Facebook marketplace Lexus RX400h SE-L, what could go wrong?
Discussion
The car is off the road at the mechanics atm 
but I’m in the USA for business this week so it hasn’t been much of an issue.
Driving wise it feels great, no creaks or groans from the suspension. I do wish the electric only mode was more aggressive as it would mean higher MPG. But I love the car, it’s my first soft roader and so the increased ride height is great.
My failure to spot the radiator issue when buying the car has annoyed me, clearly I am rusty at the second hand car purchase game. I hope the mechanics don’t find anything major wrong with the car during their inspection as I don’t want to have bought a nail.
It’s so much less stress to drive on longer trips compared to the Leaf, faster too as we don’t have to stop as often. I’ve missed driving a Lexus, it feels solid. As mentioned earlier the wheel alignment and geometry has transformed the way the car feels on the road, it’s far from a sports car but it now drives properly.
With the repaired radiator the only things that need to be sorted are:
Lacquer peel on the bonnet,
Reinstallation of DVD player
Raspberry Pi installed
Then a general service a few months down the line. I’ll probably get the transmission fluid and filter changed at the same time. I need to review the service history and figure out when the timing belt was last changed. It’s either 2012 or 2014 but either way it will be due at somepoint soon.
but I’m in the USA for business this week so it hasn’t been much of an issue. Driving wise it feels great, no creaks or groans from the suspension. I do wish the electric only mode was more aggressive as it would mean higher MPG. But I love the car, it’s my first soft roader and so the increased ride height is great.
My failure to spot the radiator issue when buying the car has annoyed me, clearly I am rusty at the second hand car purchase game. I hope the mechanics don’t find anything major wrong with the car during their inspection as I don’t want to have bought a nail.
It’s so much less stress to drive on longer trips compared to the Leaf, faster too as we don’t have to stop as often. I’ve missed driving a Lexus, it feels solid. As mentioned earlier the wheel alignment and geometry has transformed the way the car feels on the road, it’s far from a sports car but it now drives properly.
With the repaired radiator the only things that need to be sorted are:
Lacquer peel on the bonnet,
Reinstallation of DVD player
Raspberry Pi installed
Then a general service a few months down the line. I’ll probably get the transmission fluid and filter changed at the same time. I need to review the service history and figure out when the timing belt was last changed. It’s either 2012 or 2014 but either way it will be due at somepoint soon.
Some crappy pictures of the radiator and expansion tank:
Difficult to see but if you zoom in you can see some shiny silver of the new radiator:
I need to get a new key as the car only came with one but it appears to be a master rather than a valet key so that’s something.
Difficult to see but if you zoom in you can see some shiny silver of the new radiator:
I need to get a new key as the car only came with one but it appears to be a master rather than a valet key so that’s something.
Edited by LincolnLovin on Saturday 19th January 14:53
We took an unexpected trip to Colchester Zoo which had heavy traffic and a great test of the new radiator.
Fortunately it performed fantastically, as did the car in general. I’ve built up a decent enough amount of confidence in the car that we are now planning a longer road trip at the end of the month.
Fortunately it performed fantastically, as did the car in general. I’ve built up a decent enough amount of confidence in the car that we are now planning a longer road trip at the end of the month.
LincolnLovin said:
We took an unexpected trip to Colchester Zoo which had heavy traffic and a great test of the new radiator.
Fortunately it performed fantastically, as did the car in general. I’ve built up a decent enough amount of confidence in the car that we are now planning a longer road trip at the end of the month.
My £1500 RX300 made it from London to Glasgow and back no problems so your £5k version should be fine!!Fortunately it performed fantastically, as did the car in general. I’ve built up a decent enough amount of confidence in the car that we are now planning a longer road trip at the end of the month.
LincolnLovin said:
Well, let's hope so! My long distance driving record is not filled with success of late.
