Revnitup

I am wondering how you can tell if a RX330 is AWD or FWD just by looking at it and not crawling under the vehicle. Has lexus put something on the gear shifter or is their a button or what. I think their should be a badge on the rear of the Lexus preferbly. A lot of people are getting ripped off when buying a preowned Rx330 and the dealers are saying it is AWD and it turns out to be FWD. Their is a $1,000 difference here when it comes to trade. So if any one here could help me out I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance

JustinKyle

GP1

JustinKyle,

Look at this post for the picture of the shift lever.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=227901

The next position below "N" is "4 D" - this is an QWD vehcile. A FWD vehicle will only have "D".

In a 4WD vehicle, when in drive, move the shift lever to the left to acutate the AWD or to the right to actuate the FWD.

Also, the "search" function in this forum can lead you to the answers to many of your questions!

GP1

lexuslover

hi, welcome to club lexus

look at the VIN # on the inside of door jamb or on the windshield. the 4th letter is either G or H.

G = FWD
H = AWD

GP1

JustinKyle,

It's Fat Finger Friday...

That should be AWD not QWD!!!

GP1

lexuslover

actually, i don't believe that's right. both FWD and AWD vehicles have 4-D as you describe. those are just the gears you can select if you don't want to be in 5th. both FWD/AWD have 5 speed transmissions, so they don't have anything different in the shift gate. the diff is the driveline only, not transmission.

to clarify:

here is a pic of a FWD listed on ebay (VIN JTJGA31U040013381):




and of course my AWD (Vin JTJH.........) which you posted a link for up above:

lexuslover

p.s. i should also state that if you find an RX without the lower gears in the shift gate then you have stumbled upon one of the relatively rare performance pkg RX's with sequential shifter

like this:

RX_brain

Definitely, this is the quickest way to check if the car is AWD.

cheap_deal

wow mine got the sequential shifter. i thought it came standard with all RX350

Todd

lever (i.e. right or left) actually engages or disengages the 4wd mode. No one can buy buy a car and have so little knowledge of what they are buying to make such a statement unless I have grossly misinterpreted.

The 4wd RX is full time 4wd. Moving the shift lever to the left merely turns off overdrive while moving the lever to the right engages overdrive. This is helpful on uphill grades where you may find the vehicle changing back and forth repeatedly and or lugging in OD at times.

Come on, surely you jest in your statement.

cheap_deal

is it really full time AWD? i think the RX350 works as a FWD vehicle and the AWD kicks in only when there is loss of traction on the front wheels?
somebody correct me if i am wrong

rxdriver

Yes, it's full-time AWD.
The RX330 is split 50/50 front/rear... not sure about the split on RX350.

SilverLady

If I remember, the hybrid RX400H has a continuously variable transmission, thus no way to lock into lower gears - just one Drive setting. This may be what some of you have seen.

The AWD RX350 is always AWD - no choice. My GX470 is also AWD, but you have the option to lock the differentials into full 4 wheel drive, as well as well as a completely different 4 wheel drive LOW on a seperate transmission shift lever. Needless to say, these settings are for somewhat extreme conditions.

Losiho

Don't you guys get the tiptronic shift selector in North America ?

rxdriver

They call it a "sequential shift" transmission in the U.S. We have it available, but it's very rare. It's only offered as part of a "performance package" which also includes air suspension and special wheels. Only a handful of RX's come to the U.S. with that package.

jim256

400h has P-R-N-D-B. B is for added engine braking.