Jim Clark

That was our choice as well, 400h or Highlander. The memory settings was probably the deciding factor and the Lexus is fancier. If you price a loaded Highlander Limited, it's only $3-4k less than the Lexus. Get the Lexus.

Great model year end (2007 model) or great 2007 calender year end (2008 model)? You'll love the car, excellent ride, good power, superior creature comforts and gadgets, 25+ mpg (we've been seeing 27), and we're being nice to the environment. In our case the wife gets to use the HOV lanes in her commute which is the real reason for the hybrid.

400h is in high demand in the DC area as they can use the HOV lanes. Not much off new ones and used ones with reasonable miles are holding their prices really well, too well actually, which is why we bought new. It's a really nice vehicle, we love ours. My wife's commute using the HOV has been really painless. AND, we've been getting 27 MPG.

Guess I need to clarify my post. I appreciate good low end in my sound system, in the car or at home (I have a very nice subwoofer in my family room). "Most" people who install serious subwoofers in their cars are teenagers who blast them to levels that create serious noise pollution, annoy drivers around them, and permanently damage their hearing. I am not ignorant regarding sound systems. KMA!!! Need a definition for that?

Thanks for your valuable contribution to this thread. I though reminding people who blast the bass that they are destroying their hearing (and they truly are) was a valuable contribution.

That's some bad luck, especially the cat. I assume you looked at the tires and confirmed they needed to be replaced. I'm sure you could have done better on price than the stealership. The required front plate bracket isn't their fault. They didn't steal the cat and OEM cats are wicked expensive. There are aftermarket cats that are WAY less expensive but I don't know if there's a suitable replacement for the 400h. The $150 to lube the bushings seems excessive. When you find out the cost for carrying a $0 deductible, you might change your mind.

People that have the bass blasting at extreme levels are obnoxious and they are destroying their hearing.

It works OK in our '08 400h. Although, it is a bit cumbersome. Hit the button, say dial by name, hit the button and say the name, hit the phone off hook button and it dials. The speakerphone works REALLY well, the best I've ever seen/heard in a car. It's also real clear on the other end.

I never felt like I would lose control, and as I said, I didn't let up. It was just a momentary bit of slippage but it surprised me a little. I knew it would never be anything close to the Audi in handling but I am surprised that it compares favorably in the power dept. The Audi Quattro AWD system, which is as good as it gets, steals a LOT of crank HP. I'll have to give it a real test the next time we get some slippery stuff. It's the wife's car (I'm jealous) and she drives like a little old lady so it should be fine. Good size 4000 lb SUV with plenty of power, 27 mpg, super low emissions, really nice ride, and great creature comforts.....that's a winning combination!

Have been taking it relatively easy on the new 400h until it gets at least 1-2k miles on it. But today I was entering a highway and noticed a car coming up the right lane pretty fast (I hate people who cruise the right lane on a 3+ lane highway with lots of exits), I punched it and went from about 35 to 70 really quick with the car pushing me back in my seat. I was impressed. We traded a 340hp Audi V8 on the 400h, so I was used to having plenty of reserve power available. What did not impress me was I could feel the front wheels lose some traction as I punched it (road was a little wet). Either the traction control or the rear wheel electric motor kicked in and stopped it, I didn't let up. The Audi never would have done that, I could barely get the Audi to spin on snow and ice. To call our cars all wheel drive is a stretch. I think of it is a front wheel drive with occasional rear wheel assist. Another impressive thing is that we're averaging 27 mpg on our 2nd tank of gas (according the the consumption computer).

We've only had our 400h for about two weeks. Have not seen anything like that. Definitely sounds like there's something wrong with yours and it needs to go to the dealer.

That's by no means the only thing GM has done, to fake their mileage into looking better. Consider, "Flex fuel" ... E-85, Corn. Grain alcohol. It actually gets worse MPG than gasoline. Don't even get me started on how much polution goes into refining E-85. The regulating agency here in CA (california air resource boad ... or CARB) for purposes of calculating MPG, only requires "gasoling" to be figured into the MPG formula. So by mixing the alcohol (for easy math example, say it's mixed 50/50 ) fuel with gasoline, a SUV that only got 18mpg NOW gets 36mpg ... because they only count the gasoline in the gallon of 'fuel' !! So you make flex fuel SUV's .... sell and lease the Flex Fuel vehicles as Fleet vehicles to major corporations (like Disney that I work for ... they have DOZENS of Flex Fuel TAHOES, Silverados etc) and that artificially pumps the stated mpg's way up. And sice it's flex fuel, you don't even have to use E-85. And who would want to? ... because it gets worse mpg ! ! (shaking head) OK, back on topic ... sorry for getting off topic. About 30 or 40 posts ago I inquired here about putting in an override light switch, so I could not only run without the HID's ... but even the running lights. I never mentioned the current draw, but yea, that too was in the back of my mind. A bypass switch can be a wonderful thing to increase (ever so small) MPG :^) Ethanol is one of the biggest scams ever. Corn farmers are laughing all the way to the bank. There is NO environmental benefit. It is complete BS.

