FredD

I never drove the rx 400h but I bought two months ago a 450h premier and i must say that I am very pleased with this car, I really love it. I used to have performance cars (BMW and more recently Porsche) and I can see the philosophy of driving a Lexus hybrid. Driving in eco mode is a pleasure. Of course it is not as powerful as a Porsche or BMW but that is not its purpose

just to confirm, after a week the car is superb and I will highly recommend the RX450h. I think I now understand the Lexus philosophy.

I do not think it should be an issue naming people as long as this is in the context of a positive feedback. Lexus Hedge End has done a fantastic job in getting the right car for me and more importantly in preparing it to the highest standard. The 2009 Lexus RX450 Premier I bought from them (without seeing it - I bought it on the internet) is like brand new. When I took delivery there was not one scratch or one mark on it (I am very fussy) and they did everything I asked them over the phone. It is not the cheapest car but the level of service by this dealer is superb and I do not mind paying a bit more money if the service I get is outstanding, which clearly was the case here. The sales person who dealt with me was Jon, great guy and I can highly recommend him. It is a pity they are far away from me (I live in London) because I would have my car serviced there if I could. So in conclusion it was a great experience. I can highly recommend this dealer and Jon in particular.

Thanks I think it is helpful if people share their good experience about their dealers it helps choose the ones that are very good

I took delivery this morning of a 2009 RX 450h Premier from Lexus Hedge End and I would like to share the very good experience I had with this dealer. The car is superb it has only 8.5K miles and has been very nicely prepared by Lexus Hedge End. I can be very demanding and this dealer has met all my expectations.

I will finally take delivery of my RX 450H Premier 2009 on Saturday this week from a Lexus dealer. Is there anything specifically I need to check ? A recent post indicates that the alloys need to be checked carefully for corrosion. Is there anything else I need to check ? Also how many keys the car should have ? Thank you

Thank you for the responses - the Lexus dealer has confirmed to me that this will not affect the warranty (when I take delivery of the car it will have a 1 year Lexus warranty) nor any extension of the Lexus warranty.

I found a nice RX450h Premium 2009 with only 9000 miles that is being sold by a Lexus dealer but the only problem is that the car has never been serviced as apparently the previous owner only services his cars before they reach 10,000 miles. The Lexus dealer proposes to do a full service of the car before delivery. I think this should be OK but is there anything I should be concerned about ?

I have read the various posts about the issue with the battery on the RX 400H (ie that if the car is not used for a week or so the battery is flat and needs to changed) but does this problem occur also on the RX450h ? How long can the RX 450 remain unused before any problem with the battery appears ? I am asking this question because I am generally away for work for 3 weeks in a row or so a few times a year so I would like to know if there are any issue that I may have to deal with. This is a great forum. Thank you

Yes before I bought the car I had a few telephone conversations and exchange of e-mail with the dealer. In my e-mail I specifically asked the salesman to confirm that the car had not scratch inside and outside something that he did confirm in writing. I was therefore not happy today to see the car full of scratches which clearly means that the car has not been prepared up to the Lexus required standard.

I am absolutely gutted, I bought last week without seeing it a nearly three years old Lexus 450 SE-L Premier from a Lexus dealer and the car was delivered to me today at lunchtime with a lot of scratches including a deep scratch on the rear bumper that will probably require the bumper to be resprayed. The plastic support of the front plate number was also broken. I was not happy and therefore I formally refused to take delivery of the car. I suspect that all these issues could be easily sorted (it seems to me that apart from the scratch on the bumper most of the scratches could be polished off) but I have no longer any confidence in this dealer. To be fair to the dealer they said that they were happy to fix all those faults but I said no. If they thought that it was good enough to deliver to me a car full of scratches I am concerned about their preparartion of the mechanical parts. I bought in the past several used cars (Porsche, BMW) without having seen them first and it is the first time I had this problem. Hopefully the dealer will fully refund me (I have paid them the full price before delivery).

Thanks, I bought today a RX 450 H SE-L Premier from a Lexus dealer. What is confusing is the Lexus comparison tool on Lexus website. Last night I compared various 450H SE-L Premier on Lexus website but a few came different specs.

Thanks - it seems that some RX450 SE-L Premier have a head up display and others do not. Is the head up display a must have for a vehicle of this category ?

Good afternoon everyone What are the differences of the Lexus 450 SE-L Premier with the Lexus 450 SE-L. Also is buying a 450 SE-L worth the premium compared to the RX 450 SE-I ? I am sorry to ask those questions but the various equipmnents on the RX 450 are so confusing.

Sorry you are right the second service was at 8500 miles (and not 85000 miles). My point is that if someone is happy to skip a service to save a few hundreds pounds it does not give me confidence that the car has been well looked after (even if the car has been driven only a few thousands miles). I admit my comment may be a bit unfair though.

(spot the mistake) It wouldnt have bothered me. Oil is in the ground for millions of years, so another year in your car wont make much of a difference. Actually, joking aside, why not just ask them to do the major service as a bargaining tool before you buy it? Especially if it was a good price.

I went to see a 2007 RX400h with only 9000 miles at a Lexus dealer yesterday however I got very cold feet when I saw that one service in the service book was missing. The car had basically the first year service (at around 4000 miles - this was a minor service) and the third year service (85000 miles - this was another minor service) but the car never had a second year service and never had a major service. The Lexus dealer said that this should not be a problem given the low mileage of the car. I am not familiar with Lexus but I know that for BMW and Porsche brands an annual service missing could seriously affect the resale value of the car. I take the view that there are a lot of good RX400h in the market with complete service books and therefore let this one go. Am I right or not ? Thank you.

Thanks JBP - this is indeed a very good fuel consumption considering the size of the car and the engine. Regarding my second question, I found out that the Limited Edition is slightly less equipped than the SE model although the difference of equipment is not significant.

Hi Fred, i have had 3 lexus's now and think they are outstanding, i bought my 2006 RX400H SE-L back in march, it was up for £25,995 with 27k on clock 1 owner, the price wasn't negotiable, but they always have a margin, i managed to get it for £22,500 full tank fuel, bumper protector, boot liner,touch up paint, free delivery to lowestoft suffolk as i bought it from lexus Hatfield, oh and free baseball cap for my boy so if you dont ask you dont get, always plenty more out there. I generally get 33/34 mpg out of mine and have seen 38 on a run so not bad for 3.3 petrol. Not sure on the differences between the two models you listed sorry, but hopefully some help to you. All best Phil Thanks Phil - this is very helpful. Fred

I am about to change my petrol bmw 530 SE (2004 model) for a Lexus 400h. I do not know Lexus very well and would be extremely grateful if someone could help me with the following 3 questions: 1. Reading this forum, it does not seem that the fuel consumption on the Lexus is very good (it is not good either on the BMW 3 litres petrol engine). I am sure a number of people have done what I am about to do (ie swap a BMW for a Lexus) but if so is there a big difference in terms of fuel consumption ? 2. Using the Lexus search engine, I have shortlisted 2 models - a SE model (2008) and a Limited Edition model (2009). What are the difference between these two models ? Has the 2009 model changed compared to the 2008 version ? 3. On their website, some Lexus dealers indicate that they are happy to negotiate the price. What generally can be negotiated ? 1 to 5 % ? Thank you very much for your help. Fred