The *completed* ES300 Project (thewizard's new car)

[thewizard16]

To those wondering, yes, I did buy a car on the trip to Dallas last Saturday. Unfortunately I've just not been back on to post the conclusion to my car wreck/local shopping fail/flight to Dallas to shop experience.

The winner was a 99 Lexus ES300 Coach Edition with 101,000 miles that looked a little rough around the edges. None of you are surprised. Or probably even mildly interested. But if you care why I picked it, read below. Otherwise, pictures are below the text.

So for those of you asking "Why the hell did you buy what is essentially a fancier version of the Camry to replace a fancy Camry?", it's because I felt it was the best car of my options. Why?

• The A4 was beautiful and drove well, but the 1.8T was unimpressive (and all I could afford in used A4s) and the ones I saw did not appear to have been well taken care of. Interior was nice, but not notably nicer than some of the other options.
• The GS 300/430s in my price range were all super high mileage so I never actually took it out for a test drive. Insurance would have hurt a little too based off the conversations with my agent, so I decided it wasn't a good idea to risk falling in love with one.
• For the IS300, see the above comment about the GS.
• For the Maximas, I previously discussed why they were eliminated. The interior apparently doesn't age well at all and the handling and power only seemed mildly better than most of the other options.
• The I30s were just the Maxima with more geriatric styling and with Infiniti logos stiched into the leather. It seemed to handle a bit worse than the Maxima, but rode a little smoother. Not a bad car, but it really was just a slightly fancier Maxima and I didn't love the styling.

So why did the ES win? I drove the ES last since I initially wanted to go a different direction with the Camry replacement, and unfortunately it seemed like the nicest car. It rode the best, handled somewhere in the middle (better than the old Camry, not as good as the A4, maybe a little floatier than the Maxima but no worse than the I30), had the nicest feeling interior by build quality, and I liked the way it looked. Not as much as the A4  , but it's still a handsome car. Reliability was a concern considering short term financial constraints, and the Lexus seemed to have the best ratings on that. Mileage was also a consideration, and this particular ES was considerably lower mileage than the other non-ES cars I looked at. Price on this one also worked out very well for me, mainly because of the condition it appeared to be in upfront, but those are the concerns I addressed this week. It was a very long day of shopping with a whole big bunch of listings considered and quite a few test drives, and I didn't settle on this one until right at 5pm on Saturday. A quick stop at the sketchiest Walmart I have ever seen (the AA batteries were in a locked cage. Seriously.) for some cleaning supplies so I felt safe sitting on the seats and could see out the window, and then dinner, and I got back into Little Rock about 3am. It drove well on the trip back despite a bent rim, and got 27.5 mpg. For doing 80-85 the vast majority of the way and a 210hp V6, I was pretty pleased with that. So what's it look like? Watch the progression  .

The initial dealer's photos (they bought it three days before I looked at it, it hadn't been touched yet as far as detailing):






My initial pictures:
Driver's door scuff:


Front corner scuff:


Interior:
















In the driveway, after some cleaning and scuff polishing:


I start cleaning... The leather was ridiculously dirty and took a long time to clean:


Done Cleaning!:






Before and After:


A couple days later, I did the wheels and some paint repair:




Before and After:




So that's how things played out. There are still a few things I'm going to do to the car, but for only having had it a week, I'm pretty happy with how things are going. Feel free to comment or rant away.

[GoCougs]

Fantastic car, and if I say so myself, pretty much what I recommended IIRC. Amazing how well the leather cleaned up. Kinda disappointing the condition given it only has ~100k miles; previous owner didn't take very good care which always shocks me. If it were me I'd try to determine if the timing belt has been changed.

[Cookie Monster]

Damn dude, I'm really impressed how well you cleaned the car up. Looks great on IS300 wheels.

[thewizard16]

Fantastic car, and if I say so myself, pretty much what I recommended IIRC. Amazing how well the leather cleaned up. Kinda disappointing the condition given it only has ~100k miles; previous owner didn't take very good care which always shocks me. If it were me I'd try to determine if the timing belt has been changed.

