RxMike

You are probably correct and I can see this point of view. I take it then that they are not supposed to be lit and I do not have a fault. I was in error in my post as having driven the car home tonight I noticed that it is the Power Door and Exit Function buttons, (SEL), that are the only controls to be backlit in this area and not the filler door as I previously mentioned. Oh well at least all is as it should be. :) Thanks for the response. Mike

Dear all Just a quick update on how I am getting on with my car now it has covered 1600 miles and has been on the road for 6 weeks. Seem to have collected a couple more stone chips on the front despite relatively mild driving. Must admit that am finding this disappointing as it has not happened to this extent on any car I have ever owned previously. It has been noted with the dealer however who is keen to monitor the situation to see if it continues to deteriorate further. The dash has started to make what I can only describe as a 'straining' type of noise. The sound eminates from deep inside of the dash, evidently from near the centre somewhere. At first it only did it when turning the steering to full right lock, but it is now starting to do it most of the time whilst the vehicle is in motion over either an A or B type road. Unless it gets much worse, am not sure whether to let the dealer have a go at fixing it, as pulling the dash apart may result in more unwanted noises after its put back together again. Will have to see how it develops. I have had one instance of the satnav dropping out and rebooting so to speak whilst I have been driving along with the map diplayed. The screen momentarily went off and then came back on with the Lexus logo, followed by the 'health warning' which I accepted in order to bring the map display back up. - As if the power to the system was momentarily interrupted, although the rest of the cars electrical system seemed fine. Other than the above, car is still a joy to drive and am still very pleased with my purchase. ;) Mike

Dear all Have been meaning to ask this for some time but keep forgetting! Doh! Are the controls for the wing mirror adjustments supposed to be backlit on the new RX 300. They are not backlit on my car and at night if you wish to adjust the wing mirrors or open the power tailgate, this all has to be done by feel. Great if you know what you are feeling for, but not so great if you are not familiar with the control layout. I am just wondering if it may be a fault with my car or if they are all like this. From recollection I think the only switch that is backlit in this area on my car is the filler plate release switch. Personally I can't see the logic in not having this panel backlit. I have found it very distracting at night feeling for a control that I cannot see when I need it. Mike

John Cooper S arrives alledgedly on May 17th so if you know anyone who wants a Ford Puma 1.7 with luxpac, point them my way. It'll be up for sale at the end of this month. I am finding myself looking at TT''s as they drive past. Am missing it, but am still pleased with new Lexus toy. It's the Cooper that will hopefully fill the hole left by the TT. Regards Mike G

Dear all I just wanted to ask what tyre pressures you are all running on. My RX 300 SEL was delivered last month and came fitted with Dunlop Sport 270 235/55 R18 99V rated tyres. After a week of driving I checked the pressures for the first time and found the tyres were inflated to 55 psi! The owners manual states they should be 32 psi which is where I immediatley deflated them to, however, sometimes looking at the car whilst parked they look to be a little soft. The ride is obviously alot better now they are at the correct pressure but has the dealer inflated them to this higher pressure because he knows something I don't or should they be kept at the recommended 32 psi.? I feel the overinflation was a result of an errror on the part of the dealership but surely this is something they should have checked on the pre handover checks? (Interstingly 55 psi equates to roughly 3.2 BAR on the tyrwe pressure gauge!) FUEL Also what type of unleaded do you use, regular or super. The dealer advised me to use regular and that putting super unleaded in would simply waste money - HOWEVER - the owners manual advises to use fuel with a RON of 95 or higher. My understanding is that regular unleaded has a RON of between 89 and 95 whilst Super Unleaded has a RON of between 95 and 98, therefore meeting the owners manual requirement of using a fuel of RON 95 or higher! (RON - Research Octane Number). The engine definatley seems more 'punchy' with the super unleaded in it and has not yet sufferd any pinking noises or the like. IMHO it seems to be running far nicer using the Super than it did with the Regular. I also only use Texaco fuel as I am of the understanding that the clean system 3 fuel which they sell is the only fuel on the market which actually lubricates the bore as it burns - unlike all the other fuel types which do not. This is only really a 'food for thought' discussion but it will be interesting to see your various ideas. RxMike

