tom123

Was thinking exactly the same thing. This is the ugliest car I have ever seen. I'm guessing you haven't seen the new Q7 then? Lol. I really disliked the looks of the current 450h when it first came out, but it's grown on me a bit now. But I can't imagine ever liking this obnoxious new grill. I remember reading an interview with the Lexus bosses from Japan where they hinted that they themselves didn't much care for the looks of the new style grill, but since sales had shot up since it was introduced across the range, they were happy with it.

Was thinking exactly the same thing. This is the ugliest car I have ever seen.

Great so you don't feel how engine turns on when accelerating or turn off when braking? That's how it was with GS, how is dashboard is it quit and solid? Search 'RX400h rattle' and you will see that plenty of RX owners have had problems with dash rattles. Mine has developed an annoying squeaking sound by the passenger glove box in the cold weather. There is also a common rattle from where the windscreen meets the dash.

I had a clunking sound over bumps that turned out to be due to a loose bonnet catch/lock mechanism. The sound was really hard to pin point and at first I thought it was coming from the back of the car. Worth a try to see if you can move the bonnet up and down whilst it is parked to see if there is any play. The sound it made whilst parked was nothing like the sound it made on the move so at first I had discounted the bonnet as a potential cause of the clunking. The dealer made an adjustment to the catch and sprayed loads of grease over the area. They also fed through a cable tie from the 'L' Lexus logo to pull up a thin metal strip behind to stop it from knocking on anything. Has been clunk-free ever since.

Just looked at the Lexus extended warranty terms and conditions on their website, and I can't find any mention of the £2000 claim limit now. The 24 month 'Lexus Care' extended warranty also now seems to cover multimedia equipment, something which was excluded on the Lexus policy that came with my approved used 5 year plus car. They are selling this policy for any car less than 10 years old with under 140K miles. Have they made changes to their existing policy or are there two different warranties that Lexus are offering?

Lexus Wolverhampton. Each time I have taken my car there they have been great. They are a bit out of the way for me, but I will always go back there from now on for servicing etc.

Well after visiting three different Lexus dealers the problem seems to have been fixed. Dealer No. 1 wanted £264 just to try and diagnose the problem. Dealer No. 2 thought that the problem was due to a bad timing belt tensioner, so I had them replace it as it was in for a new water pump and timing belt at the time anyway. Made no difference at all. Dealer No. 3 had the car in for a whole day to inspect it. The invoice says they have performed a 'systems reset and now tested all ok.' The car does now seem to be 90% better, with less vibration/groaning during acceleration at low speeds. They only charged a £57 diagnosis fee for the work which I was happy with. I wonder if they have reset the transmission's computer, which had been causing the engine to labour under light loads. Sound logical?

One thing to be aware of with the Lexus extended warranty is the £2000 maximum limit per claim, so I'm not sure that it would cover the full cost of a new transmission. But even with a couple of small repairs (e.g. two new calipers) you will have broken even.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but just wondering if the gold discount can be used against the essential fixed price repairs?

I've found my MPG has dropped about 20% during the winter, so hopefully you will notice a big improvement in the spring/summer.

Just curious what items RX owners have needed replacing or fixing under the warranty and at what mileages. So far on my RX400h I've had one seized rear caliper, leaking tail lights, leaking air con condenser and valves, and a leaking water pump replaced, all at between 76 - 86K miles.

About to install the LED reversing bulbs. Just wondering whether the LED bulbs on their own will provide much more light than the original bulbs, or whether I need to remove the reflectors as well to make a significant difference. Could there be any potential issues with the MOT if the reflectors are removed?

Lexus will fill the tank up for you if they do recall repair. I've also heard of them leaving flowers/chocolates in the car after recall work.

I would have thought that you don't really have a choice which service to get. The dealer will do major/minor services in alternate years. If the last service was a major one, the technician will do a minor one this time around. I'm not sure that a main Lexus dealer would agree to doing a minor service if it was the major one that was due as he might feel there is a danger he could be held liable if there was a problem with the car later on that stemmed from not servicing the car as specified by Lexus.

A regular major service is still £445 on the Lexus site, so now just £46 more than the Essential Care service. If it stays that price I will probably just stick with the regular service option.

