NY_RX400h_Savanah

You have a valid point but I think Lexus was just stupid in that case-how else you'd explain giving that feature for GS?

Don't all 400h rear hatches lock automaticly? As soon as we begin pulling it down ... it finishes the trip all by itself, if we haven't shut it all the way by hand . . . then, the auto latch can be heard engaging. Perhaps if the auto door open/close function is out of whack, you have an issue ... but otherwise? You're right-that happens when switch for interior lights in front and the back are set to "DOOR" position.If the switch is in "ON" position lights will stay on. Also living in the city I park the car in a garage where guys park it-once we had piece of carpet sticking out-so the rear door didn't fully close and lights drained the battery.

I wouldn't expect too much in terms of re-designing its problems like electrical system. It's done in Japan and they really don't care what American's think-they don't even drive this car.

Well just had it all done today-you also forgot to add ISC calibration-otherwise you'll get crappy milage and hard engine cuts. Should it be sore for you??- Of course. Service is free under warranty- but come on- do it every time your kid forgets to turn the lights off or when even you do it. And honestly-someone please explain to me-WHAT IS THE POINT OF HAVING INTERIOR LIGHTS ON AFTER YOU ARM YOUR CAR WITH THE ALARM??? Besides- a circuit with relay disconnecting all unnecessary devices when battery goes dangerously low would cost about $10

I know where you're coming from- first 6 months I was so frustrated wit lack of it that almost wanted to return the car-of course RX400 is a great, smooth and enjoyable car- but it is such a shame that those simple things were not taken care of. After 2 years I still get frustrated when someone talks about it ;)

:) good joke- turn on you two switches on the side of shift switch in front (by moon roof controller) and leave your car overnight-than get back and say what happened. Lights you said you left on are the ones you can shift from ON to OFF to DOOR-if you leave them OFF- of course your other lights in the car will go off after period of time-leave them ON and see what happens. PS I didn't say electrical Lexus system is simple-I said it's a simple design to fix the issue but Lexus didn't do it-that's simple.

Well the problem again is in design-go to you nearest BMW or MB dealer -get the keys- leave any lights you want inside on-as soon as you lock the car with the alarm-all of them will go off. That's the way it should be-why the hell you'd leave any interior light on while the car is armed already???. See the problem is that german cars use "interlock logic switches" to get any lights on or off (basically you touch once you get light on, you touch twice it goes off-like power button in newer TV's i.e.)as oppose to manual ON/OFF switches that Lexus uses (like power switch in old TV's). With interlock logic- anything you want (alarm arming i.e.) can reset intelock state and in that case turn your light off-in Lexus since it's all mechanical-nothing you can do. Pretty stupid considering that in hybrid's case every time your battery goes dead-dealer has to re-initialize your system for proper hybrid operation.And guess what 7:15 tomm. morning I have to drive to dealer to do it because kids left lights in the back on when we parked during the day-second time in 2 years. Considering how advance hybrid system is-they've dropped the ball here big time.

Well with all the respect-Ford Escape hybrid does have it. So I think that simply some moron forgot about such an obvious option. It is very possible since Japanese are impossible to deal with when it comes to design-I deal with Panasonic Corp. on daily basis and get any software changes on their business networks or phone systems is impossible-they totally ignore requests from their American offices. Going back to our Lexus- it's probably the same story-but forget about getting any upgrades anytime soon. Algorithms to Get Miles until empty are 20x simpler than one for turning on/off combustion engine-and it would take any software or electronic engineer less than 20 minutes to write it. The way it's done in other cars- is that on board DSP that calculates your avg. MPG compares it with amount of fuel in the tank and gives you ESTIMATED DISTANCE-for given MPG-simple enough??-YES and only morons would try to go below 30-40 miles to go (although I did it with my wifes' BMW-reaching gas station with 2 miles-don't ask how ;) ). Saying that I want to answer all those that are going to scream that RX400h is a Hybrid and it's totally different- It's not-and if implemented would be just as accurate as in regular cars. Remember you'd be getting just an estimate based on your average MPG. Another usable options that I still can't believe is missing (I'm still p..d off after 2 years of using car) is avg. Speed-I honestly thing that DSP installed in RX has few more MPS's to handle those very simple calculations. Just my 2 Cents. Other than that car is nice piece of work- and as they say- nothing is perfect but it could be near perfect. PS You can't even find out how much estimated fuel you have while your reserve light goes off-isn't that something???

