NeoN

im 22 and i make around 55k a year, but i live at home so i have no expenses :) love the lex

This is going to be my first SUV I Purchase. The car i drive now is a Turbo G35 Coupe with Heavy Mods. And i am just getting tired of the headache (if your a mod head you understand) and just the hassel from the cops and what not.

I totally understand, i have a highly modded supra twin turbo. You'll be pleased with the rx400h,but the handling sucks, i would consider buying a used one and dropping some lowering springs on it, then you'd be good

1,500 miles and loving every minute of it, great cruising car

you can get an e-ram for an extra 5% hp increase... www.e-ram.com i think.

you can get a custom turbo kit built for about 10k which would be absolutely amazing

She looks gorgeous! I love it!!!

40-series on an SUV???? Be prepared for a kidney-pulverizing ride!!!!

lol the suspension is so soft im not too worried. I ride with 285/30 on my supra and its not bad at all since I have the in-car shock stiffness control :)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...sid=p2759.l1259

I just found 22" wheels on an RX400h!!! 265/35 tires, wow this blows a hole wide open in my search now I can probably fit 275/40/20 on my car if i tried and the 22's cost $500 to ship in the auction so forget about that but 22's on an RX, wow!!

Just replaced my Goodyear factory tires (got 35K out of them) with the Bridgestone Alenzas (235/55/18). Had them in play for the last two months in what has been Chicago's 9th worst winter. Lots of snow and ice. Observations - on dry pavement performance/handling equal to or slightly better than the OE Goodyear Tires. Mileage about the same - maybe slightly better. However, when on wet pavement the tires stick like glue. In snow up to 10" the RX400h didn't even hesitate - just went right on through. Got out of my driveway after the plows put more snow on it that the weather without a loss of traction. Braking and acceleration were as close to normal as you could reasonably expect in snow. On ice - I actually had some traction. In a word - terrific. No regrets.

No complaints on the the RX400h AWD system either - winter or summer. We rent a house in Michigan in the summer with a driveway made of semi loose asphalt that has at least a 45 degree slope - maybe more. It requires a 90 degree left turn about a third of the way up so you have to slow down. Every year it's a crap shoot whether the rental car will make it to the top at least once so we can unload and again to pack up. Last summer, the 400h, even with the OE Goodyears made it up without even a strain. This year with the Alenzas, it should be even easier.

thats great to hear, i just wish lexus would listen up and give us the alenzas as a factory option instead of the garbage good years and michilens

the RX400h comes with 18" wheels stock...

17" wheels with a taller sidewall/smaller width would be better for snow, as they have more give/flex for the snow, less of a contact patch to plow through the heavy snow,

tirerack.com has a good article on tirepressure vs hydroplaning,

Most drivers realize that tire load capacity is determined by tire size and inflation pressure. Larger tires and higher inflation pressures provide more load capacity, while smaller tires and lower tire pressures provide less.

An underinflated tire will tend to wear the shoulder areas of the tread faster than the center. This is because there is insufficient air pressure to allow the center of the tread to carry its fair share of the weight. A correctly inflated tire receives appropriate support from the contained air pressure to provide an even distribution of load across the footprint. And while most drivers recognize that this has a significant impact on tire wear, rolling resistance and durability, only a few realize it also has a noticeable influence on how effectively the tires can resist hydroplaning to maintain wet traction.

As they taught us in physics class, you can compress and move a gas quite easily, but you cannot compress liquids and it requires significant energy to move them. Our tires easily push air around and through their tread designs as they roll. However, when water pools in highway ruts and builds up on the road surface during rainstorms, the vehicle's speed and weight, as well as the tires' tread designs, tread depths and evenness of their footprint pressures determines if and when the tires will be forced to hydroplane.

One of the ways tire manufacturers evaluate their products' hydroplaning and wet traction effectiveness is by driving them over a glass plate covered with a specific depth of water. The water is dyed for better visibility and to allow high-speed cameras in underground rooms to photograph the tires from below. Michelin has provided several photographs of its HydroEdge premium All-Season tire to help illustrate this tech feature.

