Impressions after two years: Part 2
05-29-10, 10:26 AM
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Impressions after two years: Part 2
Hi. Me again. I heard it said recently that “managing expectations is a powerful happiness tool”.
I put a down payment to reserve my car in late 2007 and waited …. .... .... Lexus here was delivering the early trickle of vehicles as they arrived to customers who reserved in the order of date of reservation. No one rejected their assigned car and there were no showroom samples. I saw the lot I could pick from in a multistory parking warehouse, and driving any of them was no option. I had to either take it or leave it, and if I really needed a test drive, why I was welcome to wait (….) for the floor specimen. When? Later Sir, I was assured. So what do you think? they insisted insistently. I had a choice of brown/maroon, white or black, if I remember correctly. What to do? Should I be upset with the unreasonableness of this situation and write to Toyota? Should I go back to the Mercedes dealer and negotiate the GL price a bit more? Should I take the BMW dealer’s offer of borrowing the X5 for a couple of days to really assess how wonderful the totally renovated for that year model was? The Q7??? Choice, choices, choices. What drama. I picked the black one.
I was now full of expectations, some may be unreasonable mind you. After all, this is the all new premier SUV from Lexus. The one to serve unchanged for the next umpteen years, judging by previous iterations. The one competing with the aging Range Rover. Everything must be best of breed, latest technology. Everything must be fantastic ….
Air Conditioner
The AC is great. It is really powerful. The zones work well. One time my seven year old son felt cold and increased the temperature in his zone to 29C. I hadn’t noticed it until much later. The AC was cold everywhere, but was blowing hot air in his zone. That was a good test of the zone isolation, although I thought there should have been a limit on the max delta temperature among the zones to prevent the AC from fighting itself. A minor shortcoming to point out here is that while the front blower is really quite at low speed, the rear one is fairly loud at all speeds.
One of the AC dampers in the dashboard started making a small noise every time it opened or closed, which was often. They opened and greased to no avail. They ordered a replacement part from Japan, and it’s scheduled for replacement in the next service.
Kudus to Lexus for not providing an Auto setting for the fresh/recirculation damper in the Gulf region as it does in other markets. An Auto selection typically favors the fresh air setting. The air is much dustier here, and the fresh air setting would quickly block a new AC filter with dust.
Battery
My battery died after 1.5 years. In the extreme heat of the Gulf region, batteries tend to die after 2 years. While 1.5 years is pushing it, I’m not completely unhappy that it failed, especially considering that it was replaced free of charge under warranty. What really bothered me is the fact that it would have cost, and will in the future, almost $400 to replace. Wow. That’s a lot of money for a battery.
Engine
When the engine is pressed from low revs, the engine’s cooling fan howls as it picks up momentum (or when whatever other resisting forces are neutralized). This may be due to the need for an oversized fan considering the terrains this car needs to be able to navigate. Of course it may be some other engine component that causes the howling, but I’m inclined to guess it’s the fan. This howling stops at around 1200RPM.
Shortly after, around 1500RPM, equivalent to about 65-70 KM/h in normal driving, the engine shivers and vibrates. These vibrations are sensible through the steering column and gas pedal. They are ever so slight that my passengers tend not to be aware of them but boy do they bother me.
In extended driving when the A/C is on, the engine growls a bit. I’m guessing it’s the A/C compressor.
This engine is quite in all other conditions, including when I drove at 180km/h (112m/h). Sure, why not.
I’m really only annoyed with the 1500RPM shiver. To me it detracts from the otherwise positive experience with this engine. I’m guessing Toyota wanted a 5.7 liter engine to compete with Nissan and Jeep, went for the then available truck engine (called 3UR-FE) from the Tundra (US pickup truck), but couldn’t/didn’t take the time to refine it for use on the LX. Sourcing the engine from the Tundra might give the LX a hardwearing engine, but a truck at this price range should not feel like one. The Range Rover engine is also sourced from another car, Jaguar. Now that's a good sounding source.
Again, apart from laps of refinement, the engine is strong and performs well in all situations.
