Potential Rx400H Buyer

[Stokewalker]

Dear All, I've never owned a Lexus before...or a hybrid, but I'm thinking of buying an RX400h...user reviews are pretty good on autotrader and here...and for say 2007 models with reasonable miles, seems like a lot of car for the money Nevertheless, I want to do my homework, so thought I would ask those with ownership experience for some advice. Would therefore really appreciate comments on the following areas:

• Servicing Costs - seen some comments suggesting around £800 for certain service milestones, but others suggesting around £200 every 12000 miles...?
• Cam belts - when should they be changed?
• Tyres costs - have seen comments suggesting £140 each for Hancooks - agree?
• Any idea on typical insurance premium for a middle aged bloke with 10+ years no claims
• Tow Bars - although I understand that you can get them fitted for around £500 by local fitter, I understand the advice is to get a Lexus fit due to complex electrics - but that this costs the thick end of a grand?
• What weight can I tow? some guides say 750kg, others 2 tonnes..
• Road Tax - is it lower due to "h" factor?
• Main Battery life...have seen threads suggesting that 2 weeks without use will flatten it - true? If so, do they have live 12v sockets with ignition off to attach trickle charger?
• I live & work in Bristol, so quite a bit of slow urban driving with the odd belt down the motorway - can I expect most urban miles under 30 mph to done on electric power?

Sorry for so many questions but your advice would be gratefully received..

Thanks in advance

Stokes

[malibu]

I'll start the ball rolling with a few answers:

Road Tax approx £250 pa.

I've just had main dealer service @ 80,000, cost £318.00

Timing belt: 100,000 miles max.

Insurance: Admiral fully comp. £220.

Expect 30-34 mpg slow urban but the RX won't do all your journey on Battery.

Plenty of threads on trickle chargers/battery life, I don't think sockets are continually live but can be meddled with.

[Isee]

Dear All, I've never owned a Lexus before...or a hybrid, but I'm thinking of buying an RX400h...user reviews are pretty good on autotrader and here...and for say 2007 models with reasonable miles, seems like a lot of car for the money Nevertheless, I want to do my homework, so thought I would ask those with ownership experience for some advice. Would therefore really appreciate comments on the following areas:

• Servicing Costs - seen some comments suggesting around £800 for certain service milestones, but others suggesting around £200 every 12000 miles...?
• Cam belts - when should they be changed?
• Tyres costs - have seen comments suggesting £140 each for Hancooks - agree?
• Any idea on typical insurance premium for a middle aged bloke with 10+ years no claims
• Tow Bars - although I understand that you can get them fitted for around £500 by local fitter, I understand the advice is to get a Lexus fit due to complex electrics - but that this costs the thick end of a grand?
• What weight can I tow? some guides say 750kg, others 2 tonnes..
• Road Tax - is it lower due to "h" factor?
• Main battery life...have seen threads suggesting that 2 weeks without use will flatten it - true? If so, do they have live 12v sockets with ignition off to attach trickle charger?
• I live & work in Bristol, so quite a bit of slow urban driving with the odd belt down the motorway - can I expect most urban miles under 30 mph to done on electric power?

Sorry for so many questions but your advice would be gratefully received..

Thanks in advance

Stokes

• Hi, I signed up with Lexus for £30 ish per month. that takes care of all the scheduled services, from cam belt at 100k to spark plugs at 120k. Outside of that, I have yet for it to break down on me (touch wood)
• haven't had changed the summer tyres yet, but the winter ones are about £100 per corner.
• 31 and 7-8 NCD, £50 per month insurance.
• Mine came with a tow bar, I have no use for nor did I pay a premium for it, there must be a few out there you can buy with one fitted?
• I heard 2 tonne, never seen a reference to 750kg max
• I have a warped sense of tax costs, can only compare it with a 5litre 10cylinder car I had before, it seems very cheap at £250 ish per year.
• I think you mean the backup Battery, not the main one (main one being the hybrid HV) I jsut came back from a 2.5 week holiday, had no issues starting the car. the 12V sockets are off when the car is off.
• My commute is 11miles each way, about 3 miles of crawling traffic, 4 miles of 40-50mph, 4 miles of 20-30mph I average 29mpg now that it has gotten colder and the engine warms up on cold start, regardless if your Battery is full. I expect you to be touching 30mpg simply because your commute is longer. (I do try to hyper MPG, but then ruin it with a racing start one or twice per commute to be in front of someone who is not letting me coast predictably :) )

[ISJason]

hello,

service for mine (not big service ) was £160... i just have mine serviced once a year, I don't bother with 6 month ones.

cam belt every 100,000 miles.. (not needed one yet.. only 67,000 miles so far.)

