SW03ES Posted January 28, 2007 Posted January 28, 2007 The purchasing couple is happy, my wife is happy, the 2004 RX330 reseller is happy. Everybody is happy in this transaction except me. LOL! This made me almost spit out my coffee. Congrats...or my condolences about the new purchase ;)
RX in NC Posted January 28, 2007 Author Posted January 28, 2007 Sometimes us guys just have to suck it up and take a bullet for our significant others. That's what I did in this case although I ain't real happy about having another overweight, underperforming vehicle in our stable. Maybe dinners at our house for the next few weeks will be more about homecooked and less about take-out. I guess I'll find out soon enough....
newtoncd Posted January 28, 2007 Posted January 28, 2007 I read the excellent reviews on the Bridgestone Alenza's and in about 4-6 weeks, I will be putting them on my wife's RX330. Even with AWD, I don't feel comfortable with the Michelin's on the car. We had an 88 Camry that had 302,000 miles on it and we sold it to her sister and it is still running trouble free with 321,000 miles .... my wife has decided for her RX330, she is going to beat that mileage .... we will see. Congrats on your purchase.
mikey00 Posted January 28, 2007 Posted January 28, 2007 The interested couple met my full Kelley Blue Book value asking price. They left a $500 deposit. We'll all meet at the bank on Monday morning to handle the title transition and the actual purchase via certified check. Then they drive off with the RX300 and we drive over to Cary to pick up my wife's replacement vehicle, the 2004 RX330. The purchasing couple is happy, my wife is happy, the 2004 RX330 reseller is happy. Everybody is happy in this transaction except me. How I hate shelling out bucks for assets that immediately begin to depreciate. Curses, foiled again. Damn it.... Oh, and thanks, guys, for the background on Data Dots headlight anti-theft. Sounds like more of a gimmick than a real value-added feature to me. Wonder how many of them that are stolen are ever actually recovered.... I think DataDots by themselves are of very little value to HID owners. Their main purpose is to aid in prosecution of individuals caught with stolen HIDs in their possession. Without Data Dots it is difficult to prove the used HIDs didn't come from a legitimate source. What is more important to you is if you have DataDots they were most likely installed as part of the Lexus HID theft deterrent package which includes additional hardware to make HID removal difficult.
Rx330driver Posted January 28, 2007 Posted January 28, 2007 we dont get data dots over on the west coast because there arent people desperate enough to steal our headlights...im still baffled by that idea. now the tires. Ive been a sucker and i keep changing back to the goodyear eagles :(. tread life for me is 30K and im about to have them changed again at my next service 65K. Maybe i will try the bridgestones but im really close to my service rep and i think he might be offended if i change the tires elsewhere ;)
SW03ES Posted January 28, 2007 Posted January 28, 2007 Just tell the service rep to order you the Bridgestones, or order them from TireRack and have them shipped to the dealer.
LEXIRX330 Posted January 29, 2007 Posted January 29, 2007 Well glad that at least the wifey is Happy! :D My RX330 is being serviced today and I took the driver for a little ride so he could see/hear some of my complaints. Funny how that works...I drive it every day...and it makes the same noise and jerk all of the time. ERRR...get him in and it did not do it. Well I was p-----d OFF! I told him just take the car up there and if you do not here the noise have someone call me. Well 5 minutes later...the driver called me! he said that he definitely heard the noise in the dash. At least...I am not going crazy...yet! Got another IS250 AWD as a loaner. B) B) not a rattle one!
RX in NC Posted January 30, 2007 Author Posted January 30, 2007 Completed the sale of our 2000 RX300 AWD this morning and purchased the 2004 RX330 AWD this afternoon. There's no question that the 330 is several notches up from the 300 in the quality department. Slightly better overall ride, more features, a better dash layout, slightly more interior room, and the oil filter is much easier to get to. But alas, it's still a performance pig (meaning overweight and underpowered). And I think I'm hearing a few of those occasional dash rattles and squeaks that some of you have complained about with your RX330s. But at least my wife is happy and I hopefully have her set in the vehicle department for another four or five years now. I don't like the P235/55VR18 Michelin Energy MXV4 S8 tires on this vehicle - they don't belong on an SUV. Many RX330 owners who purchased these tires from tirerack.com have registered various complaints about their shortcomings. Since my RX330 reseller purchased these tires a couple of weeks ago before my wife found this vehicle on-line, I required him to provide me with a copy of his tire receipt as part of the deal today. They came from Discount Tire. I'm going to call them, tell them I'm not happy with the Michelins, and request that they swap them out for Bridgestone Alenza tires at no charge. We'll see what happens - it's certainly worth a phone call....
