Lexus RX 350

rpac

Hi Maximafan. Noticed that you also bought a RX350, flint mica in color. Do me a big favor. Read my post number 255 where I discuss the color. Would appreciate info on how you happened to choose the color you did. Thanks much and...............
HAPPY HOLIDAYS

edmundoh

Wish it more scientific or "deep", but it was a compromise... if it were totally up to me, would have probably picked Millenium Silver with black interior. I had a Blue Metallic Vapor RX300 w/black interior, and was glad to have black leather because it seemed much easier to keep clean -- esp with young child -- than the lighter colors. Think the silver seems more "cheerful" and I also think the dark exterior tends to show more dirt.

My wife LOVED the flint mica... she likes darker color cars, thinks the silver seemed too similar to our RX300. She was very patient about my constant shopping and upgrading to the RX350 (we had considered Subaru Tribeca as well), so that was my compromise.

Drove to Vermont and back this weekend during rain/sleet... the roads were salted heavily, and I was right... you can see much more road dirt on the darker color... but it DOES look great when it's clean. So if the price I'm paying for being perceived as caring and sharing and compromising is a few more trips to the car wash over the next 3 years, so be it!

BTW, there's no comparison to the RX300 in terms of stability, quietness, and user-friendliness of the RX350, as well as more zoom, and unbelievable gas mileage! I would get about 22 mpg on my RX300 on that trip, all broken in. With only 500 mi on the new RX, I averaged 24.5 on this trip!!!

zopuhd

My wife and I picked up a Flint Mica/Grey interior after a long consideration of all color available combos. The problem with the light exterior colors, in my opinion, is that the clear taillights and the silver trim on the rear part of the car (the horizontal bar above the license plate, the "Lexus" and "RX350" words) all get kind of lost -they don't look pronounced - you have to find them.
Also, the black interior looks depressing to me (especially here, in Seattle :-) - but it does make sense for families with kids (from the cleaning point of view). My second choice was Neptune Blue/Ivory. We didn't want a black car since this was the color of our first RX300 (with Ivory leather).

We also considered Millennium Silver but unfortunately it doesn't come with Ivory leather that my wife wanted.

I've also noticed that the wood trim has a lighter color on Flint Mica with grey leather than on other exterior colors with the same grey leather. I can't explain why - the salesman was also surprised by this but this is true (I checked a lot of Flint Micas at different dealerships). This is probably a Lexus designer touch. This was a deciding factor for me to buy Flint Mica/Grey Interior because on the Millennium Silver/Grey Interior the darker wood trim on the steering wheel got "lost" as well.

Note that on the RX400H Flint Mica/Grey Leather,
the wood trim is darker than that on the RX350 in the same color combo.

Zopuh

maximafan

Hello, Rpac! Actually, the Flint Mica was not
my first choice of the color or colors that I
wanted the RX in. I had decided that I wanted
the black interior because I was leary of the
ivory and the grey interiors being so light that it would be difficult to keep the interior
clean. My first color choice was the Breakwater Blue, which is a light color, but it's hard to find that color with the black
interior. As a matter of fact, the dealer had
just sold one before I closed on my deal.

The second color choice that I liked was the
Bamboo Pearl, but that color is not available
with the black interior. Oh, and I also liked
the Crystal White, but a girl that I work with
has one in that color and I didn't want to get
the same color as she has.

Then I saw a Flint Mica RX model in the
showroom and the multicolored sparkle of the
metallic in the paint really caught my eye.
I really wanted to go with a lighter colored
car this time, as my Maxima was the dark blue
metallic color and it showed the dirt and
everything just like a black car.

The thing about the Flint Mica is that it's a
darker form of a gray than you would see on
most other cars, almost like a charcoal.
So while it's still a beautiful color, I do
see a lot of them in this color around the
Tampa Bay area and it is hard to keep clean.
I mean, every little puddle of water that I
might run over shows up on the car.

