RX in NC

Additional kudos here to the Subaru Outback. When we sold my wife's dog-of-a-vehicle 2000 RX300 AWD in late January 2007, I tried my best to get her to go with an Outback as a replacement. She opted for a 2004 RX330 AWD instead. While that vehicle has been much better than her 2000 RX300 crapmobile could ever dream of being, I still believe that an Outback would have been the far better choice for her needs....

They want to remove the plenum to change your spark plugs because it drives up the cost of the job.... If you are paying $2,000 for ANY routine maintenance interval on this vehicle, I have a bridge across the street that I'd like to sell you....

Yep, those spark plugs can be changed without removing the plenum. It's a !Removed! of a job but with the right tools (socket wrench universal joints and a variety of extension lengths) and a contortionist's hands, it can be done. Some of us have done it (and hope to never have to do it again)....

No, it is not normal. One of the symptoms of a failing battery in these vehicles is when your clock begins to reset itself to 12:00. Perhaps your vehicle now resetting the climate control temperature to 75 is also a sign of your battery beginning to fail. Others may weigh in with additional suggestions, but you may want to have your battery tested in the meantime. Many shops will do it for free, especially if you smile and ask sweetly....

This vehicle has a timing belt, not a chain. Big, big difference in terms of longevity and being built to last. A chain is always better.... What you're hearing is indeed valve noise. Annoying as hell, but normal....

Hold on there, RX400h. Much depends upon the vehicle, the climate, the driving habits, and the care & feeding that owners provide to their particular tires.... I ran the first set of Alenzas on my wife's 2004 RX330 AWD at 36 to 37 psi year-round to maximize fuel economy as well as treadwear longevity. Rotated them myself at every oil & filter change which I also do myself. They went nearly 58,000 miles before I decided to replace them back in October with another set of Alenzas when she hit a big, nasty bolt in the road and ruined one of her tires as a result. Since they were all down to just over 3/32 of remaining tread and getting just a little noisy (although still safe even in heavy thunderstorms), I replaced the original set and got a nice adjustment from the folks at Discount Tire as well.... Still running the new set of Alenzas at 36 to 37 psi just as before and they're doing fine.... So don't arbitrarily advise folks not to run their tires at greater than 33 psi. You don't know the vehicle, the climate, the driving habits, or the care & feeding that the tires will receive. Some vehicles and situations call for higher pressures. The key is to know what the hell you are doing before you decide your psi strategy in your particular situation....

Both of the heated seats (driver and passenger) began to fail within a couple weeks of each other. I also found that to be somewhat unusual, but I really didn't care after I required Lexus to replace all of the seat elements in both seats, all parts and labor covered by the factory warranty. Problem solved, and we haven't had to deal with it since.... Don't let them treat you like an idiot. Stand up for yourself. Demand that they clearly explain what diagnostic procedures they employed. You deserve no less....

Tom, How many miles on yours now, and how much longer do you intend to keep it?

mikey00, I'm also leaning towards leaving the ATF alone for the most part in my wife's 2004 RX330 AWD. Having been bitten by early transmission failure (fortunately under the factory warranty) in her previous 2000 RX300 AWD, I've been doing a drain-and-fill of the Type T-IV ATF in her current RX330 every 30,000 miles just because I was still gun-shy as a result of the RX300 fiasco. The ATF in her RX330 has remained clean and bright red, the shift patterns have never varied even with the vehicle now pushing 96,000 miles, and I firmly believe that Toyota/Lexus recognized the obvious inferiority of the early RX transmission design and quietly revamped it (although they will never step up to the plate and admit it). And with my wife now much preferring to drive her 2005 Jaguar S-Type sedan most of the time, her RX330 has essentially been demoted to dog-hauling status during the past year. It only did about 7,000 miles from December 2008 to December 2009. Her S-Type did about 22,000 miles during the same timeframe. So the criticality of me messing with her RX330's ATF on a regular basis has really diminished in our household....

It's true that the heating elements in the seats are often the culprit. The fact that yours are fading or intermittent now could be a coincidence and not wreck-related. If sufficient power is getting to the elements and they are not heating or barely heating, I would suspect them.... The heating elements in my wife's 2004 RX330 AWD became weak and intermittent by February 2007 with the vehicle still under the factory warranty. The dealership tried some workarounds that my wife deemed to be ineffective, so on a second trip to the service department for the same problem I required them to replace all of the elements under warranty. They did, problem solved. Nearly three years later, her RX330's seats will still cook you in a heartbeat (I hate the damn things).... Your vehicle is pushing 9 years old. Those seat elements are not the best designed-and-engineered out there. I wouldn't be surprised if yours are indeed in the early stages of giving up the ghost. Your pattern certainly follows the pattern that my wife's seat elements did. The difference, unfortunately for you, is that her vehicle was still under warranty....

RX400h, Ever owned a Jeep yourself? We've had 5 of them in our family since 1985. None of them came close to being the problem child that my wife's previous 2000 RX300 AWD was (by far the worst vehicle I've owned in more than 40 years of driving). Keep those Jeeps maintained and you'll be enjoying them for more than 100,000 miles as we did with every one of ours....

As someone who's owned 4WD/AWD vehicles for more than 25 years, the answer is: As previous posters have already told you, get a "real" 4WD/AWD vehicle if you're in deep snow country. The Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Subaru Outback are both great bang-for-the-buck SUVs that can handle any snow conditions thrown at them. My wife has a 2004 RX330 AWD with Bridgestone Alenzas on it, but it can only pretend to be a snow vehicle. Sorry....

I've got just three words for you regarding the IS : Far too small....