Agree. Excellent post by crabman. The way I read it, there's no economic benefit to premium and no real power benefit. What about engine health? Does premium help prevent carbon build-up? Are there ANY benefits to premium?

Interesting info, thanks for posting. How does the Optima compare to the OEM batteries in cranking amps, etc? AND, does it matter? I'm still somewhat confused about the electrical system in our cars. The "drive" batteries charge the starter battery? Is there no alternator? Apparently there's a generator powered by the gas engine to the front electric motor that provides charge to the "drive" batteries (and the regenerative braking thingy, I have NO idea how that works)? Could someone provide a real simple non-engineer's explanation of our system? AND, is there a real benefit to a stronger starter battery? I can't imagine it would hurt.

I think the main reason the gas engine is on so much during warm-up is just that, it's warming up so it can provide heat to the cabin. I expect it will run somewhat less in the summer. With a 3.5 mile commute, even if you only get 14 MPG, over the course of a year it ain't squat. If they had a "switch" which allowed us to govern the use of the electric hybrid drive, most people would abuse it by trying to push MPG to unrealistic levels and would damage the hybrid/electric drive system. We're driving a 4000 lb SUV with a darn good amount of power. An average of 25+ MPG (for most people) is a huge improvement over any of the competition. AND our emission levels are almost nothing.

The MXV4 S8's came stock on our '08 400h. I haven't noticed any excessive road noise from them. Actually, this is the quietest car we've ever owned, especially at highway cruising speeds. Ride seems fine, but the 400h rides much smoother than the Audi S6 we traded, the Audi had a very firm sport suspension.

All-electric, plug-in vehicles are not "greener" than our hybrids. Most electricity is created from carbon emitting power plants, most of those are coal burning. So if you think that plug-in electric vehicle has zero emissions, think again.

The 400h will never average 37 mpg. Most owners report 25 mpg average. That's pretty good for a mid-size SUV (darn good for a large mid-size at that).

Call the dealer or Lexus USA and ask a tech rep. Because our vehicles are somewhat unique, there may not be one available that would work.

I don't think that is correct. I believe it would only drain the starter battery. Again, call a dealer or Lexus USA and ask a tech rep.

Although the 25 amps seems like a small amount, what little I've read so far leads me to believe these cars and their "small" 12 volt batteries are "sensitive" to any abnormalities. I would email or call Lexus USA and ask a tech rep if it's OK.

If your Turanzas are truly a "summer" tire, their rubber compounds are not designed for cold weather. Handling and ride, even in dry conditions, will suffer in the cold, could be dangerous in cold/wet combination. If you want to run the same tires all year, there are excellent all-season options which will probably be as good as the Turanzas all year and much better in the winter. Also, probably no need for the chains. Which Turanza do you have? They make A/S models.

The MB diesels are impressive, you can't tell you're driving a diesel. Audi also has excellent diesels (TDI's), they're just beginning to bring them to the US, they're the engine of choice in Europe. Their race cars using the TDI engines win ALL the endurance races like LeMans and Daytona. A good buddy has a AMG ML, it's an impressive vehicle with 500hp, obviously one doesn't care about gas mileage with that beast. As stated, in our area, RX's are everywhere, they outnumber BMW's and MB's (combined) by a large margin. The Germans have gotten their butts kicked by Lexus in nearly every category. Our Audi S6 (an impressive wagon with tons of power and great handling) was traded on the 400h. The 400h doesn't have the power or handling of the S6 (which can only be used on a track unless you want jail time) but it's way more comfy.

Toyota/Lexus is way ahead of the competition with 6 current offerings. Honda only has the Civic, they dropped the Insight and Accord. Mazda (Ford) has the Tribute. Ford has the Escape and Mercury Mariner. Nissan has the Altima. Toyota seems way ahead on the technology curve. It also appears their technology is standing the test of time. They've had many hybrids on the road since the 2004 model year (sometime in 2003, that's 4+ years) and I haven't heard of any significant problems with the system. I see tons of Prius's on the road in this area and a lot of RX buyers are opting for the 400h, used ones don't last on the lot for more than a week and they hold their value so well we opted for a new one. The service manager at a huge local Porsche/Audi dealership drives a Prius, I believe it's primarily so he can use the HOV lanes. It appears the Germans don't even have viable concept vehicles yet.

:o :cries: :snoooorrrtttt: :chairshot: