RxMike

Glynn I am sorry to hear you have had a disappointing level of customer service from Lexus. Your experience has been totally different from mine. I do know what it is like to be flogged off by a bad dealer as I have had this in the past, ironically from the same people I have bought the A6 from, however I was forced to use that dealership for the deal I have obtained on the new car. If they slip up just once however, I will be straight to Audi UK to complain, and off to another dealer as well for any servicing I may need. I dealt purely with Lexus Croydon whilst I had the Rx and they were nothing short of superb. They were friendly, helpful, and curteous at all times. They filled my tank on a number of occasions, or at the very least returned the car to me with more fuel in the tank than it had when it went in. I had the bonnet resprayed due to stne chips and in essence every detail of the car was meticulously looked after by the team there. The salesman I dealt with was always honest with me, (thanks Iain), and I feel a credit to the company he works for. I really can say that Lexus Croydon are one of the few companies I have dealt with during recent years that really have exceeded any level of customer service I may have been expecting. For though, the lure of the A6 was more than the Rx was able to compete with, although what want from a family car now is a little different to what I wanted from the Rx when I bought it. It is unlikely I will be changing cars of this Ilk for some time now, but when I do I will certainly have a look in on Lexus Croydon again, because as they say, 'you can't have enough of a good thing'. If I were you I would start shaming your dealer here on the website. Let every one know how bad they really are...it will cost them sales and servicing, although too late for you I guess. Regards Mike G

Dear all I post once more to inform that RX 300 has now sold and some of you may find this information useful in the short term. My Audi dealer had offered me £20,325 for a trade in date of last week in September against a new A6, whilst my Lexus dealer where I purchased the car offered me £20,500 for a trade in during the last week of August. I advertised the car in Autotrader for two weeks on the net, with a one week spot in the magazine and Top Marques. I had about six calls on the car the first weekend it was up for sale, two time wasters who arranged to come and view it and then never showed up. The first guy who eventually did come to see the car bought it, but had no money to leave a deposit, so we made a gentleman's agreement that I would keep the car until he came forward with a bankers draft for the amount in one week. After talking to the bank, I was told that a bankers draft actually needed up to five working days to clear once presented, and was advised not to let the car go until the funds were fully cleared in my account. I thus called the buyer and told him he would have to make a CHAPS money transfer instead, or give me the bankers draft and wait for it to clear before he could drive away the car. He beacame frustated at this and insisted I could call his branch who would be issuing the draft to check that the funds were available. I told him 'no dice'.....wait for the funds to clear into my account or CHAPS money transfer the day of collection, either way I wasn't going to let him drive away with the car until I had CLEARED funds in my account. His response was, 'this is putting everything in your favour'! I'm not exactly sure what he meant by this but it instantly gave me a bad feeling about him. He was also now harping on about having the vehicle fully inspected before purchase, despite it having a full Lexus service only 3000 miles prior to sale and still having a six month warrenty left. Now to my surprise, a guy who had called me the day I sold the car to guy No. 1 called me to see if he had collected the vehicle yet, to which I relpied 'No'. Guy No 2 made me a proposal that he could pay cash for the car, and was prepared to do so within two days if he could see the car and that it was exactly as I had described, but this would obviously mean me telling guy No. 1 the car was now not his, gentlemans agreement or not. After a chat with the better half, I decided that it was better if we at least let guy No. 2 come and see the car and take it from there as he was very keen. To cut a long story short, guy no. 2 came to see the car the next morning, left me a £500 cash deposit and the next day deposited the full amount we agreed directly into my bank account using cash which was verified and cleared immediately by my bank. He then collected the car later that evening (Friday). I let her go for £21,750, which was the sum I had agreed with the first potential buyer. I reckon I could have asked £22,000 and got it, but I felt that more advertising and time wasting from people was more than I was prepared to stomach and as guy no. 2 was being sincere, I felt it was only right for me to sell the car to him for what I had originally been prepared to let it go for. All in all I am fairly happy with what I got for her, although the amount I have lost in two and a half years is incredible, but we all know how these things depreciate. I am to some extent breathing a sigh of relief however that the RX is now gone. The fuel bills and the overall running costs inclusive of future servicing bills were starting to play on my mind a little, and the lurching gearbox was unsatisfactory for a car of this expense, although it is not the reason I have moved on as I have previously stated. I have enjoyed very much owning the Rx and it has been a pleasure doing business with Lexus as a brand, I may well return in the future. If anyone is thinking of selling their Rx soon then I wish you luck. Mine was imaculate with only 19,700 miles and not a mark on her anywhere, all it did require soon was a new front set of tyres as it was still running the original set. My model year, 04 plate, lost £1,000 in depreciation in August alone, and I don't think it will get much better in the next few months up to christmas. I shall keep on watching the site and may well post again from time to time if I feel my input can be constructive. TTFN RxMike :winky:

