katzjamr

i never thought i would use the nav, and i find it the most useful feature on the car, and mine works flawlessly for four years, also you get a much more useable screen with the nav for climate, hybrid system monitoring and many other systems on the 450h. mostly i would think that come time to trade it in most people are going to want nav in a car. especially a 'luxury' vehicle

i dont know if you want to consider a new one but there is supposed to be new technology in the 2010 450h that even minimizes the feel of the engine kicking in even more. also my experience ( and i do use premium fuel) is that regular gas causes a smoother transition when the engine starts up than premium, it is hard to know what gas was in your test vehicles. i do also agree about the tsb that lemon previously mentioned, lexus can check that for you. get a clunker, trade it in on a new one LOL those lexus cars are on sale right now!! dont wait. ;)

yes after my oem battery would not hold a charge i went to costco, their battery that fits our hybrids has more cold cranking power, and they have a full three year warranty, no questions asked. i did consider the optima battery that they also sell but it is double the cost with only a one year warranty. i swapped out the old battery with the new costco one and there were no problems. you do reset windows, also you will lose the history on your stereo presets and the history on the nav system for previous addresses entered.

it seems to me last time we were researching this there are four nav antennas on the 400h, is there any way to check their operation

im with you on the clay bar and zaino, the zaino also smells like fruit, the zaino does leave more powder residue than most, and its harder to get off if you leave it on too long, been using liquid synthetic waxes lately, you can apply to the whole car at once in a wide range of dry weather and then buff it off. Alot of product choice depends on whe quality of the finish you have now and what you want to achieve with the waxing.

lemon, many 'detailers' do alot of things but dawn dishwashing soap cannot be good for the clearcoat finish, i dont care what you are putting on it afterward. meguiars, makes a low gloss finish for interior vinyl and dash surfaces, with some products one coat is low gloss the second coat adds more if you want. sorme recommend wiping with a soft cloth after the application to lower the gloss. i also find any higher gloss finish on the dash a particular irritant.

you are aware the toyota world tranny fluid is full synthetic and rated to go 100,000 miles, are you replacing it with the toyota brand? and how many miles do you have at this time, i understand if you dont want to go the full 100K before change, just curious why you are doing it now.

i went to tire rack online and they have real world ratings of almost all tires, people report on their actual exprience with the tires. dunlop has an sp 270 grand touring tire there rated by thirty people. it is a summer touring tire for luxury vehicles, got decent ratings in traction wet and dry, only one third of the people said they would buy this tire again, but it doesnt look like its junk. take a look, dave

i am not disagreeing, however there was a case in texas where a 400h traction battery was ruined due to water in a heavy rainstorm, the owner had a seal issue with the back door and the dealer had improperly installed the rubber seal allowing water to seep into the battery compartment. he was covered under warranty, but it made me think small things like door seals can make a big difference.

mine is mysteriously missing only recently and i think they get sucked up in the vaccum, personally i think i lost mine when it was detailed as part of the steering recall by the dealer. i think of that piece as less of a 'pad' and more of a non skid surface to help keep the drinks from sliding around. because of the potentilal for spills and the need for cleaning i dont think you would want it glued in there more than the two spots it is attached so that area can be cleaned.

yes it will make a difference for the traction battery to store power, once you get outside in the cold as you drive you will still see that freezing weather penalty on your mpg. there is a reason the first introduction to the press of these vehicles was in hawaii

48,000 on the 400h, no brake repair or problems, dealer thinks i have another 10,000 miles left before brake job

mine tease me too, especially when im running back to the vehicle to turn off a light that i know isnt going to go off by itself, even my 2007 Econoline supervan E250 will turn off all interior lights after half an hour no matter what.

mine tease me too, especially when im running back to the vehicle to turn off a light that i know isnt going to go off by itself, even my 2007 Econoline supervan E250 will turn off all interior lights after half an hour no matter what.

