A request for advice, how well does the RX400H with 4 wheel drive do in the snow.....
03-12-07, 12:41 AM
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A request for advice, how well does the RX400H with 4 wheel drive do in the snow.....
A request for advice, how well does the RX400H with 4 wheel drive do in the snow compared to a Jeep?
OK he is my situation. I have a 400H 4 wheel drive that is sitting in my garage not being used, collecting dust.
I live in New York but my RX is sitting in my house in my garage in Texas. I bought a second house as a winter retreat last October. My plan was to spend winters in Texas and summers in NY. The exact car in the color and options I wanted was available so I picked it up as a 3 year 12,000 mile per year lease in late October. I drove the car for about a week to make sure everything was OK then I packed up the RX so full there wasn’t room to fit a single extra item and drove out to Texas. So far I am thrilled with the RX, it gets better than twice the MPG than my 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. I have had two problems with the RX so far. One, the air bag warning light stays on, it is no big deal to me because I always wear my seat belt and air bags seem unnecessary if you are belted up. The second does bother me because I am worried about getting stranded. For some reason the computer freezes up and the car’s dashboard lights come on but nothing works. Both times when I called Lexus roadside assistance the guys that came down were clueless and said they didn’t know anything about hybrids. Fortunately the computer seemed to reset itself in about a ½ hour.
I flew back to NY for the Thanksgiving / Christmas holidays and wound up staying in NY longer than I expected because my house was broken into. I captured the guy in my house and turned him over to the police but had to remain in NY for a Grand jury hearing and remain in case there was a trial. When got back to TX a couple months later the battery was almost dead. A jump start got it going and I drove it for a couple weeks with no further problems. But this time when I flew back to NY on 1/28/07 I hooked it up to a Deltran battery tender http://www.batterytender.com/ . The Deltran battery tender is a very sophisticated device and I expect the battery to be in good condition when I get back to TX.
OK that was the background here are the questions. Unexpected family obligations have prevented me from living in TX so I find it necessary to sell my TX house at a huge loss but I have no choice. It is really killing me to have a beautiful house and car that I am paying for and not getting any use out of it so on 3/30/07 I will be flying out to TX and will drive the Lexus back to NY. My original plan was to keep the Jeep because it is an excellent snow car. The Jeep is superior to most 4WD cars in that it has the ability to transfer 100% of it power to the one wheel with the most traction. The Humvee can also do this but I don’t know if the Lexus can do it. My main question is would it be a good Idea to keep two cars? The Jeep was bought and in a few more payments it will be paid off with less than 30,000 mile on it. Does it make sense to maintain two cars and pay insurance on two cars just so that I have the Jeep for the snow. It would also be nice to have the Jeep to drive so that the paint won’t get all mucked up from the road salt they spread on the roads in the winter, but my main concern is will the RX get stuck in snow that the Jeep will get through without a problem.
Another thing to consider is the fact that the RX is leased. I leased it for two reasons, #1 I just bought a second home so I wanted to keep my payments down, and #2 in 3 years when the lease is over the new advancements in Hybrids may make it more desirable to get a newer model. Another thing to consider is that if I sell the Jeep I will be forced to make a decision when the 3 year lease is up. What if the lease is over in 3 years and Lexus or some other car company is due to come out with a ground breaking new hybrid but it won‘t be available for a few moths after the lease ends. If I have the Jeep I can turn in the Lexus and just drive the Jeep until the new hybrid comes out. Maybe I may have to go on a waiting list for a new hybrid 3 years from now but if I do it would be nice to have the Jeep to use as a back up. So the question is for those of you that have driven the RX with 4 wheel drive how well do they do in deep snow, and if you have owned other 4WD cars like the Jeep Overland (not the Wrangler, it doesn’t have the superior 4WD system) how does the RX compare to the Overland?
PS Even if I sell the house for more than I paid for it the real estate fees will make this a huge loss for me so if i sell the Jeep the money will come in handy
PPS I put down about $2,500 and am paying $580 a month with 4WD, with the nav, rubber Lexus mats and the radio upgrade. I think there was more options but that is all I remember the car and paperwork are in TX and I am in NY
OK he is my situation. I have a 400H 4 wheel drive that is sitting in my garage not being used, collecting dust.