Yeah, it was a one owner car, the one owner just happened to be worthless apparently. Oh well, a week with me and it's in the best shape it's probably been in since it was a month or two old, and it looks even better than I imagine it did new (I think the new wheels look good on it). It passed its quick inspections by mechanics with flying colors, but I will have it in to my regular place to have them check the timing belt (it's an unknown, but I bet it wasn't changed) and see what else it might need.

[thewizard16]

Damn dude, I'm really impressed how well you cleaned the car up. Looks great on IS300 wheels.

Thanks! The whole thing cleaned up really well I thought. I was nervous when I bought it because I wasn't entirely sure I could turn it around, but a week later and I'm feeling pretty good about the little gamble on the cosmetic stuff. The mix of Woolite and water (I used a 6:1 ratio due to the severity of the dirt/stains) did an amazing job on the leather, and also took stains and ink marks out of the headliner, carpet (after I had it shampooed even), and marks on the vinyl/plastic door panels.

The wheels are actually Elbrus I02 wheels, but I guess they do look similar to the IS300 wheels. I saw an A4 on another forum that used these as their winter wheels and I thought they looked great on the Audi, so I decided to give them a try on the ES since the original wheels weren't exactly sporty and one of them was bent so I had a good excuse for new rims. The wheels: http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/WheelCloseUpServlet?target=wheelCloseUp&wheelMake=Elbrus&wheelModel=I02&wheelFinish=Silver+Machined+w%2FIce+Coating

[Vinsanity]

Lovely. My college ex got one of these as a hand-me-down back in the day. I never figured out what was special about the Coach Edition, though.

[hotrodalex]

Very nice! Mind me asking how much it was?

[dazzleman]

Excellent, Matt.  It looks really nice.   Good luck, and enjoy safe, fun and fast driving in it.

[thewizard16]

Lovely. My college ex got one of these as a hand-me-down back in the day. I never figured out what was special about the Coach Edition, though.

Different leather (perforated leather vs. solid), nicer leather door inserts, different colors (also know as paint that is shockingly expensive and nearly impossible to touch up), and generally just optioned out. Probably purchased almost exclusively by vacuous women with well off husbands. Or maybe it predated Coach being reduced into it's current purely trendy state, I don't know.

[TurboDan]

Oooooh.... Lookin' good. Leather cleaned up beautifully.

FWIW, the '99 Lex leather held up better than the '05 XLR leather with nearly half the mileage. 

[thewizard16]

Very nice! Mind me asking how much it was?

Thanks! Not at all. It was listed at $7,000, which was about average for an ES of this generation with a few faults in Dallas, actually a little low for the mileage, but considering its cosmetic condition at the time I was looking at it (they hadn't prepped it for the showroom yet) it still seemed high to me. With the random fees and such they tack on, I walked away with it for $5500, which left room for me to do the little things on it I've done so far, cover some repairs if needed, and get a lower mileage car than I could have otherwise afforded. Still a few things left to do (replace driver's side mirror, new stereo that supports my XM, etc.), but the guts are in really good shape and the interior and exterior came out nicely I think.

Excellent, Matt.  It looks really nice.   Good luck, and enjoy safe, fun and fast driving in it.

Thanks Dave, I'm pretty happy with it now that I've made it feel like mine. It had good bones, it just needed some work to bring out its inner beauty.

Oooooh.... Lookin' good. Leather cleaned up beautifully.

FWIW, the '99 Lex leather held up better than the '05 XLR leather with nearly half the mileage.  

Thanks! It took some elbow grease and hours of persistence, but the result was worth it. Looks and feels like a different car inside than it did when I drove it back. This leather apparently holds up way better than the leather in the I30 too (and way, way better than the Maxima), judging by the ones I test drove. This thing wasn't taken care of very well and it didn't split and crack like most of the other cars I looked at had. The Audi leather was in really good shape too, but the others seemed to have cheaped out a little on the materials there.

[TBR]

I thought once leather looked like that it was pretty much a goner. I am impressed. Should be a great car for your needs.

[sportyaccordy]

Good job with the leather.

ES is a solid car. 7K for a 99 though? Seems high. Same year Maxima/I30 would be maybe half that. I like their interiors too, I still find the top of the line ones to be pretty luxurious. Also comes in (admittedly pretty awful) stickshift which would be a combo breaker for me. Anyways ES is a good, HONEST car, and I'm glad you got what you wanted. Def not a bad pick.

