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chimchim

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Everything posted by chimchim

  1. For sale (sf bay area, CA) local pick up only I have a used but in great shape (no rips) tonneau cover that came from our 2004 RX330. Color is the "tan" interior that came in the bamboo pearl RX asking $90 obo local pickup in mountain view, CA weekdays or west san jose ca weekends
  2. Really? I like CVTs for their smoothness (no more hurky jerky toyota automatic shifting program which drove me NUTS on the RX330 we had previously) but I find the CVT to be noisier than the standard auto trans which contributes to "audible roughness" instead of "seat of pants roughness". I'm not hating the RX400h at all, I'm just unfamiliar with a "luxury hybrid".
  3. Ahhh... that answers a lot of my questions. Thanks for the reply! My experience with the car does jive that the car is erring on the side of making sure all systems are fully ready to keep luxury up in sacrifice of hybrid optimization I'll check on the TSB for the ISC learning As for the accessories, I noted similar behavior when our return trip was at night (so no A/C), windows up, heater off, and even the stereo off, cruise on. I understand that city better utilizes hybrid technology I wish there was a "advanced user" hybrid selection control deep in the menu screen or something that would allow me to say "no matter what I do, go aggressive on electric use", and if that means I get a warning bell saying "I can't give you A/C", etc.
  4. I'm interested in finding an understanding for my situation and an appropriate solution. I read the responses 2-3 times and tried to consolidate it with what I knew of my situation and what I had posted, and there seemed to be a disconnect, hence my reply. And even with your latest reply, there are things that don't seem to jive... maybe it's me, but it's still not consolidating. The car may not "know" I'm on "hilly" roads, but it *does* know that the load has suddenly gone up without additional throttle application. In fact, I was on cruise control much of the time to try and let the car sort it out. From what I can see it would seem that with the increase in load and above the "full" threshold charge, the most efficient use of the the stored electric power would be to do electric assist of the combustion engine, not further weigh down the combustion engine by trickle charging the batteries.
  5. Yeah, I understand that. But why isn't there electric assist during cruising, even at 70 mph? Especially if the charge reaches the 80% level and really isn't going to charge more, then why not use the stored power to help with the cruise? Particularly in this trip, I'm going over large hilly freeways, which means several opportunities to recover some downhill energy to assist with the uphill.
  6. We are a 3 week old owner of a used 2006 rx400h (39k miles). We just took our first 4 hr round trip drive with the car (freeway) and I feel like the car is in "engine recharging batteries" mode way too often. We are on the freeways (speed limits 65 or 70) for the entire trip going about that speed. The battery indicators shows that it's 8/10 full and NEVER shows the top 2 bars charged EVER. I understand that the batteries are charged/drained only between 20%-80% levels or something like that for longevity. Fine. But during the whole trip, unless it was downhill, the engine was always charging the batteries. This did not make sense to me since it would seem that the efficient use of the hybrid technology for this trip would be to use the batteries to do electric motor assist to the engine to drive the wheels... until the batteries drained to a certain level then let the downhill charge the batteries. Instead, it's using extra fuel to keep the batteries topped off! This seems stupid! And the indicator showed average mpg of 22-23mpg for the trip. For the SAME trip, when we used our previous car (2004 RX330) we would get 24mph!!! That means the hybrid did WORSE! Does this seem right? Is there something wrong with our car?
  7. You're right, preference is to not drain while on ramps. However, I can't reach it otherwise. Plus I don't think it's that bad because the plug points to the rear.
  8. I stupidly left the key in on and forgot. Battery died. So the next morning I jumped the car and it was fine. However, the SRS airbag indicator light is on, and the other light on the console says passenger airbag off. The braindead manual says "check with dealer" (no help there). Anyone have this issue? It seems strange to have to go to the dealer just because the battery died.
  9. +1. bciesq seems to be the only one who knows how different octanes are used. It's my guess as well that the knock protection mechanism of retarding timing (etc) which reduces torque/power would have the side effect of "smoothing" the transmission. It's smooth because it's like babying the accelerator more than normal. I got the reflash and the jolt, while reduced, is still there, is still annoying, and I can't stand it.
  10. I couldn't stand the acceleration jolt on our 2004 RX330, so I had the dealer do the reflash. It helped... a little. But it's still there and ANNOYING, especially when I know it's wearing on the tranny. So I was practicing left foot braking on the RX330 automatic, and I found that with left foot braking, you can trail brake into the turn and do a super smooth transition to gas... WITH NO JOLT. So it looks like left foot braking is great for more than making Michael Shumacher fast.
