markatty

2008 has been a horrendous year for our family. In the past three months my mother died, my aunt died and my brother-in-law died. With travel for business and all the planning for the funerals and memorial services we didn't get to our bills. Toyota Motor Credit Corp d/b/a Lexus Financial called us to remind us that we were late on a payment. We sent them a check later that week, which the woman said was fine. What she didn't tell us was that they reported the late payment to two credit bureaus; Experian and Equifax. Not a single other creditor, not Chase Mortgage, not Visa, not Mastercard, AmEx, or Verizon reported this single late payment. The ones we contacted were sympathetic and understanding. Luckily we have a very good credit rating so I expect this one black mark on our credit record should not be a problem, but given the way that banks and other credit agencies are turning down people without perfect credit, I just suggest you be very careful when dealing with Lexus Financial. I could have gotten a better rate at my bank, but used Lexus Financial, because of the convenience. If I buy another Lexus, I certainly won't use their financing again. BTW: The woman who called from Lexus Financial claimed that paying via online banking was slower than if we sent a paper check. She said it could take up to ten days to get them. Does anyone know if Lexus Financial accepts ACH like most creditors do?

I'm only 6' tall (admittedy long-legged) and I still have the seat all the way back on its tracks. I find my knees very close to the steering. I really wish the tracks had two more inches in length, especially since I rarely have anyone in the back seat behind the driver. Mark

I put Toyo on my Audi TT and had nothing but trouble with them. The tires ran fine, but they wore down quickly, at least the one that survived to 18K miles. Three other tires had problems with road hazards on NY metro area highways. I can't remember which tires they were, but three had road hazard problems in 14 months. The original OEM tires on same roads for 3 years didn't have problem and the Toyos were the same size and profile. I finally replaced all of them with another manufacturer's tire and had no more road hazard problems.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/conte...10/b4024075.htm

Wow! 30" and the RX-400 got through that. That's great. I've always been worried that snow of that depth would get up under car and cause it to float up losing traction and even get up in the engine or battery compartments even with an undercarriage plate. How did it handle in snow that deep?

I'll also be interested in your mpg numbers without the roof rack. You'd expect that they would be better, but its possible that you might actually get worse numbers without the rack. Clearly without the roof rack you should have lower drag, but that is not always a good thing. The roof is an area of low pressure just like the top of an airplane wing, as a result it tends to lift the car off the road resulting in slightly less traction. Turbulence from the roof rack could result in less of the Bernoulli effect. Also the roof rack could create turbulence that would tend to spill over the back of the RX and fill in the partial vacuum created there at highway speeds. This vacuum "sucks" the car back and really lowers mpg at high speed. While I suspect slightly better mileage, it could go either way. I have always been disappointed that Toyota didn't do more to enhance the aerodynamics of the RX-400. Changes on the tall, blocky RX-330 here would have made much more difference than does the streamlining of the much smaller Prius. BTW: I really like the no rack roof look and am thinking about doing. You don't happen to have a link to the magazine rack that you used or its SKU number? Bob, it's too early still for an MPG evaluation. I've gotten 26.1 "real" combined MPG(rated 29hwy/34city?) for the one year(Jan3-06-Dec-23-06) that I've had this great machine but I will wait a few months to see if there is any change. I am very meticulous about keepng track of mileage,the on board computer is biased, so I do the math myself. If there's a difference, I'll know, trust me. It will probably be minimal but since I just didn't like the rack, I hadn't even considered that aspect. ... Rey

I have 28,000 miles on my Michelins and am starting to see some additional wear on the outside of the tires. I've raised my inflation from 30 to 34 psi, but didn't want to go to max psi as per below. I bought an RX-7 back in the 80's and my dealer signed me up for performance driving school. (If you ever get a chance to do this go. It's the most fun you can have in 30 second intervals.) At the school the instructors would rub a large grease pencil on the edge of the tires and you would drive around a circle faster and faster until you lost traction. On the RX-7 you could hear under-inflated tires as they would squeal at lower speeds. Really underinflated tires (like street pressures) would also chatter and the car would "hop" sideways. If the tires were properly inflated about a 1/4" of the grease pencil would rub-offed the sidewall. Underinflated tires would rub it all off and over inflated tires wouldn't rub any off. The idea was to keep as much tread on the road as possible during hard corning. We started with 45 psi and did multiple runs in both directions. Interestingly, each tire took a different psi and varied as much as 3 psi. Here's a description of the process from the web. Now if l drove on dry race tracks every day that would be the end of the story, but rain, snow and comfort make it a different story. High pressure tires do give a rougher ride, but they are also less effective on soft surfaces like snow and sand. Over sand we go down to 4 - 6 psi in our Jeep to get a fatter footprint. I also let some air out when I know I'm going to be on snow most of the time and not be at highway speeds. At highway speeds underinflation can be deadly, since it allows sidewall flexing and at highway speeds the heat build-up can do in a tire surprisingly fast. The problem with lower winter pressures is that much of the driving is on wet pavements and slush. Here you need higher inflation pressure to press the tire down through the water to prevent hydroplaning. As to tire inflation saving gas Edmunds didn't see a significant effect , but then they didn't see a significant effect with A/C and that does make a difference on the RX-400. Bottomline 34 psi has been working for me, since I don't like to constantly adjust the tires except for extreme conditions.

