rishinani6

Hi - First time posting..

I'm in the market for a new cross-over / SUV. I have only owned a European car before and I am now looking at Japanese brands for the reliability. I liked the old MDX design but the new one just looks like a minivan. I would love to have 7 seats though. Not a big fan of the exterior and interior designs of the GX and LX.

I'm in love with the RX F sport. It takes a slightly boring but highly rated and dependable car and just adds the right amount of sexiness to it! Problem is I'm moving to Texas and I'm a little concerned about the heat and having black leather seats. Is there an option to choose a different interior color? Has anybody had any experience with this?

dctex99

If I recall there are other interior color options! Only the '13s had just one!

RX330inFL

For 2014 the only interior color for the RX F Sport is black:

http://www.lexus.com/models/RX/colors/fsport.jsp

RX330inFL

If you are looking for a 7-seat SUV, another to consider would be the Infiniti JX35 (now QX60). Both the Lexus GX and LX are truck based SUVs. Perhaps why you may not care for their looks and packaging.

ggebhardt

Black F-Sports are pretty well the rule for 2014. I elected for even black exterior but my vehicle is parked in a garage at both home and office.

I like the black as every Lexus I have owned has picked up the blue in my blue jeans. Also the creases in the leather are less noticable with black leather.

The RX air is good from what I can tell.

rishinani6

Appreciate the responses. I suppose the black interior will be OK if I can keep the gar garaged. The Infiniti dashboard, to me, is very boring to look at.

rayaans

I think theres only one option for the interior in the states. In UK and Europe we now have 3. Red, Dark Tan and Black.

corradoMR2

^^^ Same with Canada, only black interior.

To the OP, I agree the new MDX lost its "machoness" as it looks minivanish.

The black interior is not that bad in those hot summer days. My past Gen 2 RXs had the parchment colored interior and it wasn't much cooler. My past CT and current IS (black interior) has not been an issue as well. Keeping all things equal with ambient air temperature, it's how sun light is absorbed by a darker colored materials vs a lighter colored ones that will create the difference in interior temp. The fact that most of the RX's windows have a very dark sun-repelling tint, the black interior will have a negligible increase in interior temp over a lighter colored one. Of course, there will be specific angles where the sun will hit through the front/side glass hitting the front buckets getting them a little toasty but so long as you're aware of that, you can fairly easily work around that based on where/direction you park.

As a small negative, but being honest (and most of my fellow CL members can agree), one of the RX's weak spots is the weak seat cooling so if that is a critical feature for you, you will want to test it out first. Good luck.

TorontoRX

i was just going to say that when it gets hot, use the seat cooling feature. Now, prior to owning my first RX I've never had this and in the hot Canadian summers, this thing was such a blessing. So for me, not having tried this feature in other brands - lux or not - i think the cooling seats work pretty well.

I agree with the earlier post from ggebhardt about the blue jeans on parchment interior i had in my 2010. My 2013 now has black and I like it more.

viperdoc

I was stationed in San Antonio for the last 5 years before moving to Colorado (Air Force). I had a nissan murano before ditching it for my RX F sport. The exterior of the nissan was a dark red, and it had a completely black interior. I wouldn't worry about the heat. Get a quality sunshield that is specifically made for the RX and tint the front windows the darkest you can that is legal in Texas (which is pretty dark).

If you like the style of driving of the RX F sport, I doubt you will like the infiniti jx (er....q60). That thing drives like a top heavy boat. Steering is extremely vague, and the suspension way too soft if you like feedback while driving. I agree that the 2014 MDX has become more of a minivan replacement than the previous gen, which is why i am replacing our minivan with a 2014 model year. But that said, if you need 3 rows and capacity to seat 7, regarding acceleration, handling, and noise reduction while still getting 27 mpg on the highway, nothing matches the '14MDX for the price. I was very impressed on the test drive that I took in it. I still prefer my F sport over it, but then again I dont need three rows in my car.

viperdoc

....there is also a great, simple, way to turn the "ventilated" seats in the RX into "cooled" seats. There was a really good thread about it on here not too long ago, and there are few ways to do it. But most people don't realize that the seats are ventilated, NOT cooled. I won't go into it now since that other thread already exists, but I can say it works great and cool air actually comes out of the seat bottom.

kitlz

viperdoc, you're probably referring to this thread by MEP. I have the black interior but the headliner is light grey. It can get toasty in the summer. Probably tinting the front windows will help. It's not something I can do which you're probably well aware of living in the same state So I use a sunshade and crack the windows a little, then all the way down when I'm approaching the RXh using the key fob. Sometimes I use remote start in combination.

jer

I have a 2nd gen RX-2004, with black leather. It's really no hotter than any other leather if in the hot sun long enough. I keep a black towel handy for when my vehicle sits in the sun for long periods of time during the middle of the day & throw it over the dash/steering wheel.