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I purchased my 2018 RX 350L last week with the intent to have a tow hitch installed for a bike rack ( I have the Yakima Four-timer). I was disappointed to find out that currently Lexus and other aftermarket hitches are not available or verified to fit the L. My salesman suggested since I’m not towing anything to check with Uhaul. They ordered it and expect it to arrive on Wednesday 8/15. Fingers crossed it fits and does not require cutting the rear bumper. I’ll keep you all posted.
I purchased my 2018 RX 350L last week with the intent to have a tow hitch installed for a bike rack ( I have the Yakima Four-timer). I was disappointed to find out that currently Lexus and other aftermarket hitches are not available or verified to fit the L. My salesman suggested since I’m not towing anything to check with Uhaul. They ordered it and expect it to arrive on Wednesday 8/15. Fingers crossed it fits and does not require cutting the rear bumper. I’ll keep you all posted.
Thanks for sending the link. I checked it out and the underside of the 350L is a lot different than the pictures indicate. The spare tire is exposed and the paneling is different. I had U-Haul install a hitch today. The only downside was they did not have instructions on how to trim the left rear splash guard cover. Shown below
Rx 450HL? 8]Hi, do you think it'll be the same for Rx 450HL? At the uhaul site it say
Thanks for sending the link. I checked it out and the underside of the 350L is a lot different than the pictures indicate. The spare tire is exposed and the paneling is different. I had U-Haul install a hitch today. The only downside was they did not have instructions on how to trim the left rear splash guard cover. Shown below
Hi, do you think it'll be the same for Rx 450HL? At the uhaul site it says they need to customize it...thanks[/left][/QUOTE]
Thanks for sending the link. I checked it out and the underside of the 350L is a lot different than the pictures indicate. The spare tire is exposed and the paneling is different. I had U-Haul install a hitch today. The only downside was they did not have instructions on how to trim the left rear splash guard cover. Shown below
Hi, do you think it'll be the same for Rx 450HL? At the uhaul site it says they need to customize it...thanks
[/QUOTE]
My understanding is there are no direct bolt on hitches available at this time for the RX450hL. I called Curt directly and was told that it was in work and hopefully will be ready soon.
The Highlander hitch will fit but you have to do some grinding or bending according to Curt.
I'm looking for the best option to transport a couple of bicycles. I've researched a ton and can't seem to find any sort of rack that would mount on the back of the car without a tow hitch. Are there any that exist that work? If I need to add a tow hitch, what's the best one to add, and is it easy enough to install myself? I don't plan on towing anything other than bikes, so I would prefer to not spend the money to add a tow hitch. I also looked at roof racks, but I would need that space to store gear when we go camping, so unfortunately that option would not work for this. Thanks for the help!
Installation is one-man one-hour job (I needed my wife to help me for 5 minutes lifting the tow hitch to the position). You need some hand tools but you should have them anyway.
I had a bike carrier rack but I wouldn't use it for more than on bike, especially when going camping (bad roads). The last time I used it was 20 years ago!
You have a vehicle worth 50 - 60K. Why at worst risking safety or at best reducing the enjoyment to save a few hundred bucks?
I had a Curt hitch installed today, the 13282. My previous Lexus was an es350 for which I had a trunk rack. That obviously wouldn’t work for the 2020 450h I bought a week ago. I too did not see any options for hauling my bikes except a roof rack and hitch rack. I didn’t want a roof rack because it simply isn’t as convenient for loading/unloading as a hitch rack.
The hitch rack was installed today and works great with the Kuat NV platform rack that I also bought today.
I had asked the dealer to put a hitch on it before delivery. Called back later to say they couldn’t due to the kick sensor. I wasn’t really interested in the kick sensor, but both of the 450’s on the lot had it. They referred me to Curt hitches and a shop in town to install them (which has a very high google review average, fwiw).
The kick sensor continues to work about 1/2 the time I was playing with it this afternoon after the install, which I’m not torn up about since I didn’t buy the vehicle for the sensor (though obviously I did pay for the feature, ha/ha) and didn’t think I’d use it much upon learning the vehicle would have that feature.
After several years of a trunk rack — albeit a $300 Thule model that was solid as a rock in its construction; however, a rack the bikes hang from tends to have bike sway and can lead to bikes scratching each other without extra precautions being taken — I’m so grateful for a platform hitch rack and Kuat is a brand I’ve had my eye on since planning the switch from my es350 to a rx450.
The kick sensor continues to work about 1/2 the time I was playing with it this afternoon after the install, which I’m not torn up about since I didn’t buy the vehicle for the sensor....
When my wife and I bought our 2020 450h, we were torn between one with HUD and one with kick sensor (the dealer didn’t have one with both). I thought my wife would like the one with kick sensor (she didn’t even know what the HUD looked like) but she left it up to me. At the time I completely forgot about the tow hitch might block the sensor.
I’m glad that I decided on the one with HUD.
I haven’t had a chance to use the tow hitch for the bikes. Last year when my daughter graduated from college, she chose this as the graduation gift. I ended up buying 3 of them, 1 for each member of the family.
The 450h can comfortably carry three of them inside - no bike carrier needed.
Wow, 3 bikes inside the 450? I don’t like my bikes touching each other, so that is a non-starter. Regardless, 3 inside the 450 is impressive!! That’s really good to know, Pentaprism. I’d like to take the 450 to Colorado for vacation next month but yesterday was questioning the trunk room to be able to do this w/ 2 adults + 2 kids.
Good to know the Curt hitch works on the 2020. Did the installer have to make modifications to bumper, or does the Curt hitch rub the bumper? Any pics you could provide would be helpful.
Good to know the Curt hitch works on the 2020. Did the installer have to make modifications to bumper, or does the Curt hitch rub the bumper? Any pics you could provide would be helpful.
I’ll try to remember to take some pics and upload them.
To cut or not cut was a discussion the owner and I had. I assumed we’d cut that underside fascia, or whatever it is, because you can’t see that it is cut unless you crawl underneath the vehicle.
However, the owner put a receiver on his wife’s 2020 rx350 and preferred not to cut that under-siding on hers. No better reason than that — he didn’t want the fascia cut. He drove it to work to show it to me, which I appreciated him doing, and it looked fine. I brought up the hitch would scuff or rub against this underside fascia, but he minimized my concern about the rubbing. He asked if I planned to take the hitch off and I replied no due to how I’m a pretty serious and regular cyclist. He asked me if i would sell the hitch with the vehicle in the future, and I replied yes.
I appreciated him bringing up the discussion and weighing a couple of pros-&-cons w/ me. Ultimately, I told him I didn’t care how he did it so long as it was on there. He said if they have to cut fascia, then he’d do so, but for me to plan on them not having to cut.
Have I mentioned how much I love the Kuat NV 2.0? 😉🤣
08-13-18, 10:48 PM
Tow hitch for RX 350L
