RX in NC

The cabin air filter is the only one I am aware of.

2005 Jaguar S-Type 3.0 sedan. Purchased in December 2008 at 18,000 miles and sold in May 2018 at 107,000 miles. 2006 Jaguar XK8 Victory Edition convertible. Purchased in February 2012 at 36,000 miles and we still own it today as it approaches 118,000 miles.

Social media influence or not, there are still some great automotive forums on the net. We have owned a couple of Jaguars since December 2008 and I can easily say that jaguarforums.com remains the best automotive forum I have ever utilized. We have also owned a Subaru since November 2015 and I can say that subaruoutback.org is also a good forum. So when automotive forums start becoming a ghost town, there have to be other reasons besides social media. By the way, we indeed purchased the 2015 RX350 my wife was considering. It will assume the role of her daily driver.

Thanks for the recommendations. I will indeed check out clublexus.com as well as the UK version of lexusownersclub.com.

I was an active member of this forum from 2003 until 2012 when my wife first owned a 2000 RX300 and later a 2004 RX330. She is now considering a 2015 RX350 so I signed in today for the first time in many years to bring myself up to speed on the pros and cons of these vehicles. I was stunned to see the lack of forum activity here compared to a decade ago and I have to wonder what happened. Where is the current best forum to educate myself on the 2015 model and the DIY maintenance I expect to perform if we purchase one? Thanks for any recommendations you can provide.

Thanks guys. I haven't been very active here since we acquired my wife's XK8. That's due to her RX just sitting around except for me taking it out for exercise every ten days or so. It's done less than 300 miles since the XK8 showed up in our driveway back on February 3rd, so it's time to find it a new home.... I'll try to stop in from time to time. I have a feeling that my wife will miss her RX on the snowy winter days around here. Our two Jaguars are not venturing out in that type of weather, and she won't drive my Ram because it is too big and "trucky", so she'll just have to stay home until the roads clear up again.... Thanks to all the folks I've gotten to know here on the Lexus forum over the past eight years or so. Best wishes with your vehicles. Our RX330 has definitely been a good one....

Since my wife prefers to drive her recently-acquired Jaguar XK8 convertible all the time now and never drives her 2004 RX330 AWD these days, I'm going to go ahead and sell it. We've owned it since January 2007, and it has been an excellent vehicle for her. I've done all the routine maintenance myself and have all service records, including the records prior to our ownership. Other than a handful of Lexus recalls that were handled by our local Lexus dealership, routine maintenance is all it has ever needed. We are the second owner. No accidents during its entire lifetime, and no new paint has ever been required other than stone-chip touch-ups (using the appropriate Lexus touch-up bottle) on the front bumper.... The vehicle is Crystal White with Ivory Ecru leather interior, has a great set of Bridgestone Alenza tires (235/55/18), and has just under 121,000 miles on the odometer. We have always been avid non-smokers and I am anal about keeping all of our vehicles in meticulous shape. This vehicle has done mostly highway miles since we've owned it. My wife's parents live in Tampa and we live in Raleigh, so it has done quite a number of trips to and from without ever suffering a single problem on the road.... $13,000 firm. Once I advertise our vehicles in the local newspaper and interested folks drive out to look at them and also see the service history I keep on file, our vehicles typically sell the first or second day. Since this forum has been a valuable resource over the years, I decided to post our RX330 here first before I list it locally this weekend.... So if you're interested, let me know by Thursday evening. Once my ad runs in the local newspaper on Friday, June 15 and Saturday, June 16, this vehicle will be gone quickly....

While I am certainly not a fan of Obama, I give his administration the credit it deserves for cleaning up as much of the Bush/Cheney disaster as has been possible to date. I said near the end of the Bush presidency that it would take us a decade to fully recover from the shambles that Bush/Cheney left us in both domestically and internationally, and I still stand by that statement. Unlike 2008 when the status of the Republican Party essentially meant a cakewalk election for Obama/Biden, 2012 will be a close one. I'm watching Romney like a hawk. If he repeats John McCain's huge blunder and picks a lightweight airhead for a running mate, his chances may be seriously compromised well before November. This one should be fun to watch as long as both sides can avoid the major pitfalls....