So in 2010, if I should lease a new RX again,
I definitely will try harder to go with a
lighter color. It's still an outstanding car
though and it still looks good. I get quite
a few compliments on the car. Happy New Year's
to all!!!

maximafan

Hi, Zopuhd. My understanding is that the Ivory
interior comes with the "Maple" wood and the
grey and the black interior comes with the
"Cherry" wood. It may be an optical illusion
that the wood looks lighter with the gray
interior over the black. I do think that the
black interior really brings out the "red" or
the "Mahogany" of the wood.

Ironically, I've always felt that the wood on
my steering wheel looks like a slightly different shade than the wood on the console!
I have the black interior.

By the way, for the folks that have the black
interior, I keep one of those Swiffer car dusters in the map pocket by the driver's door
to keep the dust from showing on the black
interior!!

mss443

Since you are not looking for an integrated controls, an FM adaptor is all that you need and it costs about $20 or less. You select the frequency that works well in the reception area. The unit can be plugged into the cigarette lighter receptacle. One advantage is that not only you would be able to hear your iPod on your car speakers, but also that the iPod is charged too during the use.

mss443

Reset button on the Info Screen resets only the average speed and the distance traveled since reset. It does not reset the MPG which appears to be measured from fill up to fill up.

mss443

My apologies for giving an advice that you already tried but apparently did not work for you. I live in NYC and I had no problem in using the FM converter using FM89.1 most of the time (except in a narrow area around Newark airport). Other than that, I never had any problem in driving between NYC and DC, and NYC and Pittsburgh/Cleveland.

maximafan

Ouch!! $1595?? That's a bit steep. It's
interesting how the prices vary throughout the
country for the installation of the satellite
radio on the RX350. I believe they charged me
$495 for installation of the satellite radio.
Go figure!!!

zopuhd

maximafan,

It is not an illusion - I pinched myself. The wood I'm talking about is Walnut which is of course darker than Maple. I actually compared apples to apples :-)

I looked at RX400h Flint/Grey and RX350 Flint/Grey. The Walnut trim in the RX350 was significantly lighter than the Walnut trim in the RX400h. And it was NOT Maple. The difference was way pronounce, not subtle - anyone could see the difference, especially on the steering wheel. Same with other color combos - I checked multiple RX's with grey leather.

ZopuhD

zopuhd

Say you are not alone in your vehicle and don't want to others to hear what the other party is saying from a certain point during the conversation... Anyone knows how to redirect the conversation from car speakers/mike (on Bluetooth-enabled systems) to your actual cell phone AFTER you've answered the call by pressing the Talk button on the steering wheel? I know that you can use your actual cell phone from the beginning, if you answer the call on the cell phone.

Any advice?

ZopuhD

rivergirl2

I was trying to lock in a deal by Tuesday to take advantage of the December to Remember Deal. Plan to wait the 30 days since the lease on my 330 expires in Feb.
I do a single pay lease with security deposit waived and 20K miles/year.
I need the navigation system and understood that this came with Mark Levinson stereo. I want XM radio and also a way to plug in my ipod. I was told XM gets installed after the fact and dealer was unsure about Mark Levinson compatable with XM. He said there is definately no ipod jack.

I was just told to wait and get a 2008 which will be out in 2 months and will have XM and the ipod jack. Can anyone shed any light on this? Is there a way to get the 2007 with Mark Levinson, XM built in where you can see the songs on the nav area, and an jack for the ipod(don't need it to charge or control - just play through speakers)? What is known about the 2008?

Any good deals would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help.

