Unhappy With 2008 Rx350

[Sport38]

They way I understand it is, the first scheduled maintenance is on Lexus and the second was is on the dealer.

To date, I have had both done with no charge/no hassle.

[wwest]

I smell troll.

A troll is someone who comes to a board with an agenda.

What makes a person search out an Internet forum ?

To find an answer to their specific problem.

Those who first post is to complain and have no answer or questions posed of how to relieve the situation have a completely different set of values . So armed with propaganda for other car makes will try and slander anything they can find.

Way to read between the lines SK. Some are more obvious than others. You can find a lot of them on car review sites that post consumer comments. I suppose when dealers and staff are losing sales to the competition and can't fight back with a superior product, they resort to trashing them on as many sites as possible. I don't think they give readers enough credit to recognize ringers when they see one.

I have to disagree, anyone sending in a "ringer" would have armed them with enough information about true, actual design flaws and so far all that has been discussed are "phantom" flaws, flaws that most of us don't recognize as such.

So, not a "ringer", but.....

[eatingupblacktop]

I smell troll.

A troll is someone who comes to a board with an agenda.

What makes a person search out an Internet forum ?

To find an answer to their specific problem.

Those who first post is to complain and have no answer or questions posed of how to relieve the situation have a completely different set of values . So armed with propaganda for other car makes will try and slander anything they can find.

Way to read between the lines SK. Some are more obvious than others. You can find a lot of them on car review sites that post consumer comments. I suppose when dealers and staff are losing sales to the competition and can't fight back with a superior product, they resort to trashing them on as many sites as possible. I don't think they give readers enough credit to recognize ringers when they see one.

I have to disagree, anyone sending in a "ringer" would have armed them with enough information about true, actual design flaws and so far all that has been discussed are "phantom" flaws, flaws that most of us don't recognize as such.

So, not a "ringer", but.....

This is part of their strategy. Disguise works better than being obvious.

[Junxus]

Lexus in CA just left me a voice mail that a factory tech person will meet with me on Friday when my car goes in for service.

Well that is a step in the correct direction. If they can solve the wind noise and cracking sound under the dash and I have no further issues for a long time I will be happy. I was quoted $600.00 from a local radio shop to have the 4 doors hatch and quarter panels insulated. Do you guys think it is a fair price? ;)

[wwest]

Lexus in CA just left me a voice mail that a factory tech person will meet with me on Friday when my car goes in for service.

Well that is a step in the correct direction. If they can solve the wind noise and cracking sound under the dash and I have no further issues for a long time I will be happy. I was quoted $600.00 from a local radio shop to have the 4 doors hatch and quarter panels insulated. Do you guys think it is a fair price? ;)

I can't imagine that the source of, or resulting, wind noise in any way correlates to the doors and quarter panels not being adequately insulated. I addressed the tire noise and window seal noise first and then I was quite satisfied.

1. Bridgestone Turanza summer ONLY tires.

2. DIY spray can undercoating in/on the wheelwell/liners.

3. Silicon lubricant on the rubber door and window seals.

Oh, forgot, I removed the roof rack cross bars (wind noise) and the trailer hitch (weight).

[Nebraska99]

Lexus in CA just left me a voice mail that a factory tech person will meet with me on Friday when my car goes in for service.

Well that is a step in the correct direction. If they can solve the wind noise and cracking sound under the dash and I have no further issues for a long time I will be happy. I was quoted $600.00 from a local radio shop to have the 4 doors hatch and quarter panels insulated. Do you guys think it is a fair price? ;)

I can't imagine that the source of, or resulting, wind noise in any way correlates to the doors and quarter panels not being adequately insulated. I addressed the tire noise and window seal noise first and then I was quite satisfied.

1. Bridgestone Turanza summer ONLY tires.

2. DIY spray can undercoating in/on the wheelwell/liners.

3. Silicon lubricant on the rubber door and window seals.

Oh, forgot, I removed the roof rack cross bars (wind noise) and the trailer hitch (weight).

Interesting. Did removing the roof rack cross bars make much of a noise difference?

[skywagon]

Lexus in CA just left me a voice mail that a factory tech person will meet with me on Friday when my car goes in for service.

Well that is a step in the correct direction. If they can solve the wind noise and cracking sound under the dash and I have no further issues for a long time I will be happy. I was quoted $600.00 from a local radio shop to have the 4 doors hatch and quarter panels insulated. Do you guys think it is a fair price? ;)

I can't imagine that the source of, or resulting, wind noise in any way correlates to the doors and quarter panels not being adequately insulated. I addressed the tire noise and window seal noise first and then I was quite satisfied.

1. Bridgestone Turanza summer ONLY tires.

2. DIY spray can undercoating in/on the wheelwell/liners.

3. Silicon lubricant on the rubber door and window seals.

Oh, forgot, I removed the roof rack cross bars (wind noise) and the trailer hitch (weight).

