nelmo

Yup, a total rip-off BUT if you want an extended warranty, the Lexus one will be much better than a 3rd-party company - less exclusions etc. However, that's why it costs so much... Personally, I'd save the cash - I've not had to pay that much for a car repair/breakdown in 27 years of driving

It's a Lexus dealer - if you can afford a 2012 RX, they assume you will happily pay £1k for a towbar. The one at the local place will be identical but they don't have the luxury of a captive and well-heeled market, hence the 'proper' price. I'm surprised the dealer didn't give you some flannel about them knowing the car better and where best to wire the connections etc, etc. It doesn't 'need' to be detachable - purely an aesthetic thing. Mine is detachable, apart from the fact that the previous owner lost the key. I could order another one but I'm not sure I'd even bother taking it off...

I did get the phone to sort of work - it came up with the phonebook but didn't seem to recognise any of the names. However, not helped by the presence of my young kids who found it hysterically funny to shout random words at it, at the same time - it seems 'poo-bottom' is not a valid command :P :megaangry:

Ah, not heard of anyone who's actually had a problem with the inverter - can you elaborate? Aye basically I bought an RX400h with a buggered inverter. Presumably, the car was OK when you bought it - what are the symptoms of an inverter getting 'buggered'? Did it just stop one day? Had it had the inverter recall work done? What mileage was the car on? Details man, details.... :)

Ah, not heard of anyone who's actually had a problem with the inverter - can you elaborate?

Bought mine with 102k miles on the clock and not had a problem since (just under a year ago). I had the cambelt done at an independent Lexus specialist - charged me £375 but didn't do the tensioner (he said it wasn't necessary). Never heard the water pump mentioned before, although I'm sure if I'd gone to the dealer, I would have... Turning out to be the best car I've owned in 27 years and 6 different manufacturers...

I had a brief play with this yesterday and I can't get it to work very well (and there's almost nothing in the manual about it)... On the radio, it seemed to understand 'FM1' but it actually switched to the station saved in position 2. Saying 'FM3' played position 3 but I'm not sure if that was just a fluke... Also, couldn't get the phone options to work at all - the help shows 'Dial + name' as the command to use but it never seemed to understand me. Is that all I have to say, "DIAL FRED" (phone was connected with Bluetooth and FRED is in my car phonebook)? I tried CALL and PHONE but neither worked... Anyone use it more often and can help?

But shouldn't it be more accurate? The ECU should know EXACTLY how much fuel is going into the engine as it controls the injectors and the odometer must be right, so the calculation should be spot-on. Or does the computer calculate it another way? Surely us trying to fill the tank to exactly the same point every time is much more likely to be prone to error?

I always wondered what that button on the steering wheel was for! ...and I thought I'd read the manual fully - don't remember anything about voice control - definitely going to have a play with that!

That's pretty similar to the JustConnect - still uses the original radio display which is a bit too small IMO. Not sure about the wireless connection either with that setup....

Has anyone ever tried to get rid of the tape player, maybe replacing it with a DAB radio with a small screen, for example? I like the look of the JustConnect DAB radio but the standard radio screen is so small, you aren't going to get the other benefits of DAB radio (track playing info etc) which I saw on a recent hire car and I thought was pretty cool...

That's very cheap - I was quoted that for a normal towbar and £650 for a detachable one...

I had an IS200 for 4 years and a Honda Stream for 4 years - never had any problem with either of them, so difficult to say which was better Then again, the most serious car problem I ever had was a broken ABS disk on a Hyundai, so possibly the broken rear wiper blade on the Honda (just the rubber bit) should cause it to be labelled 'unreliable' ?

As to the bike racks, I use a roof-mounted setup but only because I have to use the towbar for a caravan. If I didn't have the caravan, I'd look into the costs of fitting a towbar and using a bike rack on that - only because it is quite hard work getting them up on the roof (and I'm 6' 2"). If you do go for roof mounted, buy Thule bike racks (or the Halfords premium own brand which are actually Thule but re-branded to Halfords) - any of the cheaper ones are even more difficult to get the bikes on to. I currently have 2 Thule and 2 cheap ones and the Thule's are definitely worth the extra - when I can justify binning the cheap ones and getting 2 more Thule's, I will

Why do they need changing? Had a problem or just something 'discovered' during a service? If it's not causing a problem, leave it or go to an independent garage and it will be a more reasonable cost - it's not a specialist job.

