lfoggy

just don't drop the screw into the bowels of the car as it will rattle forever and the cost of recovering it will be much more than the saving you will be making by installing the unit yourself! I dropped one of the dreaded screws when fitting my VAIS iPod thingy and fotunately it is not rattling at all.....

I had a similar problem which turned out to be due to the 12 v car battery failing. Don't ask me how this affected the central locking but it did....

I've got a rx400h and also prefer the 24hr format. Unfortunstely I dont think this is possible however.......

yes, they fold completely flat.

There is no point in comparing diesel and petrol powered cars by comparing the fuel consumption in miles per gallon. Petrol contains nearly 20% less energy per unit volume than diesel. It is a less dense fuel and contains less carbon and less chemical energy per unit volume. Similarly a litre volume of coal contains far more energy and a litre volume of methane far less energy than a litre of petrol. A somewhat more meaningful comparison is the carbon emissions in g/km but expressing efficiency in terms of distance travelled per joule of thermal energy is the most logical (although rarely done). It is a failure to recognise this fact that has given diesel powered vehicles an enhanced reputation for efficiency compared to petrol vehicles over the years. The true thermal efficency of diesel engines is ony a few percent better than petrol engines at best. The cost or running a diesel vs petrol car has more to do with the local pricing of the fuels than anything else. In the UK the tax reflects the carbon content of the fuel but on the continent this is generally not the case. This has led to a huge drive by European manufacturers to develop diesel engines. In America and Japan there has been no such pressure and petrol is still the dominant fuel. Finally, diesel engines are favoured by truck and taxi manufacturers more for their reliability and longevity than thermal efficiency. Personally I prefer the driving characteristics of petrol engines and Toyota make very refined engines indeed.....

One weakness of diesel engines, particularly large ones, is that they take quite a while to warm up and until they are up to temperature the fuel consumption is high. A 3 litre Audi A6 for example takes about 5 miles of driving before the temperature gauge stabilises. If you use a diesel for frequent short trips you may be disappointed by the consumption. Petrol engines warm up much more quickly and operate at maximum efficiency almost from the moment you drive away.

This debate about handling, traction and AWD vs FWD is completely irrelevant to me and, I suspect 99% of other drivers.......

I've had my RX400h for over a year now and I still love it - it's comortable, quick and economical. Great family car too.

My RX400h was completely rattle free until recently when I started getting a loud intermittent ticking from the passenger seat area. The cause was the map pocket on the back of the front passenger seat. The pocket consists of a flap pulled up against the seat with some elastic straps. My children had so overstuffed this pocket with books and DVDs that the elastic had become permanently stretched so when empty the flap was no longer pulled up tight against the seat back. A little bluetac where the flap meets the seat sorted this. The only other noise I get is when driving away on a very cold day. As the interior warms up there is the odd tick and click from the dash area. P.S. most noises I get in my car can be traced to toys, DVDs and other assorted bits of child paraphernalia rattling in the back of the car!

I had the same problem with the seat on mine after only a few thousand miles from new. Lexus Birmingham replaced this under warranty without any fuss and the new seat is still fine 12K later. This is a problem I have heard about more then once on this forum and elsewhere.

Welcome !

Welcome to the RX400h. There are some unusual noises associated with the hybrid system due to the electric motors. These are most noticeable when pulling away or coming to a stop and sound like a turbine-like whine a bit like an old electric milk-float. I definitely wouldn't describe them as a rumble however...that sounds like something more mechanical. Have you asked you dealer ? I initially found the electric rear door a bit slow as well but I've gotten used to it and now find it indispensable. You open the door with the key as you approach the car and shut it with the button on the door after loading/unloading. True, you can't lock the car until the tailgate is closed which is not ideal. Enjoy !

I've had my RX400h for 14 months now and never had a problem even after leaving it unsused for up to a week. Clearly this problem doesn't affect all cars....

Interesting. On warm days I like to switch the climate control off and have the windows and sunroof open but apparently that's even worse for fuel economy because of the increased drag.....

That's very useful information Ian-Leeds. Of >200 Cds I've tried in my RX400h I've only found 1 that displayed the text. Most of my CDs are classical music so maybe that's why they are behind the times. Since my original post I have therefore abandoned CDs completely and moved to an iPod connected via a VAIS iPod interface. This is superb as you get access to the entire contents of the iPod including the text. I can now choose from hundreds of albums which are easily selected from the screen. Highly recommended....

