NeverSatisfied

I was just reading this mag this past weekend also!?!

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

That is why I don't hold much into these reliability serveys. I will say it is true that Lexus is among the leaders of reliability, but I would say all Honda/Acura and Toyota/Lexus is about the same. I base this on experience. The reason what I say that is because nobdy ever asked my to participate in any of these types of serveys so may voice as well as it seems many here has not been heard. Truthfully, I really don't know how they get these servey results since I have never been mailed anything like this before for any car I bought. Who are these new car owners participating and giving these reviews?

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

[QUOTE=lexuslover]i am not sure this report relates to everyone. i don't have any fears of not being able to merge properly or speed up to avoid collisions . . . in fact the RX has enough power IMHO for everyday situations. sure it's no V8, but i am wondering if these particular articles are referring to defective transmissions??

QUOTE]

I would say it is your driving style. When all this talk about this tranny hesitation started, I keep saying I never noticed anything like that in our 04 RX330. One day I mentioned it to my wife, and she says that she knows exactly what I am talking about because it happens to her alot. Problem is, when I drive I guess the way I manipulate the throttle is different and seems to work better with the tranny. Maybe that is your case as well. It is apparent though that certain drivers can make the problem surface so it is a problem. In our other cars my wife and I both never have any such complaints. The tranny shouldn't only work properly for one driving style, It should work propery for everyones driving style, thus there is something wrong with it be it ECU programming, or just a poor design, or whatever else.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

Unfortunately I don't have any high hopes that it will get fixed. It has already been just over 2 years already and Toyota/Lexus still has no clue how to fix it. I believe they may come out with a fix to help the situation, but not fix it 100%. They will just redesign it for the next generation which should come out in 2008 as a 2009 model. That is only 3 years away.

Husker4the

Yes, he is wrong.

HarrierAWD

CR randomly mails its survey forms to its subscribers only. (For obviously reason: their subscribers are more likely to fill out and return the forms. Junk mail wastes money.) Over the last 10 years, I've received the CR survey forms 3 times. My last one was just earlier this month. I did report brake problem (warped rotors) on my 2002 RX300.

lexuslover

that is a horrible salesman; they should never suggest to buy a new one to correct a problem.

HarrierAWD

That's not bad compared to Corporate Lexus' sales tactic. I received a clever-worded promotional letter from Lexus saying that my local dealer needs to do a "special purchase" for some 2002 RX300. (And guess what I own?) They'd offer me good trade-in price on it, but I must visit the dealership during certain dates.. blah blah blah. Obviously an insult to Lexus owner's intelligence.

LexFather

I am going to say this in 2 threads.
JD Power and Consumer Reports doesn't just report info on automobiles but on variouis items, from hotels, to carpet to condoms. They both are as fair as we can get.

Lexus in its respective field has shown, it is the highest quality vehicle to buy for the money, NO ONE else comes close. It is a Lexus selling point, it is now known as common knowledge.

Its funny when Lexus did slip to #2 or #3, the fanboys rush and posted the data like it was the end of Lexus. Well a couple things. It rarely happens and even if they were in the top 5, that is better than the other 30 car makers.

Mercedes Benz was #1 in quality in 1994 according to JD Power. Lexus was always at or near the top. What is amazing is the CONSISTENCY of Lexus ratings. Benz as we know is near the bottom of the pack.

It seems Acura, Caddy and Infiniti are CLOSE to Lexus but still behind. And until recently, those others brands products were average at best, so they BETTER be reliable.

Its not like this is a new phenomenom. Since its inception, Lexus has always been recommended in Consumer Reports and has been #1 or near it in JD Power.

Consumer Reports is also fair. THey LOVE the Acura Tl. But b/c of the problems that people have been reporting, the 2004 TL is not recommended anymore. If you read the Acura board, this is not surprising.

Lexus is still a car. There is the rare Lexus lemon, there are problems with Lexus. I've had problems with them. But compared to other cars owned, and looking at percentages, your best bet, for the best quality vehicle, is to buy a Lexus.

