Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
With the steering being electronic and all the electronic stability stuff, I wonder if there is a firmware adjustment for the "centering power".
"The optimisation of the caster angle and the adoption of ‘Nachlauf’ geometry, which offsets the kingpin axis ahead of the axle centre, result in increased caster trail which enhances both straight-line stability and steering feel. The location of the kingpin axle outside the wheel, allied to the addition of a small, well-shaped sub-frame, results in excellent tight-turn performance and a compact turning circle of just 5.7 metres.
Lower arm and tie rod geometry has been further refined to suppress changes in toe angle under suspension bounce/ rebound, thus ensuring excellent straight line performance.
And the angled location of the lower arm member with the rear side higher than the front creates an anti-dive suspension geometry effectively to suppress nose-diving under braking.
In addition, the front suspension also adopts a small level of negative camber, effectively leaning the top of each front wheel inwards when the vehicle is running in a straight line. Under cornering load, the change in vehicle posture naturally reduces the ground contact camber angle of the outside front wheel, optimising contact between tyre tread pattern and road surface for enhanced, high performance cornering."
I am of course now more observant of my MPG's. Its natural with all the emphasis on why the car was purchased in the first place. A SUV vehicle with a smaller car MPG rating. I am getting in the low 20's right now in combined MPG's. Most of my driving has been local (still under 1000 miles) and here where there has been a bit of disappointment so far. I notice that upon acceleration no matter how slight it might be the engine will "kick in" and not rely on electric power for that up to 30 mph start. I have babied the gas pedal to the point I could probably run faster off the starting line than the car. I do get electric only usage if I get up to a speed of 30 mph steady and put it on cruise control. As soon as I touch the gas again the engine will turn on. I was expecting something a bit different like normal acceleration with stop and go driving in that 20- 30 mph range and then use the engine for that boost to highway speed. Essentially, use the electric around town (live in a somewhat congested area) for speeds under 30 and only use the engine in that speed range when the batteries needed to be charged or that quick acceleration was needed.
I was wondering if others have experienced the same. Also is anyone aware of a computer setting that could be made by LEXUS that would tune the vehicle on when the engine would kick in. I will be reporting this information to the dealership when I see then in a few weeks.
I checked this morning on our fairly crowned residential (25 mph) street. My Rx400H runs straight on it (for the limited distances I can check since there are some curves on my street). It does at least as well as my Camry on this. Even if I started with the wheel turned slightly, it wanted to self-center and go straight.
On a short very steeply tilted road section (a place where they use to have another street joining from a lower level) it did want to follow the slope down, but this was way beyond any normal crown and I think pretty much any car wouldn't track straight there.
For instance message 1570 contains a nice analysis of the battery capacity that Dylan Hixon did. The batteries store about the equivalent of about a tenth of a gallon of gas or a couple of miles worth (and of course most of the time you don't start with a full battery and you don't want to run the battery down to zero). These aren't meant to be a main power source for running around town.
The batteries are meant for supplying power when you need less than the engine can produce efficiently and for supplementing the power from the engine when you need more than the engine can produce efficiently. This allows the engine to be tuned for more efficiency in the range that it is normally used and then to stay in that range most of the time it runs. There are always losses in moving energy around so when the engine can efficiently produce what you need, it is most efficient to take the energy directly from it.
I find I get good mileage with this car by:
Accelrate normally - not jack rabbit but not trying to keep the ICE off
Once up to cruising, drive smoothly
Keep an eye on the lights and traffic ahead so that brakes are applied early enough for maximum regeneration or drop speed a little to arrive at the light when it is green.
Short trips with a cold engine get reduced mileage so combining errands helps too. My first tank was a bit below 25 mpg. Since then I've been running between 25 and 27.5 mpg (depending mainly on amount of AC needed and how much I have short trips).
The Audi had air suspension and I didn't think the Lexus suspension would be as good but it is. Fuel economy is superior and inline with reports posted here. I've taken one measurement: with airconditioning constantly on 24.9 mpg. The Lexus to my surprise corners as well as the Audi squealing tires et al. The Lexus corners more flatly probably due to the VDIM system. Steering is very precise and alignment perfect. The smooth flow of power is unmatched; hillclimbing is a joy. This hybrid offers a great deal more than fuel economy and super low emissions and in an excellent value
The energy monitor is almost mesmerizing to watch. My previous vehicle was an '02 Dakota 4X4 with an 8 cyl. gas guzzling engine. My right foot still requires more training and this car is the perfect therapy...instant results presented to me on my progress. I'm putting the "conserve" back in Conservative!
