Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see May lease deals!
Options
Lexus RX 400h Accessories and Modifications
Talk about RX 400h accessories here!
0
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
:shades:
I need all contact info and estimated pricing. thanks.
they sell OEM lexus accessories for much lower prices than the dealer.
Also check out ebay.com
I have the temp. VIN and would like to track it if possible.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks, Neil
Stilll waiting for my 400h delivery. Dealer told me it's at the port... for over a week now.
I know that the Waag big brush guard won't fit, but wonder if the smaller frontrunner does. It is a more involved installation, involving the removal of the front facia and bumper. Waag doesn't know if it will fit, anyone heard of a front bumper guard, Waag or any other, that fits?
Why? Lexus says not to take the 400h off the road.
No plans to off-road...strictly for looks.
I thought I remembered some thread way back about this issue - does anybody have any advice? I also maybe remember seeing somewhere that "some" dealers were installing them for people. Needless to say, rabid as we are for the radio, we don't want to do anything to void any part of the warranty.
Other than that, we're ecstatic with the car...mileage in this hellishly hot climate pretty much as reported elsewhere. Also we haven't seen another one anywhere either, which seems odd, given the manifest swellness of the car.
Disclaimer: I do not work for any of the cellular providers and am not promoting one over the other. I am simply providing information in an attempt to be helpful.
You can receive calls very well, however.
Lexus is looking into the problem.
As for XM, I'm hoping the Coastaletech people's Prius mod works and allows for on-screen XM use. Otherwise, forget that too.
The electronics are hugely disappointing on a $50,000 car.
You have a right to be upset. I just bought a new GMC Sierra hybrid PU for $24k and it has both Onstar and XM. The Onstar I could care less about. I did not think I would want XM until having it. WOW, I like it and am hooked. For Lexus not to make that a standard option in a high end vehicle is a big mistake. Much more important than some goofy NAV system. Never been lost driving in 48 years. I hear the NAV is not as good as the one Honda uses anyway.
what I want is only to use my bike rack that plugs into the receiver hitch. The sales mgr. at the dealer recommended that I use a 3rd. party hitch as the Lexus towing package is $800.
Would a non-Lexus hitch bolted onto the car void the warranty?
Regarding dealer-installed hitches, I seem to recall reading a post somewhere that a couple of owners have installed RX330 hitches on the 400h. If I recall correctly, one owner did it himself and the other had the dealer do it. As you said, the cost of the Lexus hitch is prohibitive.
There is a federal law prohibiting an auto manufacturer from voiding your warranty unless they can prove that what you did "damaged" the vehicle. This has been discussed at length on the web.
When my brother bought his 400h, he asked the dealer about a trailer hitch. The salesman told him to go elsewhere because the Lexus hitch is too expensive...$900.
They are great on our LX470, very solid.
They used a smaller radio unit that has all of the bells and whistles but has a smaller handprint for the location chosen.
The Garmin 2610 accepts a compact flash card which you can use the included program on your computer (a very nice mapping program) to download necessary maps. I have a 1gig CF card which holds the eastern half of the USA and Canada. it has a smaller screen but significantly higher definition. There is a remote control with it, which turned out very handy.
The navigation system on my 400h is a far inferior system compared to the $600 Garmin, functionality wise. The only thing the 400h Nav has over the Garmin, is the ability to display your movement even when you're in a tunnel (no GPS satellite signals). And there isn't that many tunnels in Florida... LOL, or in most cities for that matter. Otherwise, the 400h Nav is far less flexible, less informative, less features, and most important: far more costly to update ($500 vs $150) with new maps. With new housing boom, new map updates can be quite important.
After using the Garmin for almost a year, i feel the 400h Nav is so "handicapped", lethargic for a luxury car and luxury pricing. When travelling in unfamiliar territories, I'd take the Garmin with me.
But then, I've been known to be a GPS geek...
Incidentally, my Nokia 6620 and my husband's Treo 650, both through Cingular, work beautifully with the Bluetooth in the car. We couldn't be happier with the car in general and the phone feature in particular.
One the key benefits of the navigation system is the large touch screen. The 6.5" touch screen is easy to see and easy to use in comparison to the 3" display provided by the Garmin. The display on the Garmin is a bit small to safely drive your vehicle and interpret the information provided.
Another great safety feature is the included hands-free system. You can pair a Bluetooth cellphone to the vehicle to make and accept telephone calls hands free. Via the navigation system you can make and receive telephone calls even if your cell phone is buried in your gym bag, purse or pocket. The Garmin doesn't incorporate Bluetooth :-(.
Their is a tremendous difference in the database included with the Lexus RX 400h. Not only can you route to several million POIs via the category or the name search, you can route to a destination with a business telephone number too! Garmin doesn't come close in that aspect - the DVD in the 400h holds 4.7Gigs or 4 times as much data in comparison to the Garmin. Oh... the DVD updates only cost $249.99 from your local dealership.... it tad bit more expensive but far superior in the terms of detail and coverage.
