SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME

Just because the service was junk, the car is bad? We used to have the E300. It was very nice, but BOTH the service joints we took it to were HORRIBLE. It didn't make the care horrible. We just took it to an independent shop after that, and because of that. .

(shaking head)

Me? ... oh no ... I don't have one ... I meant you're likely the only 600h owner here on the board as they're very uncommon ... something like 20,000 world wide.

You mean there may be another 600h on this board? Anyway, congratulations on your purchase of a very fine ride ... as few & far between as they are.

Go here: http://www.elearnaid.com/12vo1topraub.html Then buy it. do it now Is that direct enough? :P

Welcome! Here you go: http://www.coastaletech.com/BLUE_lockpick1.htm click on the video at the bottom of the page for a demonstration my wife loves our Lexus 400h with this hack enjoy ~

It's not just ice on hills. Snow tires help in MANY other situations. Example: On the way to Glacier Int. Airport late at night to pick me up, a drunk crossed the ice covered highway. Had she not been equipped with the snow tires, she'd have killed the guy & smoked the entire front of the 400h ... not to mention the emotions of the experience ... as it was, she was still horribly shaken. The additional examples are endless. So use your own discretion ... as it turns on how much snow / ice you drive on. as for other solutions ... did you read my prior post?

I too, found it hard to tell if the auto tint is working. Try this: Bring a small hand held vanity mirror with you. When you see someone whose obviously got their brights on (the entire cab lights up) ... look into your hand held mirror, then compare/contrast with your rear view mirror. It's pretty obvious, once you have a regular mirror to compare to. .

+1 just yesterday at a CA grocery store, I parked next to the 2010RX hybrid. I'll be at least another year though before I spot one in the wild of MT. That's how long it took (1yr) after we got our '06.

Certainly battery efficiency (all kinds) will decrease in colder weather ... especially sub zero. Thus, it'll be more likely your traction pack will be low ... not dangerously low ... but it'll be less. In that scenerio, your ICE will divert more HP to bring back charge levels. With less power going to forward movement, you can notice less power ... especially if your stomping harder on the pedal than us hyper milers. That why you'll here the ICE rev high. You're getting NO help from the pack, and less ICE to move forward. .

Even if/when the battery screen is full green, the battery is still not full. By not designing the system to charge to the max (instead, only to about 80% of full capacity) Toyota is able to meet 100K mile warranty mandates (150K in some states). Not maxing the traction pack's charges means your pack will have an incredable life expectancy. Same is true when the screen appears fully BLANK/empty. There'll still be 20% battery capacity left that the ECU's will not allow to be discharged. Aren't you glad though? The traction pack is where you get starting power ... and it'd be a drag for you to loose the last 20% because you couldn't start the ICE. Btw, all you need to do if you really really want to see a full green screen, is find a nice, long, steep hill. Riding the brake on the way down will do it in quick order. I see it each time we cross the contenental divide. The quirky issue is that once the battery gets to where you see fully green on the screen, your hybrid will actually waste electric energy by forcing discharg. So it looks cool to see fully green, but you're electricity generation is waste in that rare scenerio. That's how the system fully protects itself from overcharge ... which happens once it goes over 80% charged.

Every winter this topic comes up ... and every winter both "sides" come out of the wood work, swinging, "this car is JUNK in the snow/ice" while the other side says, "you don't know what you're talking about, and don't know how to drive in snow" ... which in return gets a, "I've driven ICE in 40 below so YOU don't know what YOU're talking about". So, then both sides quickly degrade. It's quite a POLARizing view (pun intended). There are excelent workarounds for the hsd safety feature on older hybrids, and the ECU's are set up WAY better on the Gen II RX-450h. We use studded tires from Big O on our AWD 400h, and a temporary disconect for the speed sensor. That workaround meant means we've never had an issue since. Btw, it's NOT the electric motor(s) that potentially face damage from high speed wheel spin, rather the hsd ... so you really have to be carefull if you disconect speed sensors. Here's the irony ... Toyota/Lexus comes up w/ a SUV that'll easily get 26mpg, and for some, all the way up to 30+mpg ... and what ... you think it's going do be the same as a snowcat? (shaking head :P ) sorry ... but just like everything else in life, there ARE tradeoffs. .