"than maintenance and repair hungry BMWs." Where did you get that from-customer reports again Or you just work for Lexus? Did you ever drive any of the BMW's -it'll take the light years for Japanese car makers (not only Toyota but others as well) to make cars that come close in performance and feel of Germans. Especially if you like performance driving and sound of real sport car engine. Hate when people come up with BS like that. Why is the BMW providing maintenance for free for 4 years/50k??- because those cars brake so much and require a lot of maintenance?? Well definitely not-only thing I had to change in my BMW within 4 years period was a rear stop light bulb. Nothing else-will I have the same luck with Lexus-hope so. Bottom line is that BMW is a BMW -it's not a Luxury version of some other brand like Lexus of Toyota.-Feeling the difference? Lexus only became a brand after Toyota realized that US market is hungry for Luxury cars like Mercedes, BMW and to compete with them. Few years ago Lexus didn't really exist in Europe- and they didn't even exist in Japan until 2006.

Ever heard of Fujitsu, Runco, Vidikron?-you won't find them in the Big Box Sale Stores so I can't blame for not having something good to compare. I hope you didn't get Bose for your speaker system. And why you all get so offended with my observations??- What- all of the sudden there are no issues with the car and no one can say anything now?? I'm sorry that my past experience with German cars (last one after 4 years almost no tire wear, no rattles and only thing changed -rear right stop light bulb) were so different than with Lexus-but it's a trade off that I live with. I have had higher expectations for Lexus and I'm disappointed-that's all- CAN I??? There is nothing more I hate more than rattles in a car-especially if they start as fast as in RX and honestly fact that I can't see how many miles I'll make on a gas left in the tank makes me p..d off more than car burning more fuel. Now: I do care about recycling every day-and I do it every day-unlike 95%of our nation I don't throw anything on the street or out of the car-unlike 95%of our nation I do donate my money to environmental org.-as much as I can I do drive a hybrid car And I'm embarrassed by our nation contributing 1/3 of the world's pollution and doing nothing about it Why - it's as much as I can do to help our planet compromising it with my needs and possibilities. I can't get away with Prius and love Luxury-Any other option?- NO I wish Porshe was making their Cayene hybrid or BMW rolled out their X5 on hydrogen-until then let's try to enjoy RX400h.

