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Comments
Ladyofluxury, after reading the great post from lovemylexus1, I remembered that I also test drove the Honda Pilot. Other than being impressed with how smooth the motor and transmission felt, the rest of the car proved forgettable. Don't get me wrong, it's a well made vehicle, just not a luxury one.
I, too, was concerned about visibility when I first sat in the vehicle before I test drive it. It is tough to explain in words, but the visibility issue isn't a problem with me anymore. It is all a matter of adjusting to driving a new vehicle. And as I thought about it more, I have always had an adjustment period for each car I've owned.
As for cargo... I don't have any kids but we have a bunny. He rides in a medium-sized portable cage in the back with no problems. We especially like that we can use the cargo hooks in the back to anchor the cage down. And, we've also been able to keep one of the rear seats usable with the bunny cage in the back thanks to the nifty three way seat lowering possibilities in the RX (I like to keep at least one seat folded so I can see the bunny at all times
Hope this helps.
The loaner car for any service or repair of over two hours, is at Serramonte Lexus. This is where we take our LS400.
I would suggest bringing your carriers, sans dogs, along with luggage you would typically need, to the Toyota and the Lexus dealers to see how everything fits into the vehicles' respective cargo bays. That's what we did on one of the times we went to look at the RX330 and were surprised at how much we could fit in, despite its raked back.
About the blind spots, I was slightly annoyed that they were there when I first tried backing up the vehicle, but as lovemylexus1 said, it just took a short adjustment period. It's not a problem at all and I don't remember reading any complaints about it.
For a couple of thousand and change, you are getting much more value with the RX330, as it will have features the Toyota won't have. Some of these will be the higher quality leather and beautiful wood treatment, the power lift gate, sportier looks and nimbler handling, royal treatment by the sales and service staff, loaner cars, Lexus panache, and you'll most likely make up the difference in purchase price, when you resell your car years down the road.
"Oh, well, maybe ... the RX will come down to the level of the rest of the market. They're certainly moving in that direction with the mixed bag of wood and aluminum accents. When will marketing folks learn not to mess with success?"
I didn't think the X3 forum was the proper place to provide my counter. So, here goes. As Dan Akroyd used to say to Jane Curtain on SNL's version of Point/Counterpoint: "Willard, you ... ..." Oh, never mind. (Just kidding...)
I personally like the interior look of the new RX330 much more than the RX300. I definitely do not see the previous interior as a major "success". Certainly, the RX300 sans Nav had a rather strange "look" for the audio and climate control display, don't you think? I applaud the added aluminum accents, and the improved audio/climate controls (for the non-NAV interior).
If success is measured in monthly sales, then the new RX is proving to be more successful than the previous generation. A very good feat considering all of the new competition.
I don't argue that reliability and build quality are still an unknown, when compared to the previous generation. But when it comes to the "messing" with the design of the interior, I give Lexus marketing a thumbs up!
Also has anyone gotten the window deflectors either installed by the dealer or do-it-yourself?
Do they really help keep rain from dripping in if the window is opened slightly?
Thanks.
What do you plan to tow with the RX? The reason I ask is that I am primarily interested in a lighter-duty hitch for our folding bike rack assembly. There seem to be a few Class III hitches made for the new RX330, such as Hidden Hitch or Curt Hitches. I've seen them at sites such as hitchesonline.com or hitch-web.com. Their installation looks very easy, with no drilling required, and total cost (with shipping) is about $200. I'm unsure how they will look when installed. How much will show under the bumper? I believe the Curt hitch seems to be the better choice in that regard. With money being a little tight right now, I've been putting this off. Haven't found any compelling reasons on our recent trips to take the bikes with us.
As always, dealer parts are more expensive than after market parts. I have seen the DrawTite, Hidden Hitch, and the Curt hitches online and only the Curt is tubular and designed to curl around the spare tire with a special bracket on the starboard side to accommodate the muffler. The other two are square framed and do not wrap around, so would be more visible. Prices are between $121.99 to $189, before shipping. I'm sure you can have it installed for around $50 at any reputable trailer hitch shop, or do it yourself as there is no drilling installed. Just make sure all bolts are properly torqued to manufacturer specifications.
I also called U-Haul, where I've had hitches installed in my last four tow vehicles. Their version of the hitch for the RX330 is about $240 installed.
I'm getting the hitch primarily to mount a bike carrier. At a 3500# rating, the RX is only adequate for pulling jet skis or small boats to 18', maybe even 19' if the boat is an open bow. Since we have a tow vehicle with a V8 to tow our cruiser, the RX will only get occasional towing duty for our smaller ski boat.
If you don't have access to scales such as those found at truck weigh stations, then take your boat's dry weight, including the engine (this can be found in your owner's manual or by going to nada.com and looking up your particular boat) and then adding 1,000# to allow for the weight of the trailer, equipment, gas, etc. NEVER exceed the 3500# rating or it could void your insurance and the warranty on the engine and transmission, should anything happen while towing your vehicle.
I apologize if I seemed to prattle on, but I had to learn from experience about towing and the vehicle manufacturers never provide enough information about it in the owner's manuals.
