Engine Protection Plate

Who sells this at the best price? I figured I would ask before just buying it.

Why do you need it? The 99 C2 already has problems in efficiently cooling itself, an engine cover won;t make it any better. But if you are going to get one, make sure they cut more holes out of the bottom of it, or try to find one that is least "constrictive".

Because I plan on putting the ROW030 suspension on and the protection plate is a recommended item since the oil pan is so close to the ground. As far as cooling goes, I read that it doesn't affect cooling.

It doesn't affect cooling. Not sure where RR is coming up with that one. Besides, wasn't the question "who sells for the best price?" not question my reason for getting it? By the way, I got mine from Sunset (dealer in Oregon) for about $75.

The engine protection plate, the thing that Lexus acts like they invented in their recent commercial. Did you guys see it? They show a Lexus in a wind tunnel and then turn it upside down and the haughty voice says something like 'at Lexus we relentlessly pursue perfection by working on the aerodynamics of both sides of the car.' Well, I know that the Mercedes Gullwing had a plate on its underside sixty years ago. But I guess it helps when your customers don't know anything about cars which seems to be the case with people that buy Lexus. What's next? Will their next ad claim that they invented the wheel?

Doesn't Lexus always do that? With this new features on the Lexus commercials like: 1. Keyless Go, which Mercedes Had it on their S and CL Class for the past 4 years 2. Cornering Headlights - which both BMW and Mercedes has invented it and offered on their cars before Lexus... etc...

I got my engine protection plate at Porsche of Honolulu for around $95 (in stock). I got it because my road going up to my house is two asphalt strips with grass in the middle. Never can be too careful about camoflaged rocks hiding in the grass... Try your local dealer, I don't know if $20 +/- is worth hunting around the country and dealing with freight.

You're right Netdoc, there is a pattern. The only difference between Lexus and Joe Isuzu was that Isuzu's commercials had subtitles that exposed Joe Isuzu as a liar, oh, well that and Joe Isuzu's voice was much less haughty. lol Why doesn't Lexus focus on the technology that they invented? Oh, that's right, they can't because they haven't invented anything.

I purchased one from Carnell for about $100.

Lexus marketing is just another "oxymoron!"

Well, don' t they say that imitation is the biggest for of flattery. As far as cornering headlights, the first car to have them was a Tucker, so that would be what, 50+ years ago....

Yes, indeed imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but no one likes to be plagiarized. Lexus should make their cars as good as possible by using as much german technology as possible but just don't try to pass it off as your own, Lexus.

First off I'll say I love my 996 much more than my Lexus SC for the Porshce performance, handling, looks and sheer thrill of driving it but... I custom ordered a Lexus SC300 w/5-speed manual transmission in 1997. It's my daily driver and I've put over 100Kmiles on it. In the seven years of ownership, besides oil, gas and tires all I've had go wrong on the car was a leaking shock absorber - which was replaced free of charge 18 months out of warranty because "we stand by our product". I have a terrible relationship with the dealership too. I toasted them in every survey I've ever gotten, I found illegal drugs (well, maybe not illegal - this is California...) in a loaner car they gave me and have not bought a single car from them again - yet they still replaced the shock free of charge out of warranty. Hmmm... I custom ordered my 2000 C4 Cab and in four+ years of ownership I've had the gear shift linkage break twice (leaving me stranded each time), various creaks and rattles repared, sensors break, a CEL, windows that don't close all the time and 6 WEEKS out of warranty I had to pay $600+ to have a coolant bottle replaced. Thank God no RMS (yet?). So, before you go dis'ing Lexus, think about the total ownership experience. I too think the Lexus mktg is a bunch of bull-pucky but hey, maybe Lexus mktg just realized (sooner that Porsche mktg) that 99% of Americans have no clue what they are buying when they buy a car. Lexus/Toyota is just like Porsche - a company in business to make the most money possible out the customer. That may not have been true of Porsche in days past but it is now.

Joe2000C4Cab, I'm glad we agree that Lexus advertising is a bunch of bull-pucky. And I agree with you that 99% of Americans have no clue what they're buying. If that wasn't the case Lexus would have to advertise differently as, for example, in a world where people knew a lot about cars, the fact that a Lexus has an engine protection plate would no longer constitute a persuasive advertisment as the prospective customers would realize that many cars have something similar. As far as the reliability goes, Porsche came in a somewhat close third behind Honda and Toyota in the recent JD Power survey. So while it may seem to you, based on your personal experience, that Porsche is far less reliable, the credible data suggests there actually isn't that much difference on the average between the reliability of the two companies' cars. And I agree with you that Porsche is a company in business to make money however, they are not just like Lexus because they have more class (as does the typical bum on the street, IMHO) than to advertise features on their cars that were developed by other companies and attempt to mislead people into thinking that they were the ones that developed them. How would we feel if we worked for Mercedes and developed Keyless Go and Lexus copied the idea and ran a commercials misleading people into thinking that they invented it?

Hello Fishman, A well meausred response. That's one thing I like about this forum, respect for another opinions. Anyway, I knew about the JD Power survey(s) before I posted. I won't go into my beliefs about the validity of their surveys (I always just take the $1 bill in their mailings and toss the surveys...). I agree with your points but I will note that you passed over one important point - customer service. We can wrap stats around our fingers to show one thing or another but I'm just not buying that the service at any of my local Bay Area P-car dealerships is on par with that of Lexus. Maybe that is just this region where $$ is king but it still indicates a corporate stance on the value of their customers beyond the purchase. Best regards,

Joe, No arguments here. If you say that the Porsche dealerships in the Bay Area are not as good as the Lexus dealerships, I don't doubt you for a moment. Although I'd be surprised if that was true all over the country, the same could be said of the dealerships in the area where I live. The closest Porsche dealership is Wyoming Valley Motors (WVM) and the closest Lexus dealership is Motorworld. Motorworld is clearly better than WVM every day in every way. (I never bought a Lexus, but Motorworld also sells Mercedes and is where my girlfriend bought her car and I have experience with them via her.) I probably would never buy a car from WVM, so I have to go to a Porsche dealership (Knopf Automotive) that is about 30 miles further away but that dealership does provide fairly excellent service. So I'm certainly not defending all of the dealerships, just trying to make a point about Lexus' commercials. I've always been sensitive to intellectual theft, call me quirky, lol, and the Lexus commercials, smack of it (in addition to the haughty voice that I'm now on record as having despised).

Hey Fishman, Amen! By the way, where are you in PA? I grew up in Philly and went to school in the Burgh. I'm not familiar with either of the dealerships you mention. Just curious.

I live in the Wilkes Barre - Scranton area. Ninety miles north of Philly. Knopf Automotive is in Allentown. Congrats on living in California! I used to live in San Diego and I've been to San Fran, both are great.

I'll take that congrats, as you mean it, in a positive way but if I could get out of CA, I'd be gone in much less than 60 seconds... If that happened though, I'd probably be out of a job, divorced and broke but that's a whole different story. (I hope my wife isn't reading this). You can take the kid out of Philly but you can't take the Philly out of the kid. Congrats on being able to earn a living in PA that allows for two P-cars! The gray mkt 944 sounds especially interesting. If I could only find the PM button in this new forum format, I'd PM you for details on that one! ;-)

To send a PM you just click on the user's name. I'll send you one now with all the info on the 944.