Where is Joe Walsh when we need him....

I haven't sold one of our vehicles since January 2007. Back then, I would simply advertise the vehicle in our local newspaper and usually sell it within a couple of days. Looking at the newspaper today, there are very few listings of vehicles for sale. I suspect this is due to the myriad of channels available to sell a vehicle these days.... To those of you who have recently sold a vehicle, what was your most successful source in listing it and selling it quickly with few if any hassles? Note: Under no circumstances will I use craigslist. I want to sell the vehicle (my wife's 2004 Lexus RX330 AWD), but I refuse to deal with the crooks and morons who seem to congregate on craigslist....

Our 2005 S-Type runs just fine on regular unleaded. So that's what it gets.... We tried several tanks of regular unleaded in our recently-acquired XK8. Even my wife notices the loss of power and inconsistent idling. Going back to 91 octane restores power and smooths out the idle once again. I know that today's engines can adjust to various octane levels, but our XK8 is one of those cars in which the benefits of higher octane are easily noticed, especially at highway cruising speeds. It's gas mileage is also 2 to 3 mpg better when running 91 octane. I certainly wish I could run regular unleaded in this particular car, but my experimenting has proven that 91 octane is unfortunately the only way to go....

Do it! The XK8 is a timelessly gorgeous car that is fast and well-built if you stick with the 2004 to 2006 model years when Jaguar/Ford really got these things right. And they're very affordable - ours stickered new at just over $80,000. I picked it up for $24,200 pre-auction in Jacksonville, FL and had it shipped to us. 36,300 miles - it was a Beverly Hills toy for a couple in their late 60s. Wonderfully cared for. It is all my wife wants to drive now. In the seven weeks we've owned it, she's driven her RX330 once and our S-Type once. I plan to sell her RX330 to the same guy who bought her previous RX300 in January 2007. He has to sell that RX300 first....

Looks to me like "Mazda meets Audi"....

Regular unleaded is about $3.75 at our local BJ's Club. Recently purchased a mint 2006 Jaguar XK8 convertible for my wife (it was a Beverly Hills car that my broker friend found for us pre-auction) that requires a minimum of 91 octane. That's right at $4.00 here currently. Anyone who believes that there's a realistic chance we'll be seeing $2.00 a gallon again is simply delusional. Ask Michelle Bachmann....

I've always done it myself. With a little Lawncare 101 education, you can do the job for far less than $430 per year for that size lot, and benefit from the exercise as well.... I assume you have a cool-season fescue lawn, or perhaps a fescue/bluegrass mix. Find out, and read up on it. Cool-season lawns need to be fertilized just three times per year (Valentines Day, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving Day should be your targets), they should be aerated once a year in early September, and they should be overseeded after aeration. Mow your cool-season lawn at least 3.5 inches high in the summer. During spring and autumn, you can cut it at 2.5 inches if you prefer a shorter trim look. But blade height is crucial during the hot summer months to give the grass its best chance to get through the heat and drought conditions.... Locate and contact your local agricultural extension service at the universities in your area. They publish a "Homeowners Guide to Lawn Care" brochure for your general area. Get a copy, read it, and study it. Be prepared to take over the responsibility after your one-year lawn care contract expires. By then your turf should be relatively well-established and taking care of it going forward will be relatively inexpensive and easy.... I've followed this basic format for decades. While some of the turfgrass varieties and hybrids have improved and toughened up (I tested a new bluegrass hybrid seed for Scotts in our front lawn two years ago, and it has done reasonably well), basic cool- season grass lawncare remains essentially the ability to follow a tried-and-true schedule of what to do and when to do it. Any homeowner who can run a lawnmower every week during the growing season and rent an aerator once a year can be successful. Running that aerator can be tough for some folks, but it is one of the best aerobic exercises on the planet, especially if you have banks and hills on your property....

I've had the same thing occur on my drivers seat belt buckle mechanism in my 1999 Dodge Ram pickup. A small spray of white lithium grease lube down into the mechanism spread around with a toothpick then combined with ten or so buckle fastens and releases alway fixes the problem. In my truck's case, I believe it is the residual sweat from my morning six-mile hikes that gets down in there and causes problems....