[MexicoCityM3]

Congrats man, amazing deal you got there.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Nice Camry, but there is no way the before and after are the same car.

Anyway, I recommend coilovers for stance and the TRD supercharger for 280 HP.

[giant_mtb]

Wheels look great!  Nice clean-up job. 

Did you clean the carpets at all?  Putting plastic mats over the dirty carpets won't help much, and giving them a good cleaning could really help the smell of the vehicle, too!

[thewizard16]

I thought once leather looked like that it was pretty much a goner. I am impressed. Should be a great car for your needs.

Thanks! I was anxious but after looking it over at the dealer pretty closely I felt that most of it was just ground in dirt instead of cracks or stains and I could at least get it clean. I wasn't entirely sure if I'd be able to soften it up all the way again, but luckily things worked out.

Good job with the leather.

ES is a solid car. 7K for a 99 though? Seems high. Same year Maxima/I30 would be maybe half that. I like their interiors too, I still find the top of the line ones to be pretty luxurious. Also comes in (admittedly pretty awful) stickshift which would be a combo breaker for me. Anyways ES is a good, HONEST car, and I'm glad you got what you wanted. Def not a bad pick.

That's relatively low actually. I know blue book values are in that range, but the actual selling values are way higher. A 2000 Platinum Edition with comparable miles and features was listed locally for 10,500 and will probably sell for a bit over 9. The ESes I looked at were all 99, 00, or 01 models and the cheapest one I saw was $6,000 and it had a valve cover leak and other big repair issues. $7,000 to 9,000 is about typical list price for one with a few issues and they sell fast. I had a list in the $5-8k range of over 15 ESes I had printed up over the past week, 5 Audis, 8 Infinitis, and a few miscellaneous cars, and in a week's time since listings going up 6 of the ESes had sold, 1 of the Audis, and 1 of the Infinitis. People seem to like them I guess. The I30 and Maxima aren't half of that either, but they do depreciate a bit faster. Decent 01/02 Maximas and 01/02 I30s list between 5-8. Nice used cars are a lot more expensive right now than most people would guess. NADA says clean retail on a 99 base model ES with this mileage would be over $8k.

Nice Camry, but there is no way the before and after are the same car.

Anyway, I recommend coilovers for stance and the TRD supercharger for 280 HP.

That's how I know my evenings this week were well spent. The woman went with me to buy the thing and she didn't believe it was even the same interior when she saw it several days after we got back.

Wheels look great!  Nice clean-up job. 

Did you clean the carpets at all?  Putting plastic mats over the dirty carpets won't help much, and giving them a good cleaning could really help the smell of the vehicle, too!

Thanks! I had the carpets shampooed and got some stains out after they shampooed them. They smell fine but are still a bit dingy looking (the rear one is a goner, I think I'll put a new pair back there). Any suggestions on how to clean them up further? The carpet came out really well, it's just the mats that are a little darker than they should be now.

[Rupert]

Woolite and water? Wowowwowow!

I should try that on some of the discolored vinyl I have.

[Pommes-T]

Congratulations! I am truly impressed by your detailing skills. 

[2o6]

Awesomesauce! Another member of the Toyota club.




Your detailing skills are awesome.

[cawimmer430]

No History & Heritage in that car... 




Congrats. I love the work you did on the car. It really looked USED/ABUSED when you got it but it now looks BRAND NEW after you fixed her up. Great job! 

That generation ES (and the original ES250) looks pretty neat. Far better than the really bland versions that followed this.

[TBR]

Apparently used cars have gotten really expensive the last couple of years in general so the $7k doesn't surprise me. I would guess its cash for clunkers and the shitty economy.

[giant_mtb]

Thanks! I had the carpets shampooed and got some stains out after they shampooed them. They smell fine but are still a bit dingy looking (the rear one is a goner, I think I'll put a new pair back there). Any suggestions on how to clean them up further? The carpet came out really well, it's just the mats that are a little darker than they should be now.

There's not much else left to do if you've had them shampooed and everything!  Sounds like you got it done right.  The floor mats will never come completely clean.  Some stains just literally never come out.