Interesting and telling phrase: "I don,t care". Used in reference to a car's mileage, or the ever increasing cost of gas (inextricably related), it's meant to say something interesting. Many here in So. Cal. take their R.V.'s and boats and other toys down to the Colorado river. Gas goes up in price. $2 - $3 - $4 -. but, many folks still seem to say 'I don't care". Typically, after topping off the boat's tank(s) with a $100 bill, the owners will say the 3 words. So, hey, I'm having fun, and I got so much money that it doesn't matter - so "I don't care". Meanwhile, old man Waldon, the founder of Wallmart, and others who are VERY well to do, and others like him, that have his mind set, drive around in old beat up pick ups - or, like us in our family, we still clip coupons ... even though we certainly don't have to, and we have been blessed w/ hundreds of thousand in income per year. By "caring", we will have more to pass on to our kids, our charities, our family members in times of need, etc. It dawned on me one day, that when the likes of Mike Tyson, or some hoytie toytie football player, or an up and coming rap star spends money like it's going out of style, they're proud to be saying "I dont care" because it's a form of bragging ... because in essence, they dont have to concern their self with the trifles of keeping track of the coins. Suddenly, when these folks end up broke, they want to blame it on the manager, or someone else, rather than simple foolishness. We bought our 400h because it IS more economical than other pricy cars, and we DO care about mileage. We got rid of our Mercedes and our Range Rover because as consumer reports points out so well, the Lexus line makes the reliability of the Mercedes and the BMW and the Land Rover lines look like poo poo. Similarly, another article recently pointed out (Road & Track? . . . can't remember) that more folks with 6 figure incomes and above, are now buying Lexus, rather than BMW's for the simple fact of 'the bottom line' ... which means that many well off folks are NOT saying "I dont care". We DO have to schlep customers around in our lines businesses, so we need to have SOME kind of a nice car (no old beat up pick ups) that our customers would expect. But it's ok to factor other things into purchases of gas, or cars ... things like reliability, the value of a dollar, impact on the environment, funding al queda, and other intrinsic motives. Sure, fit and finish are greater on this car or that ... and a such and such type cars can really plow through cornering ... (heck, indy cars do that ... but when they hit oil or debris it's all over) ... and some Lexus' squeek ... botom line, it's still the best thing going right now, for what it is. Man I'd appreciate if you read my post entirely and did not take anything out of context!!! Where exactly did I say "I don't care about fuel mileage" ?? - I don't care that much that the car doesn't stand to its specs when it comes to gas consumption -feeling the difference?? For me it's not the biggest factor but it's not fair to future customers to say- you can get 31/27mpg using this car while it's totally impossible- and it's not 10, 20% off- it's 30-40%. Also stop this BS with putting down other companies like MB, BMW etc- Lexus is nothing else that Mercedes Benz Wanna Be. When it comes to Luxury- it is MB that marks a reference point and BMW with performance. I like my Lexus a lot but it's not the greatest car on the planet-sorry. Going back to consumer reports-give me a break with those. They also say Panasonic is the most Reliable plasma and has the greatest picture and is much better that Fujitsu. Now anyone who has some knowledge about that will smile and ask who is Panasonic paying for that BS and how much?? That's just a one of many examples that made me re-think whole Consumer Reports fairy long time ago.

Never owned Mercedes but drove few of those and Lexus has long way to catch them with Luxury finish or feel. The lights-again-not the interior but reading lights-check this ones and you'll know what I mean. GPS screen-somehow no one else is being sued by drivers so it's just a silly explanations-it looks more of a bad design than anything. Doesn't really make any sense considering that the same attention would have to be used to operate the radio i.e. regardless where is it being displayed.Remember that you have to click on the disclaimer every time you want to use GPS-and it's extremely easy from engineering point of view to allow using GPS whenever your passenger seat is occupied. Now speaking a "real world " and "real driving"-problem is that most RX owners here don't apply it to their cars.If you're talking about ML500 getting 12mpg - than please apply the same driving style to your RX400h and than compare-I did try a performance driving that I used to do on my BMW and on RX I got mileage in "teens" (anywhere from 14 to 18). It's so easy to say -" Ohh well I get 28mpg in the city as oppose to 12 or 14 that BMW gets"-what a joke. No one here wants to do honest comparison-I don't argue that RX has definitely better mileage but it's not as shocking as everyone pictures-therefore it shouldn't be a greatest factor. I think more honest way to describe that car would be to say that it gives you an option to save gas if you're ready to give up you driving habits and enjoyment from performance that the car delivers. Saying that you'd go broke with a German car- come on if you can afford 50k+ car I think you can afford gas for it. I did take a test drive-but it's a little hard to get all the cons from using a car for 20minute-don't you think?

Well car runs smoothly every time after a recharge (that was not a problem)-the issue is that after loosing power Lexus forgets it's optimal settings for hybrid system and that requires recalibration every time-also there was other topic on this forum for that specific issue and dealer knew right away when I called them about it. Basic symptoms are higher fuel consumption and in some cases rough engine cuts going on and off.