Rx330driver Posted January 30, 2007 Posted January 30, 2007 request that they swap them out for Bridgestone Alenza tires at no charge. We'll see what happens - it's certainly worth a phone call.... lol so your one of those people...hehe i dont think the performance is that bad persay on the RX330. im living with it night and day. its actually enough to get by, and im sure more than enough for your wife. P.S it has better specs than the RX300 you just got rid of, so at least its some sort of improvement. what did the car come with? lets see if we have the same thing ;)
RX in NC Posted January 30, 2007 Author Posted January 30, 2007 It's what I consider to be a typically-equipped 2004 RX330 AWD without the Navigation option. It does have the Mark Levinson audio system but I have not spent enough time with the vehicle yet to be able to make an assessment as to whether or not the audio system is significantly better than the one in our previous RX300 AWD (which was surprisingly good). It does have what I suppose is the early version of a tire pressure monitoring system but I've read that they often cannot detect slow leaks so I don't really know how useful that feature will turn out to be. I check all of our tire pressures weekly so I doubt that we'll have much use for it. Plenty of light-colored wood in the cabin and on the steering wheel which my wife likes. I'm not familiar with any different "packages" that may have been offered on the 2004 RX330 AWD model but perhaps this one has some of those "packages". Not having the original window sticker, I don't know of any other way to tell. Perhaps I'll call Lexus Customer Service in an effort to obtain such information but I typically don't find them to be a very good source of information for details such as this. After dealing with them on multiple issues regarding our previous RX300 AWD, I believe that they are essentially trained to utter the phrase "contact your dealer for more information about that particular subject" every chance they get....
newtoncd Posted January 31, 2007 Posted January 31, 2007 Discount tire has a no questions asked policy, but the tires need to be less than 30 days old and/or less than 1,000 miles on them. I agree with you, I absolutely despise the Michelin's on my wife's RX330. I forgot to mention, we have had an annoying noise (it isn't a rattle) from the right front pillar near the bottom of the windshield. Lexus tried to fix it once, but it came back. Other than that, great car.
RX in NC Posted January 31, 2007 Author Posted January 31, 2007 Met with the Discount Tire folks yesterday. They agreed to swap the MXV4 S8 tires for a new set of Alenzas. They had to order our size (235/55VR18), so they'll call me in four or five days and I'll take the vehicle back there to get the new Alenzas installed. The Discount Tire folks couldn't have treated me any nicer....
RX in NC Posted February 6, 2007 Author Posted February 6, 2007 Still waiting on the Alenzas to arrive at Discount Tire so I can get the Michelins removed and the Alenzas installed as agreed last Tuesday. It's been a week now so I've learned that this particular Discount Tire doesn't routinely stock these tires in the 18-inch size I need and apparently ships them in via covered wagon. In the meantime the vehicle is spending a couple of days at Johnson Lexus in Raleigh for some warranty work. The heated seats barely function compared to my wife's previous 2000 RX300 and the dashboard squeaks and rattles that a number of you have complained about in your RX330s have definitely surfaced in this one during our current stretch of cold weather. They are going to pull the dashboard in an effort to find and fix these annoying noises - I warned my wife that pulling a dashboard sometimes makes the known problems worse or creates new problems but the rattles are bothering her to the point that she is willing to run that risk. After owning this RX330 AWD for a week now, the jury is still out on this vehicle. There's no question that it rides better than any RX300 and I believe that Lexus took at least some moderate steps to resolve the transmission, exhaust manifold, rear main oil seal, oxygen sensor, and strut mount bushing failures that plagued the early RX300s. But my wife is slowly beginning to realize the validity of what I told her several weeks ago when we were kicking tires and test-driving various crossover models - you'll get a brand-new, much higher-performance, more fun and less quirky vehicle for the same money if you select the Acura RDX over this one. Maybe one day she'll learn to listen to me....
lenore Posted February 6, 2007 Posted February 6, 2007 Yea, what we do for our little women. I just completed a furniture project, and told my wife the demensions were too large. Guess what She said it is too large (after I completed it) So I took it apart, no small job since I over engineered the thing, so now it sits in pieces until I can re size it and go through the whole process again. Cars, phones, furniture, the list goes on. We men are nuts about researching things before we make decisions, but the better halves like to let their emotions guide them. Cant live without them and therefore life goes on... Have a Great day everyone and dont forget Valentines day is coming up for your true love. ...............................
