JDR76

My 3 year lease on my 13 RX350 was coming to an end, so we traded her in this week.

It was my wife's daily driver and it will be missed. Probably our favorite car thus far. 30k trouble free miles, great features, and quiet comfort. It was hard to let go of. My wife was especially sad, but our family grew by one during our RX ownership and we really wanted a third row.



We figured the closest we could get to a three row RX is a Highlander, so we made the purchase this week. Bought a 16 Highlander Hybrid Limited Platinum. We've been incredibly impressed with it thus far, just 150 miles into ownership (actually a lease). Great panoramic sunroof, excellent safety tech, and a ton of room. Sticker was $51,935 and negotiations were tough. High demand makes good deals difficult to come by. They had to do a dealer trade to get what we wanted, but finally we got the right car and deal. I still have my GS, so I'll still be around CL.

96SC4

iTrader: (2)

very nice! i test drove the Highlander too, and almost leased one as well...
very roomy and comfy, as you said.
Good luck with the new car. The limited models are really nice, and can compare to the RX in a lot of ways...

kitlz

Congrats JDR. It's sad to see the RX go but now you have another great vehicle to take its place. Hope you have many happy miles and smiles with the Highlander.

steerpike

Congrats on the new Highlander! I have heard conflicting stories about the link between the RX and the Highlander; is the RX based on the RAV4 chassis, or the Highlander chassis? I never considered the highlander when I got my used RX 350, but I've subsequently heard the highlander may have been exactly what I wanted - quiet and smooth. I guess it's not fair to compare the 2013 RX to a 2016 Highlander, but still - how would you compare them in terms of ride, noise,, etc? I've never liked the look of the Highlander until this last facelift, and conversely, I've always liked the RX 350 until this last facelift, so a Highlander may definitely be in my future!

PS in your first photo posted in your thread, that's obviously a white Lexus on the left; but the second photo looks like a white highlander to the left of your new highlander! Is that just an illusion?

airboss

I looked at a 2013 RX350 and a 2015 Highlander. I ride around by myself most of the time, so went with the RX. There are days I wish I'd done the Highlander.

vfr700f2

The RX & Highlander are the same. It's the NX that's based on the RAV...

JDR76

Thanks! So far, what's missing that the RX had are the power folding mirrors with reverse tilt down, power jack in the cargo area, dual pane glass, and power tilting steering column. I'll miss those features, but it has a lot the RX did not, like 2nd row heated captains chairs, rear HVAC control, lane keep assist, wiper de-icer, adjustable height rear hatch with openable window, more storage, standard power outlet, seat cushion extender, heated steering wheel, panoramic roof, rear cross traffic alert, and obviously the third row seats, which we've already put to good use. Both my RX and the Highlander have dynamic cruise and BSM, which we like.

Thanks Anita. We're now part of the hybrid club. So far we're at 400 miles and 29 mpg.

Lots in common between the RX and Highlander. Highlander seems to have less tire/road noise, but more wind noise. It all evens out. I find the ride in the Highlander benefits from the longer wheelbase.

As as for the white cars...next to the RX is my former IS. In the Highlander picture, my sister's white Highlander is parked next to mine. She was just visiting from Minnesota so we were all at my folks' this week.

JT4

Congrats on the Highlander, I'm sure you (and more importantly your wife) will be happy with it. Best of luck..

96SC4

iTrader: (2)

Love the panoramic roof and the rear captains chairs.
I can't believe the new highlander doesn't have reverse tilt down for the mirrors. My 2007 Acura had that. Love that simple feature...

JDR76

Yeah, I was a bit surprised by it as well, but less so than the lack of a power tilting steering column.

But when I told my wife that the mirrors don't tilt down in reverse like they did on the RX or on my GS, she said "I never noticed that they did that on the RX" so I guess it's not such a big deal for us...

80es300

Congrats on your new Highlander. I am also thinking of buying either a new highlander or a used 2014 rx350. Just curious, did you not think about waiting for 2017 Highlander because it will have the new engine & tranny, standard Toyota sense, etc?

JDR76

Thanks.

We did consider the 17 Highlander, but they are not at dealers yet and our RX lease was up now. We could have extended our lease long enough to wait, but we wanted the hybrid, which isn't getting the new transmission and such, so we decided it was okay not to wait. Had we decided to go with the conventional gas model, we may have waited, but I am yet to find an 8 speed
transmission I am fond of, so I think I still would have preferred the 6 speed in the 16s.

As for the safety sense, I think the only thing it has that our Highlander does not is the pedestrian/crash avoidance system. It still has PCS.

steerpike

Where in the RX is dual pane glass used? I wasn't aware of that.

JDR76

Front side windows and windshield. Not sure what year that was added. Perhaps 2011.

tempestv8

Looks like Lexus is going to adapt the Highlander's extended rear for the yet-to-be-released RX350L 7 seater.