I was planning to buy a 350RX before year end. Thinking used.Certified or new. I had only been looking at fairly loaded cars. Now I've started to think that maybe a loaded car is not such a big deal. Recently read that non-leather seats last longer and look better long-term. What's up with that?

I want the smaller wheels for the smoother ride, which is important to me. Looks of the wheels is not important. I also read that navigation is sub-par on this car and I have a love affair with my Garmin lady. Should I be thinking of a car without leather and fancy screen. Looks like I could save $5k or so new and a little less used.

My main question is regarding leather vs. (vinyl?) seats.

 

I know other user might not agree with me. I personally got a base model and here is why. First, I live in Florida and there is no need for sunroof as we don't open any windows & sunroof. We use A/C all year long. Second, I have use the car navigation for 2 days on a loaner 2017 RX350 and I hate it. Therefore I opt out the navigation. Lastly, I have a 3 year old and I don't want any expensive leather seat ruined, and therefore I just got the basic seat.

 

I agree with your assessment. I had one of the first cars with sunroof, Mercedes, and found that it was a novelty that soon wore off. Don't need it so why pay for it. I love my Garmin lady and I have learned to trust her. Wondering how the plastic seats feel and wear. I need to go look but unfortunately no dealers nearby, hence I want to learn as much as possible here before going to dealer. Thank you for your input.

 

We've found that highly optioned vehicles are much more satisfying over the long term than basic ones and allow us to keep vehicles longer without feeling the need to move on to others.

I'll take real leather over sticky vinyl upholstery any day. I don't care what Toyota/Lexus wants to call their supposedly leather like vinyl - it's uncomfortable crap.

 

When we bought the RXs we were looking for features such as the HUD and 360 camera which only come on the fully loaded models in Canada. There is not much price difference between a used base and a used fully loaded, even though the loaded ones are much more expensive when new.

Finding a good deal on a good condition used car takes a bit of work. We were shopping for a couple months looking at different crossovers before we happened to find a good deal on a good used RX.

 

Its all about YOUR needs/wants/$value-to-you/practicality-to-you. But from my perspective - got the luxury model (pretty much fully loaded). Just a wife and no kids or dogs to mess it up. LOVE ALMOST ALL EXTRA FEATURES. You will find people who hate them and they are not wrong as they know what they like and don't like. LOVE the ML stereo. Really sounds good TO ME. Love the panoramic roof. Example- Drove through Zion national park and while going through switchbacks slowly being able to look all around and up was AWESOME. Didn't know it, but it turns out i actually NEEDED the parking sensors since i have a "narrow" single width garage door. Also love the 360 camera when backing up and parking. I like the leather seats but i can't compare to others since i don't have them. The navigation can be frustrating at times but id rather have than not because of its convenience just being readily available. Sometimes i just want to see the surrounding streets and hit the map button quickly and voila its there. On the other side I drove a Honda CRV for 20 years and was very happy. It fit me then, this fits me now.

 

I"m with you. I love my fully loaded RX.
And just in case you see the picture of my cars, they are out dated. My current Rx is a 16, Caviar, with black interior.

 

I didn't want a loaded car, no sunroof, no nav. Wife HAD to have Matador Red, so that narrowed the choices down. Found one without nav but did have the sunroof. I've never opened it and have the shade pulled closed so I don't even realize I have it!
It also came with the Premium pkge and blind spot monitor etc. and a few other things, so I'm satisfied.

 

I totally agree with your opinion. We looked for several months before we finally found a 2018 RX that had the high-end options we wanted: 1) Noble brown interior, 2) Panoramic sunroof; 3) HUD, and 4) the Mark Levinson sound system. The color happens to be Atomic Silver, which was a plus. The salesman said he had never before seen Atomic Silver with the Noble Brown interior. We're very pleased with this RX, and it's a wonderful drive on long trips.

We once owned a 2010 RX that had almost no options. It was a very boring vehicle to drive--kind of like a base-model Corolla. It didn't last long.

 

We have an RX with the real leather and an ES FSport with NuLuxe. I actually prefer the NuLuxe hands down.

 

I love my leather seats and hate to clean the door arm rest/handle and the middle arm rest covered in nuluxe, they don't clean easily and I find them sticky when driving under the sun.

 

I generally like leather as well but the leather in our RX is just not wearing well at all - driver seat in particular. NuLuxe - not a mark yet and I use Adams to clean all the surfaces. No stickiness whatsoever.

 

Interesting nuluxe vs. leather. I'm torrn at this point. My guess is that Nuluxe is only available on stripped cars and once options are added they all have leather. I'll just have to make a tirip to a dealer and check it out. Dealer is 1.5 hours away so I try to do as much research online as possible.

 

If I had choice, I would pick cloth seats any day. I am not a fan of Lexus Navigation system either. But I had to get it to get the 12" display...

 

I had a base RX as a loaner once...it just didn’t feel like a Lexus. I hated the **** interface (no nav) more than Remote Touch and it was missing important stuff like Blind Spot Monitoring, Park Assist, and ventilated seats (Premium package). The vinyl Lexus uses is nicer than others I have felt (I.e., BMW and Mercedes) but I still prefer real leather. Regarding the navigation system, there is a thread of members adding Apple CarPlay, which makes the system a million times more useful. Google maps or Waze would probably provide better directions than Garmin systems.

I don’t understand the point of base model luxury cars since you can get a fully loaded non-luxury car for a similar price and it’ll feel more luxurious.