Lexus has been #1 so long in quality, that EVERYONE is waiting for the 1 car or the quality failure so they can bash and jump on the hate Lexus bandwagon. Similar to how BMW has held the #1 sport sedan (3/5/7) for so long, that when some of today's new cars actually beat BMW, people want to claim its the end of the brand.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

No one is arguing the fact that Lexus isn't reliable or that Consumer Reports is biased. I think many of us multiple Lexus owners wouldn't have bought another Lexus if we didn't believe it is among the most relliable cars out there for the most part. But, like HarrierAWD mentioned, apparently, Consumer reports only get information on products through their owners surveys which is mailed out to Consumer Reports magazine subscribers only. What about the rest of us? I read consumer reports when I want information about someting specific, so I may glance at it in the store, or buy an occational current copy. I don't subscribe to it though. How large is the Consumer Reports subscribers percentage of RX330 owners compared to all RX330s sold? How many of those RX330 owners who are subscribers got the survery? How many of them actually turned them in? Basically what I'm asking is how large was the sample for them to conclude the tranny is good?

We can put all this Consumer Reports stuff aside, because quite frankly it means nothing to those who are having hesitation problems that Lexus still seems to not have a fix for. Let's just face it. Lexus is not putting a good face forward on this problem. Mabe they are working on a fix but just don't have it yet? That doesn't really matter much when they tell customers to buy another newer model, or that it is normal. I understand that every dealer is independent, but Lexus should put out a universal language that dealerships can tell their customers when they complain about this problem so they can avoid a black eye when dealers start making crap up. Truthfully, I personally am not bothered enough by this problem to not want nother RX330 in the future. I would still buy another newer model if I had the chance since they did upgrade a few options since the 04 model, but if we are going to beat everyone in the head with how great Lexus customer service is and how customers come first and how Lexus is always trying to make things right then I will hold them to it. So far Lexus has been good to me but nothing outstanding when it comes to their service. It is not bad, but they have never gone out of their way. They just do what is needed at that time.

Also, there is a big difference when other people bash Lexus or any other model for its short comings, but when we owners complain about our own cars it is different. We are not complaining because it is fun to put our Lexus cars down, but because we expect a better product and better response from Lexus about the problem. It was fun for many to bash Acura for their tranny problem, so it is only fair to put Lexus in the spot light in the same manner as well.

NeverSatisfied

Since I just experienced my coolant leak, on top of everything else including this irritating tranny shifting and throttle problem, I would buy another Lexus, but never the first model year. I am actually 95% close to selling my 330 early, and looking at Acura or even a Honda...

HarrierAWD

According to CR, it has 4 million *paid* subscribers in U.S. and Canada. Its last survey was based on a record 810,000 responses. I am not a statistician, so I don't know how large the sample must be. Obviously CR's statisticians would have to collect enough samples to report reliability on a particular vehicle for a certain model year. In some instances, CR lists "insufficient data" for certain model years.

RX330's transmission was rated excellent reliability with less than 2% of the owners reporting problems. So if you think there's a safety issue, report it to NHTSA. When they received enough complaints, an investigation will be launched. If the investigation proves the hazard exist, a recall will be issued.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that the RX330 uses true "drive-by-wire" technology. There isn't a direct cable from your right foot to the throttle plate. When people floor the gas, the engine may not respond the way people may be accustomed to. This may make people think there might be a problem with the tranny. Just my 2 cents.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

This is true. It does use drive by wire, or throttle by wire. At first I thought it was the programming myself, but since people have been reporting that the reflash of the ECU hasn't really improved the situation that much it is either they need yet another program fix which they haven't released yet, or something else is the problem. I've driven other cars with drive by wire like the 97 NSX and it has no hesitation problem. Like I said, peoples driving style probably plays a large role in how bad the hesitation is. I really don't feel it that much at all, but my wife has it happen to her a lot. Same car, different drivers. The thing is, the tranny should work for everyone equally as well.

RAP

I have two cars that are "drive by wire", same driving habits, different results. While I receive absolutely no hesitation on my other car, it is very noticeable on my RX.

It’s not the technology, it the way Lexus incorporated it into this car. I can’t understand why the Lexus engineers can’t find a solution to this. I’m sure if they asked nicely, Chevy (makers of my other car) could help them fix it.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

I agree. It is not the technology but something with this particular application or tranny. It is not like Drive by Wire is new technology either. Acura has used it on certain cars since at least 1995 and I sure other manufactueres used it well before them. Other Lexus cars like the GS430 I believe also use Drive by Wire with no problems. I still like our RX330 though but it definately is not your typical Lexus car. Still a great car though, but I don't see it as being too much better than the competiion.