08rx400h

I had a total loss in a accident at other driver's fault last July. Here in Florida, the law says if the repair costs more than 80% of the current value of the vehicle, it's a total loss. Trust me, you will never get back what your car is actually worth. If your accident is caused by other driver, don't wait, hire a attorney NOW, it's vey painful to deal with insurance company by youself!

I had a chance to test drive a RX450h a month ago and got a RX350 loaner a week ago. They were not that impressive compared with RX400h and previous RX350. I will keep my RX400h for years to come!

I got almost 20K now since Nov. 2008. Now, dealer informs me while the car was in regular service that tires need to be replaced by next service (25K). Which tires are the good choices now? The ones currently on the car are Michelin Energy MXV4 S8, 235/55R18. Thanks.

Went for a test drive yesterday. So called "World's largest Lexus dealer" had only two 450h. One 2-wheel drive in the showroom and one 4-wheel drive not even for test drive (according to the sales). My wife and I took turns driving for about 5 miles each trip, and we were NOT impressed at all. With all the new technologies Lexus put into the new model, we did expect more power, more torque, but, we just did not feel that. Compared the new designs inside and out with our '08 400h, we just love ours much better. Yes, it's more fuel efficient, NAV now has HDD instead of DVD, and they are able to keep the price about the same (by offering steel rim on spare tire now goes under the trunk?), it still does not convince us to trade our '08 in. Besides, there's only limited quantiy / colors are available (the salesperson showed me there will be only 6 available this month with only 1 4-wheel drive), and there's only one option you can choose now (go check it out on Lexus website since dealer doesn't even have printed brochures). We are really kind of disappointed about the new 450h if compared to '08 400h.

On official Lexus website, there's no '09 400h. I don't know why they just skipped one year of that. Mine is a really '08 model made in '08.

Wow, thanks for taking time posting all these. I had the 12V battery replaced once and asked dealer to reset almost everything you mentioned here. Others like all the addressese / phone numbers you previously kept in the NAV would be gone, too, and dealer can't do anything about that. I am wondering if the new 450h has the solution for this since it now comes with solution. I forgot to ask about this when I went for the test drive on the 450h yesterday. 12V battery will need to be placed sooner or later, don't forget to write down all the addresses / phone numbers beforehand.

There's that noise only when you open driver's side front door when the engine is totally off. There's no noise at all if you open any of the other three doors. I am gussing the 400h senses the driver's door is opened, and tries to get the hybrid system ready. I am planning to test drive the new 450h, I will try to see if it does the same thing.

It exlained in the manual that after engine turned off, it will purge the gas line, that's the sound you hear. Perhaps this PDF helps you understand more about the 400h, I downloaded it from Lexus website. rxh_driving_performance_guide.pdf

Overseas edition of the new RX comes with backup camera built into rearview mirrow and paromatic sunroof.

Well, they did offer that overseas for long time ago, see two photos attached showing such. Another photo shows that it does have rear bumper protector, very odd. I guess they just concentrate on the expensive "standard" equipments and forget about the cheap one.

New RX with Panoramic roof, take a look.

I think Lexus Taiwan offers most comprehensive standard equipments on 2010 RX450 of all. All these are included besides NAV + Remote Touch - Panoramic roof; Mark Levison sound system with 16 speakers; 6-disk DVD changer (NOT CD); HUD; Electric folding side mirrors. It all looks very nice, but the selling price is about US$80,000. No wonder Lexus gives out everything. In Japan, where Lexus is just a brand new brand (since 2006), Lexus offers barebone RX (used to be called Toyota Harrier), I believe there's diesel version as well.

I totally agree on your observation. You can log on to Lexus websites in different countries and you will see there different equipments for different markets. It's true that Lexus offeres more stuff in some regions, but they sell them at much higher prices as well. Keep in mind that some counties post hefty import tarrif on cars, in order to attract customers, Lexus does offer more standard stuff on their cars.

I don't think it can run for long, since the batteries needs gas engine to charge them.

A week ago, a local Lexus dealer contacted me for different issue. I asked about the availablity of RX450h and was told it should be in the showroom in about two weeks. I will definitely go check out all the new features on the new car. Meanwhile, I am wondering why USA market is so late getting RX450h. Other countries (Taiwan, Japan, etc) already have it on the road for sometime now. Worse economy than others?