jayclapp

One of the advantages of the fully loaded UL is the independent rear A/C. It really helps in initially cooling down the car (how could it not) and keeping it cool. No problem with a sweaty back here in the desert.

Slvr surfr

iTrader: (1)

Ride topless with a bath towel draped over the seat back. LMAO! JK!

miniz

First off, just about nothing will break on this car (except the air suspension if you have UL). Saying you got a base model because you didn't want stuff to break only applies to German luxury cars, where stuff does and will break. In this case, you should have got a car with cooled seats.

The other question is where is your front sun shade? When the car is parked, you should always put a highly reflective accordion style sun shade in the front window. The other thing you can do is tint the front window with 99% tint, which is clear and legal. You could also change the side window tint to ceramic, which will reject a whole lot more heat then your metalized, dyed or carbon tint. You could put aftermarket cooled seats in. Those are available.

stock_sc

iTrader: (2)

well saying nothing will break is wrong. depending on the year of the car it is almost 10 years old already. things will break. somethings i had concerns with are the double laminated windows fogging/separating. the rear window shades breaking. the mls subs blowing. let see the parking senors being damage. this is aside from the regular things that can break on our cars. like cup holders, the side mirrors, the tilt column and so on. also if i remember correctly the cooled seats were only for the ul's the first year and it was a option after that. i got the car that fits my needs.
also i do have tint it works fine. its not that i get burned by the leather. i have autostart which allows me to cool down my car before i even step in the car. the problem is the part where the lower back and the lumbar part of the seat meets. well since there isnt enough circulation so hence heat traps and u sweat. it only happens during the summer.

heres some questions to you... how often do u full use all the functions of your ultra?
i mean do u use your frig? how often do you use the backseat? are u fully happy as in how fast your navi is? do you like it when the passenger changes the temp to the opposite of what you like?

yes the car is the flagship of lexus at the time. the ultra was mainly built for passengers. if you happen to give rides to all your friends all the time then its great. but i bought this car for myself. i dont need senors telling me how to park. i dont need a navi that is outdated. im not a audiophile so when i heard my audio im more than happy with my cars audio. so why do i need a ultra when i wont use most of the options?

Jabberwock

Stock SC - I agree with you 100%, but I personally would spin the reply/conversation a little different. As in different strokes for different folks. I personally love my base model and would not want a UL under any circumstances.

Others love the many extra gizmos on the UL. And thats cool. Its all good.

Unfortunately just a few of the heavy optioned LS folks talk a little smack about the base models on the board. They don't seem to get that there really are many buyers (like me) that very specifically want the base option LS.

Its OK to have several versions of the "ideal" LS out there, that's why Toyota created them because they understood the market and the demographic buying this car.

So if someone bought an LS ultra I assume they had good reasons for doing so and completely respect that, similarly if someone bought a base LS I also assume they had good reasons for doing so and respect that.

JonHsiung

LOL

Just kidding. I really like the earlier-mentioned "wear a shirt and change into your dress shirt when you arrive to work" idea.

Commando was a bad idea. It may also leave you spermless.

And our UL seat coolers are terrible. I tried my friend's new IS250 and hers cools down in seconds on 1/2 a notch. My LS430 barely cools after minutes on high. I suspect they tried to push air through the perforation holes (that we sit on) which works conceptually but not in reality. They probably smartened up and ran a cooling system across the leather on the new cooled seats.

dejavu157

iTrader: (2)

blast the ac!

caddyowner

I can blast the AC as cold as I can, but unless there is ventilation between me and that leather seat, I'm going to be uncomfortable. (I haven't figured out the whole levitation thing yet.) After having vinyl seats in my first couple cars, I vowed to always have cloth and did for over 20 years. After my wife had her accident in the mid-90s, I found that it was much easier to slide her into a vehicle with leather seats than any other type of seat cover on a cloth seat. Plus, leather seats came with seat heaters which she really liked. Until I started buying cars with cooled seats, I kinda suffered every summer.

Speaking of suffering, I vacuumed my seat filters last night in hopes it might improve the seat cooling a bit. The weak seat cooling is one of my very few complaints with my LS.

Bon

Has anyone looked at the fans under the seats? If they're muffin style fans it may be possible to swap them out with a different CFM fan that will push more air. It will likely result in more noise, i.e., less Lexus like, when running the fans on high but the comfort factor would be improved.

jayclapp

Not necessarily. The airflow rate is designed to match the ability of the heat exchanger that cools the air. If you increase the airflow the cooling temperature has to rise (get hotter). Best thing that can be done is to install new filters. I wouldn't even recommend just trying to clean them.

caddyowner

This old thread from 2005 has some interesting reading on the cooled seats.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...e-problem.html

McSwine

I had a sheepskin cover in my non-heated seats '00 LS400...warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

StanVanDam

Note that Lexus strongly advises against installation or use of aftermarket seat covers because there is a potential they can compromise the side airbag system, which can result in severe occupant injuries in case of accident.

See attached TSB.