RX400h

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.

This could very well be true; however, I still wonder how a Murano reverses, though.

I not only mentioned this issue to Lexus while filling out my satisfaction/comments form they sent me, but I also told the Lexus rep. who called me, shortly after we picked up our RX400h. Audi has an adjustable-height hatch in one of their newest vehicles, so I imagine it won't be long before Lexus does the same. We have to park our RX outside of the garage after grocery shopping and then drive it in after unloading; luckily, we get very little rain here in Southern Cali. Still, they should've done a bit more homework before deciding how high the hatch would reach. Clearly, the majority of us are having a problem.....

Call me a skeptic, but I find it hard to believe if your battery is low, the RX400h will not allow you to reverse up a hill. How does the Nissan Murano power itself in reverse? It too, has a CVT, no?

I would think that there HAS to be a reverse gear. After all, how could the batteries provide enough power to back up a steep driveway or hill at speeds greater than 20 MPH? A steep hill, combined with a 4500 lb vehicle has GOT to require engine power, IMO.

RX330 owners have reported highway fuel mileage of close to 30, so if you are driving primarily on no-to-little traffic highway miles, buying a hybrid RX makes less sense. Its huge advantage over the RX330 comes when city/stop&go driving represents at least 50% of your driving. RX330s, as Pat Bedard states, tend to get 16-17 MPG under "city"-type conditions. Still, as LCB mentioned, it's refreshing to hear counter-bashing by an automotive expert for a change!

Getting a bit tired of hearing the same old comments about hybrids, Pat Bedard, the well-known C&D writer and mechanical engineer wrote: "You can write your check for 50 large, arrive home in a shiny black Ford F-250 Harley-Davidson Super Duty; its dubs bulging out the rear fenders like steroid-infused biceps, and no one on this staff will say, "Boy, you're never going to get your money's worth out of that thing." Or maybe you ante up for the Rddie Bauer option on your Ford Expedition. You won't be scolded on these pages, told that you'll have to sit on those leather seats for an extra 50,000 miles to recoup your foolish outlay for Eddie. But show a little enthusiasm for hybrids? We purse the puritan lips and say, "You know, the mileage is not that great. You'll have to drive it till it's as used as Willie Nelson to save gas enough to get your cost back." The knock on hybrids takes two forms, both of which I hear often around the water cooler. First, they say it is not a real solution to energy consumption because the makers lose money on each one they sell; therefore, hybrids are unsustainable. Ford's hybrid machinery is similar to system Toyota uses in the Prius, which sold 53,308 units in the first half of 2005, putting it on track to top 100,000 in the U.S. over the year. That would make it solidly profitable according to the Ford yardstick (Profits of low-cost hybrids are realized at the 70,000 vehicle mark). The other knock on hybrids is that they don't get the fuel economy promised by the EPA numbers. Oh, yes they do, if you drive them as the government drives them on the standard test. Of course, I drove my own routes at my own speeds during my week in a hybrid Lexus RX400h. About half was on freeways, sometimes at speeds above 80; at least 75 miles were in rain. I measured 25.3 mpg over 468 miles. Maybe that doesn't sound miraculous, but when we tested a conventional RX330 (C/D, July 2003), the C/D-observed fuel economy was 17 mpg. In fact, neither Lexus matched its EPA rating in our hands. But the hybrid outperformed the conventional by 8 mpg. ....If most of your driving is urban slow-and-go, a hybrid will probably do well for you. If you commute on free-flowing interstates, forget hybrids. It's that simple." Now I maintain that the majority of us working stiffs live in fairly dense cities and encounter traffic on a daily basis. Thus, driving a hybrid makes much more sense than many people realize. In fact, I was recently in Seattle, Washington and was ASTOUNDED at the massive traffic jams, seeming coming from all directions and at any time of the day - big city + high gas prices=ideal hybrid conditions.

I never heard about these. Does anyone have a link to info?

The Germans might be on to something... ← The headlines in today's paper announced that American vehicles are now more reliable than German vehicles. Mercedes and Volkswagen appear to be dragging them down quickly, but BMWs have not been doing well, either. In Car & Driver's recent small sedan comparison, their 330 (BMW) had numerous problems - a certain warning sign of reliability problems down the road (This was a new model). Regarding diesels, has anyone noticed diesel fuel prices at the pump lately? I'm seeing 50 cents per gallon higher prices than those of regular gas. That's a full 30 cents higher than super-unleaded!

Ours has had ZERO problems since delivery in April. Nissan's Quest has been a big problem for Nissan. Unfortunately, many folks don't research before they buy - two people I know recently bought Nisaan Quests - bad choice at this time....

....and Mercedes keeps insisting that its diesels are the answer........

Welcome aboard! Don't forget to check the tires' air pressure when you get home or better yet, ask the dealership to double-check before you leave. They tend to forget to lower the pressure and the potential result is heavy tire wear in the center of each overinflated tire. Enjoy!