RX350_KSA

As I know, RX350 2008 has a VSC disable button. This is an advantage for those who are in love with Off-Road driving. Please those who have tried 2008 RX350 off-road, please share your experience.

flipside909

The RX350 unfortunately is a light duty sport utility vehicle meaning it wasn't meant to be taken off road like you would a conventional 4wd with locking differentials. The RX's wheel travel and suspension is not designed for rock climbing or dirt trails.

vasylko

I would suggest VW Touareg for off-road capabilities, as it is truly is the car for that. There is lots of You-tube videos on it. Check it out.

Grumpa72

I would really be surprised if anyone has used their RX for this. It wouldn't be the smartest thing to do, imo, if, for no other reason, than we have a unibody construction. Most off-road or 4 wheel drive vehicles have frames which tend to be much stronger and more tolerant of off-roading. If I recall correctly, the RX is built on a car unibody and not a truck frame so any purposeful off-roading would be a serious compromise to the structural integrity of the car.

flipside909

The Touareg although capable, is still a crossover SUV. Now if we're talking real body on frame off road vehicles, the GX470 and the LX470 (Land Cruiser) are proven off road vehicles.

catdaddylo

RX350, I too am interested in any off road experiences from any RX350 owners. As a previous owner of a Chevy K5 Blazer and Ford Explorer I know the RX350 was not built for serious rock climbing or Rubicon trail excursions but what I am interested in is how it performs on snow covered Forest Roads with intermittent icy stretches, deep ruts, mud and icy boat ramps. Anybody experience these conditions I would love to hear how your RX performed. I am a new owner and plan on facing these situations this fall during elk and duck season. The above situations make up about 2-3% of my total driving with the rest on paved roads. That is why I opted for the RX350 over say a Toyota 4 Runner. I also know from past experience that the type of tires you have on your vehicle makes a big difference from go and no go, even in a true 4x4.

Orzel

iTrader: (1)

Although we have a 330, and I understand that the 350 has a better AWD system, we've taken our RX "off road" on more than one occasion. Now, we didn't do any stump jumping, rock crawling, or hill climbing, but we've been in deep beach sand on the Oregon coast (and got a lot of strange looks from the 4X4 truck fraternity), Forestry roads in mud and snow, and we’ve traversed many a mountain pass in blizzard conditions - and so far, we've never had a problem. Just be aware that the RX is a soft off roader and pay attention to conditions, you should be OK.

biff44

Yeah, I have had mine "off road". Things like unpaved gravel road, some with pretty big ruts, mud.

The problem are, unfortunately, numerous. The entire underbody body is pretty much unprotected, and there is not that much ground clearance. Consequently, you really have to pay attention to how you are driving. For instance, it there is a big rut, you do not want one tire in it, as you will be dragging the oil pan, or differenctial, along the rocks! You have to try to balance one wheel on the higher middle or edges of the road, and go it slow. You can rapidly get into a situation where there is not any "high edges" and you are going to have all 4 tires in a rut with the high part of the road in the middle of the car. You are then going to have damage. If you lose your oil and do not know it, you are going to have major damage! At the least, you are going to be scraping the paint job on bushs trying to keep the tires out of the deeper ruts.

So, if for some reason you HAVE TO do it (like you have a vacation home at the end of a 3 mile poor quality dirt road, etc), then you are at the least going to want to put in some aftermarket skid plates on the front and back.

If you want to go offroading for real, go out and buy a used Chevy beater for $10K and do yourself a favor.

triplecore

The front under body is made of plastic and mine got caught and had a branch poke in and rip it off. I also don't think the 4wd is that good, sometimes it SLIDES SIDEWAYS on my driveway when the wheels spin. Other than that its good car when it goes through snow on a level surface. Anything inclined and you'll SLIDE SIDEWAYS

biff44

RX does not have 4wd! It is AWD. I am not expert on the system, but there is some sort of viscous coupling mechanism to divide power between the front and back wheels. There is also the electronic stability system that goes nuts and starts doing things when it detects wheel slippage.

This stuff is all tuned up for highways speeds, not for crawling around at 4 MPH! They could have programmed in a crawl mode, that used the brakes as a virtual locking differential (i.e. allow all 4 tires to spin with power, and whatever one grabs a little moves the car forward). But they did not. When the one of the wheels spins the power is applied to it thru the differentials, and then the stability control does things like retarding the throttle, etc. The end result is you get MORE stuck in the mud, not less!

Off roading thru thick mud/snow--I think the only way you can do it in the RX is by keeping the speed up. If it slows down too much, weird things will happen. Not what you want for offroading!

biff44

I don't mean to deride the RX! I can cruise around at 60 MPH with confidence in snow/ice when others are in the ditch and on their roofs. So they did some stuff very right. Offroading is not it, though.

catdaddylo

I gather from the previous posts that my RX350 AWD should be OK for what I might face next fall. I understand about the deep ruts. My Ford Explorer did not have any more ground clearance than the RX.

Lil4X

The AWD on the early RX 300 and the RX 350 is excellent - when employed to do what it was designed to accomplish. The RX hasn't the ground clearance, torsional rigidity, gearing, nor the robust drive train for serious off-roading. It was designed to put power down to all four wheels on ordinary roads, particularly in situations where traction gets a bit iffy - not so much as a trail-buster, but as a smooth, unfussy, rather transparent assist to an ordinary driver on improved roads, that heads off most traction-related situations at ordinary speeds.

Now, that said, the RX, particularly in the models indicated, is a reasonably competent soft-roader as well. It is a ~$40K near-luxury car, and dune hopping, mud bogging, and rock-crawling are CLEARLY outside the realm of reasonable application, if for no other reason than a couple of deep scratches will cost you a repaint that would BUY a used Wrangler more suited to these duties.

The phone just rang and I got word I'm embarking on a 400-mile photo excursion/sales trip/culinary exploration tomorrow before dawn; a journey deep into Cajun country. All but about two miles of that will be on pavement, but even my present FWD RX 330 is well-suited to the task - particularly that long stretch of Interstate between here and there. Considering my own comfort, I'd rather take my RX a couple miles beyond the pavement's end (with suitable care), than drive a rock-hopper 198 miles on the interstate just to arrive beaten, bloody, and over-equipped for that last few hundred yards.

You pick your battles and choose your weapons accordingly.

The G Man

I would have bought the GX470 if I were to do any off roading.

catdaddylo

I don't consider dirt or gravel snow covered forest roads and icy boat ramps as off roading and as Lil4x, said to arrive in comfort and traverse a few miles down a snow covered road should not be a big deal. I would say that the majority of GX470 or LX owners probably do no more if even this much in their vehicles. They probably bought theirs for the towing capacity as much as anything. As I stated in an earlier post I have driven 4X4's since 1980 and I would say the majority of SUV's never gets off the pavement. My biggest concern with my RX are the Michelin tires that came with it. They do not look very aggressive to me so I don't think I would go to far off road to say back up or to turn around out in the booney's. I can tell you from experience that an aggressive tire such as the BF Goodrich Mud Radials to what I am driving even if the Michelins were on a GX470 I would be skeptical to drive off road. I'm just trying to get a feel of how many RX owners have actually taken their vehicles off the grocery parking lot and on to dirt or gravel or beyond.