rpac

Hi rivergirl2 - Happy to help if I can. OK first of all I purchased an RX350 with Levinson sound system and navi about 2 months ago. And yes the unit is very compatible with XM radio. However, it must be installed BY THE DEALER, after the fact. It simply plugs in behind the radio stack. In my case they ran the wires for the tuner clear to the back of the car in a tiny little space just behind the rear seat. Perfect installation. And yes the stations show up on the navi screen, like nice. Once the XM is installed you can see who is singing what on the navi screen. No problem. BUT here is my problem with Levinson. I am an elderly type and I dont exactly go for the loud stuff. So I traded my car back in for a car with regular stereo radio and had XM installed again! Can you believe it!!! Everything worked out fine and of course they gave me a good deal. Then they tell me that in order to enjoy Levinson sound you have to have the volume cranked up real high. And they were right! But it just about broke an ear drum trying to listen to it. As a matter of fact I think the standard radio stack with 6 CD changer, cassette, radio and XM is very acceptable as far as I am concerned. XM is not a built in unit regardless of what radio/navi combination you choose. It is presently strictly an after market installation. If you dont have the dealer do it, then you could possibly void the warranty. I had them work the whole thing in the car deal and I think the deealer did a very good job, that took him about 3 hours to do.By the way, the XM is compatible with whatever you decide to get as Lexus for 2007 purposely put in a jack behind the radio stack in which to plug it in. The time consuming part is hiding the tuner and antenna somewhere in the car and my dealer was really good at it. So yes, 2007 you can get what you want. They do also sell an IPOD installed for $999. I dont know much about it, so cant help you there. Now as far as the 2008 is concerned I have not been able to find anything out in that regard. I have heard they will make the car a bit longer and install a 3rd row seat which i DONT want. I like the design the way it is, but probably eventually get used to whatever in time. Didnt mean to go on like this but I hope I have been of some help. Let me know if you have any questions, because I sure have been around the block when it comes to audio and navi stuff in the car. In any case drive your car in good health and happiness - Good Luck!!!
Ron (rpac)Los Angeles :shades:

wwest

The aftermarket nav systems are OUTSTANDING in comparison to the CAPTIVE built in ones, and generally one helluva lot less expensive. I find that the Garmin portable that my wife bought me for Christmas of 05 outperforms the Lexus 5.1 version handily.

Buy the vehicle as "purpose" built, not as a rolling home theatre.

If you really "need" all those things then buy the base RX350 and go to a good audio shop and get the extras.

rivergirl2

Ron,
Thanks for the details. Did you get the regular stereo with the navi? How do you order that? It seems like the only way to get the navi is with Mark Levinson. No ipod is worth $999! I agree - I don't want a bigger car with 3rd seat so need to make this work.

Do you know what they charged to add and install the XM?
thx!

guest

Hi Rivergirl - I really think the standard stereo that automatically comes as standard equipment with the navi has a better sound quality than the Levinson.You really dont have to order it as it does come standard.This IPOD thing is getting out of hand I agree. $999 is too much for anything!!! And a 3rd row seat NO WAY. LOL. I really dont know what the dealer charged for the installation of the XM as the whole thing was worked into the deal. The repair order that I got showing the installation was marked 'no charge'. So I really guess it is a matter of negotiation.And NO you do not have to get the Levinson in order to get the navi. As you can probably tell from my previous post I was really more than disappointed in the Levinson sound system.Good Luck and 'HAPPY NEW YEAR'. Let me know how it all works out for you.
Ron

maximafan

LOL!! But it's still seems strange. If I recall correctly, the brochure for the RX lists
two types of wood available, the Maplewood and -- I guess it's the Walnut?? Does the
Walnut have the reddish or cherry undertone?

I definitely don't think that the wood on my
steering wheel completely matches the wood on
the console. The console has a much more cherry or reddish tone to it than the steering
wheel. I will say this: I was checking out
my cousin's new Acura MDX, and while I liked a
lot of things about the new MDX, I did not like
the black zebra-patterned wood that was all over the place. It seemed too shiny and cheap
looking on an other-wise nice car!

wwest

I'd gladly accept the slightly longer wheelbase required to add the third row seat as an option.

jacks2

What do you use to clean fingerprints off RX350 NAV screen?

Thanks
jacks2

rcf8000

I use the cleaning tissues like you use to clean eyeglasses.

stever

I like the microfiber cleaning cloths for my lcd screens and camera lens. Mine came from Kensington via one of the big box office supply stores but 3M and lots of other companies make them.

