RX400h

I can't say I have much experience with mud and snow on the RX - it's been in the 70s here. BUT, I am happy to hear about the brakes, especially when we're talking about a 4600 lb vehicle. Regarding car washes: I NEVER let a machine clean any of my vehicles. I've seen too many scratches, either from the machines or the people who dry the vehicle afterward.

Hopefully, you won't ever meet up with an 06 Z06, either on your way to work or on the track. Now if anyone needs a babysitter for one of THOSE bad boys, I'm IN! :) lol, im surprised you got that username, rx400h. lol lucky :P I was one of the first "on the list" members, I guess! Already dusted one of those...I do have some mods though Ah, but the Z06 is $65,000 MSRP. I'll bet a simple supercharger installation would catapult it well beyond your much more expensive car's performance capabilities. Heck, the thing is cranking out 530 HP (derived from dynomometer testing) right from the factory! The supercharger would place its HP up at about 680 HP, all for $75,000. Now THAT's a deal that has no equal!

Hopefully, you won't ever meet up with an 06 Z06, either on your way to work or on the track. Now if anyone needs a babysitter for one of THOSE bad boys, I'm IN! :)

I wouldn't call your 01 an "early" 911, but a guy here at work has an 89 911 Turbo - it IS what I consider an early 911.

I'll bet our RX400h handles better than the early 911s after what I've seen at auto-crosses. The general consensus among the viewers of the event: If you like to do 180 spins, drive an early 911!

Now let's hope that others follow suit!

Only WWEST would come up with a conclusion like this!!!!!

Many RX400h owners have driven their vehicles on snow and every report I've read has included nothing but praise for the 400's excellent handling. Needless to say, the RX400h is superior to the BMW X3.

I agree. Our bumper was dented last Summer and indeed, the new bumper skin had to come from Japan (2 weeks). Take your RX400h to a Lexus-approved body shop and get an estimate. We took ours to a Toyota Body shop and although we had to wait quite a bit of time, the replacement skin was installed perfectly and with a lifetime guarantee.

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=25293

While a former coworker was averaging 16 MPG in her RX330, we average 25 MPG in mixed driving. Still, even if gas mileage isn't an issue, the power, transmission, and silence when creeping along in a typical traffic jam more than makes up for the additional funds to purchase this vehicle. Some people actually think that the 330 and 400 are identical except for gas mileage. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Thanks; I am looking forward to including this deduction. Every little bit helps! :)

I think that valuable lesson was geared more toward drum brakes. Those suckers would flat not work if they were wet. Disc brakes work just fine when wet, so not to worry... besides, like you said, there ain't much you can do about it anyway.... I agree!

That's good to hear, Jim. Even though we live in San Diego, we do occasionally drive one hour up to the mountains where snow is plentiful.

How many miles have you driven your RX so far? This is certainly the first I've read of such a failure, so I'm sure it's nothing for the rest of us to be alarmed about. Ours, as well as those belonging to the huge majority of owners who provide input to Consumer Reports, has been absolutely flawless.

You might want to call Customer Service about that one. I don't understand why Lexus wouldn't offer touch-up paint for something like painted wheels. Here's a thought: Ask your dealersip who they recommend for body work and then call them about the correct paint. They should know......

I love the polished titanium radiance of the stock wheels, primarily because they are NOT like everyone else's chrome wheels. They really go well with the hi-tech ambience of this vehicle.

Have you tried the parts dept. at your dealership?

You might want to try lubricating any suspect rubber seals with dielectric grease. Most dealerships have this but I bought mine from McMaster-Carr (online). My Corvette's owner's manual recommends lubrication of all door/targa top/hatch seals once every six months. That's normally overkill, as I have lubricated my seals every two years and have no squeeks. Still, it won't hurt to give it a try. Regarding other areas of squeeks, the one that gets me (but that is easily fixed) is when my wife fails to latch the sunvisor after rotating it. The unlatched pin rubs and squeeks away.

It's always been an option. It's just that almost all of the supply coming to the US were equipped with this, ML, and heated seats.

Now THAT's hilarious! Notice how they included a Mercedes symbol where they thought the MB had the upper hand, yet no Lexus symbol could be found anywhere. The difference in gas mileage is astonishing, to say the least!

To put things in perspective, the new Mazda 5 mini-minivan, which weighs 3100 lbs, averages 23 MPG - considered quite good for a vehicle of this weight.

The 650 lbs-ft of torque figure was taken from Car & Driver's review. The exact page may be seen here: http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?se...2&page_number=2 Regarding a "man's SUV", the RX400h handily out-accelerates the 6 cylinder BMW X5. The 8-cylinder version is about even with the RX. Of course, if money is no object and hence, neither is fuel mileage, the Porsche Cayenne turbo tops the list as fastest SUV (and it probably handles at least as well as the X5). :o

...and also the most unreliable SUV of them all - stay away!

It's been getting nippy at 55-60F here in the early morning hours, but I'm looking forward to December days when we will be cranking up the seat heaters! Gas milage has been fairly steady at 25 MPG-gentle driving during the week (her)and my rocket-power punches every now and then during the weekends.