PhlMike

Hi, I'm new. Tonight I put a deposit on a 2004 RX330 AWD pending my mechanic checking it out. It has 116,000 miles and looks to be in excellent shape. I'm taking it to my mechanic tomorrow.

The seller which is a warehouse that sells trade-ins has given it a check and says it passes everything with flying colors and the only problem is that the headlight leveler is malfunctioning. The CarFax report was clean, with no reported accidents and regular maintenance. The car was inspected and passed in September 2012 (in PA). The VIN look-up showed no lemon reports, no theft reports and no total loss reports.

I'm getting it for just under $12,000.00

I've been searching the internet for a bit and I'm a little confused on the aftermarket radio situation. It obviously isn't easy, but the same was said for my now-totaled 2001 Volvo S60 and I was able to get a double-din touchscreen in.

I'm thinking of the same thing, then possibly grabbing the moldings needed for the rear camera and wiring it in. A buddy of mine owns a car and home audio shop and he's very good, but he was closed when I went in to originally look at a 2004 Volvo XC90 - but the mechanics at the place said it needed a bunch of work and the only other AWD SUV he had that had a near-perfect record was the RX330.

So a couple of questions....

- Should I be running away screaming? I've read a lot of reviews and see nothing major. All the reviews were good except people complaining about the CD player not working after a while.

- I've seen it is possible to get a double-din radio in (on this site), but everything is a few years old with nothing very recent. Is it possible, not advisable, etc...? I don't need a CD changer, or even a CD player for that matter. I hook up my iPhone and play Pandora. All else I need is hands-free.

I've seen enough hurdles that were actually not hard to overcome with the 2001 Volvo S60. Everything was networked, including the radio and a double-din adapter wasn't readily available - but was available it just took a few weeks for my guy to source it.

Any lessons learned? Opinions? Suggestions?


Thanks All!

Cheers,
Mike

RX330inFL

Welcome to Club Lexus, PhlMike.

There is much you have listed. Will try to cover some of it for you. Like many topics and questions you might have, much of this has been covered previously here at CL. You just need to search for it. Spend some time with the search features and capabilities. It really does help.

Stereo Upgrade -- easily done. Carver, for example, has posted information on his upgrade. There are also others to check out as well.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...a-dnx6960.html

Headlight Leveler -- possible water intrusion. The front headlights have an issue with water condensation. Check these carefully and look for water and corrosion problems. They can be sealed with silicone. There is a writeup on the situation here.

Other problems of note to have checked are: front rack -- take a very careful look and wheel bearings on AWD.

You can search for more details on these. There are also numerous threads on others asking what to look for in an RX purchase.

Hope all goes well.

RX330inFL

BTW, on that same URL for Carver's writeup you will find 1koolfella's writeup on page 4. So, worth reading all the way through that thread.

PhlMike

Unfortunately, it's moot now. The car was a mess. The dealer's mechanic must have been deaf, dumb, blind and stupid. I have also learned that CarFax reports aren't worth the paper they are printed on. No Accidents reported - Yeah.... "reported" is the operative word.

So I brought the car back and was I was waiting for my wife to pick me up I found a 2007 Volvo S60 that was literally identical to the car I had, color and everything. Just 6 years newer at a reputable dealer. It also had a warranty and well under 100k miles. So I bought it on the spot.

cartman57

Good luck on the Volvo forum.
Yes, CarFax isn't good anymore, bodyshops dealers and insurance companies have wised up to reporting or not reporting.