RX400h

It will be well worth the wait - I guarantee it!

I found out today that a coworker who drives a leased RX330 is averaging 16 MPG. When I told her that our RX400h is at 25.5 and heading upward, she said "THAT is my next vehicle!" With gas prices at $2.40 per gallon (regular), she needs to do this quickly!. I didn't have the heart to talk about the incredible torque and effortless speed, since she must wait a while before her lease runs out, but we now have another believer in our midst!

I've been using regular gas and can't imagine why anyone would be looking for more power from the RX400h. It really does feel like the power is limitless.

No squeaking here in Southern Cali!

I agree that the power of the 400h feels almost endless. In fact, the torque is so much greater than that of an RX330, you can, according to Car & Driver, "spin all four tires" if you put the hammer down from a dead stop. I thoroughly enjoy driving this vehicle (and I'm a sportscar guy at heart - 2001 Corvette coupe).

Another thing to consider is the ratio of city to highway mileage. Because most of us live in or near heavily-populated areas, our percentage of stop & go driving far exceeds our 70 MPH cruising percentage. Because of this factor, payback for the added cost of an RX400h occurs sooner (in most cases). Certainly, if you live out in the country and can average 55 MPH on sparsely-driven roads, the benefits of a full hybrid vehicle (without cylinder deactivation) may not be significant.

Great news! That 27+ MPG matches that of the Toyota Scion Xb 4-cylinder econocar; that in of itself is phenomenal! During normal day-to-day driving, the brakes are more than adequate. Agressive driving is more BMW territory and Lexus steers towards the better ride rather than ultimate handling. I doubt that philosophy will change anytime soon. My coworkers Mercedes ML350 is averaging about 16 or 17 MPG and she spends $70 per week. Sadly, I told her about the RX400h long ago, but she just couldn't wait. She now pays the piper at the gas pumps.

Patt, more than one of the articles I have read in car magazines have stated that the RX400h can be powered by the electric motors up to 30-32 MPH. I was a bit surprised to learn in the literature received with the RX that the actual number is 20-22 MPH. Our first tank yielded 25.4 MPG and I am monitoring the usage periodically.

I think there was a blurb about this in the manual. Essentually, if you run out of gas, you either call the roadside assistance number or walk to the gas station. You won't be able to run on electric power alone if the gas tank is empty.

...60 mph, you'll get about 28.4 mpg ...65 mph you'll get around 27 mpg ...at 70 mph, you'll get in mid 25s ...at 75-80 mph, you'll get in upper 24s Actually, these figures for the RX400h are significantly worse than what a Camry 4 cylinder can do. A Camry 4 cylinder gets (based on almost a dozen I have rented and driven thousands of miles): ...60 mph, about 34 mpg ...65 mph about 32.5 mpg ...70 mph, about 31 mpg ...75-80 mph, about 29 mpg The Toyota Highlander is about the same size vehicle as the RX400h and is available with the Camry 4 cylinder engine and so probably gets the same or a little better gas mileage than the RX400h. A 4 cylinder Highlander can only accelerate 0-60 in 10.5 - 11.0 seconds, so the RX400h is alot more powerful. ← Comparing highway mileage figures is not what true hybrids are all about. The Honda Accord hybrid gets great highway milage because of cylinder deactivation. However, its city milage is not as high as that of the RX400h. I think it's safe to say that most of us see a fair amount of daily traffic and this is where the RX400h trounces any other SUV its size.

FANTASTIC NEWS! You are getting the same mileage as a Toyota Scion XB econobox!

We're using regular gas as well. After 520 miles, the RX400h is averaging 25.2 MPG with a good 50/50 mix of city/highway, often at 80 MPH speeds. To keep this in perspective, a Toyota Scion Xb box car with wimpy 4-cylinder engine averages 27.2 MPG (according to Popular Mechanics mag.). I'm very happy so far!

Well, that is the definition of buyers remourse. You bought something, its not what you expected, and its made you remourseful...buyers remorse. As to the mileage. Like I've said many times before... Give It Time We were dissapointed with the mileage on our Prius for 8 months, even bringing it in to see if something was wrong with it. Now it gets 48MPG, and I know why as I followed my fiance down to my office today. She drives like a crazy person. I bet I could get 55 with it. ← Here are some "Real World" figures for more vehicles from Popular Mechanics: Toyota Scion XB: Worst milage = 19.6, Best = 34.3, Avg = 27.2 Now, keep in mind that this is a light, 4-cylinder econobox that is not anything close to being fast! Nissan Titan SE: Worst milage = 11.7, Best = 16.8, Avg = 15.5 Sure, this is a V8 truck, but look at how low some new vehicles' gas mileage is getting! Mercedes Benz E500 4matic: Worst milage = 12.8, Best = 23.9, Avg = 17.3 The RX400h is looking better all the time, now isn't it?

One thing you forgot to mention is that you can easily trounce the FX35 in a race while still beating him in fuel mileage, while also getting a $2000 tax break and possibly the use of the HOV lanes. Also, look at the extras you have that he may not such as a very sophisticated stability system, side air bags, voice-recognition NAV with blue tooth, etc, etc. $50K is alot of dinero but you do get alot of technology for the money. Take a poll here and I think you'll find that the majority are happy with their purchase.

If you love the 330, you will love the 400 even more so, I guarantee it! 650 lbs-ft of torque has a way of growing on you. The power seems limitless - something that cannot be said of most SUVs. Congratulations!

