Nayden

I had a big dilemma and read a lot of reviews before I purchased Lexus RX450h. I hope this post might help people who are in a similar situation to mine. Just to say I needed a large/middle size MPV capable of carrying 2 teenagers and 2 dogs for the weekend's family trips. Mostly the car would be used for short town trips around 8 to 10K a year, that ruled out the diesel options, because of previous bad experiences with short trips with a diesel engine and the need to go to a garage to unblock the particular diesel filter or pdf for short.

I looked at the other options. Petrol only X5 or XC90 very thirsty petrol engines.

My choice was 2016 Outlander PHEV. This is a plug-in hybrid with option to do around 20-25 miles on electricity only in a slow town drive. I have a driveway at home and charging it wouldn't be a problem. I went to test drive one and almost put down a deposit on one. I just was not 100% sure I covered all options. If money was not an object I would have buy 2015 onwards XC90 T8, which is an excellent car, but too expensive. My budget was around £14-£15K max. After the test drive of the Mitsubishi Outlander, I called a friend to tell him how excited I was and he said did you put down a deposit? I said no and he told me have something in mind and will come to take me for a coffee shortly. That was the first time I was a passenger in a 2012 RX450h, we went for a short drive and I was amazed how quiet and quick the car was. He allowed me to drive it and after that I did not go back to the Mitsubishi garage. I knew my next car would be RX450h. The search for one started. I read a lot of positive reviews and was happy with the reliability record as well. A search for one started, I soon realised my budget needs to increase to around £20K for a good RX450h. In May 2018 less than a mile from where I live an independent dealer put one for sale for £14K with 161,000 on the clock. One owner from new a company car and looked after in a Lexus main dealer with all the stamps in the book. After a short test drive, my wife was sold and I just needed 2 minutes to call Lexus on the number from the service stamps to confirm if they serviced the car from new. The answer from Lexus was Yes and I purchased the car. Now on 170K+ still going strong. Not a single problem so far. The car is very good quality. We get around 320-330 miles from a full tank 50 liters. I think the car average full consumption with careful driving is about 30mpg. The car is very quick and if you like putting your right foot down, you will not be disappointed.

To conclude my review: The best car I have owned or driven( we had a small insurance claim and our insurer Churchill gave us a brand new Discovery Sport turbo as a courtesy car and me and my wife wouldn't swap it for the Lexus. In fact after 3 days we both missed how refined the Lexus is while driving a brand new Land Rover Discovery Sport.

Having 2 electrical motors helps a lot when you overtake or just put your right foot down. I think the electrical motors help not only for fuel economy, but they take the stress of the petrol engine when the car starts, which is when the engine would need to work the hardest if there were no electrical engines( hybrid ). One think to bear in mind is when the engine is cold it will run until gets warm and then the hybrid system will work properly.

When you purchase over 2000KG car you do not expect it to return over 30mpg, the economy was the last on my list. In my case we need the car for max 10K a year. If you are driving long distances maybe a diesel could be a better option for you.

When we need to replace the car I think will be 4th Generation RX450h L or maybe Volvo XC90 T8 because of the plug-in technology. Will see in 202X.

Happy to answer any questions you might have relating to the car.

From May to now( 8 months) I have been to the garage once, in order to remove a metal tire caps. They looked great on the car, but could not remove them to pump the tires. Black plastic caps are perfect.

All the best

kezgao

Glad you like the vehicle, what year is it?

Personally, (perhaps biased too?) I'd stick to Lexus. I have both an RX350 that my wife drives and got myself an IS250. Wonderful vehicles. I did have an odd squeak in the rear on the RX. Lexus replaced both rear suspensions for $400. That didn't resolve the issue and they fully refunded me the cost and I kept the new suspensions. Turned out a rear bushing needed some lube, that was it.

One of my neighbours has brand new XC90. The interior is quite nice I'll give it that, but that's about it. I hear nothing but complaints from him on the vehicle. Sunroof leaked, multiple times where the car won't start. He doesn't lock it when it's parked in the garage. He's told that vehicle electronics are full running unless it's locked and thus would drain the battery in a day or 2? He's mentioned the touch screen at times would freeze while driving or becomes super slow, had to pull over to restart the car to get it back. This is all within the first 3 month, he can't wait until the lease is up.

Nayden

Thank you for the feedback on the XC90. I am not surprised. New Chinese owners, so not the same good quality as when it was Sweedish.

My RX450h is 2012 with 170K+ miles. I also think other cars of 6/7 years old with that many miles won't be in the same great shape as the Lexus. Drives so smooth and puts a smile on your face, when going slow around the block on electrical power only( my kids call it a ghost mode, very quiet and spooky).

Maybe when a replacement is due, will be another RX450h.

Thank you for reading and replying.

Droid13

Congrats and good luck with your purchase.

