Aptos Driver

The extended warranty gives you extra peace of mind. I bought one for my CPO 2010 RX 450h (with 15K on the odometer at the time of sale) mainly because of the car's electronics. I would not buy the maintenance package. Just put money aside for maintenance on a regular basis, if you can. These are very reliable cars. I haven't had to do anything with mine since I bought it a couple of years ago, except for a couple of oil changes and one semi-major service to date. And the first oil change at 20K was free. But we haven't put a lot of miles on this car so far -- about 20K since Nov. 2013.

I'm very happy with the MPG I'm getting. This car replaced my '07 6-cylinder, AWD RAV4. While I could get close to 30 mpg in the RAV on long road/freeway trips, the most I could squeeze out of it around our neighborhood with all its elevation changes was about 18 mpg, and I never averaged much more than 22 mpg. So getting 28-plus mpg with the Lexus is a big improvement, especially when it's combined with the car's incredible comfort, utility, wonderfully smooth and powerful power train and great ride. I love this car; I'm 69 and I expect to keep it until my kids yank me from the driver's seat (although I hope to have the sense to quit while I'm ahead). ok. i am happy for you. and i am also happy with the MPG i am getting. not sure what you point is? My point is: Your average MPG is the bottom line. If you're happy with it, why worry about whether you can put the car in EV mode in parking lots? Odds are, the car's computer will do it for you anyway. Watch the energy screen and see how often the car goes into EV mode on its own. If you keep light pressure on the accelerator and regularly ease off of it (pulse and glide), you can make the car go into EV mode (or just shut down the ICE and charge the battery with regenerative braking). The more you can do that, the more you can improve/maintain your gas mileage. Keep an eye on the car's predicted MPG at the next fill-up (on the instrument panel "display"). That will give you good feedback on how you're doing in real time.

I'm very happy with the MPG I'm getting. This car replaced my '07 6-cylinder, AWD RAV4. While I could get close to 30 mpg in the RAV on long road/freeway trips, the most I could squeeze out of it around our neighborhood with all its elevation changes was about 18 mpg, and I never averaged much more than 22 mpg. So getting 28-plus mpg with the Lexus is a big improvement, especially when it's combined with the car's incredible comfort, utility, wonderfully smooth and powerful power train and great ride. I love this car; I'm 69 and I expect to keep it until my kids yank me from the driver's seat (although I hope to have the sense to quit while I'm ahead).

We've had our 2010 RX450h for a year, driven it about 10,000 miles (it had just under 15K on it when I bought it) and we're averaging just north of 28 mpg. I topped 30 mpg on my last tank of gas. I gave up bothering with the so-called EV mode months ago for all the reasons others have cited, but I'm not missing it. I find that the car will go into EV mode quite nicely with out me telling it to. Watch the "energy" screen on the NAV display and you'll see what I'm talking about. But it does depend on your driving technique. You can push it into EV mode frequently as long as you don't "lead-foot" the gas pedal. Consistent pulsing and gliding will do the trick. Try that before you hire a lawyer.

Another alternative is to turn the car on without starting the ICE. You can do this by pressing the start button a couple of times in succession without holding the brake down. Then you could simply charge the phone off the battery (the 12-volt, I think). But I have no idea how long you could do this without draining it too much. I'm sure some other forum member can answer that question.

If you're worried about that, I suppose you just turn the car on and let it do whatever it needs to, whenever it needs to. If the battery gets too low, the ICE will run and recharge it.

I subscribe to Consumer Reports' car-pricing and buying service. First off, you can't get a back-up camera a la carte. You have to get the entire NAV package. According to Consumer Reports, a good price for an AWD 2015 RX 350 with the Premium and NAV packages is $47,051 or less before tax and license. Consumers says that dealerships' willingness to bargain on these cars right now is "low." A check of dealers in our area that participate in CR's "build-and-buy" service turned up one about 50 miles from us that would sell us a '15 AWD 350 with Premium and NAV packages for $45,460 including an $80 dealer "doc fee." The question is, will you be able to find a similarly optioned car in your area will you have to take a bunch of other options to get the ones you really want? I don't know what the answer to that question is and I couldn't tell from looking at local dealers' Web sites. Does it have to be a brand new car? Back in November, we bought a 2010 certified, pre-owned (CPO) RX 450h with less than 15,000 miles on it for just under $41,000 (plus T&L, of course). This car was equipped with both the Comfort and Premium packages and that included NAV and backup camera. In the last couple of years, Lexus has since broken out these features and has been monetizing them separately, making newer cars with the same options more expensive. You should have no trouble finding a similarly or even better-optioned pre-owned and certified (with a new-car 3-year/100 K-mile warranty) for much less than a new one would cost you. For example, I just checked the Web site of a high-volume Lexus dealer in Silicon Valley (Stevens Creek Lexus). They have a 2013 RX350 with less than 18,000 miles on it optioned with the Comfort, Premium and NAV packages. for which they're asking $42,988. The sited didn't way whether this car was FWD or AWD, but from the lower price, I'm guessing it was FWD. Happy hunting and good luck!

