RX 450H - is it robust?

[tanimbar]

Presently drive an IS 300h (SE, 16 inch wheels, 2014, 52k miles) around the B roads of Somerset and Devon and have done for 3 years and 22k miles.

For the first six months on these B roads the car's body would regularly creak and groan but the dashboard etc. did little creaking. Now the car body flexes silently, the front doors shimmy on the B pillars and the interior plastics (dashboard etc.) creak. This can last for many minutes/miles until the next piece of smooth tarmac. On motorways or A roads the car is mostly silent.

So, the IS 300h was not designed for how I use it. The body etc. are quickly getting old. No complaints because it is excellent in many other ways.

I'm thinking of a RX 450h as a replacement and I don't want the next car to age as quickly as the IS 300h.

The question, for you owner's of a RX 450h driven mostly on rural and B roads, is the car robust; does it creak and groan or otherwise indicate that it doesn't handle rough roads well? Is your car ageing well or badly? An indication of where you live, how long you've driven it and how far, would be helpful.

Any other suggestions for replacements gladly received but not Lexus ES, UX or NX because I suspect these designs would age badly like the IS 300h.

Thanks.

 

 

 

[olliesgrandad]

I bought my 2015 RX450h last year with 26000 miles and it has now covered 45,000 miles. Still feels perfectly solid and tight. I drive on a lot of rough side roads and never have any issues with creaks or rattles. 

My previous 2015 GS300h certainly felt well screwed together also and certainly in terms of build quality was a step up from my 2014 IS300h F Sport. 

[jumpingjehovahs]

I’ve got a 97000 mile, 2010 RX which lived most of its life in the Bolton/Stockport area and is now living in rural Cambridgeshire and I’m the 4th owner. I can’t speak for the northern roads - but ours are very poor.

It has no squeaks of any sort (except the air suspension but They All Do That Sir) however it does have a couple of light creaks from the drivers door and the rear seat.

The rear seat is easily silenced by pulling down the arm rest. The drivers door noise is easy enough to ignore.

Considering it’s age this car has worn extraordinarily well. I’ve put almost 20,000 miles on it in 9 months and it’s taken those well. I have lived in the Fens and now west of Cambridge where the roads are shocking. Potholes, ruts, cracks and unexplained bumps. No matter how fast you hit the surprise ones that’s spring up overnight no new squeaks have been added to the cabin. It also has to regularly deal with ridiculously hard speed bumps.

Every so often I hear an irritating rattle and it’s always something I’ve left in the cupholder.

It seems a tough old beast and takes most things in it’s stride - however what I will say to qualify is, my previous SEAT had an equally hard life and undertook a higher mileage in my care and that didn’t have any squeaks, creaks or groans.


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[royoftherovers]

1 hour ago, jumpingjehovahs said:

I’ve got a 97000 mile, 2010 RX which lived most of its life in the Bolton/Stockport area and is now living in rural Cambridgeshire and I’m the 4th owner. I can’t speak for the northern roads - but ours are very poor.

It has no squeaks of any sort (except the air suspension but They All Do That Sir) however it does have a couple of light creaks from the drivers door and the rear seat.

The rear seat is easily silenced by pulling down the arm rest. The drivers door noise is easy enough to ignore.

Considering it’s age this car has worn extraordinarily well. I’ve put almost 20,000 miles on it in 9 months and it’s taken those well. I have lived in the Fens and now west of Cambridge where the roads are shocking. Potholes, ruts, cracks and unexplained bumps. No matter how fast you hit the surprise ones that’s spring up overnight no new squeaks have been added to the cabin. It also has to regularly deal with ridiculously hard speed bumps.

Every so often I hear an irritating rattle and it’s always something I’ve left in the cupholder.

It seems a tough old beast and takes most things in it’s stride - however what I will say to qualify is, my previous SEAT had an equally hard life and undertook a higher mileage in my care and that didn’t have any squeaks, creaks or groans.


