Sandy42

I can't answer most of your questions but, as young thinking, fit 66 year old, I bought a 4th gen RX450h 6 months ago because it was what I WANTED. I had a 7 year old IS220d before that. I do about 3,600 miles a year and it cost me £760 for the 1st intermediate service plus a full service next year at my local Lexus dealership. Yes, maybe I am mad but, hopefully, I'll still be around in 6 or 7 years to be mad again.

Depends on the mesh thickness as well. It's all to do with the equivalent waveguide lengths and cut-off wavelengths. Just use Thackeray and Matt8's method and you wont need to worry about rf engineering and cut-off wavelengths. I stopped worrying about them when I retired Oh - and your fob battery will last longer as well.

Hopefully the image below doesn't break the site!!

Which? lists the RX as a Best Buy in the Large SUV category. It's top equal with the Q7. The NX doesn't make it to the top of the Compact SUV category. I trust Which? a lot more than I would trust the various motoring magazines. (I guess that you would need to subscribe to Which? to see their review).

The Passat was white to start with which showed up the rust really well. I miss those days with orthphosphoric to get rid of the rust, then two layers of Holts spray paint to cover up the mess and finishing with a T-Cut work-out to to try to blend it all in. Maybe the Kobe steel problems will bring them back. (Just joking!)

Vauxhall Viva, Triumph 1500TC, Ford Cortina, VW Passat, Toyota Carina, Toyota Corolla, Toyota RAV4, Lexus IS220d, Lexus RX450h. i.e. UK, Europe, Japan, Japan, Japan....

I agree with all of the above. You can see that the index is flawed when you find that the Suzuki Jimny, Chevrolet Kudos and Rover 25 all have better reliability indexes than the RX. I sure don't want one of those.

My car computer says 40.4mpg average after my first 1000 miles or so. I've not checked the gallons in versus miles out myself. That's after some fairly mixed driving though I tend to drive fairly gently and keep below 60mph on motorways. I keep the car in "Normal" mode and I've had plenty of start-stop journeys. Which? magazine reported 37.2mpg combined for the RX. I tend to trust Which? The Fuelly website reports 27.1mpg average for a 2016 RX. This is for mostly US results so this will be miles per US gallon i.e. about 32.5 miles per "real" gallon. I had an IS220D before and it's computer said 34.5mpg - so I'm well pleased (and surprised).

Ah - Just found something on P742 of the manual. Hardly the obvious place to look. I'd better see what else is hidden away.

Thanks Rayaan. I'd better check what mine are set to and adjust them accordingly.. Still a bit surprised that there's no reference to this in the manual though. All it says about the "Distance" control in the manual is Both the front or rear center sensors display and tone indication can be set. Anyway, good to know something new.

Yes - p. 379 (2016 model) has the sensors "blinking slowly" at: Front center sensor: 100 cm (3.3 ft.) to 60 cm (2.0 ft.) Rear center sensor: 150 cm (4.9 ft.) to 60 cm (2.0 ft.) For closer in the blinking speed goes up until it becomes continuous. Nowhere do I see any reference in the manual to a sensitivity adjustment but I'll need to do some real world checks to verify my "colour theory". I picked the following line from p388 of the 2016 manual (The section on the Lexus Parking Assist Monitor/Camera). The line shows points approximately 0.5 m (1.5 ft.) (red) and approximately 1 m (3 ft.) (yellow) from the center of the edge of the bumper. So, are we discussing two different things?

Are we sure that there is a "Low Distance" setting on the parking sensors? Isn't it just the colour of the displayed "bricks" in front or behind the car that are changeable. I know it says "Distance" on the Settings menu but I think that this might really mean "Distance Indication Colour". I'll do some checks myself in the next few days.

So - just done my testing on a fairly steep slope with the car pointing down the hill. Stopped the car, foot on the brake, shifted to R, foot off the brake and the car didn't roll forward. BUT it didn't start to roll after 2 seconds either and, in fact, it didn't roll forward after 30 seconds and more. So, I was confused. Maybe the hybrid system was holding it. I then put my foot back on the brake and shifted to N then released the brake. The car rolled down the hill fairly quickly. I did these tests a few times with the same result. I didn't bother doing a test with the car pointing up the hill since I know the BRAKE HOLD function would work just fine when in D. In summary then: Probably the HILL-START ASSIST CONTROL works OK but it's not something I'm going to rely on. Whether it works or not seems to be slope dependent. I do think that's it's a Lexus mistake not to provide some visual or audible indication that the HAC has been set as they did for the earlier RX versions. Think I'll stick to applying the parking brake manually in situations where I need to. PS I'm now up to just over 40mpg. Of course, since I've retired, I've no need to go anywhere in a hurry!