Too bad about Jerry. I wouldn't go with a 3rd party warranty; they're notoriously hard to "collect" on. I don't know if AWD is any better, but it that's the only configuration I've seen in certified, used RX 450h's. They all seem to come with the premium and comfort packages as well. Mine also has a towing package. In 2010, the head-up display was part of the "luxury" package. If you decide to go with the high-mileage car from an independent dealer, make sure all the service records come with it.

It's a 2010, right? If so,since it's four years old, not CPO and it has 96K on it, you might not be able to get the Lexus extended warranty. But you should really check out the Lexus dealers in your area. Just for the heck of it, I searched the Lexus dealers in our area (SF Bay/Monterey Bay) and found a certified, pre-owned 2011 RX 450h with 51,327 miles on it for about $39,000 asking price. No head-up display, but it does come with the Premium package which includes NAV and heated and cooled leather front seats. A car like that would come with a 3-year, 100K warranty and you would have no getting an extended platinum warranty. And in fact, you could probably get one at a big discount from a guy at Midwest Toyota in Kansas.

I've heard of people keeping Lexus cars for as much as 350,000 miles. Toyota/Lexus hybrid batteries seem to go on and on and on. I still see original Prius cars on the road here. Assuming it's been well maintained and you continue to maintain it, you should be able to get another 150K out of it, at least. Is a dealer selling the car? And is it certified? If it's certified, it will come with a 36 month/100K Lexus warranty. just bought a certified 2010 RX 450h from a dealer in November with -- amzaingly -- less than 15,000 miles on it. I love the car. I'm closing in on 70, so I figure it'll be the last car I buy for myself.

I priced a hypothetical, 20K-mile 2011 RX 450h on Kelley BB both ways, equpipped with confort and premium packages (NAV, moonroof, heated/cooled leater seats, parking assist and so forth; pretty much the standard configuration it seems). KBB "fair purchase price" in our area for a non-CPO used vehice from a dealer is $41,904; for a CPO vehicle, it's $44,604, a difference of $2,700. A Lexus CPO warranty is good for 36 months/100,000 miles from the date you buy a CPO vehice, as opposed to the vehice's original date of sale. You'll have to decide if the additional warranty time/miles are worth the extra money. I bought our 2010 CPO RX 450h last November, with less than 15,000 miles on it. (Really!) I wasn't concerned about the car's mechanical workings, but these are complex vehicles with a lot of electronics that I could conceive of going wrong, so the CPO warranty was worth the reassurance it gave me.

I've been having the same problem with my2010 RX 450h, which I bought almost new (with less than 15,000 miles on it) this past November. I get the same message. It doesn't matter whether I'm stopped or moving. So it seems to be a general problem. On the other hand, I don't know if EV mode would improve my mileage even if I could turn it on. I do keep the car in "Eco mode." Lately, I've been monitoring the energy monitor (without getting fixated on it), to maximize the time the car runs on battery power, and to make sure that even when the ICE is running, it's in combination with the electric motor(s). This is especially helpful on my daily two-mile drive from our house to our health club. We live near Monterey Bay and there are a lof of ups and downs between our house and the club. Attention to the monitor, combined with very judicious use of the gas pedal, has helped me improve my mpg along this route. I wasn't paying close attention on the way there today and only averaged 17 mpg -- going downhill more than uphill. But on the way back, with more uphill than down, I kept a closer eye on it and was averaging 19 mpg roundtrip by the time I got home. Yesterday, I averaged 20.5 mpg round trip.