On my 07 RX400h the voice commands let you access some features of the sat nav system, the audio system, the climate control and the telephone. I don't think you can enter specific destinations except 'home' and pre-programmed 'quick acess' destinations. One really useful sat-nav command is 'nearest petrol station' which will set your destination as the nearest known petrol station. The other voice commands I use most are the ones that allow you to make calls - very useful. If you record a voice tag with stored numbers you can then call that number using a voice command. I have a full list of the commands which I will happily email to you if you wish. It will give you an idea of what the sytem can and can't do.

The electric motors driving the real wheels operate when driving at low speed and if the front wheels spin. Driving over wet grass and light mud etc is no problem. It's not a Discovery though, nor is it comparable to a performance saloon. Its just a large and very smooth and comfortable family car with plenty of straight line performance for overtaking and better than average economy. When I bought mine I tested the Range Rover Sport and a few large German estates. I preferred the RX......

Welcome ! I'm sure you will enjoy your RX400h...its a lovely comfortable drive with more than enough performance and good fuel economy for a car of this size. Regarding fuel consumption you will soon notice that when driven on motorways at a constant speed the consumption is no different from a non-hybrid large petrol engined car. On A roads and in urban traffic however the regenerative braking and electric motors come into play and its much better then equivalent non-hybrids. My driving is around 25% motorways and the rest slow A and B roads and urban Birmingham and I am getting about 33mpg in the summer and slightly less in the winter due to the heaters and other electric things being on. Its quite fun to try and drive very economically by maximising the regenerative braking, i.e. anticipating having to stop at lights etc well in advance and taking your foot off the accelerator in good time. Also fun to forget economy and floor it to experience the 269bhp although the torque-steer can be intrusive when accelerating flat out. By the way, when your mates tell you it gets less MPG than a similar diesel, make sure you remind them of the performance and the fact that petrol contains about 18% less carbon (and hence chemical energy) per litre than diesel fuel…. My only tips would be to consider getting the VAIS ipod integration kit – I’ve just fitted one to my RX. Its cheaper than the Lexus option and is a great gadget. Also beware of pedestrians when runnning on bettery power only...they are often completly unaware of your presence. Hope you enjoy your new car!

You can bypass the motion lock by fitting a switch which interrupts the speed input to the satnav unit. This has been well described on the forum and works. Probably also much safer than fiddling with the programming of the unit itself for reasons that have been well illustrated by the post referred to by gibbo32 ! Before you do anything I would give it a few months. You may find that, like I did, you get used to the standard system.....

Sounds like you've tried everything possible to reset the unit already. I still can't believe you could have damaged the electronics just by pressing buttons though...

Have you tried disconnecting the whole unit from the power supply ? Maybe that would reset it to default factory settings. Another thought is maybe there is a 'reset button' somewhere on the unit that resets everything to default settings. On some aftermarket satnavs this is a switch behind a small hole in the side of the unit that is pushed with a paperclip......

You can easily override the lockout feature and instructions for how to do this have been posted on the forum before. It involves gaining access the wiring behind the radio unit and fitting a simple switch to interrupt one of the inputs. When the circuit is interrupted the nav system thinks the car is stationary and all the features are enabled. It does however also mean that during that time your position is not being monitored. I can't tell from the TOMS website how their system works. If it fools the nav system into everriding the lockout while still allowing the system to monitor your position then that would be an advantage. I don't know how to attach a pdf file to this post so try searching the forum for the thread or I will gladly send you the instructions if you email me. If you are having someone fit the VAIS iPod gadget then adding the override would be very easy.... Best of luck !

I'm very tempted. Installation looks easy enough to do yourself. Anyone know how to gain access to the plugs at the back of the radio unit on a RX400h ?

If you are speeding in a 30mph residential area you are the scumbag and deserve to be caught........

Unfortunately I think the answer to that one is no. I found out the hard way when I left my car parked in Birmingham having pressed the 'close rear door' button on the key followed by the 'lock' button. When I returned to the car the car some Brummy had helped themselves to the contents of my glove compartment - that's when I found out that the lock button does not lwork untill the rear door is fully closed. It would be so easy for Lexus to fix this.....