RX400h

The manual advises the owner to have the fluids "checked" at every 30,000 miles or so.

According to my 2006 Lexus RX400h Owner's Manual Supplement, every 36 months or 30,000 miles: brake fluid change at 72 months or 60,000 miles: transmission and differential fluid change ONLY if operated primarily in desert, on dirt roads, or while towing at 108 months or 90,000 miles: timing belt change and trans/diff fluid change ONLY if operated primarily in desert, on dirt roads, or while towing at 120 months or 100,000 miles: engine and inverter coolant change at 144 months or 120,000 miles: spark plug change I don't think there is any fluid for the electric steering.

I really don't think you will need to just run the car (without driving it), mid-week if you will definitely drive it, each weekend. You and your RX will be fine!

To which vehicle are you referring?

Wait a minute. Karen stated that she will driver her RX every weekend. As long as she drives it for long enough distances, I'd say her RX will be just fine. A battery "tender" is typically not necessary unless a vehicle sits for many weeks at a time without being driven. However, it would not be healthy for the battery or oil if the weekend trip is but a few miles to church or the grocery store, for example. My guess is that after sitting one week, a good 15+ mile drive one way will recharge the battery sufficiently and get any moisture out of the oil.

Does the AC compressor swtitch off when this happens? That'd be the first thing I'd check if I were a mechanic. Loose ground wires are known to cause erratic behavior such as this.

I am hoping that aftermarket manufacturers like Walker, Magnaflow, etc step up and make individual replacement parts. Sometimes it takes a few years after a new model has been introduced.

1 week and a no start is NOT normal in my book. You might want to have a current draw test done to see if the draw your battery is seeing is above normal. If it is normal, perhaps look into buying a battery that is rated by Consumer Reports as having excellent reserve capacity. Those include: Interstate Megatron Plus MTP-24 Diehard Gold Napa Legend Premium Duralast Gold Autocraft Gold in that order. Those who live in the South should also look at The Walmart Everstart Maxx.

Another vote for the Yoko Parada-X. They are V-rated and it is not recommended that you buy tires that are rated to lower speeds that the OEM tires. I think it's safe to say that any 50,000 mile tires will be poor handlers, at best.

First, read this: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1023454_toyota-prius-taxi-tops-340000mi-dispels-battery-myth NOW do you feel better? Here in CA, regular gas costs $4.75/gallon. RX350 owners are weeping and RX400h and RX450h owners are laughing because all those RX350 owners thought they could never recoup the extra cost of a hybrid RX. We average 25-28 MPG, about the same as a VW GTI that weighs 1500 lbs less.

Don't buy any extended warranty until you read this: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/05/extended-warranties-a-high-priced-gamble/index.htm Our 2006 RX400h is 3 years past the factory warranty expiration date and it is running flawlessly. It has over 72,000 miles on it. I believe the hybrid warranty is 150,000 miles for California owners and 100,000 miles for owners in most other states. The dealership with which you are dealing should give you the hybrid components warranty details.

This just in: The November 2012 issue of Consumer Reports. In it is an all-season and Winter tire ratings. The top 6 all-season V-rated tires were listed as 1) Continental Pure Contact 2) Pirelli P7 Cinturato 3) Michelin Primacy MXV4 4) Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S 5) Nokian eNTYRE (tie) 6) Goodyear Assurance ConforTred Touring The YOKO Parada-Xs were not listed, for some reason. Tirerack lists the Continental CrossContact UHP (Summer tires) as highly rated.

I can't speak about Continentals in that particular size and model. but I do have experience with the Continental Extreme Contact DW (16-inch on my Mazda MX6 GT) tires, which are also "W"-rated. They were reviewed by Tire Rack and Car & Driver magazine as providing a very smooth ride and I have to agree with them. They have a 50 aspect ratio. I like then enough that I bought a set for my daughter's Protege - same size and model.

Moto, I have not had to do this, personally but I would try my hardest to find a "higher level" person with whom to speak. I recall reading about a Lotus Elise owner who ran over a small object on the highway. It tore up his floor board very badly, costing his insurance company many thousands of dollars. Certainly, undercar components do get damaged, occasionally, but for the repair to cost the owner that much is downright rediculous.

Moto, Have you contacted the Lexus corporate folks? I would not accept an answer such as that the dealership gave you when the design is clearly flawed. Don't give in! Go higher up the ladder until you obtain satisfaction.

How old is your 12V battery? Hopefully, it's not on its way out. I really doubt any parking lot would disconnect batteries. Yesterday, I was driving on the highway when I suddenly noticed that a CD had been ejected by the CD player. The CD player hadn't been working for at least 6 months (displayed an ERROR message when the mode was changed to "CD"). I placed the CD in the glovebox and proceeded to play the remaining CDs that were in the player. So far, the player is working perfectly again. We'll see how long that lasts!

Is it possible to have a muffler/exhaust shop install a shield. Many of those shops do custom exhaust work all the time. Sheetmetal, even stainless steel sheetmetal is not very expensive. If I had the 450h, I'd be trying to conjure up a shield design, have a sheetmetal shop make it and either a shop or I would install it.

Be careful. Some rubbers can be attacked by certain types of oils and hydrocarbons. I'd use silicone or lithium grease before I used WD-40 on elastomers of unknown composition.

Ours does that to some extent but I haven't felt that it's been getting any worse. I'd imagine that if a motor mount was loose, it would aggravate the intensity of the rocking but I doubt that is the case.

I've been using NAPA Gold, which is available at most NAPA stores. They seem to be of excellent quality.

Agreed! But to revert back to Gulligirl's original post - the decision to go hybrid was well made.

According to the RX400h first-drive by Car & Driver: On a side note, many car manufacturers play with the throttle "tip-in" to give the owner the impression that the vehicle is much more powerful than it really is. Back in 2005 when we had a Nissan Maxima rental, I had to try really hard NOT to spin the front tires when taking off from a stop. It was actually annoying and hard to control when sitting in heavy traffic and attempting to creep forward. I was happy to give that car back. Nissan went a bit overboard, I'd say. But as Cduluk mentioned, that initial surge dies down quickly and any perception of massive horsepower dies down along with it. The RX400h and RX450h, on the other hand produce a delayed surge that is somewhat like that of a turbo or supercharged vehicle. Car & Driver, when reporting about a long-term RX400h, said Needless to say, BMW X5 owners were quite shocked when an SUV getting 50% better fuel mileage out-accelerated them, handily. Finally, C & D commented that Back then, gas was about $2.30/gallon. It's alot easier to justify the extra cost, now that fuel is 75% higher.

You'd probably have to be an advanced-degree electrical engineer with a background in NiMh batteries to do anything safely.

Not more than 6 months ago, I was given a loaner RX350 to use while our RX400h recalls were being done. I drove the car at least 50 miles and couldn't wait to get back into the RX400h for one reason - low end torque. The RX350 felt a bit sluggish. Its main advantage is the lack of electric motor sound when accelerating briskly. However, I felt that the h's abundance of torque and better fuel mileage made up for the motor sound. Obviously, not everyone feels that way, but after 7 years and thousands of dollars in fuel savings, I feel we made the right choice.

I was told by a Lexus parts person that the official service manual set costs in excess of $1500. In the event that someone scanned the pages of said books and posted them somewhere, I'm sure the owner of this site doesn't want to be accused "aiding and abetting" copyright infringement. I can't say that I blame him.