Lextranny

I've heard rumors that Lexus will be pumping the 2006 RX330 ponnies to 265HP? Coming out end of Nov.-Dec. 2005. Trying to catch up with the rest of the Luxury SUV rivals. (i.e. Acura MDX, Infiniti FX35).


Have anyone heard of this? That will be awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dolesun

Maybe it's the 400h?

Hameed

I'm pretty sure that's it.

Lextranny

NO...is not the Rx400h hybrid.....

dolesun

Well, I didn't hear anything about that then. If that's true, I might have to wait and see before I jump the gun..........

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

Someone mentioned the RX330 will be changed to RX350. I guess that means it will be bumped up to a 3.5 liter V6 which would account for the increase in HP.

GFerg

See for some reason I didnt want to say anything. My point views are only speculation and I didnt want to make an *** out of myself. Since we heard about the 400h I had a feeling that they would up the power of the 330 to match the 400h. But neglected my gut feeling because they kept on saying that its gonna offer more power and better fuel economy, with a strong focus on performance. Now look at them. 265 hp. Figures Lexus would do such a thing.

The real reason why I think they held back the 400h till April is because maybe there is a mild redesign for the 330 in April and it wouldnt make sense if Lexus had the 400h out a few months b4 the mild redesign. Now with the redesign and new model, the RX sales will soar in 2005.

They can still do a few things though. They can not redesign the 330 and just add the 265hp engine. They can redesign it add 265hp, and the 400h will come with an even more powerful engine, maybe 300 to distance the two trucks, or keep it the same as it is now.

I'm a little doubtful on the 265, maybe 245, but you never know. Toyota is pretty wierd like that. For example, 280hp in the Avalon and 245 in the GS300??

Didnt the RX330 come to market in the Spring of 2003? Would that qualify the truck for a mild redesign in the spring of 2005?? and market it as a 2006 model??

HarrierAWD

Dunno, sure would be nice. Toyota announced a while back that it will not get into the "horsepower race" with Honda and Nissan. It will concentrate on fuel economy and engine refinement (NVH.)

LexusChris

iTrader: (1)

I don't know whether the RX 330 will get 265 HP but it will probably get the new 3.5L that the Avalon is getting so then it will be known as the RX 350.

BrickHead

The RX330 came to the market in the spring of 2003 as a 2004 model. I wouldn't be suprised to see a mild redesign in the fall of 2005 as a 2006 model. Because the original 1999 RX300 came out in the spring of 1998 and it got a mild redesign in the fall of 2000 as a 2001 model. Hopefully It will get the new 3.5L V6.

Lextranny

Yeah....i'm thinking it could be the RX350. :

03LX470

Has Lexus ever done a engine upgrade during the middle of a life cycle? Not as far as I can remember..

The current LX is still a 470, the current LS is still a 430...however, i think the current GS was changed from 400 to 430 some time during its life cyle..

I'm not sure if they want to start acting like Mercedes / BMW and upset customers by upgrading engines during the middle of a product life cycle

flipside909

With the normal 5 year Toyota cycle would apply. If we want to speculate, the current MCU33 as we know it i.e. RX330 should have 2008 as the last year of production for the 2nd gen RX. The 3rd year of production which would be 2006 would usually a new powertrain choice whether a revised tranny, engine technology addition or even a bump up in displacement. A facelift usually comes for the 4th year of production which is scheduled for 2007.

So it wouldn't be too far fetched to see a MCU35 MZ series engine or a new chassis code change to adapt with the new 2GR-FE 3.5L V6 (but probably not likely since Toyota uses the same engine family for one generation and usually saves a whole new engine choice for the next generation) which is going to be used in the next Avalon and future IS. Take a look at the current ES. Introduced in 01 as a new 02 model. Engine was changed to the 3MZ-FE mid production cycle which was 2004 and the facelift roudning out the MCV30/31 chassis for the last 2 years, 05 and 06.

We'll have to wait patienty and see.

Lextranny

I hope by Nov-Dec 2005 Lexus has already fixed all of its recalls/TSB on the RX330 before the new RX350 comes out. Hopefully, the new RX350 won't have any bugs!!!

bige320

Yup, the current (4th gen) ES, in 2005 it's the ES330, same engine as the RX330 and a few other Toyota's.

However, IMHO, I would disagree with Lexus holding back on upgrades, if they were doing that. Since consumers can't keep up (without spending $$ on trade-ins and leasing) and the market demands companies to innovate and move forward, i.e. voice activated navi and Bluetooth for 2005 RX (though it's a small upgrade by comparison to engine upgrades).