PizzaTurtle

Hi all,

I am interested to install running board or sidebar for my 05 RX330. I search this forum and found some postings. Per suggestions in those posts, I contacted my dealer but they said they no longer have any such things for RX330 anymore. Have any of you bought any running board and sidebar for RX330 recently? Where can I get them? What are good's and bad's between having running boards and sidebars?

Thanks a lot!!

It is indeed annoying. Now by reading your post, it does remind me a few instances of the same scenario happened with my 05 330. I wasn't giving too much thought of those instances as I thought it might be just me not familiar with the car (we just got it for a couple months, and mostly driven by my wife).

A while back I used to own a Toyota Tercel and one of the things I was impressed was the smooth transmission, which was much smoother than any other good brands including Honda. Initially I found that the smoothness happened to 330 too during typical speed up and slow down. But when slowing down and suddenly speeding up again, the acceleration lagging happened quite obviously. I don't konw if it is because the AWD involvement that made up the hesitation.....

It might just be the answer why new 400h has the Electronically-controlled Continuously Variable Transmission (ECVT) now.....

My dealer called me specifically to let me know that if you run out of gas the car will only let you try starting it three times before it is disabled.  You can add gas and then it should start, but if it is disabled (you attempted to start it three times while empty) the dealer will need to get involved.  My reaction was ... Yikes, I'm never letting it get below 1/4 tank!  My dealer is 90 miles away.

←

Just wondering, does the "disable" feature apply to RX330 as well?

How do you all think about the stock tires Michelin MXV4 comparing to the suggestion above? Not enough off road capability with the stock tires comparing to the suggested tires?

Would you mind to share how much you paid for the bug deflector? Is the one from dealer better than others from after market brands? Thanks!

For those who have bought the Lexus Extended Warranty, would you mind to share how much you paid (and info about Platinum or Gold plan, and the year model of your car)? Just wanna have an idea how much we can bargain with the dealer for the extended warranty.

Regarding to when is the last time you can purchase the extended warranty. A dealer told me that as long as the car is under 12K miles, it can be purchased.

Thanks in advance!

My understanding is that the extended warranty (the Lexus Platinum coverage) should mirror the manufacturer warranty's, which should be bumper to bumper. The dealer should fix it for you.

Just curious, for those who pre-order the 400h, will they need to pay the MSRP without a chance to negotiating the price when they can pick up their new cars?

I think RX300 doesn't have the overdrive gear that RX330 has right? It might contribute the poor fuel efficiency on highway for RX300 too.

Hi all,

The owner's manual of RX330 suggests the break-in period is 1000 miles and with the following guidelines:

- don't drive at a constant speed for a long time

- gentle on the brake until 300 miles

- don't race the engine

On the other hand, while searching the web, some suggests to vary the engine speed during the break-in period, even briefly up to the red line, just to let the engine experience different rev to allow piston rings to fit to the exact shapes of the cylinder walls.

I'm a bit confused, is it actually ok to drive on freeway say for half an hour during the break-in period?

I also read some suggestions to change engine oil right after the break-in period to clean up the dirty engine oil. However, the owner's manual doesn't say anything about it and simply states the first oil change is at 5K miles. I'm not sure which one I should follow.....

Any suggestions or tips about break-in period would be much appreciated! Thanks!!

Thanks for you info mikey00, really appreciate it.

I don't quite understand why Lexus deliberately replace the front pads without putting the wear indicators back on, while the rear ones come with them. I would think that the design of the front pads and the rear pads are the same. May be it is not the case... In any case, Lexus should always put the indicators back on the new front pads if it means to be, or just because they forgot?

Thanks for the info indeed. It's good to know in advance to be caution.

haha, that must be the case. The salesman told me he would do anything to give me a good deal for RX330 as the more their dealer makes the sales for 330, the more quota they can get for 400h. It must be a sales trick.....

I was told by the dealer that there is a 3 year waiting list for getting RX400H, is it really true?

Just for reference, has the problem been observed happening to the front driver and passenger's seat belt only? (I read the reference of them above) Or is it a general problem that can happen to the back seats' seat belts too?

I used to have a Mitsubishi car and it had exactly the same problem. The belt didn't retract and the belt clip always stay on the side of the door. Sometimes when I forgot and closed the door without noticing it, the slamming sound from hitting the belt clip is quite heart breaking...

Hi bmwm3smg2, my wife also ruled out all other cars after trying the RX. Without other choices we bought a new one just few days ago, and my wife has been enjoying it. Wish you good luck and get a good deal for a new RX330 :)

I have some similar experience, but different situation. I bought my RX330 only 2 days ago. When picking up the new car, the salesman was with me to describe the features. We had the engine turned on and had the gear set to Parking, not stepping the brake or gas. Once a while I could hear some resonating sound coming from the bottom of the car (I'm pretty sure it is not the fan). But when I got out the car and stood outside and listened, I couldn't hear anything. Or if I pressed the brake and had the gear switched to D, the sound didn't happen neither. The salesman simply said it is normal when the car is idle and have the gear set to Parking. In normal driving condition it would not happen anyway since the gear is always set to D.

I will keep monitoring this in the next few days and see if this would happen again. Just wondering if there are others out there notice the same problems with the new car.

I also love the amenities and luxury of the car. I bought the car two days ago and I found that I still have a lot of things to learn to really make use of the car.

While on the topic of the seat, one thing I kinda surprised is that I found that the middle seat at the back row is quite uncomfortable. The back of the seat is quite hard. But looking at the design that it can be flipped down for cup holders and arm rest, I guess this might just be the fact that needs to sacrify the comfort of the middle seat. So to me this car is more like a 4 seaters instead of 5. :P What do others think about the middle seat?

Where can you find this 3M chip guard.  I  live out in the country and have a collection of bugs on the front of my car.  Sounds like what I need.

←

You probably can check out www.clearmask.com and see if they ship oversea.

BTW, have anyone tried to get the self-installation kit from ClearMask and installed it by themselves? Is it actually do-able wihtout professional installation? I may wanna try it out but want to hear other people's experience.

Thanks!