View larger The first photograph shows a tire properly inflated to 35 psi sitting still in the water on the glass plate. This provides an accurate idea of the tire's footprint size and shape.

The black area is where the tire's rubber compound is pressed on the glass, and the green areas identify water in the tire's circumferential and high-angle lateral grooves, and on the remainder of the glass plate.

A properly inflated tire will have enough pressure in the center of its tread to resist collapsing.

View larger The next picture is of a tire properly inflated to 35 psi, driving across the glass at 60 miles per hour. If the glass plate were dry, the footprint size would be virtually identical to the first picture because air does not prevent the tread from contacting the plate. However with standing water on the plate, the tire's tread depth and tread design must evacuate the water as the tire rolls across the plate at 88 feet per second. You will notice that the footprint still shows good contact with the plate, but is slightly smaller than the static tire's footprint.

A tire that is slightly underinflated will apply less pressure to the center of the tread and it will become slightly concave.

View larger The next picture is of a tire inflated to only 30 psi, again driving across the glass at 60 miles per hour. With the same amount of standing water on the plate, the center of the tire's tread is lifted as the tread design unsuccessfully attempts to evacuate water as the tire rolls across the plate. You will notice that the actual footprint shows poor contact with the plate and is significantly smaller than the footprint in the photograph of the properly inflated tire.

A tire that is significantly underinflated will allow the center of the tread to collapse and become very concave, trapping water rather than flowing it through the tread design.

View larger The final picture is of a tire inflated to only 25 psi, driving across the glass plate at 60 miles per hour. With the same amount of standing water, the water lifts the center of the tire's tread as its footprint rolls across the plate. You will notice that the actual footprint shows little contact with the plate and has been virtually reduced to the shoulder areas.

Members of The Tire Rack team had the chance to experience the effects of air pressure on wet performance at Michelin's Laurens Proving Grounds. Drivers were given the opportunity to compare identical cars on a wet-handling course with the exception of one car having four properly inflated tires (35 psi) and the other car having significantly underinflated tires on the rear axle (25 psi).

While driving at the edge of a tire's ability in wet conditions is challenging, the car with the properly inflated tires provide handling that was predictable. Driving the car with the underinflated rear tires proved to be much more difficult to drive and forced the driver to slow down to retain control, producing lap times that were several seconds slower than the properly inflated car.

While tire manufacturers can develop tires with great hydroplaning resistance and wet traction, poor maintenance of tire inflation pressures can make a great tire awful.

Adjust your tire pressures as indicated on the vehicle tire placard or in the owner's manual. Check your inflation pressures at least once a month and before highway trips.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=3

Actually, disconnecting the battery does not entirely stop it's discharge. Lead-acid batteries self-discharge at a considerably higher rate than one might expect. You will get longer battery life by keeping it fully charged with a trickle charger.

Tom

I agree. Many Corvette guys store their cars for the winter and most use trickle-chargers. They are perfectly safe as long as they are set up correctly. I'd say anything beyond 2 weeks is reason to use one.

yea but you can't use a trickle charger when your parked at an airport. I have trickle charger for my supra as I don't drive it much throughout the winter but the lexus should be fine sitting in the airport for over 2 weeks

ive done this a bunch of times. Yes you'll lose your seat settings but big deal just hit the save seat 1 when you start up the car again, therefore you'll only lose seat setting number 2. none of the remote settings need to re-programed but you have to move the windows up and down from each seat (to get the rear right window to work, you have to sit in the seat and use the button on the door all the way up and down once, in order for it to be re-initialized and work from the drivers seat window buttons. they are just trying to scare you so don't worry

if your worried at all just disconnect the negative/pos cables before you leave the car and you'll never have to worry while your gone.

no I totally understand, im looking to purchase 20 x 8.5" wheels so it can easily support 255/40/20 tires, however if I can squeeze 275/40/20 on the rim I would love the extra traction. Anyone think an extra 20mm tire would fit?

