nelmo

Is it possibly just because you are getting used to the car? When I first got my RX, I was amazed by the refinement and smooth ride. Gradually, I've got so used to it, that I'm noticing more subtle noises and I've convinced myself a couple of times that something is loose/rattling. A solution is to drive a few lesser cars (I've been in a Transit for the last week) - makes my RX feel like a magic carpet again :)

Call me cynical but £1100 for worn bushes? Bushes are rubber protectors and cost about £20 - do they have to dismantle the car to get to them?! Water pump leaking? Have you noticed that you need to top up the coolant recently? Is it really leaking? Excuse my cynicism but 'Winter Health Check' sounds like 'Christmas Tips for Lexus Mechanics' - make up a few hard-to-check 'problems' and generate some work. If it's a non-Lexus warranty, you may have problems getting that paid out but hopefully all will be ok.

I tow 1600kg as well and it is fine. I also only get 19mpg towing, so its not great (my previous Hyundai Santa Fe did 23mpg towing) but the superior power makes towing simpler and the car overrall is far superior in terms of refinement. I wouldn't worry about the hybrid bit - I think I've only read of one person having a hybrid issue of all the 1000s out there (including Prius' s which have the same system). My car is on 110k miles and still going strong. And I can pull my van from standstill on the electric motors alone, which is a cool trick on site :)

Sorry, can't help but I can't believe the dealer couldn't either :-o. Surely they can plug in a diagnostic unit and sort it out?

You don't have to go to the expensive Parrot system - I had a simple bluetooth unit in my last car which clipped onto the visor. It only cost about £20 and worked really well and the battery lasted ages (although I didn't use it much). This is the one I had: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Speakerphone-Cancellation-Multipoint-Compatible-Blackberry-Black/dp/B004YHCZW6/ref=pd_sxp_grid_i_1_1

I've never heard of any car with that - the system is normally on the trailer/caravan itself, not the towing vehicle.

When I first started looking for an RX, I actually bid on a 2007 RX400h with 155k miles on it. I lost and it went for £6, 400 - ex-company car, lot of service history, just very high mileage... Depends how brave you are....I eventually bought mine with 100k miles (ex-company car, FSH) and 18 months later, I've added only 10k miles. Just went through the MOT with only an advisory that suspension bushes may need replacing next year. I paid £9k...

Brake drums?! On a Lexus?! Heaven forbid.... :-)

So car tax on the 2008 Rx400 is £225 .. my 2005 Rx400 is £255 ... mmm .... I might look for a newer one ... I imagine the 225 was just a typo :-)

The only one I know is http://www.tech-one.co.uk who are in Sidcup, SE London.

£800 is including the 100k service - that's what I was quoted by Lexus. I also went to an indy and got it done for £575.

well, if you consider £800 not expensive :O

Why mad? You're on a Lexus forum, what do you expect us to say? :-) At those motorway speeds, I average about 32mpg. Generally, I average 29. I'd imagine the newer 450 might be a bit better. Comfort is, IMO, the best part of the RX. Supremely quiet at all speeds although I have no idea what the Murano is like to compare. There are others to consider (Volvo XC90, BMW X5, Audi Q5 for example) but I'd be surprised if you'd get anything much better than an RX.

There is a cheaper option than the dealer (as always ) but I can't remember the link - have a search because it is in an older post. Yes, just put the new disk in and that's it...

High mileage RX450, IMO...

If I had a pound for every time I've heard that complaint about manufacturers economy figures... Manufacturers figures are done on a rolling road, so there is no air resistance, which is why the figures are always so much higher than real world. It may seem like a cheating way of quoting figures but, if you think about it, it's very good as it is the only way to compare cars. As long as they are all done on a rolling road, with set speeds, then if car A gets 25mpg and car B gets 45mpg, you can be sure that car B is more economical than car A. OK, you won't get the figures they say but at least you can get an idea. Economy is dependent on so many factors, it's rarely any point asking what other people get. If you were getting 25mpg in the 300, you'll probably get between 7-15 mpg more in the hybrid IMO.

I think it was from the early days when they were selling only a few cars and they had time to be more personal. I bought an IS200 in 1999 when they were brand new and I had amazing service - I got a stone caught in the brake disc once, for example, and I called the dealer. They got a mechanic to drive 30 miles to get me, in a LS400 (luxury at the time), which they gave me to continue my journey home, while they took my car back to the garage to be sorted out. At it's 3 year service, about a month after the warranty had run out, they replaced all 4 brake discs under warranty. Unfortunately, they are now a victim of their own success and have become just like any other large volume manufacturer, trying to squeeze out every drop of profit they can. 'Service' thus suffers... If you want that sort of service now, buy an Infiniti (Nissan's equivalent of Lexus) - they are at the point now that Lexus were 15 years ago - selling low volume, quality cars with a new service network trying to prove itself.

I would be worried about an 8 year old car that has only done 30k miles - means it's been sat around decomposing For a newer model to have a high mileage, that can only be caused by lots of motorway miles. Motorway miles are very good for a car - constant speed, no braking, no clutch wear, little gearbox wear etc. My last motorbike spent 80% of it's life on the motorway and I sold it in perfect running order with 96k miles on the clock in 7 years - that is a huge mileage for a bike. My 2007 RX had 103k miles on when I bought it a year ago and, touch wood, nothing has gone wrong. It was previously a company car, so did lots of motorway miles and had all it's services done. And I paid £9.5k for it (privately)

Thank - I'll give one of those a try...

I know you're new but are you reading the replies? Colin mentioned a sticker? And as I said, if the invoice was £500 for a full service, then the belt wasn't done - it would have been at least £1k otherwise...

Not sure how but I've picked up several very small scratches round the driver's door handle (I don't use the keys, so really don't understand how they've appeared). Is there something I can buy from Halfords to polish them out or do I need a proper dent-repair type bloke?

...but very useful for me as I live in Reigate and I need to get some scratches out...many thanks

Softer, maybe, but cooler? If anything, leather is too cold except on those rare occasions when we get some sun in this country. If you have (or plan to have) kids, keep the leather - MUCH easier to keep clean and you would not believe the mess kids make. I've seen the state of cloth seats in a friend's car - should be labelled as a health hazard :D

You should be able to tell by the cost of the invoice - a dealer will charge about £700 for a cambelt change, so if the invoice is for over £1k (assuming it had a normal service at the same time), that might suggest the belt was done. However, I would also expect it to be listed so I'd imagine it hasn't been done. When I called Lexus about my car, their records only showed the service done and no details - they are the ones who suggested by the price of the service that it had not been done, in my case.

I doubt I would ever buy a car from this (or any other) forum. Anyone who is interested enough in their cars to join and participate in a forum is always going to, IMO, over-estimate the value of their car and thus price it too high. I've seen this happen several times on a couple of motorbike forums I'm on... I bought my RX from a private seller who had the car for a year, knew little about it and just needed to cut down on his cars (he had 2 others already). Thus, I (think) I got a relative bargain. Enthusiasts may look after their cars more but they also know their true value better.