Getting 234k miles was not as hard as I expected. My car wasn't perfect but I usually replaced parts rather than getting a new car. I do admit though that my tranny is not as smooth as before, the shocks are not as tight, the suspension bushings are probably cracked by now (they crack usually by 75k miles which is really not that big of a deal) , my seats make an annoying squeak here and there and my rear hatch does not go up on its own. I think it costs me about $1500 per year to maintain it now. The major items like the engine, the tranny, suspension, electrical are all still good. And the first gen RX had this really thick and good paint that I can still polish the paint and take a nanometer off the top only to find more smooth surface. Try doing that with a crap car like an Audi.

However, in the end, I like the 450h for the immediate torque and for no other reason. You see The 1st gen RX were way underpowered. I thought about installing a super charger but never rally got around to it thinking I could live with it.

The second thingI don't like is the weak anti roll bars on the regular RX giving you a nervous cornering situation under emergency maneuvers. In fact I sold my first RX within 6 month because I hated the stock suspension so much. The version I bought after that, the limited edition Silversport (the one kept all these years) had the same shock damping rate but came with thicker anti-roll bars which made a noticeable difference. Coupled with harder sidewall tires I had found my ride/handling compromise.

I didn't make up any female names for my car. So I'm not in love with my car. I am however looking for certain attributes and will try to find it in a new car. They are:

1. Paint job has to be perfect. Lexus paint job is still very good. Audi is simply autrocious. American cars are seem like water colors.

2. Stereo has to be good. My old RX has killer stereo. Rh450h's upgraded stereo is comparable. Mark Levinson is marginally better.

3. Lexus parchment leather simply blows (it shows every speck of dirt). The sport appearance package and black leather are better and has perforated leather which I prefer.

4. Porsche Cayenne which was my first performance choice cannot carry 4 full size golf bags along with 4 sweaty full sized males without each other's thighs touching after a sweaty gold outing. Cayenne was too small and hugely expensive from maintenance perspective.

5. Both the ML and X5 are still possibilities but they are not keepers as BMW does more parts business from installing plastic parts in their cars (read: don't keep after lease is over). ML is simply expensive to own comparably equipped. Also is have to buy a very expensive warranty to keep it beyond 50k miles.

6. I like diesels of both ML and X5. They are efficient and powerful. Yet they have turbos which make off line acceleration hesitant. The 450h, when I drove it, had immediate torque. I'm pretty sure I could easily trip the computer to spin the wheels for a quick second if I need to. In fact it felt like a Tesla model S (though Lexus IS much slower). The immediate torque off the line is definitely something to appreciate.
Here is what I don't like which I hope to rectify after purchasing:
1. Spongy suspension. My gramps Buick comes to mind. Lexus used to be super smooth in about like fashion but they complicated by using low profile tires. Now it still handles pot holes like a champ but transmit tiny bumps on the road. Why change something that worked? They should stick to soft suspension and offer sport suspension instead. I can fix this with a small mod.

2. Wood. I don't like wood in my car. My Silversport had brushed aluminum trim. Most likely I'll mod the interior.

3. As mentioned before I associate specific RPM of the ICE with specific torque. I am due for another test drive this weekend. I hope the tranny tricks my brain into thinking that the car has a 6 speed Tiptronic. So far however I find that going into the S mode and putting it in 5 gear gives me a good compromise in feel. (I actually don't like the Eco Mode or Sport Mode either). I'll test again this weekend.

 

Don't overthink the whole RPMs=Torque deal.
You will quickly get used to surfing the flat torque curve PSD provides.
All of us did after all.

I have been pretty impressed with the suspension. To me it feels perfectly balanced for this vehicle. I noticed there are places where I will go quicker (flat-out) than I would otherwise.

 

I'm not overthinking it at all. Like I said earlier there is no other in this price range that has this much off the line torque. Sure the Corvette, European diesel X5, and q7 has higher displacement diesels for performance driving. Also there are performance edition with huge displacement gasoline engines from all the German makers. But they cost too much and run very hot (inadequate cooling has been s problem for Audi and BMW from all of those German makers). At this price range this is the only car that has 300 plus torque right off the line. (Below 1500 rpm). Only a few other brands and makes can muster up this much.
That's why Im fiddling with all this sifter nonsense. And frankly I really don't care about MPG that much. Heck, my car only gets 18 mpg now. I'll be happy if I got 24 or 25mpg.
So, no. I'm not overthinking it. I can change just about everything except power train which I cannot change. I'm willing to live with the rest of the faults like ill thought out suspension or the numb steering as I can mod some of it.

 

Just curious, how are you planning to trip the computer to spin the wheels?

Also, the wood grows on you. Feels and looks a lot more luxurious to me and is only offered on higher packages now.

 

I misspelled - I meant "trick" the computer by stomping the gas pedal as hard as I can while I have the left foot on the brakes.

I'll see what it does and report back on this thread. I'm also going to 0 to 60 figures after moving the shiftier to S-mode. (note: Not Sport mode. Just moving the stick over to the left). I want to capture the MPG also but that'll come only after owning the car for a while.

And the Wood finish will come with the car. I will see what I can do with it. Perhaps you are right and I may end up liking it.

 

That will be a very interesting test to perform. Lexus has made several programming changes after the whole "unintended acceleration" issue. I suspect they will have disabled the ability to accelerate while the brake is depressed.

Which wood did you get? I am really fond of the bamboo for some reason. Doesn't look as 'old' as the other types of wood, which remind me of antique furniture.

 

Brake override was added on '11 RXs on. I'll be curious what happens too.

 

The RXh, to me, drives like my boat -- Engine revs; and the boat catches up with it; then the engine slows as the boat is on plane and cruises.

Another comparison (for those born in the forties or fifties) is the Chevrolet Powerglide transmission (it was a two-speed with a fairly high RPM stall speed torque convertor. First was good for 70 MPH; and the car was good for 120 MPH in second gear).

I'd LOVE to see a dyno run for an RXh (and I've searched for hours with no results) -- the closest I've come to a graph is by an app I downloaded for my iPhone -- only the app is very old and needed updates for the recent iOS -- so I dumped it. I haven't been able to find any YouTube videos of anyone dragracing one against anything so as to see how it performs across the speed range (it would be fun to see someone drop the drivetrain into a smaller vehicle and do a software 'tweak' on the torque programming for racing).

The car's agility suits me just fine.

Since radios were mentioned, my wife's new 2014 VW Beetle has the best audio (to my ears) of any of the cars I've driven (the bass is crisp, the highs very dainty - it's a Fender system). I'd rate the audio in my '13's mid-grade system to be about mid-grade. The bass is muddy; and getting audio balanced front-to-rear is doable, although it seems like it's not quite natural to do so.