Sevn86

Go for the 450h. You will love it. Also Lexus CPO cars aren't always the best used cars. The Lexus dealerships do charge a premium for CPO's and its just a rip off in my opinion. I was under the same mind set as you and that it had to be a CPO and at a Lexus Dealership. I test drove over 15 RX350's before we bought ours and it ended up being the nicest, cleanest, and least expensive then all of them. Guess where i found it? At a used car lot similar to carmax. (Texas Direct Auto) It was a lease return. My car had only 21k when I picked it up. All the CPO's at the Lexus dealership in my area had mileage ranging from 26K - 34K, which also had less options and hard to negotiate on price.

dflowers

Ever thought about a car with a 3rd row seat? Guess the Tahoe already has this? Before we bought the 450h we drove a Buick Rendezvous for 12 years. The car was a slug, but had the 3rd row seat which came in very handy for carrying more kids around to sports events. It also came in handy when we had visitors. Now that our daughter is an adult and long ago moved out, we went for the Lexus. So far we love it. For a long time the Touareg TDI was at the top of my list but after reading about some issues with the diesel I went for the 450h. Above all, we need reliability because the 450h is our only car. My wife commutes 5 miles one way on city streets to work, so 10 miles a day. We are getting around 23-24 mpg from the hybrid. The commute has some big hills. If your commute is longer and flatter the mileage would probably be higher. Also the mileage may go up once warmer weather arrives.

kitlz

Welcome to CL, SeaNile. The 450h is pretty roomy and should serve you well. There's always the roof rack for the stuff that doesn't fit. Not for kids though Just want to add to the comments about mileage, the 450h is great once the engine is warmed up. That can be a bit of a challenge in the winter during stop and go city commutes. So plan for a noticeable decrease a few months a year. Still the number should be well above what you're getting on the Tahoe. Good luck in your search.

SeaNile

We are heading to an Audi/VW dealership tonight. It'll be nice to check out the Touareg and Q5 at the same time. Something tells me neither of those SUV's is the right one for us. It's probably 450h or hold on to the Tahoe at this point.

SeaNile

If we go with a 450h it has to be AWD.

Going to look at a 450h tonight and on the way home will check out the Q5 and Touareg.

Should have a much better idea of our position by tonight.

Lexspeed

I am in the market for a new SUV as well. I have test driven both a Q5 and a Touareg TDI. They are nice. I was really impressed with the Q5. I don't need to tow anything as I have another truck for that. I only need two seating rows. I am leaning toward the new RX 350 F Sport model for my particular needs. The big issue is reliability as al of those dealerships are quite a distance for this guy who lives in a rural area. With 188k miles on my 1999 RX300, this SUV has been the most reliable vechile I have ever owned. That counts , especially since the Q5 and the VW are not the most reliable. I love the German engineering and clean designs, but they just cannot match Lexus in problem free miles.

SeaNile

Really not sure about making a move. Decided to skip looking at the Touareg and Q5 due to size and other various reasons. Looked at a 2012 14K mile 450h and I know I'm stating the obvious but its a lot smaller than our Tahoe. We immediately recognize the superior quality and feel but really need to think it through before making a decision we may regret.

$90 into the Tahoe on Thursday and its below 1/4 already. OUCH!

LovezLexus

It will take some time getting used to, but I can assure you that it will satisfy your needs.

SeaNile

I'm sure it will. We will continue to look at them and have not ruled it out. We knew it would be smaller, just need to make sure it works for us.

Looking around at the other families, it seems that everyone has a Tahoe or even Suburban. Just want to make sure we wouldn't regret the downsize.

kitlz

On the upside the 450h will make a smaller dent in your wallet when it comes to filling up. Less often too. That's one thing you won't miss.

LovezLexus

I wouldn't worry too much about the downsize if I were you. You have 2 kids aged under 10, so it's perfect.


I feel like I'm being pushy

LovezLexus

I have both an SUV and a crossover SUV. I feel as if the rx is too small for my kids because:
-I have 3 kids
-They are 15+

but the car was perfect from 2001-2006 because:
-They were small
-They were cute


It will be perfect for you because:
-You have 2 kids so they will never be sitting next to each other
-Your kids are small, so you have MANY years to change cars


I could always stuff their friends in the car and make it work, so don't dwell too much on the fact that it's too small.


Hope this helps.

SeaNile

All great points. Just wonder if this will work for us as the kids grow. More sports stuff in the back, growing in general and stuff like that.

I know I'm the one who brought this on, wanting to downsize so I appreciate the advice!

BarrettF77

Honestly don't know how much stuff you haul daily. But I see so many people with these large vehicles who never use the full space 99 percent of the time. Ask to take the car home for a day to test drive. Some dealers will allow that.

ecr72

If the motivation is strictly financial due to the cost of gas and the low mileage of the Tahoe, then it needs to pencil out financally first. This includes weighing gas savings against the additional cost of the new vehicle. Factor in tax and the difference, plus or minus, in the cost to insure. Depending on your equity in the Tahoe, there's a good chance it will not pencil out.

You're going to get a lot of people around here telling you it's a good decision but only you can figure that out. Are there any more kids in the future? What sports are the kids going to play? Hockey... keep the Tahoe. Just baseball, soccer, and basketball... no problem with a RX. Is your wife the type to cart kids around? If so, you can only fit one extra, two if one is old enough for the front seat. Suggesting you can fit more than three in the back is reckless to say the least. How long do you keep your vehicles? Add that to your oldest and consider if the kids will outgrow the vehicle. It's doubtful, especially if you don't expand the family but something you should consider.

I sound pretty negative but the truth is, the RX is a great vehicle and may very be a good size for your family. We just got one and have two boys, 10 & 6. We're done having kids and find the size great for our needs. That said, I would have gladly purchased a Tahoe for the extra space as my wife will only drive about 8K a year The couple mpg difference would have been worth the extra size in my opinion but my wife didn't want such a large vehicle and wanted something different than everyone else. There are a LOT of Tahoe, Yukon, Suburbans around here.

Good luck in your decision making process.


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