Help - Lexus RX400h a good buy?

[Damien]

Hello Group.

I am new and considering a RX400h for my family and I found a 2008 model with 67k miles - one owner from new.  My worry [as everyone] is about the battery pack and if there is a way to know if it is about to give way?  i would assume this is very expensive to fix and replace if it dies. From the owners experience, would you buy this car i mentioned with yr/mileage? 

One other question, how is the car on interior noise, is it well insulated from the road/tire noise ?

Any help is appreciated. 

Thank you

D.

[olliesgrandad]

Main thing to check is that it has a valid hybrid health check certificate. If so Lexus warranty the batteries now for 15 years. 

I understand that batteries generally aren't an issue. The inverter apparently is the big ticket item that can cause issues. Plenty of good advice from owners available on this forum. 

All hybrid Lexus are extremely quiet. 

[Damien]

Hello, thanks for coming back.  I am from Malta [Europe], not sure if it works the same in here about the hybrid health check certificate.  Does this come from the dealer as part of the servicing routine?  

Thanks

D.

[Herbie]

2 hours ago, Damien said:

Does this come from the dealer as part of the servicing routine? 

Yes it does, or it can be bought as a stand-alone check for about £60 (about €68) and as long as everything is alright, it gives you one year of cover.

[Damien]

Hello - thank you.  Very good info 🙂

So, does anyone exceeded the 67K miles?  how are the rx400h holding up with time vs miles? all the feedback is appreciated.  I know these are complex machines, and to be honest that is my worry about it and this will help me choose between this and a normal SUV.

Thank you

D.

[genkakuzai]

7 minutes ago, Damien said:

Hello - thank you.  Very good info 🙂

So, does anyone exceeded the 67K miles?  how are the rx400h holding up with time vs miles? all the feedback is appreciated.  I know these are complex machines, and to be honest that is my worry about it and this will help me choose between this and a normal SUV.

Thank you

D.

Mine has done over 100k, and quite frankly, that distance shouldn't worry you with any proper brand. Most decent cars are simply made to run way longer than that.

[olliesgrandad]

5 hours ago, Damien said:

Hello - thank you.  Very good info 🙂

So, does anyone exceeded the 67K miles?  how are the rx400h holding up with time vs miles? all the feedback is appreciated.  I know these are complex machines, and to be honest that is my worry about it and this will help me choose between this and a normal SUV.

Thank you

D.

You will help reduce the awful air pollution in your towns. 👍👍👍

[Damien]

1 hour ago, olliesgrandad said:

You will help reduce the awful air pollution in your towns. 👍👍👍

Well that is true but i think the 3.3L won’t help either 😄

[carl001]

My RX400h is a 2008 model and has clocked 130,000 miles. It has had both the motor Battery and main computer replaced at separate times by Lexus as it was a recall model. It remains one of the best drives I have ever had and with regular servicing has given me no other problems.

Nevertheless it is not as quiet a ride as that of luxury European SUVs. Whilst engine noise is on a par, tyre noise can be a problem. Choose your tyres well. I have found the original factory fitted Michelin ones to be the best.

[DanD]

2 hours ago, carl001 said:

My RX400h is a 2008 model and has clocked 130,000 miles. It has had both the motor battery and main computer replaced at separate times by Lexus as it was a recall model. It remains one of the best drives I have ever had and with regular servicing has given me no other problems.

Nevertheless it is not as quiet a ride as that of luxury European SUVs. Whilst engine noise is on a par, tyre noise can be a problem. Choose your tyres well. I have found the original factory fitted Michelin ones to be the best.

I am not sure I agree: you have to compare it to models of a similar age, bearing in mind that the RX400h dates back to 2003/2004.

[Damien]

All true and age does make a difference to design, however i had a Mercedes 190D 2.5 from 1991 and the insulation was amazing inside.  You could not hear the engine running although with the bonnet open it sounded like a diesel tractor, from the inside totally quiet.  So i think rather than age, it is what the factory engineers put into it to reduce noises.  For example, the Mercedes 190 had like asphalt mats on the underfloor to dampen noise from road, tires.....etc...and it worked. I never rode an RX, so i cannot compare yet.   

[carl001]

Don't get me wrong on the noise, though. When running on a good surface the Lexus feels more like a gliding in the clouds. The noise from the tyres is just my finicky niggle.

[genkakuzai]

On 5/21/2019 at 10:04 AM, carl001 said:

Nevertheless it is not as quiet a ride as that of luxury European SUVs. Whilst engine noise is on a par, tyre noise can be a problem. Choose your tyres well. I have found the original factory fitted Michelin ones to be the best.

I disagree completely. Having driven/been driven in SUV's ranging from Audi and BMW to Volvo, I can safely say that my RX 400h is noticeably quieter than any of them, by a good margin. And the RX 450h is even quieter. The only time I even hear the engine when driving is when I accelerate quite heavily.