It aint that bad ... if you know what you're doing ... or you're excelent at following directions. I'm in the process of pulling the 280 volt dc supply into an uninteruptable power supply, to use our hybrid as a back up generator, as demonstrated here: http://www.priups.com/prius-access/the-connection.htm but using it as a power source for an ebh? That wouldn't be near as efficient as the factory OEM designed to plug into house current. Yes, use the easy plug in version. And yes, SOME canadian dealers WON'T ship to the U.S. ... but that's simply lazyness ... it's not like it's illegal ... they'd simply like to stick it to you on the install / labor fees & a cheezy $60 - $70 bucks seems to be beneith a select few. We didn't find it to be an issue though. btw, monkeying with the traction pack doesn't void your warranty by default ... only as your potential warranty repairs apply to what you mess with. Example: If your block cracked due to metal fatigued & you were messing with the traction pack ... well, they're unrelated. In other words, warranty issues only apply to what you mess with. One of our hybrids is approaching 100K miles ... so the warranty issue is moot. (and that's why I waited this long to mess with the traction pack) ;) .

check here (by phone, for quickest response): http://www.coastaletech.com/lockpick3.htm tell them what version your map data base is, and what version your hardware is (ie; the DVD reader) and they can match you up with the features you want. Our lockpick not only does away with 'I agree' ... but allows full map function access while in motion, and phone number database access and phone dialing usage on the mfd ... which is way safer than punching your tiny little phone buttons. We installed ours in less than 1 hour as a date nite project. good luck!

The is a group heavily influenced by the insurance lobby ... and the insurance industry is a trillion dollar industry. They virtually always get their way. One of their more recent pet projects for example is roof collaps strength being made greater (never mind that generally makes even MORE blind spots) than the standards already are. The insurance lobby would have all cars virtually indestructable ... that way they can charge you rates and face less risk. Their corporate leadership are the wonderful folks that denied hundred & hundreds of claims from the last hurricanes ... these are the folks that as a whole, whould rather go bankrupt for example, than pay out CA earthquake claims, and end up wealthier when they come out of bko. The state of CA had to sue the industry to get them to pay out earthquake claims. Yes, there may be more than mats at issue, but NHTSA has yet to prove anything more than the mat "excuse".

Which btw, I note the OP mentioned he's "nearing 3 years" ownership. You still have another year my friend ... your Lexus warranty runs 48 months, not 36. We waited 'till nearly the very end to buy. These folks btw, beat the dog snot out of everyone else's price: http://www.toyotaofgreenfield.com/ ya don't have to get 'em from the dealer you buy it from ;) .

Coming in at number 3: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/autos/...ient_car/3.html I saw a black one in the wild just yesterday for the first time ... it still had paper plates. Look pretty nice too. .

You MAY be turning it on just fine. However, if you STOMP on the gas (or hit it a little to hard), the car will automatically supply power from the ICE ... because you asked for that much power. Similarly, once the ICE is up & running, you can't get into EV mode agin, until ICE temps transition from S1 to S2, at the earliest. .

So what kind of nutjob car company would name a car, "Murano" ?!? Murano ... er, that's spanish for dirty, stupid, filthy pig.

Welcome Brian, Don't know about your search ... the most recent threat is only maybe 22 posts below this one: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=59420 :P Personally we like our Michelin energy treads ... but to e/ his own. !Removed! luck!

Here's one with the grill slats painted. Man ... why didn't they do it that way from the factoy. imo it's a lot more plesant look: http://i34.tinypic.com/10zqzgy.jpg oh, and I DO dig to pearl white paint job too.

Welcome Patton09, The device we used, works on both Lexus & Toyota ... you simply need to confirm it's for the right year model: http://diceelectronics.com/catalog/product...d/75/image/152/ http://priuschat.com/shop/images/ipod_page_prius.jpg They'll integrate through satelite, radio, or CD ports. I'm not an ipod person, but 'she-who-must-be-obeyed' is ... so this was the birthday present. It's made by "Dice Electronics" & there are dealers in most areas. Install was relatively easy too. Every once in a while I see 'em on sale for $129 ish. Goodluck! Edit: on the other hand, here's what some say about the Vias: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=44623

OIC ... wonder why the mods decided to seperate out just one hybrid for special treatment ... guess the rest of 'em are chopped liver? :P Make sure you let us know what you think, after the test drive. oh, I'm just evil enough to like it! Hope you don't mind if I borrow that, now & again B) .

Make sure you let us know what you think, after the test drive. oh, I'm just evil enough to like it! Hope you don't mind if I borrow that, now & again B) .

Buk, you'll be one envied guy when you get your 450h. I wish we had the dough, but the ol' 2006 will have to last a bit longer. Have you been to the Lexus web site yet to see how wide the range is on features? We're talking OVER $17,000 from the most spartan version to the most feature jam packed. Unbelievable! As for the Dealer / sales people, many don't know a hybrid from shinola. It can be quite difficult to hook up with a genuine knowledgeable person. Our local dealer just flat out lied about stuff that I knew from studying up. Good luck with that. As for synthetic, I believe the new Atkinson ICE they've incorporated into the new model takes 0W-20 ... and that's ONLY made in synthetic ... no dinosaur juice.