Tharr62

Hi everyone!

This is my first Lexus (2015 RX350, with all the options) Black, with Saddle inside. I am just simply over the moon with this SUV. I have a few basic questions, but before I ask.. I would like to share my very unique, and a bit of insane story with all of you.

First, just three months ago (Start of April 2014) I leased a new 2014 Acura MDX Tech package. This was an upgrade from my past car (MDX), which was the body style before the new redesign of the MDX for 2014. Once I saw the 2014, I just had to have it. So, I got one! I was very excited, and even went back and had thousands added in dealer accessories. This car was all decked out. Sport bumper(s), rails, moldings, mud flaps, rubber matts everywhere, and even a cargo liner for the back. My plan was to lease for the 36 months, and then buy it at the end. I lease for my business (I own a small biz) and write off the payments.. but, I also want to get to ownership at some point before I am 40. LOL. Anyway.. this is where the nightmare started.

About 1 week into driving the car, I noticed several rattles from inside the car. Roof, A-pillars, glove box, and the driver side dash where the plastic meets the soft touch dash above the cluster. It was pretty embarrassing for a $54K car to have this kind of noise. Even my last Acura MDX did not do this. Anyway, dealer fixed the dash, and I actually fixed the roof, and A-piller with some weather sealing foam (used for windows). So, now I had a pretty quite car overall.. next, I noticed that a fuse blew for the interior lights about a week later. Funny thing was that when I went to the dealer to ask about it, there was another person there with the SAME issue! I actually over heard the customer talking about the lights being out, and I walked over and said “I bet it’s your #30 fuse!” sure enough I was right, and the techs were shocked.

Next, about 3 weeks in.. I noticed a HORRIBLE creaking noise that would come from the passenger side of the car. I took it to the dealer, and they could not find it. So… I spent what seemed to be days trying to locate this issue. Frustrating! as all I wanted to do at this point is have confidence in my new ride, and instead I am now having to hunt down what seems to be a list of QC issues. Anyway, I finally find that the source of the creaking was due to the weight of the passenger door causing the door jam / frame to flex just ever so slightly. This flex, was causing an internal panel to “rub” and because the frame is hollow, this creaking noise was amplified all through the passenger side of the car while driving / turning / stress on the frame. VERY annoying, and it felt like I was driving a cheap, plastic kids toy to be honest. Dealer said, they would need the car and need to take it apart to find the issue to fix. TO be honest, I did not even what them to do that. I did not want my new car to be “taken apart”. This was really bothersome to me, and was taking away from the fresh new car experience. I was really disappointed as this was quickly not turning out as I was hoping for, and I am paying a lot of money for this lack luster experience.

Now, at the same time all of this is going on.. I also had the new electric steering system SHUT DOWN while at low parking lot speeds! Over the 3,000 miles I drove for the 100 days that I owned the car, it did this about 7 maybe 8 times. For a split second, the steering would just not respond!! I was freaking out, as I was worried that this could happen at high way speeds, and I posted about this in the MDX.org forums only to find I was not alone! The problem was that I could not replicate this for the dealer, so they really could not address this. THIS WAS SCARY! and I have a 20 month old in the car 50% of the time.

I had enough at this point. I wanted out, and I did not care if it cost me to do it. The lemon law was something I was thinking about, but the process takes time.. and is not as easy as I thought. Also, for an issue that you can’t replicate.. its hard to build a case. This would have taken a lot (and I mean A LOT of time).. and this is time away from my business, etc.. and more stress everyday. This was not worth the $5 - 7K in negative equity (for me at least), as I wanted to get back to work and stay focused on things other then car issues.

I went, and I test drive the Lexus 350. I spent a week going back and forth to the dealer (Lexus) and sitting in the car, feeling all the panels, and driving it a few times to really get a solid understanding of what I would be buying this time around. I was sold on the RX 350.

Heres the thing..

For me, what I wanted most is a solid, plush, luxury SUV that was not a german car (I have owned BMW in the past, and will never do it again). I don’t really care for anything in the Infinity line up (the QX60 looks like a minivan to me).. So, this really only left Acura, and Lexus for anything in the upper class (in my eyes). Being that I already had an Acura, I felt it was safe to get the new one.. and this was a horrible mistake. Lesson learned, NEVER buy a first year car! BUGS!