Oh, a little known fact about tow hitches, they can save your vehicle
from thousands in damage in the event of a rear end collision. Most people tend to leave the hitch receiver and ball off when not in use. Don't. I have been rear ended four times in my Explorer. Twice were mere bumps, but the other two might have totaled the vehicle, were it not for the fact that I happened to leave the receiver in the hitch. As a result, there was little damage done to my vehicle, much more to theirs.
I agree with gardencar that the Curt hitch appears to be designed to be less visible than the other aftermarket hitches I've seen.
Although I believe hitchesonline.com and hitch-web.com have excellent web sites that are easy to navigate that also provide an extensive array of information, I questioned whether they were providing the most competitive prices for the RX330 Curt hitch.
I performed some research and discovered another web site, DropHitch.com, that lists a significantly lower cost for the Curt hitch. They are indicating a price of only $111.98, and a shipping cost of only $18.78 for FedEx ground shipping from Wisconsin to my home in Arizona. Sound too good to be true?
By the way, thanks for the tip on DropHitch.com. That is definitely the best price I've heard of. Don't know yet whose hitch I will buy, Curt's, U-Haul's, or Lexus'. Of course, my first choice would be Lexus, but I'd like to know who makes the Lexus hitch. Wouldn't be surprised if it's sourced from the same place as the Curt hitch.
Best quote I've gotten so far is from Lexus of Stevens Creek, for $450 and change, installed, wiring included. Seems installation at Lexus is a minimum of two hours because the wiring is somewhat of a pain to get to, involving the removal of no less than four panels, even though the vehicle is prewired. Seems that there is still a two foot long piece of wiring that connects the vehicle wiring to the trailer lights. I talked to three local hitch places and none of them have done an RX330 to date. Although they all claimed that the wiring would not be a problem, they could not tell me if they had the length of wiring appropriate to the RX. I definitely do not want them splicing into the vehicle's electrical system if they cannot find the preexisting plug. As soon as I find out more about the make of the Lexus hitch and the whereabouts of the elusive factory wired plug, I will decide whether to go with the less expensive Curt hitch and local installation, or just bite the bullet and let the Lexus dealer do it for $200 more, just for peace of mind.
The first mistake is the model year. It reads, "2003 RX330." The RX330 is a 2004 model.
The second mistake is the picture of the hitch. That hitch cannot be the right one for the RX330, because it would not fit. The RX330 has the muffler on the starboard side. Therefore, if this style hitch were to fit, it would need to have a special bracket built into the right side of the tube to fit around the muffler. I have seen the correct Curt hitch on other sites, and this ain't it.
The other explanation is that this is really supposed to be the hitch for the 2003 RX300 and not the 2004 RX330, so it is merely a typo, hence the low price. In this case, then there is only one mistake on the page.
Don't know when I'd be able to call them, because of the time zone difference and my work schedule, but would sure like to find out if you or anyone else could get a hold of them before I can.
Anyway, not to worry. I also noticed that hitchesonline.com showed the wrong picture on their website. An accurate picture of the hitch may be seen at hitchesonline.com only by opening the PDF file with the installation instructions. You'll see from that picture that the hitch bar may not actually wrap around the outer edge of the spare tire. However, as you mentioned, we could probably just nudge the tire back, once loosened, to lower it all the way.
The reason why I am certain that DropHitch.com is advertising the correct 2004 RX330 hitch model is because they list the Curt Part Number as the same number listed on the hitchesonline.com site. I also found that DropHitch.com lists a Class 3 hitch specifically for the RX300, up to the model year 2003. Hence, I think we don't need to worry about ordering the wrong hitch.
Based on your research, I'm glad I don't need to deal with a wiring harness for my bike rack! If I needed the wiring harness, I would probably choose to pay the extra expense and have Lexus do the installation.
Are you still able to open the rear door and is there much wind noise from the box?
Thanks...Bill
The engine of 330 is louder than it (300) used to be, esp. when accelerating from 0, and certainly noisy per Lexus standard. Is that gonna be just the way 330 is?
At first, I found the blind spots disconcerting, but as lovemylexus stated, you quickly become acclimated to the new car. As far as backing up, those "elephant ear" rear view mirrors, as wwest so aptly put it, are huge enough that backing up is NOT a problem. (I always find it easier to back up after disabling the auto lowering, back up feature of the mirrors.)
As far as space for the buck, your husband has a point about the Forerunner. It is larger and it is less money, but what you may lose spacewise, you will make up in refinement, ride quality, beauty, service, and pride of ownership, to name a few, if you go with the Lexus. You will know what I mean after a particularly long trip. I used to schlep my wife, daughter, dog, and other gear up through the St. Helena mountains to our place at Clear Lake, and arrive exhausted. Now that we have the RX to do that in, I arrive refreshed and none the worse for wear because the cabin is so comfortable and as my wife puts it, "So beautiful to look at." I believe it would be much more fun to drive than the larger truck like ForeRunner. Maybe if you explain your quandary to the Lexus dealer, and tell him you are a serious buyer, you may get an extended test drive, even overnight, perhaps one of their loaner cars.
