Looking for some advice from you RX owners. I am looking at getting an RX300 probally around 2001-2003. Is any one year better than the other? Anything to look out for such as a common problem during a particular year? Any advice no matter how small would be greatly appreciated before I head down to the dealership.

Thanks.

 

They added a few more bells and whisltes in 2001, so the '01-'03 models have a couple of things that the '99-'00 don't have. They're pretty minor, but still handy. For example, the seat heater controls went from a 2-setting on/off to a 3-setting high/low/off. The gas tank also got bigger by a couple of gallons (from 17 to 19), navigation became a factory option, and a compass in the rearview mirror became standard on units without nav. On the outside, HID headlights became an option, and the tail light design was simplified with fewer bulbs. '01 might also be the year they added the "bunper pad", a black piece of plastic stuck on the top of the bumper with the Lexus logo to protect the bumper while loading/unloading stuff.
Over the life of the RX300, they also added more computerized anti-skid/stability controls (like VSC), but I'm not sure when they were introduced.

 

The biggest downside to me is the long turning-radius, but that didn't improve until the RX330 in 2004. You learn to live with it, but it's one of the big flaws in my opinion.

 

VSC was introduced in 2001...also other flaw is glove box not closing properly...i heard it was fixed in 2002

 

I have an 01. I would think an 03 is the best assuming all things are equal since in 03 they would have fixed any known issues/bugs. I haven't had any serious problems with my car (e.g. Transmission etc..)

If you are going to purchase a pre-owned car the best thing to do would be to check out the history of the car for any previous accidents and check the maintenance history (oil changes, major tune-ups, previous repairs done - new tranny etc....)

cheers

 

The 2001+ and especially Silversport and Coach editions with Nav are awesome.

For performance, I prefer the 1999-2000 models with the PWR button, kind of reminds me of how it is easier to modify OBDI (pre 1996 vehicles) over later OBDII vehicles. There is a noticeable difference with the PWR button on and off when I race the RX.

 

Check maintainance records and try to gauge how the RX was driven ... Features or lack of features should be of secondary concern in a used vehicle market. [assuming the least loaded is safe and at least acceptable]

Salim

 

Salim is right.

The maintenance is very important. If you can pull a documented service records, I'd feel much better about the car, or if there was some warranty left on the car. The two most important items to me are the engine and transmission. These two can be trouble spots if they were not serviced properly.

My family has both the 2000 and 2001. I'd definitely get at least a 2001 just for the larger fuel tank and vsc. The seats at least up to to 2001, showed wear quite quickly. Maybe that was fixed in 2002 on up?