annahlee

the car has 17,500 miles. asking $38,900. with my bad tranny of a rx300 (2001) trade in, total cost to me is, w/tax/title $32,950. the car has nav but no DVD. it was a lease and has been traded in. Any words of wisdom on buying a hybird car. any trouble with them? I do not know one thing about these cars. My husband just passed away, and I had to take a job which i take day trips - hope it helps with the gas.

silvervett

The Nav is useless without the DVD, I would demand they put in a DVD. I love my RX400H but I would pass on that car because I would be wary of getting a car with a missing DVD. If the removed (stole) the DVD before returning the car I would wonder what other things may be missing that you don't know about. How much will this car cost you in payments. I got a 3 year lease on a new 2007 RX400H (with NAV DVD and other goodies) for $580 a month.

I think you will love the RX400H, but maybe this one you are looking at may have problems. The missing DVD really bothers me and just gives me a bad feeling about the car. Anytime you get a used car you are taking a gamble, and getting one from a person that was sleazy enough to steal the DVD before they returned the car is a warning to steer clear of that car.

annahlee

my bad it has a DVD navigation system with rear backup camera - it does not have a DVD player in the back seat area.

jim256

If your trips are at speeds below 40 mph, generally in-town driving, you'll see good mileage. I get about 30-31 in that mode. On the highway, it's usually 28. The real savings are in slow speeds where the electric power will be used on occasion, and where the gas engine is shutting down when coasting and at stoplights.

silvervett

This is in answer to your Private message. The NAV (maps points of interest etc)information is contained on a DVD if the DVD is missing the NAV will not work. There is a DVD player / reader that reads the NAV DVD and uses it to guide you. I assumed that when you said there was no DVD you were referring to the DVD disk that is in the rear part of the car where the jack is. I thought the other owner stole the NAV DVD from the car, maybe when you said no DVD you meant no RES RES = Rear entertainment system DVD and that may have caused confusion.

silvervett

By the way I love my RX400H. I hate the DRL = daytime running lights, but I just fixed that by pulling a plug. If I can get my NAV to work while the car is moving the car will be perfect. I am going to try something to get it to work. As far as the question of buying the car in question it is impossible to tell because it all depends on the value of your trade in and the condition of the 06 you are buying. As far as the RES goes I personally consider them usless but some people need to have every gadget in their car. I assume the 06 will have the remainder of the factory warrentey so if there are problems the dealer should take care of it. I had read a lot of complaints about the RX400H but I can honestly say my car has been almost 100% trouble free. I doubt if the DRL will bother you, most people don't care about them one way or the other I just happen to hate DRL with a passion. I hate not being able to use the NAV while the car is moving but that should be a non-issue for you if you have an 06. The 06 has version 5.1 of the NAV DVD and you can override the motion lockout by a series of taps on the NAV screen, this can't be done with version 6.1 of the NAV DVD

annahlee

silvervett
Thanks for your reply and sorry for the confusion. The car is in excellent condition. I stumbled upon the previous owner and took a chance and called them. Very nice older retired couple and they assured me there was nothing wrong w/the car - they special ordered the car and hated to let it go. The wife drove it and really took excellent care of it and all the service records are w/the car. They had to down size to one car do to health problems.

the nav works just fine while the car is moving. do u have blue tooth? this rx does. I need to figure out how to use it. I do know only certain phones work w/the lexus bluetooth

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

calm down.. the car is not missing the DVD

personally i dont think the $39,000 is that great of a deal.. and only getting $6k for ur 2k1 rx300 is a bad deal also.. you are getting ripped off.
i think u could fix ur rx300 tranny (if it's that bad) for less than $1k.. u don't need to take it to a crazy shop.. just make sure u get a year warranty on the job and sell it b4 the year ends..
again.. that $39k for a 2k6 w/ 18k miles suck.
if they'll do $37k for it, NOT a PENNY MORE.. then MAYBE go for it..

silvervett

The other poster is correct that fixing the trans is the smart decision but sometimes the smart decision isn’t always the best on. The are a lot of reasons to change cars. I seem to get a new one every few years because I get tired of looking at the old one. I don't ever remember owning a car long enough (except for the Corvettes I collect) to wear out a set of tires and buy new ones. If you are happy with the car go for it I don’t think you will regret it at all.

The bluetooth on the Lexus should work with any bluetooth phone but Lexus has a list of phones that they say are a better match to your car. The NAV problem that annoys me is the fact that many of the features do not work while the car is moving. On a recent trip from TX to NY I had the Lexus NAV screen turned on and a Garmin GPS sitting on my dash. I wanted to find a motel about an hour down the freeway and call ahead on my cell to reserve a room. I could not look up motels with the Lexus NAV while the car was moving so I had to use the Garmin GPS to find a motel. The Garmin listed the number and I was able to call ahead to have them save a room for me. If I didn’t have the Garmin I would have had to pull off at a rest stop or exit to look up motel and make the call while I was stopped. I may not have been much of a time savings but I thought it was a big time saver to be able to reserve a room while I was driving.

silvervett

I am calm. I misunderstood the question and replied under the false impression that the NAV DVD was missing / stolen. I realized my mistake and corrected myself. I thought someone was trying to take advantage of her and responded accordingly.