No Battery problems so far.

33-35mpg round town, 35-38mpg on motorway

Yes, Tires about £140 at National Tires.

The electric motors / petrol engine are all computer controlled, so you have no say in when they come in, but generally it's electric power up to 30 mph,

then petrol engine beyond that, but the hybrid system must make things more eficient as the old petrol engined RX300s only got 23mpg on a run,

and 400h owners like me are getting much more than that on a run (up to 38mpg as i mentioned)

And the engine will kick in when the computers think the hybrid cells need to be charged.

all in all,. a great car.. enjoy yours when you get it.

[nelmo]

The electric motors kick in at any speed - I can hold 70mph on a downhill stretch of motorway with electric motors alone. You get a display showing you what's being used where - I see the electric motors coming on all over the place; sometimes alone, sometimes with the engine - all very clever and explains why you do get such good economy compared to similar engined cars. I do get annoyingly obsessed by the MPG display - I managed to get it from 30 up to 38 mpg when I drove about 7 miles without the engine coming on once (couple of hills I managed to just get up and then rolled down the other side)! I had a large, annoyed queue of people behind me (used to that with the caravan) but I enjoyed it...

The 750kg towing weight is for unbraked trailers - the caravan limit is 2000kg (because caravans have brakes).

Cambelt at 100,000k miles - just had mine done at an independent dealer for about £300 - dealer wanted £500 (same cost as my previous Hyundai Santa Fe).

I specifically bought mine with the towbar on but I was quoted £450 to get a basic flange type fitted by a nearby fitter (£650 if I wanted a removable one).

[Stokewalker]

Thanks for replies, all...must admit I am quite encouraged by your feedback - and I did have a chuckle at the obsession to stay on electric..there's youtube clip of Tom whatshisname from 5th Gear doing similar in a test drive in London also holding all the traffic up!

Just another thought - the Lexus dealer in Bristol is on the wrong side of town for me - but there's Toyota dealer on my way to work which would be ideal as a service centre. Is a Lexus just a posh Toyota with similar mechanicals or do I need to stick with Lexus?

Stokes

[nelmo]

Just another thought - the Lexus dealer in Bristol is on the wrong side of town for me - but there's Toyota dealer on my way to work which would be ideal as a service centre. Is a Lexus just a posh Toyota with similar mechanicals or do I need to stick with Lexus?

Stokes

Yes, it is just a posh Toyota but as you'll probably be paying very similar labour rates, I'd rather spend the cash at the proper dealer and have 'Lexus' stamps in the book, rather than Toyota (better for re-sale).

I'd imagine it would also be easier to get your car booked in and you'll hopefully get a better loan car

Having said that, I'd rather find a cheaper independent and save the cash but that's just me...

[teejaybee]

I use Lexus Bristol, I would recommend them, its the wrong side for me too but I put up with that. One other thing to look for is the state of the alloy wheels, they bubble/corrode pretty badly and Lexus don't want to know if they are out of warranty. If the ones on your prospective car are bad demand that they be refurbished at the very least!

[spurty]

Thanks for replies, all...must admit I am quite encouraged by your feedback - and I did have a chuckle at the obsession to stay on electric..there's youtube clip of Tom whatshisname from 5th Gear doing similar in a test drive in London also holding all the traffic up!

Just another thought - the Lexus dealer in Bristol is on the wrong side of town for me - but there's Toyota dealer on my way to work which would be ideal as a service centre. Is a Lexus just a posh Toyota with similar mechanicals or do I need to stick with Lexus?

Stokes

You could use a Toyota dealer, but believe it or not they are separate from each other, support for Lexus is not offered to Toyota dealers and there is a lot of parts that Toyota dealers cannot get as its Lexus only, for instance can get front discs from Toyota but the pads its Lexus only!!

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi,

f you need any help with insurance please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.

[Stokewalker]

Thanks for replies & advice yet again. As Tom suggests perhaps I'll put up with the trek into Bristol...and check the alloys!

Stokes

[DanD]

I concur with all the above. It's just a great car.