Spoke to the dealer last week and have had the stone chip issue noted as after 800 miles I think this is poor show. Also mentioned the wonky steeering wheel so it can be straightened at the first service, although I might have it done sooner as its driving me mad. The creaking is definatley coming from the speaker area on the front pax side at the base of the windscreen. It only does it when the internal temp of the car is below about 15 C and only creaks at these low temps when the car is driven over a bump. Once the car is warm or has been parked outside on a warm day the noise is not apparent. I have also had the odd rattle from the glove box area, but it is very infrequent and is not really concerning me as yet. I do sometimes get a really anoying high frequency rattle from the interior alarm sensor installation up by the interior mirror. This only happens when passing over certain road surfaces though - again it is intermittant but is very noticable when it does it. Overall am still extremely pleased with the car and am enjoying driving it :D RxMike

Rebrab I would agree with JohnRX's post with regards the fuel consumption figures. I have only had my RX for a month and have covered 1200 miles now from new. :) Whilst I am still running the engine in, on a day trip to France I managed to get 30mpg whilst on the motorway cruising at around 68 - 75 mph. Around town the worst I've seen so far is about 21 mpg. Basically after filling the tank with regular unleaded I've managed to get just over 300 miles to the reserve light on a road trip, and seem to get about 280 to reserve light on the 'round town' cycle. I have now switched to using super unleaded so I don't know what effect this will have, but the vehicle already feels a little more 'punchy' using the good stuff. I don't tend to press the loud pedal down too far when pulling away, rather I let it build its own pace fairly slowly, so this will obviously help with the consumption, but I imagine if you were to floor it alot you could see even worse figures around town. Having said that, I have a friend with a Peugeot 3.0 litre V6 saloon and his fuel consumption seems to be very similar. Its still a beautiful car and the V6 is super smooth and quite. I rekon from your type of driving you will probably average around 24 - 27 mpg depending on how much motorway you drive on per tank. The fuel consumption was my biggest concern when purchasing the car, but I only do about 6 - 8000 miles per year, so was prepared to sacrifice a litlle on the economy. Just to put it into perspective, a couple of cars a go I had a TVR Chimera. Drove it quite hard sometimes, as you do a car like that. It had a 4.0 litre V8 and only returned about 18 mpg round town. My dad had a 5.3 litre V12 Jag once, and at best that only returned 19.0 mpg and on average returned 12 - 15 mpg! In summary: for such a large vehicle and for quite a sizeable engine, the car seems to deliver what I feel is a reasonable economy - sure if you whelly it everywhere, it will return a poor economy, but if driven carefully and cruised on the motorway alot at 80 or below then it can give good fuel returns. I love it, and still enjoy driving it and I'm sure you will asywell Regards RxMike :D

Ian From what I remember reading in the owners manual, if you are towing with an RX300SEL with air suspention, then you need to set it to low mode and maybe also turn the airsuspention off using the button in the glove box. This will stop the vehicle constantly trying to relevel itself due to the weight of the trailer on the rear of the car. Don't recall any instruction regarding the use of overdrive, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to use it so that you can manually control the load on the engine? RxMike