You may be right about it being a bad deal but you have to keep in mind that prices vary by location. I have a house in TX and a house in NY. I could have leased my Lexus in TX or NY but there was more that a $100 per month difference between leases in NY & TX. The price may not be that good where you are but it may be a good or even great price where she comes from.

annahlee

silvervett
Thanks for explaining the nav system. I did read the thread "Nav. and video bypass '07' 400h" and now it makes since. Too bad

FYI
I am 47, just lost my husband of 20 yrs, have 2 young teens, just HAD to take a job to support us and put my kids through school. The job I took requires me to travel 20% of my time outside my area (day trips) and I'm looking for something that will be reliable, dependable, safe (I'm the only parent my children have now), and I don’t want a money pit down the road plus my time is very valuable. My 2001 RX300 only had 93,000 miles & I was hoping it would get at least 200,000 because I really don't need to spend the money right now. But the timing belt needs replacing soon – around 95,000 at $1800 - I just had to replace the rear main seal ($1100) and now the transmission! WHAT ELSE WILL HAPPEN!!! I don't have time to shop around for the best price every time something breaks - much less know if someone is ripping me off or are they really fixing the problem properly. So I end up taking it to the only 2 reliable places in town. In my area we have one dealership (very pricy but they do give loaners) and the other place in town (not a dealer) repairs Lexus (not so pricy – but no loaner) and that's it. So with all that in mind I think the used RX400h looks like a great car for me. I did some checking around and the price seems fair for my area. Anyway, the people who can afford to buy these cars around here will not haggle with the price. If I don’t buy it now it will go fast. It’s a beautiful vehicle;
I talked with the original owner whom I am very confident knowing that they had no problems with it and took very special care of it. They (not the dealership) just got this car in last weekend and have not even advertised it – and actually I think he intended to ask more than what he quoted me. I will ask for more concessions – want hurt.

Thanks everyone for helping me out on such a big decision.

MadloR

Bottom line.. try to buy the best possibilities...

check the month and year of fabrication... my 06 rx400h carries 05/06 for the month of may, 2006 and was PDI'ed in mid JUNE.

Of course check the pedigree and get the car inspected. Before I purchased my 400h, the previous version cost me about $140 to get inspected. And, they found a damaged beyond repair spare tire, a cracked front bumper not visible because it was hidden by the front licence plate, a factory Navi that was not recognised by Lexus USA as being a factory installed piece (they check by the VIN number), as well as the last time it was serviced for (an inspection and oil change that took over a week and a half which led me to believe that perhaps the car was service for MORE than just that) and later revealed a painted rear hatch.

Buyer beware, take your time, and say to yourself there will always be another 400h around the corner.

Cheers,

MadloR

JimsGX

What type of warranty are they offering you on the used vehicle? Are they selling it as a certified pre-owned? Here in MA, I was able to purchase a new 2007 RX400h that listed out at $49866 for $44980... That's with AWD and NAV plus all other bells and whistles except the rear DVD/RES system. I would assume that the vehicle you're looking at is a FWD vehicle in Alabama?


Jim

silvervett

If you are able to sell the old car and do a deal without a trade in it will give you a lot more options. I would be even willing to check prices in NY for you if you want. I got my 07 with Nav and premium package and a few upgrades with AWD for $580 per month. It might even be worth flying to another state to get a better deal but selling the old car yourself would be the only way to open your options. I live in NY but also have a house in TX that I am selling and I drive back and forth a lot. I would even be willing to drive the car out for you, if I could work it into my schedule. Or you can call up Lexus of Smithtown and ask for the salesman that took care of me (Walter Marion) (6310 360-4348. The dealer is only about 15 miles from the Islip airtort and I bet that they will even send someone to the airport to pick you up for free if you buy a car. He gave me a great price over the phone and I never met him in person till I picked up the car. Don't forget to check out the dealers that support this forum they may also be able to give you a better deal. I plan on selling both the NY house and the TX house and move to SC so I will be doing a lot of driving back and forth from NY to down south.

Take a long 4 day weekend and enjoy the ride the Blue ridge parkawy is beautiflu this thie of the year, consider it a nice site seeing vacation where you can save some money (that is if the car is cheaper here in NY) When I got my car I had a choice of buying in TXC nor NY and I saved thousands by getting it in NY.

EDIT On second thought you probably won't want someone else putting on all those miles on your car before you get it, but I am willing to help out anyway I can so let me know if there is anything I can do to help. If I were buying a car an knew I could save a couple thousand dollars I would be willing to drive 1,000 miles to do it.

annahlee

silverett
Thanks for the offer - very kind of you – but the easiest thing for me to do (no headache) would be to trade in my car and just let it go. Besides a new transmission it also needs a new timing belt, the rear bumper needs to be replaced, and the very rear passenger side fixed window needs to be replaced. Plus I'm not to thrilled about driving it anymore (it frighten me the other day) much less across country. believe me it's not good

The only Lexus dealership around here would give me $5000 for my RX300
The Automotive repair shop will give me $7000 trade-in (they quoted me a used Tran for $2600 & a refurbished one for $4700)

The dealership here has two 2006 RX400h listed;
$39,900 w/22,777 miles
$37,900 w/ 39,500 miles

the one I'm looking at list:
$38,900 17,700 miles (trade in $7000 for 01 RX300 93,000 miles/ bad tran) warranty is what comes with the car & of course the dealership offers the certified pre-owned.

Bottom line I'm looking at w/tax/title $32,950 / 17,000 miles / one owner, whom I did talk with about the car / hopefully no worries for some time except oil & tires