RXus

With rapidly increasing inflation and a continuously sinking dollar, watch for prices on all imports to go way up, not down.

I too just got back from my test drive. My silver/black leather h comes in next weekend. I'm even more excited now than I was before the test drive. I got on the waiting list a year and a half ago.

Honestly, I like wood in luxury car interiors, and I was seriously thinking of plastering an aftermarket wood package over the metal interior... but have now changed my mind. The brushed aluminum really looks quite nice, much to my surprise. This vehicle is fast, comfy, frugal, roomy, elegant, quite fascinating and still very unique.

Is it worth more than the 330? Let's put it this way... I passed on the 330 when it came out to buy an Acura MDX instead. Now that my h is here, I'm moving out of my MDX (which is a great SUV in its own right) and into the 400h. I get 14 city mpg in the X and anticipate city mpg of 28 or so in the h. That's half the gas money and less waiting on line at the so called "cheap" gas stations. At $2.50 or so and rising fast, the h will be a big difference from the X. The $2000 tax deduction will be nice come next April 15th.

I also keep reading about tranny problems with the 330 on this forum. The h is totally different (CVT, no gears) so one less thing to worry about.

Only things that dissapointed me are:
1) the Acura NAV system is light years ahead of the Lexus,
2) why did Lexus put a 2006 $50k "high tech" luxury vehicle on the market with no XM or Sirius?
3) hard acceleration from 0 to highway speed is rather noisy, which I did not expect from an otherwise silent vehicle.

Other than that, I think this is the best vehicle on the road. Can't wait to take delivery!

Is it worth the money? Everyone will have their own answer. You could buy a used Hyundai with a 10 year warranty for a heck of a lot less and still get around just fine. For me, I want a reliable luxury vehicle with AWD, great crash test results, room for lots o' stuff in back, and one that gets as many mpg as possible. If that matches your criteria, the RX400h is a class of one.

shortbear

my two gripes about the rx400h:

1. battery needs to be changed after 100k miles (approximately $6000)
2. the navigation sucks - still cannot input data when car is in motion. lexus is still playing mommy for us on the road (my mercedes navigation does not have this problem)
3. it looks almost identical to the Rx330.

After test driving the RX400h, I did not really notice that much of a difference compared to my wife's 2004 RX330. I plan on waiting for the Rx350 or Toyota Highlander hybrid to come out. Either that or I will just keep my mercedes and use my extra money to buy a boat.

spwolf

once again I have to tell you that this is not true, I dont know if you are posting this on purpose or not, but you do not have to change battery after 100k miles - it is warranty that expires after 100k miles or 8 years.

How many times will you post this, and how many times will I have to respond for it to sink into your mind?

rxdriver

Nonetheless, batteries do not last forever. There will be a replacement cost at some point.

Toyota and Honda expect their batteries to last 8-10 years. An 8-year warranty will protect you if you happen to get less than that out of them.

The Prius has the same hybrid warranty as the 400h - 8 years / 100K miles. The battery life on the Prius is projected at 150,000 miles, according to the fine print on the 2005 brochure. (Link: http://www.toyota.com/images/vehicle...fs/prispec.pdf)

looknow12

Journalists having been saying you'll only save $300 per year. I've done the math and I see much higher savings.. see my assumptions and results below

looknow12

This one is at $3.50 per gallon if things go the way everyone says it will.

Don't even ask about bigger vehicles like the GX. Or better yet, I should have compared against the X5's bigger engine, or MB with a bigger engine. The 400's performance certainly deserves that.

So... If I'm in the right ball park, how do the journalists claim you'll only save 300/year. <Assuming your not homeless or a traveling sales person and on the highway all the time.>

parula

nice analysis looknow, let's hope we don't see $3.50 soon.

spwolf

Actually Toyota claims it never had reported battery going bad yet, out of all priuses produced (i would guess this is with 8 yr warranty) - which is already better than many engines out there, someone reported that first known battery failure was at 250,000 miles by commercially used prius (24/7).

This is another reason old priuses hold so much value, they are reliable as well.

Rocky2

I convinced myself.

Likely $2000 tax credit worth approx $600.
Yearly savings on gas 12,000 miles for 3 years @ $2.20 gallon = $1200
If can a buy a RX400h in next few months, with 36K miles it will be a 2006 and worth after three years worth $2500 more than if it was a 2005 which an RX 330 would be right now, even with more miles than the average numbers of miles that a 2006 would have after 3 years.
I am assuming the hybrid will depreciate 5% less than a RX330 allowing additioanl $2500 less depreciation.