I am now on day 5 with my new Lexus.. and I truly love this thing. When I get in, and close the door.. its the feeling of a bank vault. Solid, secure, and QUITE. Not one squeak, nor rattle, or anything remotely creaking, flexing, or fuses blowing. Just a sexy looking car inside and out. Really happy this time around.

Because of the huge loss on the MDX, I had to lease this for 48 months using an ultra low mile (7,500mi/yr) lease to absorb the negative equity. My goal is (and has been) to get to ownership (so the miles won’t matter in the end). I have calculated about 24 months of high lease payments.. and then at that point, I will re visit Lexus, and my bank for rates to buy out the lease for a 60-month term to get a more reasonable payment.. and yes.. this means 7 years of payments.. but, man.. I think it was worth it. Perhaps, I can save some cash.. and put a few grand (5K) down after two years, and that will help on the balance.. whatever. I will cross that bridge when I get there. But, as of now.. I am excited to have a goal in mind.. and I feel that I have found the right car to do it in. I also like the fact that I got the 2015 RX.. as I see there is a chance there is a new full re design for 2016, and like in my above example, there could always be issues with a new design, even from a repuable manufacure. To be clear, I am not saying that Acura is a bad brand. In fact, my wife may look at the RDX next year when her lease is up on what she has now. But, me jumping on the MDX in the first year the new model came out, was a very bad and costly idea.

Now..

For comparison sake.. and being that I have now owned both cars.. its very easy for me to make a list of the things that I really liked, and disliked about each (just being totally honest), as well as my non professional summery. Granted, neither of the cars have been owned long term.. so consider this more of an initial impression then anything else.

Acura MDX (2014) Tech model. Thoughts..

- Duel screen infotainment system. I really liked the touch screen interface, but it was very slow, and under developed compared to the previous generation’s interface and compared to that of whats in the Lexus. The system was nice to look at, and nice options / configurability etc. Very modern, and sleek.

- Lighting inside. I really liked the ambient lighting inside the car at night. Seems like a weird thing to comment on, but the attention to detail around the door handles, and foot wells, in addition to the pronounced ambient down lights from not only the front, mid, but even rear of the car was really cool, and felt like a night club inside. LOL. It’s stubble enough that you may not really notice too much driving in the bright city lights at night, but on darker roads its really cool. Compared to the 2015 Lexus RX, I was a little surprised that not only is there a lack of any type of ambient lighting, but it was not even a package that could be added, and for that matter not only is there no real ambient lighting inside the cabin, but not even the moonroof buttons, nor the arrow buttons on the NAV. light up at all, nor the seat adjustments on the driver door. AND the power lift gate button is also non illuminated (the one on the tail gate) They are just non illuminated hard buttons. On the flip side, I saw the ES 350 with the “Ultra Luxury” package.. and that had nice interior accents at night. :-( To be honest, this is the only real “knock” on the Lexus side at all.

- Exterior styling. This is purely, 100% subjective. But, if I had to pick one over the other.. I did like the Acura’s new style with the new LED headlights over the aging Lexus RX 350. However, The more I look at my new Lexus.. the more I grow fond of the design, and simple lines. I was going to go for the sport bumper trim (I did not want the F-sport model, just the trim) but, this was a 3 month wait, and I was told I would have to pay MSRP to order that car from Japan that way. So.. I passed, as it was only the lower front bumper. I also feel that the future Lexus may get crazy with design, so I would prob. prefer to get the one that is out now vs. taking a chance on a radical re-design in the near future (as well as not wanting to risk any bugs like my costly mistake above).

- Front storage options. The MDX had a HUGE center arm console, that accommodated a TON of stuff. It also had a nice shelf for your phone etc. However, the movable arm rest did seem a little flimsy and cheap compared to the out going model.. and compared to the Lexus. So, this was also a turn off. But, I don’t understand why Lexus got rid of the sunglasses holder in favor of the “SOS” button. Thats pretty annoying, and not very convient.

