400h4me

If you ever had second thoughts about why you bought a RX 400h instead of the RX 330……this may help! Last week my RX 400h required the 5,000 mile free maintenance service. I drove down to my local Lexus dealer (35 miles) and was given a loaner to drive while the service was being performed. They told me to wait outside until they brought the loaner around the front of the building. I had no idea what type of car I was going to get for my replacement and was very surprised when they drove up with a brand new RX 330 in the same color as my 400h. (Millennium Silver) It was pretty much the same except I have black interior instead of the grey. There were all the same options, but no navigation system on the loaner. My first impressions were “THIS DOES NOT FEEL LIKE MY CAR” and it doesn’t drive or perform like it either! The first thing you will notice is the steering feels much different and so does the shifting of the transmission. Once you get use to the CVT transmissions, the regular shift action is annoying. The 400h has excellent acceleration and a more powerful feel to it. I decided to drive back home and wait for the Lexus dealer to call when my car was ready. It was raining and traffic was heavy with some stop and go, but a good mix of highway and city traffic driving. I decided to reset the mileage computer and check my trip mileage before returning to the dealer. I was going to make a mileage comparison between the two cars just for my curiosity. I drove both cars the same way with road conditions and traffic being the same in every way. This was strictly an UNSCIENTIFIC test using the cars onboard computers for a round trip of 70 miles. AND the results from my unscientific tests are!!! …the RX 330….16.9mpg and the RX 400h….26.9mpg. I realize the 330 was new and the mileage may improve, but a 10 mpg difference???? Before we bought the RX 400 we were considering the RX 330, but now I am very please we made this decision ….it was the right choice for us. ;)

We are very pleased so far with the gas mileage. When I drive I can average better milegas than my wife does. My wife commutes 220 miles round trip to work. Going to work is mostly flat with some downhill driving mixed with uphill. Daytime tempertures average 50-70%. We live in Northern California pass Santa Rosa and my wife works in the SF. bay area. She has been averaging between 26/27 miles per tankfull. I made the same trip last week by myself and checked the mileage. Going down to the bay area "driving under 65" was better than coming home later that night. The mileage was 28.9 going and 26.7 coming back. We use to do the same trip with a 1995 Ford Explorer and the average was 18 so we are very pleased! :)

I would have to say that if "YOU DIDN"T HAVE A WARRANTY" and you were going to be out $10,000 for the repair "THAT WOULD BE CATASTROPHIC" to your wallet! Just my thought!!!! :cries:

Unless they have changed lately, neither Sacramento or Roseville Lexus is charging a mark up. I don't know how long their lists are since we've already gotten ours. ←

Sorry, but the web page messed up and I don't think my reply to this post was posted. Here it is: "Does anyone know where to find this bypass module?" ← The url for the Prius modification device is: http://www.coastaletech.com/nav_kit.htm Sounds like they have not started shipping it quite yet. No indication of whether it will work with the RX400h or not. If anybody buys one and gets it to work please post here and let us all know... ← The website shows how this unit works with Toyota Prius and the Highlander, but they are both very different from the Rx 400h. I would wait awhile before ordering any new products. It would be pretty sad if the Lexus people told you that your warranty is now voited because of this modification! :cries:

Well! The day has just arrived and the long wait is behind us. The RX400h is here at last. :cries: We were on vacation when we got the call. We were so excited we cut the vacation short and came home. The color is Millennium Silver with black leather interior. No options except heated front seats and cargo mat and wheel locks. I paid MSRP $49,233.00 with no mark-up. There are no deals to be had in my local area. When I asked the salesperson about cutting me a deal, I was told to be grateful this dealership does not mark up the vehicle like some others do! The funny thing was, on the wall is a sign telling you "IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THERE IS NO COOLING OFF PERIOD WHEN YOU BUY A NEW VEHICLE" I told the salesperson that 18 months is plenty of time to cool off and I'm just glad the car is finely here. After driving this car for the first tank of gas, we are very pleased with the mileage. First tank average was 26.7 mpg. This was surprising to us because of all the time we spent at the dealer getting orientation about the car with the motor running with the air on. My wife went into informational overload and was having a brain meltdown. Way too much information!!! This car has been worth waiting for, even if it took forever to get here. Thanks for putting up with me while I was waiting.