I attended the Lexus reception in NJ and part of it included a presentation on maximizing gas mileage. Most of the stuff was fairly mundane stuff, but the woman did say that you can get 4 mpg more using premium gasoline. She said that the RX-400 has to get used to premium and it takes 3 tankfuls before the computer system takes advantage of the higher octane. So if regular costs $2.20 and you drive 12,000 miles per year, you need 461.5 gallons at 26 mpg for a total cost of $1,015. If Lexus is right and you get 4 mpg more then at $2.40/gal the cost would be $960 for a savings of $55/year. You should also get better acceleration. At $2.54 for premium the cost of gas would be the same. I tried premium and didn't notice any difference on one tank, other than slightly increased acceleration, so I've used regular. According to this USA Today article regular works just fine. Anyone actually see any noticable difference?

Don't think I would like Vallejo. Wonder if they ever caught the guy. http://www.thereporter.com/news/ci_4567638

Anybody else get a foldover postcard from Lexus for "good music", "organically grown wines" and "how to maximize your vehicle's fuel efficiency" to be held in NJ on 9/26. It also has a preview of the LS600h. I can't tell whether this is just a sales program or if Lexus is actually trying to build some good will with RX-400 drivers. (BTW: When I RSVP'd I was on hold for 20 minutes with that irritating woman who comes on every few minutes to tell you how important your call is to them.)

I'm noticing more bad info in the GPS and was thinking of upgrading to the most current DVD. Has anyone done this? Any diffences noticed? What is the cost? Also is there anywhere to report bogus information. In my residential area the GPS shows a house with a restaurant and another with a gas station. In addition it shows a through street that hasn't existed for 10 years.

From PRNewswire RX 400h By offering some previously standard equipment features as either standalone options or part of a package for 2007, the base price of the RX 400h is reduced by $3,480, to $41,180 on the front-wheel drive model, and $42,580 on the all-wheel drive RX 400h. Offered as standard equipment on 2006 models, the HID headlamps with AFS, towing package and 18-inch wheels with a liquid graphite finish are now available as individual options on the 2007 RX 400h hybrid luxury utility vehicle. In addition, the following features were previously standard and are now offered as part of the Premium Package option for $1,245: leather-trimmed interior, power tilt/telescoping steering wheel with memory, roof rack with rails, illuminated entry system and one-touch open/close moonroof. A Premium Plus Package priced at $2,060 is also offered. This package includes all options from the Premium Package along with HID and AFS. New standard features on the RX 400h include a front passenger seat power lumbar support, a coin holder in the center console, fabric-trimmed interior, new hybrid badging and 17-inch wheels. Newly available options include Dynamic Laser Cruise Control, fifth generation voice-activated DVD Navigation System with Bluetooth® technology and a Mark Levinson® DVD Premium Audio System with 11 speakers. In addition, the available Rear Seat Entertainment System is upgraded with a larger nine-inch screen

RX-400 sales were only 1,190 in June. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13943220/ (Lexus ought to consider a firmware update that lets you select better mileage or better performance.) The Prius has been so successful that Toyota has already reached the 60,000 car limit on the full tax credit. As a result the credit will be cut in half and will disappear next year if they don't change the law. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13958268/

I'd like to have the option of getting 40 mpg also and I think the RX-400 could do it with the right software. At present the engine software emphasizes performance with the gas engine kicking in too soon when you depress the accelerator. Be nice if Lexus were to offer that as a retrofit. I'd even consider an aftermarket chip like some of the sport cars have, but for mileage rather than performance. I've only got 22K mi of warranty left so the aftermarket chip voiding the warranty wouldn't be a problem in the near future.

I was stopped at a light on a four lane road when I see a Prius pull up slowly in the adjacent lane. I can tell the driver is looking over my hybrid and that he is also one of those earth father types with a grey beard. (The type of guy you just knew was wearing Birkenstocks.) I had my air conditioner on and he had his window open. I was sure he was thinking bad things about my SUV hybrid. As the light changed I looked over and he gave me the split finger "Live Long and Prosper" Vulcan salute. I turned left and he turned right.