About to buy a 2012 RX450h - should I?

[konstantinos]

So I've found a used 2012 (new design) RX450h Premier that I am considering buying. It has 64k miles and the dealer has it in the approved pre-owned scheme for £23k. 

I remember hearing before the RX450h being the least reliable Lexus around and about problems with its air suspension.

Having been driving a 2nd Gen, 2007 Prius for the last several years (now exceeding 100k miles) I've been absolutely happy with its reliability and would not want to compromise on that. 

What have your experiences been? Should I expect my Lexus to go to up to 120k miles without major breakdowns or air suspension replacement? 

Thank you for any thoughts on that!

Konstantinos  

[Silversalmon]

I've had my 2010 RX450h , came with a 1 year warranty which I extended to 3 with an additional 24 months for £900. I returned the car because of a fair few squeaks and groans and they did a great job, one fault popped up was the electric steering column which they replaced (apparently a £4k job!). Not a cheep in the last 15 months and passed latest MOT with no advisories. I reckon it's been a relatively cheap car to run, hybrid technology reduces a lot of the wear items like belts, brakes etc. 

I have standard suspension and have seen people worry about air suspension but in this model (3RX) no reports. I'd say go for it, the Premier does have all the toys, a sunroof is the icing on the cake, my only regret. 

Good luck, a good price to I think for a Premier.

[sorcerer]

At the beginning of February we bought a 63-plate RX450h Advance (first registered in November 2013) and we love it. We got it from Lexus Teeside and paid £24,980 and it had 33,500 miles on it. As far as I know, the RX450h is a very reliable car with no major problems to worry about. However, we purposely avoided the Premier model because I absolutely did not want air suspension. It adds almost nothing to the comfort and ride over and above normal coil suspension but it does introduce a whole new level of complexity that is very expensive to sort out if it goes wrong.

As a new owner, only time will tell but we love it!

[Ian M]

My car is a 3RX Premier, becasue I did want the sunroof and a black interior.  Pretty much every car with that combination was a Premier and I did do a bit of research on air suspension.  My conclusion was that the 3RX didn't seem to have any massive problems and generally any issues were sensors rather than the air system itself.  So I went for it.  The deal I did (my car was a 62 plate with 23k on the clock) got 3 years warranty and I am now 7 months into that with nothing whatsoever having gone wrong and no arising work on its service in January either.  It's a great car, I am very happy.

[ColinBarber]

2 hours ago, konstantinos said:

I remember hearing before the RX450h being the least reliable Lexus around and about problems with its air suspension.

I'd say the series II RX (2003-2009) air suspension is a bit unreliable and of all Lexus vehicles I'd say the series III GS 300/450h is the least reliable. No major issues reported with the series III RX450h.

[sorcerer]

Our Advance has a sunroof but I wasn't bothered about having one. I've never quite seen the point in having a sunroof in a car that has climate control, the whole idea of which is to set the cabin temperature to what you want and the car just keeps it there for you - plus, as I'm 'thinning out on top' a bit, an open sunroof would lead too easily to a sunburnt head!

[malcolmw]

Yes. Opening glass roofs are for spring and autumn. Closed in the winter and summer sun means that you use the sunshade cover to lower the solar gain. 

This from another old bald bloke.  

[rayaans]

3 hours ago, konstantinos said:

So I've found a used 2012 (new design) RX450h Premier that I am considering buying. It has 64k miles and the dealer has it in the approved pre-owned scheme for £23k. 

I remember hearing before the RX450h being the least reliable Lexus around and about problems with its air suspension.

Having been driving a 2nd Gen, 2007 Prius for the last several years (now exceeding 100k miles) I've been absolutely happy with its reliability and would not want to compromise on that. 

What have your experiences been? Should I expect my Lexus to go to up to 120k miles without major breakdowns or air suspension replacement? 

Thank you for any thoughts on that!

Konstantinos  

No idea what you've been reading but it must have been for a different model.

The 2009-2015 RX has no major issues and Ive not heard of air suspension going on them as of yet. Of course, if you get the Lexus Extended Warranty, then there's nothing really to worry about. The 3rd generation RX is a hugely reliable vehicle. I had mine for 5 years and 46k miles and not a single thing went wrong. 

You could go up to 120k miles without major issues.

[The Sat Diver]

Buy it .. Ive had my 2011 RX450 Advance for almost 3 years .. bought from Lexus Stockport at £27k so your Premier is about the right price being from a dealer

It has without doubt been THE most reliable car I have ever owned .. so much so I bought a 2008 LS600h RSR with 85k on the clock a week ago and expect it will still to be running when I pop my cloggs .. 

 

 

[JFB2]

Last July I bought a 64-plate RX450h Luxury with 45k miles on the clock, from a main dealer with the remainder of the 3-year warranty made up to one year with the Lexus used car warranty. The car's in fantastic condition considering it's mileage – the interior in particular looks like new and the seats are the best in the business, guaranteed. Great to drive apart from brittle ride. 

Unfortunately the dealer sold it to me with faulty climate control; a hole in the cooled air supply pipe apparently. My closest main dealer did the repair without query, thank goodness. 

