I'm About To Buy Rx300Awd

[Lynardo]

Ive done work on the vehicle for my friend: front brakes rear struts and stabilizer links It was his mother in laws truck who passed away and was fixing it to give to his daughter His daughter acquired a brand new Volkswagen from a family member and now they have no use for the rx300 I offered to " take it off thier hands" for them and they said ok how's 2500$ sound?!! So i started reading discussions about rx300 y2k and read about AWD transmission failure. Now I asked about vehicle history and they told me how she faithfully had it serviced by Lexus and spent alot of $ on routine maintenance the truck has 162k and one owner what do you think?

[code58]

Without seeing the vehicle I'd say you got a great deal. I'd say continue to service it like she did and enjoy it! There are NO guarantees on any car with 162K mi. on 'em! A car can have a good service record and break and have poor service record and go on forever. My DIL's '99 RX has 150+K mi. on it with no special care of the trans. and has given no problem at all so far. Others have blown up at 60K mi. with good care. If you can't sleep at night for worrying about it, sell it and buy something else. Otherwise, enjoy it!

(DO service the trans. every 15-25K mi. though)

[Lynardo]

Thankyou ! The reason I'm up so late is I work overnight shift but I do worry about it already and don't even own it yet ! I have a 2002 tundra and love it but I always keep acommuter car for work and the Rx is cozy

[jaswood]

Thankyou ! The reason I'm up so late is I work overnight shift but I do worry about it already and don't even own it yet ! I have a 2002 tundra and love it but I always keep acommuter car for work and the Rx is cozy

Just keep in mind that it isn't really AWD, most of the time only the front wheels are driven, so don't take it anywhere, or get caught out anywhere, you wouldn't take a simple FWD.

[Lynardo]

What about in the snow and does that mean I can't step on the gas no beatin on the v6 I'm trying to be cool with the idea that ima need to buy a remanufactured transaxle someday I mean I have my own mini shop at home and the price is right for a commuter car it's nicer than any beater I've ever had but that's the question .. Can I get to work in a hurry in all weather ?

[lenore]

yes, it does well in all weather....

[Filehorse]

I 2nd Lenore's comment; the RX300 AWD goes quite nicely in the snow with decent All Weather tires. It has no "Low Lock" so don't be out trying to follow any Hummers over the rivers and through the woods. Most of the power does go to the front wheels but there is plenty of traction to get you up and over most any hills on roadways in the snow.

[sktn77a]

Just keep in mind that it isn't really AWD, most of the time only the front wheels are driven, so don't take it anywhere, or get caught out anywhere, you wouldn't take a simple FWD.

Well, it is a full time AWD - 70% of the power goes to the front wheels and 30% goes to the rear.

[cduluk]

The AWD Rx300 is excellent in the snow, much better than my Rx400h AWD.

I had an 03 Rx300 with AWD and loved it. Just make to check the transmission fluid of the one you're panning to buy and make sure it's not browned or burned.

[jaswood]

Just keep in mind that it isn't really AWD, most of the time only the front wheels are driven, so don't take it anywhere, or get caught out anywhere, you wouldn't take a simple FWD.

Well, it is a full time AWD - 70% of the power goes to the front wheels and 30% goes to the rear.

That 70/30 F/R torque split was only true of the 99-00, which happens to be why those transaxles are well known to be so short-lived. As of '01 VSC/TC was adopted and the VC fluid's formulation was revised such that it remains forever "flaccid". As of '01 and after the RX series become a simple one-wheel drive system, simple open differentuals, front, center, and rear, with TC being the only resource for enforcing torque distribution. With the advent of the RX330 and RX350 the VC component was dropped entirely since TC activation never allowed it to be functional anyway.

It wasn't until 2010, when the Ford Escape AWD system was adopted, that the RX350 became a somewhat functional AWD system, at least during low speed acceleration, starting out from a stop, etc.