Interesting. Did removing the roof rack cross bars make much of a noise difference?

If they are installed with the blunt part facing forward. a few years back they had a bullitian on that. I had one and sure enough they were installed wrong and it howled like a !Removed!!!!

[Junxus]

:D I checked my roof rack and the front one was on the reverse to the back one. I figured that was intended to be that way. I will have the dealer correct it tomorrow while I am in for the other items. Maybe that is the largest contributor to the wind noise I have!!!!!!!! Thank You.

[Junxus]

Oh, I forgot to ask are the roof rails when locked in supposed to be lose in the vertical direction (up and down) on the passenger side? They are locked in front and back but seem loose. Maybe that is one of my rattles. You guys are great.

[SKperformance]

Actually i do do alot of long distance driving , from Florida to Georgia , New York , New Jersey , Ohio, all from Ontario, Canada.

So i do use my navigation quite a bit which is why i have 330 000 plus KM's on my LS .

I smell troll.

A troll is someone who comes to a board with an agenda.

What makes a person search out an Internet forum ?

To find an answer to their specific problem.

Those who first post is to complain and have no answer or questions posed of how to relieve the situation have a completely different set of values . So armed with propaganda for other car makes will try and slander anything they can find.

The funniest part of this is that is happening more and more often to import vehicle boards.

Unfortunately many north American jobs are being lost so many of these people have started their own crusade to flog the Internet with horror stories based on little to no fact.

Now how many of you have heard of a dealer swapping a car

This is his third RX and he too is having some issues

Dealers anywhere hate to replace a car never mind 3 times , and I'll be damned if they didn't make sure the 2nd one was not perfect in the first place let alone another half !Removed! built Lexus replacing it.

The one above by kethineni mentions some issues but lets face facts . You have an idiot for a sales person and a dealer who backed them . It is in no way a bad representation of the vehicle and its reliability or safety to you.

But for the love of god, your driving record had nothing to do with it that you did not get a ticket. You sir ,should have pulled off the highway to make an adjustment . So it was poor judgment on your part for not thinking about the implications of parking on the side of the road and not deciding where you were going before you left.

So like all forums take posts with a grain of salt , including mine.

Try an think through them for the whole and half truths and the utter lies.

Good luck

One thing I want to make clear is I am not telling lies here. SKperformance I have nothing to do with you and I agree that it has nothing to do with the vehicle reputation. I am guess that you do not travel long distances and never had a find a near by restaurant. Any way thanks but not thanks. Only God know the truth and who the liers are. Have a nice day.

[gandalf58]

:( Is anyone else unhappy with a new 08 RX350? I purchased mine new in October of 07. Black with gray inside. Nav,etc. This car is loud. I have a lot of wind noise, road noise and a buzzing sound from the brake relay. I believed this was to be a great car. Today the door handle fell off when I was washing it. I attempted to trade it for a GS350 AWD and would loose $7K (I would have done $4K) to do the deal. What resale? My car has only 2350 miles on it. I can not believe I traded a BMW for this junk mobile. I will have to go to Benz or BMW!!!

Did I just get a bad one?

My uncle has the same RX, he purchased two weeks after me. This is his third RX and he too is having some issues.

Did Lexus hire unemployed GM and Ford workers?

What should I do?

I also have minor wind noise - from the driver's side window. If I lower the window just a fraction, the noise stops. The dealer replaced the window seal and the wind noise is the same (as is my solution of lowering the window a fraction). I know the seal was replaced because I had grease all over the inside/outside of the door and the headliner! The dealer quickly took care of removing the gease (mainly I was concerned about the headliner) but I had to take the car back in because I hadn't noticed it until after I got home.

Say, I have a minor buzzing noise on occasion that sounds like it's coming from the right front part of the car, is that from the brake relay? Other than these two fairly minor issues, my 07 RX is about perfect.

Not sure where Lexus gets their workers from here in So. Calif., but I find it interesting the Japanese go to all the trouble to make (mostly..) excellent vehicles, and then the local car dealers apparently find the ones that will work the cheapest.

With respect to BMW's. I unloaded a BMW M Roadster that had a number of ridiculous problems. Ie, both power seats would slide forward and stop with a loud 'clunk' under hard braking, both power windows moaned and groaned like they had 1/2 the power they required, the clutch would also make a clunk sound when depressing at low speeds, a glove box that would rattle around and a few other quality problems. Btw, the dealer reported everything was 'within spec'....as I recall, they couldn't produce these 'specs' for me. And you don't even want to talk to my brother in-law about his 7 series Bimmer..