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A Seat having done 100,000 miles with no rattles or squeaks, have you been drinking Alex  or perhaps you have memory loss?  (LOL)

[olliesgrandad]

1 hour ago, royoftherovers said:

A Seat having done 100,000 miles with no rattles or squeaks, have you been drinking Alex  or perhaps you have memory loss?  (LOL)

Concussion caused by bouncing around in said Seat😂😂😂

[Mr Vlad]

Firstly I can't believe what you're experiencing but in a way I can. I've had 2 is300h's both 64 plate and both premium premier. The 1st one was that awful in all recpects that I got rid after 5 weeks. The 2nd one however was superb. My driving style is let's say fast. The roads up here in the North are shyte but that car never missed a beat. Never creaked or groaned. 

Not all is's were/are built the same I think. From my experience of having 2 identical cars yet being like chalk and cheese.

I've also had a 62 plate f sport RX450h which again I drove ahem normal. Excellent build quality and no squeaks bangs crashes or groans. It's a different beast to the is300h but definitely recommended. 

[Spottedlaurel]

I recently bought a 2014 RX with just 24k miles and unfortunately that does suffer a squeaky rear seat, which isn't cured by dropping the armrest. It's pretty good otherwise, but I suspect it had a relatively easy life with its previous owner It'll be interesting to see how it fares with my rural driving.

I did have another RX for five weeks but exchanged it as it had been somewhat mistreated. It looked like it had been grounded at some point, with damage to the exhaust system and undertray and it certainly didn't drive as nicely as the one I now have. On that basis I'd say they can suffer if someone abuses them.

[PCM]

I found that my centre arm rest creaked as it rubbed against the rear leather seats.

Silicon spray fixed it...

[tanimbar]

A few days have passed, have some responses and the consensus seems to be that the RX 450h is robust. Definitely more robust than my existing IS 300h.

It would have been useful to hear from RX owners who lived in hillier areas where roads more often have a rapid switch in camber and direction which can really test a 'chassis', i.e. it gets twisted, which is probably part of the reason why my IS is ageing quickly.

As for possible replacements for the IS: RX 450h, Honda CR-V hybrid, Lexus GS 300h (maybe).

I'm grateful to all respondents -  thank you.

 

[m4rkw]

2006 Harrier (RX with a 2.4L 2AZ-FE engine) with 88k miles. No rattles.

[Spottedlaurel]

Less squeaking in mine today with a boot full of stuff....

I considered a GS as an alternative to the RX - the dealer had a 450h which was rather tempting, but the issue I found with it was the lack of practicality. The rear seat doesn't fold, which I think you do have on the IS?

[jumbojake]

we have a 2015 Rx and that is pretty solid, no creaks or rattles  .... but we have tried the newer facelift model (2016+) and that was terrible, particularly the centre console... lean on it and it creaked like an old Merc .. awful.

Note, on my IS200d ... I had the same problem with the centre console.. but is mostly fixed thanks to liberal amounts of felt tape underneath  (the dealer pretended there was no noise!)

IMO, the only quieter car for plastic creaking  is an Audi ... but with those you have to put up with massive repair bills... I know what I prefer!

 

[rayaans]

TBH Ive found a lot of the creaks and groans come from stuff within the car i.e. things stuffed into the pockets, under the armrest, glovebox, boot etc. 

Our 2013 IS300h doesn't have any creaks really. My son's 2015 Merc C class has 1 or 2 noticeable on rough tarmac. 

Our 2016 RX has squeaky rear suspension, but thats been a longstanding thing with the RX since Gen 2, doesn't bother me much really. It occurred in the 3rd gen RX too. The 2016 RX is definitely more solid than the older 2009-15 RXs though

[jumbojake]

we had the 3rd gen Rx on loan for a week.. .and to be honest was very happy to give it back .. the creaky plastic was terrible. 2d gen appears to be OK for us.

when I stripped my IS down, I found the problem was different types of plastic clipped together without any felt ... no wonder it creaks like badly fitting lego!... put some felt tape on the joints and problem is much improved.  But I didn't but the lexus for quality plastic, but for quality mechanics and comfort.... just a matter or perspective I guess

[tanimbar]

More information  = excellent.

