Wife's Rx 300Se

[plastic orange]

Picked up a 2005 RX 300 SE with 100k on the clock to replace my wife's Yaris T sport (grandkids to transport).

I purchased the car locally - about £1k cheaper than others I'd seen, but in much better nick coming with a complete lexus stamped book. We weren't too sure if cambelt had been changed, but dealer said he'd do it along with full service, plus powdercoat the wheels(did them anthracite to compliment the metallic black/grey paintwork) and put 6 months tax on it.

Observations so far, and comparisons to my Lexus LS 400 dhp.

Build quality as I'd expect, but underneath not as well protected as I'd like - not as good as the LS, but that was £20k more expensive new.

Driving, gearbox nice and smooth, all controls easy to use and less body roll than we'd thought it would have.

Fuel consumption - much the same as the LS really.

General - it's a nice place to be, and certainly a cut above the other SUV's we'd looked at.

Niggles - none really, but had to reset a few things including windows due to Battery being disconnected.

Hopefully we'll keep it for around 5 years, or until something that takes our fancy comes along.

Future work on it will really only be general maintenance and apply better protection underneath.

Pete

[ChrisKaye]

Hi Pete,

Can you try the sun/moon roof controls and see if they work as expected?

Would be interested to know if the Tilt button does something different to the Slide one!

Really enjoying the smooth ride of the RX at the mo, funny how quickly you get used to it!

Chris.

[plastic orange]

I'll do that tomorrow Chris and let you know, although I did try it before I bought it and it worked as I expected.

Pete

[plastic orange]

I tried the roof this morning and as expected I had to reset it (had to do windows too) because Battery had been disconnected. It's now working as it should (as you found out on your own thread)

Pete

[plastic orange]

Fuel consumption so far - on computer is 21.5 with mixed driving of over 150 miles. This isn't as good as my LS, but will be going on my usual trip to Aberdeen on Sunday where my LS manages 30 mpg, so will be a good comparison.

Pete

[ColinBarber]

The RX is unlikely be as good as the LS for fuel consumption. I suspect you will get around 27 mpg.

[Boxbrownie]

24.5mpg.............

Anymore takers for the trip sweepstake? :D

[ChrisKaye]

Hi Pete,

Just filled up for the Fourth time today and am averaging approx 23.7 mpg - that's with maybe a quarter of in-town driving and the rest is mainly B roads around Dorset (we don't have any motorways in the county!) not bad for 12 years and 105k on the clock.

So far it's doing about the same to (a slightly larger) tankful as our MR2 and Celica, so not a huge shock to the wallet for the extra luxury.... Good job we've never had a Yaris or something that only sipped fuel!!

Thanks,

Chris.

[plastic orange]

23.9 for round trip - mostly dual carriageway at cruise controlled 75 plus a bit of A roads. Not as good as anticipated, but it is what it is.

Strange to think that my most economical car is my 5.7 litre Morris Minor.

Pete

[Boxbrownie]

Do I get a free tank of fuel? :D

[plastic orange]

If only. Having said that, you were spot on at 24.5 mpg on the outward trip, but return trip knocked it down a bit.

Pete

[PCM]

Any more observations 3 months on?

[plastic orange]

We're still pleased with the car. I had to get the air con re-gassed as I think the supplying garage must have disconnected things during cambelt change as I'd tested it worked before purchase, then no need until recently. Fuel consumption is only downside, although I managed almost 28mpg on a trip of 140 miles each way on mixed roads, but was cruising with air con on and at an indicated 80 on motorways. Town driving seems to be high teens, low 20's though. I also think that it is rather high geared for the power and weight of car as it needs to kick down at times to maintain speed up hills, but I'm probably picky due to being used to V8's.I also cleaned up the surface rust underneath (wasn't too bad) and used a bilt hamber product to further protect it. I've still to clean and paint the brake calipers etc as they look a bit untidy. I replaced the spare tyre with a Bridgestone Potenza to match the rest as it wasn't in good order and got the wheel powdercoated as well.

My wife loves the car though and we may possibly investigate a 450 in the future, but will have to try one first.

Pete

[PCM]

Sounds great. I find the fuel consumption so-so too, but it's a small price to pay overall, for the comfort, refinement and safety.

[ChrisKaye]

After having put 34 psi in all tyres, I'm now averaging over 27mpg for my 200mile per week commute to work.

We have also just comeback from a weekend at legoland, 210mile round trip from Dorset and have used less than a half a tank of fuel and computer said 32.3mpg.

All in all, I'm chuffed with that as I thought it would be worse!

Granted we were cruising at around 65mph on cruise control, except for average speed limits on M3 where sat for a few junctions (there and back) at 50mph.

Oddly, the nutty, speedy lead footed, late breaking missus has had 28.2mpg (mixture of town and country A road driving) - God knows how she did it as she refuses to use cruise control, so all credit to her!

Chris.

[Hatterjon]

I have just replaced my Nissan 350z with an Rx300 (needed a family car) will be interesting to see how the petrol consumption compares, I am anticipating it to be very similar, I never got better than 25mpg even on a long run......

[plastic orange]

Best I've got was 28 on a 300 mile motorway run. Mostly averaging around 20 in town and 26 in countryside.

Pete

[Hatterjon]

I would be happy with 20mpg round town, 350z was often between 16-18.

[Dr. Amdahl]

Using the cruise control on my 350 coming back from Warrington to Stansted area (all motorway) heavy traffic so set at about 65 managed 34.8 (210 miles)