Gryphon

I'ts a bit frustrating that our RX's don't have this, but my 94 BMW 8740iL did, and it was very accurate. Tom

This is a sore subject with me. On several occasions I have left an interior light on overnight. In each case I discover what appears to be a completely discharged auxiliary battery and a car that won't start. Yes, my bad, for leaving a light on, but Lexus' bad for a really crappy electrical design. Why do I criticize? Because......... 1. The rear hatch is mysteriously inoperative, manually or otherwise. 2. The radio loses it's presets. 3. The map reverts to east coast instead of my local area, Arizona. 4. The seat memories are lost. 5. The windows (some but not necessarily all) become mysteriously inoperative after recharging the battery and must be "retrained" to work by operating each of them with their respective buttons on each door. And, to rub salt into the wound, the vehicle will not accept a jump start because the computer is "protecting" something. Yes, I know that some of you have talked about jump starting, but my car simply will not do so. I have discussed this with a Lexus roadside assistance expert, and he has confirmed that this is a design issue, not my inability to properly use jumper cables. (Supposedly the aux battery is not really completely dead, but has been shut down to protect the drive batteries. And, yet, it can't seem to find a way to provide just enough juice from either battery to start a small gas engine.) Perhaps I just expected too much for my $50,000. Tom

AV8TR, if you had the problem with both the old and new tires, it's not likely to be the tires that are at fault. Alignment is critical on the RX400h. I had mine aligned by my dealer and it made a considerable difference. Tom

Well said, MadloR. As an engineer, the UOA stuff is interesting. But it's a rare Lexus owner who is going to crawl under his car, remove an access panel, draw a sample of oil (I don't even know how to accomplish this without making a complete mess), reinstall the access panel, find a company to do the UOA, deliver/ship the sample to them, and then act on the results. FYI, I also play on a Porsche 968 site. I haven't seen the subject of a UOA mentioned, even in a group of gearheads. (They prefer to debate oil brands and viscosities until the cows come home.) Tom

My, oh, my, some of you guys are intense. One case of several I know of: Former girlfriend, not exactly a car nut, had her oil changed at some kind of quick lube place on a fairly regular interval, didn't keep hard copies of receipts, quick lube place went out of business and hence she could not obtain oil change records after the fact, had a major engine failure 2000 miles out of her 50,000 mile warranty, failure was a broken timing belt obviously not related to lubrication, and the manufacturer flat-out refused to consider any sort of financial assistance. Sure she could sue, complain to regulatory authorities, which would have got her zip. Or she simply could have kept proof that she followed the recommended oil change intervals of her owner's manual and may have received some monetary help, particularly if those oil changes had happened at the dealer. So I'll just change my oil every 5K, keep receipts, and be fat, dumb and happy. Tom

MBurnickas, You may or not be correct about how Lexus will handle a marginal warranty claim on a vehicle that has not met the recommended oil change intervals in the manual. But for several other manufacturers you are dead wrong. I have first hand knowledge of employees, neighbors, acquaintances, etc., that have been denied expensive warranty claims because of lack of proof of oil change intervals. Tom

630, unless you have some sort of defense in mind to beat the ticket, you are probably wasting your money on an attorney. The days of cops forgetting about court dates and tickets getting dismissed are long gone. And you can hardly use your radar detector as a defense because you lied to the cop about having it. I hung out with cops in my youth. Cops are, among other things, professional witnesses. They do it many thousand of times in their lives. You won't beat them in court unless you have a real case. I'd pay the ticket and move on. Tom

Rey, I have the squirt nozzles turned sideways to spray unsuspecting pedestrians, like I did in high school. Drives 'em crazy when it rains from a clear sky. Someone....yer obsessing. Seriously, I think you would need an EPA testing facility with very controlled conditions to notice a change in MPG with different mirrors. Nothing constructive to add but too much time on my hands, I am..... Tom

Very good points, Madlo. Afterall, you have a $50,000 vehicle, so why would you save a few bucks here and there by postponing oil changes? Tom

This matter is finally resolved. I got a brand new steering wheel for no charge. But not without a great deal of time, effort and patience on my part. The lesson to be learned here, is to get EVERYTHING IN WRITING. I should have known better. Tom

I removed my roof rack last week. To date my fuel economy has pick up to around 88 mpg. But, then, I was coasting down Pikes Peak. LOL. Sorry, Rey, couldn't resist. Tom

Bob, take someone with you to help you do the initial inspection and look for flaws. And if you find any, document it. I just won a battle over a small ding in steering wheel yesterday, which began last October. Enjoy the new wheels. Tom

An aftermarket supplier of towing parts would probably do it for you. UHaul for example. Tom

Worked like a charm on my old LS400. Tom

I need the valve that sits in front of the engine with one electical connection and three coolant lines. I think it might be called the cold start valve but may be wrong. Any help? Tom

Madlo, I use the Silver Stars in my Porsche but they are VERY short-lived. Tom

Need pictures, Rya. :D Tom

Caymen, no criticism, but just wondering why you wish to disable the DRLs? I doubt that they have any noticeable effect on fuel mileage. Tom

Dave, that is exactly what the Lexus engineers told me on the early 90s about running regular in my LS400. They also pointed out that retarded timing can result in higher engine temperatures, which likely contributed to my numerous engine-related failures I experienced. The engineers were not ducking responsibility, by the way, I had an extended warranty which thankfully covered several thousand dollars in repairs. However unlikely running regular gas may be to causing future problems with my RX400h, I am not going to experiment to save perhaps $100-200 per year. Tom

I may not be an audiophile, but I have never noticed enough difference between the Levinson and standard sound system to justify the higher price. Tom

Someone, have you looked at the active ingredients in Total Hygiene to see if it can be duplicated with another product? Tom

Fred Thompson is a class act, and his Senate record has not been questioned by anyone running against him on either side of the aisle. Tom

Only customer service people can extend a simple "yes" into 160 words. :) Tom

C&D is the only car mag I take the time to read. I find it adequate to keep me informed as to what's on the road. I do think that many of their writers are engineers. I also enjoy their wit and columns. The comparison tests often leave me cold as I don't really care how they rank various cars as much as simply reporting on them. It would be cool if they would retest a hybrid with respect to battery charge and/or battery "participation" for acceleration testing. The fuel tank comment was meant to address reduced vehicle weight with an empty tank and yes, Billy Barty's car was always a bit faster. Tom

I'd vote for Hitler before I would vote for Hillary. Tom