RX300? Is it a good vehicle to get?

[Imran Mirza]

Good Afternoon everyone,

As I have mentioned in previous posts, we just acquired our first Lexus being a CT200h Premier model. Very happy with this compact eco car that helps support our daily driving habits. However, alongside our small cars that we've owned, we have always owned a large vehicle ours being a Nissan Elgrand E50 from 1999. We were once a huge family of 7 so needed the facility to get transported around, but also for our tip runs and general long jounreys this was our go to. The MoT on this beast is now run out and we have no intention on keeping it, so are looking to sell it through other forums such as the ElgrandOC Forum.

 

However, whilst scanning AutoTrader, I found a rather lovely 2001 Lexus RX300 for just under £2000. I looked at its MoT history and it's absolutely sublime, I mean its done 116,000 miles and passed all the MoTs, meanwhile our Elgrand from 1999 has done 106,000 miles and its MoT history is a bit all over the place.

I guess my question to RX300 owners is what makes them so great, and whether or not it would be worth considering purchasing one even for the short term as a odd job vehicle?

 

Many thanks for your time in advance 🙂

Imran

[Jaystar77]

Owned one for years now, it's still used by my mum who adores it.

A very relaxing drive, a lot more comfortable than most, proper armchair on wheels.  Good load lugger, plenty of room with the seats down.  Had to patch a sill last year, brake calipers can give jip and the exhaust rusted off it but pound for pound one of the best buys I've made.

Thirsty big brute though but I can hardly talk 😄

[Tomtit]

My wife has been running one for almost a year and she is happy with it. She likes the high seating position and comfortable seats. We recently carried a 2 seater settee in it. There is plenty of carrying capacity. Fuel economy is low 20's m.p.g. If you are buying one check for signs of water ingress. It can be a big job to cure it. I had to strip out all the interior to trace and rectify the leaks.

[Imran Mirza]

On 11/17/2023 at 6:12 PM, Jaystar77 said:

Owned one for years now, it's still used by my mum who adores it.

A very relaxing drive, a lot more comfortable than most, proper armchair on wheels.  Good load lugger, plenty of room with the seats down.  Had to patch a sill last year, brake calipers can give jip and the exhaust rusted off it but pound for pound one of the best buys I've made.

Thirsty big brute though but I can hardly talk 😄

Haha, our current Nissan Elgrand is achieving 18 MPG around town at most if we're lucky, although to be fair we can be heavy footed while driving it. Drinks fuel like there's no tomorrow 🙂

The spec on the RX300 I was looking at was incredible, the only thing that stood out was the honey coloured wood blend on the steering wheel and the cassette player as well, as these are some of the features that are in our Elgrand 🙂

[Imran Mirza]

On 11/17/2023 at 10:34 PM, Tomtit said:

My wife has been running one for almost a year and she is happy with it. She likes the high seating position and comfortable seats. We recently carried a 2 seater settee in it. There is plenty of carrying capacity. Fuel economy is low 20's m.p.g. If you are buying one check for signs of water ingress. It can be a big job to cure it. I had to strip out all the interior to trace and rectify the leaks.

Heard about some of the water ingress issues that they can have in another thread as well. A high seating position is ideal. Unfortunately the RX300 I was looking at has been sold but I'll continue to look for an old Lexus project. 🙂

[PCM]

Always... check for rust and corrosion underneath, and 'hidden' areas...

Rust killed my RX300 sadly. The rest of it was fine, generally.