TripleD

I am not new to cars and I am not new to car forums, but I am new to Lexus and to this forum. I come to seek advice from you all who have experience with these SUVs. I am looking at buying an 01 RX300 Silversport with 104K miles. It is in pristine condition for $10,500. Being sold by local Lexus dealer. It is a one owner vehicle. It has had all regular maintenance done pretty much on time and done at the local Lexus dealership. I have done my homework and I know all the stories about the transmissions. The internet is littered with a lot of stories about people who's transmission seized with no warning. This scares the **** out of me. I have seen that people have paid upwards of $5000 to have the tranny replaced only to have it kick the bucket 20k miles down the road. Part of me simply doesn't believe this or there is more to the story. From what I have gathered the transmissions are no doubt the wink link, but if I change the tranny fluid every 15k miles I shouldn't have any problems, I could but it would be unlikely. The thing that scares me too is that at 84k miles it was taken in because the lady that drove it said the transmission was making a whining noise but the dealership found no problem, it wen to a second dealership, same thing, no problem found. It was then taken to a transmission shop and they did whatever they do and they found nothing either. So that was 20k miles ago. I have driven it twice and did not hear anything, it shifts very smoothly.

Am I wasting my time in getting one of these?

Do the 2001 models have less problems than the 99 or 00?

Will a replacement tranny really cost $5k? or if I tried hard would it be more like $2500 or so?

Are all the horror stories from people who just drove the crap out of their cars with no real good maintenace?

Any insight would be great thanks.

bob2200

With any car, especially a car that is 9-years-old, there is always the chance of a major failure, even if only a small chance. With a new car you have maybe a 3-year or 5-year warranty period where the manufacturer pays for the repair. After that, you need to be prepared for the possibility of a major repair bill(s), even if it is only a small possibility.

I think the RX300 is a great car, better than the new RX's. The only real down-side (in my opinion) is the turning radius, which you learn to live with. On previous cars I have had the common faults, but sometimes rare faults.

ExPatBrit

We have a 2001 Silversport, I spent a lot of time investigating the RX , we had previously owned a Highlander which was 100% trouble free.

It seems that most of the tranny problems are on the 99-2000 models since they redesigned the transmission for 2001. Our Silversport is a July 2001. They do occur on later years but nowhere near as often. It also seems to be more common in the AWD as something in the software controlling the rear differential can be overly aggressive.

I intend to follow the recommendations here about the fluid replacement. We don't drive any of our cars very much so I don't think a DIY tranny drain and fill every year is a problem.

Maybe you can entice the Lexus dealer to write you a warranty on the transmission.

Make sure the timing belt and plugs have been done.

TripleD

It is AWD. Timing Belt was done at 81,000 miles, I believe all the 90K mile maintenance was done. They offered to give 3000 mile/3 month warranty, but thats not much. I thought I read that they used the same transmission 99 through 2003? Am I wrong, can anyone else attest to tranny being redesigned for 01 and up?

ExPatBrit

There were an unusually high number of warranty claims on the 1999,2000 vehicles. In addition in some cases Lexus paid part of the cost for vehicles that were out of warranty.

My understanding is some components have been upgraded internally on the 2001+ transmissions probably to alleviate that. Interestingly the Highlander which has "almost" the same transmission and motor has a pretty good reputation. Highlander was a 2001-2007 model.

Most reliability surveys seem to correlate with that.

If you buy a Silversport most of them are mid-late MY 2001 since the product launch was early 2001.

mklemovitc

I have a 2001 Silversport. It has 122,500 miles. Knock on wood but nary a drivetrain problem. I've had all recommended maintenance done (mostly by a non-Lexus local shop) but nothing above and beyond. Shifts and runs as nicely as the day I bought it new in September 2001.

It just had the 120,000 mile service which replaced about every fluid in the vehicle and the spark plugs (timing belt etc. replaced back at 90k). I suspect it has a good 100,000 miles left in it but I plan to sell it later this year for no reason other than wanting a new 450h.

The asking price of $10,500 seems a bit high. I'd say you should be able to get it for perhaps $1000 less.

JVLex

That seems high to me as well. Just my 2cents.

hypervish

Your going to see people online complain about their tranny problems, but think about how small of a minority they really are, I've read they starting upgrading parts in the trannys mid-year 2000. Don't be worried about the trannys.

One major thing that will really kill any tranny, is not stopping fully before shifting into drive from reverse. Many people have a habit of not fully stopping which DOES cause DAMAGE.