Eldor

I've had my Rx450h (Ultra Premium) since June and it was only a few days ago that I experienced the pre-collision system for the first time. Someone came out of a side street and I hit the brakes and suddenly my seat belt got extra tight (pulled me right back in my seat!) and it felt like the brakes were being applied a lot harder than I myself was applying them. It was quite a surprise let me tell you. And the seat belt held me tight for several seconds after coming to a stop. I guess that's a good thing but I hope I never really need it. I have no idea if the seat belt thing works on the back seats as well as the front and you might confirm if it does before you spring for it. As far as the navagation system goes, at least for me, it is a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. I've had nav systems for years (having owned various Magellan, TomTom and Garmin units) and as far as I'm concerned, the system in the Lexus is brain-dead. It doesn't know where you can or cannot make a left turn for example (the Garmin DOES know) and it tries to route me around roads that have existed for the last 15 years instead of taking the direct (shorter AND faster) route. The system is so bad in fact, that I am no longer using it and wish I hadn't paid extra for it. I've now got my Garmin unit sitting on the dash and it's 100 times better. Would it help resale value? Maybe. At least if the buyer expects the nav system to be comparable to what other manufacturers offer. Even so, I don't think it would help resale value enough to offset the inital purchase price. Other than that, the Hybrid is really nice.

There have been complaints about the navigation system for years? Gee, I should have researched this more before buying as the nav system (as a gadget nut) was a big deal for me and I'd hoped to be able to retire my windshield-mount Garmin. I hate having to use the Garmin (as good as it is) but more hate the fact that there's no place to plug it in, so I've got to charge it externally and use it only as long as the battery lasts. And about them not having heard of the thing called a passenger, well the answer is yes and no. They talk about a feature of the new "Remote Touch" device as having "...buttons on either side to allow both the driver and front passenger to make selections". They just don't mention that the vehicle must be stopped first. The voice-dialing does indeed work quite well (at least with my Motorola phone). Only problem is that you can only transfer phone directory entries one at a time (this may possibly be a limitation of my phone). And if you call an automated system where you've got to respond with numeric entries you're kinda stuck. You can't use the Lexus system (unless you're stopped) and have to pull the phone out from the storage compartment by the driver's right elbow to use the keypad on the phone. Again, not well thought-out. I actually do like the voice controls (as far as they go) and it's really cool to be able to say "raise temperature by 2 degrees" and have it respond.