Dear all Thanx for the response. I will monitor the stone chip issue to see if it gets any worse over the coming miles. Have already touched in the worst offenders, but will probably inform the sales man next week. My RX is Platinum Ice with Pembroke Leather, I also went for the boot liner as an option but not the engine under cover. I had asked the dealer to fit the rear bumper protector, but this led to a considerable delay on the day of the handover, as the car was not ready at the alloted collection time due to probs in getting the protector to stick down. After four different protectors had been tried by the dealer, they admitted defeat and gave up. The car was then delivered to the handover bay with the rear bumper incorrectly fitted and had to be returned to be refitted correctly. Apparently the bumper was removed on the forth attempt in order to try and heat the film into place in the paint shop - again without success. The salesman was very embarrassed as this led to a further delay during which time they gave myself and my wife an RX300 to go out in for a few hours whilst the bumper was refitted. To their credit, when we returned the car looked smashing, rear bumper refitted correctly and a large bouquet of flowers for the wife in the boot - expensive ones at that! The handover took in the region of six hours - but we didn't mind and it was worth the wait. John, my TT was Avus Silver with Silver Leather and BOSE sound - very nice car - seems from your pics we have the same taste in cars, but I never used the TT Forum. My wifes car, (Puma), is going next month for a Mini Cooper S, so I'm hoping this will go some way to make up for the TT's loss, but so far am more than pleased with the RX300. I will post what the dealer says regarding stone chips once I've had a chat with them. They have been very helpful up to this point and am sure will continue to do so. I'll get the wonky steering wheel straightened at the next service. Will continue to post on any creaks or squeeks that develop - there's definately something creaking around the front pax door speaker and windshiels speaker area but will monitor further. Happy motoring Mike G a.k.a. RxMike

Dear all I have been a silent viewer of the site for some months now and thought it was about time I registered and posted. I became the proud owner of a brand new RX 300 SEL on the 8th March 2004. The car was purchased from a local Lexus dealership and I traded in an Audi TT 225 coupe which I had bought new some 18 months earlier. Even though very pleased with the TT, future family considerations meant that it had to go, and after much deliberating and a couple of test drives the RX 300 seemed to fit the bill. This is the first Lexus and the first Japanese car that I have ever owned, having been a life long driver of Audis & Volkswagens, and it took me quite a while to make the dececion to change to what was in my eyes an unfamiliar brand. I do have a small no of questions that I hope other RX300 owners may be able to answer: The steering wheel on the car is slightly to the left whilst the car is driving straight. Is this normal? The vehicle does not pull to either direction, and drives a nice straight line if the wheel is released on a straight road. This weekend, myself + wife + friends went away to France for the weekend in the car. Sat Nav was fantastic and worked a treat and the car performed beautifully at all times, however, yesterday when I cleaned it, I was concerned at the number of stone chips the vehicle seems to have collected on the bonnet around the grill area. Now I don't drive close to other vehicles and am not a high speed driver, prefering to stay on the inside lane at 65mph for most of the time. I do not recall following a gritting lorry or anything of the like, and the raods had not been gritted--in summary, my driving style has not changed yet in 800 miles in the RX I seem to have collected more stone chips than in the last 20,000 miles in my previous cars. Has anyone had any paint issues with Lexus regarding stone chips etc or am I just unlucky on this occasion. A slight / intermittant creaking noise is starting to appear from the front speaker area with the windscreen on the passenger side - has anyone else suffered from this? Also (sorry if this is borring anyone;)), having read the American Lexus RX forums there would appear to be a couple of issues regarding rough shifting of the tranmission, dash board and sun roof rattles etc. Are these issues with the uk spec car? Finally I have been trying to find out exactly when my car was built. I have searched all over the car to try and find some sort of manufacture date, yet all I seem to find are vehicle idents nos and other codes which I cannot decipher as a build date. Any ideas? I am so far very pleased with the car and am finding the drive a rather refreshing change from having my teeth rattled loose by all the sports cars that I have owned. The Lexus would appear to easily have the build quality of the german equivilants and I would even consider it superior in many areas. I have purchased this car with the intention of keeping it for many years of luxury trouble-free motoring. Lexus have been a pleasure to do business with thus far, something I cannot say for Audi who disappointingly still ahve a long way to go with regard to customer satisfaction IMHO. If anyone can answer some of the above I would be grateful - right now my only concern with the car is the stone chip issue. RxMike