Fuel & General Everyday Things Options

[Will]

We are planning on buying an RX330 (hopefully a RX350) in the next couple of years. Obviously the 350 is going to cost us more to purchase than say a 330, and I understand that the 330 lacks "get up and go". I am still going through the forums an google trying to figure out whether we should get an RX330 / RX350. I have been reading some worrying issues with these cars (particularly on the US forums). Being a Lexus owner (and having owned 5 of them), this is starting to concern me.

What are the bad points of owning the car given maintenance, longevity, reliability?

What are the things that you have gone through to keep the RX on the road? How much has it cost you? I find it slightly disheartening to find that the RX does not appear to be as reliable as say my previous SC's from 1992, and my current 96 ES300.

Dash squeaks from what I am reading, will make me tear my hair out, and I don't want to go through that. The "booming" effect when the rear windows are down is also concerning me. Apparently problems with the diff leaking. Please give me honest feedback. I will continue to read through the other threads, but I wanted to get a snapshot in one thread.

Also from an Aussie perspective can you please let me know how you have found the consumption of fuel in the 330/350's as I have read that city it is about 17.6L/100kms and the country is 9.6L/100km's. I'm not too worried with fuel (as we have to pay it anyway), so just need some honest feedback. I am still making a decision on possibly buying a GS300, driving that for about 2-3 years and then potentially seeing if we can eventually afford a RX Hybrid at some stage.

[Poisson]

G'day Will

I've had a 2006 RX350 since January. In that time it's had no mechanical problems at all, other than the sat-nav performing erratically due to a loose antenna connection (fixed under warranty).

It has certainly had some rattles, and I suspect it got a fair bit of unsealed road driving before I bought it. Lexus of Perth had it for two days and cleared them all up (no charge, and a free loan car provided). A rattle has now reoccurred somewhere in the boot, and I will get them to look at it on the next service.

Fuel economy is around 12.5L/100km around town, dropping to mid 9s on a country run. My beloved and I did a Pilbara trip a couple of months back, with the car heavily loaded (fridge, luggage, camera gear etc). Including a lot of unsealed roads and some off road we averaged mid 10s for the trip. And my beloved has a pretty heavy foot! The RX350 has quite ample overtaking power, and she tends to use it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Hope this helps

[gripper]

Hi Will,

I have a 2007 RX350 and have now done 42,000Km. I have not had one problem in that time, a very well put together car, in my opinion. Not sure if this will make a difference, but I think you will find most US RX350's are made in Canada, and the Australian ones are made in Japan. Most of my driving is on highways, freeways etc. and consumption for this sort of work is around 9 to 9.5l per 100km. On the brief times I drive a lot in the city it is around 13. The power is certainly adequate for nearly all types of driving.
Hope this helps
Cheers
gripper