[Junxus]

My 08 RX will be at the dealer for several days until they can correct and / or repair all the issues. They do agree with the wind noise and dash noise. The 08 RX loaner has no wind noise, and a lot, a real lot less road noise. Same tires. The dash has the noise but very, very little. They tell me on the QT that they have seen a marked increase in warranty service on all models except the LS. They and Lexus are aware of the issues and are working to resolve the issues. They point out that is the suppliers of parts to Lexus of Canada that are the root of the problems not so much the Lexus plant. That is true, but when you put your name on it you own it, problems and all. The funny thing is they took me over to a 09 in the shop that was to be picked up by its new owner today to see if the dash noise was present, and guess what? The car was dead! I just looked at the service people and said "need I say more." i will post more when I get the RX back. I hope it will be good news. Yes, one roof rack rail was backward. They both are overly loose and will be repaired.

[wwest]

My 08 RX will be at the dealer for several days until they can correct and / or repair all the issues. They do agree with the wind noise and dash noise. The 08 RX loaner has no wind noise, and a lot, a real lot less road noise. Same tires. The dash has the noise but very, very little. They tell me on the QT that they have seen a marked increase in warranty service on all models except the LS. They and Lexus are aware of the issues and are working to resolve the issues. They point out that is the suppliers of parts to Lexus of Canada that are the root of the problems not so much the Lexus plant. That is true, but when you put your name on it you own it, problems and all. The funny thing is they took me over to a 09 in the shop that was to be picked up by its new owner today to see if the dash noise was present, and guess what? The car was dead! I just looked at the service people and said "need I say more." i will post more when I get the RX back. I hope it will be good news. Yes, one roof rack rail was backward. They both are overly loose and will be repaired.

"The car was dead!..."

Meaningless ocurrance with a new car at a dealership where careless lookee-lus abound.

In days gone by cars on the display room floor would often have the battery disconnected to prevent this from happening. On the other hand are you sure the battery wasn't simply disconnected to insure the new owner got a fully charged battery??

These days any vehicle in the display room will often have continuous battery charging, otherwise....

[Ling_Joseph]

How about the buzzing you mentioned earlier? My RX 2008 also have buzzing noise when pressing and releasing the brake pedal, also sometimes when releasing the gas pedal when driving slowly. Dealer replaced the Brake booster check valve, but it didn't solve the problem.

[Junxus]

The car was not in the showroom. It was located in the customer delivery area! the customer was do in at noon time to pick up their new car. The service guy called a tech to get a new battery out of stock and get it in the car ASAP. Hey, look at it this way, this was the best place for it to happen. I think we did the dealer and the customer a favor by finding it this way before they did.

I have to say my loaner RX is much quieter than my RX. I called the service writer and told him what I thought about the loaner.

[Junxus]

How about the buzzing you mentioned earlier? My RX 2008 also have buzzing noise when pressing and releasing the brake pedal, also sometimes when releasing the gas pedal when driving slowly. Dealer replaced the Brake booster check valve, but it didn't solve the problem.

They agree with the noise being there. At this time they will keep my car until Tue. next week to sort things out. I will post the outcome. I hope things can be corrected so I do not have to spend more money to get out of this car. To trade for a GSAWD with Levinson $10K and my RX. To trade for a MB ML350 Edition 10 is $17K and my RX. If things do not go well with the RX I will most likely trade for the GS. If things go well I will save $10K. :D

[LouB]

How about the buzzing you mentioned earlier? My RX 2008 also have buzzing noise when pressing and releasing the brake pedal, also sometimes when releasing the gas pedal when driving slowly. Dealer replaced the Brake booster check valve, but it didn't solve the problem.

They agree with the noise being there. At this time they will keep my car until Tue. next week to sort things out. I will post the outcome. I hope things can be corrected so I do not have to spend more money to get out of this car. To trade for a GSAWD with Levinson $10K and my RX. To trade for a MB ML350 Edition 10 is $17K and my RX. If things do not go well with the RX I will most likely trade for the GS. If things go well I will save $10K. :D

Skunksus...you better get rid of that car so you can get on with your life.....fyi my 08 RX350 is perfecto! Guess I am lucky...Oh its my second rx in the past 5 years...both perfecto!

[Booyah]

My 08 RX350 with 5K is PERFECT!

You better go back to Mercedes--I wouldnt get a GS because its another Lexus...

[cwirth]

My 08 RX350 with 5K is PERFECT!

You better go back to Mercedes--I wouldnt get a GS because its another Lexus...

I agree, I think he should consider Mercedes. Lexus' quality is not what it used to be.

[Junxus]

My 08 RX350 with 5K is PERFECT!

You better go back to Mercedes--I wouldnt get a GS because its another Lexus...

I agree, I think he should consider Mercedes. Lexus' quality is not what it used to be.