There are also a lot of issues with unscrupulous site owners - they rarely, it seems, allow statics bought from somewhere else to be put on their sites. They always want you to buy one of their statics already on the site. They then have small print that says you can't have a static more than X years old, so when yours gets to that age, they force you to sell (to them) for a fraction of the real value. They then sell it on (at the real value) to the next sucker. Check out the 'statics' sub-forum on the UKCampsite forum, for other such horror stories. :arrrggg-matey:

Really?! I've been behind loads of other auto's and never even noticed the brake lights on, let alone been dazzled by them...

Confused - what is the possible difference between an OEM battery and an 'off-the-shelf' battery (unless it was a real bargain bucket battery)? The OEM will just have a different sticker on it - if there really was a difference, the dealer would have been the first to tell you (they love blaming problems on non-OEM parts). I seriously can't believe that was the issue - my guess is water somewhere causing a short, which finally dried out and the new battery was just a coincidence.

Que? - what the heck is a traction hinge? And why so excited by 'under spoiler supports'? Not highest on my list of priorities, that's for sure... Personally, I wouldn't buy from a dealer because I can't afford to but I imagine you must be looking at £30k+ for a 2011 RX, no?

I got this transfer to work just from my Android phone directly using the standard Contacts app: From the menu in Contacts, select 'Share namecard via'. Choose the contacts you want to send (or tick ALL). Click 'Done' Select 'Bluetooth' as the method. Select the car. Obviously, you need to be in the car with the ignition on and the phone menu waiting for the transfer.

As I said in my first post , yes, both have a 2000kg towing limit....

Yes but age can be just as bad as miles - if not used regularly, bits that are supposed to move get corroded and don't move. A good example are the rear brakes on the RX400h - because the electric motors do a lot of braking, the rear discs and pads aren't used as much and a common service item is a charge to free them up. For me, because manufacturing standards seem so much better these days, I'd prefer a new car with a high mileage than an old car with a low mileage.

Its not rubbish, your towing well below the limit so it will work fine, try towing a 3000kg trailer and tell Lexus when something goes "pop" and see what the reaction will be..... Also do not forget that once over approx 30mph (depending upon model year) the electric traction is supplimented by the IC engine cutting in and the electric traction from MG2 is only used when extra power is required, your effectively then towing with a front wheel drive IC engined vehicle, not a 4X4 :D The OP is talking about towing above the limit at approx 2500kgs.....apart from any mechanical issues, it will be illegal! My issue was more that the OP said he was towing 2500 kg with an RX300 and he was being told that a hybrid wouldn't be able to do that. Like you say, it is strictly illegal but my point was, if an RX300 can do it, the RX400 will be able to as well - the electric motors are not going to be a problem. Obviously, I wouldn't even try this personally, either with the 300 or the 400 - the towing limit is there for a reason and why risk the damage/strain, never mind the consequences of an accident and the subsequent fallout. Get a hefty old Landcruiser...

Suzuki V-Strom 650, 2006 model. I commute 12 -15k miles a year, so if I had to stick to the service intervals, I'd be doing one every 6 months or so - I'm far too lazy for that I traded it in for a 2011 Versys 650 and I promised myself I'd be good and take it to a dealer for it's 15k mile service. But then they quoted me £300 to do an oil, filter and spark plug change - so I did it myself for £60 (and 1500 miles late). I'm such a tight-wad... :eerrrmm:

I tow a 1600kg caravan perfectly fine with my hybrid but, yes, the towing limit is 2000kg. However, the towing limit for the RX300 is also 2000kg, so if you've been happy towing (illegally ) with your 300, you'll be fine with the hybrid. Ignore the rubbish about the electric motors not having the oommph - mine can happily pull my van from a standstill without me touching the accelerator. Once you do press the accelerator slightly further, the engine kicks in and you're off.