m1carbean

Greetings fellow discriminating Toyota-brand owners !! Owned Highlander Hybrid Limited's since '08 and was hoping to pass my current '12 HH to my my daughter and although she has over 40 hours behind its wheel, she wants a slightly smaller SUV-type vehicle to drive under 5k miles annually.

Test drove '15 Venza, '14 Rav4 and '13 RX350 at CarMax here in Georgia today and she loves the Rx350. Preferring to spend low $20's cash, so appears that I'm looking at 2010-11 YM with 60-80,000 miles.

Question: am I being penny wise and pound foolish, meaning.. is the $9-12k that I'm saving over newer Gen3's going to cost me about the same money in service and repairs in the long run (3-4 years) ? Is there any significant reason I should avoid 2010-11 YM's ? Its resell value after 4 years means little to me, just so you know.

~Thanks !!

Droid13

I can't think of any reason why a 10/11 would cost upwards of $10,000 for another 3 or 4 years. If you're just planning to add 20,000 miles during that time, even the maintenance costs would not be that much more than a model a few years newer. The 10s had some minor issues with the shocks and in some cases, noisy rear suspensions but nothing that affected the overall driving reliability. I think it was around 2012 when the 3 yr usage surveys came out, the 2010 RX was rated #1 vehicle for incidents of defects (ie lowest number of issues).

MDames2

iTrader: (1)

I have a 2010. It does only have 44K miles on it, but it has been flawless, not a single repair in 6.5 years. As long as the RX has been taken care of over the years, I don't see you encountering any significant issues.

m1carbean

Sounds like good news fella's ! Spoke to someone I know at a local Lexus dealer and she claims her dealership is taking a locally owned 1-owner loaded '12 Rx350 90kmiles in trade later this week, one their dealership sold new and performed all service on. Said low $20's but I may have heard wrong on miles.

Do all Gen 3's take regular gas ? We popped the fuel lid and saw no mention to premium gas (like our Mercedes uses) only something about no ethanol blended gas.

I will admit the '13 RX we test drove at CarMax today had MUCH softer leather front seats than our Mercedes or Highlander's leather seats and its V6 was fairly zippy, maybe even more-so than the 2016 RX450 Hybrid I test drove few weeks back.

smacatl

Here's a data point for you from a local in Atlanta (Cobb County):

I drive a 2011 RX that I have had for 3 years (same low mileage as you are planning for your daughter - about 5K per year) and I have had no repairs / issues at all. Rides great, looks great, runs great! Biggest issue is that the dealer keeps trying to get me to trade it in for a newer model!

Second data point: I enjoyed the car so much that I just bought another for my wife. Got a higher mileage (75K) 2010 RX450h in mint condition for just over $20K. Added on a 4 year 100,000 mile extended warranty for another $2000. Total cost including taxes was $just under $24,000.

She drives 15,000 - 20,000 miles per year so I knew going in that at the end of the fourth year the car will have close to 150,000 miles on it - but will still be covered for anything major. Wife loves the 450, and since it a hybrid it's getting right at 30MPG on the highway. Only negative at all was the GPS update was several years out of date and the only place you can update it is with the dealer. (you can find lots of threads on that subject!!)

Hope this helps!

BP1203

As long as you follow the maintenance and don't beat the hell out of the car no reason why you can't get 200,000 miles of reliable driving out of your RX. These cars were/are built to last a very, very long time.

m1carbean

Great info that gives me confidence ! I researched and see that '10-'12 RX350's use premium, '13-up use regular gasoline.

kitlz

m1carbean, the switch to regular started with 2012 MY on the RX350.

JT4

I agree, if well maintained the RX will last a very long time..

OP - welcome to CL..

aakyeam

I have the 2012 RX350 and its regular gas...not premium...2010 - 2011 are both premium...You still could use premium if u so wish...possibly gives it little bit more HP if i remember right....so far, i can only say good things about the RX.....have had mine only 2 months and loving it to bit.

m1carbean

Just wanted to thank everyone for your guidance and let you know that we ended up getting my daughter a new toyota RAV-4 a few weeks ago. She's much happier with it's slightly smaller size and although I'd prefer the preowned RX for its size and bulk, well as they say, a happy daughter is a happy daddy Anyway, seriously considering to trade in my '12 Hybrid Highlander on a 2016 RX at a the year-model close out sale price (fingers crossed) in the next couple months so will be here in da Club for awhile, I suspect !!

Clutchless

Congratulations a great choice for her. Friends of mine bought the same vehicle last year for their daughter during her senior year of high school as they were tired of driving her around. She loves that RAV-4 and just took it down to Virginia Tech for her freshman year.

bandaman

We have a 2010 rx450h with 103,000 miles. All it has ever cost in maintenance is oil, filters and tires. I have never put premium in it. 87 octane with 10% ethanol with no problems.