Oops! ;)

I must be the most cynical, untrusting person in the world because I'm sure I've said this before; they want to make money so they make up/exaggerate issues, especially when a warranty is involved (won't get as many tricky questions from a warranty company). This is the main reason I hate taking any car in to a garage - I just don't trust them. Just to point out that bushes are rubber covers to protect moving parts from grit/weather. They are not the cause of any 'loose' feeling and you will NOT notice any difference when they are replaced. I don't trust my local Lexus dealer's service manager one inch. Not since they got me to replace the rear brake pads as "only 3mm left." When I was later going through the car's paperwork I found out that the previous owner had them replaced less than 10k miles previously. But whilst the car is still under warranty I will try and get any issues sorted. An engineer from the warranty company is looking at the bushes next week. The dealer asked me to make sure there's enough petrol in the tank as the engineer wants to test drive the car as well. I got a quote from a Toyota main dealer for the work in case I need to pay for it - they came out over £400 cheaper than Lexus.

Thanks, have ordered a set.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/W16W-T15-5W-HIGH-POWER-LED-REVERS-TOP-CREE-CAR-BULBS-/331030397707?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4d12f3030b Are these the ones you got?

I think all of the RX300/330/350 models sold in England were permanent 4 wheel drive. The hybrids (400h and 450h) are both front wheel drive with on-demand rear wheel traction from an electric motor which kicks in when the front wheels slip.

I think you're probably right. Doesn't explain why the dealer marked it as 'red' (i.e. needing immediate replacement) though. I'm just wondering whether it's likely that the bushes have been like this for the past 20k miles, or whether their appearance means that they're about to rapidly break down completely. Would be interested to hear from other RX owners to see if they all in fact all look like this by this age.

As per my previous post, the Lexus dealer has marked both lower control arm bushes of my 2005 RX400h (86K) as 'red' (excessively split and failed) and needing replacement. The steering definitely does feel loose and unstable at higher speeds on bumpy roads. The Lexus warranty company have arranged for an engineer to inspect and road test the car next week as they initially said it wouldn't be covered due to wear and tear. However, the service manager said that he has had older cars with higher miles on them covered for this problem under the warranty, so hopefully the repair will be approved. Just wondering how bad the bushes look to others? The picture shoes the driver's/OS bush, which looks to be the worse one to me. Although easy to see without taking the wheel off, I hadn't ever looked at them before now. Have found a TSB for this (attached below), but pictures aren't that clear. CP-0017L-0110-EN_IR TSB Lower Control Arm Bushes.pdf

The car was booked in first of all on Friday and then today at Lexus Birmingham, but they have now called up twice to tell me that a technician is off sick and therefore they cannot do the work, and would I like to come back in the new year. Having already cancelled the appointment once, I would have thought that they would have made a bit of an effort to ensure it didn't happen twice. Fortunately for me, I'm going down to the south west over Christmas, and will be staying near the Lexus dealer where I bought the car from. One quick phone call to them, and within a couple of hours they had arranged the warranty authorisation for the water pump and confirmed that they will fit a new timing belt for around 50 quid parts only. They have also agreed to go on a test drive to look at the vibration issue when I go there next week. Will never go back to Lexus Birmingham, this is the second time they have messed me around like this. Rant over!

Thanks, that's a great website. Since the vibration/groaning sound only happens during light throttle from about 15-30mph, I'm starting to think it must be a transmission issue. I'm sure that a Lexus engineer who understood how the CVT works and when MG1/MG2 etc. came on would be able to tell instantly what the issue was, without even looking at the car, given the very specific speeds that the vibration happens during. Anyway, car is going into the dealer on Friday for a new water pump. They are going to have another look at it then. I suppose a new CVT box would be £5000 plus? Not sure how much the dealer could take apart the transmission in a couple of hours, or even if they would feel like doing so at all!

Congratulations on the new car purchase, I'm sure you'll like it. Just a word about Essentials vs. regular servicing - the garage is not suppose to stamp the normal service book after an Essentials service, but instead start a new book. I'm not sure if this would have any impact on any warranty claims if you went for the 24 month warranty. Maybe someone else would know? Personally I paid a bit extra to have a normal service done just to prevent any potential problem with the warranty. Not sure what bits of the service the garage misses on when they do the Essentials service, would be interested to find out if anyone knows.