Petrol consumption was not the main reason I bought the car and for that reason, I pay little attention to it and make the most of the power and gadgets. With this in mind, my petrol consumption is around 28-29 mpg, which I don't think is bad for a car this size and power, but I know is lower than that achieved by others. I must say that it was fun watching the display at first, but I soon got bored with it (I also found it too distracting!)

With regards to servicing costs, I would recommend that you sign up to a service plan, as mentionned by Isee. Depending on the age and mileage of the car, and based on the number of miles you cover per year, your dealer will be able to work out how many services you will need to have done, and also the type of services. They will then translate this into a monthly fee.

The advantages of this is that you typically save around 15% on the costs of the services (because the dealer knows you will be going back to them for the work), and also it's inflation proof. Services are every 10,000 miles by the way.,

[Stokewalker]

Thanks Dan, must admit my journeys tend to be relatively short and on an urban cycle..so I'm not expecting miracles on MPG. And let's see what the dealers offer on the service plan

Richard

[Stokewalker]

Hi All,

Unfortunately I got distracted by other priorities over the last few months, but back on the case now....

Do you think it's ok to go for a high mileage model (ie 70k+miles) if from a Lexus dealer?

...and also, does any body know what the main differences are between the SE-L spec and the Executive Limited edition spec?

Thanks

Richard

[NEV72]

Put it this way, if I had bought mine privately, and I'd had the same Inverter problem, I'd be 3k out of pocket, always worth going trade and getting a warranty with your purchase, hopefully you may never need the warranty, but ya never do know, my two bobs worth anyroad.

[stevet]

...and also, does any body know what the main differences are between the SE-L spec and the Executive Limited edition spec?

The SE-L has rear DVD Screens.

[nelmo]

Put it this way, if I had bought mine privately, and I'd had the same Inverter problem, I'd be 3k out of pocket, always worth going trade and getting a warranty with your purchase, hopefully you may never need the warranty, but ya never do know, my two bobs worth anyroad.

Ah, not heard of anyone who's actually had a problem with the inverter - can you elaborate?

[NEV72]

Put it this way, if I had bought mine privately, and I'd had the same Inverter problem, I'd be 3k out of pocket, always worth going trade and getting a warranty with your purchase, hopefully you may never need the warranty, but ya never do know, my two bobs worth anyroad.

Ah, not heard of anyone who's actually had a problem with the inverter - can you elaborate?

Aye basically I bought an RX400h with a buggered inverter.

[nelmo]

Put it this way, if I had bought mine privately, and I'd had the same Inverter problem, I'd be 3k out of pocket, always worth going trade and getting a warranty with your purchase, hopefully you may never need the warranty, but ya never do know, my two bobs worth anyroad.

Ah, not heard of anyone who's actually had a problem with the inverter - can you elaborate?

Aye basically I bought an RX400h with a buggered inverter.

Presumably, the car was OK when you bought it - what are the symptoms of an inverter getting 'buggered'? Did it just stop one day?

Had it had the inverter recall work done? What mileage was the car on?

Details man, details.... :)

[NEV72]

Put it this way, if I had bought mine privately, and I'd had the same Inverter problem, I'd be 3k out of pocket, always worth going trade and getting a warranty with your purchase, hopefully you may never need the warranty, but ya never do know, my two bobs worth anyroad.

Ah, not heard of anyone who's actually had a problem with the inverter - can you elaborate?

Aye basically I bought an RX400h with a buggered inverter.

Presumably, the car was OK when you bought it - what are the symptoms of an inverter getting 'buggered'? Did it just stop one day?

Yes!!! literally luckily the wife was only doing about 25mph, and not the 60mph she would have been doing 5 mins later on the bypass

Had it had the inverter recall work done? What mileage was the car on?

Yes, apparently last September by Lexus Poole, don't know what the cars mileage was on when the apparent re-call was done, but mine was at 58k when it packed up.

Details man, details.... :)

Now can you get that bright light from my eyes please, it hurts.

[ColinBarber]

most, if not all, of the earlier models have had an inverter recall which you should check for.

There are no symptoms other than it will suddenly either go into limp mode or not move at all with a bunch or warning lights.

This is a very rare thing to fail, the recalls have been proactive to stop it occurring after a manufacturing issue was found. Obviously anything can fail, including an electric motor or hybrid Battery pack. The hybrid system is covered under a 5 year, 60k mile warranty, this is above the standard 3 year warranty. Almost all the 400h will be out of warranty now though.