Just received a postcard reminding me the 5k/6-month service. But I only have 1,800 miles on my RX. I think Lexus pays the first two services. Can I wait till 5k miles, or do I have to go there at 6-month?

These "FREE" oil changes always end-up being expensive! Most dealers that offer this use the cheapest oil they can find and often it's not even synthetic. (even if they do a change)OK if you change your car every 2 yrs, but if kept longer it begins to break down.
I rather pay for it and know what's going inside the engine, a lot cheaper to buy good oil and filter than to repair.

You can skip the 5k, 6 month service if you don't want any "dealer only" customized settings changed. You will need to go at 12 months, if you don't hit 10k miles, in order to get the free oil change. Oil changes are 10k miles, OR 12 months. Which ever comes first.

If I travel less than the normal mileage (car is 18 mths. old and have 7,000 miles), do I need to service my vehicle every 6 mths? Dealership says to change the oil once a year and rotate tires every 5,000 miles. I had oil changed and tires rotated in Feb. and do not think I need maintenance in Sept. as shown on sticker.

It's what I would call preventative maintenance... Some would say it's not necessary and you're wasting your money to get it changed too early, and being wasteful with oil as well. If it were me I would go with the mileage and no time frame... I've also been told that my tires need to be rotated every 5,000 miles from Discount. I however do mine every other oil change... I also don't drive much either. Now if it was me... I would go by the mileage and not the time.

I'll be following this thread to see what others think.

That probably works if your climate is consistent and driving on roads. For those that the live in climates that fluctuate and or have winter, live or travel down dusty roads, lots of stop and go, short trips, time and mileage would have to be considered.

Basically agreeing that it should be based on usage not timing.

While you guys most likely know what you are talking about, I firmly believe in preventative maintenance.
I am low mileage driver, and always take my Lexus cars in every 6 months no matter mileage.
I always get the Prepaid Maintenance so it would be waste to not take it in every 6 months.

Nice piece of mind and I love going to the dealer for the warm and fuzzies.

With the lower mileage you put on your vehicle, oil changes at once a year and tires rotate every 5k should be good.

I see the owner’s manual says to: “Replace the engine oil and filter every 12 months or 10,000 miles, or when the oil maintenance reminder appears, whichever comes first.”
I understand how the car can monitor the months and miles, but what about the "3rd option"?
What are the parameters that would cause the "oil maintenance reminder" to appear sooner, and how would the system know?

Most likely an algorithm that stores all the engine parameters and other environmental factors like temp, humidity and such. For example, short trips in the winter without the engine getting completely warmed up would most likely trigger this alert over time.When certain criteria are met, on comes the light.

Unlike the German cars which tend to be over-engineered at times, I'm not convinced our RXs have such sophisticated oil management monitors in them.

My guess is that the maintenance minder is just a value entered by the dealer based on how often they think you should come in for an oil change. For example, here in Canada, while it says 1 yr or 16,000km (roughly 10k miles) in the manual as well, I believe there is a section in there for "Severe" Maintenance schedules, which all dealers love to set for our Canadian cars. That means every 6 months/8,000 km (5,000 miles), the oil change reminder will pop up.

The reminder intervals can be manually changed in the Maintenance settings on the Nav screen.

I think it's merely based on 10,000 miles and not sure if it tracks months. The odometer has a setting you can view that counts down the miles to the next change and it resets at 10K each time.

It's very simple, no smart technology there, just the value put in by the dealer at the last service. You can go into the screen too and change it if you want through one of the Menu items - "Set Up" I think it is.

I didnt know you could change that - good to know. I use the trip odo B to track when im due for an oil change. Im doing it it roughly every 7,500 miles.