Trading Up To A Rx400H ?

[mcleish]

Hello Members,

My RX300 is out of extended warranty at the end of August and I am thinking of trading up to a 400h (about 4 years old with as little mileage as possible). I have the usual problem of whether to trade in or sell privately, either way, I will get stiffed !!! Can anyone give me a rough price on what my RX300 may be worth (trade in and private !). It is a September 2003 RX 300 SE with full touch screen sat nav, remote tail gate and reversing camera and 18 inch alloys. It has 85k on the clock and full main dealer history and is in very good condition outside and inside and is silver with oakham leather interior. I will not hold anyone to any advice which is given, all I am trying to do is to weigh up all my options. Cheers

[vadre]

I traded in my very similar RX300 but with 50k miles to Lexus Croydon in April for £9k. I had previously paid for a CAP valuation (Autotrader website) and the figure offered seemed fair. A couple of other dealers offered £1500 less!!!.

As a point of interest, Croydon had my RX300 on their website before I had even gone up there to do the deal, having previously agrred in principle on the phone.

They sold it for around £13k within a week!!!

[Cyclone]

I've not long sold my RX300 with similar spec to yours but in excellent condition for £8k.........and really wish I hadn't now.

The market for the RX300 and other similar 4x4 petrols is very, very slow, if you check Autotrader there are plenty for sale and have been for a while.

My regret is that my wife hasn't been able to find anything to replace it, so we are now looking for another RX300!! This is good news because I absolutely loved our RX but bad news in that trying to find another good example is tough going.

Out of interest when we enquired with our local Lexus Dealer we were offered £7k against a £20k RX400h, I think it depends a little on the price of the car you are looking to purchase as too how much they'll value your car.

If you decide to sell privately then let me know further details of your car.

Regs

Jules.

[Gavin71]

I've not long sold my RX300 with similar spec to yours but in excellent condition for £8k.........and really wish I hadn't now.

The market for the RX300 and other similar 4x4 petrols is very, very slow, if you check Autotrader there are plenty for sale and have been for a while.

My regret is that my wife hasn't been able to find anything to replace it, so we are now looking for another RX300!! This is good news because I absolutely loved our RX but bad news in that trying to find another good example is tough going.

Out of interest when we enquired with our local Lexus Dealer we were offered £7k against a £20k RX400h, I think it depends a little on the price of the car you are looking to purchase as too how much they'll value your car.

If you decide to sell privately then let me know further details of your car.

Regs

Jules.

We almost did the same - but having spent 3 months looking for something new my wife decided to keep the RX and get it converted to LPG. Most we got offered on a 03 SEL with 80k was £9k, average was £8k and some idiots offering <£5k (seems that they thought 03 meant Mk1)

[mcleish]

I've not long sold my RX300 with similar spec to yours but in excellent condition for £8k.........and really wish I hadn't now.

The market for the RX300 and other similar 4x4 petrols is very, very slow, if you check Autotrader there are plenty for sale and have been for a while.

My regret is that my wife hasn't been able to find anything to replace it, so we are now looking for another RX300!! This is good news because I absolutely loved our RX but bad news in that trying to find another good example is tough going.

Out of interest when we enquired with our local Lexus Dealer we were offered £7k against a £20k RX400h, I think it depends a little on the price of the car you are looking to purchase as too how much they'll value your car.

If you decide to sell privately then let me know further details of your car.

Regs

Jules.

We almost did the same - but having spent 3 months looking for something new my wife decided to keep the RX and get it converted to LPG. Most we got offered on a 03 SEL with 80k was £9k, average was £8k and some idiots offering <£5k (seems that they thought 03 meant Mk1)

Thanks very much for the useful feedback, still deciding what to do !!!! Oh, by the way "We Buy Any Car" qouted £6k for my pride and joy !!!! I think I will start my own company called " I Will Buy Any Car" and offer stupid prices like that !!!!

[ihpj]

I wouldn't neccedssarily view going to a 400h as an 'upgrade' - I rate the all petrol version of the RX higher than the hybrid for many reasons. Many people assume the Hybrid will be better, I would extensively test drive one and then a 350.

You might be surprised!

[mcleish]

I wouldn't neccedssarily view going to a 400h as an 'upgrade' - I rate the all petrol version of the RX higher than the hybrid for many reasons. Many people assume the Hybrid will be better, I would extensively test drive one and then a 350.

You might be surprised!

That's interesting, I have never even considered the 350, as I thought it was just a sort of quick update from Lexus so that they had something more up to date on the market whilst they developed the 400h. I thought that the 350 would be less economical to the 300 !! I will do a bit of research and possibly test drive one, but I assumed that there would be not much difference between the 300 and 350, it's just the engine that is different is'nt it ?...Cheers

[ihpj]

I think the 350 is the logical evolution for the RX.

The 3L V6 always felt stressed to me in most conditions. It is a good engine, but one that was never suited to RX in the first place. The 3.5L V6 however is better suited to hauling the RX and offers better MPG, smoother power delivery and better torque delivery making it for a more relaxed drive. However, the thing to watch out for with the 350 is that any 350 sits in the highest RFL tax band, while the 300 is capped at the lower rate.

There are other considerations, make sure you ask all questions and look very closely at both vehicles.

[steve haley]

I think the 350 is the logical evolution for the RX.

