My First 500 miles with my 2017 RX450h Premier

olliesgrandad · December 7, 2019

Well I've now had the car for 2 weeks and covered my first 500 miles. There are a couple of minor issues needing attention, firstly some damage to the lower front chrome grill surround which seems to have occurred between viewing the car and collection. I have also noticed a very small area of corrosion in the centre of the rear offside wheel which as you know was a problem with my previous RX. The car is going into Cheltenham Lexus on Monday to assess these matters and to put my personalised plates on the car.

When I first had the car the tailgate was reluctant to open from the remote, but that now seems to have resolved itself, although opening by using the rear badge is very difficult.

I have yet to find a way to get the navigation screen to go into night mode, but will no doubt eventually get there.

I have managed to get the Lexus Link to give the service history and I see the car has just had front discs and pads and also rear brake pads fitted. It runs beautifully quiet and am sure it is quicker than the last version. My phone app is giving an average mpg so far of 34.6, so I am well impressed. I am sure this will improve once I get used to the car.

The seats are superbly comfortable and the visibility is much better in the 'A' pillar area and to the rear of the 'B' pillars when pulling out of junctions.

The 360 degree camera system is a boon together with the blind spot monitors and cross traffic warning. The lock when parking seems slightly better too.

Jury is out on the photosensitive outside mirrors and the auto main beam system,but the HUD is great as long as it is turned up bright when wearing my polarised varifocal sunglasses.

Still much to learn and adjust, but it is a great drive so far.

Barry14UK · December 7, 2019

Thank you for your experience so far. I am sure members will be interested in this and your further thoughts in due course.

Another aspect you might care to comment on is how you feel you new chariot rides compared to your previous one.

As regards reading the HUD, I find this difficult with my polarized sun glasses. These were custom made for me with the darkest tint permitted for driving (according to my Occultist) and as a temporary measure I have resorted to an off the peg pair of lighter tint before getting replacement customized one that are less strongly tinted.

Correction. For 'Occultist' substitute 'Optician' - can't get away with anything on this forum!

Edited December 8, 2019 by Barry14UK
error in script

Illogan · December 8, 2019

1 hour ago, Barry14UK said:

Thank you for your experience so far. I am sure members will be interested in this and your further thoughts in due course.

Another aspect you might care to comment on is how you feel you new chariot rides compared to your previous one.

As regards reading the HUD, I find this difficult with my polarized sun glasses. These were custom made for me with the darkest tint permitted for driving (according to my Occultist) and as a temporary measure I have resorted to an off the peg pair of lighter tint before getting replacement customized one that are less strongly tinted.

Barry - - -- If your Occultist has been speccing your sun glasses, I suspect there's devilry afoot!

Zotto · December 8, 2019

10 hours ago, olliesgrandad said:

When I first had the car the tailgate was reluctant to open from the remote, but that now seems to have resolved itself, although opening by using the rear badge is very difficult.

The trick is to keep hand over the badge for 2 seconds without moving, but if you don't find comfortable this way to open, you can press the button just a bit lower under the badge ; another large button near this one locks all doors.

Quote

I have yet to find a way to get the navigation screen to go into night mode, but will no doubt eventually get there.

Give a look to clock settings, night mode should act automatically with sunset; if you like you can also switch screen off by menu.

Barry14UK · December 8, 2019

9 hours ago, Illogan said:

Barry - - -- If your Occultist has been speccing your sun glasses, I suspect there's devilry afoot!

Ha ha, yes comes of using spell check! Will try a different word I am more familiar with, 'Optician' (The Devil is in the detail (or spelling).

olliesgrandad · December 8, 2019

11 hours ago, Barry14UK said:

Thank you for your experience so far. I am sure members will be interested in this and your further thoughts in due course.

Another aspect you might care to comment on is how you feel you new chariot rides compared to your previous one.

The ride in normal mode is very compliant and less 'edgy' than the previous car. Car is on Bridgestone.

It certainly cushions the local speed bumps far more effectively. The steering also feels much lighter, but when using radar cruise it somehow feels tighter. I am leaving the lane departure 'on' though.

i-s · December 8, 2019

Simple solution for the HUD.

Drive with your head tilted at a 45 degree angle. One way it will disappear completely, the other way it will come up to full brightness (at least with mypolarised sunglasses - assuming similar direction for yours. This method won't be inconvenient or uncomfortable in the slightest.

