Okay, you win.

.
.

 

Yes, my wife and I did a single lease on her 2006 RX400H back at the end of April 2005. It is a 3 year lease and we paid about $25K for 3 years. We are trying to decide what to do now. We may extend the lease for 6 months to a year and go for the next generation RX (non hybrid) due out by early 2009. My wife says she still needs an SUV or CUV and is hoping to get one that is fuel efficient. Our Lexus salesman is recommending that we not purchase the RX400H ($32.5K residual). He says that the dealer would only pay 25K for a 2006 RX400H. My wife has liked the 400H but the gas mileage is disappointing considering it is a hybrid. In real world driving in the Midwest winter it only gets about 23-24 mpg in stop and go city traffic and about the same on the highway. Thus, we are not getting another luxury hybrid SUV at least until the new lithium ion battery is available.

One other SUV/CUV we are considering is the new Infiniti EX. Does anyone have an opinion about the EX? I'll tell you one thing for sure. Whatever SUV we get, it will have the have the radar cruise as an option. I will not buy another car without it. I hate the fact that the RX400h does not have radar cruise.

 

Your salesman is PROBABLY right about the retail/wholesale spread not favoring you. That being said, recognize that he won't make a fat profit like he would if you buy a NEW RX, so his "advice" is somewhat self-serving.

 

from lexus website: Dynamic Laser Cruise Control [11] $600 [3]

 

When we leased the RX400H in late April of 2005, the radar/laser cruise was not available. Yes it is great that it is now available.

 

It is a very good feature and $600 seems very cheap. I had this feature in my ultra LS430 and loved it. However, with my luck, it took a few direct hits from rocks that cracked (star) the front lens. Since then it would only work intermittently, and Lexus wanted to rplace the whole unit at a cost of $3,000. I managed without the CC as I would use some other vehicle for long trips. Eventually sold the LS430 as is.

 

I've heard this system interferes with radar detectors....any truth to that?

 

Ouch, I'm sorry to hear of that happening to the Laser Cruise...I've seen LS 430s with a square shaped protector over the grille emblem, was that installed?

 

Maybe we've drifted a little off-topic, but I hope radar cruise remains an option, and never becomes standard equipment.

For all you who love it, there are as many like me who hate it ... it isn't smart enough to keep from mis-reading situations and over-reacting. Let a car zip in between you and the car ahead (and that happens a fair amount), and most of these systems freak out, thinking you're about to crash and burn. Then, when that car changes lanes again, it snaps your neck getting back up to speed. Or come around a curve on a highway and it reads the oncoming truck as a collision about to happen ... on the brakes again. And of course, when it rains, all bets are off, even though it's safe to maintain a reasonable speed.

Thankfully, you can turn it off, but I'd rather use my own brain rather than a solid-state one to control my car.

Not to go too nuts here, but Infiniti, with its lane departure control and "intelligent" cruise control, is the next best thing to turning over the control of the car to ... umm ... the car. And I ain't ready for robotic driving yet.

.
.

 

on the ls460, all cars with laser cruise control, the front emblem has a same shape clear shield on it to protect the laser sensor. pretty much like the ls430 but this one looks a lot nicer

 

My service advisor said rocks eat up those sensors, and the cost to replace is well over $1000US