Rx400h Performance In The Hills

[speedyg]

Took my RX400h for a short drive up in the hills this morning. Roads were twisty and steep with lots of switchbacks. A few impressions:

- Happy with the tires. When I first got my RX400h, I could get the tires to squeak/squeal by cornering like I regularly do in my BMW. But I haven't heard any squeaks recently so I chalk that up to new tires needing to be broken in to achieve full stickiness.

- Handling was good, car felt secure/stable going up and down the switchbacks

- Brakes need improvement. The RX400h definitely doesn't stop on a dime and the brakes are not good enough to be driving aggressively all the time. And this is with no cargo/passengers. Since the RX400h could actually be loaded with lots of stuff the need for more effective brakes is even greater.

- Auto leveling headlamps. I appreciated the side to side swivelling on the switchbacks.

- Very happy with the amount of power. Although the hills were very steep, I never had to use maximum power. Just for kicks, I put the accelerator pedal to the floor on one long upslope. All the motors kicked in and the RX400h shot forwards and accelerated upwards at a frightening rate.

- Fuel economy. I got better MPG than I expected. I thought I would burn lots of gas on the way up but it didn't seem to burn any more gas than normal (either that or the regeneration really makes up for it.) I reset the meter at the base of the hills and after going up and then back down the same way I got 27.7 MPG. Roundtrip distance was about 30 miles.

- Battery usage. I actually achieved the mythical 100% charged battery on my way downhill :) Also, I was expecting the battery to get drained on the way up (thinking that the electric motor would be necessary to get uphill) but the battery barely even got utilized on the way up. Suprisingly the gas engine was the only thing that was needed to get up the steep hills.

[RX400h]

Great news! That 27+ MPG matches that of the Toyota Scion Xb 4-cylinder econocar; that in of itself is phenomenal!

During normal day-to-day driving, the brakes are more than adequate. Agressive driving is more BMW territory and Lexus steers towards the better ride rather than ultimate handling. I doubt that philosophy will change anytime soon. My coworkers Mercedes ML350 is averaging about 16 or 17 MPG and she spends $70 per week. Sadly, I told her about the RX400h long ago, but she just couldn't wait. She now pays the piper at the gas pumps.

[patt]

Did you use B on the way down?

Did you notice any change in the breaking when the battery got full? I've wondered if they dump power from the regenerator to a resistor at that point or if they stop regenerative braking.

[speedyg]

Did you use B on the way down?

Did you notice any change in the breaking when the battery got full? I've wondered if they dump power from the regenerator to a resistor at that point or if they stop regenerative braking.

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Yes I used B all the way down, I also used lots of braking (B by itself hardly does anything to slow the car down). Didn't notice any change in braking after the battery got full, but I wasn't paying attention to that possibility, so there may have been...

[skyfish400h]

Did you use B on the way down?

Did you notice any change in the breaking when the battery got full? I've wondered if they dump power from the regenerator to a resistor at that point or if they stop regenerative braking.

←

Yes I used B all the way down, I also used lots of braking (B by itself hardly does anything to slow the car down). Didn't notice any change in braking after the battery got full, but I wasn't paying attention to that possibility, so there may have been...

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So we need some smart people working on these things for the aftermarket set:

Ventalated disks with oversize calipers F/R

Oversized swaybars

Air suspension

Software Program upgrade on the B setting for more braking bias

Who's our favorite RX aftermarket provider?