  11. Lexuses are assembled in asian where mogwai sometimes get into the dash. You apparently got one and he likes music.
  12. My wife drives our 04 RX330 and she loves it. She didn't even notice the hesitation problem until I pointed it out. I was the one who couldn't stand it and got the reflash done. Our only other problem was a stuck console cup holder door which they replaced for free under warranty. No big deal. We now have 25k miles. The stock tires SUCK! We got a slow leak and the passive tire pressure monitoring system did NOT alert us that it got down to 19 psi. Even after patching, the tire was ruined and would slow leak. We had to get a new set. I went with Bridgestone Dueller Alenzas which have more grip, and stiffer sidewalls... MUCH happier. Better grip and body doesn't roll at much. Slightly more road noise though. The FWD RX330 meets our needs well: comfy luxo family car, looks nice, has been Toyota reliable. Gets around 20-21 mpg 50/50 street/freeway driving. We've never driven in the snow. Power is adequate to move it around and merge onto freeways and climb freeway hills. Not sluggish, but not strong either. Oh... I carpooled in my friend's Nissan Murano (like an FX35) and it's a little smaller, but has a much better poise (less body roll, dive, etc). However, I trust Toyota a little more for reliaility than Nissan.
  13. Huh? Ceremic used to be only found in race applications, but that's not the case anymore. There are various types of ceramic applications. Tirerack.com lists these pads as replacements for the RX: Akebono ProACT Ceramic Pads (Material: Ceramic) I have these pads on my other car and they are essentially OE equivalent pads: soft, smooth, comfortable, low dust, low noise pads. Clearly this is a different ceramic than the race applications. To the original poster, you have to choose what application you want the pads for. If you want to maintain the OE soft, smooth, comfortable, low dust, low noise then the above pads are good replacements. I used metallic before and they bite much harder (more stopping) and noise (grinding sound), dust, and harshness to the rotors comes with it. The RX is a passenger luxury vehicle, so I'd stick to the OE equivalents. BTW, if you do change pads, make sure ALL FOUR are equivalent. Don't switch just one set to metal and keep the other OE or whatever. This messes up the brake balance designed into the car and you will have poorer braking distance than before. I learned this the hard way with my other car which had drum rear brakes. I tried upgrading just the front disc pads and that threw off the balance. My rears were hardly doing any work and the fronts quickly activated the ABS. Although this felt like it was stopping harder because I didn't have to push the brake as far, my actually stopping distances were a little worse (I'm estimating) and worse: I got massive tire wear on the fronts. Do you perhaps weigh > 300 lbs, carry 3 other passengers also > 300 lbs and have the trunk stuffed with bricks? Just kidding. I'm surprised your brakes don't last very long. Do you commute down hill a lot?
  14. Doesn't look like there will be according to Automobile mag: http://www.automobilemag.com/auto_shows/20...03_lexus_is250/ "One thing that has been confirmed is that there will not be another Sportcross wagon version of the IS, but other iterations are definitely on the way. Likely candidates for IS body style #2 include a convertible hard-top coupe inspired by the LF-C show car that debuted at last year's New York auto show."
  15. YES! i brought this to him, all seven pages. And that is the reply i got, "make sure yo ureally want it cause people say it makes it worse" and some stuff about how the car will shift much faster. So i just wanted to get opinions from people who got it done. I have yet to hear anyone on this board complain about the reflash. Everyone's responses ranges from "mild improvement" to "life is perfect now".
  16. I cannot buy anything that doesn't not have 4 doors and a hatchback... I want an IS250 in SportCross... any news on if Lexus will release this?
  17. I'm really surprised people are saying they don't feel the jolt anymore. I got the reflash and it's smoother, but there's still a jolt.
  18. I finally got the reflash done (while taking the 04 rx330 in for the brake booster recall). I was warned that once I flash, there's no going back. After the reflash, the hesitation is significantly reduced. If you step on it for 50% or more throttle out the turn, you'll still feel a jolt as it downshifts into a lower gear. However, in general it seems to engage quicker AND smoother. I was never able to get any information on what the negative trade offs to this reflash would be I would think that with the smoother shifting, it's better on the transmission. Although, I don't know if more clutch slip is involved.
  19. Are you sure you really want drilled and slotted rotors? It's not gonna doing anything for a daily driver, and cheapie ones can eventually crack. Plus, drilled and slotted don't go with an SUV crossover.
  20. I also got Alenza's for my FWD RX330 after the Goodyears died from a puncture. (BTW, I read somewhere that OEM Goodyear RS-A's are crappier than the retail RS-A, but I can't confirm this) The Dueller Allenzas are the same size for my 18" stock rims (california RX330) and have significantly more grip than the goodyears. The stiffer sidewalls reduced the body roll in turns and some of the braking dive. However, the expense was slightly more tire noise. Comfort is the same, however, more road irregularities are transmitted to the cockpit; you could feel more, but it didn't make it uncomfortable. After break in, the Allenzas allow me to take turns at speeds that would make the Goodyear's howl. I don't drive the top heavy vehicle hard, but it's nice to know the extra grip is there for braking. I really like the stiffer sidewalls as the gooey Goodyear sidewalls made the RX feel like a boat. Wet grip is good and I have yet to hydroplane in them, even during the huge rain storms we recently had here. I don't go to the snow.
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