I feel your pain about long Leaf journeys we drove from Wewlyn to Bristol for a flight and it took 4 1/2 hours instead of 3 max in an ICE in terrible weather and very stressful despite being experienced EV'ers, good choice of vehicle as another car. lost in espace said:
LincolnLovin said:
Well, let's hope so! My long distance driving record is not filled with success of late.
I feel your pain about long Leaf journeys we drove from Wewlyn to Bristol for a flight and it took 4 1/2 hours instead of 3 max in an ICE in terrible weather and very stressful despite being experienced EV'ers, good choice of vehicle as another car. Hoofy said:
Why was using an EV stressful? (Genuinely curious.)
Day to day, the Leaf is still my go to vehicle as its so cheap to run. Longer trips are inherently more stressful because of the unknown for example:Will there be traffic?
Will it rain?
Are the roads greasy?
Will it be dark?
Will it be cold?
Will I require heating?
How hilly is the route?
How far is the route?
Will the charger function, in use or ICE'd?
All of the above sit in your head as you drive an electric car with a range as low as our 24 kWh Leaf, (60-90 miles), a wrong turn, cold weather and an inoperative charger is potentially catastrophic. Luckily forward planning has avoided any breakdowns but we had a few close calls in the early part of our ownership.
Now, with the newer generation of EVs a lot of these problems go away to some degree or another, but they are also much more expensive. We got our Leaf second hand at 3 years old on a three year lease in 2016 for £150 a month - it's going to be hard to find one that matches that!
I'm convinced that EVs are the right choice, however I did not want to drop £30k on a car just yet when range questions are still apparent.
LincolnLovin said:
Hoofy said:
Why was using an EV stressful? (Genuinely curious.)
Day to day, the Leaf is still my go to vehicle as its so cheap to run. Longer trips are inherently more stressful because of the unknown for example:Will there be traffic?
Will it rain?
Are the roads greasy?
Will it be dark?
Will it be cold?
Will I require heating?
How hilly is the route?
How far is the route?
Will the charger function, in use or ICE'd?
All of the above sit in your head as you drive an electric car with a range as low as our 24 kWh Leaf, (60-90 miles), a wrong turn, cold weather and an inoperative charger is potentially catastrophic. Luckily forward planning has avoided any breakdowns but we had a few close calls in the early part of our ownership.
Now, with the newer generation of EVs a lot of these problems go away to some degree or another, but they are also much more expensive. We got our Leaf second hand at 3 years old on a three year lease in 2016 for £150 a month - it's going to be hard to find one that matches that!
I'm convinced that EVs are the right choice, however I did not want to drop £30k on a car just yet when range questions are still apparent.
SlowV6 said:
ITP said:
A 3.0 diesel Touareg will do more mpg on the motorway than the RX but less around town. I would wager that most, if used for a mix of the two, would average very similar to an RX overall. Low 30’smpg I would imagine. But they are considerable more likely to go wrong at some point.
Note a 3.0TDi Toureg is also in the £555 tax vs £280. Going forward the RX may also not be subject to emissions charges in the same way the Toureg (and of course many other older big diesels to be fair) might be hit with.What's it like to live with generally OP? Give us a road test report!
Only £290
You woke me from my lurky slumber! As you may have noticed I don't really do forums, but really want to know if these things are as comfy and refined as people say?
I've been looking for one for the last few weeks, just after a comfy butt-cossetting barge to tool around in with my wife and two little dogs, maybe to southern Europe so needs to be reliable.
Apparently the Citreon C5 "exclusive" of 2008ish vintage is also amazingly comfortable, but I was in a C5 taxi recently and it drove like an old French car...
I've been looking for one for the last few weeks, just after a comfy butt-cossetting barge to tool around in with my wife and two little dogs, maybe to southern Europe so needs to be reliable.
Apparently the Citreon C5 "exclusive" of 2008ish vintage is also amazingly comfortable, but I was in a C5 taxi recently and it drove like an old French car...
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