Well my rx 300 sel is up for sale at the minute, but it has 19,700 miles on it and is still running the original set of Dunlops fitted from new. The fronts are totally bald on the outer edges, the nearside more so than the off side. The rest of the footprint at the front still has a bit of 'meat' left on them evenenly spread accross the tread pattern. The alignment has been checked three times by different specialists, but Lexus have told me they feel anything above 12,000 is good, 14,000 and they usually have to come off, so 19,000 is testament to how we drive the car......so they tell me! I have looked at other second hand Rx's on the forecourt and to be honest they all show signs of wear to the outer edges on the fronts, so I guess they do tend to 'scrub' the fronts somewhat. Regards Rx Mike

Fergy Basically have bought a new car for the same discount as a large fleet buyer would get. In my case for the A6 this turned out to be 9% discount. However I have learnt that the rate is variable depending on what fleet discount the potential purchaser is elligable for. This varies from anything from 4% up to the maximum 9% in an A6 model. For me I quialified for the full 9%. If purchasing an A8 i would have been eligable for a 20% discount, an A3 or A4 would have been a maximum of maybe 5% I think. I have also managed to wangle a Ltd edition model due to various reasons that were outside of my control, but ultimately worked in my favour so I am very pleased as I am told Ltd editions do NOT come with discount ever, but I genuinely fell into an unusual bracket due to the timing of the order and other factors. I have essentially an S-Line model coming which is fully loaded. The car pulls extremely well and the tiptronic gearbox is noticably smoother to that of the RX (at least on the car I drove). The handling is fantastic, its well engineered for safety and has what I believe to be more space in the back than the Rx, although the layout is a little different. To be honest I have always been a big Audi fan, and traded a TT against the Lexus when I bought it. I have been very pleased with the Rx however and and am not selling it on for any other reason than I have an offer on a truly great car that I cannot refuse. More to the point, time is running out for anyone who is looking for a great RX300. Currently on Auto trader for £22,500 which makes it the best buy against everything else it's listed with, so if anyone is tempted this is a too good an opportunity to miss. I am also open to offers in this range. But Hurry Regards RxMike :winky:

Dear all It is with a heavy heart that I find myself writing this post. Unfortunately the time has come for me to part with my Rx300. I have been made an offer I simply can't refuse on an Audi A6 and so after much head scratching and talking to the better half, I have decided to part with the Lexus. Anyone who may be interested then please feel free to contact me via mail as the car is now up for sale on autotrader. (Going very cheap as well). Alas I am not a Gold member and so cannot post the details of the sale here on the web site, but am happy to answer any questions should anyone be interested. I have to sell the vehicle in the next two weeks or trade it in. I have much enjoyed owning the car as well as posting here on the forum. This forum is without doubt the best motor forum I have seen on any manufacturer I have ever come across and was very helpful to me during my days as a 'lerker' and then afterwards as a Lexus owner. I personally have had an outstanding level of customer service from Lexus Croydon all the time whilst I have had the vehicle, and have been very pleased with the RX over all. I may well return to Lexus in the future and I certainly do not expect to get the same level of customer service from Audi, based on previous experience, but I have an offer on a new A6 3.0 TDi Quattro I just cannot turn down. I thank everyone who has endeaverd to help with any questions I have had, and I hope any comments that I have posted here have been constructive and beneficial to those concerned. You are all a great bunch of people and I shall still drop in from time to time so that I may keep in touch with the Lexus world, should I return in the future. Best Wishes to you all RxMike :winky:

Sounds a litle worrying. Hope it's not that easy to clone the signal! Anyone else know about this topic?? RxMike

Michael Hello once again. It would seem as if your leveling sensors have failed. I came back to mine about 9 months ago and found it like this after it had been parked for some hours. The sensors were replaced under warrenty and it is worth pointing out that to my knowledge, Toyota have a known fault with an older type of sensor fitted to 2004 model car years. The replacement sensors are of a modified design and should not fail. I believe this fault has been apparent on all Toyota cars fitted with air suspension. There are a couple of threads on this in the forum somewhere as others have complained about it before. The sensors will only be replaced once they have failed though, and no recall or retro fit is being carried out unless your cars exhibits the problem which doesn't help you if they fail after the warrenty has expired. Should be a straight forward fix at the dealership and they will no doubt be aware of the problem. Mine was still drivable. Good Luck RxMike