It would likely stick out past the fenders, based on what I see on my car. Here are a couple of crappy pics I took with my cell phone camera of my car (on the left) with 255/55/18's and another RX with stock 235/55/18's. You can see that the 255's come pretty close to the edge of the fenders, especially in the front.

thanks for the pics. I can see what your saying, how the sidewall sticks out and is extremely close to the fender, im thinking a tire any taller than a 255/55/18 is not a good idea, but 20mm wider I might be able to squeeze out if it is distributed evenly... half (10mm) on the outside fender, half of the 10mm on the inside fender, you get what im saying right? the only thing im worried about is that my wider rim is tucked under my fender more and might rub with the inside of the suspension. I'm not too worried about the tire sticking out but I guess i'll have to compare how the wheel fits with a +35 offset.

These tires are wider and larger than the OEM tires and due to suspension geometry there was some interference when installing them.

The rear tire rubs against one of the screw heads the secure the plastic fender well lining. This only temporary as when weight is put on the suspension, the tire quickly moves out and up, away from the interference. So, unless I become airborne, this is not an issue.

The clearance behind the tire to the rear shock tower is tight. Any mud or snow that attach's to the tire will definitely be scraped off by the tower. There is NO room for rear chains, but that is true of the OEM tires as well.

I have also noticed that when turning lock to lock going forward I can hear a slight bit of rubbing. It only seems to be on the drivers side when turning left, but that could be unique to my car's assembly tolerances. The rubbing seems to be with a bit of plastic that extends down from the plastic fender well liner. Not a concern.

So your saying, 255/55/18 is the biggest size you could fit under your RX? is the tire too tall or too wide? would a 255/50 fit better than your 255/55? If your indicating it rubs up against the plastic it seems like your tire is far too tall. I'm assuming I could go with a wider tire but not as tall as yours since im interested in getting 20s on my RX to stiffen up the handling quite a bit.

I'd agree with Skyfish that there's no room for anything taller than a 255/55/18 in the fenderwell, but I haven't experienced any rubbing with my 255/55 Alenzas. A 255/50 would have a bit more clearance, and would be identical diameter to the factory 235/55 so there wouldn't be any increase in speedo error, but there are only two tires made in a 255/50 that I could find. They are both Pirelli and they are both supposedly summer performance tires so they didn't meet my needs. Also, on a 7" wide rim, the 255/55's have a fair bit of sidewall angling to fit on the narrow rim (this size is supposed to be on an 8" rim) and the shop had a bit of a hard time getting the bead to pop into position, so a 255/50 would likely be even harder to get on that rim (just speculation on my part). No idea what effect, if any, this would have on driveability.

no I totally understand, im looking to purchase 20 x 8.5" wheels so it can easily support 255/40/20 tires, however if I can squeeze 275/40/20 on the rim I would love the extra traction. Anyone think an extra 20mm tire would fit?

These tires are wider and larger than the OEM tires and due to suspension geometry there was some interference when installing them.

The rear tire rubs against one of the screw heads the secure the plastic fender well lining. This only temporary as when weight is put on the suspension, the tire quickly moves out and up, away from the interference. So, unless I become airborne, this is not an issue.

The clearance behind the tire to the rear shock tower is tight. Any mud or snow that attach's to the tire will definitely be scraped off by the tower. There is NO room for rear chains, but that is true of the OEM tires as well.

I have also noticed that when turning lock to lock going forward I can hear a slight bit of rubbing. It only seems to be on the drivers side when turning left, but that could be unique to my car's assembly tolerances. The rubbing seems to be with a bit of plastic that extends down from the plastic fender well liner. Not a concern.

So your saying, 255/55/18 is the biggest size you could fit under your RX? is the tire too tall or too wide? would a 255/50 fit better than your 255/55? If your indicating it rubs up against the plastic it seems like your tire is far too tall. I'm assuming I could go with a wider tire but not as tall as yours since im interested in getting 20s on my RX to stiffen up the handling quite a bit.