The 3L V6 always felt stressed to me in most conditions. It is a good engine, but one that was never suited to RX in the first place. The 3.5L V6 however is better suited to hauling the RX and offers better MPG, smoother power delivery and better torque delivery making it for a more relaxed drive. However, the thing to watch out for with the 350 is that any 350 sits in the highest RFL tax band, while the 300 is capped at the lower rate.

There are other considerations, make sure you ask all questions and look very closely at both vehicles.

I bought a 6mth old 350 SEL for a song 18mths ago and have been very happy with it. Far nicer handling/steering and ride than the 400H IMHO. I had tested the 300 several years previously and the 350 is way more responsive with power to spare. I always felt that the 300 was slightly underpowered but have nevery felt that the 350 was lacking. Goes up a 10k 1:10 hill in Switzerland better than anything else I have ever had! I get arround 23-28 from it so the 8k diff on purchase price should cover the diff in mpg for a few years yet.

Has a better Sat Nav screen as well.

rgds

Stephen

[ihpj]

I bought a 6mth old 350 SEL for a song 18mths ago and have been very happy with it. Far nicer handling/steering and ride than the 400H IMHO. I had tested the 300 several years previously and the 350 is way more responsive with power to spare. I always felt that the 300 was slightly underpowered but have nevery felt that the 350 was lacking. Goes up a 10k 1:10 hill in Switzerland better than anything else I have ever had! I get arround 23-28 from it so the 8k diff on purchase price should cover the diff in mpg for a few years yet.

Has a better Sat Nav screen as well.

rgds

Stephen

I would agree with that, the 350 is a very good car and without the added wieght of the Hybrid dive system handles better too ;)

[mcleish]

I bought a 6mth old 350 SEL for a song 18mths ago and have been very happy with it. Far nicer handling/steering and ride than the 400H IMHO. I had tested the 300 several years previously and the 350 is way more responsive with power to spare. I always felt that the 300 was slightly underpowered but have nevery felt that the 350 was lacking. Goes up a 10k 1:10 hill in Switzerland better than anything else I have ever had! I get arround 23-28 from it so the 8k diff on purchase price should cover the diff in mpg for a few years yet.

Has a better Sat Nav screen as well.

rgds

Stephen

I would agree with that, the 350 is a very good car and without the added wieght of the Hybrid dive system handles better too ;)

Thanks for the feedback, when (if) I change, I think you have all convinced me that the 350 is the best option. Cheers

[BGLister]

I'll throw my 2p worth in then.

I have owned Rx300, 350 and now a 400h. I have enjoyed each car, but I would say that the 350 and 400h both represent a marked improvement over the 300 in more ways than pure fuel economy.

I traded the 300 in for a 350 and noticed a significant difference in performance with the 350 being very quick off the mark, more confidence inspiring in overtaking, all round better refinement, and perhaps a slight imrpovment in fuel economy. I had each car for around 15 months.

I wanted to replace the 350 with another 350 when there were deals offered on the run out model. However, I was offered a surprisingly good deal on a 400h instead for much the same money. My family is no stranger to the 400h with my uncle already having owned two of them. I was persuaded by the dealer to test drive a 400h and see if I could really live with it.

On balance the 350 and 400h are both fine cars, but with slightly different focal points. I think that if you were doing alot of motorway miles, the 350 would deliver pleasing fuel economy (for a 3.5 litre), with great performance. However, I live in West Yorkshire, and alot of petrol goes down the tail pipe from climbing hills, and bills roll in for wearing out brakes. I can say hand on heart that the 400h has been a really good all round vehicle with significanly lower running costs. I have averaged 31.1 mpg from new, with a bias towards round town driving and the occasional 150-200 mile motorway round trip. In comparison the 350 would have given me more like 25-26 mph, and much high road tax of course. In real terms, I got usually 250-260 miles on a full tank with the 350 with a best ever of 300 miles whilst driving in Holland (flat!). By contrast, the 400h gives me 360 miles with a best ever of 400 miles from brim to brim.

The RX350 has full time all wheel drive and the RX400h part time by virture of being front drive with auxilliary support from the rear when necessary, This kicks in when moving from stand still, accelerating hard or in slippery conditions. Although the 400h gets some criticisim for carrying the weight of batteries, it has no prop shaft to contend with. Handling wise, I prefer that of the 400h which has a more even distribution from front to back. (The RX350 did try to kill me once when I hit ice on a bend at 50 mph and did a 180 degree spin!). In terms of off road performance, the 350 was disappointing and very nearly got me stuck in mud once despite being a full 4WD (though not designed as a focused off roader of course). With the 400h, I have had no cause to take it off road, but in the last winter, it was superb at tackling deep snow (12") and snowy/icy hills. It was quite sure footed setting off on slippery conditions, but putting good traction down courtesty of the torque coming from the motors at low road speeds. In fact, it was practically impossible to wheel spin it.

So on balance?

The 350 is great, but will cost more to run than a 400h in terms of petrol, brakes and RFL. I would also say that it will depreciate more than a 400h as it will not be as desirable to as many used car customers as the hybrid. That helps it become better value for money if you get a good deal, that can help off set the extra running costs.

The 400h is also good, but the smooth power transition through its CVT transmission will have you smiling that it can deliver rapid acceleration, but incredibly smoothly, and surprise and shame other cars out there, whilst keeping the fuel bills in check. This may be even more of a factor in the future with expectations for increased petrol costs in the future, as well as the 20% VAT rate.

The choice is yours, but the 400h delivers (for me) the better proposition, confirmed after enduring experience of all the RX range as an owner.