I live in New York but my RX is sitting in my house in my garage in Texas. I bought a second house as a winter retreat last October. My plan was to spend winters in Texas and summers in NY. The exact car in the color and options I wanted was available so I picked it up as a 3 year 12,000 mile per year lease in late October. I drove the car for about a week to make sure everything was OK then I packed up the RX so full there wasn’t room to fit a single extra item and drove out to Texas. So far I am thrilled with the RX, it gets better than twice the MPG than my 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. I have had two problems with the RX so far. One, the air bag warning light stays on, it is no big deal to me because I always wear my seat belt and air bags seem unnecessary if you are belted up. The second does bother me because I am worried about getting stranded. For some reason the computer freezes up and the car’s dashboard lights come on but nothing works. Both times when I called Lexus roadside assistance the guys that came down were clueless and said they didn’t know anything about hybrids. Fortunately the computer seemed to reset itself in about a ½ hour.
I flew back to NY for the Thanksgiving / Christmas holidays and wound up staying in NY longer than I expected because my house was broken into. I captured the guy in my house and turned him over to the police but had to remain in NY for a Grand jury hearing and remain in case there was a trial. When got back to TX a couple months later the battery was almost dead. A jump start got it going and I drove it for a couple weeks with no further problems. But this time when I flew back to NY on 1/28/07 I hooked it up to a Deltran battery tender http://www.batterytender.com/ . The Deltran battery tender is a very sophisticated device and I expect the battery to be in good condition when I get back to TX.
OK that was the background here are the questions. Unexpected family obligations have prevented me from living in TX so I find it necessary to sell my TX house at a huge loss but I have no choice. It is really killing me to have a beautiful house and car that I am paying for and not getting any use out of it so on 3/30/07 I will be flying out to TX and will drive the Lexus back to NY. My original plan was to keep the Jeep because it is an excellent snow car. The Jeep is superior to most 4WD cars in that it has the ability to transfer 100% of it power to the one wheel with the most traction. The Humvee can also do this but I don’t know if the Lexus can do it. My main question is would it be a good Idea to keep two cars? The Jeep was bought and in a few more payments it will be paid off with less than 30,000 mile on it. Does it make sense to maintain two cars and pay insurance on two cars just so that I have the Jeep for the snow. It would also be nice to have the Jeep to drive so that the paint won’t get all mucked up from the road salt they spread on the roads in the winter, but my main concern is will the RX get stuck in snow that the Jeep will get through without a problem.
Another thing to consider is the fact that the RX is leased. I leased it for two reasons, #1 I just bought a second home so I wanted to keep my payments down, and #2 in 3 years when the lease is over the new advancements in Hybrids may make it more desirable to get a newer model. Another thing to consider is that if I sell the Jeep I will be forced to make a decision when the 3 year lease is up. What if the lease is over in 3 years and Lexus or some other car company is due to come out with a ground breaking new hybrid but it won‘t be available for a few moths after the lease ends. If I have the Jeep I can turn in the Lexus and just drive the Jeep until the new hybrid comes out. Maybe I may have to go on a waiting list for a new hybrid 3 years from now but if I do it would be nice to have the Jeep to use as a back up. So the question is for those of you that have driven the RX with 4 wheel drive how well do they do in deep snow, and if you have owned other 4WD cars like the Jeep Overland (not the Wrangler, it doesn’t have the superior 4WD system) how does the RX compare to the Overland?
PS Even if I sell the house for more than I paid for it the real estate fees will make this a huge loss for me so if i sell the Jeep the money will come in handy
PPS I put down about $2,500 and am paying $580 a month with 4WD, with the nav, rubber Lexus mats and the radio upgrade. I think there was more options but that is all I remember the car and paperwork are in TX and I am in NY
03-12-07, 06:30 AM
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I can't believe I read through the whole thing. But honestly I still don't quite get what you are really trying to ask.
To answer the question in your topic. If it's light snow the OEM Micheline tires with the pseudo AWD actually handle ok. Just don't drive into a ditch and assume the Lexus will pull itself out like a Humvee can do. If you really want to keep the Lexus and just one car, will not drive in deep snow but concern about winter driving, spend about $1K and invest in another set of wheel and snow tires.
To answer the question in your topic. If it's light snow the OEM Micheline tires with the pseudo AWD actually handle ok. Just don't drive into a ditch and assume the Lexus will pull itself out like a Humvee can do. If you really want to keep the Lexus and just one car, will not drive in deep snow but concern about winter driving, spend about $1K and invest in another set of wheel and snow tires.
