Pairing Treo 650 with Lexus SC430

So I got the Treo 650 the other day and I was very bummed that it didnt pair right away with the Lexus SC430. So I did some searching and found a great post on how to do it.

1) Initiate pairing from the car;
2) Respond with passcode from Treo;
3) The Treo will say you connected, the car says it is still waiting;
4) Disregard the car's message;
5) Select the Handsfree as a Trusted Device in the Treo Bluetooth (this step was not included in earlier helpful instructions on this board, but is necessary);
6) Initiate a call from the Treo;
7) The car handsfree will pickup the call.

If there is a problem, delete the trusted device and start again. It should work well, as you expected.

Now, you can also send individual phone records (contacts) from your treo to your lexus navigation system. Start the phonebook transfer, locate the contact and send the contact via bluetooth. This will only send the first number for that contact, so its not great.

Too Humid for Top Down on Lexus SC430

When it is this hot and humid, its simply nasty to put the top down on the Lexus SC430. The air conditioning works to well, its almost a crime.

With humidity sometimes at a 100% yesterday, its not recommended.

Lexus 5,000 Mile Maintenance

A week ago Thursday I took my SC430 in to the Lexus dealer for its first scheduled maintenance check. This maintenance check is known as the 5,000 checkup. I came in, they took my information and told me it would be an hour, 15 minutes less if I wanted to skip the car wash. I waited it out at the waiting area. Nice room, offered free coffee and stuff, also a nice TV. There was wifi but I was unable to gain access to it, which was upsetting.

So within the hour, my car was returned to me. The car was in perfect condition and no real problems. The car wash didn't seem like they did too much. I had to get an other wash yesterday, which was far superior.

Lexus followed up the maintenance with a phone call. I was out of my office at a client at the time, so he left a message, telling me to expect a customer survey. He also asked me to call him back, which I did not. I got the customer survey via email and it was very nicely done. Worked well in my Safari browser and it had a very nice background loop playing, very elegant. Check out the front page at the Lexus Online Survey.

I left some strong comments, that I wont post publicly at this point, in the survey. Let's see how they respond.

Lexus SC430 Retains No. 1 Rank In Survey by J.D. Power

Wall Street Journal writes that BMW, Mercedes Make Big Comebacks in Quality but Lexus Retains No. 1 Rank. "Jaguar trailed Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus brand, which again was ranked as the industry's best."

"J.D. Power's 2005 Initial Quality Study, which measures how cars perform in the first 90 days of ownership, found that owners of new vehicles on average reported just 118 problems per 100 vehicles -- the fewest number of problems since the study was redesigned in 1998. Last year's average was 119."

I helped with this study...

"Lexus vehicle owners reported 81 problems per 100 vehicles, down from 87 problems last year. The survey rated the Lexus SC 430 car as the industry's highest-ranking model for a second straight year with 54 problems per 100. Toyota captured 10 of the 18 top model segment awards. The Toyota brand placed seventh with 105 problems per 100, improving from last year's eighth-place finish with 104 problems per 100."

Here are links to:

• Yahoo! News Story
  
• Forbes
  
• ABC News
  
• Fox News
  
• Car Connection
  
• and recent others
  

Trip to Toronto Nice & Smooth

If I didn't have this car, there is no doubt in my mind that I would have flew to Toronto for the SES Toronto Conference. But since I have the car, I really wanted to give it a try.

My friend and I left around 12:30 noon, from Rockland county. We decided to take 87 to 90 to Queen Elisabeth Way. That route was a bit longer in terms of miles but we felt it would be the best route in terms of time and cops.

We started off with the top down but it started to rain, so I pulled off at an exist and put the top back up. Then we continued on and half way through, I decided to stop for a break at some service stop. Used the bathroom and filled up the half empty tank. About 7.5 hours later we arrived at our destination. We drove to a place to eat, then drove to the hotel and parked the car in the lot.

Skipping none car related activities....

The following night, we took the car out again to go get a bite to eat. Then came back to the hotel.

Skipping none car related activities....

Around 5:30pm Thursday, we left the hotel for the ride back to Rockland County, New York. We hit about an hour of traffic in Toronto. After that we got to the US/Canadian border and the US guy asked me for our passports. I handed it to him. He then asked me for our country of origin. I thought to myself, do you mean the city I live in? I mean, on the passport it says "United States", and on my Lexus I have New York plates, and I am sure my passport details says New York. So I told the guy, Rockland County, New York. What was he expecting? Me to say Canada? Maybe say "America"? What do I know. So then he grilled me on why was I in Toronto. I said for a search engine conference. He then asked me more about that. He was clueless but what can I expect from him. So finally he let us on our way. One thing, there was no toll to get into America, there was a toll of $2.50 US or $3.50 Canada to get into Canada. I guess that is because we have toll booths along the way.

Anyway, I got back to Rockland at 1:30am, 8 hours after leaving Toronto. Not bad at all.

The ride was very comfortable. I drove the whole way, both ways. There is no way I am going to let my friend drive. And the music was nice.

Only issue is that its hard for people to hear you when you are on the bluetooth phone, connected to the car's bluetooth technology. The high speed, highway driving, doesn't allow for a clear discussion. And since I was on the phone about 2 hours on the way back, it was annoying.

I terribly need a car wash. I must have killed 10,000 bugs on the way, and the front of my car is covered with bug juice. Off to the car wash shortly. :)

Pollen Turned Lexus Yello

Yesterday morning, I woke up and stepped outside to find that my gray Lexus turned yellow. But it is suppose to rain tomorrow, so I will let the rain do the cleaning.

Looks like today the pollen levels will be low, according to weather.com.

Sun Tan & Highway Driving

This afternoon I drove to the Bronx Zoo. On the way in, I put the top down and cruised down the Palisades Parkway. It was a bit breezy, but the wind was worth it. I am not the "tanning" type of guy, but its nice to get tan without "tanning", if you know what I mean.

Once I hit the GW bridge, having the top down was annoying. The trucks make so much noise. They hit a bump right next to you and the noise that comes out of it, is too loud.

Anyway, highway driving on car only highways are nice. Dense city highways, I do not recommend it.