Droid13

Today, after over a decade with my 2010 RX450h a bid it adieu. Moved on to a '23 NX350 AWD.

Thought I'd share some parting comments. I've wanted an RX since I first saw the original RX come out, but young family and stuff at the time kept me on the sidelines until I finally acquired this one slightly used in 2012. Not without some quirks, but I loved this car from day one to today. I personally drove it for 200,000km (finished today at 260,000km) practically issue free. The only notable issue during my ownership was the need for a water pump replacement due to noisy bearing while still under warranty (barely, just in time). Other than that, basic maintenance is all. Fluids, filters, 2 brake jobs, and a set of rear shocks. I spent the last 6 years planning for the replacement of the 12V battery, but it just refused to die so it passes to the next owner with a nearly 14 yr old 12V battery. Engine still runs like a dream (except on rare occasion a sub-second VVT clatter on cold start), it churned out really good fuel economy to the end, never used any oil between oil changes, never noticed any kind of leaks (but admittedly I haven't thoroughly inspection the engine in some time, but if it does have any leaks, they are very small seeps at best). The most annoying thing was the occasional brake bark that some hybrids were prone to. Never needed to change a single light bulb (although I changed the DRLs to a whiter color temp solely for cosmetic reasons), hood and hatch struts still working fine, doors, locks, windows all good, all the accessories still completely functional. On smooth roads it still retains a whisper of its original silkiness. Take your hand of the wheel and it will track straight for a long time. Never did an alignment, tires always wore evenly. But bumpy roads clearly made it call out for new struts and probably another set of rear shocks, but that is for the next owner to handle.

This is also the first time since June 2006 that I don't have a hybrid. I really loved the way they drove and the technology. I consider myself an early adopter having bought one of the very first Camry Hybrids that reached the dealership. Lived thru all the people telling me I was crazy and that I'd be spending thousands on new batteries after a few years. Although I did have one "check hybrid system" alert one day back many years ago on the RX, after doing nothing but clearing the code it never came back. Never had any hybrid related repairs. Why didn't I get the NX hybrid, well, frankly, impatience. A colleague bought a 23 NX350h and he waited 11 months to get it. I got my NX350 turbo after only 5 week wait. I will miss the great fuel economy but frankly, for me it was more about curiosity in the tech. I don't actually have a long commute in brutal city driving where hybrids do better, so I've gone to the dark side with pure gasoline, nasty turbo, and, gasp, automatic transmissions. Just when everyone is buying hybrids, I'm not. LOL, no worries, I'll be ok.

Thanks for the interesting times in the 3rd Gen RX forum, I'm moving shop to the NX forums now...

Cheers

Sweeks2020

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience ... I'll be curious to know how the NX lives up to your expectation. In the meantime I'll continue with my 2013 RX350 (got some planned suspension work coming up) and the usual basic maintenance to get done. Unfortunately where I live there are no real incentives to go hybrids and we all know where Lexus and their electrics are.

Any reason you didn't look into the new RX?

RX in NC

How much smaller is the new NX compared to a third generation RX?

mtlrx

When I traded my 2007 RX for my 2014 RX, I tried an NX, I found the NX a tad on the small side.
Hope you enjoy your ride.
So many people I know with cars with turbos complain about excessive oil consumption.
It will interesting to see how Lexus models perform, having gone away from the V6.

My other car with a turbo is not my daily driver, and it as well consumes a bit of oil.

RX in NC

^^ I concur. I have long refused to bring ANY four-banger, turbo, or CVT into our stable. I hope we can hang onto our current line-up for many years to come because appropriate replacements will be slim pickings when the time finally arrives to make any changes.

Roscol

I have both, RX Hybrid and the NX, love them both for different reasons.
Except for the more modern safety features of the NX, the 13 year old RX is still a much nicer drive, more quiet, more roomy, better in the snow, and better on gas than the NX.
The NX is a bit zippier, easy to maneuver, and of course much safer (thank you frontal Collision avoidance!).

it’s always hard when saying good bye to an old friend, I still miss my much beloved 80 series Landcruiser, and my Previa 4wd, so much regret some days.

Droid13

Straight forward question, but it was actually a long journey full of comparisons, compromises, and second guessing that ended with the NX. But since you asked...

