Fuel & General Everyday Things

[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 :D

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

[k2sty1]

hey man

well, we have a 2003 RX330, one of the first in Australia, its a Pearl White colour

its served us very very well for nearly 7 years now (got it around July)

it has 112,000km's on it

we'll be trading it very soon for a 2006-08 Lexus IS250

the only real problem we've ever faced is the CD Player not working, we have to replace the whole unit which will cost $600 but i decided not to because we are trading it soon

just get it serviced at the intervals and everything should be fine!!

and Chatswood Lexus has VERY good service and friendly staff

they will explain everything well so u understand.

from my cousins experience at Parramatta Lexus, i would recomend Chatswood, all my families Lexus' were bought from Chatswood (Mums RX330, Dads old IS200, Aunts LS460, Cousins IS250, cousins IS200, uncles LX470)

the 330 has pretty good power, but nothing amazing, but its fast for a crossover, and remeber to use premium fuel for better performance.

my 330 does under 11L/100km for highway, and under 14L/100km for city when im driving normally, :D

[LexusAussie]

hey man

well, we have a 2003 RX330, one of the first in Australia, its a Pearl White colour

its served us very very well for nearly 7 years now (got it around July)

it has 112,000km's on it

we'll be trading it very soon for a 2006-08 Lexus IS250

the only real problem we've ever faced is the CD Player not working, we have to replace the whole unit which will cost $600 but i decided not to because we are trading it soon

just get it serviced at the intervals and everything should be fine!!

and Chatswood Lexus has VERY good service and friendly staff

they will explain everything well so u understand.

from my cousins experience at Parramatta Lexus, i would recomend Chatswood, all my families Lexus' were bought from Chatswood (Mums RX330, Dads old IS200, Aunts LS460, Cousins IS250, cousins IS200, uncles LX470)

the 330 has pretty good power, but nothing amazing, but its fast for a crossover, and remeber to use premium fuel for better performance.

my 330 does under 11L/100km for highway, and under 14L/100km for city when im driving normally, :D

I had a 2003 RX330 (March 2003) until Jan 2007 when I traded it on a 2006 RX350. The only issues I have had with either vehicle have been the passenger side carpet wearing through at a single location (mats rubbing against it - replaced under warranty) on the RX330 and spongy brakes on the Rx350 (entire system replaced by Lexus under Warranty). No squeeks, rattles, breakdowns etc whatsoever.

Contrary to k2sty1's experience with Lexus of Parramatta, I've had excellent service from them since 1999 and very very average service from Lexus of Chatswood. Lexus Parra simply can't do enough for me and I'm now waiting on delivery of my 2010 RX350 Sports Luxury with ML. This is why I have purchased 4 Lexus from them since 1999 even though I live on the North Shore.

The RX330 has adequate power and the RX350 simply has more than adequate power. Buy either one with confidence but do the usual checks as you would with any used vehicle.