On 5/21/2019 at 3:37 PM, carl001 said:

Don't get me wrong on the noise, though. When running on a good surface the Lexus feels more like a gliding in the clouds. The noise from the tyres is just my finicky niggle.

Out of curiosity, what tyres are you running, and at what pressure? Because that seems more likely to be the problem here... And I literally live on a mountain on the forest by a dirt road, so I drive on my fair share of sh**ty surfaces 😉

[carl001]

14 hours ago, genkakuzai said:

Out of curiosity, what tyres are you running, and at what pressure? Because that seems more likely to be the problem here... And I literally live on a mountain on the forest by a dirt road, so I drive on my fair share of sh**ty surfaces 😉

Having experimented with Pirelli and Bridgestone equivalents, I have reverted to the Michelin Latitude Tour, which were the initial factory fitted ones. The difference the Michelin ones make in tyre noise is quite impressive. With the Pirellis, for example, I couldn't even hear the radio at at any normal volume level driving on a motorway at 70miles/hr. 

I usually let the pump attendant deal with tyre pressures, but I believe they first look for info on the inside of the driver's door for guidance.

[Clive-D]

Hi - I have a 2008 RX400h, owned for just over a year. Best decision I ever made! I thought 10 years or 100,000 miles was the warranty on the Battery but tbh the Battery is rock solid. It's scare mongering. If there is a hybrid health check from Lexus, then you are fine. You can also use a specialist to repair individual cells should a problem occur, at a fraction of the price of a replacement Battery. At 67k it is barely run in. Mine was 120k when I bought it and I've done 11k since without the car missing a beat. I paid £6,500, a couple of dings but good service history. Plugs change at 60k intervals so got that done (big job!) as it needed a service, the wheels are usually rubbish, mine was no different so got them refurbed properly (not painted) at £65 each, and had the bonnet front and two corners with deep scratches painted. Cam belt and water pump changed at 100k. So I got a £46k beast of a car for about £7200 and I have no regrets. I don't use Lexus as they are way too expensive for an older car, my local garage service a couple of others. Only issues I had were oxygen sensors with an electrical specialist sorted. I replaced the mass air plow sensor which probably didn't need doing as it turned out but I have the original still as a spare. The self levelling headlights don't work and is a common problem, my lights are a bit low but pass an MOT. Again, costly to replace but YouTube have videos on cleaning and replacing the springs which is usually the issue. The sensor site on the top of the rear axle on the drivers side and get full of cr*p. If your lucky they can be cleaned up. Dead easy to remove with the wheel off. I just have the front fogs on as well which is plenty for me I have had one of the four O2 sensors fail and the garage said don't get an OEM one (£60 or so) as they won't turn off the engine warning light so I had to bite the bullet and paid £193 for the Lexus one. If was smooth before it is even better now so worth the spend!

So back to the Battery. Toyota state the hybrid batteries in their cars are zero maintenance and are expected to last the life of the car, which is 18 years (I think). Search here for Battery issues, very few. Everyone seems to worry about hybrid batteries. As a rule they are way more reliably than the engines they support! The pulling power and acceleration is breathtaking. On a journey I will sometimes turn off the music and sit in silence. Literally. No bumps, no creaks and squeaks, tiny bit of wind noise. It's surreal, feels more like flying than driving. I love it. Put 15 bags of gravel in the other day, say 30kg a bag, that's 450kg. Barely noticed it was there!!

Buy it if the history is good, walk if no history. I went 200 miles to get mine. I had the car surveyed by Click Mechanic which I would highly recommend because as you say, these are very complex cars and can be expensive if they go wrong. The have a 3.3L V6 engine, it eats miles. Drive with a feather light right foot, lift of whenever you can, keep 70 and under on journeys, that way I get 34mpg in summer, 29/30mpg in winter cos the engine works the heater. Trick I do is use the heated seat instead of the heater as much as I can.

Good luck!

 

[Damien]

Thank you Clive-D - very informative. 

[Damien]

I am still on the hunt...what i noticed is that the leather seats seems to not hold up very well by time.  I seen a couple under 80k miles are they all had cracked leather...is this normal on lexus? or maybe the  sun is the root cause of this.  

Any feedback?  cracked seats will make a nice car looks bad. 

[Lost it]

In my humble experience, the "Service history" is a stamp in the book and that's it. Even when you have a receipt that says the work was done, if it is hard to do it won't have been because the mechanics will be on a "menu time" to do the service so they check, measure sometimes, but if they can get away with saving some time they will. Wheels won't need to come off if they can see the pads, so they won't check for sticking calipers unless the customer mentions it, and with a brand like Lexus I'd imagine the chances that the driver would notice something like a brake dragging would be slim?

It's only when they get older/middle aged and are bought by someone who gives a monkeys that they get the servicing they should have.IMHO.

I have the state of my transmission oil to back me up on this...