But we have contradiction: Rayaans says, "2016 RX is definitely more solid than the older 2009-15 RXs", while jumbojake says, "newer facelift model (2016+) was terrible, particularly the centre console... lean on it and it creaked".

Jumbojake's appraisal is probably correct, i.e. if on leaning on something it creaks, then it creaks. Rayaan's note implies improved build quality but I haven't found any information supporting that claim.

Remember I'm simply trying to find out which Lexus is more robust (over time). Thanks.

 

[jumbojake]

ultimately, this is a very subjective question..I think the best approach is to go any try one and see if that particular car, of whatever age works for you.

Often the Lexus dealers are pretty flexible and may well allow you a 24hr test drive

[rayaans]

1 hour ago, tanimbar said:

More information  = excellent.

But we have contradiction: Rayaans says, "2016 RX is definitely more solid than the older 2009-15 RXs", while jumbojake says, "newer facelift model (2016+) was terrible, particularly the centre console... lean on it and it creaked".

Jumbojake's appraisal is probably correct, i.e. if on leaning on something it creaks, then it creaks. Rayaan's note implies improved build quality but I haven't found any information supporting that claim.

Remember I'm simply trying to find out which Lexus is more robust (over time). Thanks.

 

Well I've owned my 3rd gen RX for 5 years and my 4th gen coming up to 3rd year now. The rear seats in the 3RX drove me nuts over bumps but it seemed to happen on all of them I had even as loaners

The 4th gen definitely uses better quality materials and build quality is higher. It has no rattles yet. 

[DanD]

Our 2009 RX450h had a very rattly rear seat. The front windows also used to creak and squeak when closed, where they met the rubber at the top. No matter what we tried, we never managed to get rid of these noises which were made more obvious by the fact that the car was otherwise very quiet.

[tanimbar]

So, the 4th Gen. RX 450h is more robust than the preceding generations but the squeaky rear suspension is common to all (They all do that, Sir). And 3rd Gen. cars are prone to rear seat noise - that would drive me nuts too.

Thanks again to all who have contributed. As a result I will test RX 450h (4th gen.), a late GS 300h and a Honda CR-V Hydrid (CR-Vs are very popular down here in the SW due to their robustness. I have tested a 2.0 litre petrol, auto version but that was gutless).

[Zotto]

No squeaking on mine.

[Herbie]

Maybe I'm just lucky but I don't hear any squeaks, rattles or other annoying noises in our 63-plate RX450h Advance.

Mind you, I'm an avid music lover so I always have the radio or other media playing something, so maybe the annoying sounds are there but just being masked.

[Mr Vlad]

Well said Herbie. Not all cars of the same model and trim are the same when they become preowned. Squeaks and rattles bug me but as Herbie stated I listen to Rock music and loud too.

So it's a lottery as to what car you get. To get a "robust" car you'll have to test 10's if not 100''s before you find the one you'd be happy with.

[tanimbar]

3 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

Well said Herbie. Not all cars of the same model and trim are the same when they become preowned. Squeaks and rattles bug me but as Herbie stated I listen to Rock music and loud too.

So it's a lottery as to what car you get. To get a "robust" car you'll have to test 10's if not 100''s before you find the one you'd be happy with.

This thread is about the robustness or otherwise of the RX 450h, specifically how it ages when driven daily over more testing roads. Material, design and build quality are the key factors - not how the car has been treated by previous owners.

[nikkinakkinooow]

2010 RX450h with 130,000 miles on the clock!  Yes a few squeaks & rattles, but I have too!

[Mr Vlad]

Steve are you going to be buying new or used? If new then fair enough but if used then all posts are relevant to your thread.

As for "testing " roads perhaps what your really after is a proper 4x4 of which neither RX GS or CRV are.