Lexus RX450HL & RX400H - going full barge
Discussion
Well, I did say I was looking at RX 400Hs in this thread and after several months of not really settling on what car I wanted and almost doubling my original budget, I finally picked up a 2013 RX 450H this afternoon.
I've been wafting about in it for a couple of hours and it's all very nice so far. Never had anything like it before, especially something so full of tricks and toys. That'll take a bit of getting used to. Like when I unplug the seatbelt, the seat and wheel move out of the way. It's made me jump every single time so far.
It's got the air suspension which, until I test drove this one, I didn't even know existed. It is a bit of a worry because they apparently do go wrong and the bills are scary, but after looking at a few this was a step closer to ticking the wafting box I was after, so I pretended I hadn't read the stories on the internet and bought it.
I've been wafting about in it for a couple of hours and it's all very nice so far. Never had anything like it before, especially something so full of tricks and toys. That'll take a bit of getting used to. Like when I unplug the seatbelt, the seat and wheel move out of the way. It's made me jump every single time so far.
It's got the air suspension which, until I test drove this one, I didn't even know existed. It is a bit of a worry because they apparently do go wrong and the bills are scary, but after looking at a few this was a step closer to ticking the wafting box I was after, so I pretended I hadn't read the stories on the internet and bought it.
We have a Rx400h, absolutely love it, it wasn't the tidiest car but it was local, had a half decent MOT history and was cheap.
In 4 years, other than oil and filters, it's had a coil pack go, fortunately it was a front one so an easy swap, had the CAT nicked but swapped that for an aftermarket one, I also have a straight pipe ready should it go again, the aux battery gave up the ghost earlier this year and a full set of tyres.
I can't think of any car I'd replace it with and will be keeping it until it becomes uneconomic to get it through an MOT.
In 4 years, other than oil and filters, it's had a coil pack go, fortunately it was a front one so an easy swap, had the CAT nicked but swapped that for an aftermarket one, I also have a straight pipe ready should it go again, the aux battery gave up the ghost earlier this year and a full set of tyres.
I can't think of any car I'd replace it with and will be keeping it until it becomes uneconomic to get it through an MOT.
Rx400h update:
A little while ago the rear wiper started to get lethargic, and then seized up completely.
There are a few options for a replacement motor, but none of them guarantee to fit, so had to dig deep and order the genuine Lexus part. (Around £300)
Switching it over was fairly routine: remove wiper arm, remove the upper section of the bottom boot lid trim and undo 3 bolts.
Whole job was under 20mins and everything fitted back perfectly and worked properly first time.
Heading towards 150,000 miles and 17 years old now!
A little while ago the rear wiper started to get lethargic, and then seized up completely.
There are a few options for a replacement motor, but none of them guarantee to fit, so had to dig deep and order the genuine Lexus part. (Around £300)
Switching it over was fairly routine: remove wiper arm, remove the upper section of the bottom boot lid trim and undo 3 bolts.
Whole job was under 20mins and everything fitted back perfectly and worked properly first time.
Heading towards 150,000 miles and 17 years old now!
BrettMRC said:
Rx400h update:
A little while ago the rear wiper started to get lethargic, and then seized up completely.
There are a few options for a replacement motor, but none of them guarantee to fit, so had to dig deep and order the genuine Lexus part. (Around £300)
Switching it over was fairly routine: remove wiper arm, remove the upper section of the bottom boot lid trim and undo 3 bolts.
Whole job was under 20mins and everything fitted back perfectly and worked properly first time.
Heading towards 150,000 miles and 17 years old now!
Serendipity! I was thinking about this thread this afternoon, I saw an RX400h while I was out. There seems to be a lot of this era RX on the road, says a lot that at 17 all your worrying about is a wiper motor!A little while ago the rear wiper started to get lethargic, and then seized up completely.
There are a few options for a replacement motor, but none of them guarantee to fit, so had to dig deep and order the genuine Lexus part. (Around £300)
Switching it over was fairly routine: remove wiper arm, remove the upper section of the bottom boot lid trim and undo 3 bolts.