Lexus was not actually on my radar initially as, while loving it, was thinking more about my retirement savings than my car desires lately. Since my wife and I work in the same location, we share the one vehicle. I do 90% of the driving, but we need to agree on the choice. My '10 RX I had lent to my daughter for about a year as she was in need and could not afford to buy anything, and at the time we had the opportunity to pick up a '20 Crosstrek Limited significantly under market value with extremely low miles (an even longer story, but it was more opportunity than choice). Wife REALLY liked driving it; small, nimble, and handled really well. She liked the RX too, but it was more effort for her to putter around town with it. I liked driving the Crosstrek quite a bit too for the same reasons, but it was just too small and underpowered for me to be happy with it in the long term. The driving position was perfectly fine, but the trunk was tiny and I don't do well in cars that require twisting and lifting to get out of (I tweaked my back getting out and now I am careful not to twist and lift getting out). So when my daughter was finally ready to get her own car, it was mutually beneficial to sell her the Crosstrek as the car was cheap for us, we would sell it cheap to her and still with pretty low miles. When we got back our RX we immediately decided time for something new. I initially thought I'd go with a Forrester Limited. I liked the Crosstrek handling, safety systems, infotainment systems, awesome in the snow just needed a bit bigger for trunk space, easier entry/exit, and a bit more oomph. Seemed like a natural transition and price was not bad fully loaded, however, even with the larger engine in the Forester, it still felt underpowered. Then I moved to the more expensive RAV4 Limited, similar semi-rugged styling that I had come to like with Subaru but with a somewhat more powerful engine (the 203HP A25A). I actually spent 3 months on waiting list for a RAV4 Limited, but during the waiting time I kept reading over and over how many people hated how noisy it was and how lifeless the A25A engine was in the gas version. So in a moment of self doubt I ran back to the warm embrace of Lexus and test drove an NX350h and NX350 turbo (naturally skipped the NX250 as it has the same engine/power as the RAV4). The 350h was very nice and quiet and smooth and peppy enough (even though is uses a version of the A25A engine, but with added electric power) just as I'd expect a hybrid to be after so many years of having one myself, but the wait list was long and I had already been waiting 3 mnths at that point. I drove the turbo and found it just as smooth and quiet and zippy and the auto-trans was surprisingly not too annoying. So to directly answer your question, never really considered the RX simply because we just didn't need that size. The new RX uses the same T24A engine as the NX, same new AWD system (they modified the Toyota torque control AWD system by beefing up the rear diff clutch to allow it to be engaged over a much wider range of situations which Lexus calls "full time" now) and same safety systems and such. Absolutely no hate for the RX at all, but the NX350 seemed to fit the sweet spot for us. More power, more trunk, easy exit and entry (the whole automatic seat and steering wheel retract thing, I sorely missed that in the Crosstrek and love having that back in the NX too), and wife is content with the amount of upsize. Alas, I spent a lot more that I planned to in the beginning, guess retirement waits an extra 6 months

Well, hard to describe. Certainly its smaller, but not a lot. My wife and I are both 5'7" so for us its still plenty of room. It feels narrower in front but not uncomfortably. My RX seat was big, like a couch, lots of room for wide butts but we are both happy with the narrower NX seats (we didn't like the FSport seats, felt a bit too narrow). My daughter is small and she never cared for the RX seats, she could move 6 inches side to side in them, hold on! The NX seat height I find perfect for exit and entry without going up or down. Trunk is a bit smaller than what we would have got with the RAV4 (or RX obviously), but it will do for us.

Not sure what year NX you considered, but the 2nd gen NX is a bit larger than the 1st gen. Yea, the T24A is a new engine for 2022, so that was a bit of leap of faith that it will be good long term. I know certain Toyota engines in the past had runs ins with bad oil consumption that they had to redesign the piston rings and recall a bunch of engines. But I've had 3 Toyota/Lexus long term in last 20 years (3.3L V6, 280,000km, 3.5L V6, 260,000km, 2.5L I4 120,000km) and all of them had no oil consumption (no turbo though). I change oil consistently at 8000km (5000mi) and the oil was just as full as the day the oil went in for all. I've heard nothing bad in this area with the A25A engine which was been out a few more years and is very similar to the T24A engine (except no turbo of course). Similar design, the stroke is just a few mm shorter, same bore, cylinder head is changed a bit for different position of the direct injectors, but otherwise I'm hoping for the best. My first new car ever was an 86 Chrysler with a 2.2L turbo engine. They were terrible for popping head gaskets and I had made a point of avoiding them since then, but hopefully Toyota did this engine right. Time will tell.

I mostly agree, except that I've always found the RX Hybrid to be mediocre in snow. My 450h was AWD, and certainly it would pull away in snow with just some modest wheel slip at the front even with good new snows, but cornering was terrible. Needed to go dead slow in the deep stuff on a turn otherwise the front end will plow straight ahead. Before that I had an FWD Camry Hybrid which may have taken a bit longer to get going but handled the corners pretty good. And the Crosstrek, well, it is extremely good in snow. Just a few weeks ago 10" of snow unplowed in my court. Crosstrek just plowed thru it to the main road with zero tire slip. Could see the shape of the underside of the car left behind in the snow. I think I will miss that in the NX (well, especially with less ground clearance), but I am still hoping/expecting the NX to be better than my RXh since it is able to put more power to the rear than the RXh can, but I'll have to see. Not sure what year your NX is, but the AWD system is new for '22 so not sure what impact that will make.

Yea, that is certainly going to be a challenge, Looks like Toyota is going all in on the T24A turbo engine as a replacement for many that had the 3.5L V6 engine.