Hey guys,

My wife is considering an RX and I was wondering if you guys would give me some real world experience and views on the RX versus the RX-F. We are looking at a 2013-2014 age and price range. I have done some searching here and haven't found much. I do understand that there are appearance differences, front grille, rims, seats...etc.....but I am looking for people to tell me which one they chose and why or if they have had one or both and like one over the other and why.

A little background on us: my wife has an '05 GX470 now which she has enjoyed. She bought it used in approx. '07 08 and would like to move into something newer yet not spend new Lexus $$$ We have had LS, GS, SC in the past. We also have a truck and suburban....so having 3 rows is not that important to her. She uses this primarily for work and errands. We can use my vehicles for trips and hauling etc.

Thank you and I appreciate your time and assistance.

Bill

 

I drove both models before purchasing my 2014 RX350. The "F-Sport" was noisier on the road and drove too harsh and too firm for my tastes. I have a 2-seater for when I want to feel like I'm driving a sports car. I was looking for a smooth, quiet ride and the regular RX350 gave it to us. No regrets.

 

We have a 2015 F Sport (my wife's) for about a year and half and we are very happy. We prefered the F Sport's appearance when compared to the regular RX as well as it's better handling. From the beginning my wife loved the front end styling that she feels gives it an aggressive look and the 19" dark grey wheels. On the mechanical side, the F Sport has and 8 spd trans instead of a 6 spd and performance dampers which tighten it up.

However, as I have mentioned on the forum before, the F Sport isn't for everyone because while it handles better it does ride much stiffer than a regular RX. My advice would be to take the F Sport on a extended test drive over all different types of roads.

While it will be smooth and quiet on good pavement, on any broken pavement you will immediately feel the stiffness of the suspension. Before we purchased it, we took it on a 45 min test drive so we knew what we were getting into and are still happy with the ride / handling trade-off.

Good luck..

 

I love the aggressive look of the F-sport but BOY! Sitting on the backseat while going through speed bumps make my kidney stones jiggle. It's so stiff that my 5 year old son in the car seat even complains. My advice would be to get RX350 with F sport appearance then you will get the best of both worlds.

 

Thanks for the tips and advice!

 

LOL, yeah as you know the ride isn't for everyone...

 

Bill, the best thing to do is have your wife drive both. The suspension is different on the F-Sport . It's also eight speed instead of six. If you want just the look, find one with the sport appearance package like PEK said. And take a look through the F-Sport roll call thread. In there are some comments from owners about why they chose it over the regular RX.

 

supposedly some one on here found out that when he replaced the rear shocks with shocks from a regular RX 350 (non F sport) the ride was much better. apparently they use a higher pressure gas charged shock on the F sport causing the stiffer ride.