jdjimenez

For the past 2 years I have had a goal to buy a new Lexus RX for my wife. We have made every sacrifice to save the money, working extra hours & saving every cent we could so that we could pay cash for our new car. On 12-29-06 I went to Lexus of Cerritos after shopping online and made a deal with Mr. Trey Williams. I put $1,000.00 down on a car that was suppose to be on the lot on 12-31-06. I called Trey on 12-31-06 and was told that the car was there but could not be prepared on that day or on 1-1-07 because of the holiday, but the car would be ready to pick up on 1-2-07 at 4:00pm. With checkbook in hand and one very excited wife we drove to Lexus of Cerritos only to be told that our car was not on the lot yet. Disappointed but being assured by Trey that the car would be available on 1-3-07 we agreed to do the remainder of the paperwork so that we could simply come back on 1-3-07 and take the car home.
While filling out the credit check paperwork the true colors of Lexus of Cerritos came out, now the price had changed. Trey and his manager now tell me that the car can not be sold for the agreed upon price. I showed all the e-mails and the paperwork including the $1,000.00 receipt to the gentlemen and they still refuse to honor the deal. I thought this type of shady dealing went by the wayside years ago. Lexus of Cerritos truly has made this a December to remember for both me and my wife!

glarry1

Don't ever let the dealer know that you've got cash!
Don't "bring your checkbook"!
They won't think you've "sacrificed" enough and are sure they can squeeze more out of you.
AFTER the car is there AND you've inspected it to ensure it's what you've bargained for, THEN tell them you'll be back with a cashiers check.
As far as they're concerned you've financed it through somebody else.
Find a carbroker in your area, and don't mess with the bandits.

stever

Don't ever let the dealer know that you've got cash!

I don't think that holds true much anymore. If you pay with a loan the dealer gets paid immediately anyway. Dealers probably prefer that you don't pay with cash since they lose the vig on the loan commissions. :P

It's probably better if you don't tell the dealer how much cash you have, but that may not matter either - we all know the MSRP and invoice prices and True Market Value.

I'd get my deposit back and find another dealer JD.

Check out the discussions over in the Smart Shopper board too.

marius2

Did my homework, thanks largely to the information posted on this website. Drove the RX several times at four different dealerships. Based on the info I acquired here, I sent emails to seven (7) dealers in the San Francisco Bay Area on December 30 and December 31. Received telephone calls and emails immediately from three dealers and internet offers from three more dealers. The specifics I was looking for were the Bamboo Pearl with the grey interior, dark wood, premium package and GPS, no Mark Levinson sound system.

The preliminary emails that I received were that I could purchase the vehicle for $1000 off invoice. The MSRP was $45,706, invoice $40,769.

At 9:00 a.m. this morning, I received a telephone call from Amal Bouhmouch, Fleet and Internet Manager, Lexus of Serramonte in Colma. He stated he had the vehicle that I had requested and would match the internet offers that I received from other dealers (who may not have had this particular vehicle). I was in the dealership by 2:00 p.m. Amal handed me the keys and let me take a test drive without a salesperson. I was gone 15 minutes, and purchased the vehicle for $39,769. There was no pressure to buy any of the back end products as "Touch or Class" or Lojack. Overall, a very positive experience and I am very happy.

Cheers.

Marius

rpac

Hello JD. Very sorry to hear about your ordeal with Cerritos. I have lived in California all my life and I ventured into Cerritos once. That was one too many times. I am an old retired guy that may be able to help you. I am not a salesman or broker or anything like that. But if you have not purchased your car yet, please let me know. If you give me a phone number where to reach you I will be happy to call you and discuss it. No obligation. I realize this is highly unusual but reading in between the lines they tried to literally ruin you. I do hope you got your deposit back because they did not live up to the original agreement. I have owned many RX's and I think your money is well spent. Just get out of Cerritos now, and get your $1000 back! Happy to help if I can. :mad:

zopuhd

Jd,

If I were you, I'd complain to Lexus about your experience with Cerritos. You have nothing to lose.

Zopuh

wwest

Car dealers almost always get some sort of "kick-back" from the finance company when they arrange a lease or finance for a customer purchase, so paying cash is often a detriment to purchase negotiations.