- Rear under deck storage. The MDX had a very large storage space that could be lifted up when looking in the cargo area. (near spare tire). The Lexus also has this, but is is TINY.


Lexus RX 350 (2015) all options.. almost.

- Solid, quite, and extremely refined. This is huge, and is noticed the second you close the driver door and start the car. Everything lines up, and is rock solid. I mean, it truly is a BIG difference then the Acura MDX in this regard. I would put this QC on the inside, and out on par with anything in the upper end German markets.

- Seats. The seats, especialy the front are extremely comfortable. MUCH more so then the Acura’s. The new MDX had nice seats vs. the older generation it replaced, however they are not to the same standard as the Lexus. Also, the stitch pattern on the Acura seems to be in a way that I can see wearing much faster then the stitching patten on the Lexus. A nit pick, but in years to come may mean something more. Also, the ventilated seats on the RX are really nice, and this was only something you can get on the “Advance MDX” which puts that car at almost $60K. For $50K, I got my RX with just about everything, and the seats are the most comfortable I have sat in to date. This also beats out the seats I sat in at the Cadillac dealer too. The only nit pick with the RX, is the passenger side adjustability. It seems to be pretty high vs. the driver side, which also for tall drivers I can see being a challenge. I am 5’10” and its perfect for me tho.

- Quite, isolation. Acura, as well as every other car on the road should take something from the Lexus book on this. I can’t image any other car being much better (in this price point). It softly moves down the road, with the feeling of weight, and mass (in a good way) and that “solid” feel you would expect from a premium luxury brand. Acura was among the worse I have ever driven, way worse then even the base Honda’s I drove in testing. Everything from A-pillars, to glove box, to roof, to the sunroof would rattle at any bump. VERY cheaply made materials in those locations, and when you tap on them with your hand, you can tell what I am talking about. Feels, and seems like a $20K car. vs a $50K+! Throw in the cheap, fake wood.. and all of the sudden you really start to wonder where your money is actually going? (my RX has real wood).

- NAV / info system. This is actually a cut above the Acura, and I will tell you why. Speed / simplicity. The new info system in the Acura is very much under developed and sluggish. I like the touch screen, but it has a few drawbacks too. The mouse like system in the Lexus is very responsive, and works much faster (CPU) overall then what Acura currently has. Switching between Map, and loading destinations is lighting fast in comparison. ALSO, the voice commands are very accurate in comparison.

- Brand / Status “L” - Like many brands of products.. there is something to be said for the brand recognition, and what the preception is in the market place. Overall, I think when you compare the two mentioned here it’s pretty obvious that Lexus is not only considered a true luxury brand.. it simply.. well.. is. The Acura, to me represented more of a “value” punch on the tech side of things, and offered features found on the luxury cars with the moddest “sporty” styling that Acura is known for at a price point that was a bit less then some. However, I believe to a point the brand Acura is a but confused on what it wants its image to be. Some mistake them as a luxury car, and some see it for what it is. I know, and understand that the term luxury means different things for different people, but overall after owning a current generation Acura.. its clear its not cut form the same cloth as a Lexus, and to a point it was my own mis interpretation of the brand that also led me to confusion, and disappointment once things started to get unraveled.

So, enough typing.. LOL.. that was my quick run down on the two cars and my thoughts!

Now.. on to my question on the RX

1. I see in the owners manual that it says 87 octane for gas. Now, I have always used 93 (premium) in all my cars over the years.. but, I want to check to be sure I can still do this safely. It says in the manual:

“Select octane rating 87 (Research Octane Number 91) or higher.”

I have no idea what the “research means?” Being that this is a car that I am fully going to keep for at least 7 years, I want to ensure what I am doing. I live in Miami, and most of my driving is in the city, with some on the highway. For the most part, I drive in the ECO range, but sometimes I know I get a heavy foot. So, it depends on the day. I fully don’t mind spending the extra for the 93, and mainly want to be 100% sure it won’t damage the engine in anyway.

2. I have 200 miles on the car, and am following the break in procedure. At the end of the week I want to visit family about 3hrs away.. and this means keeping the car at highway speeds for prolonged periods of time. Something the manual says not to do? Should I not take the new car, or is there a safe way around this? Care for the car is tops for me!

