Which Rx Should I Buy

[Boxbrownie]

ill stick with putting petrol in my RX, if i have a long journey ill use my 60mpg golf, problem solved

another view point

£2000 would buy a very nice used diesel car that would return in excess of 40mpg, which including tax, insurance etc etc, would probably still work out cheaper than fitting an LPG kit to a RX long term

and means you have a car for you and one for the wife/husband

If we have a long joureny we TAKE the Lexus........its what it excells at :winky:

[artherdaily]

ill stick with putting petrol in my RX, if i have a long journey ill use my 60mpg golf, problem solved

another view point

£2000 would buy a very nice used diesel car that would return in excess of 40mpg, which including tax, insurance etc etc, would probably still work out cheaper than fitting an LPG kit to a RX long term

and means you have a car for you and one for the wife/husband

If we have a long joureny we TAKE the Lexus........its what it excells at :winky:

cant really argue with that

[DanD]

Yep... ideal for long journey.

Drove from Winchester to Leeds and back last week with overnight stay.

Did not get stuck in traffic as such, but there were a lot of roadworks with speed limited to 50.

Used cruise control as much as possible and averaged 32.3 mpg over all. Can't complain with that.

[Parrot of Doom]

I had a BRC system fitted to my 98 LS. The LPG detractors don't seem to know what they're talking about. A professionally-installed good quality LPG system is entirely trouble-free and will, in the long run, save you a lot of money. And I sold mine to upgrade to the RX in under 24 hours, it practically drove itself off the shelf. I was getting the equivalent of about 45mpg on the motorway. Power was about 10% less (negligible on a powerful car like the LS) and the throttle response was slightly less smooth from idle. That's about it. A powerful, silky-smooth V8 that costs as much as a diesel to run? Why not.

[stevet]

"A powerful, silky-smooth V8 that costs as much as a diesel to run?" Sounds just like a 400h

[Benz man]

Thank you everyone for your insightful comments. For the record. I've been quoted £900 for an LPG conversion by a specialist here

in Northern Ireland, but to be honest I'm now leaning towards buying a 400h

[Parrot of Doom]

£900 isn't enough to guarantee a good installation.

[Boxbrownie]

I have read that there are several installers using a new Prins new system for around the £1000 mark, I think the LPG bubble has burst now that cost per litre has risen so much over the past few years, people are seeing now understanding that the running costs for a £2000 system just didn't work out sensibly, unless you are a dyed in the wool LPG fan.

I guess the install costs and component costs are being slashed to keep the businesses afloat.

[Boxbrownie]

£900 isn't enough to guarantee a good installation.

Probably true, although it depends how much the installers and suppliers are willing to cut thier costs to stay alive.

[Parrot of Doom]

Well it's at least two days work to install such a system professionally (there's a lot of work), and that doesn't include the LPG kit, tank, etc. I don't see how, paying £900, anyone could install anything like that to a good standard. Unless, of course, the LPG kit was second hand.

I paid around £1800 to have my LS400 changed and the system was flawless over the 50,000 miles or so I did on it. There were other conversions posted in the LS forum - let's just say that some of them left a lot to be desired.

I thought about having the RX converted, but to be honest, it's such a nice car and as it's more fuel efficient than the LS, the savings aren't as great.

[Boxbrownie]

No its a new system, apparently brought out to cut the costs of the installation.

[NEV72]

Well, just returned home tonight after taking the RX400h on a good testing drive, was hoping the weather would be as bad as last couple of weeks, so as to see if the inverter problem returned, but it's been absolutely lovely, with only the odd spitting of rain .

Started out on Saturday, from Devon up to Melton Mowbray, then over to Derby, from Derby to Snowdonia, down the west coast of Wales to Brecon, and back home to Devon, a total of 850 miles, much impressed with the 30.7 mpg it averaged out to, having taken on motorways, country lanes and mountainous roads, encountering no problems on the way whatsoever. Certainly a happy chappy.

[Boxbrownie]

Only did about 150 miles yesterday across Essex and Suffolk to look at a new house, dual carriagway, A roads and tiny country lanes....returned 33.6mpg, not bad at all I thought..........for a 140mph 0-60 in 7 seconds..........pretty good really.

Oh yes.....but I was in the ML.....Lexxy was resting on the drive

[NEV72]

Well aye, I could have taken the diesel Astra and got better economy, but cramped up after that sort of mileage, I would have ended up looking like a Chinese woman's bound up foot.

[stevet]

I could of done that in the ISF 170mph 0-60 in 4.7 seconds and 32 mpg (taking it easy!)

But the RX is much more relaxing over distances :)

[Boxbrownie]

But my point was that I did it in my ML350Cdi.........bigger in fact than the RX and just as luxurious (and more economical)......not like the rattly Astra or the bone jarring ISF

:D

Don't worry though our RX is staying with us.......it still feels like a travelling gentlemans club and we like that

[NEV72]

Came across this spreadsheet I made up, for when I was seeing if LPG would be viable to install on my RX300, obviously you are governed by the amount of mileage per year you do, the more mileage the more viable it becomes, this was worked out on 23,000 miles. Pretty much anybody with a minimal amount of EXCEL spreadsheets can do the same as I have done here, just change the miles per year, petrol cost per litre, LPG cost per litre, to suit.

23,000 miles per year

10,000 miles per year

5,000 miles per year

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m10/NEV72/lpg5000peryear.jpg

[NEV72]

5,000 miles per year

[katabrontes]

I did some sums when I was considering buying a RX last year. Assuming costs to buy or £10-12K for RX350, £14-16K for RX300 and £18-22K for RX450 (all less than 40K miles) and taking current fuel costs in France (where we do most of our mileage) and UK car tax costs etc. On 6K miles per year and with LPG conversion cost at £1.9K (my quote) the payback for the extra costs was 4.2 years for LPG, 5.6 years for RX400H and 8 years for RX450H compared with buying the 350. I haven't allowed for resale values or annual routine servicing in these costs but as I was advised that the hybrids should probably be serviced by a Lexus agent (although Colin Barber did not agree with this) the actual payback times may be a bit different.

I decided to buy the 350 and haven't regretted it. A these do not seem to be imported into UK any more if I stick with RX I will replace it with a 450H in about 4-5-years.