itrcb4

Took delivery just a little over a week now. My wife and I opted for the "Premium 2" trim as we both work in IT and don't need to see another mouse-like device in our car for $3.5K (cdn), and thought this trim level gave us the best value. We already have a Garmin GPS and it works great, gives 3D navigation with voice and is portable between our vehicles / rental car when vacationing.

Though the RX is loaded with various features I'm sure we'll come to appreciate in time, here's what stood out at end of week 1:

- We were thoroughly impressed by the smart access keyless system - this is way cool and I now wish I can have this for my home entrance It really is ingenious as we can enter / start engine / drive / shutdown / lock all without reaching for the fob key / Smart Card key. We LOVE this feature !

- Smart Card key -- This is a god-send especially for guys who typically don't have women's luxury of a purse to put stuff. Especially for me as I already have a hefty keychain and could do with one less key to carry and make my pants pocket less bulky. I just carry this flat card in my wallet and it works 10 times out of 10 ! Someone certainly is thinking about ease-of-use at Lexus.

- backup-camera in rear-view mirror -- this is absolutely awsome ! In a way this is almost better than backup-camera on the console/Nav screen as the rear-view mirror is where you'd be looking any way when backing up. None of our previous vehicles (all sedans/coupe) had back-up camera so we didn't think we needed it at first. However having been using it for a week I have to say it's indispensable for a large vehicle like the RX which is harder to judge remaining space in the back.

- though we don't have the Lexus Nav / remote touch, at Premium Level 2 trim we still benefited from the voice command to control our bluetooth-enabled phones. Might be normal for other but again we didn't have this in our previous cars so this is fairly impressive.

- We like the way the steering wheel, seat, etc moves away to make room for better exit/entrance but moves in when you're ready to drive.

- Sliding rear-seat is great when you just need a tad more length in the cargo floor.

- New vehicle factor - turned lots of heads while out and about including some Gen2 RX owners


Dislikes so far:
- the mileage isn't too impressive at 17 L/100km city driving, however we've been doing a lot of idling / trying new features in parking lot so many that's why.

- can't program homelink to work with our garage door, even though we followed the instruction word for word. Spoke to the dealer and they said they'll take care of programming this for us. Hopefully it works as that will further reduce bulkiness of my keychain

psu77

In the US we don't get the Smart Card key included, I wish we did.

I also am not going to get the NAV but I have a question for you on the voice command. Are you able to control the audio and the air conditioner with voice command or must you get NAV for those features?

itrcb4

On our car without Nav, the voice command is only good for the Phone Menu (e.g. dial name, dial number, etc).

The audio mode/track/volume can be controlled right from the steering wheel, while the temperature-related buttons are easy to reach and I'd imagine faster to change than voice command.

ciparis

I can so relate. This is our second Lexus with the feature, and I had the exact same reaction: why aren't my house doors this smart?!

I'm so addicted that while we were walking out with the salesperson to test drive a previous model (with the huge rebates), I realized at the last second that it had a "dumb" key; I just threw the keys back to him and said forget it.

ggebhardt

Hope the RX voice command funtion works better than my LX570. It is good for a laugh but seldom does what I ask.

encore888

I know, I've long wished they made SmartAccess for houses. Would sure come in handy when carrying in many grocery bags, late at night, etc.

clickart

They actually do have something similar to the smartkey for houses. They have the finger's print door ***...lol

Lex2000TL

Go to that link (see below) to program your homelink. You will have much better luck with it. I did, anyways.

http://www.homelink.com/programming/programming.taf

Ullevi

itrcb4,how do you find it drives?

itrcb4

Handling is great given this is an SUV and it's responsive, acceleration potent yet silky, lots of low end torques. You can be sure you won't be beat off the line by that soccer mom driving the Mazda 5 The ride is comfy even over potholes that's all over Toronto these days.

I still can't get over how quiet the compartment is. It really feels refined / civilized when you drive the new RX but it's so quiet I can see myself falling asleep though if I had a long night...

encore888

That's Lexus refinement for you. Very comfortable but sometimes you have to make your own excitement--I find a good music selection helps.

It's neat how the non-NAVI RX 350s now have the backup camera in the rear-view mirror...

RXSF

the backup camera in the rear view mirror was taken directly off Ford products, which have had it for a few years now.

Ullevi

Thanks for your write up,itrcb4.

We haven't seen sight nor sound of the new RX in the UK,so I can't wait to see one in the flesh and try it out.

The lease on my RX400h runs out towards the end of the year and the new RX450h is arriving here in "early summer" apparently(no fixed date yet),so I guess I'll check the RX450h out as a possible replacement for my current vehicle.

Interesting how Lexus are only bringing the hybrid version of the new RX to the UK.

AndyL

itrcb4,

It is a great write-up. One question came to my mind.. as there is no button on the outside of the doors, how do you lock the doors without touching the remote? On other Lexus, we have at least buttons on the front doors.

picker

> no button on the outside of the doors, how do you lock the doors
There is a small lock button on the top leading edge of the door handle.