mailrail

Being a new member, please excuse the stupid question. What do the creative folks at Lexus call the color of my Silver 2000 RX 300? There's got to be some cutesy name for the color; it couldn't just be called "Silver" now could it?

It's certainly worth a visit to the nearest dealership to find out. Do you hear it only under acceleration or all of the time? Do you notice it more 'under load' going into curves? Does it change "pitch" or is much less noticable if you drive on a newly paved (smooth) road? If the answer is "yes" to the last question, then it's almost definately your tires. If you hear the growling 'under load' in a curve, it would most likely be a wheel bearing. I had that very problem with my Acura Legend. Fairly cheap fix. How many miles does your RX have on it?

I HAVE TO run premium in my Acura Legend, or it runs like crap. And since the owner's manual calls for it, it's probably the correct thing to do. I've gotta admit, however, that in these sky-high fuel prices time we're in, I cheat a little now and then and run mid-grade in it. One the main reasons that I ended up buying the Lexus last week and not the Mercedes ML-320 or the Volvo V-70, was because (unlike the aforementioned two) the Lexus uses regular fuel. The other big reason is that the Lexus is much nicer of a vehicle ALL AROUND! ;)

Well...after months of searching, I finally found my RX300. It's a silver 2000 model. I've been trying to swing a deal for a Certified one for a couple of months and because it's near the end of the month and first half of the sales year, I think they were desperate to move vehicles. My salesman called me this morning, said he had a 2000 model (I've actually been hunting 99s) that he thought he could get me in to and said they were "motivated" to sell today. So I took a half day off of work, took my wife's Honda CR-V to the lot and after a couple of hours of dickering about the prices of both cars, traded for the Lexus. I've been slobering over it all evening. My wife's in Florida right now and is due home tomorrow night. This'll actually be her car, but I'll be driving it often and ALWAYS on vacations. I can't wait to see her reaction when I pick her up at the airport. Looks like I may get lucky tomorrow night! Sully

I'm "hunting" too, and 19500 is a pretty good price for those miles. I've been looking at certified ones mostly and the price tends to run a little higher for those. Maybe I should come up to New York to find me one!

Thanks all. Yeah, I guess cloth is a matter of taste. I've got a '98 Saab w/cloth, which is fairly rare. Even though I was looking for one with leather, I got such a good deal that I couldn't pass it up and to tell you the truth, I actually like the cloth. It wears very well, looks good and still has heated seats. My 92 Acura Legend has leather that still looks nearly new after 12 years of wear. But somehow, the picture above of the RX with cloth just doesn't quite look right. On this vehicle, I'll definately wait for leather.

Being new to the Lexus forum and still searching for my RX300 to buy, I saw an ad the other day for a 99 model with cloth interior. The 20 or so that I've looked at so far all had leather interiors. I wasn't even aware that cloth was an option. Anybody out there have cloth and if so, how does it wear and look?

Jeez...I hope the $600 covers a COMPLETE brake job for all 4 sides, as well as the other things you have listed there. If not, maybe I should look at buying a Ford Escape instead of looking for an RX300!

Thanks JPI; isn't that something I should do before buying a 99 or 00 model?

Before spending megabucks, try this: Run some Valvoline SynPower concentrated injector cleaner through an entire tank of super unleaded (93 octane). Lower octane fuel is more prone to vapor lock, which is what your problem sounds like. I had the same thing happening to my Saab, which only has 42K miles. This fixed my problem. Hopefully it will fix yours, also.

So...is the sludge actually visible if you look at the dipstick or remove the filler cap?

Hello to all in the Lexus RX forum. I hope to be a card-carrying member soon. I am currently in the market for a 1999 or 2000 RX 300 to replace my wife's 01 Honda CR-V (she HATES it!) I noticed that someone mentioned a problem with "oil sludge" on some of these models. Strangely enough, I brought a 2000 model home overnight last weekend and was giving it the "once over" and took the oil cap off under the hood and noticed some sludgey looking stuff just inside the engine block at the oil filler hole. Is this where you'd typically find evidence of sludge? Or was this just "old oil" at the top of the head? Thanks in advance for any help. And, "no", I didn't buy the sludgey one. Sully