The light I'm talking about are reading lights-the problem is that Lexus uses simple mechanical On/Off switches and you can't override those with locking the car-unlike in BMW i.e where those switches are Electronic Interlock that is getting reset while locking a car. It's a big deal for Hybrid since you have to recalibrate the system at dealer location every time your battery gets down. It's a little of an engineering flow-they could have design it so whenever you pull out a key-relay for those lights will go off(similar to what it does for AUX 12V lighters)

Many valid points, especially the dash rattles and cheap tires. Its funny though, that you mention you didn't buy the vehicle for gas mileage and then complain about it, but the gas mileage issue is not new. When the first hybrids came out from Honda and Toyota, people noticed that the mileage was nowhere near the stated fuel economy. People tend to forget that the fuel economy standard is derived from a close to 30 year old controlled test procedure in a controlled enviroment. Unfortunately, it's results are skewed in favor of hybrids. If you see www.epa.gov, a new a fuel economy standard has been implemented for 2008 that will revise the fuel economy numbers for all vehicles, gas and hybrid. Personally, I'm not a fan of full hybrids. I prefer hybrid lites since it fits my driving habits. I complain about fuel economy just because it's another factor that might be deciding for future buyers-my message is "Don't get fulled and expect to much from it" it's not a big factor for me-but another thing that this car doesn't deliver-just wanted to get all "Cons" in one place.Remember that besides that this car has absolutely no advantage over other luxury cars (and finish is one of them).And I Agree 100% with old test procedure for EPA-unfortunately European cars some how are very close to them.

Guys I'm the owner of a RX400h for a year now. This is my 4th luxury car-Audi and Alfa Romeo back in Europe, BMW here and now it's Lexus. The only reason I bought RX400h was not to get better mileage but to be more environment friendly and at the same not to trade off luxury feeling while driving it (because if you're not into luxury cars get Ford or Honda). First and foremost: RATTLES As I said on the other topic-any car with over $40k price tag should have none-period-use the plastic and engineering resources to make sure that it's not acting like sub $20k car. If they claim to be a Luxury car makers-than they're falling short of Daimler-Benz or BMW ELECTRONICS Well-let's be honest-it's cool to see how your hybrid system is working- but what use does it have??-I'd rather see what my average speed is or how many miles I can make on fuel left in my tank (even Ford hybrids give you that option). Two sets of keys should automatically select different user modes so when you open the door it adjusts the car to your likes-and if your wife does it-car changes settings (like other cars do). Interior Driver and Passenger lights-it's so stupid that they don't turn off when you lock the car-I could forgive it if the car didn't need Hybrid System Calibration every time you run down AUX battery like it happens in this case And not being able to work on radio using GPS display is just ridiculous. RIDE Agree that the car has a smooth ride but try to accelerate quickly- engine noise is annoying-did you guys try driving ML500?? Also lots of wind noises getting into the car. FUEL CONSUMPTION Not that I care but this is the biggest joke of all. Driving normally like any other car you would - there is no way to get even close to EPA number-and I don't care that RX330 has worse mileage and doesn't get close to it's numbers-think out of the box-there are other car makers than Lexus. My BMW was of by 10%-not 30-40%.Driving it in the city (live myself in NY) like a normal car - there is no way to get even close to 30. How about average 20. And I did try to challenge myself once-drove like a grandma for entire tank-what did I accomplish?- 24. But it gets better on highway-if you don't exceed 60-65 you can get something like 26-but who drives that slow?? TIRES Enough topics here about that issue-nothing to add Sure car has few other cool features but this is what the others have to offer-nothing special in case of Lexus. For sure this is my last experience with that automaker-and definitely I can't recommended them to any of my friends.

Well guys- I'll be honest with you-this car really suck for what it is!!! Rattles????-Give me a break-any car over 40k mark shouldn't have any. My 4 y.o BMW that I traded in not only had no rattles, tires were in perfect condition (try to make 40 k on factory installed tires with Lexus). And I was able to see my average speed, miles left before tank was empty and bunch of other things. Not only that-I didn't have to remember to turn off driver and passenger lights so they will run down my battery- and in this case I wouldn't have to go to dealer to recalibrate hybrid system when it happens. My list of disappointments is way longer than this-but I guys I have to start a new subject ;)

Honest-that is really subjective. If you want honest comparison drive 400h same way the "honest " 330 drivers do and than compare-so when you're talking about 16mpg kind of driving- same would give you 20-22 on 400h. Never better than that. Just turn off your energy monitor and fuel consuption for a while and drive using car's performance like you'd drive a rental car for example. And after few hundred miles check MPG-I can guarantee you'll never get anything close to 30 or even 25. What this car really gives you is an option to eiher forget about what performance it can deliver and try to get decent MPG or use it as it was desin to with full enjoyment and get ok MPGh I prefer to use what I have regerdless of MPG. It's like having a playboy Playmate as a girlfriend and have fun with her only once a monht- I'd rather have it everyday :D

