I purchased my RX500h a few months ago. I noticed right away that the transmission seemed off. I've driven almost every car from a tesla model s to a Kia Forte, and I could just feel that something about the Lexus wasn't right. I also noticed that the mpg was terrible, I was even driving in eco mode and avoiding any aggressive speedup. 1st time I took it in they said I had a bad batch of gas. 2nd time I pushed a little more and now 2 weeks later I'm hearing that a new transmission is what is recommended per Lexus so waiting on that now. But my issue is, if they are just replacing the transmission with the same one, who is to say it won't have issues again. The dealership told me they are not allowed to disassemble the transmission to dig into what could be wrong with it. Very frustrating. Dealership has been awesome at proving me info and a loaner. Still in communication with corporate Lexus as of now.

 

Just broke 18000 miles and my 500H has been a rock solid workhorse.

No engine issues, no tranny issues, no leaks, no oil burning, no rattles and fantastic MPG- averaging around 29-30 after 18K miles.

The car has had 1 issue and it has nothing to do with it being a 500H. The panoramic sunroof was faulty and had to be completely replaced. This issue occurred during my first month of ownership. Its been 7+ months now with no problems.

Did 3 oil changes and 1 cabin filter change so far.

This thing just goes and does whatever you ask of it with no fuss. 18000 miles in 8 months is not an easy life on any car and this 500H is taking it like a champ. Ill probably drive this until it loses its 70K powertrain warranty. I would not hold a new powertrain out of warranty, even if its from lexus and even if its been reliable so far.

My only complaint about the car is that its value TANKED. The MSRP on this thing was 72K and 8 months later it is only worth 53K trade in. I discovered this while just window shopping some other cars out of boredom. That's a bit concerning to lose 20K value in less than 8 months. In comparison, a brand new BMW X6 was worth just 7K less after I traded it in 1 year later- I paid 72K for that X6 as well and got 65K for it on trade in. I always thought Lexus RX's held value better than BMW suvs. This is a big disappointment to be honest.

Honestly, if you are looking for a sporty drive, just get a BMW X5/X6 in the same mid 70K price range. They will be way more fun to drive and BMW B58 I6 + 8 speed has been damn bulletproof and the car is way more responsive and faster than the 500H while still getting 28 MPG highway. Thats probably why the 500H value tanked so fast. You can buy a much better performance from BMW for the same price and they give around 8% off MSRP and free service for 3 years.

 

I guess i'm one of the unlucky ones. I was washing my 500h on Thanksgiving morning to get ready to take my in laws out for dinner. I finish washing the car and suddenly I can't open any of the doors. (And no, I did not pressure wash the engine.) It looks like a total electrical system failure. I won't know any details until the dealership takes a look at it. I had AAA tow it to the nearest dealership but obviously they were closed on Thanksgiving. I just did a late night drop off and dropped the keys in a night drop box.

When trying to jumpstart it, I got a handful of messages on the screen:

"System Malfunction, Visit Your Dealer"
"Shift System Malfunction, See Owner's Manual"
"12-Volt Battery Charging System Malfunction, Stop in a safe place, see owner's manual"
"Hybrid System Stopped, Steering Power Low"
"Drive-Start Control Malfunction, Visit You Dealer"

Jumpstarting didn't help. As soon as the cables were pulled, all the electrical systems would shut off, including the ability to open any doors. I'm just considering myself lucky all of this happened while I was at home and not out in the middle of nowhere. Current mileage is 2,155. I'll keep my progress with this debacle detailed here.

On a side note, even before purchasing the car, I was told they needed to replace a fuse before I could take the car. Not sure if this is related but at least worth noting.

 

There is a TSB for short pin failure after it is installed during the PDI. When they ship it to save the battery the short pin (fuse) is removed and when they install it during the PDI it sometimes blows causes errors. Maybe when they replaced it at delivery it as has failed again, and then all they would do is hopefully replace it.

Below is the official TSB:Bulletin Number: LTT-0322-23

Replacement Service Bulletin Number: N/A

NHTSA Item Number: 10240046

Date Posted: 06-01-2023

Component Name: 110000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Make: LEXUS

Model: RX

Year: 2023

Date Added: 07-31-2023

Summary: TT: Vehicle may exhibit one or all in combination of the following DTC U115687 or U11B900 or U11B987 or U11BF87 shortly after short pin installed during PDS/PDI.

 

That's reassuring. Thank you. Only problem is they can't get the fuse in until the end of the year. I guess I'll enjoy the better mileage on the 350h they gave me as a loaner for a month. i already miss the 500h performance but i'll live. (haha, first world problems, right?)

 

You should tell them pull out another new car...

 

Believe me, I considered it. If this happens again, I'm gonna have to seriously re-visit that idea.

 

took the rx500h in yesterday for the second key , 3500 miles and actually had nothing else needing fixin

 

12300 miles, RX500h

- A few days ago, car was not responsive for a split second when accelerating from a stop
- Today, it jolted hard during an acceleration from stop (I didn’t even push hard on the pedal)

 

Take it to the dealer to see if it threw a code. I had similar issues with momentary no power from a stop. My issue was the turbo wastegate valve acting up. In any event, the dealer diagnosed it and fixed it successfully.

 

quick update, still waiting on the fuse...apparently the part is back ordered. Now they're telling me it'll be another month before the part arrives (est. end of January, originally quoted end of Dec 2023). At that point the dealer will have had the car more than half the time I've owned it.

side note: they did say they would also put a new battery in. (I'm just noting this here as a log of my conversations with them.)

really starting to miss my car. I'm paying the car payment and the insurance for the 500h. The mpg on the 350h (loaner) is nice but the car is nowhere near as fun to drive as the 500h.

 

if wou have not filed a case with Lexus customer relations I would. We had a similar issue where they had our Lx for 2 months. I literally called the relations group daily. In the end they wrote me a check for all the monthly payments I made without the car. It was nearly 2k.

 

I wish Lexus Canada had a useful customer service.

 

I finally got my car back yesterday (1/25/24). New fuse installed, new battery installed, new key fob. I also asked them to change the oil which took a little more persuasion but they ended up doing that as well. I asked that they do it to help avoid any potential major engine issues like some of the cases I'm reading about on these forums. It took a total of 9 full weeks (of the 19 weeks since purchasing the car) for them to get this done. I'm already in contact with customer relations and will be hearing back from them on Tuesday. I'll keep you all posted.

Also, I asked if I could order another one of these fuses to keep on hand in case something like this happens again but said they couldn't due to "supply shortage"...ugh. let's hope this doesn't happen again.

 

same experience here, started shifting strangely at low speed last week, and advised today that it needs a new transmission. No eta yet.