rail88

Here's an update. After 2,470 miles, I'm averaging 26.6 MPG based on gas receipts. We went through our first hot spell in Maryland a few weeks ago and I noticed what appears to be a correlation between mileage and temperature. I seem to get about 1.5 MPG less in temperatures above 85 degrees. Perhaps this is because the A/C has to work harder but I'm surprised it's that significant. Anyone else noticed anything similiar?

No, you can only enter phone numbers (no names) manually into the one-touch dialing slots. If you do it this way, the phone numbers will be displayed when the car is stopped but they are blanked out while the car is moving. Not terribly useful unless you have a great memory. You do not need a service to use a phone as a Lexus phonebook loading device. If you decide to go this route and buy the phone and SIM card separately, make sure they are compatible (i.e., from the same service provider, e.g., AT&T, Cingular). Again, you don't need to buy the service, just the phone.

I havn't tried the V710 voice commands in the car but speed dial and manual dial certainly work. After dialing, the call transfers to the car's handsfree seemlessly. This is, in fact, the only way to initiate a call if the car is in motion and the phone number you want to call is not loaded as a handsfree one-touch number. I just find using the car's one-touch dialing easier than using the phone. While you can manually enter phone numbers for one-touch dialing, for some reason, the phone numbers are blanked out while the car is moving. If you load the handsfree phonebook then associate one-touch numbers with phonebook entries then the names are still displayed while the car is moving.

CKK, I have a V710 which works great with my 400h other than the fact that I can't transfer phone numbers. So, I went to amazon.com and bought a used SE T616 phone and SIM card (~$100). I loaded my phonebook entries into the T616 and then transfered them to the car in one download. This went smoothly following the step by step procedures on the Lexus web site. This approach works for me because my phonebook is pretty stable (don't anticipate having to do this every day) and I was crazy enough to spend a hundred bucks for a "Lexus Phonebook Loading Device."

I've had my RX400h for about two weeks. Got 27.9 mpg on the first tank and 28.5 mpg on the second tank. A/C runnning the entire time, although the weather hasn't been very hot. I estimate that I drive about 70% highway and 30% city. Most trips are 20 minutes or longer. For reference, I averaged 20.3 mpg in my 1999 RX300 doing the same type of driving. So far, I'm a very happy camper.

I've been looking at this device on the web but havn't run across anyone who has one. Would appreciate it if you could answer a few more questions. Where in the car did you have the AIC-100i installed? Any problems with the factory installed components after installation? Can you tell if the iPod sound quality is better than other iPod connection methods (cassette or FM-transmitter)? Would you recommend the device (inspite of the interface quirks you've identified)?