Hello all,
I bought my lexus rx350 2013 about 2 years ago from beverly hills dealer with 6k miles on it. I drove it and took much care of the car but i was very shocked that at 90k miles the car had some vibration when changing shift from 1-2 and the local dealer recommended to change the whole transmission. Of course the warranty covered the whole cost, but i'm afraid to keep the car. When i bought the car, i was thinking to keep it until 200k miles because of good reputation of lexus regarding reliability but this transmission problem made me lose faith in lexus.
I must say that i owned Bmw X6, bmw 335is, Mercedes GL and i sold each car at around 170k miles (i drive a lot) but from all cars lexus was the less reliable of all .
Now i'm in doubt what car to buy next. I'm thinking maybe RX model has this problem. I was considering NX but i heard other people have transmission problem too with that model
Any advice help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Keep the car. It now has a new transmission that you did not pay for. These are among the most reliable vehicles available.
Next time, change the transmission fluid at 50,000 or in your case, 140,000 miles. It is about $250 to $300 but good preventive maintenance. Changing the ATF is one issue on which many of us argue, but I think your failure has helped show the benefit of preventive maintenance. If you had done a transmission fluid flush or change at around 50,000 you may not have had the failure. Did you ever do towing? Did they say what failed?

Right now I would also change the fluid in the transfer case, front differential and rear differential, change the coolant, and change the brake fluid, since you plan to keep it.
I think the spark plugs may need changing at around 100,000 miles and would shop around for price on that since it is expensive.

 

Wownec:

I am not sure if my post will mean anything to you ...

I owned first gen RX and with 250k miles was knocked out of service due to accident. First gen had relatively more transmission problems, but my personal experience would rate first gen RX as the most reliable. BUT, yours and mine are individual experiences and we have to look at failure rate of the model.

Also, machines are machines and they will suffer breakdown.

Around the milage, you ay be up for a serious maintenance bill. Since the transmission is being covered under warranty, think of it as getting a new lease on life.

Replacement with a new will come with new payments and safety net till the warranty remains in place.

Used, will be a gamble .. some assurity with certified. Anything in open market vs the one you have will be a difficult decision .. and only you can make that.

Salim

 

Hi guys, thank you for your kind advices, they are much appreciated!
My concern is that now after the transmission was replaced , the car driving is total different than before. The sterling wheel rotation is harder and the car is like not accelerating like before and the whole feeling is like something keeps the car. The local audi dealer offered me 15k $ for it trade-in for an audi q5.
1: I took the car at 60k miles oil change, next day i had a oil leak in my garage (dealer said it was coincidence that it happened next day that it was oil leak before)
2: I took the car at 90k miles oil change, next week the transmission died .
I feel like maybe mechanics are not so good but they have great reputation & good reviews .
Lot of people have positive feeling about lexus, maybe is just me who has bad luck
Now the car has 99k miles, if i keep it the warranty will be void. I can trade in for another rx350 2016 or audi q5 (same price /mileage both)
What do you guys recommend ? Keep this car (with hope that nothing major happens) or trade for new model and get rid of it ?

 

It appears to me that the folks who installed your replacement transmission may not have done a very good job and that it may need some adjustments. Either with software, or internally. Were the repairs done by a Lexus dealer?
Steering wheel rotation being harder has nothing to to with the transmission and could be many things with 100,000 miles on the vehicle. You are at the stage where maintenance and repairs will be more often and more expensive. All manufacturers have vehicles that are worse than normal with regard to repairs. Thus, maybe you should trade it for one of the newer ones you mentioned. I prefer the new Audi myself.

 

Is that the Jim Falk Beverly Hills Lexus. Please do yourself a favor and try another dealer. They have a BBB rating of F. https://www.bbb.org/losangelessilico...ls-ca-13052228
Based on my experiences there seems to be lots of shady stuff going on with that service department. Not sure where you are getting your reviews but I had a terrible experience and I let Lexus corporate know about what took place. Check it out below.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...-the-best.html