dncm1

I think there may be some misunderstanding about the basic science of the 400h. All the energy used in driving a hybrid is ultimately derived from running the petrol engine; that applies even when running on batteries only. The advantage of the hybrid set-up is that energy that in a conventional car would be lost (e.g. from over-running, coasting or regenerative braking) is "saved" for re-use; thereby making for a more efficient system. The energy management control in the 400h appears to be set up to store and reuse as much of this energy as possible, so that energy is being added to and taken out of the batteries for optimal efficiency. That's why under normal driving at say 40-50 on an A road, the energy monitor screen seems to show energy going in and out of the batteries in sometimes very short bursts. It also explains why you will very rarely see all bars on the battery capacity meter lit up, since that would imply that there is no more capacity for energy storage. Instead the energy management control constantly monitors the batteries and releases stored energy (by running the electric motor(s) simultaneously with the petrol motor if necessary) thereby to keep spare capacity for storage available at nearly all times. The drive train of the 400h is set up to utilise energy from the petrol and electric motors simultaneously when required, so that the work done by the petrol motor is augmented by the elecric motor in many situations. From this it follows that there is no particular advantage (apart from the Tesco car park fun) in trying to keep your 400h running on electric motor only. The energy used at that stage will have to be paid for at some later stage by running the petrol engine to replenish the batteries. (Don't forget that recharging the batteries by coasting down a long hill is paid for in getting the car to the top of the hill in the first place.) The name of the game in hybrid technology is energy efficiency, and I think the 400h makes a pretty good stab at it. In relative terms, these are still early days and no-doubt there will be significant improvements in the future. (I don't want to get involved in the discussion about road holding or drive comfort etc. My comments are solely concerned with the efficiency improvements of the 400h over its coventional equivalents.)

Last week I filled up with petrol in London and drove up to my home near Newmarket. A journey of about 70 miles - about halve on the M11 and most of the rest on good quality A roads, with the last 5 miles or so on country lanes. After filling up, I zeroed the mpg meter and was rather amazed to see that I averaged an indicated 35.6 mpg for the trip. Then I realised that the climate control was switched off so no a/c on. Today I did exactly the same journey, filled up at the same garage, and drove up under very similar conditions - except that I had the climate control (and a/c) on and the ambient temperature was about 5 deg C cooler. This time I averaged 32.0 mpg. Still not bad, but 10% worse than last week.

I'm not sure this answers the question, but I leave my old 4G ipod in the glove box connected to the vais and have my iphone bluetoothed in the usual way. Both work independently and completely normally. I just have to remember to take the ipod out of the car every now and again to keep it up to date by re-syncing with my itunes. I can connect the iphone directly to the vais and the iphone gives marginally better sound quality over the levinson sound system. However, I can't be bothered to keep connecting and disconnecting every time I use the car; it's much easier to leave the ipod in the glovebox and the iphone in my pocket.

I have a July 2007 SR, and confirm that mine has RS wipers. As far as I recall, the only things missing from the SR compared to the SE are a) powered tailgate, B) adaptive lighting, c) memory seats, d) motorised steering wheel movement, and e) sunroof. None of those things was a big deal for me and I've been very happy with my SR.

I've had my RX400h since last July (new) and have now done about 8000 miles. Like other owners I've found fuel economy to be dependent on the usual factors that affect other cars, like short/long journey, congestion, heavy foot etc, but also ambient temperature. During the winter I was getting 29/30 mpg overall. Now it's spring, it's going up to the 32 mark. I don't think any other 4x4 can get close to that and match the performance. I've also noticed that it's important to keep the tyres at the correct pressure. A drop of a one or two psi affects mpg disproportionately. I've had no battery problems. I was away for 6 weeks before Christmas and the car started without any problems. I've just returned from a 3 week trip, and again no problem; unlike my partner's Audi A4 cab - I had to give him a jump start from the Lexus!

Hi DVD's and whats playing on the iPod do not show up on the main screen. The iPod connector will play playlists and what is playing does show up on the LED display. I have a Lexus ipod connector. That's odd! I have a 2007 RX400h also with a Lexus ipod connector and what's playing shows up on the main screen. You can only play playlists, however, and subject to a maximum of 99 playslists and 99 tracks per playlist. Since that's nearly 10,000 tracks, it isn't really a limitation. Also, the display will only show a full list of all the playlists (or tracks within a playlist) when stationary - another nanny feature of the Lexus. When you play a DVD, it comes up on the main screen but you have to be stationary with the parking brake on. Otherwise you just get a graphic display of whats playing, with the soundtrack through the speakers.

The lights were set to auto. As I indicated in my earlier post, I didn't bother to take any special precautions to save the battery as I fully expected it to be flat on my return.

I have a 2007 spec RX400h bought last July. In October I left it at home and went off to Australia for six weeks. Having read this thread I confidently expected that the battery would be flat as a pancake on my return. I didn't bother to take any precautions (like turning the alarm or auto-lights off). When I got back, however, it started first turn. So, either I'm lucky, or Lexus have done something to the RX400h to solve this problem.