eyebike

Picked up a new RX330 with Nav/Perf with awd on 4/29. So far, no vibration. Occasionally, slight choppy shifting. Otherwise, very smooth ride. I like the air suspension. It does improve handling, less body roll. Nav with backup camera is neat, too. Lucked out and got Michelin tires; prefer those instead of the Goodyears.

bububee

After a couple of shots it worked great! Thanks for the post.

JRB

Congratulations eyebike - sounds like you're very happy with it so far. A couple of questions:

1. Does your slightly choppy shifting occur at both easy and hard acceleration, or is there otherwise any pattern to when you notice it? Have you tried it in manual mode, and if so what do you think?

2. With the air suspension and the better handling that you've noticed, do you prefer any particular height setting (I assume you can set it manually and leave it there (?)) or do you just leave it in automatic mode and let it self-adjust? Also do you notice that the ride firms up a bit and the handling improves at the lower setting?

Thanks - JRB.

eyebike

Choppy shifing mostly noticeable as I accelerate from a stop. Not even hard acceleration, as I'm trying to break the car in. It's not really objectionable. From other posts, it'll probably go away with more miles. I was looking for the choppy shifting from reading other posts. Otherwise, may not have really noticed.

Haven't done the manual mode yet, so can't comment there. So far, only have 60 miles on the car.

The RX has a normal height, except when you travel over 60 mph. Thats when it tucks into low. You can set it to low by pressing a switch on the dash. But you have to do that each time you start the car. It resets when you turn off the ignition. You can also program the car to kneel (go even lower) when you turn off the car. Makes getting out and climbing in slightly easier. People have noticed and commented to me that they can see the car go up and down as I get in and out.

Even in normal position, the car does seem to handle curvy roads pretty well. Although. there is less body lean in low mode. A slight difference, not dramatic. The difference in body roll is most noticeable when you make 90 degree turns very fast.. Like a quick left or right. Caught me by surprise when I executed a really quick turn in normal that the car leaned that much. Made me realize that even though it was so car like, it's still an suv. It was much better obviously in low mode.

So now I try to keep it in low mode every time, since you don't know if you may have to swerve suddenly to miss a car or whatever.

The ride doesnt seem any firmer whether in normal or low. It's still overall a smooth ride. My kids have said that it rides better than the other sedans and coupes we have in the family.

JRB

Thanks for the information. I couldn't remember exactly how the suspension worked from my brief test drive. We have a Perf/Nav car on order.

Too bad you can't manually set the height and just have it stay there, whether or not you turn off the car and then restart. On our Audi allroad you could do this on the lowest setting. It would not, however, stay in the highest setting (Level 4, 8.2 inches) at speeds above about 20 mph. It again dropped to the third highest setting (Level 3) at speeds above about 40 mph. But you could manually set in in Level 2 or 1 (lowest) and have that as your default setting, except when exceeding about 75 mph at which it would always drop to Level 1. Having driven this for 2 1/2 years I guess I was confusing it with the RX330, which I drove for about 15 minutes.

I was also interested in finding out what the default setting might be for towing (if there is in fact a default setting). In the allroad it automatically defaulted to Level 2 but I did always raise it up when loading and unloading the boat, in order to keep the back end out of the water as much as possible. In addition to a preference for better handling and a little firmer ride, this was a key reason why I went for the Perf. Pkg.

lb535

Just curious, what is the problem with the Goodyears? Have you driven a 330 (or other car) with that type of Goodyear tire and found them to be inferior to the Michelins in terms of traction, ride, quietness, etc.?

eyebike

No particular problems with the Goodyears. Just that reviews on Consumer Reports and Tirerack.com rate in general the michelins higher than the Goodyears. This is what Consumer Reports says on the MXV4 tire: "An excellent all-around choice, though pricey. Excellent cornering and rolling resistance."

pbm317

I like all the updates! Makes the itch to buy one get even worse!

eyebike

Regarding the air suspension. High mode is is 1.2 inches higher than normal. Automatically goes to normal (N) mode over 19 mph for more than 10 seconds and will stay in N mode. H mode will have to be selected again. According to manual, it's suitable for driving on bumpy road or for severe off road driving. Selectable by pushing a switch on dash.

Low (L) mode is only 0.6 inches lower than N mode. It's for sporty driving. Selectable by pushing a switch on dash. Car will stop lowering if suspension hits something.

In N mode, for everyday driving. At speeds over 62 mph, car automatically lowers by 0.3 inches. If speed drops to 50 mph, car will automatically resume N height. Thus L mode is only 0.3 inches more than when the car is N setting and over 62 mph.

Car can be set to kneel when engine is stopped. Called "easy access mode". It's only 1.2 inches lower than N mode. According to manual, only available when N or L mode has been selected. When car is re-started, N mode automatically re-engages when speed is over 8 mph. Apparently, if in H mode and car is turned off, it will stay up there. Haven't tested to see if this is true. Easy access mode is user selectable.

JRB

Thanks, eyebike, that is very useful information. A couple of follow-up questions:

1. In your post you said that Low (L) mode is 0.6 inches lower than N mode, but in the next paragraph say that "Thus L mode is only 0.3 inches more than when the car is N setting and over 62 mph." Does this mean that when the car drops automatically at speeds over 62 mph that it's only 0.3 inches lower than N mode height, but that if you set L mode manually by pushing the switch it drops a total of 0.6 inches lower than N height? Not that one would notice just a third of an inch, but curious minds need to know! <g>

2. When you do select L mode manually by pushing the switch on the dash, will it stay there indefinitely, even after turning off the car and restarting it? From your post I get the impression that this would not be true if Easy Access Mode is programmed (in which case it apparently always reverts back to N mode).

Looks like total variance between H mode and Easy Access Mode is 2.4 inches. And if I am reading your post correctly between H mode and L mode it is 1.8 inches.

anonymous

When you turn off the car and restart it, it's always back to N mode or easy access.

eyebike

to question 1, that is correct. L mode is 0.6 is lower than N mode, except when over 62 mph in N mode. Then the diff is only 0.3 inches.

to question 2, suspension always reverts to N mode when restarting, regardless of last use and setting.

And to your last observation, that is correct. Suspension travel is a max of 2.4 inches. Low mode is 0.6 inches higher than easy access mode. Easy access mode is with the car at the lowest setting. Any speed over 8 mph takes car out of that setting automatically into N unless L or H is selected.

JRB

Thanks for all of your help clarifying this - much appreciated.

Sounds like a cool setup. Let's hope Lexus "got it right" and it won't result in problems down the road, as I would imagine that any repair costs could be expensive. If I'm not mistaken the "Ultra Lux" LS model has something similar and so Lexus does have some experience with it.