Congrats on the motor, enjoy!

Lager shandy · December 8, 2019

All sounds good news regarding your new Rx ,can I ask a few questions regarding your old and new ride money wise .

how much was your old rx

how long did you own and mileage covered

trade in amount they gave you on your old rx or private sell price

and finally cost of newer rx

I'm sure we talk about most things but money is always a bit a taboo.

olliesgrandad · December 8, 2019

37 minutes ago, Lager shandy said:

All sounds good news regarding your new Rx ,can I ask a few questions regarding your old and new ride money wise .

how much was your old rx

how long did you own and mileage covered

trade in amount they gave you on your old rx or private sell price

and finally cost of newer rx

I'm sure we talk about most things but money is always a bit a taboo.

1.£28000 but trade in clouds the figures

2. 18 Months 34,000 miles in that time

3. Cost to change is the relevant money as you can juggle the figures any way you like which was exactly what happened to make the deal work Cost to change was £16300, but the new car is a much higher spec than the last one e.g the last one retailed new at £48000 and this one would have been £62,000

olliesgrandad · December 8, 2019

Finally solved the navigation day /night screen setting.

On this car you go into menu and avoid clock settings.

You then have a row of icons to choose from.

Ignore these, next to the phone Battery icon in the top right hand corner of the screen is a small rectangular icon marked display. Click on this and the day and night setting menu is displayed.

Spottedlaurel · December 8, 2019

Interesting to read your observations after you'd had a good few miles in the previous-gen model.

Pleasing to hear that the ride is better, I don't think my gen 3 is particularly good in this regard.

Being quicker, quieter and more economical all sounds good too.

How does the boot space and general practicality compare?

Unless I decide to buy my current one at the end of the PCP, I can see the 4th gen model being my next choice in a couple of years' time. At present I can't see anything that suits what I would like any better. The choice of big Japanese estates, SUV or not, is far too small.

1 hour ago, olliesgrandad said:

Finally solved the navigation day /night screen setting.

Can this be adjusted on the gen 3 model? I keep looking but haven't yet found anything......

olliesgrandad · December 8, 2019

My gen 3 certainly changed between day and night but can't remember how to change it. Boot space seems about the same. My new car has a Lexus boot liner which has adjustable alloy dividers which are handy. Boot space is slightly Bigger. Going from the Advance to the Premier spec has added so many improved features. Visibility when manoeuvring is so much better and the heating and ventilation system is much improved (previously my wife constantly complained about the air con blowing in her face).

The navigation and rear cross traffic warnings are very similar to my 2015 GS300h which was far superior to the gen 3 RX450h.

olliesgrandad · December 9, 2019

Got my private plates on the car today at Lexus Cheltenham. There is some damage to the front lower chrome grill so they are ordering one in. Apparently entire front of car needs removing to fix it. I also showed them a tiny patch or corrosion on the centre of the rear offside wheel so they have ordered a new wheel under warranty. I will keep a close eye on the others before the 3 years warranty expires at the end of January.

As usual great service at Cheltenham, plates made and fitted in the time I had coffee.

olliesgrandad · December 14, 2019

Well now covered just over 1000 miles and car is definitely better on fuel the gen 3 despite the cold and wet weather. Noticed Last night that some cretin has put a small ding in the Tailgate which exactly matches the height and dimension of a supermarket trolley handle 😠

Paint not damaged so paintless smart repair will hopefully sort it out..

royoftherovers · December 15, 2019

9 hours ago, olliesgrandad said:

Well now covered just over 1000 miles and car is definitely better on fuel the gen 3 despite the cold and wet weather. Noticed Last night that some cretin has put a small ding in the Tailgate which exactly matches the height and dimension of a supermarket trolley handle 😠

Paint not damaged so paintless smart repair will hopefully sort it out..

That`s why we ask the Supermarket to come to us Les.

Hope the repair is seamless.

stringbender · December 16, 2019

Sorry to hear that Les. I hated parking the old car but the new one is even worse. Last month I parked in Bath and the car park was quite empty. When I got back ( still laughing from Jasper Carrot ! ) I couldn't believe that despite all the space some twit had parked right up close to me. Why do they do this ?

Alan

olliesgrandad · December 16, 2019

1 minute ago, stringbender said:

Sorry to hear that Les. I hated parking the old car but the new one is even worse. Last month I parked in Bath and the car park was quite empty. When I got back ( still laughing from Jasper Carrot ! ) I couldn't believe that despite all the space some twit had parked right up close to me. Why do they do this ?

