ocdavid

My wife recently purchased an '07 RX350 AWD. It is a great SUV with plenty of power. I just bought a pair of Jet Skiis and a Zieman trailer. I figured that we would tow them with her car since all of the '07 RX350 AWD's came standard with the Tow Prep Package. She went down to the dealer to have the factory hitch put on and here is where it all went wrong.

The dealer told her that she shouldn't tow anything because it would cause her tranny to prematurely fail. She told them that is was a pair of Jet Skiis and they replied that towing with her car is not recommeded.

I was speechless. Why would Lexus spend the money to put a tow prep package on every single '07 RX350 AWD if you are not supposed to tow with them??? I decided to call around.

I called 3 other dealerships and Lexus coporate (1-800-25-LEXUS). They are stating that there is no problem towing up to 3500 lbs. with our RX350 and even double checked the vin to be sure that it had the right equipment.

To make a long story short, that one dealership has managed to convince my wife that it will ruin her tranny to pull the jet skiis.

Can someone, anyone, please post some advise or some experience with towing and the RX350 AWD or even the RX330 AWD and give me some ammo. I wanna take my jet skiis out and not have to buy a 3rd car to do it!!

THANK YOU!!!!

flipside909

You should be fine with towing with your RX as long as you don't exceed the 3500 lb capacity. Make sure your GVWR does not exceed the maximum (weight of luggage, passengers and cargo in tow). Since your RX was equipped with the tow package and has a heavy duty radiator and tranny cooler lines, you should be fine. Heat is what kills your tranny. The tranny cooler is designed to keep your ATF at an optimum level. Sounds like you need to change to a new dealership service dept. for assistance.

ocdavid

I should have specified... The weight I need to tow is 1250 lbs including the trailer. So I am well under the max.

Lil4X

A similar thread in the RX300 forum reveals my prejudice against towing any significant load with the RX, whatever your dealer tells you. It's more than a transmission issue, it is balance, suspension, gear ratio and cooling capacity - not to mention the distance and terrain over which you intend to tow.

Two jetskis are a fairly light load, but you will need to be very careful. I feel that Lexus was extremely optimistic about the ability of the vehicle to tow anything but a very light utility trailer, especially without an equalizing hitch and at least surge brakes.

I once towed with a maximum heavy-duty Travelall, and while it was a TRUCK in every sense of the word (I believe it actually had HAIR growing out of it), it was a miserable exercise just trying to stay ahead of the trailer. Plenty of power, lots of axle for low-end grunt, it was so poorly suspended that a large trailer actually drove you at times.

If you won't be towing on steep hills or over long distances, you are probably OK, but pull that tranny dipstick and smell it each time you tow. Dark red or brown fluid - particularly with a "burned" smell indicates your transmission is working too hard and producing excessive heat. Remember, it's a passenger car transmission, not a 13-speed Road Ranger. Just take it easy, drive the speed limit, accelerate smoothly, brake early, and when you launch, use the e-brake AND the Park position. The RX is a wonderful utility vehicle, but a lousy boat!

ocdavid

I appreciate the input so far. I would be towing only on flat, multi-lane urban highways and very rarely taking them more than 50 miles. I do understand the concerns as far as the vehicle not being a 3/4 ton crew cab dually pickup or anything close, I simply figure that a vehicle that is rated for 3500 lbs. and is factory equipped with a tranny cooler, beefed up alternator, and heavy duty radiator would have no problem towing a load that is only about 1/3 of the rated weight....

ocdavid

Does anyone have any real world experience towing with an RX350?

Please post here if you do and let me know what you are towing and any pro's and con's. Thanks!

kenne74

Towed my 2 PWC Aquatrax about 2100lbs with a 330 and 400h. No problems at all, with the 330 you could feel them back there but it didn't slow me down nor cause any problems with the car. Now with the 400h i could pull those things up hills doing 80mph (stupid yes) with no issues. This is in the northwest. You will be fine as long as you have the tow package.

I was quite concerned when i bought my 330 with regards to towing, worked great!

ocdavid

I appreciate the info! It def. helps.

SCM3

I towed a Yamaha LX210 for two years with my RX300 with no problems. You should be fine.

Todd

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DakotaRX

Here's my experience with towing using a 2005 RX 330 Thundercloud that came with towing package.