Additionally you apparently made it VERY clear to your salesman that the "hook" was firmly planted...!!

jdjimenez

Thanks for the thoughts on my problem everyone. I had already sent a complaint letter to Lexus and just filed a complaint letter with the Better Business Bureau. Seems Lexus of Cerritos is well known there with 10 similar complaints over the last 90 days and an F rating.

rpac

Hello JD - I sent you a message just the other day re my experiences in Cerritos. I believe I made a boo boo for which I heartily apologize. When I said I visited Cerritos only once in my life and that was one too many times, what I really meant was, I only visited the Cerritos Auto Mall only once in my life, and that was one too many times. The fair city of Cerritos has nothing to do with my comments. Really sorry about that and hope you didnt take it the wrong way.
Also sincerely hope you have finally been able to find your car, and like I said, if I can help you in any way, please let me know.
Thanks,
Ron (rpac)

jdjimenez

Thanks for the offer of help rpac, however, as of today January 6, 2007 I still haven't received my deposit back from this F rated (BBB) dealership. Lexus corporate contacted me and they are investigating the situation and will get back to me next week. I truly am shocked at the way Lexus of Cerritos does business, I am even more shocked that they get customers at all with that F rating (BBB). I really wish that I had known about the Better Business Bureau website before because there are so many highly rated Lexus dealers to choose from. I just had the bad luck of not knowing about the website and ended up at the F rated Lexus of Cerritos. Better luck to others on their purchases! Perhaps my misfortune can help others in deciding where to spend their hard earn dollars.

jacks2

JD
Reading the Auto Repair & Smog Check News Volume 1, Number 2 October–December 2006 I spotted the following information. Is this the same dealership you’re having issues with?
"May 2006
Lexus of Cerritos, Long Beach
Jerry Lee Haurer, President
Order: ARD Registration is permanently
invalidated, stayed and placed on probation
for three (3) years. Smog Check Station
License is revoked, stayed and placed on
probation for three (3) years and suspended
for thirty (30) days. Report to BAR. Pay BAR
$4,000.00."

jdjimenez

jacks2

I am not sure that this is the same F Rated (BBB) Lexus of Cerritos that I dealt with but it sure wouldn't surprise me if it was. This is the BBB information of the F Rated Lexus of Cerritos that I dealt with:

DBA: Lexus of Cerritos
Address: 18800 Studebaker Road
Cerritos, CA 90703
Primary Contact: David House,General Manager

Lexus of Cerritos Company Rating - F
Rating Explanation:
The rating the Better Business Bureau assigns a business is determined by our composite score of such factors as its type of business, length of time in business, compliance ...

No. of Cmpl Type of Response
1 Making a full refund, as the consumer requested
0 Making a partial refund
5 Agreeing to perform according to their contract
0 Refusing to make an adjustment
1 Refuse to adjust, relying on terms of agreement
3 Unanswered
0 Unassigned
10Total

crowart

Will run-flat tires ever be made available?

Right now, "TireRack" doesn't list any being manufactured in the right size for the RX350.

bobbass

Run-flats???? You want run-flats?

Although I have no personal experience with them, I would rather run conventional tires and go "spareless" with a can of Fix-a-Flat in the trunk than be saddled (or should I say "shoed") with run-flats.

I strongly suggest you do a search of messages on ALL boards for run-flats. I guarantee you most Sienna owners HATE them and I just saw a post from the 5-series where the guy wrote this:

"Have a 2006 530i with the sports suspension. Had a similar set up on an 2003. However, the 2006 with sports suspension comes with "run flat" tires. BMW's major screw-up which they refuse to acknowledge. Tire went flat in driveway. Nice light comes on. Got a patch put into the tire from a tire dealer. Otherwise cost you $300 for a tire. More if you dent the rim which is now one piece and cast instead to two piece forging. So, I took off all 4 tires and put into storage. Am running Avon M550s for the balance of the lease that I got from tirerack for $139 apiece. Ride is better, tires are fixable and I carry a tire off the rim in the trunk in case I get a flat. BMW calls itself the ultimate driving machine - this is true if you strap an extra run flat tire on the roof. The run flat tires are simply a technical disaster especially when you come to realize that nobody stocks them. And, you have to match tread patterns if you need a replacement. A flat tire on a trip- espcially on a weekend is a two day delay. Way to go BMW! I will remount the run flats at the end of the lease."