Guys- let's think it thru- what did we expect for the price that 400h is offered at??-there had to be some sort of compromise.Try to built a BMW or Mercedes- or even Volvo with the same feutures and interior. And than compare the price with 400H -do you get my point now? Of course I'm not so happy with certain feutures and look inside or fuel performance-but at the end it's a fun car to drive and saves the enviroment-even with fuel consumpion far from EPA. P.S. Guys one thing is true- to get this car up to promissed EPA you have to be a really patient driveror a slow one- I've tried for a while and gave up-honestly- driving this car like you'd drive any other (non hybrid) you can't get great consumption-unless you consider 20-22 mpg as an acomplishment. And for guys saying that they easy get 30- please- who are you kidding?? I've 6k on my 400h and there is no way to get that result with a reasonable driving (so at least people behind you will not want to kill you for slowing the traffic).

totally agree on those requests -onboard computer would be a nice option that about every other Luxury car has (Average speed, miles to go, etc)

;) Funny you say that- I was thinking about it too. But honestly we all know the reasons for such a seback in alternative fuel technologies-it's our own goverment that is so tight with all big corporations making money on foreign oil. On the top of it big M...F..ers oil giants bought out all the patents and developements on that years ago-wonder why??Did you know that you can buy a brand new car in Europe with built in CNG system (Compressed Natural Gas) ?? Or that europeans make diesels running 65 miles on a galon. Big car makers love gasoline because it doesn't force them to think about anything else- and it doesn't cost any money. We have so many resources, so many possibilities and soon we'll see movement-hopefully-we're the pioneers. How else would you call people that go over the board spend more money than they have to on a car to help enviroment at least a little. PS Why should we help poor states or even other countries to grow products that can be use for Bio Diesel if we can grab all the money that is in Oil already.

RX400h- I do totally agree wuith you on that- it's a question of a convenience-and enjoyment-I love to wax and detail my car-oil change not so much ;). As far as loaner goes- never got enything else but BMW for a loaner (BMW of Manhattan)- and oil- hmm- my fathers first BMW had almost 300k on it and was still running good- one thing I trust germans for their reliability and the way they built engines (who makes most powerfull engine for F1?). Also remember you don't have to breake in those cars- every BMW engine runs for few hours at maximum RPM befere it goes into a car. Now one thing is very interesting- by not giving an onboard computer for their cars- lexus is basically loosing option to be the only one to service those cars- why?- Well when the oil change time shows up on a screen on BMW- dealer has to reset it - otherwise car will stop after certain ammount of miles over. No second hand mechanic has an access to it and it's not healthy to temper with it either. Of course there are those who can do it- but why since you get service for free.

Well guys let's be honest here- what is few hundred bucks compare to what we've spend on a car- average 50k or over. To be realistic- don't expect to save money on things like maintenence or even fuel- because we've spent so much in the first place. Of course I do appreciate my totally free first 4 years of service at BMW- and I mean it- totall free- breake pads, rotors, wiper blades, synthetic oil, oil filters, air filters etc.-and of course loaner car. Yes it is a fact Lexus service is nowhere near BMW but we all own Lexus and should service it there to avoid any future B.S. while trading the car.

What???????????????- This must be kind a joke- or total B.S. Car that I've traded in had 45k on it and tires were maybe 50%wore-these were Michelins. 10k- it's totally unaccapteble.BTW- isn't the warranty on tires for 10k??. One thing for sure- it's not normal a all

I totally agree guys- but what i think RX400 is missing onboard computer-It was an option for my 2002 BMW and what it did -it would show Average speed, Range on fuel, few other parameters + range for Oil change- and that of coourse would change depending on you driving behavior, miles starts etc- it was only $500 extra but did such a great job. Still can't believe this car doesn't even offer option- it's so frustrating to me that you wouldn't believe.