salimshah

I have taken the RX to what we call county-roads (basically gravel) and it can roll over small ruts. It can go where a sedan can and then some. But that does not make it a vehicle for off road use. OP is the est person to judge what is going to be the primary purpose.

Salim

RonMexico5

Took mine up a rutted/muddy mountain trail and it did great. A sedan would have been constantly bottoming out, so really the few extra inches of ground clearance were a pretty big advantage. Definitely not a serious off-roader though.

Broc

I'm considering building up a 2009 RX350 a bit. Nothing serious, no rock crawling or black diamond trails. But old mining roads, desert trails, etc.

https://us.lexusownersclub.com/forum...ires/#comments

Prolly not that hard core, but more capability than a bone stock RX ... QA1 offers spring coil spacers for the top of strut springs in 1" and 2" varieties. Toyota RAV4 steel wheels have 45mm positive offset (vs 40mm for OEM lexus) so you can go wider casing tire and a bit more aggressive tread. Put the Alloys and street tires back on when daily driving.

Highlander rear struts will give you better tire clearance on Gen II RX350's.

Bottom line is there are a lot of little things you can do to make it more off-highway capable than the Country Club set says (or thinks ...).

I think the idea of a lovely interior and decent power with good gas mileage is a great idea for mild off-roading. And it's a version of the RX 350 I will be pursuing in force as soon as I get my existing 4x4 sold and park a shiny new-to-me 2009 RX in my driveway