Some Lexus recalls do in fact provide you with a free tank of gas. Not sure about this one since Lexus Corporate tells me it does not apply to our particular 2004 RX330 (it was not built with the faulty pulley). Free tank of gas or not, get the recall done. You do not want your pulley separating on you or shredding your serpintine belt....

My sincere condolences as well - I know exactly what you're going through. I lost my last remaining grandparent in 1996 (my maternal grandfather, also), and I was always very close to him and took every opportunity to visit him whenever I was in my hometown. Eventually you'll find yourself thinking mostly about the good times with him, but it will be awhile before you get to that stage. Hang in there and support your mom however you can....

As you've learned, the RX300 transmissions were not rugged enough to handle the weight of the vehicle. The lousy transmission saga is well-documented on this forum.... My wife's 2000 RX300 AWD transmission failed under warranty as the vehicle approached 48,000 miles. It was replaced by our local Lexus dealership at no cost to us. Once it was replaced, I began a drain-and-fill routine of the ATF every 30,000 miles. I chose to stick with Toyota Type T-IV ATF simply to protect us in the event of another failure. I sold the vehicle at 130,000 miles in January 2007 with full disclosure to the buyer. The replaced transmission performed normally at that time, but I was elated to get rid of the vehicle.... It was replaced by a 2004 RX330 AWD that has been a much better vehicle. Although Lexus Corporate will never admit it, they learned their lesson from the weak transmission components in the earlier RX generations, and upgraded them beginning with the 2004 model year. Although I believe our RX330's transmission will remain intact throughout its lifespan in our stable, I've continued my drain-and-fill routine of its Type T-IV ATF every 30,000 miles as a cheap insurance policy. I do it myself for about twenty bucks a pop. Takes all of 30 minutes, and most of that time is simply waiting for as much of the old ATF to drip out as possible. The vehicle is approaching 120,000 miles now. As long as it remains relatively trouble-free and easy to maintain, we'll keep it. Once we're done with it, the same couple who purchased my wife's previous 2000 RX300 AWD nearly five years ago wants first crack at it.... Drain-and-fill your ATF on a periodic basis. That's essentially the best advice that we can give you....

Paul, To truly enjoy the Jaguar brand, you must follow this formula: 1. Stick with the cars built during the final years of substantial Ford ownership (2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008). Ford finally managed to infuse its "Quality Is Job #1" commitment throughout Jaguar by those model years, and what resulted was by far the best all-around vehicles Jaguar has ever produced during its long history.... 2. You MUST D-I-Y for the majority of your maintenance and repairs once your factory warranty runs out. Jaguar labor rates and parts costs will annihilate your wallet if you cannot service your vehicle yourself. There are excellent Jaguar forums with folks committed to this concept, and they will guide you through the repair process saving you thousands of dollars over the longrun.... 3. Take advantage of the massive depreciation suffered by all European luxury vehicles by purchasing at least three model years old, and preferably four or five model years old. You can steal low-mileage, well-maintained Jaguars that sold new for in excess of $80,000 for pennies on the dollar, usually in the $25,000 neighborhood if you drive a hard enough bargain and are willing to walk away if the seller will not meet your best offer.... I have followed this process with our 2005 Jaguar S-Type sedan since I stole it just over three years ago during the depths of the financial crisis here in the U.S. We've driven it from 16,000 miles to nearly 69,000 miles during that time, and it has been the best overall bang-for-the-buck vehicle I've owned in more than 42 years of driving. I rode the final seven months of factory warranty like a racehorse, getting all the kinks worked out of the car before having to assume complete maintenance responsibility myself once the factory warranty ran its course in July 2009. I've had to do nothing but routine maintenance (oil & filter changes, tires, a couple of new $5 O-rings on the Intake Manifold Tuner valves) since then. Absolutely no complaints. And until I did my research before stealing the car, I was in the "If you drive a Jag, you have to pay for a tow truck to follow you around" club just like you. But this car has proven to be the best highway cruiser we've ever had. I bought it primarily for my wife to use to make her solo round-trips back and forth to Tampa to visit her elderly parents, which she does six to eight times a year. But I love driving this car too, and lately I drive it even more than I do my much-beloved 1999 Dodge Ram 5.9-litre V8 pickup that I'll never part with unless some idiot T-bones me in it.... 2005-to-2008 Jaguars are elegant, comfortable, lushly appointed, powerful, and drop-dead gorgeous. If you do your homework and plan to take care of the car in the right way (D-I-Y), you can drive a Jaguar for what I call "Honda money". It continues to work for me.... Stay away from the Tata-owned Jaguars (2009 and newer). The passing years will prove that they simply will not maintain the reliability that the 2005 through 2008 Ford-owned Jaguars have shown (and continue to show)....