Damer The 'lurch' in my opinion is probably present on all Rx 300 Mk2 cars. For many owners / drivers it is not even an issue, but it is something that most definately can be noticed especially if you are aware of when it is likely to occur. I can fully apppreciate how some owners who do a lot of slow speed, stop start style driving such as in town, would notice it more and therefore be rightfully anoyed at the quality of the ride they recieve. On the other hand, you as a new owner may not even notice the problem initially. I believe many, non-technically minded owners probably don't even notice it at all, even though the problem is likely there. Michael and Damian have both been very pro-active on this issue with Lexus, and hopefully the remap to Michael's car is going to rectify this problem for us all shortly.....I take my hat off to you both. Trying to deal with this type of problem with a giant corporate company such as Toyota / Lexus I think is an outstanding feat of determination. For me, yes the car lurches occasionally......I have posted about it many times on this thread and others, BUT IN MY CASE, with my driving conditions is is not a major issue, but is certainly one I would like to see the back of. To give some perspective again to this..... Last week I drove a two year old, fully loaded BMW M3 with a flappy paddle gearbox. I have to say, the gearchanges both in auto, semi-auto and manual were without question the most horrific gear changes I have experienced on any car. To say the car lurched between gears would be a huge understatement. Firstly one was thrown forward in the seat, held there, and then kicked hard back into the seat no matter how gently or hard the car was being accelerated. For me, the car was totally undrivable. It was simply impossible for the gearbox to make a change smoothly, no matter what. This made the Rx gearchange issue look rediculous by comparison. Yet I am assured that this was normal for the M3 fiited with this box. The Rx is a fantastic vehicle as I'm sure nearly all will agree. I don't regret buying mine at all. All cars depreciate with time and the Rx is certainly not a lemon in this respect, just take a look at some Mercedes models for depreciation as a comparison. I don't think you'll find the Rx to be a let down...probably quite the opposite. It's not a sports car so don't expect it to be, but for a large heavy SUV I feel it performs admirably both on fuel consumption, ride, comfort, extras, build quality and reliability. I also feel it is the best loking SUV out there still. (although larger fatter wheels wouldn't do it any harm). I hope you are not disappointed when you drive it. Regards RxMike

That's really interesting and thanks for the info. I intend to call my dealer in the next few days and will put this to them as it obviously would seem that this is a camber issue. I don't wish to ruin a new set of tyres and so am going to ask that this problem is looked at. Regards RxMike

Hello all I have comented on this topic elsewhere, but thought I would add my two penneth again. Have had my Rx300 se-l from new. It is now just over two years old and has covered 17,800 miles. From new the steering wheel on the car was always slightly to the left of centre when driving in a straight line. In March the car went to the dealer for a number of warrenty issues to be rectified, and I also asked them to re-centre the steering wheel as the offset was starting to anoy me. (Although straight line tracking was not a problem). At this point, the car had covered about 16,000 miles, and the nearside front tyre was showing heavy wear to its outer edge, (in fact it is totally bald), which I put down to some extent on corning on roundabouts. It is worth noting that the offside front had little to no wear on its outer edge at this point. This car is NOT driven hard. Since the warrenty work was carried out, and the stereing wheel alignment was re-centred, the vehicle has covered nearly 2,000 additional miles. Now the offside front is showing heavy signs of wear to its outer edge and is in fact bald, just like the nearside front, and all this wear in less than 2,000 miles since adjustment. The vehicle is still running on its original boots, and all are in the same position as when the car was delivered, I have not rotated them. The rear tyres are in remarkably good condition with even wear accross the tread and no feathering to the edges at all. I have checked the pressures and all were ok at 36 psi. I have let them down in the last 24 hours to 32 psi which is the recommended pressure on the door pillar. When the car was delivered, the tyre pressures were in the order of 56 psi! I reckon this was an error on the part of who ever checked the inflation before delivery and they simply miss read the pressure gauge! What is concerning me is that there is still a relative amount of 'meat' on the front tyres, but the edges will be down to canvas before the rest of the tyre is worn out. I was reliably informed by a lead Lexus mechanic that there in no camber adjustment that can be made to the Rx300 Se-l front strut geometry.....in essence it is fixed as a funtion of the air strut design. I am wondering if it is a combination of heavy loads to the front tyres (it is a very heavy vehicle) and or the Dunlop tyres that are fitted from new simply are suseptable to this type of wear being that there is less tread in the outer edge anyway. I will obviously need to fit new tyres soon, and I intend to swap the rears to the front and place new boots on the rear, but I am not going to replace them with the same Dunlop tyres in the hope that a different quality make may be able to prevent the excessive wear to the edges that I am currently suffering from. If anyone has any comments or suggestions about this issue I would be garteful for you input Thanks in advance RxMike ps still waiting for a fix to the dreaded 'lurch'.