First off, in 2001 I bought a 2001 Ford Sportrac in March of that year and in July I pulled the 6' x 12' U-Haul trailer out to Boise, ID. The trailer was packed with my daughter's and future son-in-laws things and had no problems with it. Then in Sept. of this year I went to U-Haul again to get a trailer to move my other daughter out to Tacoma, WA. I was informed by U-Haul that you can not pull their trailers with any Ford Explorer, including the Sportrac. They asked if I had any other vehicle to tow with. Told them I had a 2005 Lexus RX330 and they said that was just fine. So here's the results of that pull.

After reading thru the owner's manual on towing I did as suggested. They state to pull in 4th gear and not use overdrive. The trailer I pulled was the tandem axle 6' x 12' U-Haul that is listed as 1800 lbs dry and a load capacity of 2500 lbs for a 4300 lb gross weight. This of course is over the max of 3500 lbs for the RX330. I watched the weight of items being put in the trailer and ended up with about 1100/1200 lbs for a 2900/3000 lb gross weight. I started from Jamestown, ND heading west on I-94 holding the speed at around 70 mph and in 4th gear. It is slightly hilly but for the most part is fairly level thru most of ND when heading west. After 200 miles to Dickenson, ND running around 70 mph and 4th gear against 20 to 30 mph west winds I got 11.8 mpg using mid grade gas (89 octane). In Miles City, MT I switched over to premium (91 octane in MT) and running in "D". Running thru MT including thru the Bozeman and Missoula areas which are mountainous I ended up with 14.2 to 15.8 mpg. Had no problems with the mountains going up or down. On the down hill portions I would down shift to 4th and even 3rd and hardly had to use the brakes (the U-Haul trailer has surge brakes). Some of these downgrades are 5 and 6% downgrades running from 1 to 4 miles in length with some pretty sharp turns for an interstate road. From Missoula to Tacoma I ran between 14.8 to 16.1 mpg using premium grade. Had no problems with the RX or trailer the whole trip of 1300 miles. As I said I ran 70 mph thru ND, MT and ID where the interstate speedlimit is 75 and in WA it is 70. I really found no problem in running in "D" instead of 4th. According to the manual running in 4th prevents a lot of downshifting for hills but I found that the RX was always downshifting on hills even in 4th (I did not use cruise control while towing). Infact when I started just running in "D" it seemed like it didn't downshift anymore that when in 4th only. There were times in the mountains it would drop down to 3rd and run at about 5000 rpm for brief periods and I would let the speed drop down to 50 to 55 but this was just primarily to not tax it too much and keep the gas milage better.

All in all, I feel that the RX handled the trailer very well. There are things to remember when pulling bigger loads. Braking distance, turning, and balancing the load of the trailer. You have to have 60% of the total load of the trailer on the hitch and only 40% behind the center line of the trailer. You can tell if your load is off if the trailer sways at all, even a little (too much of load behind centerline). The hitch of the RX dropped 1 1/2 inches when the trailer was hooked up and ended up dropping 3 inches total with the load. I did not put any thing in the cargo area of the RX except a small cooler (after all, everything could fit in the trailer). I checked the dipstick on the tranny a couple times during the trip and also when all done and found the fluid to be nice and red with no "burnt" smell.

So if I could pull a 2900/3000 lb trailer and load 1300 miles thru the Rockies with no problems then I certainly think pulling a jet ski or other similar loads with the RX should be no problem. Just use some common sense and take it easy.

ocdavid

DakotaRX, Thank you for your info. It is VERY much appreciated. I figured it should have no problem. Your case proves it without a doubt at all. If the RX330 can handle it, then the RX350 should be even more capable, and we are talking about perfectly flat land, no hills, mountains, or otherwise!

Again, thanks for sharing the details of your experience!

lucasb7

we've towed our 3000 pound tent trailer all around with our RX330, even up to 11,000 feet in yosemite, it worked great, popped right up the mountain. only problem was getting a connection for trailer brakes... local shops can do it... ask dealer

Grumpa72

Let's see! One dealer says don't. Three dealers and Lexus USA say DO tow. Looks like you have less than a 20% chance of transmission failure.

I would think that Lexus USA and the owner's manual would be the better resource than a service department head who may be biased against towing. Fwiw, I once took my one year Acura in and asked them to please change the oil using Mobil 1. He said he didn't want to do it since Mobil 1 wasn't a good oil and synthetics weren't a suitable substitute for dino based oil. I took my car from him and never went back. I got a letter asking me rate my service from Acura (personnel are given feedback - $$ maybe - for good or bad service). I gave the service head a scathing report suggesting he shouldn't be in that position if he had no knowledge of synthetic oils. Maybe your guy is the same one?

Gary

The G Man

1250 lbs is nothing, I have seen cars pull more than that.