RX400h

"Butch"? Now I've heard it all! My Bridgestones are not harsh at all. In fact, we regularly receive compliments as to how smooth the ride is and I keep the pressure of each at 36 psi. Yes, their tread pattern is a bit agressive, but you'll be glad they are the next time you get caught in a downpour or snowfall. Michelins, while good tires, are almost always overpriced when compared to other tires of the same caliber. At least that's what I've found during my 33 years of driving.

The CVT is amazing. Once you have one you will never want to deal with shifting or an automatic's braindead seeking for the right gear again. It simpley puts the power to the wheels when you need it. Done. As for the slight surging sensation some have reported, it pales in comparsion to anything you would experinece in a manual or automatic transmission vehicle. What seems to be happening is the sharing of power delivery between the engine and the electric motor can be mismatched at times which seems to the passenger like you are not holding your foot steady on the gas peddle. "Lurch" is probalby too strong a word for it. Its a control algorithm thing and that is why the code has been updated. I experienced it for a short time when I had about 1000 mi on the car but have not noticed it since then. Normally crusing is very smooth and surge free even when the electirc motor assist is comming in and out. In my opion this is not an issue and the HSD drivetrain is world class. I agree. I have not heard of this issue from any of the RX400h owners I have met or work with and have to believe that it is not present in anywhere near a majority of RX400h owners. Yes, it is noticable in some vehicles, but no, it is not an epidemic by any stretch of the imagination. This transmission is superior to any other I have driven. Dave

...without a doubt! Now, GM is trying the same thing.

From what I understand, the workaround is good only for the drive before which it is entered. You have to do the routine every time, I believe. As for tires, I bought the Bridgestone Alenzas for $600 and they are very quiet - highly recommended. I haven't read any posts regarding the installation of sound-dampening material, so you may be a pioneer of you do it. Hopefully, someone else will chime in about the NAV versions. I have one of the first RX400hs and am considering purchase of an upgraded DVD, too.

I recall very clearly that Hyundai's reliability was SO horrible that they were almost forced out of the US market. This is a far cry from Toyota's first 5 years in the US. Yes, they were very light and tinny, but they did get excellent gas mileage for the time and were very reliable compared to cars like the Vega and Pinto. Renault and Peugot had similar reliabilty issues and fled this country very quickly. If either one of these manufacturers were to re-enter the US, they'd surely face an uphill battle to compete head-tohead with Toyota or Honda.

Some people actually have reliable Jeeps; that doesn't mean that Jeeps are reliable in general. Your experience in no way speaks for most BMWs. Let me ask you something: Have you driven an IS350? For anyone to say that a 330i is "light years" away from the IS350 should step away fro the sleeping pills!

As long as Toyota has vehicles built in Japan or Canada, there will always be a significant price difference when compared to vehicles built in Korea or China, but I believe that this fact will not bother Lexus shoppers. The big difference when you compare companies "coming up the ladder" is that Toyota never started with poor quality, at least as far back as I can remember (early 70s in the US?). Hyundai's quality was HORRIBLE back in the 80s and for many people who were driving then, that reputaion cannot be erased with a long warranty. Look what happened to Mazda with their rotary engines from the 70s. To this day, the majority of people who know something about Mazda's rotaries have a bad impression of them and will not buy them. The same holds true for Hyundais. Yes, they have improved quite a bit, but to many prospective buyers, the bad rep. Hyundai had earned is still omnipresent. Also, I would bet that few people who are looking at a Lexus would cross-shop at the local Hyundai dealership - now and for some time to come. Regarding in which forum this topic should be, I posted here primarily because of the striking visual similarity. Shouldn't there be a patent on a design? Can you imagine if Kia made a Ferarri look-alike? It would sell, but the reputation of the company as having innovative design would be destroyed, IMO.

I recently was loaned an ES350 and it was spotless and almost new, so I'd guess that it all depends upon the dealership. I was very impressed by the ES, but not enough to want to have it over our RX. The Camrys with window stickers that announce they are BMW loaner cars is just plain comical to me!

