Rx 330 Or Bmw X5

[radhead23]

i am thinking of trading in my 99 rx300 which is in great condition. i want to get a new vehicle. should i consider buying the new rx 330 or the x5? any suggestion?

[rasguy1]

I went throught this myself, I compared the X3, X5, 330 and MDX.

The 330 was by far the best value for the $. The X5 was overpriced in comparison once you optioned it out to be on par with the MDX and 330. The X3 is overpriced no matter what you do.

I bought the RX330....

[SW03ES]

You should also look at the Infinti FX35 ;)

[93LSOwner]

ULTIMATE COMPARISONS:

http://www.caranddriver.com/default.asp?section_id=15&uc=4

[juanders]

i am thinking of trading in my 99 rx300 which is in great condition. i want to get a new vehicle. should i consider buying the new rx 330 or the x5? any suggestion?

I went through the same exercize. The X5 although a great car failed in several items. Most important in my opinion was the cargo capacity which is about half that of the 330 when compared by square feet. Second was options, several options are not available on the X5 or not as effective such as 6 CD changer. In the X5 is trunk mounted, dealer installed and very high price, nav system on X5 hard to use with a mouse like input using a button below the screen. No adaptive speed control, mileage lower, dashboard dated, tinted windows only as option with Sports package, basic X% reasonably priced but builds up pretty fast with options needed to match 330. Last but not least, from reliability studies the X5 needed more repairs than any Lexus product according t Consumer reports. So, in my honest and humble opinion. You get more for your $$$ with the 330. If you however must have that BMW badge in front with the perceived but not always evident perormance then the X5 is your choice. The very limited cargo capacity is what kept me in Lexus when I needed to replace my RX300

[SW03ES]

I've never been overly impressed with the X5 or any BMW to be honest, I think they're a little overrated.

[yoyoyojo]

Just goto edmunds.com and look at the JD Powers ratings.

To disagree with a rpevious post BMW makes some really awesome cars. The 325 is one of the highest rated cars recently.

However, to my dismay, the X3 and X5 have received very poor reviews. As does to junky Mercedes suv, even worse reviews.

After a lot of research I ended up buying a use 2001 RX300.

Bimmers are great cars, but their SUVs really suck.

Don't be a sucker for the symbol.

Oh and we did test drive. The x3 has the same feel as does the 325 excepot taht it is higher. The end result, a real bumpy, too sporty of a ride for an SUV. Taking a 325 and jacking up the wheel, whioch is essentially what they did, just does nto work well. The x5 a little more of a luxury ride.

But so far the RX300 has the nicest ride of all the cars I drove.

[wwest]

If the RX330 had the X3's AWD system then I wouldn't even hesitate.

If you truly have need of AWD, ice and/or packed snow roadbed travel, then the RX330 is not for you. But I can't in good conscience vote for the BMW as I have never owned one.

For OVERALL safety and stability with adverse roadbed conditions RWD or rear biased AWD will always stand out over FWD or front biased AWD.

[SW03ES]

I still disagree with the assessment of RWD being better in the snow than FWD. Perhaps for trained and very experienced drivers, but for the 95% of drivers that are niether of these things I think the unpredictability of RWD loses out to the predictability of FWD...

[wwest]

And when your front wheels, driving and steering, lose traction entirely the RWD car be be continuing on because it has directional control allocated to the front wheels and driving torque to the rear.

You'd need to put the ENTIRE vehicle's weight on just the front tires in order to equal the traction stability of a RWD vehicle.

FWD is fine on the slippery stuff if you ONLY need drive traction or if you ONLY directional control traction, if you need both simultaneously the front and rear distributed traction of the RWD will ALWAYS win out!

[CatKing]

hi,

i have owmed a bmw 325is and i love it very much and i think the 3 series is the best that bmw ever made. i regret i have never owned a m3

before i bought my lexus rx330, i had test drive bmw x3, x5, volkswagen touareg and volvo xc90. for offroad purpose, i like volkswagen touraeg the best. however since i am not always offroad, i finally chose the lexus rx330 for the the balance between offroad and comfort. coming to bmw, forget about the x3. to compare x5 with rx330, unless you get the 4.4 engine of x5 or you are an absolutely bmw fans. since bmw x3 and x5 design is somewhat lean to comfort rather than offroad and finally made it without their own characteristic. for comfort, i could not find any vechicles that could compare with lexus.

the rx330 is my first lexus and i enjoy driving it here and there. what i am doing now is looking for some cool stuffs to put on it.

[SW03ES]

And when your front wheels, driving and steering, lose traction entirely the RWD car be be continuing on because it has directional control allocated to the front wheels and driving torque to the rear.

You'd need to put the ENTIRE vehicle's weight on just the front tires in order to equal the traction stability of a RWD vehicle.

FWD is fine on the slippery stuff if you ONLY need drive traction or if you ONLY directional control traction, if you need both simultaneously the front and rear distributed traction of the RWD will ALWAYS win out!

But then why is the "commonly held belief" that FWD is superior in the snow?

Like I said before, RWD may be best for trained and very experienced drivers, but I feel FWD is better all around for people that don't know as much what they're doing.

[wwest]

Commonly held belief......

FWD, is better on adverse roadbed conditions, if all you ever need to do is accelerate. Accidents with passenger vehicles of any kind are clearly in the minority.

