artaquio

Well, maybe I am the only ont which is crazy enought to drive off road, but who knows?
Maybe I am openning a new popular thread!
I have the AWD version, and I like to do off road with the family and friends. Actually I am impressed about the climbing capacity of the RX. Honestly thinking that is not a "all terrain", its capabilities are awesome!
Sometimes the traction control drives against you, as stops the car instead of leaving spin the wheels. Anybody knows a simple method to diconnect the trac control by a simple switch?
I have pics of one of my excursions on the gallery, others are also wellcome.
Anybody has drive the car on the snow?here where I live, Canary Islands, never snows but on the top of the mountains, and then the road patrols stops the traffic.
Best reagrds to all members!

Tammy

Enjoy and be safe.

Without the Lo range in your transfer case, four wheeling tends to stress the drivetrain. You would be a candidate for the new FJ Cruiser. I run the FJ60 myself with Fairey overdrive.

Understand, it's an automobile chassis with limits. The traction control, VSC (Vehicle Stability Control) is a function of the antilock braking system. Computerized and not switchable on this vehicle type.

I would recommend you keep a close eye on the transmission fluid for "darkening or becoming black" . Fluid should be a cherry red in color if it's factory fill Type IV ATF. "Off roadin'" , I'd drain and fill the transaxle transmission every 10,000 miles with 4.2 quarts of Toyota recommended fluid.

Lexmex

I don't do it anymore unless I have to get from point A to point B, however a lot of what we consider off road in the U.S. is on road here. I once drove up a mountain higher than Pike's Peak down here and broke a shock on the left side.

In the higher mountains of Mexico, snow does exist but road patrols also close down the approaches as you can imagine the people down here think they can handle it and they often slide of the road (unfortunatley no one I have heard as slipped off the mountain).

Rod Millen had a modified RX300 that they ran some offroad races on several years ago and actually did quite well.

slick20

I wouldn't subject my baby to that abuse. I hat hitting a pot hole ,let alone off roading.I think part of why most people have brought the RX is the fact that they can get a luxury car ride while still having the room and features of most suv's.Gonna just cruise with mine.

Lil4X

In the course of my work I've had to take an AWD RX "offroad" several times - that's one of the reasons I chose the RX in the first place. Most of these excursions are on "unimproved roads"; two tracks through the woods or over a pasture. Most of these paths are used by heavy oilfield trucks or farm trucks, meaning that a little extra ground clearance and the ability to get a little motive power to the ground is about all that is necessary, especially in mud or sand. I've had the car high in the Rockies in early or late-season snows too, on fire roads or ranch trails. For these applications, you don't really need a purpose-built rock crawler - and you don't have to suffer the ride and handling compromises they demand.

I've never had a problem with the RX, but I've had a good deal of experience with REAL off-road vehicles and learned to get out and walk any trail that might be a concern and to get out and do a little recon when the road suddenly dips out of sight. Two great truths I've learned:

• There is no disgrace in turning around, and . . . .
  
  
• There is nothing worse than a 40 mph surprise . . . unless it's a 60 mph surprise!

The RX's performance, while not the equal of a Wrangler, is a perfect compromise for my needs - it has proven to be an outstanding cruiser that is capable of some light to moderate off-pavement work - if you use common sense. For real brush-busting or rock-hopping, the RX doesn't begin to qualify, but if your needs dictate that you drive in a few places where a conventional automobile might get into trouble - but still retain all of the touring qualities of a luxury sedan, the RX is for you.

Lexwang07

I had a RX300 went off-road! RX300 gotta changed to offroad tires, and improved handling on mud and sand! My RX300 rear tires lost traction some on mud road! That's really fun on offroad, and hard to control on mud.

slick20

so did you like it or dislike it for off road use???

HarrierAWD

I did take my RX300 offroad. I enjoyed it. The RX300 is more capable offroad than most people think. It never bottomed out.

However, I will not do it again. I got so much thick mud in the wheels, struts, undercarriage, etc. It took me over two hours to clean up. Later I had to take each wheel off and hose it clean, because the mud got in behind the spokes of the wheels.

Just rent a Jeep and let those guys at Thrifty worry about cleaning.