Plastic engine cover
Why does Lexus insist on these childish contraptions for their cars, complete with bulges that are supposed to fool you into thinking they’re monstrous injection pipes. How can they seriously do this to a mature audience?
Transmission
Smooth, unobtrusive, always on the right gear. I must really be looking for gear changes, or happen to be looking at the tachometer when they occur to know they’re happening. Unless I’m missing the point behind it that power shifting switch (forget the moniker now) to the left (11 o’clock) of the shift stick is really redundant. The engine/transmission always has sufficient power to propel the car for any reasonable use. I don’t see the point of deferring upshifts or downshifts. Also, if there’s ever a reason, I’d like the transmission to be intelligent enough to select that power setting for me transparently. I don’t think many people specifically engage that button, except for experimentation. They might engage that button on the 2nd setting, though, which is valid. This is purely my opinion though.
Suspension
This is a tough area for me to address as suspensions are complicated and I don’t have the knowledge on the subject or experience with other vehicles, but I’ll give it my best shot. A vehicle’s suspension needs to do two things:
1. Keep the vehicle as level or neutral as possible during maneuvers, like turning and breaking, so as to give it agility. A firm suspension works best here.
2. Absorb bumps effectively. A soft suspension is best for this purpose, especially when bumps are small.
Of course it needs to do both of these simultaneously, and do them quickly. This is a difficult set of requirements to meet especially for a car that is heavy, tall and with a high center of gravity. Combine these difficulties with the fact that this suspension needs to be road and off-road capable, and needs to provide Lexus-style quite, comfort, and road isolation. This is a tall order.
Again one of my problems in trying to do this evaluation is my limited driving experience with the one vehicle that to me has to have the same design objectives, the Range Rover. The X5 handles better on road, but that may be because it is road focused (and because BMW is driver focused). I’m not sure the Range Rover handles, drives, or isolates better. Maybe readers with extended driving experience on the Range Rover can provide input. I'd really like to see a satisfying comparison on these two.
I drive my LX always with the suspension set to the sport position. I find the other two settings, especially “comfortable” to increase damping bounciness to the point of deteriorating maneuverability as well as ride quality. The LX is fairly quiet and comfortable, but even in the sports position it is not fun to drive. If I go over a large bump, I get the satisfying feeling of my car being less perturbed than the cars next to me. When I turn, especially at lower speeds, it does well at keeping level. However, the car never indicates that it is happy with what I’m asking it to do.
The most annoying thing about the suspension on my LX, though, is the minute and omnipresent suspension vibrations that seem like road unevenness that are perceptible even in straight line on reasonably good roads. I really don’t know how to describe these vibrations any better to make sure you understand them, and if you don’t then possibly you don’t have the problem on your particular LX. Remember that I bought my car in early 2008 which makes it part of the initial production patches. They may still have had unresolved manufacturing issues. It may also be related to the 18” Dunlop tires that come standard on the LXs sold in the Gulf, which I suspect in a lot of issues. It may be the best thing for offroading, but it’s got to be too tall to provide the best road performance possible. But then again it may be just unreasonable expectations on my part.
BTW, I think that if Lexus were to have sensors and intelligence to constantly switch between the three suspension settings, they may be able to achieve better results.
Light package
Decent. Could benefit from HID, for which I saw several requests on this forum, but I don’t feel too strongly about it. I think on the whole you can achieve excellent levels of illumination without blinding other drivers with the delivered package.
Next time, steering, internal space, that damn radar cruise control, and other ramblings.
Thanks for the encouraging responses.
I put a down payment to reserve my car in late 2007 and waited …. .... .... Lexus here was delivering the early trickle of vehicles as they arrived to customers who reserved in the order of date of reservation. No one rejected their assigned car and there were no showroom samples. I saw the lot I could pick from in a multistory parking warehouse, and driving any of them was no option. I had to either take it or leave it, and if I really needed a test drive, why I was welcome to wait (….) for the floor specimen. When? Later Sir, I was assured. So what do you think? they insisted insistently. I had a choice of brown/maroon, white or black, if I remember correctly. What to do? Should I be upset with the unreasonableness of this situation and write to Toyota? Should I go back to the Mercedes dealer and negotiate the GL price a bit more? Should I take the BMW dealer’s offer of borrowing the X5 for a couple of days to really assess how wonderful the totally renovated for that year model was? The Q7??? Choice, choices, choices. What drama. I picked the black one.