I’ve had my new RX450h for less than a month and I’m pretty unhappy with it and may end up getting rid of it faster than any other vehicle I’ve ever had. First some background… I’m 57 years old and have had new cars since I was 18 and usually I keep a car only two years before changing it. I bought a 2001 RX300 in 2000, and it was the best car I’ve ever had. Never gave me any trouble and it was a pleasure to drive. It was so comfortable and easy to use… everything was well thought out and the ergonomics were superb. And the service I got from my dealer was the best I’d ever experienced. I ended up keeping the car until just a month ago, making it a longer “romance” than I’ve ever had with a car. I’d been waiting and waiting for the new hybrid RX450h and was really excited to be one of the first customers to get one from my local dealer. I’d read all the specs, drooled and dreamed about the features, and simply couldn’t wait for it to arrive. Especially since I’m a real gadget nut. I hoped my love of Lexus RX would continue and get stronger. I took delivery of my new RX450h (with Ultra Premium package) less than a month ago. And I’m really unhappy with it. First here is what I like: The hybrid technology… the car is smooth, powerful and very quiet. (And now that I’ve had the chance to drive a 2010 RX350 for a week, I’m glad I got the hybrid.) Only thing is that the fuel economy isn’t (yet) as good as I hoped, in spite of driving the vehicle so slowly and gently that other drivers are on my bumper honking, but it’s still a lot better than the RX350. The radar cruise control… is simply incredible! After you set a speed, if a car in front of you slows down, your car slows down. If it speeds up or turns off, your car speeds back up to the speed you’ve set. And if someone cuts you off not only does you car react as if you’d take your foot off the gas (which is kinda what I expected) but it actually hits the brakes. Someone sharply cut in front of me and my car hit the brakes and went “beep beep beep” to warn me. Wonderful. Here’s what I hate (in no particular order): The navigation system… in short is HORRIBLE! I’ve had various GPS systems for years and I don’t think anyone wanting to design a bad system could design one as bad as in this Lexus. Seriously. So after spending THOUSANDS of dollars extra for the Ultra Premium package, thinking that Lexus would at least give me close to state-of-the-art components, I find I want to stick my Garmin GPS onto the windshield with a suction cup mount. Can you believe it? Ok, where do I plug it in? No 12-volt plug anywhere in the front surfaces of the interior. You have to open the console compartment by the driver’s right elbow, remove a small tray and then use two hands to remove a second tray and under that are two 12-volt outlets. So you plug the GPS power into that and then stretch the wire up over the center console, up over the center controls and onto the dash. Only the manual says not to put anything there as it interferes with some new sensors. And of course the wire isn’t long enough to then extend the GPS to the driver’s side of the windshield. SIGH What’s wrong with the Navigation system? It’s much easier to show than to write about but it’s simply not user friendly and is more often wrong than right. I have experience with Garmin, Magellan and Tomtom systems and I sort of expected that Lexus would check out what other systems offered before coming up with their own, and that when they did it would rival the best available. Wrong! The system has me turning left on streets where no left turn is allowed, making long detours when the main (and direct) route is right there (and has been for over 20 years!). Entering destinations is pretty brain-dead as well, and instead of entering a postal code or zip (as with Garmin) you simply enter the street you’re looking for. Then another screen come up with (depending on the street) maybe 20 entries for that street. You pick one and then enter the house number, only to find the system tell you that number doesn’t exist on that street. So you have to go back and pick the next (identical) street name on the list and try again. Very frustrating! And if you think you can use the map to scroll to where you want to go and click on a point as your destination you’ll be lucky if you can do that, as in most cases the map doesn’t show enough detail (no matter what the magnification) to find what you want. And most things cannot be done while the car is moving. I understand this is by design for a safety point-of-view, but this also means that my passenger (my navigator) cannot make settings while I’m driving either. Or even make phone calls to numbers not in the Lexus phone directory. Let’s say you’re driving down the interstate and want to know where the next gas stations are. You actually have to stop the car before you can make the setting to show them. Brain dead! The tilting (when in reverse) outside mirrors… COULD be great, if only the position they tilted to would be useful. For me backing into my parking spot, the position is NOT useful and while the regular position of the outside mirrors (and seat and steering wheel) can be memorized, the tilted reverse position of the mirrors cannot be. Making this feature pretty much worthless. Coin box missing… My last Lexus had a coin box, and for someone who often needs change for parking meters and tolls that was pretty handy. It no longer exists! Poor interior storage… The storage is horrible. The center console contains two cup holders and a storage compartment. That compartment is back at the driver’s right elbow and it’s just about impossible to use unless you twist way around in your seat and access it with your left arm. And it’s very badly designed, with a dinky little tray at the top and then a deep tray. Compared with the fantastic storage compartments I’d gotten used to with my last Lexus, this is awful and using it is like dumping everything into a deep bucket. No organization at all. The horn… is just about impossible to reach while keeping your hands on the steering wheel. (But it’s easy to change radio modes.) I don’t often use my horn but when I do it’s usually while trying to avoid a sudden obstruction and I want to keep my hands on the wheel while doing so. Whoever designed this must not have spent much (if any) time behind the wheel actually uh, “driving” the car. The sound system… I have the ultimate Mark Levinson sound system in my Ultra Premium package and it’s the most unfriendly system I can imagine. I usually listen to one FM and one AM radio station, flipping back and forth depending on my mood and if I want to listen to news or traffic reports or music. Using the SINGLE button on the dash for AM/FM, you end up cycling from FM1 to FM2 to FM3 to AM, and then back. And this is the FASTEST way! If you use the “Mode” button on the steering wheel, you have to also add SAT1, SAT2, SAT3, CD, AUX and USB. I think whoever designed this should be forced to actually USE IT! Geez! The iPod implementation… falls far short of being actually useful. It’s better to just use the iPod with the AUX-in port than with the lousy implementation Lexus gave us. Once connected with the iPod implementation, the controls on the iPod are “dead” and you have to make all settings through the Lexus system. Well, I’m far from being the music collector that many are, but using the Artists search feature is just about impossible. To find an artist, you must scroll screen-by-screen, five artists at a time, until you find the artist you want. Complicating this is that you cannot speed-scroll by holding down the scroll button but it is literally one slow screen of five at a time, and get this, every time the screen changes the system starts playing the first artist on that screen. I have a 25-minute commute to work and I started looking for Joan Baez when I left. I gave up before I got to work but after 15 minutes of trying, I still hadn’t gotten to “J”. It’s going to be better to just plug the iPod into the Aux-In but then I have to get a cigarette lighter plug charger for it as once you connect the USB plug to the iPod all the controls are locked. No Mute button… Still on the topic of the audio and navigation systems, there is no MUTE button on the sound system. And the volume control knob (either on the dash or the wheel) is slow. So you have to turn the system off if you need to mute it quickly and of course that causes the iPod to reset when you start up again. Don’t the designers ever use what they design? 400-watt AC outlet… the brochure talks about a 400-watt AC outlet with the Hybrid Ultra Premium package and as a gadget nut (and a photographer with various chargers I need to use) I was looking forward to that. Alas, it’s NOT 400 watts at all but only 100 watts. False advertising or a typo? I don’t know, but it bothers me. Lots of dummy buttons… The console and the dash have several dummy buttons, which I’m told by my dealer are for non-hybrid models. Having paid thousands of dollars more for the hybrid AND for the Ultra Premium package, these dummy buttons really bug me. It’s like there’s an option I didn’t get, when in fact I’ve got a fully-loaded model with all the available options. For the price I’d expect Lexus to have an overlay or replacement cover or something to make the car look complete. Space between seats… the design here of the center console and the seats is terrible. Already I’ve dropped my cell phone down there four times and it cannot be reached. It also cannot be reached from under the front of the front seat and even from under in the back you can barely reach it. I’ve had to bend a clothes hanger and wiggle it back and forth to move the phone to where I could reach it. Besides all the above, I had my new RX450h for 3 weeks when the air conditioning died. It didn’t just stop blowing cold air, but it was blowing very HOT air. Just my luck that this happened on a Friday afternoon and I had to use the car for a longer trip on the weekend with closed windows (because of rain) and hot air blowing. I brought the car to my dealer on Monday and they told me there was no gas in the a/c system and that there must be a leak. It took them until Friday at 5:30pm to get my car back to me! It turned out to be a faulty evaporator (that’s the unit under the dash in the passenger compartment) and the whole dash had to be disassembled to get to it. I’m told Lexus is involved with this case to try to determine whether this was due to some manufacturing defect or bad design. I understand that with any car things could be defective and/or break down and this is not my biggest beef with this car. But I’m sure unhappy to have lost my brand new car for 5 days after only having it for 3 weeks. My biggest beefs are what I listed above and at this point I very much doubt I’ll be keeping the car long. Buyer beware.