03-12-07, 06:41 AM
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mtl winters
I have always invested in full blown winter tires. None of that 4 season stuff for me. As well, I like having them mounted on separate rims as well. I went with the Bridgestone Blizzaks DM-Z3 in the oem size. Awesome, talk about stability and traction. I don't care what powertrain you have, the only contact you have with the road are due to tires. If you value winter driving and want it to be as grief free as possible, then you purchase winter tires.
As for the RX 400H I have not experienced anything particular bad or great. It drives like pretty much any other AWD vehicle I have owned with 4 full blown winter tires.
Cheers,
MadloR
As for the RX 400H I have not experienced anything particular bad or great. It drives like pretty much any other AWD vehicle I have owned with 4 full blown winter tires.
Cheers,
MadloR
03-12-07, 07:21 AM
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OK I assume the short answer is that the Lexsus may not get throught the real deep stuff as well as a Jeep or Humvee it should be sufficent to get me through the light stuff I normally get in Long Island so I can probably sell my Jeep and not be too concerned about getting stuck if I get the proper tires.
03-12-07, 07:59 AM
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If you want an RX and need better winter driving capability, the RX350 may be a better choice than the RX400h because of it's hardwares. The rear motor of the 400h acts more like a traction control system, a passive way to drive through slippery conditions when skid is detected.
03-12-07, 08:30 AM
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If you want an RX and need better winter driving capability, the RX350 may be a better choice than the RX400h because of it's hardwares. The rear motor of the 400h acts more like a traction control system, a passive way to drive through slippery conditions when skid is detected.
I am really unsure what the best choice (sell or keep the Jeep) would be and knowing what to expect from the RX400H in the snow will help me make up my mind.
PS The family problem involves my mother, shortly after I bought the TX house my mother developed health problems and I need to stay in NY to take care of her. Since I have only had the TX house for a short while I expect to take a huge loss when I sell the house.
03-12-07, 09:36 AM
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Unless you want or have to go out driving on roads with a lot of snow (>6" on the road I'd say) then the RX should be fine.
Financially, I'd say it's a no brainer that you should not keep two similar SUVs. Since the RX is a lease you probably have to keep that one. If you won't be doing giant drives from NY to TX and fuel economy isn't much of a concern, maybe you could sell the Jeep and trade the RX lease for a GX or LX lease - both of which will be more capable in the snow.
Also - maybe you could rent out the house in TX?
Financially, I'd say it's a no brainer that you should not keep two similar SUVs. Since the RX is a lease you probably have to keep that one. If you won't be doing giant drives from NY to TX and fuel economy isn't much of a concern, maybe you could sell the Jeep and trade the RX lease for a GX or LX lease - both of which will be more capable in the snow.
Also - maybe you could rent out the house in TX?
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03-13-07, 02:39 PM
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Well, I have owned both vehicles. JGC limited and RX400h.
JGC Limited: like the quadradrive but found it slow reacting. It is very mechanical. Bottom line, tires helped more than drivetrain alone, and snow is not mud, so do not confuse the two. If you offroad, then JGC hands down. Urban assault vehicle purpose is another story.
RX400H: really, really quiet. Much better comfortable cruiser and super quiet wrt to wind noise. System reacts really well in slippery stuff. I would never take this vehicle offroad. Only drawback is for a vehicle of this price range, there should be ZERO rattles or creaks, unfortunately this is not the case. Oh and gas mileage rocks, nothing can touch it in its class.
Cheers,
MadloR
JGC Limited: like the quadradrive but found it slow reacting. It is very mechanical. Bottom line, tires helped more than drivetrain alone, and snow is not mud, so do not confuse the two. If you offroad, then JGC hands down. Urban assault vehicle purpose is another story.
RX400H: really, really quiet. Much better comfortable cruiser and super quiet wrt to wind noise. System reacts really well in slippery stuff. I would never take this vehicle offroad. Only drawback is for a vehicle of this price range, there should be ZERO rattles or creaks, unfortunately this is not the case. Oh and gas mileage rocks, nothing can touch it in its class.
Cheers,
MadloR
I just returned from a ski trip in the 400h. I was quite impressed with how it did. Chain law was in effect and the roads were quite slippery. There was about 4-5 inches of snow on the road, so nothing too deep. The 400h never slipped at all, even starting from a stop on a severe uphill grade. I was not expecting it to be as good as it was.
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