Since then the only gripe is three rattles in the cabin: one under the fascia where the passenger air bag sits; another in the lower half of the rear tailgate; and the third being the outer screen to the satnav display. These take it in turns to vibrate depending on outdoor temperature and road surface, although really rough tarmac can make then rattle in unison. Is it likely that Lexus would repair these for me under warranty at the next service?

[rayaans]

2 hours ago, JFB2 said:

Last July I bought a 64-plate RX450h Luxury with 45k miles on the clock, from a main dealer with the remainder of the 3-year warranty made up to one year with the Lexus used car warranty. The car's in fantastic condition considering it's mileage – the interior in particular looks like new and the seats are the best in the business, guaranteed. Great to drive apart from brittle ride. 

Unfortunately the dealer sold it to me with faulty climate control; a hole in the cooled air supply pipe apparently. My closest main dealer did the repair without query, thank goodness. 

Since then the only gripe is three rattles in the cabin: one under the fascia where the passenger air bag sits; another in the lower half of the rear tailgate; and the third being the outer screen to the satnav display. These take it in turns to vibrate depending on outdoor temperature and road surface, although really rough tarmac can make then rattle in unison. Is it likely that Lexus would repair these for me under warranty at the next service?

Probably not but it's worth a try. Rattles on older vehicles are a part of ownership I guess.

[The Sat Diver]

Ahhh .. that sounds familiar .. on purchase my RX also had dashboard rattles .. even with a warranty it wasnt covered .. took it back and paid them £150 to fix .. then .. took it back and back and back .. gave up eventually fixed myself with the major assistance of an Audi tech .. who tells me if it had been an Audi they would have done the fix under warranty !!

Ah well .. but still stick by my statement it has been mega reliable 

[gidrazas]

I was in the same shoes a year ago. My main criteria were light interior and radar cruise control. After some search bought  12 plate rx450h Premier with only 27k miles on a clock. 

Bought it privately for 21.5k with 8 months of extended warranty. Now extended it for another 2 years.  

Ride is a bit choppy sometimes but economy and the reliability is really good.

Buy it - you will not regret it. Get extended warranty and you're sorted.

 

[konstantinos]

You guys are gold! Very encouraged to hear from you all of you - thanks. 

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you - had (and still have) an issue with my lower back delaying things. 

Let's see if I'll still manage to get out of it and get that Premier for a test ride! 

If all goes well I'll be posting pictures here soon - otherwise I'll be looking for a new offer. 

Konstantinos 

[Nick W858]

Hi Konstantinos

We purchased our 2011 RX 450h at three years old with 70k miles on the clock, four years and 45k miles later, other than regular servicing and consumables it has been as good as gold. My wife intends to keep the car until it dies so will be interesting to see how we get on with it but given what we have seen so far, I do not have any doubt it will be a reliable long term car.

[mikesands]

In my experience last week, the air suspension does make the ride noticeably more pleasant - but only brings it back to just under where my RX400H is.  I'm surprised that no-one is saying there are (some) problems with the air suspension as I found a few with just some simple searches.  My LS430 was a nightmare for air suspension components and although for the first 2 years these were covered by the used car warranty, the inconvenience of having it collapse on a trip was alarming.  It's interesting that Lexus have not included air suspension on any of the 4RX model range (have they?).

My RX400H has done 132k miles and it's been a dream car in terms of reliability - I put it in last week because I thought a shock absorber was on the way out but it checked out fine - it was a fault on the parking brake apparently, and is being fixed under the extended warranty which will run to April 2019 and about 150k miles.  I am delighted with this warranty - and it applied to my LS for a while.  Nothing seems to be excluded - particularly the hybrid batteries which is why I took it out at first.  OK nothing has gone wrong on the 400H but back to my opening point - it's not so much the cost of a potential repair as the peace of mind and the knowledge that my Lexus dealer will recover me, and provide me with a free loan car.

Mike

 

[rayaans]

3 hours ago, mikesands said:

In my experience last week, the air suspension does make the ride noticeably more pleasant - but only brings it back to just under where my RX400H is.  I'm surprised that no-one is saying there are (some) problems with the air suspension as I found a few with just some simple searches.  My LS430 was a nightmare for air suspension components and although for the first 2 years these were covered by the used car warranty, the inconvenience of having it collapse on a trip was alarming.  It's interesting that Lexus have not included air suspension on any of the 4RX model range (have they?).

My RX400H has done 132k miles and it's been a dream car in terms of reliability - I put it in last week because I thought a shock absorber was on the way out but it checked out fine - it was a fault on the parking brake apparently, and is being fixed under the extended warranty which will run to April 2019 and about 150k miles.  I am delighted with this warranty - and it applied to my LS for a while.  Nothing seems to be excluded - particularly the hybrid batteries which is why I took it out at first.  OK nothing has gone wrong on the 400H but back to my opening point - it's not so much the cost of a potential repair as the peace of mind and the knowledge that my Lexus dealer will recover me, and provide me with a free loan car.

Mike

 

The 450h doesn't suffer from air suspension issues.

The 4RX doesn't have air suspension probably because it doesn't really need it - the ride on the Premier is very very good with AVS

[ChrisM]

My 450H SE-L late 2009, which I bought January 2017, according to the accompanying documentation did have a replacement air suspension unit changed.

The ride is fine, and the ability to raise the vehicle when driving on unmade roads going to shooting makes life a lot easier to avoid bottoming out .