SW03ES Posted February 7, 2007 Posted February 7, 2007 I wouldn't worry too much about the dashboard, the dealer took mine apart to get to a rattle and put it back together, no problems or extra rattles whatsoever.
RX in NC Posted February 7, 2007 Author Posted February 7, 2007 Glad to learn that your dashboard rattle was fixed. But pulling a dashboard is always a calculated risk since there's no way you can get it back in as tightly as is possible at the factory. Your windshield glass is in the way. At the factory, the dash goes in before the glass does so there's more working room to crank that dash down tight. I'm sure that some of the dealership techs are skilled at finding and fixing dashboard squeaks and rattles - let's hope we get the best guy that Johnson Lexus has to offer.... For those of you with 2004 RX330 models, I've spent some time on various websites this week searching for the most common problems that owners complain about. It's good to have this list in hand before your warranty runs out so you can be aware of them: 1. Front brake system vibration. The fix for this is Technical Service Bulletin 004-04. New front brake rotors have been developed to minimize warping compared to the original front brake rotors. It is recommended that you NOT turn (cut) your front rotors because this typically just speeds up the process of your rotors warping again. 2. "Clunk" sound when stopping vehicle. The fix for this is Technical Service Bulletin 002-04. This "clunk" is most often noticed when slowing down and stopping from around 30 mph. A redesigned transmission oil cooler tube assembly replaces your original one and provides for a better, tighter fit and thereby supposedly eliminates the "clunk". 3. Transmission hesitation and shifting harshness. There have been several firmware upgrades to the ECU that supposedly greatly improve the smoothness and performance of the transmission. Some owners report immediate improvement while others claim little to no difference after the firmware upgrade. 4. Moisture condensation inside the headlight assembly covers. Lexus service departments across the country are aware of this issue and generally swap out the defective assembly cover upon request. 5. Dashboard rattles and rear seat fold-down console rattles. Lexus service departments across the country are aware of these rattles and have had varying degrees of success in attempting to find and fix them. Hope this information can assist some of you out there. If your vehicle exhibits any of these conditions, get it to your dealership while your vehicle is still under the warranty period. If there are additional known problems, please list them here. Thanks.
SW03ES Posted February 7, 2007 Posted February 7, 2007 They don't have to take it totally out though. There are TSIBs for these rattles since they're so common, and they access them by pulling the instrument cluster, the center stack, getting up under the dash etc.
RX in NC Posted February 8, 2007 Author Posted February 8, 2007 My wife's 2004 RX330 AWD has been at Johnson Lexus since 7:30 Monday morning for two relatively simple warranty fixes: one, determine why the heated seats aren't working and fix them, and two, isolate the annoying dashboard rattle and fix it. As of 1:00 this afternoon, they haven't been able to rectify either situation and the technicians didn't bother to escalate to their management until I called this morning and had a little telephone pow-wow with the service advisor. I think some techs are going to get spanked as a result. In the meantime, my wife is driving an IS250 loaner with ridiculously low-profile 40-series tires and it rides like an empty buckboard on a frozen road (I checked the tire psi and it's about 30 - I'm tempted to drop it down to 28 or so but I don't think it will help much since the thickness of these tires resembles a bicycle tire more than a car tire). One of her colleagues who rode in the loaner earlier this week asked if the shocks had been removed and the tires replaced by iron rings.... The service manager just called me to apologize for the way this situation has been handled and offered to bring an RX loaner out to the house this evening if they still aren't able to resolve our warranty issues by the end of their workday. I appreciate the gesture and we'll do that if they can't get the vehicle fixed today. Meanwhile, the new Bridgestone Alenza tires (which will replace the substandard Michelin Energy MXV4 S8 tires) finally arrived yesterday evening but obviously I can't get them installed until Johnson Lexus can get the warranty work completed and the vehicle returned to us.... But hey, at least it's not a transmission failure....