If you had an "Un-Fix-a-Flatable" tire problem you'd be in real trouble, but run-flats are, as my father-in-law would say, a "Happy Dream."

tweaker

Does the NAV have text-to-speech capability? That is, does it say "turn right on main st" or "turn right in 300 feet"?

Also, I have seen in this forum that the cd is mp3 capable. Is that true for the standard audio system or just the upgrade?

Thanks

rpac

After driving my new RX350 some 800 miles over less than a month I noticed a high pitched squealing sound coming from somewhere on the passenger side of the engine. It drove me crazy as it only showed up when ambient temperatures were in the 50-55F range or lower. At times I could even hear it in the passenger compartment, so I then took my mechanics stethoscope and poked around and finally found what I thought was the problem. The cover on the right side of the alternator was transmitting sound apparently from the alternator bearings themselves. I bypassed the Service Manager and went directly to the Shop Foreman. He and his assistant both very carefully listened to the area with their stethosopes. They spent a lot of time as it really seemed to be an iffy type thing. Finally they made the decision to replace the alternator. Results? Absolutely wonderful. My car runs as quiet as could be thanks to the foremen taking the time to thoroughly investigate the problem. However, I must say that I never saw a piece of equipment harder to get out of the car than the alternator. It seemed to me it would have been easier just to drop the engine. (kidding). Anybody else have anything like this happen??? By the way. My old retired Doctor gave me a medical stethoscope as a present one day. I used that also to check out the noise and wow, it almost broke my ear drum. And now...all is quiet.

rpac

Tweaker - My navi says turn right in 300 feet or whatever. It does not name the street. But what it does do is show the street name you are going to turn on to on the top right hand part of the screen. A quick glance will show you I'm sure. Sorry, I cant really answer your queries on the audio system, although I have the standard system and it has a little logo showing MP3 on the face of the radio.
Good Luck

geetwo

Hi

I purchased the vehicle before 3 weeks and from the time I got it out of the lot the vehicle is pulling towards the right. I left it for service and it is about a week and they are unable to fix it. Looks like wheel alignment and changing tires is not fixing the problem. Anyone faced any similar issue with RX?

Please let me know how to proceed.

rpac

Hi geetwo. I don’t know if this will help but I ran into the same situation with one of my other RX350's. The tech checked the alignment and found it was within specs. He then did something which I call unusual in this day and age. He took the time to carefully inspect the outer and inner part of the tire (took the tire off the wheel) for any abnormalities. He then very carefully adjusted the tire pressure properly, and then hand torqued the lug nuts. Switching tires I know is a common practice, but along with it you have to check other things! Now for the road test. The RX is very sensitive to steering as you well know, so be very sure you are riding the 'crown' of the highway with no bumps and not sloping in any way at all. I am told the industry standard for alignment is 4 seconds for the car to go straight without slowly beginning to veer to one side.
Good Luck and I hope this helps you!

geetwo

Thanks for the information and I will check on that. They recommend involving lexus field service to fix this. I did the test drive on a flat road and still it took me towards the right in a couple of seconds. Let me have my fingers crossed

edmundoh

Hi all:

I've had my AWD RX350 for about 8 weeks now. Love just about everything about it... still mad that there's no iPod input, but it drives beautifully.

I traded in my RX300 2001 that had the "standard" audio system, and now I have the "standard" (not Levinson or NAV) audio system. Is it me, or is this system inferior to the RX300? It doesn't seem to have as much "punch",seems a bit "muddier" and I don't believe there's a subwoofer... is there?

Would love thoughts from others who have driven RX300 AND RX350 w/o the upgraded audio.

thanks,
ed

rivergirl2

Ed,
I have had my new 350 for 2.5 weeks. Like you, I am also really mad that there is no ipod input. Cars that cost $15K less have them! I drove a 330 before this(and 300 before that). I paid mucho $$ to get XM and I am happy with that, but not with how much it cost. I do have the nav but no upgraded audio - is that different from what you have? I was surprised that I did get a tape deck with that, so will probably connect the ipod that way(the dealer said that an RF modulator could be installed by audio store?). Haven't had a chance to try since enjoying the XM now.

edmundoh

You're golden, because you can use a cassette adapter with your ipod... I used it on my old RX300, and it worked great... and will cost you only about $20. Unfortunately, the non-NAV versions of RX350 like mine have no cassette players, only CD, so I'm forced to use an FM modulator. Did a lot of research and the DLO Transpod was recommended on the CNET site... it's okay, but it is totally inferior to the cassette connection. BTW, have a Sirius unit (dealer installed) that was also way too expensive, but works great.