Nelson I have sent you the TSB to your email address. You will need Adobe reader to view it. I hope you get your issues addressed promptly. Lex 69 The service department at Croydon are aware of the problem and what the fix is......for that matter so should all reputable Lexus Dealerships. It took a good month for all the parts to arrive and schedule the vehicle in for all the work to be carried out. I don't think it is appropriate to put peoples names on a public forum without their concent, but I can send you an email with the contact name if you wish. They are very curteous and helpful from my experience. Regards RxMike :)

Dear all Have been pretty busy for the last few months, and have just come back and updated myself on this topic with all your posts....makes for interesting reading. My story to date. As some of you are no doubt aware I too have suffered with the lurching gearbox since the car was new. Here are the facts from my standpoint and from all I have managed to learn on the subject. There is a fix for this problem in the US. I actually have a copy of the TSB in my posession and have forwarded it to my Lexus dealer who was interested to see it and was told by Lexus GB when it was presented to them, that a fix for the UK cars was most definately in the pipeline and we could expect to see it around mid summer this year (2006). I believe the fix in the UK is for a replacement ECU, and not just a re-flash of the current ECU memory, as it is in America. It is my belief that the American 'fix' for this problem merely serves to 'smooth' the problem of the lurching gearbox, and only an ECU replacement which I believe UK owners will recieive is the only 'true' fix for the problem. My RX300 has just come back from my dealer after having quite a lot of work done under warrenty. The 'clunking' noise from the transmission that you can all hear is coming from the rear end. It is a known issue and Lexus have a fix. On my car this was to replace the rear diff with an upgraded/modified rear diff. New modified rear drive shafts and new replacement rear shock bushes/mounts. The car is now silky smooth again and the clonking has totally gone. It is worth noting that the clonking can sound as if it is coming from the passenger footwell area whilst driving the vehicle and it only seems to occur when the car is in 3rd gear and whilst using light throttle at around 30 mph. The leading edge of the bonnet was respayed, (the car is now 2 years old and 15,000 miles). It is my belief that the paint chipped too easily and my dealer agreed with me in my case, and a warrenty claim for respray was thus upheld by Lexus GB. The car now looks like it did the day it was new. The front nearside tyre at 14,000 miles was excessively worn on the outside edge. I belive this was mostly down to a tracking problem, and a little to do with roundabouts. Either way, my dealer re-aligned the wheel geometry and I hope all is now well. It is worth noting that my steering wheel was never truly centred from new, and now it is. Bonnet support strut replaceed as the original was no longer supporting the bonnet. Rear Parcel shelf replaced as the original started to detach whilst retracting each time the boot was opened. Small rattle from front pax side of dash addressed. All I can say is that I truly belive that Lexus customer care, IN MY CASE, has been truely outstanding. All my concerns with my vehicle have been addressed by my dealer, who I will mention because I think they've done an outstanding job, (thank you Lexus Croydon). The only thing I can't wait to see sorted now is the lurching effect of the gearbox. As I've said before, it's not a major issue for me, but I can understand how it is for others, due driving conditions etc. in their cases. I think Lexus could have been a little bit more pro active in addressing this issue, as they obviously do read this forum, however, assuming the fix does appear in the next couple of months, (and about time too), it really will make what is already a good car, a really great car. I hope this helps everyone with an eye on this problem Regards all RxMike.

I seem to remember being told at the dealer that the Lexus said the batts were designed to last the life of the car, but were covered during the warrenty period against failure! (I should think so to). I also seem to recall being told a life expextancy of around 8 years, but I can't remember where I heard that from RxMike

Just my two penneth for what its worth. Maybe the vehicles batteries are not maintaining the peak charge they once could when the car was new. This could be caused by every day useage, inwhich case it doesn't say much for the duarbility of the cells if they are degrading already, or, it could be the cold weather having and effect on the cells being able to maintain a high state of charge when the car is parked in cold conditions over night. As we all know, batteried don't like the cold and don't deliver the power that they are supposed to when the temperature drops. (certainly the case for lead acid anyway, as well as other battery types that I can think of.) All of what I've just said is only my uneducated guess at what might be causing the problem, there again it may be as others have said, just a need for the engine to run to provide cabin heat.........which suprises me that an electric heater was not fitted to prevent the engine from firing up just to simply warm the cabin. Regards RxMIke

Glynn My Rx is now suffering with the same type clunks. It sounds like the drive shaft under the car, but I believe this is too caused by the 'kick-down' effect from the afformentioned problems. My car has only just covered 14,000 miles, and as far as I'm concerned, any type of clunking noise after such low mileage in unacceptable. Mine is going to be booked in at the dealers early Jan 'cos I want the problem sorted. Am not prepared to listen to any type of clunking from such a new vehicle. I had an Audi 20v Quattro which was 5 years old when I bought it. I kept it for a further 5 years and put 125,000 miles on it and NEVER had any transmission or drive shaft clunks ever! Happy New Year All Regards RxMike