its ok tom, you can keep the old 400h, get the new 450h and trade in the porsche, there is always a solution.;)

even when our 400h in 2006 were all the rage, and the waiting list was a year, no dealer that i knew charged over sticker. i would call three other dealers, these guys sound like jerks to me.

i know there are always many sides to the story and it was late at night when this owner got into the dealership, however you pay alot for the lexus and less than a week you have the battery issue and no help from the dealer. part of what you pay UP FRONT with a lexus is the service you expect from them later. does the 450h have the same too small battery that has caused issues in so many of our 400h's? also let me say that 'roadside assistance' is a real hit or miss proposition depending on who answers the call. recently my friend with a 90K BMW called because of a dead battery and two very young men in a 10yo lexus with no bumpers showed up. it was clear they didnt know the first thing about what to do, they didnt even know where his battery was located on the vehicle, but this is who was sent out. he wouldnt let them touch the vehicle and had AAA tow it.

No, it's not just you. I think it looks absolutely hideous, and useless and even dangerous for anybody who comes in contact with it, instead of the front part of the car that is designed to minimise impact with pedestrians and such.. but hey.. if you really like it.. why not. I wonder how long it will take for a hungry ambulence chaser to bring a suit against a vehicle owner for causing "additional" injury to a pedestrian due to modifications such as these? Tom

2010 rx runs 19's now, nEOn, imagine what you could do with that...

some nice improvements in the 2010 rx, the nav display in the dash is OLEV, it is wafer thin with a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, incredible colors and clarity, Lexus is the first to use it in a production vehicle. it is also set deeper in the dash for quicker glances back and forth of course there is the HUD, the rear wiper is mounted above the window hidden for a cleaner visual. the lexus door threshold is now notched so dirt is less likely to come inside. it will be interesting to see how the redesigned rear suspension and beefed up front suspension feel on the road, that added 300lbs! I will miss the touchscreen on the nav, the clicker button on the side is slower. Nice to see that the rear shock struts do not take up room in the cargo area its wider there now, also you can release the rear seats from the back by the rear hatch. roof rack is gone. How does everyone feel about the broader sides and fenders, smaller side window look? are the tailights too toyota Venza like?

my lexus dealer used to use the castrol synthetic blend and has now changed to a chevron bulk oil, i only discovered it when the sticker looked different on the windshield. they did drain the bulk oil and purchase some castrol for me when i asked, i now bring it into the dealer when i go for service.

it was a comment made from my friend an auto body shop owner who is a block away from my store, i will ask him where he got his information on monday. we used to have a local chevron that had a free air supply for tires from their large shop compressor. they have replaced it with one of those little compressor pay stations so i dropped by his body shop for free air, (not my lexus, my 21 yo employees altima that had about 15 lbs in each tire) that is when Jerry commented not only was i saving 75 cents but the moisture the little compressors add to the air.

btw i was told the small 12v air pump, and the small air compressor stations, put more moisture with the air in the tires than a large commercial compressor. also most station pump gages are not accurate so use an individual tire gage when filling. i am not experiencing uneven tire wear from 36 psi, however when the steering recall was done the dealer showed me the results of their four wheel alignment, and my rear tires were off by the most amount they had seen. this helps to explain part of the reason the oem goodyears wore so quickly on the outside edge. i didnt catch it the first 12000 miles, and at 15K when i asked the dealer for an alignment at no charge, it is the only time they ever said no.

i remember making them turn it off, i dont like having everything lock up and unlock all day long, i am in and out of the car frequently so it must be there somewhere.

congrats on keeping your mpg high even when fuel costs went lower, i was prettygood but found myself slipping as gas got cheaper, now i am back on track. i just want to note that obviously as you increase tire psi the ride becomes harsher, and for me 40 is too uncomfortable. also i wonder if that high a figure puts you too high in the range when the tires heat up on the highway. i am told nitrogen negates this as it is not as sensitive to heating and cooling. just commenting