Total over buying a new 2005 RX330;
Tax value - $600
Gas Savings over three years - $1200
Resale Value benefit buying 2006 for next 4 months over 2005 RX 330 - $2500
5% better retention value for hybrid $2500
Total -$6,800

Or just compare it to the price difference for the switch from a V6 to V8 ML or X5 of approx $4500 and you get better mileage.

rxdriver

Rocky2 - In 2008, why will a MY 2006 car with 36K miles be worth $2500 more than a MY 2005 car with 36K miles? (Don't say "because it's a 400h" - he's counted that separately with another $2500.) I'd say it's a lot closer if not even... even though the 06 is a model year newer, an average of 12K miles per model year is better than an average of 18K per model year. Even in today's commute-oriented world, a dealer will still call 18K "high mileage".

Given that an RX330 with Premium Plus and navigation can be haggled down to about $41K (if not better), and that the 400h should command sticker price at $49K, you're still paying an extra $1200 for the hybrid over the 3 years. Not a huge difference, I'll admit, but it's still more money. It's close enough, though, to be able to justify the "cool" factor of the hybrid.

spwolf

you argument means nothing when you reliaze that it is cheapest performance SUV, and gets the double mpg of its V8 rivals. It is cheaper than ML500, X5, even FX V8...

mhc0725

Someone had posted the battery would be for the life of 400H. I don't remember reading that the battery itself would last that long, it will definitely need to be replaced around 100K. Whether Lexus replaces free of charge as part of warranty of as part of some 'programs' or not, I don't know.

NO ELECTRIC vehicle right now is going to save you money over the life of the car over the price of a conventional vehicle because of the need to replace the battery at 100K and the battery being approx. $5K. Gas prices would have to be around $8/gallon, if not more, for you to even come close to evening out at the end and gas prices will never rise to $8/gallon in the US. The citizens would overthrow the government if prices ever rose to over $8/gallon.

From a conservation standpoint, electric for now is the best alternative. The fuel savings is enormous and it's a more clean decision for sure.

I don't know what people who buy Prius are thinking to pay sticker, or more, for a USED vehicle. I think the whole gas price rise has eroded their brains. If you didn't think of buying earlier for conservation reasons, but now are buying for 'fuel saving' reasons, boy are you in for a shock at the end.

If I had the money to buy a 400H over the 330, I would take the 400H definitely. For conservation and 'uniqueness' reasons, but not for savings reasons of course. You don't pay almost $10K more to expect to recover that back in any form.

Rocky2

"A two year old LS 430 which I used as an example with 36K Miles is worth more than a three year old LS430 with 36k Miles acccording to two of the three used car value estimators on the web. Since the new RX330 was only out about 1.5 - 2 years I could not use the RX330 to test my theory."

looknow12

You don't pay 10k more for a RX400 over a RX330. The difference is 5k. If there is a tax credit available that makes the difference to perhaps $3000. If you look at my estimates (it depends on driving habbits), you could make back 2k in 3 years. Perhaps a break even in a bit over 4 years.

I agree with you, it's not fo saving fuel. But Lexus hit this market perfectly. This is a Luxury Sport Utility vehicle. People in this price range are not solely concerned with savings. Like you said, performance, and uniqueness and then perhaps conservation is third.

lexuslover

looknow, well said i am definitely one of those people, and like mhc, would be interested in the hybrid TODAY for it's uniqueness factor. but for some reason the 400h isn't quite blowing me away. i guess i feel like i do more highway driving so the gain in mpg is not quite as significant for me. i know that might sound stupid b/c any increase in mpg would be nice for a suv, but i just don't have the same feeling as, say, someone jumping from an X5 with 13mpg. i would, however, be super interested in a 7-8 seater hybrid variant in the GX or LX in a few years. (i am green enough to demand at least 15mpg for any car)

oh, and rocky2 - i used to share your theory when i bought the 04RX in March 2003. i thought it could be valued a bit "higher" (or depreciate less) due to the early model year, but as it turns out if you input these things into something like edmunds, you get dinged pretty hard for being over mileage (because edmunds has no way of calculating the car's age other than mileage). if i post my RX today, people think it is one year old when in fact it is more than 2 yrs old. and when people think it's one year old, they always will wonder why you have driven it so much in one year anyway.