Air Conditioning

The AC on a Lexus works well. I recommend that you take the particular car you are interested in for a test drive on a hot day to see if it is cold enough for you.

You could hear a pin drop when the almighty Alan Spitz addressed his adoring fans with these immortal words:

I don't know how old your Civic is. If it's pre-96 (as is the BMW), that could explain the colder A/C. R12 is *much* colder than R134A. As for the A/C in Lexi, we have an 00 ES300 and an 02 LS430 and both A/C's work very well.

Honda A/C has always been weak.

Toyota A/C has always been very good (okay, 90 Camry stunk). My '90 Celica was great, my '03 IS300 is great. My '98 Audi didn't run so it didn't much matter.

I have a 2005 ES 330, the air works fine. I bought it new and it now is approaching 10,000 miles on it. Overall, it's a quality car except for the following:

1. Some ES 330, including mine, have a hesitation and jerk in the transmission. It doesn't happen all the time and it seems to happen less and isn't as pronounced if you don't drive agressively. If you decide to get the ES 330, I suggest you give the very car you will buy (not a demonstrator) a good test drive to see if it has the transmission hesitation and/or jerk. On my car, it happens more in city driving than on the highway. It's not too strong, but it's there. Usually, it occurs when you are slowing down (like for a red light) and then step on the gas before completely stopping.

1. The leg room in the rear seating area is very limited. If you are going to have people in the back often, get another car (unless they are all very short).

2. There is an optional 17" wheel that is available for my car. I suggest you go with the 16" wheel. The 17" wheel comes with special performance tires with very high speed ratings, but the tread generally wears out very fast. Selection of the 17" new tires for replacement are limited and these tires are expensive. There is a greater choice available in the 16" and they are usually less expensive and offer better mileage. You don't plan on driving 130 mph, do you? In this instance, when they speak of "performance" tires, they are not referring to mileage, but to the ability to safely go at very high speeds and to hold the road. Generally, in order to make such a tire, it contains compounds that wear out quickly. Al

"performance"