We own an '04 RX330 and an '06 400h and we're (my wife and I collectively) averaging a paltry 22MPG on the 400h over some 3K miles. This is according to the Lexus computer, not my own computation. I tried driving for a while with the AC off, and got up to 24.5MPG in mostly Highway driving. Over the same driving conditions the RX 330 gets around 17MPG. So my net gain for $9K is 5MPG. Yuk.
Given 15k miles per year, and $4/gallon it will take me 12 years to break even!
While I like the tranny and the pep of the 400h, and I like pulling into the garage silently, and I LOVE my lexus dealer (hence the his and hers RXs), I don't care for the bait and switch with the mileage -- the EPA estimate is 33/27 and I'm unable to touch that even with very careful driving (downhill).
Any thoughts about what I might be doing wrong?
Keep the car under 70 mph
Try not to accelerate up hill, accelerate downhill and coast or let up going up hill
Don't tailgate, try to leave as much space as possible ahead so you don't have to brake and then accelerate
Do coast up or lightly brake for as long as possible when approaching slower traffic.
Long/downhill exit ramps are a great place to recharge the battery. Brake for as long as possible, even starting back on the highway if no one is behind you. Braking from high speed even gently puts the kw meter deep in the recharge zone.
Switch to open lanes when your lane slows so you won't have to accelerate to get back to speed.
Use small dips and down grades to coast or to build up speed to minimize acceleration up hills.
If you are busy or don't want to monitor your driving use cruise control.
Now this may sound like boring granny driving, but I find its fun. It gives me something to think about on my commute and each 5 minutes is a new challenge. (Lexus should have a 1 minute mode to reallly monitor driving.) I drive in the fast lane, which in the NYC burbs is 65 - 75 mph, which gets me there fast and I think actually helps mileage since it generally isn't as congested as the other lanes giving more room for coasting and planning.
I'm still working on whether firm acceleration using the electrics for a short period with very bad mpg is better than slower acceleration with little or no electrics and only bad mpg. (Personally I like to watch the electrics kick in.) Also wondering if anything is gained by by braking even harder when the kw needle is already full max. (I don't think so, just more regular brakes, but it does sound like there is more whine from the generators.)
Having said all this if you are driving at a fixed, high speed on a flat highway in hot weather, like the NY Times did when they "reviewed" the hybrid your mileage is not going to be much better. Its only when you can use the hybrid's advantage in changing road conditions that mileage get's significantly better. If you drive the hybrid the same as your regular car, much of the hybrid's advantages will disappear. Driving like a hybrid driver for a couple of weeks and most of these things you'll do without thinking. (I find myself doing long slow braking in my wife's Audi.)
Good luck.
My present tank includes driving from Portland to Seattle plus 5 days of mixed city highway driving and registers at 29.0 on the navigation screen. I generally find that this reading is reduced by about .2 when dividing the miles by the gallons used.
I am averaging about 6 mpg better than on my 2003 RX300. I did not purchase my 400h with the idea that the extra mpg would pay for the increased price. I do, however, like the fact that I am using less gas and am more friendly to the environment.
A friend of mine who lives in Vancouver, Washington wanted to buy the 400h. His work place is about 5 minutes from his house and he takes numerous short trips each day. I talked him into buying the RX330 as it is better suited to his driving pattern. He is quite happy with his RX330. The 400h is not the car for everyone. Individuals should do a lot of research as to what the 400h does and will do. Several test drives of both short and longer trips would help in the decision.
I would buy my 400h again, but I knew what I would be getting before I made my purchase
I differ with you on a couple of things:
1. Never accelerate in downhill, but engage the gas pedal lightly so that it won't charge the battery, thus the SUV rolls longer....
2. Tailgating an 18-wheeler would do wonder for your gas mileage, but it may do less wonder for your well-being and insurance. LOL
I saw a gas mileage improvement past 5,000 miles... I am now at more than 8,000 miles and presently have 29.9mpg on the read-out for the last ~800miles.
Here is good tip:
When driving at steady speed, look at the left gauge (power KW output) and adjust the gas pedal so that the needle on the gauge is about one-needle thick above the "0" section.
The "0" section is the section where you have a bunch of parallel lines. Be one needle thick ABOVE it, at steady speed. This yields optimum mpg on my 400h. This requires a different driving mentality. you wont drive at fast speed but you will drive at pretty good speed and get pretty good gas mileage. I would generally speed above this point to get the speed, then drop back to one-needle-above for steady speed.
