lmarie

Totally agree....no reason to pay big $$'s for a oil change. I remember awhile back I had my 05 RX330 in for warped rotors (covered under warranty) and asked Lexus to rotate my tires. They wanted to charge me something like $80 bucks....just to rotate the tires. I went to my local Firestone and they did it for me for $15. I took mine into Les Scwab and asked what they'd charge to do a tire rotation. They said they'd do it no charge for me as a complimentary service.

Mine came on the other day when I went skiing. We checked all the pressures were good. Noticed it was close to needing a tire rotation, so I took my car into Les Schwab and they did the rotation. Warning light was off after that, not sure if Schwab did anything special to make the light go off or if just rotating the tires did the trick.

How much were you charged for the installation?

I got 2 very similar to the one pictured above at Costco for less than $20 for the pair.

Please post how the installation goes and how well the unit works. Will the new lockpick also allow you to plug an ipod into the car audio?

Anyone know of any certified 3M clear bra installers around Chico, Ca? I already checked the 3M site for installers, but I don't think that info is totally up-to-date. I called a couple who no longer do it or are not in the location the 3M site says they are. Anyway, thought maybe someone on the group may have used someone in my area.

I'm glad you're happy with your MDX. I think you described the difference in ride well. MDX is a sportier ride, while Lexus is a cushier, smoother ride. Only other thing I'd add is Lexus may have a bit of a hesitation on acceleration as compared to the MDX. Ultimately it came down to cost for me, when I added it all up, I felt like Acura was taking me to the cleaners, especially with that ridiculous tow hitch charge.

I have a Treo 700p with Verizon. I'd read that it was unsupported on the RX 350 so I didn't expect it to work. But it set up quickly and easily and so far (all 3 days I've owned the car) it's worked perfectly. I leave the phone in my purse and make handsfree calls, I'm loving it.

Can you search for POIs and add destinations while driving using the voice commands? If I could do that, I wouldn't need to override the lockout.

I just got my RX 350, looking through the Navigation book there's a setting option to turn off Voice Recognition Guidance. I haven't tried it but it I'm understanding it correctly, this would turn off what you refer to as the "annoyingly long voice instructions". I don't think you have to dig out your physical phone to send a tone (ref your comment about voicemail etc..). Again, I haven't tried it yet but on page 117 of the Navigation Owner's Manual is says after making a call you send a tone by: You: push the talk switch System: say numbers, pound, or star You: "1234" System: "1234" push the talk switch You: push the talk switch System: Send? say yes or no: You: Yes System: sending Does seem too long to get the tone entered in time but maybe it's faster if you turn off the voice recognition guidance and you memorize the sequence.

I decided to buy the RX 350 after considering the new MDX. I picked up my new RX last Friday. this is my first post to the group and I'm afraid it's gonna be kinda long (what a way to get acquainted) Contrary to what someone else said, I found that you get more for your money with the RX than the MDX. The Acura dealers I spoke to were sticking to MSRP on the MDX, I was able to negotiate lower than MSRP on my RX. Besides that, several things are dealer accessories on the MDX that were included on my RX. Some of those include body side molding ($495) cargo cover ($195), roof rails ($495), wheel locks ($115). Acura charged for the items plus installation so the items cost a lot more than they were listed for on Acura's website. When I was done adding up the all accessories I'd need it was well over $2K, not including the items below. I agree with the person that said fake wood on an MDX is inexcusable. Also the backup camera on the Lexus is in color, while the Acrua is b&w. I got a set of all season mats for the Lexus, front and back seat for $99. Acura wanted $195, $60 of which was installation! Acura wants $991 to put on a tow hitch, Lexus is doing mine for $500. Acura has to replace the rear bumper to put on the tow hitch. The tow hitch wasn't even available for months after the car was released, it's like it was an afterthought and not considered in the initial design. Let's talk about the power lift gate which is included on the RX. The only way to get it on the MDX is to buy the entertainment package which adds over $2K to the cost. I think that was a blunder on Acura's part. They took too long to add the power lift gate and then they packaged it to make the cost exorbitant. I read reviews of the Lexus and Acura on http://auto.consumerguide.com. For fuel economy it said of the Acura: "Test MDX averaged 15.5 mpg. Acura recommends premium-grade fuel", and of the Lexus: "Test AWD RX 350 averaged 19.1 mpg overall, 21.9 mpg in mostly highway driving". Based on all that, I decided there's more value in the Lexus than the Acura. I liked the look of the MDX when i first saw it, but the more I looked at it the less I liked the front-end. I don't care for the grill (my DH says it looks too much like a PT Cruiser) and the big black plastic front bumper. I prefer the MDX dash to the Lexus. I did think the MDX was comfortable and liked the handling of the car, but again the sport handling is another $2K addition. I'm perfectly happy with the comfort and handling of my new RX. I've had the Acura navigation system in my old car (Honda Accord) for 2 years and I also have a Denso nav system in my other car ('91 MR2) so I'm very familiar with both of them. The Denso in my other car is an after market system and does not have the lockout, it's fully functional while driving. Between the two, the Denso is the better system. The screens are more intuitive and I can find my POI's much faster on the Denso than the Honda system. I like the audible cue (two chimes) when you reach a turning point, Honda doesn't have that. The Denso touch screen is better than the Acura joystick for the navigation. The joystick navigation on the Acura is not intuitive. Lots of times you need to turn the joystick like a knob when you'd expect to push it left/right/up/down. You'd have to go try it to know what I mean. I'm sure you'd get used to it, but touch screen is easier and faster. I still think the Honda is one of the best nav systems, I just prefer the Denso. The lockout on the Lexus is an issue, I don't think they should do that. I'll have to see how much it bothers me and if someone figures out a hack. My experience with the Honda voice recognition system was that 98% of the time it did NOT properly recognize the voice command when given correctly. So that also differs from what other people are saying. We used to use it as a joke, issue a command and wait to see what it'd do instead of what we wanted. So far, my Lexus voice recognition has worked perfectly; for the 2 1/2 days I've had it :-) I'm very happy I decided on the RX.