RX400h

My wife's (purchased new) 86 Honda transmission failed at 60,000 miles (fluid was changed at 30,000 and 60,000 miles) and I swore I would never buy a Honda product again. However, 13 years later I bought my son a used Honda Civic and it has allayed my fear of Hondas. Lexus vehicles (over all) are still the most reliable in the world but Acuras are not too far behind. Good luck with yours. It is a very good veicle that gets decent fuel mileage for its size wnd weight. I hear Acura is finally coming out with a hybrid; we'll see how that goes. Also, thanks for your help throughout the years. Many forum folks are grateful, including I. Dave

Congrats and kudos to Lexus for doing the right thing!

You're welcome, Chris. The AUX is even better. http://www.amazon.com/Soundfly-Player-Transmitter-Players-Control/dp/B00479SVBU/ref=pd_cp_e_0 Dave

The sound is very good (to me) through the Mark Levinson system, although I'd have to say that a store-bought CD produces a richer tone. Keep in mind that my hearing isn't that great after my having been subjected to too many concerts during my younger days. But I think my comparison holds true (in general) for MP3 vs CD sound quallity. However, throw in the external noise encountered while driving and I think most of us wouldn't complain too much.

From "Zig" at the Tire Rack (in the above-link):

I have approx. 7000 miles on the Paradas. Lately, the city has been doing some major road work up the street, hence the pebbles in the tire grooves. Thread depth is right around .28". I think the perfect tire pressure is somewhere between 33-35 psi. I've been running 33 psi and the outer treads are wearing a bit faster than the middle treads.

Our Parada-Xs have been nothing short of outstanding - highly recommended!

Are you serious?? Because you didn't beep the horn? I never learned that we needed to do that in drivers ed LOL. I'm glad they gave you the 10% after though, better late than never! Yes, so according to the folks at Allstate, if you're sitting at a light and the person in front of you decides to put the car in reverse and slam ito you, you have to beep your horn before they do or you are partly at fault. When Allstate says in their commercial that they will "fight for you", they mean to say that they will twist the law in any possible way to make sure payout is never 100% to the owner of the car you plowed into. In your case, the proximity of the other car and the fact that you normally would not have to worry about backing out of your driveway made the blamed party designation a bit of a tough call. Of course, if your insurance company were Allstate, they would've stated that the owner of car into which you drove should've installed an infrared warning device with 110dB siren. At least then, Allstate could've saved 10% for a year or so......... :) Thankfully, your car's bumber looks new again.

It could be that the powertrain management computer is simulating a non-hybrid vehicle's auto transmission in which there is always forward motion poer to the drive wheels without any movement of the gas pedal. By the way, the ES350 hybrid was recently revealed at the New York auto show. Its fuel mileage should be quite impressive.

Our 1994 Nissan Quest van shut off all lights after a short period (with engine off) and so does my 2001 Corvette. I can't imagine why our Lexus vehicles cannot do the same. Anyone with kids knows that leaving a door ajar is common practice for them.

We had our RX400h for not much more than a couple of months when we headed out on vacation to Monterey. On the way back, we stopped at a gas station that had multiple layers of cars, waiting to pull up to the pumps. As we were waiting, some guy in a Frontier pickup decided that he would try to weave through the vehicles that were behind the pumps - yes, he drove backwards so that he wouldn't have to wait 2 minutes for the guy at the pump in front of him to pull away. Because we were not directly behind him, I didn't think much about it but all of a sudden, he changes course and started heading directly for us. A vehicle was behind us but I attempted to put the tranny in reverse to move back a bit. Sadly, he was moving too quickly and slammed into the RX. The first thing I asked him was "What were you thinking?". He replied, "Why didn't you get out of my way?". His insurance, Allstate, decided I was 10% at fault because I didn't beep the horn. Subsequently, they paid only 90% of the damages. One year later, a judge ruled that the pickup driver was indeed 100% at fault and we received the last 10%. Accidents are no fun, that's for certain!

If you do have a 2007, your battery is most likely, weak and should be replaced. I bought a Costco Kirkland battery for about $70 and replaced the factory battery (last year) in less than 20 minutes.

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If that's the original battery that died, don't bother trying to revive it. I bought a Costco Kirkland battery for about $70. It is very easy to install and you can follow the guidelines in one of the sticky posts to reset your windows, etc.

Ah, that's better.

Wrapping the connector may allow moisture to be trapped inside. I would use a bit of dielectric grease inside the female connector to keep out moisture. This is what Honda does with their headlight connectors.

Do you happen to park under a tree? Rain by itself will not clog the drain, I would surmise.

A "loose" live connection can touch a ground connection and generate some serious heat. If it weren't for the fuse, there may have been a fire. So remember, "shorts" blow fuses. There has to be + touching - somewhere in your car. Hopefully, it's somewhere accessible.

So the dealership tech threw up his hands and said "not the switch, see you later!"? Didn't you ask what the problem is, then?

I'm not sure I could get myself to drill that many holes in my bumpers. Painting them would be mandatory. Have you taken a good look at the back of the bumpers to see if there's any wiggle room? I guess if you wanted to simplify installation you could mount the sensors to the license plate frames. I did this with a laser jammer, year ago.

Katz, The difference is that the AUX (with larger LCD display) directly displays the title and artist, whereas the SD does not. However, the SD somehow gets the Lexus radio display to show that information. Dave

I'll check, tonight but I didn't even think about that one - thanks! ...checked and found the other receptacle. It would be perfect if you used only the remote control and did not need to look at the display.

The Soundfly SD WMA/MP3 Player Car Fm Transmitter for SD Card, USB Stick, Mp3 Players (iPod, Zune) This inexpensive ($34.95) device makes playing music soooo easy and is a great alternative to spending $500 to have your factory stereo/CD/cassette player repaired after it displays an error message/refuses to spit out your CDs. I picked up this transmitter on Amazon.com and immediately loaded hundreds of songs on an inexpensive 4 GB SD card. You simply tune your Lexus FM stereo to an unused number and then use the handy Soundfly remote control to match that FM frequency on its digital display. The Soundfly always remembers the FM frequency, so you normally would set the frequency, once and forget about it. Of course, you can add or subtract songs, anytime by popping out the SD card or USB jump drive and using your PC. The shifter does come very close to the unit when you shift the transmission into Park but that doesn't seem to be an issue. Here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.co...31513634&sr=8-4 Update: I added a dual receptacle unit to shift the Soundfly to the right to provide more shifter clearance.

Actually, "demolished" meant that the RX450h and Highlander Hybrid were both at the top of their "class", scoring higherthan the competition. Of course, I exaggerated a bit but hey, I root for the hybrids!

In the latest Consumer Reports Auto Issue, the two SUVs that demolished the rest were the RX450h and Highlander Hybrid. I pity the folks who thought fuel prices would stabilize at $2.50/gallon and who subsequently purchased new non-hybrids. Read em and weep, folks!