Just curious, is the practice of stamping service books still pretty common in your area? I remember seeing this decades ago around here, but it was never really that commonly bothered with. I think I remember getting my service book stamped once or twice in the 90s but hardly anyone bothered and then it completely gave way to electronic service accounts in the 2000s.

ukrkoz

Why not? My 2012 HiHy averaged 32 mpg. Being heavier car.

As of Land rover.... My books have few pages but one of them says: No motorcycles; No convertibles; Nothing made in great Britain or Germany or Sweden. That said, son had one of them Land somethings... we got rid of it in 6 months...

salimshah

Hope I dont hijack the thread ... but I grew up with BMC diesel vehicle. I give a lot of credit to my learning about machines and systems to that car. Prime example of learning by encountering problems. Lucas electric system! They had the starter right below the oil filter and there was no way to remove the filter without loosing 1/4 quart on to the starter.
Lexus has its own issues with steering pump right above the alternator [GS/SC]. Within 3 weeks of a pump fail, the alternator fails.

Back to the thread ,,,, congratulations. I am getting to 2yr mark. No issues with mine. What color did you get?

Talking about stamping the book ... I did ask the service writer to make notation about exterior condition and he gave me a blank stare. Old manuals used to have a picture of each panel for the service writer to comment/mark.

Salim

Nayden

Great Britain, England still stamps in the service book. We have a government web site for electronic MOT's where you can check the MOT history electronically, which is very useful when trying to check the history of a car. If we have an electronic service history in the UK, would be even better. Hope someone will be able to implement that here one day. We are only 19 years behind on that particular issue, so not the end of the world.
One would think in this electronic era we live, the services should be electronic and accessible by the public. Come on UK, get into gear and see what US has done and do it here as well, please!

Nayden

I really like the automatic folding mirrors, keyless entry, lock and start. The automatic tailgate is very useful as well. Great car, well done Lexus. Keep the good work

riredale

We've had our 2010 RX450h for about two years, just about 90K miles on it at this point. The improved fuel economy is nice, but more and more I appreciate the turbine-like smoothness while accelerating. A month ago it went in for service for the day and Lexus provided me with a brand-new RX350. At first I thought something was broken when the engine kept running at traffic lights! And on acceleration I was surprised at the "jerkiness" of the multiple up-and-downshifts as the 8-speed (I think) transmission did its thing. Once you experience shift-free driving you really notice shift jerkiness in other powertrains.

Finally, we love the look of the car, especially the classic front end. Spindle?--no thanks. Our next RX will be from the same 2010-12 vintage.

What are you guys talking about when you mention "stamping" a service book?

salimshah

Some folks dislike the smoothness (lack of shift) of CVT (motor boat with no gears) and some dislike the excessive shifting [8 speed]. Each to their own.

First gen had a place where the service writer would stamp [and fill in some details] at each recommended service. This was the documented proof of service. Now the invoice [and its copy with Lexus] is good enough.

Salim

MellonC00

I complaint all the time about my car but you can't beat the instant torque. I don't think Lexus ever published a total system torque figure when your foot is floored. I also think the amount of torque the MGs apply when standing still vs. moving is different (it's higher when wheel spin is not a possibility). To make a long story short, I don't think I could have bought this much torque with the budget I had at the time.

vlad_a

That'd be 30MPG in Imperial Gallon, which translates to 25MPG US.
If you wait long enough, "recommended service" for vehicles will be a thing of the past, along with the maintenance booklet.
Europe is going full blast with BEV implementation, making things like oil changes obsolete.

NillaIce

At a car show when the LS600HL was introduced the show person answered "combined power of motors" when asked what does the 600 numbering mean. I know my hybrid has plenty of torque and horsepower to push an SUV with 2 motors and a battery bank as quickly as it does. I've also pushed the speed limiter and watched it hang on 115 MPH easily. I believe the 450 unofficially means 450 horsepower and it would make since because the the gas motor is rated at 250ish horsepower, so another 150-200 hp from 2 more electric motors would be easy to get.

Nayden

I think this is correct the RX 450h is 450 bhp but not for a long period. That is why Lexus officially have it as 299bhp which is the ICE power output. The RX 450h is very powerful and for this short moments when you need a quick start or overtaking it seems like 450bhp under the car.

Droid13

The published output is the sum of the engine BHP and the battery pack energy output capability. 245 for engine + 50 from battery = 295. It is physically impossible for the RX450h to produce 450bhp, not even for 1 ms regardless of rated output of electric motors (and why the AWD version with its extra 68HP electric motor is rated no differently in total output) without trying to "Frankenstein" in a Tesla battery pack.

Why Lexus choose 400h for a previous hybrid, and 450H for the last two gens is probably somewhat arbitrary. Especially considering the 4th gen output is higher, and also the same gen GS450h. Both of these should probably have been called RX500h and GS500h if following any sort of engine/motor output pattern. One thing to note about sales people, they are masters of BS and will shovel it anytime they think it sounds good.

I think it makes more sense to consider the "00h" and "50h" as simply different significantly major versions of the hybrid design.