MartyE

Yes, I tired to escalate the vibration issue. I told them I wanted to actually meet with the elusive "factory rep" but instead of my getting to actually speak to him, or her, I was told that the rep indeed came to the dealership while my car was there and pronounced it to be "normal for that model". It was about that time that I knew I was done with my Black Saphire beauty. I retrospect, I truly believe that there was a bad batch of exhaust systems, and/or catalytic converters, and that a bunch of them ended up here in Orlando. There are also other WEB postings about this problem on other sites so I know that I was not alone but at this point it is, alas, a non-issue (I sure to do miss, however, the free car washes and wraps).

AndyL

Agreed on the part about the mouse. I find it very intuitive and it is better than Audi/Mercedes/BMW systems. This is one area where I like Lexus most.

yahj

too bad the rx did not work out, glad your enjoying your new minivan. We have the black sapphire too, we don't have any problems with the car then again we don't have the fully loaded one either, no gps, no mouse so that solved half of your problems.

Regarding the noise and the location where its coming from I read somewhere thats where the sub located at, is it maybe a loose sub? During acceleration ASL will increase your volume and the bass coming from the sub and maybe the vibration? Too bad we won't be able to know the exact problems is. My 2 cents

jamiec

MartyE........sorry you had so much difficulty with your RX. I had a Chrysler Town and Country and had nothing but problems, primarily with the 5 Star dealership that could never get my oil changed in a reasonable amount of time. I would drop my vehicle off at 8:00 am and at 6:00pm it still wouldn't be ready. They did offer me a "loaner" which was a rental that I had to pay for! Needless to say, I will NEVER buy another American vehicle again.

07grIS350

The Chrysler van may have more gadgets, but I would never buy one with my own money. We had a brand new one from Thrifty with around 2000 miles this past summer while in Sarasota. The thing just died while we were driving on a city street.
My experience with the RXs is that the V6 tend to roar fairly loudly under load, nothing like the scream in the IS350, or the nice burbles growl of the V8s (GS/LS). I believe Lexus did this on purpose for some reason. So I would be disappointed if I bought the RX thinking it would offer the most quiet ride under all conditions.

EMSLEXUSRX

I have to agree with Marty on the exhaust noise on the third gen RX. I've posted about this in previous posts how annoying the noise is, such that a lot of times when I'm sitting at a red light, I have to put the gear in neutral so that the noise and vibration goes away, more like how my '07 RX was.

But apart from that and some other questionable ergonomics on the third gen RX( I feel that the second gen had better ergonomics), the third gen RX still has most of the features that I like in my vehicles, thanks to being spoiled in the '07 RX, plus some extra niceties such as the push button start/smart access, the adaptive forward lighting, rain-sensing wipers, power tilt steering wheel and such.

So while I do have some disappointments in the third gen RX and I'm having some concerns about my gas mileage, I still like it.

hypervish

Just wait till the transmission blows on the Town and Country...And, till the brake pads are gone by 20k miles, because they are under-sized. Not too mention shoddy build quality... What a downgrade :thumbed:

That minivan will have it's own share of problems, a lot more than you can imagine. I regularly visit the CHrysler Minivan Forum, and jeez if someone would just research before they buy such an inferior product. THey have so many issues, I just stopped counting. After ~30 years, Chrysler still can't get the transmission right, they fail left and right. How they can still sell so many van's is beyond me. It's probably because they are much cheaper than the competitors, but you get what you pay for right!

I won't ever buy another Domestic product, they simply don't know what they are doing. Ford may become an exception soon, but they to don't quite have it yet.