I was now full of expectations, some may be unreasonable mind you. After all, this is the all new premier SUV from Lexus. The one to serve unchanged for the next umpteen years, judging by previous iterations. The one competing with the aging Range Rover. Everything must be best of breed, latest technology. Everything must be fantastic ….
Air Conditioner
The AC is great. It is really powerful. The zones work well. One time my seven year old son felt cold and increased the temperature in his zone to 29C. I hadn’t noticed it until much later. The AC was cold everywhere, but was blowing hot air in his zone. That was a good test of the zone isolation, although I thought there should have been a limit on the max delta temperature among the zones to prevent the AC from fighting itself. A minor shortcoming to point out here is that while the front blower is really quite at low speed, the rear one is fairly loud at all speeds.
One of the AC dampers in the dashboard started making a small noise every time it opened or closed, which was often. They opened and greased to no avail. They ordered a replacement part from Japan, and it’s scheduled for replacement in the next service.
Kudus to Lexus for not providing an Auto setting for the fresh/recirculation damper in the Gulf region as it does in other markets. An Auto selection typically favors the fresh air setting. The air is much dustier here, and the fresh air setting would quickly block a new AC filter with dust.
Battery
My battery died after 1.5 years. In the extreme heat of the Gulf region, batteries tend to die after 2 years. While 1.5 years is pushing it, I’m not completely unhappy that it failed, especially considering that it was replaced free of charge under warranty. What really bothered me is the fact that it would have cost, and will in the future, almost $400 to replace. Wow. That’s a lot of money for a battery.
Engine
When the engine is pressed from low revs, the engine’s cooling fan howls as it picks up momentum (or when whatever other resisting forces are neutralized). This may be due to the need for an oversized fan considering the terrains this car needs to be able to navigate. Of course it may be some other engine component that causes the howling, but I’m inclined to guess it’s the fan. This howling stops at around 1200RPM.
Shortly after, around 1500RPM, equivalent to about 65-70 KM/h in normal driving, the engine shivers and vibrates. These vibrations are sensible through the steering column and gas pedal. They are ever so slight that my passengers tend not to be aware of them but boy do they bother me.
In extended driving when the A/C is on, the engine growls a bit. I’m guessing it’s the A/C compressor.
This engine is quite in all other conditions, including when I drove at 180km/h (112m/h). Sure, why not.
I’m really only annoyed with the 1500RPM shiver. To me it detracts from the otherwise positive experience with this engine. I’m guessing Toyota wanted a 5.7 liter engine to compete with Nissan and Jeep, went for the then available truck engine (called 3UR-FE) from the Tundra (US pickup truck), but couldn’t/didn’t take the time to refine it for use on the LX. Sourcing the engine from the Tundra might give the LX a hardwearing engine, but a truck at this price range should not feel like one. The Range Rover engine is also sourced from another car, Jaguar. Now that's a good sounding source.
Again, apart from laps of refinement, the engine is strong and performs well in all situations.
Plastic engine cover
Why does Lexus insist on these childish contraptions for their cars, complete with bulges that are supposed to fool you into thinking they’re monstrous injection pipes. How can they seriously do this to a mature audience?
Transmission
Smooth, unobtrusive, always on the right gear. I must really be looking for gear changes, or happen to be looking at the tachometer when they occur to know they’re happening. Unless I’m missing the point behind it that power shifting switch (forget the moniker now) to the left (11 o’clock) of the shift stick is really redundant. The engine/transmission always has sufficient power to propel the car for any reasonable use. I don’t see the point of deferring upshifts or downshifts. Also, if there’s ever a reason, I’d like the transmission to be intelligent enough to select that power setting for me transparently. I don’t think many people specifically engage that button, except for experimentation. They might engage that button on the 2nd setting, though, which is valid. This is purely my opinion though.