Well, I have been getting on with my life. The update on my RX is it is still at the dealer. They have replaced both roof rack rails, vanity mirror and front grill, cargo cover and repaired the door handle and replaced 3 body plugs that were missing. They are still looking to solve the buzzing noise under the dash when the brake is applied at idle in park or drive and the wind noise issues as well as a couple other problems. The 08 RX loaner has none of the issues mine has (loaner 12K miles). It is also built in Canada. I would like Lexus to exchange the car for a RX built in Japan or do a buy back and will purchase a RX400 for a few extra dollars. I wanted a GS AWD but have read other posts that they have issues and Consumer Reports no longer recommends the GS AWD do to quality issues. I want to give Lexus a try.

[SKperformance]

I am glad things are working out with the dealer finally. I would also say it would be nice if they offered you a trade option. Good luck.

[rebb]

:( Is anyone else unhappy with a new 08 RX350? I purchased mine new in October of 07. Black with gray inside. Nav,etc. This car is loud. I have a lot of wind noise, road noise and a buzzing sound from the brake relay. I believed this was to be a great car. Today the door handle fell off when I was washing it. I attempted to trade it for a GS350 AWD and would loose $7K (I would have done $4K) to do the deal. What resale? My car has only 2350 miles on it. I can not believe I traded a BMW for this junk mobile. I will have to go to Benz or BMW!!!

Did I just get a bad one?

My uncle has the same RX, he purchased two weeks after me. This is his third RX and he too is having some issues.

Did Lexus hire unemployed GM and Ford workers?

What should I do?

Yes, I too find this engine to be the most unrefined of any car that I owned in decades. I also get high wind noise at speeds above 50. Lexus, as typical, says that nothing can be done ("unable to diagnose wind noise problem"; engine has mechanical timing belt...it is noisy" In other words, live with it. The navi system does not allow the passenger to program new information while the car is moving; Lexus says that this is for safety reasons. Safety, in this regard, is not the responsibility of Lexus; it is the operator. The Lexus is my wife's car and she likes it. I have a 99 Acura TL with 100,000 miles that runs far more smoothly that does the Lexus. Lexus is just relying on their reputation but that will disappear if they fail to make changes. Look what happened to Mercedes when they had, and still have, huge quality and reliability problems.

[Junxus]

Well my car will not be complete until tomorrow. The wind noise was repaired (I can not say as I have not driven it.) The buzzing noise is a design flaw in the brake booster assy. Lexus knows of the issue but continues to build cars with the problem. Some are louder than others. I drove a new 08 from Japan and it was louder than my 08 but the loaner I have is 50% better. The vibration travels from the booster up the brake pedal assy. and terminates at the fuse / relay panel. I will have to isolate the noise and repair it my self. I will post the repair if Iam successful. What a POS!!!

Lexus HQ wants to offer me some free service. I want a new car or buy back. I hope a Lexus person reads these posts!!!

The Pursuit of Perfection is just a Pursuit of Money. Did they forget about repeat buyers.

[wwest]

Well my car will not be complete until tomorrow. The wind noise was repaired (I can not say as I have not driven it.) The buzzing noise is a design flaw in the brake booster assy. Lexus knows of the issue but continues to build cars with the problem. Some are louder than others. I drove a new 08 from Japan and it was louder than my 08 but the loaner I have is 50% better. The vibration travels from the booster up the brake pedal assy. and terminates at the fuse / relay panel. I will have to isolate the noise and repair it my self. I will post the repair if Iam successful. What a POS!!!

Lexus HQ wants to offer me some free service. I want a new car or buy back. I hope a Lexus person reads these posts!!!

The Pursuit of Perfection is just a Pursuit of Money. Did they forget about repeat buyers.

If you really want a buy back then simply tell them they have sold you the RX under fraudulent circumstances. All of the advertising, printed and on the internet at Lexus.com, (miss) leads you into believing the RX350 has a fairly robust AWD system using a VC, Viscous Clutch center diff'l.

More likely than otehrwise it DOES NOT.

The VC was dropped at the introduction of the RX330 series although Lexus continued to advertise that it was still used.

With the introduction of the RX350 there was an indication that the VC was again in use.

But there is NO supporting documenation of this at techinfo.toyota.com for the 2007, 2008, or the 2009 RX350. All of the repair manuals indicate that the MF2A transfer/PTO is used not the MF2AV with the viscous clutch.

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=44671

[Junxus]

The RX350 has a viscous clutch, per Lexus HQ email I received. All the issues have been addressed. I corrected the brake booster noise (see my other post). I added Dynamat to the hatch floor, quarter panels, inner and outer door skins and the car is quiet. 8db reduction at 70 MPH (per a db meter I borrowed from the safety guy at work). (Yes, I tested the car before the install on the same road at around the same temp. etc) The doors now have a quality thunk like a German car!!!!!!!!!! Lexus HQ gave me a Ipod adapter and a hitch setup for no charge (I had to install them) due to all the issues my car had. Time will tell if the RX will be good. I am a very happy now and as time passes all the issues will be forgotten. B)