Welcome! Hope you can find our forums of use,

I have said in many posts here that Lexus's customer treatment is light years behind that you get from BMW or MB along with imperfect electrical design (I'm not talking about hybrid part of the system)

this sounds like a story from MB not a lexus. MB is terrible customer service along with all the german junkmobiles on the road.

Yes, I would buy it again. Why? because I love it. That's it. Rey

wonderful! I totally agree

fellas...we don't need to turn this thread into a 10-15 year ownership, lifespan of the batteries, blah blah blah.. :chairshot: please... its a LEXUS!! The car is going to last longer than you will probably own it for, so what is there to worry about?

It was a simple question. Given the cars available RIGHT NOW, would you purchase an RX400h again, yes or no, and why,

You found an extra-great dealership, mind machine.

Regarding supposed 13,000 intervals between oil changes. I spoke to the manager of a German vehicle-only repair facility. He told me that the problem with Mercedes is that they (and BMW) cover oil changes at that mileage as part of a "One requirement fits all" policy. He went on to say that many owners should be changing their oil more frequently due to their driving habits. Hence, he's seen engines that failed very prematurely because of lack of maintenance. Yes, if you drive under ideal conditions, you may be able to get away with 13,000 miles between oil changes, but unless you know your oil is still okay, blindly following MB or BMW's free change warranty is not a good idea.

exactly, I use mobil 1 fully synthetic 10-W30 and the highest quality oil filters on my supra, and I change the oil every 2000 miles!!! 13k? thats ridiclious, unless your looking to ruin your engine. Then again, your engine doesn't make over 150 hp/liter

If you're changing the oil with full synthetic every 2k miles, you're just wasting money. You can easily go 6-10k with Mobil 1. I use Amsoil in my Bimmer and go 10k. An Amsoil dealer told me I was wasting money doing it every 10k.

you obviously have no idea how a turbocharged car works. My turbo's only protection against seizure is oil, so im going to change my oil as often as possible. besides I run insane amount of boost that doesn't really help either,.

You found an extra-great dealership, mind machine.

Regarding supposed 13,000 intervals between oil changes. I spoke to the manager of a German vehicle-only repair facility. He told me that the problem with Mercedes is that they (and BMW) cover oil changes at that mileage as part of a "One requirement fits all" policy. He went on to say that many owners should be changing their oil more frequently due to their driving habits. Hence, he's seen engines that failed very prematurely because of lack of maintenance. Yes, if you drive under ideal conditions, you may be able to get away with 13,000 miles between oil changes, but unless you know your oil is still okay, blindly following MB or BMW's free change warranty is not a good idea.

exactly, I use mobil 1 fully synthetic 10-W30 and the highest quality oil filters on my supra, and I change the oil every 2000 miles!!! 13k? thats ridiclious, unless your looking to ruin your engine. Then again, your engine doesn't make over 150 hp/liter

oil changes are peanuts. How can you expect to only pay $2,000 for repairs for 100,000 miles?? You realize there are loads of things NOT covered under warranties, like labor, misc parts, tires, normal wear and tear that german cars seem to exhibit much more than lexus'. By the way, we have electric steering, NO P/S, regenerative brakes that last 100k + miles. Brakes on my ML500 cost me almost $2k for all rotors/pads/install and that was at a local shop not the dealer! Things like a broken window motor ($500) and a broken sunroof motor ($500) all add up quickly. I would love to compare the ownership costs from a RX400h to a ML500 over the 7 year lifespan. I'll put down money that the Lexus is far less costly to own than a ML500, not to mention almost double the gas mileage. My ML500 got 13-14 mpg the way I drove, my lexus gets 21-22 and its not even broken in yet

Minor, you say? Let's see... at $200 every 5K miles, that works out to $4,000 in oil changes over 100K miles (not counting the cost of the synthetic oil itself if I want to upgrade over what Lexus installs). $200 every 13K miles for the MBZ works out to $1,600 over that same timeframe, and Mobil1 is included. That's a $2,400 difference. More than enough to cover that brake service.