Whole job was under 20mins and everything fitted back perfectly and worked properly first time.
Heading towards 150,000 miles and 17 years old now!
Michael
Well my 2006 has done another year and 10k miles, now sitting at about 160k miles. Its about to be serviced by myself this weekend or next. So will see if it needs anything this year. So far it has needed 2 front tyres, and a radiator. The rad was cheap and it cost almost as much for the coolant, easy fix though. The paint is beginning to suffer with lacquer peeling in a few places. But hey it spends most of its life driving round muddy country roads so you don't really notice. Still got no desire to replace it which says something after 7 years in my ownership.
My service is due and it'll be the first since I got the car so I've booked it into Lexus to give it a full checkover. It's a £660 service but I suspect it'll need a bit more than that, but I don't mind throwing a bit of money at it now if it'll keep things sweet for a few years.
Mr Scruff said:
Always tempted by these, and never owned a Lexus. Just struggle a bit with the looks, and the gearbox….
What is it people don't like about the gearbox? I don't have any issue with it.Truckosaurus said:
durbster said:
What is it people don't like about the gearbox? I don't have any issue with it.
I think the concept of the CVT puts people off when it shouldn't - as you aren't going to driving an RX like a sports car.
BrettMRC said:
Truckosaurus said:
I think the concept of the CVT puts people off when it shouldn't - as you aren't going to driving an RX like a sports car.
I just thrashed the arse off mine! A tip for you, make sure you copper grease the large nut that pulls up against the outside of the rear screen, the larger washer looking thing, I managed to smash the rear screen on mine, the nut corrodes itself to the spindle over time and shears off when you next want to remove it. I have mine in the garage soaking in WD40, I want to avoid the £300 for a new one, just because of a 50p nut.
BrettMRC said:
Rx400h update:
A little while ago the rear wiper started to get lethargic, and then seized up completely.
There are a few options for a replacement motor, but none of them guarantee to fit, so had to dig deep and order the genuine Lexus part. (Around £300)
Switching it over was fairly routine: remove wiper arm, remove the upper section of the bottom boot lid trim and undo 3 bolts.
Whole job was under 20mins and everything fitted back perfectly and worked properly first time.
Heading towards 150,000 miles and 17 years old now!
A little while ago the rear wiper started to get lethargic, and then seized up completely.
There are a few options for a replacement motor, but none of them guarantee to fit, so had to dig deep and order the genuine Lexus part. (Around £300)
Switching it over was fairly routine: remove wiper arm, remove the upper section of the bottom boot lid trim and undo 3 bolts.
Whole job was under 20mins and everything fitted back perfectly and worked properly first time.
Heading towards 150,000 miles and 17 years old now!
keeling54 said:
A tip for you, make sure you copper grease the large nut that pulls up against the outside of the rear screen, the larger washer looking thing, I managed to smash the rear screen on mine, the nut corrodes itself to the spindle over time and shears off when you next want to remove it. I have mine in the garage soaking in WD40, I want to avoid the £300 for a new one, just because of a 50p nut.
Wd40 will achieve little in honesty. Plus gas works well in my experience, others on here recommend Wurth rost off. Worth a can easily in this example. tvrfan007 said:
Wd40 will achieve little in honesty. Plus gas works well in my experience, others on here recommend Wurth rost off. Worth a can easily in this example.
A combination of WD40 and plus gas got it off. Not heard of the Wurth product, will get a can for the next rusted nut. The nut wasn't a huge issue on mine, although I did start dosing it with WD as soon as the motor started getting slow as I could forsee an incoming PITA!
Freeing the arm from the shaft needed some careful use of a set of stilsons to get it moving up the first mm.
I'm assuming that I probably won't ever need to do this particular job again on this car. (Great as it is, and even with the sentimental value I doubt it will be on the road in another 15+ years)
Freeing the arm from the shaft needed some careful use of a set of stilsons to get it moving up the first mm.
I'm assuming that I probably won't ever need to do this particular job again on this car. (Great as it is, and even with the sentimental value I doubt it will be on the road in another 15+ years)
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