skyfish400h

The 400h wheels were designed for the higher torque and weight over the Rx330. I'm sure if you got 20's that were rated to carry a vechicle heavier than 4500 lbs and if they were "performance", in other words made for the harsher torque environment of racing... then you should be fine. Always, and I mean always, go for the tire/rim combination that results in the same overall diameter as your stock setup. This avoids putting undue strain on your drivetrain (warrantee issues here?) and will keep your speedometer, computer, and most importantly your stabiliity control functions well within normal operating perameters. go nuts!

If you were to put both the 330 and 400 in a head to head FREEWAY only test, why shouldnt the mpg be almost the same, I conclude this and may be wrong, but the 400 does not have any benefit from the electric motors on a freeway and the 400 is a fair bit heavier, I am sure there will be more frictional forces on the 400 running gear due to the motors etc than on the 330. Maybe Lexus has improved the engine and transmission to accomodate the extra weight of batteries and motor, but again my thought would be put that same running gear in the 330 without the electrics and the car would outperform the 400 which would be embarrassing . ← The drive trains are completly different. The engine is tuned and cammed differently (it doesn't even use the same thermodynamic cycle as a 330). The CVT it a HUGE difference. The drive train on the 330 would likely have HIGHER friction losses due to more moving parts and more inertia.... all of these differences would tend to make the 400 more efficient on the HWY than the 330. You just can't compare them this way. It's like those Superman vs Spiderman aguments when you were a kid... there is no end to it.

I've had one dealership offer to install their 2 screen DVD system (goes into the headrests) for $2000. I would assume if the dealer installs it, then it would not impact the Lexus warranty, but I didn't not press him on that point since I was not interested. From what little I've read about these units, they are pretty much stand alone so compatbliity with the electical system should not be an issue since it does not integrate like the factory DVD unit. It comes with its own built in speakers and wireless headphones and probably uses a 12V power outlet.

These bars are nice and all for appearance but I got to wonder how effective they are a protecting the vehicle, especially the ones over the taillights... What I would be interested in is some kind of undercarriage protection (skid plate, etc) that would allow slightly more off road capability without harming the expensive drive train components of the 400h. Anyone seen this kind of thing offered for the 300/330/400h

Understood. This forum is the most flexible of the 3 that I've found, to be sure. But, does this mean that there will be no change in the subfourm organization, in spite of the poll results? Just curious.

As an aside, do you happen to remember how much capasity the roof rack is rated for according the the manual? I want to add on one of those Thule roof boxes and there are a lot of sizes to choose from based on the capasity of the roof rack. Thanks in advance.

So what is happening with this effort? Has then been a new subforum created yet? Or will we still have to sort thu all rx300 stuff that has no connection to the 400h

I've never owned a Lexus before, but I have heard good things about their customer service and I've owned several other Toyota products (loved them all). My question is, given the thoughtful engineering that goes into these vehicles, does anyone think (or know) if the new Radar crusie control could be hooked up to the existing 400h harness as a retrofit? I would like to buy one now and be assured that I coudl get the upgrade later rather than waiting for the 2008 models to show up.

I do not have a perpetual broadband internet connection so I do not think the computer is downloading the information as previously suggested. ← Depending on what software your defaluts are set to for CD play, it may be storing the information on your hard drive. If you want to see if it is coded onto the CD try opening it from the My Computer on your desktop and find the drive that the CD is in. You should be able to simply open the drive and veiw the contents as tho it were a data file. If you see album and song titles then it should be readable by your head unit or CD changer in the car (if they support that function).

Gota call last night on a silver/gray (no DVD) available in Westminster CA (so cal). I declined because of the color and because that delership is chroming the rims and charging a $1700 premeium for the desecration of the OEM finish.

Discount Tire always gives me a before and after sheet... P.S. I do not own stock in Discount Tire

Yes I used B all the way down, I also used lots of braking (B by itself hardly does anything to slow the car down). Didn't notice any change in braking after the battery got full, but I wasn't paying attention to that possibility, so there may have been... ← So we need some smart people working on these things for the aftermarket set: Ventalated disks with oversize calipers F/R Oversized swaybars Air suspension Software Program upgrade on the B setting for more braking bias Who's our favorite RX aftermarket provider?

For that kind of money, go to a Discount Tire store and buy the Lifetime Alignment policy (or find a shop that near you that offers Lifetime). It's the best way to go since you can take it in any time and get it set as often as you like. Tires are expensive, best to keep em rotated and aligned.

Actually, battery sizing is pretty simple. There is really only 4 variables and weight is not one of them (directly). Power, time, system losses, and a factor called Depth of Discharge (DOD) are the key players. The size of a battery is measured in Watt Hours (how many hours it will provide a given amount of energy - Watts). Once that is established then comes the packaging and weight concerns. These are a function of the battery material technology and are related to the DOD factor I mentiond. NiCads wear out faster then Ni-MH by nearly a factor of 2, so a lot of weight is saved right there. The real driver is the DOD value. To make a battery last for 100K miles it has to endure a lot of cycles. The greater the number of cycles the smaller the DOD value because you don't want to wear it out. Basically, lots of little changes in charge over many cycles (400h) vs great changes in charge for relativly few cycles (say, I donno, disposable camera). Small values for DOD drive up the W-hr size of the battery and, by extension, the weight. So, long story short, the 400h IS carring around a lot more battery than it needs on any given day, but it has to carry that much so that you won't be in for a new battery every oil change. Now changing a much smaller battery every oil change would be a viable scenario and would reduce the vehicle weight, but I'm sure the minds at Toyota decided that even if it was economically workable, the customer would not accept it from a reliability point of view.

I noticed that on my brief test drive... I like it!

WOOD !?! WE DOAN NEEED NO STINKING WOOD !!! This car is supposed to have an environmental conscience... that wood you all want comes from the rainforests. :chairshot:

what about lease deals? Anyone doing that? My thought was that when the 2008 models come out there may be some improvements that I will want to have, so being on a lease might make it easier to swap up... thoughts?

"Since there have been reports of some dealers attempting to foist wheel "upgrades" onto customers to get extra mark-up on the car, I hope this letter at least gives people additional ammunition to refuse the "upgrade" and get the orignal wheels put back on." Absolutely! My dealer is doing this too, and I've put him on notice that I will not accept this practice on my 400h. As for the memo, it is not just a legal issue... its a saftey issue. What you are missing is that the 400h produces considerably more torque than the RX330. So using rims designed for those vehicles could result in stress fractures over time and ultimatlely catastrophic wheel failure... Just say no!