Thanks!

oohpapi44

iTrader: (1)

Excellent write up. Very entertaining. And congrats on the pickup. We do require pictures.

You can use 89 with no issue.

And enjoy your road trip with no issue.

Where is Vlad??? Waiting for him to read this part.

JDR76

Congrats on your new ride, and welcome to CL!

When we bought our RX this past fall, we compared it quiet extensively with the MDX. Since making the decision to go with the RX over the MDX, we have continually felt better and better about our choice. We have had our RX for about 9 months now and have almost 9k miles on it, and love it more and more every day!

Thanks for sharing your story!

kitlz

Welcome to CL, Tharr62. Appreciate the time you took to compare the RX to the MDX. The question about which one to get comes up from time to time. Since it's subjective, the more opinions the better.

To answer your questions, regular gas is fine for the RX. It's been that way since the '12 350. Anything above is overkill. For your trip, I'd recommend not using the cruise control. It's best to vary the speeds if you can for the first 1K. That'll be easy to do if there's any traffic.

I would also recommend checking out the forum after you post pictures of your RX here. Like oohpappi said, it's mandatory And the owners manuals are also a great resource. The best part, they double as a cure for insomnia, LOL!

I hope you continue enjoying your new RX. Let us know how your trip goes.

Mors

I drove 300 miles home right after picking up my new RX 450h. I asked about this, and they told me to just not use cruise control and vary the speed at times. I'm only at 600 miles total on my car so I can't offer any long term effects on this; however, I did research it some and most people said the engine is tested thoroughly during manufacturing so just drive it without worry.

The Research Octane Number is not the number you see at the pump. I believe the 87 octane rating the manual says is what you normally see at the pump, so you should be good with using 87; of course, use whatever rating you want as long as it's 87 or higher - just don't use crap gas from crap gas stations.

As far as brand goes - I completely agree. I bought my first Lexus in 2005 (a used 2002 RX) and was scared to death paying that much money on a car; however, it truly represented luxury to me. Now with my 2015, I felt the same thing, but know it'll last me a very long time and worth it. In my opinion, Acura just doesn't represent luxury nowhere near what Lexus exudes, even if Acuras may have more/upgraded features/tech. Lexus tends to go 6 years between generations and adds a few upgrades/options within a generation. 2016 RX will be a new generation - there's just no information on how it will look or if it will be a 7-seater or just an option for a 7-seater or stick with the 5-seater. Too many unknowns; although I'm sure many people are waiting for it to come out.

vlad_a

Taking a car through a lemon process is not as complicated as it sounds.
Once your car qualifies as a lemon, you can work with the manufacturer on the buyback process and bypass all of litigation altogether. They are more interested in settling this than going through arbitration.

I have no reservations about buying a first year Lexus. I have done this with the IS300 when it came out and there were very minor things fixed in consecutive years.

The Nav in Acura must be pretty bad if you are happy with what Lexus has to offer, LOL.

Tharr62

Thank you all so much! I will def. post some pics soon! I am getting the side moldings installed this week, so I am waiting for that first :-)

So it sounds like everyone is just using regular gas huh? This will be the fist car that I have used regular in then! wow. I guess I can experiment with 87 and 93 to see if I notice any difference / smoother engine running etc? Will it hurt to try one vs the other? Also, during the break in period should I do anything special?

It was! I can understand why some would not favor the Nav in the Lexus. I feel that its a hard thing for most car companies to seem to integrate without some type of issue / complaint. But, having to pick my battles with them all that I tested.. I would favor something that is fast, and responsive and just simply "works" then one that is fancy, touch screen based.. and takes several seconds in some cases to respond. That, and that alone makes one frustrated enough to break things. ;-)

Also, the e-destination system is great for me.. as I can store lots of address in folders etc.. (something I will use for my line of work).. and recalling the folders, and loading the data into the car is extremely fast. This is un-herd of on the Acura system.. and I even paid the $349 for the "AcuraLink" system that also allowed mobile connect etc.. and it was also very slow to respond, and you can only access one destination at a time, and not have many stored in folders like the Lexus format allows.

