles from home, and Watertown is about 3 miles.

I do like the people in the service dept. They're good guys.

The G Man

Hummm, I guess it really depends on what time of the year or month you going into the dealer and which sales manager, you are dealing with. It also help to do your homework b 4 hand and know the invoice and KBB numbers. I went into watertown Lexus and within 30 minutes, I talk them down to 500 bucks above invoice for a 08 GS AWD. I bought a 05 GX470 from them as well for about invoice and same for 08 RX350 for my wife. You are right about their service department though, its top notch. My GS is in there now to get rid of the creaking noise from the dash, BTW do you have that problem?

If you dont mind me asking, what type of deal you got from Ira? I would not talk them down below $1500 above invoice and they try to low ball me on the trade in as well.

BTW, did you get that teflon paint sealent from them? It really help with sand and salt sparys from sand trucks.

caha14

Yes, definitely, doing the research pays off. That's precisely what ticked us off about this guy (who, by the way, is long gone), trying to make us believe that "his market" (how he referred to it) called for full price.

Anyway, back then (early Dec 2006), there was quite a shortage of GS350s, particularly with ML the way I wanted it. IRA came within a few $100s of what I wanted, including winter mats and Lo-jack, and roughly $1k above invoice, which I was pleased with at the time (GS350 had been out about 4 months).

Watertown was about $1k higher than that with no Lo-Jack and about $500 lower on the trade at the end of the discussion. "Mr. Big" kept talking about how they were such a big dealership blah blah yet they couldn't even guarantee getting me the car I wanted. In essence, the message was "you're stuck with us if you want this car". Well, lo and behold, despite the things that should have gone differently, IRA did get the car in a reasonable amount of time and for pretty much the price I thought was fair at the time. I don't believe I'll ever buy from them again, but I will say their internet department does communicate via the internet (the way it should be, by definition!) and does so in a forthright fashion. Watertown and Chambers will not deal through the internet, instead calling you to make you come in, which I can do anyway without writing a single email, so I don't see the point.

The only thing I added was 3M Xpel film, which I had a friend of mine do instead of the dealer.

No real creaking to speak of but some minor squeaks here and there, one definitely coming from the dash but not loud enough to bring it in yet (and believe me, I'm **** about this sort of thing, so I would be bringing it in if it bothered me). The storage compartment cover in the console also makes a mildly annoying ticking sound that reminds me of my old Acura TL-S. The car has only 4k miles, though. I don't drive to work, so whenever it snows, my wife uses the GX (at 23k miles in 3.5 years), and the car gets some rest.

I believe that only one person does dash removal at L of W, particularly if we are talking about removing the whole dash: the shop foreman. If so, you are in great hands. He is meticulous, highly knowledgable, and very pleasant to deal with. In a nutshell, he actually cares about doing the job properly and pleasing the customer.

The G Man

$1000 over invoice for a GS350 with ML is a great deal back then, considering the shortage. To this date, L of W still cannot keep the GS on the lot for more than a few weeks according to my salesman. For some reason, they get a lot more GX than GS. My creaking on the dash usually starts about 15 minutes into my commute, and I can hear it over the radio on low volume, I drive a lot with the radio off when my kid is in the car, we like to talk on our drive We did the same with our old GX, and in 3 years, the GX did not have one single rattle. Its a amazing truck. Thank for the info about the shop foreman at L of W, I let you know how it turn out.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

hmm sorry to hear about those salt trucks, they are a real *****, but do you guys have p[roblems with your dealerships? Ours is the greatest, it's small and doesn't have the greatest inventory of new and used cars, but the service is incredible, i guess with less people, they are able to focus on you more, and since we are friends with there whole staff almost

gs350on22s

i actually got really close with this kid from one of the dealerships here, so he take really good care of me everything i come to him . obviously i hooked him up too if you know what i mean.

kyang91

iTrader: (5)

I feel you pain man, I am in the Indiana area and we have heavy snow this winter and my car was just trashed by those trucks, and I am not happy either. I try to take care of it as much as I can but you know how the winter is always harsh on the car.