Yep, I've noticed this myself over the past 30 days. During weak economic times in years past, particularly during the month of December, I've always been able to "steal" high-quality used vehicles by doing my research, staying firm, refusing to negotiate, and requiring the dealership to meet my terms (and not me meeting theirs). All three of our current vehicles were acquired that way with relative ease on my part (in December 2000, January 2007, and December 2008). But right now, dealers are not nearly as willing to allow me to "steal" the way I'm accustomed to doing. My wife came down with the fever for a low-mileage 2005 or 2006 Jaguar XK8 convertible back in early November. I've located two in our neck of the woods that met our criteria, battled the two different dealerships hard in my effort to "steal" them, and wound up walking away in both cases after doing a ton of research on both cars because the dealerships chose to stand their ground. Not many of these particular cars were built, so their exclusivity is definitely working against me. But I was still somewhat surprised that both dealerships decided to hold out for their full asking prices when I made reasonable offers for all cash with no trade-in.... Personally, I'm happy the way things have turned out. Our current fleet performs all of the jobs that we need the three very different vehicles to do, and an XK8 convertible would be a frivolous addition that she would enjoy driving during periods of good weather but I would be stuck maintaining at more time and expense to me. So we'll see how this saga eventually turns out. I don't think she'll be seeing an XK8 in the driveway with a big red bow on it come Christmas Eve as she hopes....

Back during the daily July highs near or over 100 degrees, our tempered glass circular patio tabletop exploded on our back deck. I was in the house but heard the explosion. Like you, I thought it was a shotgun blast until I walked outside onto the back deck and saw the mess. I'm still finding tiny granules of shattered glass in the rose beds underneath and adjacent to the deck. This glass tabletop was right at six years old, and there's no question that days and days of exposure to high heat caused it to blow. I found a matching circular glass top online, ordered it, installed it, and we've been back to normal ever since. Maybe the new one will blow up in another five years or so....

I agree. If you're still running the original battery, it is now dying. I had to replace our original 2004 RX330 AWD battery this past July. Sounds as if yours is on just about the same fade-away schedule....

Getting to the front three spark plugs is cake. Takes no more than five minutes to change them once you remove the dust cover. Getting to the rear three spark plugs, however, requires hands the size of an 8-year-old girl and the finger dexterity of an OB/GYN. You'll need several different socket extension sizes, especially to get that middle rear plug out. If I recall, a 4-inch extension and a universal swivel were necessities. I did this job in October 2006, it took me more than an hour on the three rear plugs, I had to go find my small-handed neighbor to finish the job on the middle rear plug, and I swore I would never do it again. Which was true because I sold the vehicle in January 2007.... Good luck with your efforts. Be sure to do plenty of finger contortionist exercises before you go after those rear plugs....

I also despise Bank of America for many of the reasons listed above by several of you. I have refused to do business with them for more than 20 years.... I have done business with Wachovia for more than 40 years and have always been treated top-notch by them. As of October 15th, they became Wells Fargo here in North Carolina, and I'm giving them a chance to keep our business. The jury is still out.... I also do business with a local credit union. While their money market rates are better, their lack of sufficient ATM coverage with branches spread out few and far between makes it difficult for us to use them as our primary financial institution. I also perceive them as behind the times from a technology standpoint. But if Wells Fargo doesn't cut the mustard, I'll give them an opportunity as our primary. We'll see....