Normandy83

Hello Gentlemen,
I'm new to the forum and I am giving serious thought to purchasing a 2010-14 rx hybrid. Before I do i want to know what your collective opinion is. I have googled quote a bit but i want to know from the owners. How reliable are the hybrids? Is the MPG as good as claimed? Are there known issues?
I appreciate your input!

FLYCT

Welcome to the forum.

Reliability is excellent. I've owned Hybrids since 2005 Prius. It was passed down to my Brother-in-Law and it is still running strong. We owned a Lexus CT200h for several years and it was problem free.

We currently own a 2015 RX450h and love it.

As far as MPG goes look at http://www.fuelly.com/car/lexus/rx450h for real world MPG figures.

You can click on the picture on our RXh at the bottom of this posting to see our real world numbers. I missed recording a fill-up when I lent our RXh to my daughter to make a 350 mile round trip and I don't know how much gas she put in.

Generally when you start up your Hybrid it will run as a gas car until it gets warmed up. So short drives in cold weather takes a toll on Hybrid MPG. My wife used her Prius to do a 15 mile, 45 minute commute to work for several years. She consistently averaged 50 MPG. Once her job location changed to only 3 miles from the house with a 6 minute commute,her MPG dropped to 35 MPG since the gas engine never warmed up.

What is more important to me is the instant torque and smooth acceleration of the Hybrid. The RX450h drives much differently than the RX350. You should drive them both and make your own decision if the RXh is for you.

Normandy83

Thank you!
I will be using the RX a lot on the hwy, so mileage should be fine. I would love to drive one here but i cannot find one Do to ride any different than the 350? On that note, do any of the RX's ride better than another?
Thank you

FLYCT

Actually the hybrid MPG advantage over the gas version RX360 shines in city traffic, not so much with hyway driving.

I just did a search and there is only 1 used 2010 RX450h within 150 miles of your area. It's in Kansas City with 112,000 miles on it. https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...4429/overview/

Droid13

Some agreeing comments. The RXh really shines in city driving. Fuel consumption on the highway is unremarkable unless you spend a lot of time in traffic jams, which then it actually gets better mileage. The smaller hybrids like the Prius and Camry can still generate some pretty good highway numbers (although they too are better in the city), but the RX is big and heavy so it's highway numbers at speed are far more ordinary.

I've been driving Toyota flavoured hybrids for almost 10 years / 200,000km (07 Camry and 10 RXh) and never had a single problem with the hybrid system. Aside from the mileage benefits though, I'm not able to return to a conventional vehicle simply because of my distaste for a regular automatic transmission. Hybrids are not perfect, but I'd miss the smooth power output way too much. Some people (especially it seems automotive journalists) can't cope with the power boat style engine sounds while accelerating (rrrrrRRRRRRRRrrrrrr) vs the more conventional (rrrRRR, rrrRRR, rrrRRR, rrrRRR), which often becomes a big personal preference between the two.

As for known issues, the 10s, like mine, had a few new model quirks with some body noises (squeaky suspension, bad shocks, etc.), but nothing that affected reliability. The '13 and '14 would be mid model refreshes so would be slightly different.

FLYCT

+1

I had a 2016 RX350 loaner a few weeks ago. I really liked the features but I had a hard time getting used to the transmission hunting and delayed acceleration response when compared to a hybrid.

I found several 2016 RX350s equipped the way I want but I can't find an Equiped RXh. If I had found one I would have bought it. Now I'm seriously looking at trading in my 2015 RXh and ordering a loading 2017 RXh.

svidas

My first hybrid was a 2006 RX400h. I am now on my third RXh. My wife has an RX350 which I like, but they feel and drive very differently. I get much better gas mileage than her 350. Try them both.

Normandy83

Thank you all for your feedback.
I hopefully will get the chance to drive the 450h ( as soon as one is reasonably close) .
Let me ask this: If the hybrid system goes down, does the car switch to "normal mode" or is it disabled?

Droid13

The hybrid is not an add-on system, it is THE system, so there is no "normal mode" to switch to. But whether a problem disables the vehicle, well, like problems with a conventional car, a problem with the hybrid system might simply cause a warning light to display on the dash asking you to have it attended to, to limping along in a poor drivability state, to needing a tow truck. The more serious the issue, the more likely the tow truck.

Normandy83

I see. and judging by Lexus reliability, this does not happen often. At least i hope it doesn't.

Normandy83

Are the hybrid rx's any quicker than their N/a counterparts?

kitlz

The 450h has 25 more HPs than the 350 (295 vs 270). The 0-60 MPH difference is pretty negligible with the 450h a tad slower off the line.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

As Anita said, the hybrid is slower off the line (extra weight), but once you get up to speed (>35mph), it's quicker. Highway passing power is better in the hybrid, since you don't have to wait for the transmission to downshift.

vlad_a

I've had a "Check Hybrid System" come up on one of road trips to FL. Other than Cruise Control being disabled, there were no other systems affected. Being on vacation, I did not want to burn a day at a dealer and reset the light via disconnecting the battery. We made it home without any issues (1,100 miles) and the light came back after 2,500 being reset.
It took 1 visit and 2 days of driving a loaner for the technicians to identify a worn-out wire that was affecting temp sensor readings on the MG1 motor (Error P0A2D).
While this has me concerned, the hybrid warranty lasts 8 years, up to 100K miles.

lexusrus

We have two Lexus hybrids, 2013 RX450H and 2013 CT200h.

No problems so far with 33k on the RX450H and 39k on the CT200H.

On the highway, both hybrids get less mpg.

We do combo city and highway. We get around 26 mpg on the RX450H and 38 mpg on the CT200H. Sometimes we get caught up in Los Angeles stop and go traffic. .... the RX450H then get 29 and the CT200H then get 44 mpg.

We liked the handling WAY BETTER with the RX450H vs the RX350. Also our RX450H has the F Sport bigger rims and the F SPORT bumpers. The RX350 was too "LIGHT" whereas the RX450H is more planted. But it is not like my RCF. Overall we liked the RX450H. Don't buy it for the mpg bc the rate of return is way too long to recoup thd price differentails. Test drive both and get the one you like. If you are in California, legally the warranty is longer for the hybrid system vs anywhere else in the nation.