As for the exhaust problem you mentioned, obviously it's an isolated case because no one here has reported that type of incident. It sounds as though you were nit-picking and didn't want the car to begin with.

k9shelly1

I believe in "buy American" but I have been so dissapointed lately. The GMC Acadia was the last draw and I will stick with Lexus until they let me down.

jamiec

I used to believe in "buy American" until both Chrysler and Ford let me down in a big way. This is my second RX and so far Lexus has not only proven to be a better product their service is also heads above their
American conterparts.

markrivers

Add me to the list of the " Buy American" you DONT get what you paid for list.
For us it's the Chevy Impala, which was almost 30 grand and such a disappointment.
I can name a lot of Japanese and even Korean cars below 20 thousand which have a nicer interior than this piece of junk.

cafpaf

Folks, let's keep something in mind before we draw the conclusion that all American made cars are junk. That is the fact that NO CAR, I repeat, NO CAR is perfect. Everyone one of them will have problems for someone. I don't care if it is American, Japanese, Korean, German, English, Italian or any other nation you can think of. I don't care if it is an economy car or a Rolls Royce. They all have their issues for a particular owner. Something that is critical to one owner is absolute nonsense to another. We have a 2011 RX and a 2008 Cadillac CTS. They both have their issues/problems. They both have great design features and poor ones. Also, there are great American made car dealers and terrible ones just as there are wonderful Lexus dealers and poor ones. Let's keep that in mind before we go on a tack that all American made cars are junk or even all Japanese cars are junk. Is just is not so. Just be glad that we all have choices and that if we are unhappy with any purchase, we are free to get something else.

InRBigness

I could not agree with cafpaf more. I have a 02 Envoy that has been bulletproof. I have done one set of ball joints, ignition coils and had cluster rebuilt because bulbs were burnt out. This truck had 250,000 Km's on it. I have done regular maintenace including brakes and tires. I have had not issues at all what so ever other wise.

Would I go buy another one, maybe, but I chose a Lexus because it suited my needs and wants when I was looking for a new vehicle. Where it was built was not really a factor when all was said and done.

hypervish

Generally speaking, domestic cars have way way more problems than Japanese cars. But, I see where your coming from. There's a reason why the U.S government had to bail them out. No one buys their P.O.S.

Sure all car's have their problems, I'm not arguing with that. But, some car's have more than others.

Fiddledd

We have always had Ford trucks in our family, and had great results.... so when I was shopping in January, I wanted to buy American - and bought the nightmare of all vehicles that had the MyLincoln Touch in it. After 16 trips to the shop for resetting, reprogramming, and one complete lobotomy, Ford repurchased the car from me under my state's Lemon Law. I'm now a three day very happy owner of a 450h. Was having to stop every two days to refuel in the other car, getting only 18 mpg. Yesterday, was averaging 34mpg! I've gone 220 miles on this tank, and Lexie says I can drive another 240 miles!! yippee!

jamiec

I've had 4 Ford vehicles all had various problems, but, I learned that the manufacturer has no control or pull with it's privately owned dealerships. Contacting them directly with complaints results in nothing. The last straw was when I tried to turn in a leased vehicle. I had moved from NJ to VA and my lease ran out on my Explorer about a year after the move. I contacted Ford and explained that I no longer lived in the state that my lease originated in and asked them to give me a dealership in my new location to turn the vehicle in to. They advised me to take the vehicle to "Dealership A" (name omitted) and they would process my lease turn in. I went to said dealership and was told they would "NOT" accept it and to return it to wherever I got it! I contacted Ford and told them what happened and they told me they would contact "Dealership A" and I should have no further issues. Needless to say, "Dealership A" again sent me packing. I told Ford that it was totally unacceptable that I was unable to return the vehicle to Ford just because I moved. I understand that this vehicle would increase inventory on "Dealership A's" lot, but, Ford should have offered them some kind of incentive to accept the vehicle. I explained to Ford that nowhere on my lease agreement did it state that the vehicle "had" to be returned to the dealership that the lease originated from and I was feeling victimized. Ford told me that the dealership was going against Ford policy by not accepting the vehicle and they would see what they could do. I told them that this was not my problem it was theirs and I would not be responsible for additional fees or penalties while they worked this out, to which they agreed.

On a lark I stopped into "Dealership A" and was approached by a sales rep that did not know the history of my problem and he accepted the vehicle without incident. I've often wondered if that sales rep was penalized for the acceptance of the vehicle. Granted this was probably a rogue dealership, but, in my opinion Ford should have been able to handle this and my vehicle should have been accepted by whichever dealership they sent me to.