Smart decision to just stay in that GS for the duration of your Chicago jail sentence. Hunker down and get through this horrible economy as well as your time having to live in a place you dislike so much. Wait for better days and a better locale before you look to change your vehicle line-up again....

Are these rear-end accidents happening at night? If so, you may want to consider adding rear-end fog lights to your Honda as they do with many European vehicles. Our 2005 Jaguar S-Type has rear fog lights (as well as front fog lights) and at first I thought it was a useless feature. That is, before I turned them on one night shortly after we purchased the car and then got out and walked behind it to look at their effect. Those rear fog lights make the vehicle 500% more visible at night to anyone driving behind you. Ever since I did that, I ALWAYS turn on the rear fog lights in our S-Type whenever I'm driving it after dark....

My wife's current 2004 RX330 AWD (approaching 96,000 miles) has been a much better vehicle than her previous 2000 RX300 AWD (which suffered from all of the well-known early RX maladies and was the worst vehicle I've ever owned in 40 years of driving). And yes, the 2004 models built in Japan are better-made than those built in Canada. Japanese-built RX VIN numbers begin with the letter J. Good luck to you....

There are a number of well-respected automotive writers (particularly Dan Neil in LA) who firmly believe that the Phaeton is now the best used-car value in automotive history due to its Bentley heritage and the total bang-for-the-buck as a result. But since so few were built and sold between 2004 and 2006, I wonder about ongoing parts availability and service quality at VW dealerships. I would bet that the vast majority of VW techs have never seen a Phaeton, much less actually serviced one....

My advice on this topic has not changed over the years - stay with Toyota T-IV fluid throughout your drivetrain warranty period to protect your wallet. After your drivetrain warranty runs its course, experimenting with these well-respected synthetic ATF fluids that are supposedly T-IV compatible may very well provide better transmission protection and performance than T-IV does. I've never believed that T-IV is anything special, but I've stayed with it solely to protect my financial interests in the vehicle when dealing with Lexus....

I disagree. If the belt set-up is identical to our previous 2000 RX300 and both belts were indeed changed, one of those belts is the power steering belt. When tension was released on that original power steering belt to change it, anything could happen in the power steering assembly. Parts could have become dislodged, loose bolts could have fallen out, etc. I'm not saying that this is definintely the case. I'm just saying that anything is possible....

nc211, You asked how the market is treating me these days. The short answer is "decently, but I'm proceeding with great caution". Primarily for the reason you mentioned. I firmly believe that we're in an artificial bubble that cannot be sustained given the continued recession-like atmosphere we're trapped in. Ivory Tower economists can proclaim "the recession is over" all they want. But look at the perpetually rising unemployment numbers along with the severely declining purchasing power every American will be facing for a long, long time. Record foreclosure rates will be with us for years to come. Millions of good U.S. jobs are permanently gone. It's an old cliche I know, but the economic paradigm has shifted and not for the better. We're in the calm before the storm. I wish I could tell you when that is going to be, but my charts cannot pinpoint it that precisely yet. 2010 is going to be tough, and 2011 may be even tougher. I've kept our household in strong financial shape with some very prudent decisions and actions but we'll be in the fortunate minority, no question about it. These are the scariest times I've ever been through....

You need to convince the powers-that-be to let you move back here to the Triangle and run their East Coast operations from here. I have a feeling that your demeanor and quality of life would immediately jump five levels higher. And I'm sure your wife would be thrilled to be able to come back home and stay put....

As I've gotten older and wiser, it has become increasingly difficult for me to justify purchasing ANY high-end vehicle. I certainly won't buy new (and haven't in more than 15 years), and I won't purchase a high-end, electronically-complex vehicle unless I can practically steal it (as I did with our 2005 Jaguar S-Type last December). The cost to maintain, insure, and keep in top condition becomes more than I'm willing to pay these days. That's one of the many reasons that I still love my 1999 Dodge Ram 5.9-liter V8 pickup - it is bulletproof and so inexpensive to fix on the rare occasions it requires something other than routine maintenance. So I hear you loud and clear, nc211.... By the way, the S-Type has proven to be a great car for us. A superb highway cruiser that approaches 33 mpg on my wife's solo trips back and forth to Tampa to visit her elderly parents, and a great all-around sport sedan for doing just about anything. Very elegant and refined, and very comfortable even for my 6-foot-7 frame. Bought it at just over 18,000 miles last December and she's more than doubled that mileage since we brought it home. I've researched the hell out of it and purchased the JTIS (Jaguar Technical Information Systems) maintenance CD (found it on ebay for less than $6) and done most of the work myself (especially since the factory warranty ran its course back in mid-July). I continue to hope that the extremely complex electronics don't eventually wind up biting me in the !Removed!....

So will you look into a transmission rebuild or have you already opted to dump the vehicle?

A bathroom cleanser product called Soft Scrub also does a great job cleaning grime and oxidation from cloudy headlight lens exteriors. You can pick up a bottle at Wal-Mart for about three bucks (or check your stash of existing bathroom cleanser products - you may already have some)....

The vast majority of CD players built during the past decade have a reset button. Very often that reset button is hidden and difficult to find. For those who have a detachable faceplate, the reset button is usually visible once the faceplate is removed. It often requires a nailpunch or ballpoint pen to depress the reset button. Once you find and press the reset button, the unit cycles through, loses all pre-sets such as radio stations and treble/mid-range/bass settings, and the best news is that the eject button will now work again in most cases.... Look for your reset button. If you can't find it, go to an experienced car audio installation shop. They will find it within two minutes and have your CD out of there in a flash....