But I'm also as I said in last post a bit disappointed with overall sound quality from this system...

ed

lexusfan

Hi all,

I had an aftermarket adapter from Vaistech installed on my '01 RX300 and it works wonderfully! (Check out www.vaistech.com) I now have an iPod connected to the adapter's dedicated input, and a Pioneer inno (XM sat radio) feeding the aux input. The RX300 has a rather old CD interface, so none of the track/artist info is shown like in some newer Lexus models, but you can select from up to 99 playlists with 99 tracks each. You can also set the adapter so that the iPod is controlled manually. The connector will still charge the iPod when the car is running.

rivergirl2

Wow, wish I knew about this before I spent a gazillion $ on my XM - I would have rather had the inno. Thanks for the info - looks quite expensive - what was the cost including install? Where does the part go where you plug the ipod it?
thx

maximafan

Hi, All! I've had my '07 RX350 for six months
now and have loved driving it. I too have the
XM integrated into the "base" sound system.
The XM Tuner was replaced back in November
because I was having a problem where it seemed
to be shorting out on me. It would start to
cut out and go totally without sound. I would
have to pull off the road or park the car so
I could turn the ignition off and start it
back up and then the XM radio would be fine.

Unfortunately, it's started to happen again with the replacement tuner. I'm not sure it's
worth replacing it again, as I would have to
call it in again to get it activated with a
new ID number and reset the radio presets.

I was wondering if anybody else who has had the
XM tuner installed in any Lexus vehicle within
the past six months has had this problem.

As far as the base sound system goes, it's
satisfactory enough for me. I've noticed with
the satellite radio that certain stations come
in much clearer than others. For instance,
the contemporary jazz station, known as
"Watercolors" comes in very clear and crisp.

But stations like, "The Move", a house music
station or "The Groove", an old-school R&B
station do not come in as clear.

Also, too, since the surround system that is
used in my house has lost the base sound in
the subwoofer, I can actually appreciate the
bass sound in my Lexus, and I don't even think
the base system in the Lexus has a subwoofer, but it still sounds like it's got more base than my in-home system right now. Yeah, it's time for a new home theater system, I guess! :shades:

land89

New to this post. Does anyone know why the RX350 recommends prem. fuel when the Rav 4 V6 doesn't. One horsepower difference doesn't make sense.

rpac

Hi maximafan - I dont know if this will help you or not but I would like to relate to you my experiences with my XM radio. At the dealer where I purchased the car, they have a guy in service that has literally devoted his life to installing audio equipment. Now, in the case of the XM Sat he ran all the wires down from the back of the radio stack, then under the carpets to the back of the car, where he found a very small space behind the rear seats and close to the floor, just enough room for the tuner. He had no trouble securing it, and decided to route the antenna behind the right hand inside wall of the car and up to the roof, where he placed it right next to the car antenna itself.(no drilling necessary etc). In this way you hardly know it is there. Now, here is the problem. It took him 4 - 1/2 hours to complete the installation, but I have had absolutely no trouble with the unit at all. I dont know what the dealer did about the cost because he worked it into the sale price of the car.
Wish you all the best!

maximafan

Hi, Rpack. It sounds like my satellite hookup was set up the same as yours, except the
little black antenna box is installed on the
rear left part of the roof, which would be
across from the radio antenna. At first they
told me that the connection wires on the original tuner seemed kind of loose or something to that effect. The repeat of this problem on the new tuner didn't show up until much later though. So I really don't know what the problem could be.

It's just that unless they can find a straight
answer for why it's happening, I really don't
feel like having the tuner replaced again and
having to call XM and sit in the car and wait
for the downloading of the stations, plus
redo all my presets all over again. I'm hoping
eventually someone who has experienced this
will come across my post, eventually, and maybe have some insight into what may be causing this.