Steve, You might want to read what Consumer Reports now says about the Odyssey and the Sienna. They rate the Sienna above the Odyssey for a a number of reasons - the Sienna is more reliable, quieter, and smoother riding, but I think its recent redesign is what boosted its rating as #1 again. I personally know four people who have Odysseys and who complain about squeeks and rattles, among other irritating issues. But getting back to Hyundai, although they are getting better, their reliabilty is not up there with Lexus. By the way, the Veracruz is not available with NAV - a major mistake, IMO.

Not one for us, although the invisible bra sounds enticing. Check to see how much your local window-tinting place will charge. I know a guy who recently bought a Z06. He had tinting and the invisible bra installed at a local place and saved quite a bit of money.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070609/8.html or if you can't see that link, http://www.hyundaiusa.com/vehicle/veracruz/trim/limited.aspx I had to chuckle when I saw a review of this vehicle in our local paper. The author, a known Toyota basher, started his review of the Hyundai by writing: Of course, this is the same "Wheels editor" who proclaimed that the Honda Odyssey is superior to the Toyota Sienna, so I wasn't too surprised that he insinuated that this Hyundai is a better vehicle in some way to the Lexus RX350 (He didn't mention the RX400h, maybe because he is upset that Honda does not have anything that competes with it?). The cost of the Veracruz - a mere $38,070. Somehow, I don't think that Lexus is too worried at this point!

I agree. I used to get this type of letter from the Nissan dealership. You can understand why the dealership will lend you a brand new Lexus when your used one is being serviced - they want you to like the new one so much that you'll trade yours in in short time. The funny thing is that our local BMW dealership lends its service customers a Toyota Camry. When asked why they do this, they say that after driving a Camry, customers will appreciate their BMW all the more. The funny thing is that those customers may be LESS likely to trade in their cars for a brand new one. BMW's philosophy appears to be opposite that of Lexus!

I believe our manuals specify 89 octane, although I have successfully used 87 during the Winter months. Colder temps allow almost any engine to run on lower octane and by the same token, very high temps tend to allow fuel to ignite more easily. This is why I tend to run 89 octane during warmer weather. Premium is a good choice if you want to extract every last bit of power from the engine itself. It is certainly NOT necessary, however.

While coasting and when I look at the trip info screen within the NAV, I see 99.99 MPG, which is a different way of saying that gas mileage is approaching infinity! I should certainly hope that coasting is part of the average MPG calculation, as it makes sense that the distance is factored into it. Dave

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=36993

Now that's really strange. I have the Alenzas as well and indicated distance seems to be okay. The diameter of each tire should match the OEMs, perfectly, so I am clueless about this one!

In all likelyhood, you would be far worse-off by buying a Porsche, MB or BMW hybrid SUV, based upon thousands of responses to Consumer Reports questionaires. The Porsche Cayene is rated much worse than average and the X5 is not much better. The MB is among the worse, although perhaps a bit better than the Volkswagen Toureg (bottom of the heap). No, the RX400h is not perfect and you may very well have one of the more noisey ones, but when compared to German SUVs, it is still head and shoulders above when it comes to reliability issues.

Back in 2001, AC Delco came out with an AGM battery. This glass mat battery was touted as superior to lead acid and spiral-cell batteries as far as life expectancy. Like plug-ins, it was supposed to be a "better idea". Sadly, many owners who did not travel at least 10 miles at a time, experienced a much shorter battery life (compared to that of a lead acid battery). Those who do travel longer distances on a consistent basis (as I do) are enjoying exceptional life (my 6 year-old battery is still performing superbly). AC Delco discontinued the AGM battery after 2003. Why? ...because having a better battery for the "majority" was not good enough to prevent bad publicity from the thousands of unhappy customers. I see the same thing happening to plug-in cars - short battery life (compared to normal hybrids' battery life) and oil sludge issues could easily kill this type of car - sad, but imminent, based upon historical similarities.

Actually I DID buy a Panasonic plasma, not just because CU listed it as the best plasmas out there, but because I compared it side-by-side with many other plasma, LCD projection, LCOS, etc TVs and the Panasonics clearly (no pun intended) has the best picture quality, by far. My coworker has had a 42-inch Panasonic plasma for many years now and it has been trouble-free in every way. Ours has been the same. Even though there are new TVs with "higher resolution", our Panasonic matches the best of then at average viewing distances. Okay, getting back to SUVs....the latest issue of Consumer Reports rated the luxury SUVs and the X5 and ML350 did not fare well at all. Once again, the RX400h is at the top with an excellent reliability rating. As usual, the Mercedes "much worse than average" rating pulled it way down on the list.