Congratulations and welcome to the "spin all four tires with 650 lbs-ft of torque" club! The power is amazing now; I can't wait until the breakin miles are achieved (1000 miles). Also, go easy on the brakes for the first 200 miles or so to seat the pads correctly.

Yeah, yah gotta love em! ;)

Haha, that's funny. I guess you're right; it's techincally a workaround just as changing the struts on the rear lift gate(which could open another can of worms with your warranty and the motor for the door) would be too, so let's briefly take a look at the root cause. The Lexus is performing just as the engineers designed it to. The problem at its roots is your garage; it's just not tall enough to accommodate the car. You're garage is the limiting factor, not your RX. So, the only "real fix" would be rebuilding your garage. Personally, I'd gladly take the $5 foam pad to save $5k-$10k on garage modifications and the nightmare of having to deal with contractors. ← To me, the root cause is Toyota not taking into consideration the average usable garage height. Our Nissan Quest van's rear hatch comes within one inch of the garage door. However, a 6 foot two person loading or unloading groceries may very well conk his head on the hatch. More than likely, (now that I think of it) Toyota figured that the advantage of head clearance outweighed the disadvantage of being able to open the hatch in a standard-sized garage. Hey, I'm giving them the benefit of a doubt here! Patt, I'll bet that if one were to open the hatch manually, there would not be an issue with resting it against a soft padding that is attached to the door. Closing the garage door while the hatch is in this position is another matter. I did this once while our van hatch was open and was rewarded with a couple of scratches. This happened despite the 1-inch clearance between the open hatch and the open garage door.

I have read time and time again that the RX400h "design intent" is PERFORMANCE. Toyota chose this direction because the majority of those buying SUVs place performance above all else. It's obvious to most who have read these posts that the majority of RX400h owners are thrilled or very happy with their new vehicles. I would venture to say that the vast majority of EPA numbers are NOT achieved. A good example is the mileage numbers of the Prius. According to Consumer Reports, owner satisfaction for this car is much better than average, despite the fact that few are achieving EPA numbers. The key here is to compare the competition to what you have. The new Mercedes ML-350 EPA numbers are horrible to begin with. Imagine what the actual numbers are! BTW, the Sienna averages the same fuel milage as the Honda Odyssey, despite its lack of cylinder deactivation. Perhaps you can get 18-20 MPG if you are gentle on the gas pedals, but neither vehicle shuts down at a stop, so during high-traffic conditions, expect those figures to drop drastically (as Consumer Reports has seen), whereas the hybrids such as the RX400h would only improve. Where most of us live, traffic is getting worse every year. If had to choose between cylinder activation OR self-propelling electric motors, I will always choose the latter.

This is what we call a "workaround". It prevents catastrophe but doesn't solve the problem at its roots. Still, it'll do for the time being. I think Patt may be right in that the mechanism that opens and closes the hatch needs to be limited. Otherwise, we could replace the pneumatic cylinders with shorter versions. This would work if it were not for the "power" part of the hatch.

Just to put things in perpective, Consumer Reports achieved 12 or 13 MPG (city driving) while driving a new Honda Odyssey recently. The Toyota Sienna was slightly higher at 13 or 14 in the city. Cylinder deactivation is great if you spend most of your driving time on the highway, but does nothing significant in the city. The average mileage (according to CU) of each of these vans is 19 MPG. I'm getting 25+ MPG average in the RX400h and it weighs about the same as a typical minivan without AWD. Another thing to remember (as SW pointed out) is that even modern engines have a breakin period whereas cylinder rings conform to their bores, allowing power and mileage to increase over time. Having a vehicle that generates 650 lbs-ft of torque (can spin all four tires if necessary), uses regular gas and gets over even 20 MPG is an amazing achievement in my book. Anything over 20 MPG is icing on the cake.

Last Friday as I returned home from the gym, I was asked if I would run up the street to pick up my son at his friend's house. "Sure", I said. "This will give me a chance to drive the 400h after not driving it for a week." What should've taken a few minutes stretched into 20 minutes, since the dad had just arrived home and wanted to check out the new car....but that's another story.... As I was driving home, I heard a tapping noise coming from under the dash. "Dang!", I uttered, hoping this wouldn't warrant a trip to the dealership after only one week! The next day, the whole family went out to lunch and on the way....you guessed it, the tapping noise surfaced. "You know", I exclaimed, "I was getting to love this vehicle, now THIS." "Well, you might want to try doing THIS", the wife said as she casually reached over and popped the sunvisor into its "catch". "How could that solve anything?", I said, pointing to the dash. "That's where the sound came from." "Just listen." she replied and we drove on. I figured that I'd purposely drive over rough pavement to challenge her solution. "Did you know that SW on the forum doesn't believe that my C5 rides as well as this SUV?" I asked. Before she could answer, we were driving over some rippled pavement and you know what? The tapping noise never was heard from again! Word to the wise? Don't forget to fasten your visor!!! PS I was able to blame this occurence on the wife since she's the one who forgot to latch the visor. :chairshot:

Fantastic news! I'll bet that I'm up over 27, based upon what's shown on the gas gage. Thanks for sharing!

Not only does the Corvette Forum have separate sections for the many generations of Corvettes, but there are also Z06 sub-forums. I bring this this up because it is not too uncommon. I vote for an RX400h section.