So while this is surly subjective, like much of my other points.. on this front the Lexus one seems (so far) very simple, fast, and easy to use. Which.. for me.. was a huge selling point. Its something I can live with for years to come and not be frustrated while using it on the fly.

I will say.. that the previous generation Acura Nav worked as fast as the current Lexus one. It felt similler to me, but the added features of the Lexus still make it better. It's the new 2014+ system that Acura needs to re-design and update. LOL, even at times the backup camera would stay on while you were in drive. Talk about distracting!

JDR76

I've tried both premium and regular and was not able to notice a difference in mileage or performance, so I just save my money and use regular. Remember that "premium" is just a higher octane, and not necessarily a higher quality gas. Nothing wrong with using 87.

As for break in, like the manual says, just avoid hard acceleration and stops and you'll be fine.

I have been remarkably happy with the nav system in our RX. It's easy and accurate. I usually just use Saved Destinations or eDestination to send addresses to the car, or if I'm on the road, I use Destination Assist and it's a piece of cake. We also use Bing and Pandora on Enform, pretty much every day.

corradoMR2

Welcome to CL and congrats. I echo what many have said regarding the highway driving and fuel. For clarity, 87 octane is the minimum octane required. If you open your gas tank cover, which you probably haven't yet , it should say Regular Unleaded or similar. You can also put 89, 91, 93, etc without any ill effects. You may even notice a slight bump in power, but all-in-all, save your money and stick to 87, as per the recommended octane.

Acura was at their pinnacle in the 90s and has been downhill for them from a panache perspective. They are no longer in the Audi, MB, BMW, Lexus scale, but the one lower to that where Lincoln, Volvo and arguably Buick reside. Cadillac and Infiniti have shown improved quality/panache/luxury in their latest offerings and are moving up into the top tier.

You made the right choice. And did you not find the new MDX "minivan-ish" like the QX60? just curious since I see these two as having a similar roofline/length/design. But again, all subjective here.

PeteInGilr

For your first long trip during break-in, take an occasional off ramp and then just get back on the highway.

hadokenuh

Tharr62,

I've been following your thread on mdxers.org and know about your situation. Glad you had everything worked out. The RX350 should be very solid as all the bugs should be worked out by now. Enjoy the RX.

LexBob2

Thar62 best of luck with the new RX350. I'm sure you will continue to enjoy it.

It sounds like you just got a bad MDX. It is the #3 rated Midsized Luxury SUV (tied with the RX350) in Consumer Reports 2014 auto edition. The Predicted Reliability, based on their Owner Surveys is Above Average (the RX350 is Well Above Average). Overall, both are very solid entries.

Tharr62

Thanks so much! I am really happy with the new RX. First tank of gas gone, and all smiles :-) I am truly impressed with the build quality, QC, and the ride of this vehicle. I can't wait to be one of those guys who can say one day.. "Yep, bought it new in 2014, had it for 8 years.. and only put oil in it." and have some value left over in it for a new one at that time.

It's just the quality of everything inside, and out that I love so much. That super quite, soft ride over all the bumps.. makes me just snug, like a little kid wrapped up in a warm blanket on a cold day. Hard to explain the feeling, but its really nice stuff!

Yeah, I fully agree. I feel it was mostly my bad luck, as I think the frame creaking issues I had with the MDX were unique to my "copy" of the MDX. However, the other more concerning issue (electric steering shutting down) was something that other owners had also reported having.. and like me, could not replicate for dealer to fix as it happened at random (this was the last straw for me, and what really had me pull the trigger on getting rid of it). I hope that no one gets hurt with that, and that they find the issue and fix it as time goes on. There are def. some first year issues with the car, and I will bet anything that in 2 - 3 years it will once again be nice like it was up to 2013. My 2012 MDX that I had, was very nice and had no issues to speak of at all. (still not as luxury nice as the new Lexus I have, but in terms of being an issue free car it was fine). The first year issues that I noticed that will more then likely be fixed as time goes on are:

- Delays in the infotainment system. Menu's, voice command lag, etc. It's pretty bad, even with the "update" Acura did to it after it was released. They need to really jump on that, it was very fusterating and dissapointing.