About the louder engine, the manifolds are no longer metal, but some type of plastic, therefore, the throatier engine growl. IMO, I don't mind it much, makes the car seem sportier as the engine is more powerful, making the RX330 one of the fastest SUV's now.
Cotmc, I believe you are correct about the DropHitch site. I will let you know if I hear anything from them. Thanks so much for your considerate diligence.
I would like to take back what I said about leaving the receiver in the hitch to protect against rear enders and people who park by Braille. The Owner's Manual suggests leaving it off when not in use or "serious damage to the vehicle may result." Since they built the vehicle, they must know. Perhaps the frame, being carbased, would not fare well if the frame mounted hitch were to take a hit.
More info. at the following link:
http://www.yodaparts.com/index.htm
On engine noise, I guess if we equate that to sportiness and power then it's not a bad thing. I personally would prefer the same power with less noise. I want to feel the power but not hear the power. You know.
I had read about the hesitation problems experienced by some posters and remembered two similar incidents that happened to me, but on a smaller scale. I chalk that up to the adaptive transmission trying to learn my style of driving. Since then, I have experienced hardly any hesitation. I have been satisfied with the shifting, although somewhat annoyed that it couldn't be perfect.
I do think you and I share many of the same opinions. Are you an engineer, or is it Willard? Anyways, I was going to be a doctor, but I didn't have enough "pashens".
Tidester suggested I look up the "I Don't Like SUV's, Why Do You?" discussion. Have you been there? What do you think of it?
Thanks again, really, really!
Will post after I get a chance to go. Thanks for the info!
In my previous post I also stated that it seemed as if the headroom in the RX330 was shorter than in my Accord, according to Edmunds the '94 Accord does indeed have SLIGHTLY more headroom than the RX330, I found that interesting. I also printed out the specs for the RX330 and 4Runner and surprisingly as far as interior room goes the only advantages that were more than marginal were that the Rear Headroom is slightly larger in the 4Runner than the RX. However, front leg room and rear leg room is greater in the RX over the Runner. Luggage capacity is 31.9 vs. 40.6 to the RX and Runner respectively.
So, although it seems that the interior of both vehicles are pretty much comparable. The 4Runner does have an obvious advantage cargo wise over the RX330. However, Garden you are correct in stating that the RX330 has it's advantages over the 4Runner as well as vice versa. Hence the reason I have been "SUV shopping" for going on a year! DECISIONS DECISIONS!
I shopped around for it and, hard to believe, but my Lexus dealer had the best price. I can't remember exactly, but it was a little under $400.
For those interested in towing,they are as yet manufacturing an aftermarket electrical connection for the RX to the trailer, and don't know when it will be available. It is also not available separately, from Lexus. Here's why.
The tow hitch from the dealer is selling for $265 and may actually be worth the extra money, IF you plan to tow. Apparently, the wiring for the trailer is inside the tube of the hitch. One end of the wiring connects to a plug inside a panel in the RX, and the other end is wired to a receptacle attached directly to the hitch. IMO, this is better than having a coil of wiring hanging from the bottom of the vehicle, that one has to stow away when not towing. This is also why the hitch is more expensive than the after market ones. The others don't come with the wiring. I am picking up a tow hitch from Serramonte Lexus on Monday, they have one in stock(Doubletrack, maybe it is just the dealer near you that doesn't stock them because Stevens Creek had three in stock.)
I am having it put on, wiring and all, by a body shop that specializes on Lexus. Their installation charge will be $50, versus $250 at the dealer's. Total cost of Lexus hitch plus after market installation will be a "mere" $315 and change.
The problem I am having is with bringing the RX in for its first free service at 7,500 miles instead of 5,000. I think 7,500 miles might be too long to go on conventional dino motor oil. Has anyone here brought theirs in at 7,500 miles? Is this really too long to go for the break in period? Or should I go through the first three services at 5,000 mile intervals and at 15,000 miles have them reset the maintenance reminder light to 7,500 mile intervals.
I would appreciate everyone's thoughts and opinions on this and just in general, on using synthetic oil on a brand new RX330.
Could you give me the lexus part number for the trailer hitch and wiring? I just got a new RX330 this weekend with the tow package (prewired for towing), but I'm having a hard time locating the trailer hitch wiring harness that will connect to the connector in the back.
I found connector in the back of the car under the cargo tray, however that plug I think is different than the RX300 wiring harness (which are widely available).
The Curt hitch, part #12530, is available from Drophitch.com for $111.98 and is the best price I've seen yet, courtesy of Cotmc. I spoke to someone from Curt Manufacturing and was told that they are currently trying to put a harness together for the RX330. Their number is (877)287-8634. Maybe you can get more up to date info or get on their notification list.
Doubletrack, you are welcome. Your price is still less than what I would be paying if I went with my local dealers. Also, you can have great peace of mind knowing that your Lexus service department is standing behind the installation. About the differences, I don't think the service department reps know that much about the hitch because it is so new. I have gotten different stories from every service rep I talked to. By the way, how do you like the way the hitch looks, installed?