Rx300sel So Far

[RxMike]

John

In answer to your econ question.

The car has now done 7000 miles. My driving consists mostly of round town with the odd few short trips down the motorway. I never tend to take the car over 70 mph unless I overtake, tending to try and keep the cruise control on with speed set to about 67mph on the speedo.

Generally the car returns around 24/25mpg with this type of driving per tank, more if I do more motorway miles.

If I 'Gas It' around town which I did for one tank just to see the results I got a return of 20.9mpg, but this was driving with no concern for the fuel consumption whatsoever and quite honestly also results in a pretty unpleasant ride in this type of vehicle. (I use the mini cooper for gassing it, and that is only returning 26.9 mpg in this cold when driven hard!).

THE UP SIDE:

I have done a couple of long distance drives with practically nothing except motorway and duel carriage ways, again using the cruise control at around 67-75 mph I returned regular figures of 30.9 and 31.5 mpg which I think is exceptionally good for this type of vehicle with this size engine. On one occasion I recall a figure of 32 mpg!

I have noticed that the colder ambient temperatures of late have caused the fuel consumption to go up in the order of approx 2 mpg/tank, but this is to be expected in colder weather.

Generally I feel the car has good economy for its size and the published figures of 16.7 mpg urban for this vehicle I feel are total rubbish. You would have to do kick down gettaways every time to see this type of consumption me thinks.

Hope this helps

Mike

[RxMike]

Dear all

I'd thought I would update this thread a little as it was started by me a long time ago and seems to have been viewed with some interest.

My RX 300 SEL is now 10 months old and has covered 7000 miles. It will be going back to the dealer for its first service shortly.

During this time the car has started to bed in well. A few rattles and creaks have come and gone and now there are only really two cabin noises that I intend to have looked at next service. One is a small rattle from the dash in the vicinity of the glove box when the cabin temp is below approx 15 C and the other is more of an intermittant creaking from the tailgate, after it is closed. Its definatly the tailgate as the noise can appear with or without the rear parcel shelf cover thingy fitted.

I believe Lexus are aware of the dash rattle and a TSB is in effect to rectify it.

Other than these minor points the rest of the cabin is faultless and quiet.

I have a few stone chips on the front of the bonnet and the car seems to collect them in this area quite easily. My dealer is aware of this and was not slow in coming forward to have the problem addresssed and looked at as a possible warranty issue, but this will no doubt be raised at its first service soon. I am a little reluctant to have the bonnet respayed due to possible colour match differences, but I also don't want the bonnet of my car carrying too many stone chips.

The rest of the vehicles paint is excellent, maybe I've just been unlucky with the leading edge of the bonnett.

I had an issue with an intermittant rough gear change when accelerating away from slow speed. Basically the car seemed to snatch from 1st into 2nd gear causing a slight lurching motion. A fix from Lexus was to disconnect the Battery for a short period to reset the learning capabilities of the gearbox.

There is quite a lengthy thread on this subject so I will not cover it here suffice to say that the car seems a lot smoother since this was done, yet it is possible under the right conditions to force the car to lurch when accelerating from slow speed if driven in an (in)appropriate manor.

I know this gearchange issue has been quite an imotive subject on this forum, it certainly concerned me for a while, yet in general I find the cars transmission to be silky smooth and certainly not a cause for concern for prospective purchasers as some threads i have read may have you believe.

I have found a small area of surface corrosion around the base of the rear offside gas strut. I don't know if anyone else has got this? I appreciate this is well inside the wheel arch behind the wheel but what anoys me is that is it just visable above the 12 O clock position above the tyre when viewed from the side. I have not told my dealer of this yet, I'll wait until the next service.

All of the above only really highlights the small problems that I have noticed with the car in the last 10 months. It does not say what a pleasure this car is to own and drive, that is something that can only be experienced for yourself. I suspect that most of the people that read this may be thinking to purchase one of these vehicles. Since new I have not returned this car to the dealer once in nearly a year other than to have a rear brake light switch replaced following a recall notice,(See 'great service' thread), yet the car has been 100% reliable. The above really is the worst I can find in this vehicle and I am confident that even these small issues will be resolved at its first annual service.

I will update this thread as time goes on and my experience with the car and the servicing continues, but for now I'm very pleased.

RxMike. :D

[Lexusjohn]

John

In answer to your econ question.

The car has now done 7000 miles. My driving consists mostly of round town with the odd few short trips down the motorway. I never tend to take the car over 70 mph unless I overtake, tending to try and keep the cruise control on with speed set to about 67mph on the speedo.

Generally the car returns around 24/25mpg with this type of driving per tank, more if I do more motorway miles.

If I 'Gas It' around town which I did for one tank just to see the results I got a return of 20.9mpg, but this was driving with no concern for the fuel consumption whatsoever and quite honestly also results in a pretty unpleasant ride in this type of vehicle. (I use the mini cooper for gassing it, and that is only returning 26.9 mpg in this cold when driven hard!).

THE UP SIDE:

I have done a couple of long distance drives with practically nothing except motorway and duel carriage ways, again using the cruise control at around 67-75 mph I returned regular figures of 30.9 and 31.5 mpg which I think is exceptionally good for this type of vehicle with this size engine. On one occasion I recall a figure of 32 mpg!

I have noticed that the colder ambient temperatures of late have caused the fuel consumption to go up in the order of approx 2 mpg/tank, but this is to be expected in colder weather.

Generally I feel the car has good economy for its size and the published figures of 16.7 mpg urban for this vehicle I feel are total rubbish. You would have to do kick down gettaways every time to see this type of consumption me thinks.

Hope this helps

Mike

←

Thanks Mike , I will see what the main agent has to say on mine, best regards John

[harlowrog]

and the other is more of an intermittant creaking from the tailgate, after it is closed. Its definatly the tailgate as the noise can appear with or without the rear parcel shelf cover thingy fitted.

Mike,

I had a noise/squeak coming from the rear when driving which was driving me nuts, I too thought it was the shelf (which it wasn't). I finally tracked it to the rear seat armrest, when in the up position it was creaking as it rubbed against the adjoining seats, I simply lowered the armrest and no more squeaking!

This may or maynot be your problem but as you did so much work on the lurching gearbox I thought I at least had to try and help.

Regards

Roger.

[RxMike]

and the other is more of an intermittant creaking from the tailgate, after it is closed. Its definatly the tailgate as the noise can appear with or without the rear parcel shelf cover thingy fitted.

Mike,

I had a noise/squeak coming from the rear when driving which was driving me nuts, I too thought it was the shelf (which it wasn't). I finally tracked it to the rear seat armrest, when in the up position it was creaking as it rubbed against the adjoining seats, I simply lowered the armrest and no more squeaking!

This may or maynot be your problem but as you did so much work on the lurching gearbox I thought I at least had to try and help.

Regards

Roger.

←

Roger

Thanx for the info, I will put this to the test, but I think its the actual trim on the inside of the tailgate itself. I suspect the tailgate door is not always pulling itself as hard closed as it should - hence the creak, but will try the armrest in the back all the same

Thanx

Mike

[Realspeed]

Had same squeak on my SE-L traced it to boot shelf support arm being loose in ball and socket when in closed position. Suggest either remove support arm or pad it out inside socket.

Realspeed

[PCM]

An old thread but fascinating to read, as an SE-L owner too...