The car is the smoothest and is really a "bat out of hell" at the traffic lights. The gas milage is 27 around town . No big highway trips yet, but I'll report on this later on in the year. The navigation has a slow learning curve. I have put a few hours into the study of its behavior and I really like it a lot. The voice recognition stinks, but I believe if enough owners complain to Lexus, a fix will become available. Otherwise it can navigate through the most complicated of
gated communities where every street is 200 yds long and twist and turns constantly.
I wish I knew how everything in this car works with regard to when the ice kicks in and when both motors will operate. I watch the graphic and it is quit a show. My old rx300 is still a good car after 172k miles and it is used as the 2nd auto for the family. I think it will last forever.
Of course I like it when I am stopped in traffic and the engine is not running. Since I spend too much time commuting in Miami traffic this is wonderful. So far, 28 MPG, and I am trying not to use all that power.
Speaking of power, that is great for merging on I95 and a few other places, but I have to be careful because it is so easy to quickly be going over 80 and negating the fuel economy capability.
The luxury features are great. The driver memory will be more significant when I let someone else drive it. The tracking headlights are a nice gimmick. The remote window opening will be great in the steamy south Florida summer. The rain sensing wipers may be interesting when I see them in operation. Headlight washers may never get used. The NAV would sure be nice to have, but I already have a Garmin 396. And I’m glad I found what I wanted without the faux wood steering wheel as the standard is much better for me.
The ride and handling are good, but not that much different from the ’05 Highlander I had before. It is exceptionally quiet at low speeds. My sister, who has a Prius, warns that we need to be especially careful of pedestrians. If they cannot hear you, they are more likely to do something hazardous. The tire road noise is more than I expected, but that is very dependent on road surface and condition.
So when all is said and done I have to say that my favorite feature is the exceptionally smooth transmission. The VCT has no shift points so it is just wonderful, both accelerating and decelerating with no hesitations, no variation at all. This is particularly good compared to the Highlander, with very noticeable shift points that sometimes take away from the comfort of the driving experience.
What don’t I like, besides the cost? See my separate post on a little noise problem. Other than that, the only significant dislike is the lack of visibility of the control labels on the center console in low light conditions. At night, the backlighting works well. In full daylight, they are readily visible. But in twilight conditions they are hard to read.
jc
I bought mine on Aug. 28. Today is Sept. 20, so I have had it less than a month and have around 500 miles on it.
First, the ride is unbelievable. It is so quiet. When you "start" the SUV, you hear nothing because you are running on the batteries. Then as you accelerate, the engine kicks in with no noise or motion. It is so seamless, I am amazed. Some of the reviews say that it is more noisy than the non-hybrid 350. There is only one time when you ever get more noise than a non-hybrid, and that is if you accelerate from a very slow speed quickly - in other words, when you "floor it". The reason you get more noise is that the engine doesn't shift at set intervals as it does with regular transmissions. You never feel a "shift" with the Electronic Continuous Variable Transmission (ECVT); however, the ECVT does allow the engine to rev up more in the situation I noted above. That being said, I have found that I never need to accelerate in a manner that causes this extra noise. If you accelerate at a good but not racy rate, you will not experience this extra noise. The bottom line is: this is the quietest vehicle I have ever been in, so don't let the noise comments concern you.
The ECVT is also amazing. There is no shifting, ever. The acceleration is great - even when you use the approach I mention above. The 400H is rated as a 4.0 liter engine which is comparable to a V-8.
The mileage that I have gotten at 6,500 feet above sea level with the air conditioning on is: 26.5 MPG in town and 27.5 MPG on the highway at 75 to 80 MPH. It's not what is on the sticker; but to have a luxury SUV with the power of a V-8, I am very happy. I do notice that by watching the console screen which shows the interaction of the engine, the batteries, and the electric motors, I can drive in a manner to improve the mileage. In other words, when I first got the car, in town, I was doing 25.5 MPG. By just concentrating on how I coast and brake, I am now at 26.5 MPG. Also, if you wanted to go 65 MPH on the highway, I believe you would do much better than 27.5 MPG. The first day that I drove from my house to work which was generally in a downhill route on a city highway about 8 miles, I got 51.3 MPG.
