Droid13

My RX450H celebrates 9 years on the road this month, 188,000km / 117,000mi. Other than tires, fluids, and filters the only things needing to be replaced so far:

• Rear shocks, 1 leaked replaced both
• Waterpump, got noisy, replaced under warranty
• Front brake pads, wear
• front passenger side window, dealer mechanic broke it while trying to use a tool to pop out a door ding)

Over the years had its share of noises and creaks which are mostly in the winter, doesn't like the cold much, but keeps going anyway. Other than what was replaced above, everything else still works as expected. The interior is still holding up pretty well, but the leather seats have a few fine cracks in the leather which I've put into the category of "character" (not me being lazy to fix! ). The exterior paint is doing "ok", suffering a bit. Of course a good share of divots in the front plastic. The front part of the hood has had a protective film so it's hanging in well, but some chips here and there outside the reach of the film. The sides have logged a few door dings and scratches, but so far not too egregious. The area behind the driver's side rear wheel the paint faintly spider cracked from an impact on the mud flap. The area in front of the driver's front wheel a scuff in the lower black plastic from a pharmacy drive thru - from a slight concrete curb protrusion I forgot about one day. I ponder once in a while whether its worthwhile repainting, but on the other hand the nice thing about driving an older car I don't get worked up over "the little stuff" anymore which takes a bit of stress out of the day.

Day to day, still runs great. Fuel economy "can" still be good, if I let myself chill out when I've driving. Lately the readout has been 7.5L/100km to 7.8L/100km (30-31mpg) around town, this typically being the best time of year for me. Sometimes I get caught up in the rest of the traffic's race to the next red light and good numbers fade, and when I think I've driving efficiently, in retrospect, I'm not. Deep breath, chill, a friendly wave to the guy that needs to race past, pull in front and hard on the brakes for the red -- and the numbers improve again.

I have occasion to drive our '13 Honda Civic Touring. It can be nice to drive something that is so light and maneuverable, reminds me how heavy the RX feels going around corners in comparison. But otherwise it's nice coming back to the RX. The Civic comfort and tracking over bumps, even though its several years newer, isn't close of course. I often find myself with the Civic gas pedal on the floor surprised, thinking I wasn't even driving that fast, no faster than the RX anyway . The automatic doesn't bother me most of the time around town, but on the highway the constant necessity of downshifts to keep speed is annoying. Again, nice to be back to the RX. The Civic naturally outdoes the RX on highway economy, but in town its a toss-up. In light traffic the Civic will sometimes do better, but in heavier traffic the Civic will quickly fall far behind.

As far long term plans, I think I'm reaching the point where it may have more value just to run it into the ground if it stays reliable. Not sure yet, but I think we'll hang onto it for at least another 2 or 3 years. I've been a Toyota fan for a while now, our 15+ yr old Sienna is now in the hands of my daughter and it still runs great too. Never let us down once from her sitting in the back as a little kid when it was new to it now being her portable barn (and smells like it too) with all her horse riding gear and garbage filling it up.

I keep meaning to change out the 12V battery, but it keeps going so I've let it be for now. I managed to squeeze 11 years out of the Sienna battery, but the last year was dicey, so maybe before winter rolls in...

paperthin

Droid;
That is nice post to read today, thanks for that. We have very similar stories for our 450h.

salimshah

Happy anniversary!

Salim