For point 4. I just sold my 2010 IS220D SE-I a month ago after 7 happy years with the car. My average consumption over the time I had the car was 34.5mpg. Yes, you should get 40mpg+ on the motorway but 32mpg average seems about right for the 2007 car (which had a slightly poorer official consumption compared to the version I had).

Thanks again Colin. The middle of Edinburgh is a bit short of traffic free hills so I'll need to get out of town to do my tests properly. Probably I'll wait till the weekend. I'll report back when they're done.

Thanks again Colin. That's two things I've learned today. I must not take the English language so literally!!

Oh - one more thing. I read somewhere online that there aren't any beeps or flashing slip indicator on the latest RX version when HAC is operating. Apparently someone was told this by their local Lexus dealer. That seems a bit of an odd thing to do - but is it true?

Mmmm... Yes mine is the 4th generation. The manual doesn't say it's automatic but the text from the manual would suggest that it is: Operating conditions of hill-start assist control When the following four conditions are met, the hill-start assist control will operate: ● The shift lever is in a position other than P or N (when starting off forward/backward on an upward incline). ● The vehicle is stopped. ● The accelerator pedal is not depressed. ● The parking brake is not engaged So maybe the online videos I've been watching about depressing the brake pedal don't apply to my car though it definitely rolls forward on a the slight downward incline where I usually park as soon as I engage R and release the brake pedal (and, I think, before my 2 seconds are up). Looks like next week will be one of experimenting. I don't like the look of the UPWARD INCLINE in the 1st line of the instruction though - what about my DOWNWARD INCLINE??

Thanks Colin, On the slight incline (where I usually park) it doesn't work but usually it's OK to roll forward a bit there. Alternatively I can use the manual parking brake then wait for the display to tell me to release the brake. I'll give your suggestion a go - after making sure there nothing in front of me! I'm slightly surprised that it's slope dependent given the "extra brake pressing" that's needed to get the HAC operating. Still, if that's what it takes then I've learned something today and that's got to be good.

I've just joined this forum so I though I'd post my review of the 2016 RX 450h and, with luck, get an answer to a question that's been bugging me since I bought the car. I treated myself to a 7 month old RX450h just oven a month ago after having an (excellent) IS220D for nearly 7 years. The RX is just superb, really comfortable and easy to drive. Yes, the Nav. system is fiddly but I'm getting used to it and yes, the turning circle is humungous so I tend to avoid tight parking spaces. I doubt that the voice recognition will ever understand my Scottish accent. It's a pity that the Lexus software doesn't include the "voice training" routine that's included with the US version of the car though I doubt that it works quite as well as the online video I watched. Oddly shouting does help sometimes - but not always! So far I've been averaging around 37mpg though this has been with gentle driving mostly in the city and on fast A roads. The boot is a reasonable size though smaller than some similar sized cars. I can get my golf clubs (tour bag) and my electric trolley in there and that's all I need! The most impressive thing I've found (so far) with the car is the BRAKE HOLD function. This holds the car when you come to a complete stop so that you don't need to keep your foot on the brake. I use this all the time though, when parking the car, it's best to turn this off otherwise the car will "lurch" slightly when you put your foot on the accelerator. Overall then, a really impressive car with , hopefully, the really impressive reliability of a Lexus. Now for my question which is one that my local dealership hasn't so far been able to answer: Suppose you have parked on an incline with the car pointing down the slope. Next, suppose some thoughtless driver parks just a few inches from the front of the car (it happens!). If you now want to move your car (backwards) how do you stop your car rolling forwards when you lift your foot off the brake? (I'm assuming the "creep" from the transmission isn't enough to compensate for the slope). The BRAKE HOLD won't help since that only works when you are in D or S. Maybe the HILL START-ASSIST CONTROL would be the answer but I've not been able to get that to work on my car (or, at least, not on the very slight slopes that I've tried it on). One solution is to manually apply the PARKING BRAKE - but that just doesn't seem to be a great solution. Anyone out there with an answer to this one? Thanks