Just a thought.
My wife loves the heated seats here in Montana and the prior owner was in Minnesota. Could extensive use of the seat heaters collapse the seat foam?

 

Nope, no trades, no how, we love it, and we will be going touring again this year.

I don't think that the Thundercloud has different seats - but we sure do like it. Last long haul we did was from Pocatello ID, via Craters of the Moon, all the way to Bellingham WA and did it in one day. That's just a hair over 1,000 miles, and yes, I did get a bit stiff on that one, as after we left Craters of the Moon, we only stopped for food/fuel, and of course the other necessity.

 

We left Seaside, OR yesterday morning and got back here around 7PM, but with several stretch stops and we are both still sore this afternoon.

 

The only reason my wife was able to convince me to buy this vehicle is due to the fact that it was so comfortable and Lexus/Toyota is known for reliability. So far, the longest trip has been about 3 hours, and we were both fine...this is coming from a guy who had back surgery 10 years ago and is frequently uncomfortable in car seats.

I think the person who drew analogies to mattresses is on to something - comfort is a very individual thing!

 

The seats are firm, but for me, very comfortable. I just put nearly 400 Interstate miles on the RX 330 today, and am still not uncomfortable. Beautiful spring day, a nice road trip and a change of pace from the office . . .



Morning will tell the tale - if I can get out of bed or not. Of course there is that matter at my destination of hauling about 40 lbs of gear up and down a three-story straight stairway and spending an hour on a madly gyrating platform while trying to shoot video. I may be getting too old for this . . . 'course I've said that since I was 30 . . .

Finally back in the car, I was so comfortable I didn't even use the seat heater to bake my aching muscles, as is my usual custom. With a nine hour round trip on minimal sleep, I was somewhat afraid of getting TOO relaxed . . .

Yes, another coffee, s'il vous plait, m'cher . . . Good Lord, I was over there too long - started liking the coffee, and was able to understand those folks . . . I know when to go home . . .

:

 

probably not. i use my seat heaters a lot, even more then my heater usually. seats feel the same, though the seats have started to wrinkle a bit as the years go by.

 

If you feel the foam has collapsed in your seat, have a shop replace the form or better yet, add extra form or replace it with a thicker foam. Both option would be cheaper than trading in your car.

 

Over all the seats in our RX330 were okay, but nothing great. I never felt really comfortable in them, but it wasn't a back breaking problem either. For the record, my last few cars had well bolstered and supporting sports seats (AKA NSX, BMW) so in comparison the RX seats are plain jane bucket seats.

 

That’s a good haul, given you were returning to Big Sky country. Bet you ran into some interesting weather too. I hit a near white out snow storm this AM on the way to work, only lasted about 3 blocks, then clear again.

Sorry to hear about your disappointment with the RX. We’ve been very happy with ours, and will be looking at the “new and improved” version as a replacement – Maybe, or we’ll just hang onto our Thundercloud for a couple more years. Hope you get your issues straightened out.

Cheers

George

 

Getting ahead of the weather was one reason we drove straight through.

On the way there we hit a snow storm that brought traffic down to about 20-25 MPH. The weather cleared, but the road was slush, everyone started to pick up speed and I went along with them. That's when the RX started going sideways and there was nothing I could do until the center divider stopped us. We were going so slow that it only left a small scrape on the lower plastic valance. I had absolutely no steering control. It was like the Traction Control locked the front wheels and sent the power the the rear tires. On other 4WD with a balanced power split, just a little gas will get the front pulling and get you out of trouble. The RX just slid sideways more.
It took me several tries to get it going again from a stop.
I know this opens the door for a lot of neg. comment about my driving. Even the wife said "you did nothing wrong and everything right and we still spun out" and she's my biggest critic about my driving.

 

The RX350's AWD system is better than the 330's, you should not have slide sideways if you were going that slow and had good tires.

 

Michelin MXV4 with about 50% tread, but I'm not ruling that out.

I ask a Lexus Tech about a T/C off switch and he recommended against it as it may give the computer a brain fart and cause more problems.

 

There are outstanding (as in unresolved) problems with Grouch's RX steering/alignment/tires.

Salim

 

Been to two differant dealerships and several D/t's went over the car and found nothing wrong. Their opinion, bad roads in Montana, so I've dropped the issue.

 

Grouch, get some Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza and call it a day