I just received our RX 400h from the dealer this week. This is all too new for me, but I'm learning. I made a few phone calls from my driveway before I left home today. After going on the road at speed limit, I was able to place a call from using the one touch screen and it placed the call. Maybe Lexus did something to fix the the disabled feature? Mine seems to work ok! My car was manufactured on 8-2005 My phone is the new LG VX8100 and works great the the Lexus.

My wife's Explorer SUV gets 19 mpg. A friends RX300 get 16-17mpg and the neighbors RX330 gets average 19mpg. We just took delivery on our 400h and averaged 26.7 on the frist tank of gas. I was very pleased with this improvement in gas mileage. I guess it will only get better after the break-in period! So far very happy and surprised about the gas mileage. :D

In the SF bay area you have a waiting list a mile long. The deal you get is when they don't mark up the car higher than the MSRP. Many dealers are putting higher mark ups! :chairshot:

Maybe dumb, maybe not... go to the dealership and TRY the phone in their demonstrator! It's not like it will ruin either the car or your phone to try it and the dealer might appreciate knowing whether it will work or not! ← Thank you RolandB, That's a great idea except my dealer is 35 mils away from where I live. We have stopped at this dealer many times to veiw the 400h with no luck of finding one on the lot. I guess we could test it in a RX 330....it should be the same navigation system? In the mean time I would still love to hear from anyone who owns this phone.

Does anyone own the new LG VX8100 phone with Bluetooth? I had a Motorola E815 that my wife was using. She was having problems with the phone in general, so we traded it for the LG. We were new to Verizon, so we had a trial period and were able to trade without cost. Since we are still waiting for our Lexus RX 400h to arrive and haven’t had the chance to try the new LG phone on the car system; does anyone own this phone? How does it pair with the car? I know the carrier Verizon has disabled the OBEX feature………so I know the phone book will not transfer from this phone because that part was crippled. I would hope the rest of the stuff will work, like calling and answering and hang up, etc. Any information will be helpful and appreciated!

Maybe it's a Big No No to pay sticker price when the car has been sitting on a lot waiting for someone to come in and make an offer, but there are no generous incentives given to people waiting on a list to buy the 400h. If you look close you will find deals in any state but CALIFORNIA. NO DEALS HERE!! WE PAYM.S.R.P if we are lucky. It's all about price and demand! Sorry, but I'm one of those that will end up paying full list price, but I will not pay any dealer mark-ups. ← Yeah, I paid MSRP, but they gave me hell of a deal on my trade in :) ← Thanks for the info! Maybe I can get a trade on the wife? JK!!! :whistles:

Maybe it's a Big No No to pay sticker price when the car has been sitting on a lot waiting for someone to come in and make an offer, but there are no generous incentives given to people waiting on a list to buy the 400h. If you look close you will find deals in any state but CALIFORNIA. NO DEALS HERE!! WE PAYM.S.R.P if we are lucky. It's all about price and demand! Sorry, but I'm one of those that will end up paying full list price, but I will not pay any dealer mark-ups.

katzjamr,Thanks for your input! I received a call from my Lexus saleperson giving me news about the options that will be on the Rx400 that is coming. He said the car has been posted on their arrival list and will be here sometime at the end of this month or the first week in Sept. The color is silver metallic with black interior. Heated front seats only. No Mark Levinson Audio System or RES. This car was not ordered by me originily. My sales person knew these were the options I was interested in and called to confirm this. The salesperson said this car was one of the extra cars that dealers get without orders from customers. The factory ordered these options and this will workout perfect for me. This car is expendsive enough without loading it with extras that I would never need. The Mark Levinson Audio System is nice but I have two tin ears and wouldn't benifit from any improved sound quality. I did get a chance to hear a standard audio system and it sounded ok to me<_<

SnowDaleI'm very sorry to hear that! I guess when someone has a new car, there always is the chance that someone will exhibit indignant displeasure. I hope that it wasn't caused by something else, like talking with some guys girlfriend, wife, etc. Whenever I have gone to a bar, there is always some guy looking for any excuse to get even with "whatever"! Some are just angry for no reason! I knew which bars to stay out of. Sorry for your friends loss! ← I really hate it when people damage other people's property...especially their cars. I have never been keyed, but i can imagine how bad it must make ya feel. My wife's car got keyed, she didn't really care though LOL ←