All the other stuff you mention- window motors, sunroofs, etc are ALL covered (including labor, loaner car, towing if needed) under the bumper to bumper extended warranty. Even the nav system and all electronics. So yes, I'm pretty confident that any needed repairs won't cost me anything out of pocket. Consumables, on the other hand, cost money but that's par for the course with either car. Go read the threads about the crappy Goodyear tires on the RX and then tell the folks that had to replace their tires after 13K miles that their RX is cheaper to maintain. As far as the comparison between the ML500's gas mileage vs the RX... not sure what that has to do with anything. Maybe if you compare it to the LX470 that might be more appropriate.

$200 for an oil change? are you nuts? I get three free oil changes from the dealer then change the oil myself after the warranty is up (50k miles) an oil change on my own is $35 at most lol.

That is so interesting! Thanks for the lesson, now it makes perfect sense. Rey

hope that helped Rey, everything is working great so far. I'll let everyone know if I run into any problems with my dual battery setup.

by the way, battery isolators are popular among truckers that like to run microwaves/heaters without killing their starter battery.

Actually, the NiMH batteries in the RX are good for 150,000 miles according to Toyota's extensive testing. That's significantly more than 5 years worth of driving for most people. During the time it takes to accumulate that many miles, the repair bills for MBs, VWs, Audis, and even BMWs would be exponetially higher than that of any Lexus. Keep any of these German cars long enough and you would know.

Certainly the batteries may "live" for that long, but they will be operating at far less than their original rated capacity. That's just a fact of all lithium-based batteries.

As far as repair costs go, I know that repairs for our MBZ will cost us exactly $2,000 for 7 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first (we bought the extended warranty). After that, it's sold and we're on to a new car. Anyhow, my prior comment wasn't about repair costs, but rather merely stating that projected fuel economy of an RX should go down as battery capacity diminishes with age.

While we're on the topic of costs to the consumer, here's another little pet peeve of mine. Why is it that MBZ's come from the factory with Mobil1 synthetic, and their recommended oil change interval is 13K miles, while Lexus come from the factory with conventional oil and their oil change interval is 5K miles? Even if I convert my RX to Mobil1 (which I have) I still need to change the oil every 5K miles or risk voiding the warranty for not following service interval guidance? How about we calculate the cost to the consumer of having to change your oil 2.5X as often in order to maintain the warranty?

oil changes are peanuts. How can you expect to only pay $2,000 for repairs for 100,000 miles?? You realize there are loads of things NOT covered under warranties, like labor, misc parts, tires, normal wear and tear that german cars seem to exhibit much more than lexus'. By the way, we have electric steering, NO P/S, regenerative brakes that last 100k + miles. Brakes on my ML500 cost me almost $2k for all rotors/pads/install and that was at a local shop not the dealer! Things like a broken window motor ($500) and a broken sunroof motor ($500) all add up quickly. I would love to compare the ownership costs from a RX400h to a ML500 over the 7 year lifespan. I'll put down money that the Lexus is far less costly to own than a ML500, not to mention almost double the gas mileage. My ML500 got 13-14 mpg the way I drove, my lexus gets 21-22 and its not even broken in yet

Actually, the NiMH batteries in the RX are good for 150,000 miles according to Toyota's extensive testing. That's significantly more than 5 years worth of driving for most people. During the time it takes to accumulate that many miles, the repair bills for MBs, VWs, Audis, and even BMWs would be exponetially higher than that of any Lexus. Keep any of these German cars long enough and you would know.

good point. Once you reach 75k miles, owning a german car gets extremely expensive with all the servicings/rebuilding involved, under warranty a german car might not be too much of a hassle or cost to own $$ but once everything starts breaking, the japanese car is just getting broken in at 75k miles. All toyotas are made to last at least 200k miles if im not mistaken. German cars usually only last 75k miles until things start to go wrong (transmission, electrical problems, malfunctions, etc).