- Engine covers / shield under hood. Rattles here at lower RPM's caused vibrations on the driver side under the hood. My dealer had to fix this, by using some rubber grommets, so that when the lower RPMS were present / VCM system on, the vibration from that transition would not make a distracting noise as it did.

- A-pillars inside cabin. They are very flimsy, and rattled VERY easily. When tapped, they are very free moving, and even with the dealer re-installing them they still exhibited this rattle. I personally checked 5 other MDX's on the lot while waiting for mine in service, and they all did it.

- Body gaps on the outside. I noticed, and measured several misaligned panels on my MDX. Especially in the tail gate. You can see where the tail lights meet the edge of the frame was not even on both sides, and the tailgate itself was not gapped evenly from one side to the other, and it actually was bad enough that you can see this just walking by. The only reason I noticed it, is I was loading the back, and noticed that it looked as if the tailgate was still open. It was in fact closed, but when inspected I see that one side was over 7mm different then the other side! (I measured with a digital caliper). This same issue was present on the driver side rear door too. It "stuck out" from the QTR Panel of the car apx. 4mm while the passenger side was 100% flush and perfect. Other users actually also reported issues like this, and had hood issues as well. I further confirmed this issues to be a result of the new Alabama assembly plant (best guess) as I went back to my dealer to complain, and we all saw that ALL ** ALL ** the new MDX's on the lot had the *exact* same issues with panels. They offered to send to body shop to fix, and I declined as I did not want the pain on the bolts to be broken, as it could hurt resale in the future.

- Electric Steering shut down. This is a serious problem, and needs to be addressed. I did not trust the car with myself, and my family inside. This to me, was an outrage and is a horrible failure. The fact that other (many other) owners reported the same thing on MDX.org on my thread was very alarming. This was not just me.


This is what I mean by "first year" issues, I bet anything in a few more years this will all be sorted out. They need to fire whom ever is doing the QC at the Alabama Factory and get things to tighten up. The tolerances of this car at the moment is below that on many many other sub $20K cars I have seen, and this MDX can get close to $60K maxed out.

Consumer reports is a great place to get rankings etc and I too like to look on there to see the trends, and watch their review videos (I am a member there). I do feel that they tend to stay away from talking about any specific issues, and they simply don't have enough data to rate the 2014 MY MDX, as it is still so new. I feel it comes down to the real owners to share real world ownership experiences, and read about issues that are not just unique to one, but are a pattern among many.

I do agree, and feel the MDX is a great car, and a good value.. but thats assuming you can find one that will not have the issues that many of them currently have, OR you live and not notice them if there are there and are just happy for what it is. For me, and my personality type it just was not a good match. Like a bad relationship it had to end. LOL.

So far on all accounts the Lexus RX 350 2015 is manufacuted to or above specs all around, and I have personally tested and QC'ed all the areas of the car that drove me crazy before, and everything is solid, and luxury. This, is what I want to pay for and own for a long time!

Tharr62

I wanted to ask.. what are everyones thought about the body side moldings?

Other then any subjectiveness on looks, if the dealer installs them, will they fade or peel off in a few years? I just worry about what if they need to be re applied later in time, and they are no longer avail from the manufacture in 7+ years? I wash my car a lot, and wonder about the water + adhesive backing on the molding?

Personally I like the look of them, and I like the idea of another layer of ding protection. But, I want to be sure they are not going to mess up my car, or come off, etc.. if they are removed, will the paint under them be discoloored from years of not being exposed to the sun etc? Just wondering the bigger picture of using them over the long haul.

Thanks!

kitlz

Tharr62, we have a few threads on the side moldings including an older one here and this more recent one. You'll find some useful information in there including pictures. Now I'm not aware of any issues with regards to longevity or anyone's experience removing them. The guards are adhered by tape. They'll probably stay on as long as they're properly installed. Removing them on the other hand is another story. It'll be a pain with no guarantees about damage underneath. Dirt can get trapped between the guards and the body. At least that was my experience with the 330. So that could potentially do some harm and discolor the paint underneath, more so on lighter colored cars. I hope you don't think I'm trying to dissuade you. Just trying to answer your questions.