My only complaint to date is no one at the dealership or at Lexus seems to know much about the voice activated commands that you can use. In this regard, I have found out that there are several difference between the 2006 models (version 4) and the 2007 models (version 5). It appears that this is a work in progress and they continue to improve the features each year. On the 2006, the voice activation commands don't work with the Bluetooth cell phone interface. However, I still enjoy the Bluetooth feature. The reception in the car is very good for both you and the other party. When you get in the car, the Bluetooth connects automatically. Once it connects, you are hands free. I also find there are more steps that you have to go through to use the guidance system than on the Garmin system I am used to. However, this is just a case of getting used to it. The guidance system does have some features that the Garmin doesn't have.
The other negative mentioned in the reviews is the extra cost, but if you buy before the end of September, the research I have done indicates I'll get a $2,200 federal tax credit and a $3,443 Colorado State tax credit. Credits come directly off of your taxes - they're better than deductions which were given in 2005 I believe. That more than offsets the extra cost over a RX350 - even before you start talking about gas savings. If you are going to buy after September, you'll have to do your own research - I believe things could change then.
My bottom line: this is an unbelievable engineering marvel. I look forward to driving it every day.
My 2007 manual calls for 91 min.
What is meant with "when ICE kicks in"?
Sorry I am new here.
Other than that, the best car on the market in its class.
I also live in Chicago and was wondering what your overall experience has been so far.
-How was the handling in the snow? Did you continue to get good mileage?
-Have you needed any repairs? Are they more costly than a conventional car?
So confused, it seems the more I read the more confused I become.
Heard a fairly noticeable high pitched whine as I slowed down at lights. Is this to be expected always?
Tried to avoid accelerating after starting from a light to see when the switch over from electric to ICE takes place. Noticed that it would take place at right around 10-20 mph. Is that normal?
Not sure about this but my recollection of the RX350 test drive is that engine noise was lower on that vehicle. Does that sound right?
Reading through the posts on this forum, I will admit I don't know yet how to interpret the electric/hybrid gauges to describe what state the battery was in when I took it out and whether that explains the whine and cut-over behavior.
Would like to hear feedback from 400h owners.
We have the technology: every car sold in this country should be a hybrid. Somehow, this one is the only option in a luxury vehicle.
the RX400 is tied into the regenerative braking. I noticed it when
driving a few hybrid 400h loaner cars through Lexus. That was one of the few things I was not crazy about on the hybrid. That, and I had to get used to the CVT trannie as opposed to the regular tranny on the RX350.
I'm thinking of buying one myself. I was wondering when is a good time to buy in consideration to when the next years's model might be coming out? So far I've heard sometime in Oct/Nov?? Also, has anyone any idea what the durability of the hybrid battery is? I heard there are two rechargeable Ni-Cad batteries? The dealer I spoke to says there is a 8 yr/100,000 limited warranty and each battery replacement after the warranty is $1600 a piece not including labor. Total cost is $3200. Does this negate the fuel economy in the end? Can anyone shed some light on this? Thank you.
First impression ---> LOVE IT and felt like helping hand to the GREEN planet.
Very comfort and quiet. Still need to learn to adapt Hybrid Driving Style.
I am thinking to keep this car for at most 10 yrs and don't care much about the battery replacement cost. By then we maybe driving with Hydrogen or some other fuels.
Finally someone is saying that it will be out in May, How am I going to wait that long... :sick:
I dont know anymore what I even like... Well maybe I do I like the x6 but trust the lexus...
These are the behaviors we observed: 1. Using our personal key doesn't seem to the driver's phone is the one getting connected.
2. Memorising the User setting while the driver's phone is connected does seem to help either.
3. Removing the Device entry on our phone and reregister seems to be the only way to get connection again. Temporarily disable the device on the phone doesn't do any good.
Any tips from any one to fix the problem will be appreciated. Thanks.
Have spoken to Lexus customer service and expect an answer/relief from them next week. Anybody else have this problem?
To think that a $5 seal can't be fixed and nesessitate such an expensive and wastful solution does not seem like the Lexus way of doing things.
Thanks ang gl!
My repair was major even though the problem seemed small. In fact there was no repair they had to replace the drive train to the tune of $6,000.00 !!!
I raised a stink with the national customer service person and they responded by absorbing the whole bill!
I called out the local dealer for not standing up for me and they apologized and gave me a credit towards my next service.
BTW I kept the 400h but bought a new Range Rover Evoque for my new car and it's a lot more vehicle for the money and gets better mileage than the hybrid!
Good luck, don't let them push you around!
Doug