Sorry.. I hate it.

Besides the driving qualities, why are the two basic things in maintenance such a pain?

The air filter is bolted on with 2 bolts and once you get those off the MAF and a vacuum hose are still in the way!

Next, oil filter. What is it with this design? I'm about to do it tomorrow and it looks like I'll be covered in oil when i'm done. Yes get a hose and drain the oil first. How about they would have put the filter on top of the engine?

 

Takayuki Katsuda engineered the Rx .
Yeah I feel for your issues. Perhaps they just didn't consider these two seemingly minor yet major points for self-maintenance. Perhaps to make you go to your dealer for maintenance and give them cash $$$.

 

I found the oil change to be very easy. The filter is located on the bottom of the engine, rather than the side, unlike many Japanese engines. The motor holds quite a bit of oil, so make sure your catch can is big enough and I don't see why you'd be concerned with a mess.

 

I thought this car was very easy to work on. Except all the fancy AFS and air suspension if they were to go bad.

 

2 bolts, and pushing some stuff out of the way really isn't too bad when it comes to air filters... there are some cars that require a dozen or so bolts to even look at the air filter... also, oil filter, bottom of engine... that's pretty darned common... there are only a handful of vehicles that have the oil filters mounted topside, but I will acknowledge there has definitely been an increase in that style within the past few years.. you have to get under the car to drain the oil anyways, what's an oil filter added to that? at least they give you an easy way to drain it first...