RX 450H - is it robust?

[darrude]

On 4/12/2019 at 4:48 PM, tanimbar said:

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.

 

 

 

All car bodies flex, it the interfaces and material choices that cause BSR (buzz squeak and rattles).  I'm guessing that you are like me and quite prone to it.  My Is isn't great for this, but I have spent quite a bit of time going round solving the issues and now only on the worst roads do I get any issues on my nearly 5 year old IS.  

We have had 2 RX's in our houshold, and I'm afraid to say neither have been better than the IS for these issues, however a bit of anti creak tape, cleaning the door seals works wonders.  There are still a few outstanding on our RX450h that I have yet to resolve, but only poor road surfaces and certain conditions show any type of rattle now.

PS, My Last job was an Interior Design Engineer at Bentley Motors, which is why I'm so tuned in to rattles.

[tanimbar]

Darrude, thanks for the reply. That is exactly the sort of information I was after. Now, if I buy an RX, my expectations will be set at a realistic level, i.e. "I'm afraid to say neither [RXs] have been better than the IS for these issues [BSR (buzz squeak and rattles)]".

Out of interest, and because of your Bentley background, did you buy Lexus partly because you decided its cars (IS and RX) are the least prone to BSR compared to other comparable/affordable makes/models? Thanks.

[darrude]

I wanted an reliable, comfortable, efficient, safe motorway car when I got mine, and this ticked all the boxes.  I was torn between the IS, a Jag XE and BMW 420d.  Reliability was definitely why I went Lexus.

My Wife had a Rav4, but after driving mine wanted an automatic and also a petrol so the RX hybrid made sense.  I really wish we'd kept the RX400h, I think that was my favourite Lexus.

Wasn't thinking rattles at all when buying, to be honest, I'm a bit disappointed in that regards, worst car I've owned for rattles since a Rover 200!  Mine is pretty much 100% rattle free now, get yourself some 'anti creek tape' from eBay and stuff it in any panel that rattles.

I am exceptionally sensitive to it, at one point I got annoyed with a rattle I couldn't find which turned out to be my new watch (weirdly only rattled on one road in the same spot every time!)

From Driving quite a lot of hire car's Golf interiors seem very good. 

The most annoying rattles on the IS were the door seals (sounded like it was the belt adjuster mech) and the door switch pack trim, if that helps).

 

[JD82]

Hi  - new owner of a 2010 RX450h (67k miles) and pretty happy with it as a family car. The only thing bothering me is a creaking / squeaking noise over speed bumps and potholed rural car parks etc, only from the rear though. A couple of posts on here mention something similar it seems... is this something worn out (bushes etc?) or just a characteristic of this model? Thanks