[Madman]

ES300?  And what does your husband drive?   


Just kidding.  Looks like a solid car which should last you for the long haul.  Although I still say you should have bought the Jag! 

Despite having it for just over a year, I have yet to do a proper detail job on the Caterrror.  My leather is in great shape but it could use a good cleaning.  I've never heard of using Woolite and water on leather but the results certainly look impressive!  Did you use a sponge or a cotton towel or what?  I've just always used the leather cleaner in a bottle you get at auto parts stores on my old Volvo 740.  Any other handy tips or advice I can use?

[sportyaccordy]

Man that is a real bummer about used car prices.

[thewizard16]

Thanks for all the compliments on the detail job guys! It just took a lot of persistence and was a bit of an arm workout. 2o6- I was already in the Toyota club, I just renewed my membership .

ES300?  And what does your husband drive?   

Just kidding.  Looks like a solid car which should last you for the long haul.  Although I still say you should have bought the Jag! 

Despite having it for just over a year, I have yet to do a proper detail job on the Caterrror.  My leather is in great shape but it could use a good cleaning.  I've never heard of using Woolite and water on leather but the results certainly look impressive!  Did you use a sponge or a cotton towel or what?  I've just always used the leather cleaner in a bottle you get at auto parts stores on my old Volvo 740.  Any other handy tips or advice I can use?

You mix it in a spray bottle (I used an old Windex bottle that had been thoroughly rinsed out) and then spray it directly on the leather. For tough dirt you can let it sit a minute or two and then you can either scrub it with a soft cloth or do what I did and get the softest, crappiest toothbrush you can fine to actually scrub the leather a little. Make sure it's a super soft toothbrush if you do that of course, but it's amazing how well that works. After you scrub, wipe it down dry with a different soft cloth and repeat as necessary. I discovered the woolite mixture on a detailing forum, but when I looked in the Lexus manual they recommend it as a leather cleaner too (although they don't mention woolite by brand name of course). Lexol is one that a lot of people like as well, but apparently this is one of the most effective ways to clean the leather without hurting it and it's cheaper than Lexol. After seeing what it did with mine, I'm a believer.

[thewizard16]

So, as it typically goes with buying a different car, there are a bunch of little things I wanted to change here and there. Here is the list of what I've done so far, and what is pending. Any suggestions on other little things here and there I might want to consider?

Done this past week:
Footwell lights in the front + better in-door courtesy lights (I did this on the Camry too- the way the interiors are lit it is very dark up front and the footwell lights coupled with more powerful courtesy lights make it a lot nicer at night)
New exterior lighting 

Coming soon (hopefully this week):
New stereo head unit so I can have my XM back
Flush mounted AUX-In and USB ports near the second power outlet in the console to connect to the new head unit

Future:
Remote start? (I had this on the Camry and apparently this thing has already had it in the past. I found the antenna and traced the wiring and it's all been professionally wired up for one, the little brain for it is just missing)

Suggestions? What little things have you updated on your older vehicle that might be worth considering?

[Raza]

AUX input is number one.  That's what I'm upgrading on my car. 

[thewizard16]

AUX input is number one.  That's what I'm upgrading on my car. 

The headunit I'm buying has all the jacks on the back for things, but has no front ports (it's just a simple screen with minimal buttons) so I'm running a cable from the back of it to the inside of the center console where the second power port is and I'll flush mount it right next to the power in there. I had a rental car with that arrangement but I don't remember exactly which one it was. It works well if you don't mind your cables going into the console, but since the power would have to be run from there anyway I figured it'd be fine to put the input in there. I rarely use an auxiliary input since I have satellite radio, but I figured if I'm buying a fancy unit with that option I might as well be able to utilize it more easily. Same thing for the USB- it will link with Android or iPhone devices and play media (and charge) straight from the USB port so I figured I'd better hook that up so I'll be able to use it if the mood strikes.

[AutobahnSHO]

Congrats!
Should last you well and not as 'boring' as a 'Yota.

Wanna come work on my cars?
(Van hasn't been washed in months, I scrubbed on the Miata after I got it to get the initial funk out but have lost energy on it..)