Basically, that's correct. More gears do give more flexibility, particularly on hills, but you reach a point that the added transmission complexity and difficulty of production does not justify the potential gains. Plus, it can mean more wear, simply from more shifting. You also have a point about the fuel economy, but some of that added fuel economy is also coming from other sources like the engine start/stop and fuel-shutoff to engine cylinders under cruise, not just added transmission gears. Lighter vehicle weight also plays a role. But, all in all it is astounding that my much larger Lacrosse, with the 300 HP V6 and a 9-speed, gets as good or better mileage than the (physically) smaller Verano with a N/A four of 180 HP and a 6-speed. The Verano was also built with more solid/heavier materials and lacking the fuel-management features.

Back to the RX, though, given the huge number of buyers that have supported the RX's market all of these years, except for CAFE numbers, I don't see, marketing-wise, where the transmissions make all that much difference. RXs, over the years, went out the door just as fast with the original 4 and 5-speed automatics (or even with CVTs on the hybrids) as they do today.

 

I'll chime in. This was my wife's first car out of college... she came from a '99 CRV. bought an 07 in '09 as a CPO with about 30K miles. she experienced the catastrophic VVT-I oil hose failure driving home from work within 10000 miles of her having the car where all the oil dumped onto the road she was driving. Luckily there was no engine damage. We received the mailer for the recall about a week after this event happened, go figure! Since then, we haven't had any major issues with the vehicle. This vehicle does have the cracked dash that is getting worse and worse every day. It started happening a month after the 10 year replacement period and all the dealerships we reached out to told us to pound sand . Fit and finish otherwise is great on the vehicle. It's helped us through several moves. There are still no rattles or creaks to this day at 130K miles. I've replaced the spark plugs and struts and repaired a rust spot on the rear left wheel well. with two newborns at 10 months we are pushing the vehicle to its limit. The rear seats can fit two car seats with no adults in the back. We have strollers and all sorts of crap in the hatch area now and it can still do the job. The wife wants a third row when they get to school age so she can ferry around their friends so we are definitely looking for something about 3-4 years from now.

Personally I am not a fan of the way it drives but i can't deny its utility, comfort and no-fuss usage. I wish someone made a handling upgrade package for this vehicle. I just replaced the tires with Michelin Crossclimate SUV's which have definitely refreshed the vehicle's driving dynamics. I dont like the way many SUV's drive though.

 

and what point is that? millions of 8, 9, 10 gear transmissions are being made today.

i guess that's a theory as i've not seen any info or evidence of that.

that was my only point.

you can't separate fuel economy (CAFE numbers) from marketing entirely. and they sold back then because that was what the competition had too. that's obviously not the case today.

are you really saying lexus rx would still do well today if they still had a 4 or 5 speed auto and correspondingly worse fuel economy?

it's true the 4 Runner somehow gets away with it, but it's a pretty unique vehicle with die hard fans.

 

Interesting write up What was the reason it lost on its oil on the roadway?

 

Well, yes, but all that tells us is that a lot of overkill transmissions are being built.....mostly in the name of fuel economy. And you can thank CAFE laws for that...not necessary what the public wants.



Basically just common sense.....more shifting means more wear on internal clutches and valve-bodies, although the GM 9-speed, to some extent, gets past that by skipping certain gears up or down when conditions allow it.






Part of it depends on the piece of fuel, which, in the U.S., is quite low today. In general, the lower the fuel price, the more difficult it is to make a case for high CAFE numbers in marketing. That's why full-size pickups and SUVs sell so well in the U.S.


With many of us on Car Chat, no, probably not...we pay attention to a vehicle's mechanicals and their specs. But with the public at large, that's a different story.

 

They mentioned the "catastrophic VVT-I oil hose failure", which is one of two "defective by design" oil hoses with the 2GRs of that era that could result in a loss of oil and significant engine damage. This one is the feed line for the VVT-i actuator. The fix is to replace the faulty hybrid unit on the right with the all-metal one on the left:



There was a limited service campaign to replace them, but Toyota's VIN tracking system did not work properly, so many vehicles that should have been eligible (and the owners notified) were not. Here is a DIY for the replacement: https://www.toyotanation.com/threads...l-line.432008/

The other was the feed line to the oil cooler on vehicles equipped with the towing prep package, like my 07 RX350. This was a pair of rubber hoses that had a tendency to rupture when aged, dumping all your crankcase oil on the pavement in a matter of seconds, often resulting in seizure of the engine shortly thereafter.



Like with the VVT-i hose, the fix is to replace it with a revised unit, one actually suitable for transporting hot oil under pressure:



Since mine had not failed, Lexus would not cover the replacement. So I purchased the part myself, and had an independent mechanic install it for me at my regular oil change interval.

 

That is interesting. So was it ever determined as to what causes the defective part to break? There are so many vehicles out there that some must still be on the road with no issues. Was it only limited to Lexus RX or was it on HL or other 3.5 applications?

 

The VVT-I hose was on all 2GRs in all Toyota/Lexus models for several years. The oil cooler hose was only on vehicles like the RX, Highlander, Venza, and Sienna, that could be configured to tow a trailer. I agree that there are probably some on the road that have not failed or been replaced. I mean, my oil cooler hose had not failed by 140k. But I wasn't going to take the chance of catastrophic engine failure to save myself $180. Lexus had already replaced my VVT-i hose under the TSB.

 

That is an interesting defect. I like to ask these questions. I wonder if there is a US/Canada supplier connection vs a Japan-made part. So I read that Toyota would replace it for free (if failed) I wonder if there is a leakage detection type thing to warn about a possible failure.

 

please try to avoid quoting long posts with pictures right under the same post as it means others have to wade through all the content twice. i deleted the quoted post inside your post.

 

I always have a soft spot for those generation RX. Had a 08 for years loved that car traded it in on my 15 f sport a few years ago. My friend had an 04 back in high school, we used to street race that the hell out of that thing lol good memories

 

Doubt it. for the oil cooler hose (the one pictured above, and the failure that occurred on my car) you were able to take the vehicle in before the failure happend and get it replaced. For the VVT-I hose, i was told it was limited to only failures that already happened. I was able to get it replaced at my dealership somehow though. I believe most of the recalls happened on early implementations of 2GR engines (2006 Avalon is included as well if iremember correctly)