patt

We test drove the Prius. I was satisfied with the way it performed and it was reasonably comfortable. The biggest problem was ground clearance. On vacation and trips we sometimes want to go down a dirt road. I'm not talking about going up mountains like some of the auto commercials, just a dirt road in fair condition with some rocks and ruts. I'd be worried about ripping something out with less than 5 inches of ground clearance. My husband also found the foot room in the Rx330 or Highlander to be much more comfortable than the Prius. Our commute is mostly suburban roads with lots of stop and go for traffic lights and a little bit of freeway so what we get most of the time is pretty close to the "city" mileage number on my current car. Suburban driving isn't necessarily like the highway numbers. What we are expecting out of an RX400 is a good trade-off between fuel economy and performance. I don't expect the fuel economy to entirely offset the additional cost of the hybrid.

I'm definately not a teeny-bopper, but I wouldn't be interested in the RX 400 if it had a 4-cylinder with V6 perormance. We travel over the Sierras and up roads like the grapevine into LA. We need a car with the ability to put out sustained power to get up those. With a 4-cylinder on that large a car, I'd be concerned we would get to a point where the batteries ran out and we would be on gas engine alone for an extended climb. Test driving the RX 330, it wasn't quite as responsive as I would like especially for rapid acceleration to get up to speed on on-ramps and such. I don't mean it was terrible but it was a bit under-powered at times. Also, its gas mileage was a little less than I would like. So an RX 400 that gets a bit better performance and a bit better mileage is just what I want. We drove the Prius, but were concerned about its very low ground clearance. We sometimes go down imperfect dirt roads and I'd be afraid with the Prius that a rock would rip out something. From what we've heard at this point, the trade-off of power, mileage, space and comfort in the RX 400 will be perfect for what we want. By the way, I have heard from multiple dealers that the RX 400 will not have wood so they will be catering to that green desire. One dealer said that there will be less wood in all their 2005 models and that Lexus was looking for more renewable alternatives to old growth woods. I care about the environment, but I'm not a vegetarian and I have no problem with leather.

In California, the date for start of shipments I'm hearing is between January and March. The larger volume dealers I've spoken to seem to be more on top of the information and they are saying Feb/March. Of course, it has slipped once (from the orignial Fall 2004 to 1st Quarter 05) so it could slip again. :( I've also heard that they may introduce in different states at different times so California dates may not mean anything to New York. None of the dealers in Sacramento are running a real list so I've put down refundable deposits at two of the large volume dealers in California (in hopes that large volume guys will get the best supply). Both of them say the will sell at list - no dealer mark-up. The dealers not running lists also say they haven't decided about mark-up. So it looks like I will end up traveling to a dealer 150 miles or 400 miles away to get my car when the time comes. One of the dealers has a $1000 deposit and that list is short - I was told I was number 7 and would probably get my car within the first month. The other dealer has a $100 deposit (which seems a pretty small commitment given the price of the car especially since it is refundable - you are giving up a buck or two of interest at most). Their list is about 110. If they all hang in there, I probably wouldn't get the car until summer. They are the closer dealer and with such a low deposit it may be that a lot of them drop off the list when the time comes, so I threw my name in just in case.

The dealers in California are saying the availability has slipped. I'm hearing February/March. I also saw an article that said they will ship first to the states where they have the most pressure to improve fleet mileage so probably there will be some staggering in how it will show up across the US.

Unless they are increasing the gas tank size, the mpg number and range in the article don't match. Gas tank on the current RX is 19.2 in the specs. They are saying range of over 600 miles - that would require better than 31 miles per gallon. I've seen the 600 mile range in material from the auto maker so the 27 mpg number in the article was probably wrong or speculation.

Lexus Stevens Creek is taking names. I got on their list this morning. Of the two dealers I tried in the Sacramento area, one hasn't started a list yet and the other says they will take names and hold a lottery rather than using it as an ordered list.