Hello Dave I do all stop and go city driving. The longest stretch without stopping is almost 5 miles (if no traffic). My average from day one to last fill up on Saturday is 15.5MPG. I do not ever floor the M from a standing start. However, I do bring RPM's up when I want to fly past a slow car. All I can say is "Ouch!" I guess that is to be expected with a high-horsepower non-hybrid sedan. My Corvette averages 19-20 MPG with a 60/40 split of highway/city driving and a daily blast of 80-90 MPH for 15-20 seconds.

This is the statement that really gets me nervous (from the link that was provided): Herein lies the problem. Conceivably, many people will "run to the store" without having to use the highway. Halfway to 4-mile-away store (or later), the car's ICE fires up. Unfortunately, it does not run nearly enough to boil off the moisture in the oil, especially on a cold Winter morning. The return trip doesn't help, because for most of that trip, vehicle speed never exceeds 40 and the ICE runs for only a couple of minutes - not nearly enough to get the oil temperature to 200 degrees F. Maybe if everone who had a plug-in lived on Maui and had a 15-mile commute to the grocery store, there'd be no problems.... I read an article in our paper the other day that mentioned the growing popularity of electric cars on the island of Coronado (San Diego). Certainly, this makes more sense for most of these people who seldom need to exceed 30 MPH, anyway. Silver, There is a state-subsidized rebate for CA residents who buy solar panels, but the overall cost is still very high. With all the sunshine we have here, it makes sense; it's just that few people wish to spend $20,000 - $30,000 upfront for the panels. But yes, electricity usage soars during Summer months in some parts of the state. I need to turn on the AC only 7 days per year. That ocean breeze seems to make its way to my house!

Unfortunately, it is well known in the battery industry that deep-cycling can and does shorten battery life. A standard battery can last 7 years under the right conditions (no deep-cycles), but this would be very rare for a marine-type battery that is designed to be deep-cycled. take a look at NiMH rechargable batteries for digital cameras and other heavy-usage devices. These batteries need to be replace fairly often. Even the new Lithium-Ion batteries for laptops cannot provide long life. As far as the oil-life issue, there is little sense in swapping fuel savings with the added cost of changing oil three times as often. I worked with a guy who lost his engine in a $30,000 Toyota 4Runner because his daily commute was only 4 miles and he didn't think to change his oil every 1000 miles. Imagine if he had a plug-in that started the ICE only 2 minutes before he arrived at work. He'd have to change the oil every 500 miles. Who will accept that requirement? Personally, I would never buy a plug in unless somehow, its batteries would last as long as Prius batteries AND I had a minimum of a 15-mile commute, one way. As you can tell, I'm not a big fan of shortening the oil change frequency!

We still love our Alenzas after 4000 miles! Regarding wheel well gap: I lowered my Corvette because I felt that a large gap is for SUVs and trucks. With the RX, I don't mind the gap because it is an all wheel drive SUV, after all! RXREY, I'm just joking with you. Everyone has his or her preference regarding the "look" of an SUV.

Silver, I agree, although conceivably, someone can overdo it and keep switching it on enough so the battery charge falls below 60%, which would decrease battery life. Sky, In order to achieve the 100 MPG that the plug-in people seek to achieve, I can see people running to a store that is 6 miles away and using electric power all the up and halfway back. I think that either the car is all electric, or just as it is. I just don't think there is a good middle ground without extra cost for batteries and more frequent oil changes that eat up any additional gas mileage savings. As you know, every design must compromise in one way or the other. I believe that Toyota engineers went through many design scenarios before coming up with what is offered today. Dave

It's not that part of the infrequent startups I'd worry about - it's the inability of the oil to rid itself of moisture. It really needs to heat up to somewhere around 200 degrees F. If the ICE started and ran for only a few minutes and on a regular basis, sludge would form, inevitably. This why I believe that people who advocate converting a Prius to a plug-in vehicle aren't thinking it through, completely. Not only will batteries need to be replaced more often (unless more batteries are added), but oil issues are bound to surface for some people. Dave