Alan

Goodness only knows. I find that often I pull into a space in a row of empty spaces and before I can get out someone parks next to me me. Why? 😖

i-s · December 16, 2019

Goodness only knows. I find that often I pull into a space in a row of empty spaces and before I can get out someone parks next to me me. Why? 😖

I can only surmise that a whole lot of people are stupid sheep.

Once I was driving around the M60 in winter. 2 lanes of standing traffic sitting in slushy crap, while lane 3 was covered in pristine untouched snow (about 2" depth). Fresh snow like that has more grip than slush, and there were no markers or overheads saying that the lane was closed, so I drove in it - slowly and gently, but as I did so people started pulling out from lane 2 behind me and following me down lane 3. I drove about 2 miles past standing traffic in a perfectly valid lane that literally thousands of other cars had refused to use. Once I had done so others followed, but I couldn't understand how that had come about. People just didn't want to drive on the fresh snow?

malcolmw · December 16, 2019

People only seem to think of themselves and do not look at the overall picture. If i see a 2 door coupe, I always park well away from it because I know it is very difficult to get out due to the long doors. I hope people offer me the same courtesy when I park my LC500 but most people just do not observe what is going on and then think about what they see.

When I had a DB9, I parked in a car park in Chichester and allowed a good space next to me for access. When I returned, someone had parked a Smart in my carefully graduated gap thus rendering it impossible for me to get in. I had to enlist the help of a young (and very slim) lad to squeeze in and roll the car forward. Just dumb.

Illogan · December 19, 2019

On 12/16/2019 at 8:46 AM, olliesgrandad said:

Goodness only knows. I find that often I pull into a space in a row of empty spaces and before I can get out someone parks next to me me. Why? 😖

They want to bathe in your reflected glory

or: They want to reflect in your bathed glory

or: They want your reflection in the bath

(Edit - ignore the last one please)

rayaans · December 20, 2019

The screen should go light and dark automatically. That's the factory setting and mine does that from new.

The diamond cut wheels will corrode on these. The f sport ones won't as they're painted.

You can also change the sensitivity of the "footless" badge trunk opener in the settings somewhere

olliesgrandad · December 20, 2019

46 minutes ago, rayaans said:

The screen should go light and dark automatically. That's the factory setting and mine does that from new.

The diamond cut wheels will corrode on these. The f sport ones won't as they're painted.

You can also change the sensitivity of the "footless" badge trunk opener in the settings somewhere

Strangely my touch badge tailgate lifter now works fine. I couldn't find anything in the settings menu. Something else I learned this week was that you can stop and start the tailgate height from the button in the bottom of the tailgate as well as in the menu settings.

rayaans · December 20, 2019

6 minutes ago, olliesgrandad said:

Strangely my touch badge tailgate lifter now works fine. I couldn't find anything in the settings menu. Something else I learned this week was that you can stop and start the tailgate height from the button in the bottom of the tailgate as well as in the menu settings.

I think it's in the dials menu not the large screen menus. The sensitivity is much better on max it opens up very well

JBPRX400h · December 21, 2019

My 2017 Gen4 RX450h has just developed its first foible.

When the rear hatch is opening it judders slightly but opens fully and then closes smoothly. It has been doing this for a few weeks now but doesn't seem to be getting any worse (or better!)

Took it into Lexus Milton Keynes this morning and they have tried lubricating the struts (do the struts contain the motor?) and all seemed well when I left. However, when I opened the hatch this afternoon the judder was back again. They did say to bring it back if it started playing up again so will try again after Christmas.

Has anybody else experienced this?

rayaans · December 21, 2019

50 minutes ago, JBPRX400h said:

My 2017 Gen4 RX450h has just developed its first foible.

When the rear hatch is opening it judders slightly but opens fully and then closes smoothly. It has been doing this for a few weeks now but doesn't seem to be getting any worse (or better!)

Took it into Lexus Milton Keynes this morning and they have tried lubricating the struts (do the struts contain the motor?) and all seemed well when I left. However, when I opened the hatch this afternoon the judder was back again. They did say to bring it back if it started playing up again so will try again after Christmas.

Has anybody else experienced this?

Mine is still smooth. However, I do remember there was a recall involving the rear hatch and ECU as well as the motor so perhaps it's related.