RX in NC Posted February 9, 2007 Author Posted February 9, 2007 The service manager called yesterday afternoon to say that they have finally decided to order new driver and passenger front seats which won't arrive until next week. So she swapped out the IS250 loaner for an RX400h loaner yesterday afternoon. It's an interesting vehicle but not nearly as performance-oriented as the owners puff it up to be in the hybrid forums. The turbocharged Acura RDX will still run circles around it. But I'm going to have some fun with this thing over the weekend and find out just exactly what it will and will not do....
wwest Posted February 9, 2007 Posted February 9, 2007 The service manager called yesterday afternoon to say that they have finally decided to order new driver and passenger front seats which won't arrive until next week. So she swapped out the IS250 loaner for an RX400h loaner yesterday afternoon. It's an interesting vehicle but not nearly as performance-oriented as the owners puff it up to be in the hybrid forums. The turbocharged Acura RDX will still run circles around it. But I'm going to have some fun with this thing over the weekend and find out just exactly what it will and will not do.... Yes, when those turboes finally kick in the RDX goes like a scalded cat, and makes about the same noise level. But I sincerely doubt the factual nature of the RDX running circles around the Rxh. AWD Rxh? RDX turbo noise/SOUND making you mind think you're going FAST..??
RX in NC Posted February 9, 2007 Author Posted February 9, 2007 I'm certainly intelligent enough not to equate sound with speed. I'm talking about acceleration and quickness. That has nothing to do with sound. I don't drive with my ears - do you? Have you driven an RDX? Have you driven an RX400h? Until you drive both, you don't have full comprehension.
wwest Posted February 10, 2007 Posted February 10, 2007 I'm certainly intelligent enough not to equate sound with speed. I'm talking about acceleration and quickness. That has nothing to do with sound. I don't drive with my ears - do you? Have you driven an RDX? Have you driven an RX400h? Until you drive both, you don't have full comprehension. Yes, it doesn't take very long for our minds to begin to equate sound with speed, more sound, more speed. Since "sounds" in the RDX grow much faster with speed it becomes difficult, mentally, to equate the RDX' accleration rate with the equivalent in a vehicle with less speed associated sound. Not saying "you" haven't, didn't adjust to it, just that many, most(??) wouldn't. Those GT3's at Daytona were a lot more "impressive" operating with a gutted muffler.
jgr7 Posted February 11, 2007 Posted February 11, 2007 I took an RDX for a test drive today and having not driven the RX-H I can not compare but I will tell you that the RDX is very impressive with the turbo. It is very smooth and not much turbo noise at all. It looks like I may be getting one soon. We looked at the MDX and FX35and 45 but my small wife couldn't see that well out of these. I still like the RX300 I own but I am getting a little worried about the problems that the 2000 AWD RXs can have. I will get rid of it before something major happens. I am looking at the SH-AWD with the Technology package. Jeff Jeff
RX in NC Posted February 12, 2007 Author Posted February 12, 2007 I think the RDX is a much better vehicle than the RX and wish that my wife had realized this sooner (she does now after owning her 2004 RX330 AWD for only two weeks with more than one week of that period spent in the shop for warranty work). The RDX has a lot of pluses in power, handling, and braking. My list of minuses for it included a requirement for Mobil 1, premium fuel, the OEM Michelins that will wear quickly and carry no treadwear warranty, and the fact that the turbo is a first from Acura so there is no history of whether extraordinary maintenance (and potentially high expense) will be required. Good luck with your decision, and let us know if you decide to spring for one....
wwest Posted February 12, 2007 Posted February 12, 2007 I took an RDX for a test drive today and having not driven the RX-H I can not compare but I will tell you that the RDX is very impressive with the turbo. It is very smooth and not much turbo noise at all. It looks like I may be getting one soon. We looked at the MDX and FX35and 45 but my small wife couldn't see that well out of these. I still like the RX300 I own but I am getting a little worried about the problems that the 2000 AWD RXs can have. I will get rid of it before something major happens. I am looking at the SH-AWD with the Technology package. Jeff Jeff Even with enough clearance at the rear the RDX still requires tire chains be used ONLY on the front. After several telephone call interchanges with Acura no good explanation was offered other than it might be simply a typo based on Honda/Acura history being ONLY FWD. Other than that I personally consider the RDX' SH-AWD system to be the best of the best for an AWD based on FWD product. And personally since Acura could give me no good explanation why not I would always use rear tire chains initially and then add a pair to the front if it became necessary. I didn't care much for the "business" of the dash/instrument panel area. I would suggest test driving the BMW X3 before making a final decision.
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