Suspension
This is a tough area for me to address as suspensions are complicated and I don’t have the knowledge on the subject or experience with other vehicles, but I’ll give it my best shot. A vehicle’s suspension needs to do two things:
1. Keep the vehicle as level or neutral as possible during maneuvers, like turning and breaking, so as to give it agility. A firm suspension works best here.
2. Absorb bumps effectively. A soft suspension is best for this purpose, especially when bumps are small.
Of course it needs to do both of these simultaneously, and do them quickly. This is a difficult set of requirements to meet especially for a car that is heavy, tall and with a high center of gravity. Combine these difficulties with the fact that this suspension needs to be road and off-road capable, and needs to provide Lexus-style quite, comfort, and road isolation. This is a tall order.
Again one of my problems in trying to do this evaluation is my limited driving experience with the one vehicle that to me has to have the same design objectives, the Range Rover. The X5 handles better on road, but that may be because it is road focused (and because BMW is driver focused). I’m not sure the Range Rover handles, drives, or isolates better. Maybe readers with extended driving experience on the Range Rover can provide input. I'd really like to see a satisfying comparison on these two.
I drive my LX always with the suspension set to the sport position. I find the other two settings, especially “comfortable” to increase damping bounciness to the point of deteriorating maneuverability as well as ride quality. The LX is fairly quiet and comfortable, but even in the sports position it is not fun to drive. If I go over a large bump, I get the satisfying feeling of my car being less perturbed than the cars next to me. When I turn, especially at lower speeds, it does well at keeping level. However, the car never indicates that it is happy with what I’m asking it to do.
The most annoying thing about the suspension on my LX, though, is the minute and omnipresent suspension vibrations that seem like road unevenness that are perceptible even in straight line on reasonably good roads. I really don’t know how to describe these vibrations any better to make sure you understand them, and if you don’t then possibly you don’t have the problem on your particular LX. Remember that I bought my car in early 2008 which makes it part of the initial production patches. They may still have had unresolved manufacturing issues. It may also be related to the 18” Dunlop tires that come standard on the LXs sold in the Gulf, which I suspect in a lot of issues. It may be the best thing for offroading, but it’s got to be too tall to provide the best road performance possible. But then again it may be just unreasonable expectations on my part.
BTW, I think that if Lexus were to have sensors and intelligence to constantly switch between the three suspension settings, they may be able to achieve better results.
Light package
Decent. Could benefit from HID, for which I saw several requests on this forum, but I don’t feel too strongly about it. I think on the whole you can achieve excellent levels of illumination without blinding other drivers with the delivered package.
Next time, steering, internal space, that damn radar cruise control, and other ramblings.
Thanks for the encouraging responses.
05-29-10, 01:05 PM
#2
Rookie
Way to go black570..
I have never seen any more detailed report about LX..
Though I still would prefer a more decent light package. a biXinon for example..
Keep up the good job and get intouch soon for field trip to practice your monster hidden powers..
Something simillar to this https://www.clublexus.com/forums/lx5...the-dunes.html
Salam.
I have never seen any more detailed report about LX..
Though I still would prefer a more decent light package. a biXinon for example..
Keep up the good job and get intouch soon for field trip to practice your monster hidden powers..
Something simillar to this https://www.clublexus.com/forums/lx5...the-dunes.html
Salam.
Last edited by LexusLX; 05-31-10 at 01:50 PM.
06-17-10, 06:35 AM
#5
Driver School Candidate
Join Date: May 2010
Location: NoVA 703
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Wow, great write up. Very helpful as a new lx owner.
I agree with just about everything you mentioned.
I'm surprised you haven't received more love from everyone for taking the time to do this.
Can't wait for part 3.
I agree with just about everything you mentioned.
I'm surprised you haven't received more love from everyone for taking the time to do this.
Can't wait for part 3.
06-19-10, 05:37 AM
#6
Get an agm battery next time with metal jacket. Odyssey makes these for the military and they are designed to last in extreme environments. They may not have the exact group size but a larger battery will fit and give you better performance.
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