timho

We just did a trip to Lake Tahoe/Reno area during President's Day long weekend, and our 1-month old RX350 has just reached 1400 miles. So far it's been great and we hope to keep it for 10 trouble-free years. This is our first Lexus and also first luxury vehicle, so the comparison is mostly based on my other vehicle, a '01 Volkswagen Passat V6. Here is my mini-review on our car:

Plus:
1. Quietness: the cabin is so quiet regardless of speed. Passengers can chat easily.
2. Fuel economy: by not smashing the gas pedal, I get about 20.5mpg going up to Tahoe, and 26mpg coming down from Tahoe. Not too shabby for a car this weight with V6 and AWD. My FWD Passat is merely 2-3 mpg better.
3. Suspension: it's supple and cushy, a great family cruiser.
4. Manuverability: Not much different than driving a sedan, only taller. Turning radius is small for a SUV this size.

Minus:
1. Transmission: this is the biggest culprit. Obviously Toyota designs the car to be fuel efficient, so the rpm is always kept as low as possible. Good for fuel, bad for passing cars. Had to downshift numerous times for passing, and the gearbox had a hard time trying to decide the right gear. My Passat is almost always in the right gear, and Toyota's design is definately taking away the driving pleasure.
2. Ergonomics: I seem to adjust driver's seat from time to time to get myself comfortable. I also do the same thing in my Passat on a long trip, but way less frequent. The seats are not as comfortable as it seems. Arm rests are quite short and narrow (I'm 5'9").
3. Suspension: pushing the limit and you feel the body rolls. Apparently I can't get both worlds at the same time...
4. Nav system: not as intuitive as my standalone Garmin, and address entry locks out when car is in motion definately sucks. As a matter of fact, we were looking for a Safeway on the way back home to get some groceries. I really had no idea how to find one with built-in nav system, while I spent about a minute punching in the data and found the closest Safeway without stopping the car. Are you listening, Lexus?!

Anyways, given that every car has goods and bads, I think we made the right choice -- getting a great family hauler. Too bad that I didn't get a chance to try the AWD since the weather was so nice over the long weekend. (48F at Tahoe in winter time!) Can't wait to try it out on the next road trip!


Tim

javanutsy

Congrats on your purchase!

Our 08 RX350 FWD is our second luxury car, first SUV. I'm happy and impressed with the RX, but here are some of my (may be nitpicking, but I look for things in the details) pros and cons compared to my 04 BMW 330Ci:

Cons:
1. Dual buttons for the moonroof on the RX means you have to remember which way it was opened to be able to close it. On the 330, sliding the button forward closes the glass no matter if it was slid open, or tilted open.
2. Rocker buttons for the door locks. Means you have to know which way to push to lock/unlock the doors. On the 330, it is a simple button which when pushed unlocks the doors when they are locked and vice versa.
3. Mismatching lighting in the interior. There's green mood lighting from the sunglass holding (which is so dim, to the point they are almost pointless), blue lights in the cupholders, to other colors I don't remember in the footwells, glovebox, etc. Soft lighting are all orange in the 330.
4. The map lights and dome light up front are almost indistinguishable. Turning on the passenger map light creates a big annoyance to the driver. On the 330, map lights are recessed, and does not bother me when the passenger side light is on.
5. No thigh support on the seats, which can be a big bonus on long trips.
6. NAV not the friendliest to use.

Pros:
1. Full size spare with matching 5th wheel.
2. Single pull on the inside door handle unlocks the door. On the 330, it requires 2 pulls which is not very intuitive.
3. Quite cabin. The 330 has some annoying rattles.

jgr7

iTrader: (1)

Nice report, I will be taking my 08 RX350 with 2k miles on it to Reno this weekend, leaving tomorrow mid morning after they have cleared the roads. I hope I don't have to try out the AWD, but comming home on Sunday it looks like I will. I may just stay till Monday.
Jeff

jgr7

iTrader: (1)

Made it back, took 5 hours for the 2.5 hr trip. Snow all the way from Reno to about the 3500 ft level in California. Chains required for all trucks, max chains, and everything else except 4x4/AWD with snow/all season/M&S tires. I didn't have to chain up and never felt like I should have. The pace was around 30 MPH two lanes each way open and no plows running over Donner Summit near white out conditions at times with the high winds blowing the snow. The RX was perfect never had any fogging of windows and I put low temp (-32F) windshield washer fluid in before I left home, so I had no frozen wiper problems. I also kept the windshield defroster on the whole way to help. The rain sensing wipers had a little trouble with the snow sometimes but worked very well with a little adjustment on the frequency ****. In Reno I never had any low tire pressure warnings but it wasn't real cold, mid 20s. All in all we are very happy with the new RX350.
Jeff

timho

Thanks for sharing, Jeff. Did the VSC ever kick in or was it simply a smooth sail? As far as I know the RX350 AWD is not a true AWD comparing to, say, GX470, but I think for most snowy road condition it should be sufficient.

Tim

Orzel

iTrader: (1)

About what we have found with our 330, great foul weather vehicles. Glad you had a good experience and a safe drive!

The G Man

The Gx470 is really a 4WD with low gear and the ability to lock the center diff. If you put some nice truck tires on the RX, it can be as good as the GX in the snow. Off roading is another story.

Rx13

I traded my 2004 for a 2008 "Touring Edition" (Nav & Backup, No Rear Entertainment) and I am very happy with it. Just took a 5200 km (3000 mile) trip to Florida and back and it never missed a beat. Gas mileage was probably 10% better than my 2004. Vehicle was flawless on the trip.
I find 18 inch wheels a little dicey in comparison to the 17s that were on the 2004 but I'll adjust.

tawm

Mind explaining what you mean by the 18s being "dicey?" For what it's worth, I had to put a set of Blizzak snow tires on my RX 350 - the stock 18" Michelins were horrible in the snow! I bought new rims and the Blizzaks are 17" wheels.

jgr7

iTrader: (1)

The VSC never kicked in. It was an uneventful trip in that aspect. When I got back I washed all the dirt off the RX and then I tried to get the VSC to kick in by flooring it coming out of the parking lot and making a left turn across three lanes, wet tires and wet road. Again it never even spun the tires just jumped across all lanes under full power and full traction, nice!!!
Jeff

alexneil

Sounds good. We're taking a close to 3k miles round trip to Colorado for skiing in about a month.