The majority of the time we, the average person, get into our car and drive off to work, or where ever, and worry not in the least about encountering a life threatening accident. And that is as it should be.

And it is absolutely true that in adverse roadbed conditions ice and packed snow, those with FWD will have less trouble getting to the office without incident than will those with RWD.

And that's the source of the common belief!

But it is those "incidents" both for FWD and RWD, that are most important for issues of safety of one over the other.

The most common incident for RWD is over-steering. Over-steering is readily detectable by our "seat-of-the-pants" sensor system and those with no experence at all will react naturally by lifting the gas pedal. In most cases the RWD vehicle will then "right itself" of its own accord, vehicular dynamics. The more experienced of us would most likely steer into the skid direction. Note that we're able to do that since we never lost roadbed traction at the front, steering, wheels.

I think all would agree that the most common incident for FWD would be understeering. Note that with FWD we might actually travel for miles and miles with the front drive wheels slipping slightly or only intermittently with not an inkling of actual roadbed conditions.

Only when we come to the reasonably tight turn in the road do we discover that we had been traveling along at the very limit of tire/roadbed adhesion. Now as we enter the turn we discover a bit of understeering. Nature instinct would be to get off the gas... a mistake, a very BIG mistake.

If I could just lightly apply ONLY the rear brakes I could maybe slow the car to the point or regaining roadbed traction at the front (in point of fact that exactly what the VSC does on my 01 AWD RX300, apply both rear brakes moderately when under-steering is detected) and of course like with engien braking to the rear on RWD rear braking will help to bring the car back into "line".

So, absent a clutch to disenage the driveline, what's your answer to the dilema of under-steering on an ICY roadbed with FWD at 50MPH??

[SW03ES]

All very good points, I've taken advanced driving courses so I understand and agree with all of them.

IMO though you proved my point, FWD does more for the average driver in the average situation than RWD does in snowy/icy conditions.

One thing you didn't address was the issue of oversteer in a RWD vehicle. If travelling at 50MPH on icy roads (which is a problem in its own right) and making a turn, any car, even a RWD car is going to understeer creating a similar situation.

So it would seem to be that a FWD vehicle with a yaw skid control system like VSC is the ideal choice, as it can and does apply braking power to just the rear wheels to correct understeer. I've driven two Lexuses in the snow with VSC, a RWD LS400 and my FWD ES300. IMO the VSC is much better at correcting the problems common to FWD (understeer) than it is RWD (oversteer). On the LS I actually shut the VSC off because it was simply in my way.

[wwest]

But I really did.....

RWD oversteer is caused by not enough traction to support the driving torque, and in the case of entering a turn, the driving torque and the need for lateral traction.

Our nature instincts when our sensor says something is amiss is to lift the throttle, removing the driving torque and most likely adding slight engine braking, to bring the rear end back into "line".

[SW03ES]

Thats RWD oversteer, but I fail to see how RWD would cure understeer in that situation, RWD vehicles CAN understeer.

[wwest]

The only RWD I have ever encountered understeer with was a 78 Porsche.

[juanders]

Commonly held belief......

FWD, is better on adverse roadbed conditions, if all you ever need to do is accelerate. Accidents with passenger vehicles of any kind are clearly in the minority.

The majority of the time we, the average person, get into our car and drive off to work, or where ever, and worry not in the least about encountering a life threatening accident. And that is as it should be.

And it is absolutely true that in adverse roadbed conditions ice and packed snow, those with FWD will have less trouble getting to the office without incident than will those with RWD.

And that's the source of the common belief!

But it is those "incidents" both for FWD and RWD, that are most important for issues of safety of one over the other.

The most common incident for RWD is over-steering. Over-steering is readily detectable by our "seat-of-the-pants" sensor system and those with no experence at all will react naturally by lifting the gas pedal. In most cases the RWD vehicle will then "right itself" of its own accord, vehicular dynamics. The more experienced of us would most likely steer into the skid direction. Note that we're able to do that since we never lost roadbed traction at the front, steering, wheels.

I think all would agree that the most common incident for FWD would be understeering. Note that with FWD we might actually travel for miles and miles with the front drive wheels slipping slightly or only intermittently with not an inkling of actual roadbed conditions.

Only when we come to the reasonably tight turn in the road do we discover that we had been traveling along at the very limit of tire/roadbed adhesion. Now as we enter the turn we discover a bit of understeering. Nature instinct would be to get off the gas... a mistake, a very BIG mistake.

If I could just lightly apply ONLY the rear brakes I could maybe slow the car to the point or regaining roadbed traction at the front (in point of fact that exactly what the VSC does on my 01 AWD RX300, apply both rear brakes moderately when under-steering is detected) and of course like with engien braking to the rear on RWD rear braking will help to bring the car back into "line".

So, absent a clutch to disenage the driveline, what's your answer to the dilema of under-steering on an ICY roadbed with FWD at 50MPH??

Did we get off topic or what. The question was/is compare BMW X5/X3 to RX.

[wwest]

Off-topic.....NO.

The AWD RX is predominantly FWD and the X3 or X5 is predominantly RWD. If you spend a great deal of time driving on adverse roadbed conditions in wintertime and value your life then the BMW is the obvious choice.

If you want luxury and reliability then the RX is the correct choice.

Or you could always install 1.2" wheel spacers all around on the RX so rear snowchains can be used and have the best of both worlds.