sveet

I know we will never have access to the data, but wouldn't it be interesting to see the difference in how many problems per vehicle depending on where it was built?

Bought a 2004 RX330 with 24 miles on it yesterday.  Three hours later had it towed back to dealer.  Problems started with enging surging while stopped at red light and foot on the brake, after driving 100 miles.  Tried to lurch ahead severly!  Pulled over 2 minutes later and heard a very loud and severe lower engine rattle.  Check engine light came on.  It was dark so not real sure engine had oil in it.  The stuff was so new and clean not really sure at this point.  Unbeleivable this could happen to a vehicle just driven off showroom floor.  Broke down and towed at 121 miles on odometer.  Please email me at    darc2103@aol.com    if anybody has any ideas. My baby is now sitting at the dealers, waiting to be checked/repaired, and they are closed for the weekend.  Not the Lexus quality I had expected. 

Also, does anybody know if New Jersey has the 3-day cooling off period for new car purchase?  Tomorrow will be my third day owning it new, and I would love to give Prestige Lexus  this truck back and get a new one.

Dar

:cries::cries::cries:

I don't know what the law states, but if you press them, it is within their power to get you into a new truck. It is all about $ and how much the dealer and Lexus are willing to do to make a happy customer.

I got a second Jeep GC after having a trannie seal let go on the way home on a new car delivery (albiet it took 3 more visits for them to "try" and fix it) and my brother got a new WRX after almost a year of driving when a tech messed up the paint on his door tring to fix a rattle. He had to pay for some depreciation, but in his cae he had the car a year, and the deal was real fair.

If I owned the dealer, I would get you in a new one ASAP. Then I would fix the one you had and sell it on my used lot (or sell it to an employee for a good deal). For whatever "loss" I had to take, I would arm wrestle with Lexus for participation. Then you are real happy and probably buy cars from me forever.

This is all based on your problem being major, like a broken connecting rod, etc.... If it just some sensor, then just have it fixed and all is well.

Not on VW, but I see the daytime running lights out on GM Trucks all the time. My father has an 02 GMC Z71 and has replaced his 3 times already...always the drivers side one too. Funny, isn't it?

I notice the GM Truck DLR's being out too. Funny............

I would check out the JD Power and Associates 2004 Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) at http://www.jdpa.com/pdf/2004055.pdf

Lexus has 162 problems per 100 vehicles. Volkswagen has 386 problems per 100 vehicles. If you buy the Tourag you will spend a lot more of your Saturdays not driving it and waiting to get it fixed.

Anybody else ever notice that when ever you see a car comming in the opposite direction, with a headlight out, it is almost always a VW???

The Air bag off light is on when a 90lb adult sat on the front passenger seat.

Is this normal, or Lexus can adjust the weight sensor to suit. For RX330

Make sure nothing is on the back of the seat.

My daughter had her feet on the seat back and my wife was in the front and the light went on. I thought something was wrong until I looked in the manual and it specifically said no feet on seat back, etc...

It also goes on to explain how to properly sit in the seat, i.e. no leaning to side, etc...

Both of my front dash vents make clicking noises all the time. Based on the design, I would think it is common, but nobody here seems to experience it.

I, too, feel that maybe I am too picky. I don't think so, however. We did buy a fairly expensive SUV and it really shouldn't have rattles, clicks, or any other abnormal noises.

more room third row seat. and my mom liked it better and do did my dad. And it is AWD

Couldn't figure those things about before buying an RX330????

look at the cbest options in the general maintance to see if there is an option.

Nothing in the settings so I probably just have to live with it.

I also don't really like that all the doors have to be closed before you can lock. Sometimes, when my hands are full, it would be nice to "pre-lock" the doors and then use my arm to close it.

Silver is nice.

I find it a pain that all of the doors have to be unlocked before you can use the power rear door and then the power rear door has to be down before you can relock the truck.

I simply want to walk up to the truck, hit the power door button, have it open, throw my stuff in, and then hit the close button. All the unlocking and relocking seems unnecessary and a pain.

Can this be changed???

Actually thats not true. The engine configuration is similar so they licensed the rights to the concept from Toyota simply to avoid problems down the road but the hybrid drive system is not the same nor does it share any components etc.

And based on the fact that it is ALL Ford engineering, QC, etc.... I wouldn't buy one for $5K off MSRP, much less the "Additional Dealer Mark-Up" they are planning on.

Ford & New Technology = Run Away Fast!

I am on the list for a RX400h and was wondering if the multipanel moonroof is worth the money. I hear if it is ordered you cannot have any roof rails. Comments?

I have heard it is really noisy when open. Plus no roof rails.

Can somebody direct me to a decent quality torque wrench?

I have one but I don't realy trust it.

Let me have a try at this math...........

20000 Miles / Year Divided By 30 Miles Per Gallon = 667 Gallons Per Year

20000 Miles / Year Divided By 18 Miles Per Gallon = 1,110 Gallons Per Year

1100-667 = 433 Gallons Saved

433 Gallon * $2.30 = $995 per year

You are a fairly extreme case, putting 20000 Miles per year of city driving on and top of the scale gas prices. For you it actually probably make sense. For me it doesn't.

My miles are more more highway, were the incremental benifit drops. My gas is cheaper. And I probably can't get myself to keep a car 5 Years.

In the end it is the resale that might really be in your favor. I have this gut feeling that Hybrid's are really going to be the buzzword / sought after technology. It may make your RX440 actually hold a significanty higher resale than my RC330.

One potential problem is when Ford does the Escape, most likely really screws it up with many many problems, recalls, TSB's, like they usually do (especially with a new technology), it potentially could "drag the whole Hybred concept thru the mud". Guilt by associtation type of thing. Probably not, since Honda / Toyota are already several generations into it, with no major problems, the public probably won't draw the wrong conclusions.

My dealer said that they are reserving at MSRP. He expected that MSRP to be about $2-3K over a RX330. Since I got $3K off MSRP, that equates to a minimum of $5K premium. Thats ALOT of gas!

Does anybody know if the manual shift of the performance package has any different logic than the standard set-up, or is it really just a different shift gate?

I dig the multi level of the suspension. Is there a noticable difference in firmness from high to low?

My outboard dash vents (mostly passenger side) click like crazy over every suble bump in the road.

If I even touch them they make clicking noises all over the place.

Anybody else have this one? If resolved, how?