The integrated navigation system also mutes the stereo when it provides turn-by-turn directions. When driving the system automatically mutes the front left speaker so that you can clearly hear the voice prompts. If you use a portable system you must manually turn the volume down on the stereo so that you can hear the guidance from the Garmin.... by that time the voice prompts have ended.
Another important feature missing from the Garmin is the vehicle signal inputs. If you loose GPS signal from the Garmin you are dead in the water; it will not know if you are moving or sitting still. Whether the signal is blocked by a tunnel, trees. parking structure or tall buildings (ie - urban jungle) the Lexus factory navigation system still knows where you are! The Lexus system utilizes three other sensors, in addition to GPS, to determine the position of the vehicle - 4 total. The system verifies the speed, which way you are turning and map positioning to verify your location! The technology is so advanced it could be used by airplane pilots to navigate to any destination in the US.
Lastly, the factory navigation system is covered under your standard insurance policy where as portable navigation devices are not. In the past radar detectors used to be the hot item to steal.... now thieves have portable navigation units to pilferage. If you must file a claim it will be a huge financial loss since the window, the portable navigation unit and your time are all lost. The factory systems are much less likely to be stolen since they arn't easily removed.
There is no argument that the Garmin is an inexpensive navigation device that offers less features and is simply a cheaper device. However, the integrated navigation system in the 400h is far more advanced and user friendly in comparison to any portable navigation system available. In essence, you get what you pay for!
The larger touch screen is great for the Lexus, but my complaint is that it does not display enough details for me. You'd have to go to a scale of "700ft" or lower to see smaller streets detail, otherwise you'd just see the main street. To some people, that's fine. The existence of smaller roads, if displayed in larger scale, tells me whether a general neighbor/area is well populated or not, with just a glance. This helps when I visit new areas. However, the smaller Garmin screen is tough on older eyes.
One Garmin feature that is useful to me is that it displays the name of the NEXT cross street prior to getting there, so I know what street is coming up with just a glance. This is useful when the area is unfamiliar. Lexus system only displays the name of the road you are on, which is redundant when you are already on it and already know its name, whereas the cross street name is sometimes displayed and sometimes not.
The Garmin remote control is usefully fit in my hand, so I don't have to reach for the touch screen, at any times. It would be great if Lexus has one, particularly when you pay more for it. I doubt they would have it in the next version because they don't want to take the liability of you messing around while driving.
Lexus is an integrated system and it is a factory system. That means it incorporates telephone into the speakers and controls radio volume levels, and harder to steal. That's all positives that Garmin, being an aftermarket system, can not compete with. My complaint is that when I am driving and a call comes in, I want to be able to touch the "answer" button and take the call on speakers. By the time the Bluetooth system recognizes incoming call to answer, my Nextel would stop ringing and I lost the call. In those situations, it is utterly useless.
The maps for the entire US & Canada with points of interest is only 1.4G of memory. I use the 1.0G memory card on the Garmin and loaded more than half of the available maps on it. You can always reload it with different maps. I can get a 2.0G card to have the whole database on it. But why? Extra memory is not all that useful, after about 1.0G.
For situations where you may lose GPS signals, Garmin does have a higher model that has "dead recon." to take care of that, but it needs to be installed by a pro connecting speedometer input into the GPS. Lexus has the advantage by having it integrated.
Other "geeky" info that the Garmin provides but the Lexus does not, are:
-Altitude/elevation: nice when you are in hilly/mountainous area
-SunRise/sunset time: nice when travel because you can time your stops
-Fishing/Tide times: for timing your recreation activities
-Distance from present location to each waypoint: ex. you can click on Home waypoint and see how far away it is.
-Displaying only nearest waypoints, for simplicity: can turn this on/off
-Displaying accuracy of present position: sometimes 12ft & sometimes 100ft but it gives you a clue.
-Rename your waypoints.
-Shows present position and signal from each available satellite overhead: very very greeky...
-Set a waypoint where you DON'T want to be near and sounds alarm when you get close: you input allowable distance from waypoint. (Court Restraint orders ??)
-Record track of your travel, where you've been with time and speed and location (may save a few hundred bucks to show that you did not speed...) Tracking your kids??? Alibi?? Upload it to a map on your PC.
In fact, I was disappointed that Lexus didn't have these. For a $2.5k system, you should.
I understand that Garmin is intro new models this Xmas season (check their website). One has a very large display (seems tacky in a car), includes XM-radio, XM traffic info, plays music you upload like Ipod. For me, the XM radio would be most useful. Some have a high precision compass, barometric pressure plot over time. Some new units are only about $250.
The bottomline is, if a system meets your need and your price point, then it's the system for you. I just show you what's available, here.
http://www.factoryinteractive.com/
They are great guys to ask, they responded to my questions right away.