nextcar

I just put 5000 miles on my 2017 RX 350 FWD, and here are the issues that I've experienced:

1. vibration/drone
Right from the test drive, I noticed a very slight vibration, but it barely registered during the test drive route, which was flat terrain. When I got home and drove around the hilly neighborhood, the vibration became very obvious when going uphill from a stop. I've taken the brand new car to the Lexus dealer, and had a mechanic drive the car with me. He confirmed the presence of vibration/drone, and has experienced the same complaints from other customers.
This is a known issue, and most people are not sensitive to this or not bothered by it. It doesn't bother my wife.
I've owned many cars, from Hyundai to Mercedes E class, and this is the only car to exhibit this behavior. I am very disappointed with Lexus.

2. door handle problem
One day, the driver's door would not unlock when I touched the door handle. Took it to the dealer, and they fixed it by replacing the door handle.

3. car alarm spontaneously goes off
Shortly after the door handle problem is fixed, another problem develops. After the car is parked and locked, and I stepped away, the alarm would go off without any provocation. I took the car to dealer, and they replicated the problem on that day. They kept the car overnight, and the next day, could not replicate the problem. So nothing was done. We've had the car a few weeks now, and no further problem.

4. gas mileage
Overall, we are getting 20 MPG with mixed suburban/highway. Car never achieved 27 hwy on long stretches of freeway - more like 24 MPG. A bit disappointed, but accepted it considering that it's a heavy SUV.

5. no AC button
From a user interface point of view, the worst feature of this car is the lack of a physical air conditioning button to toggle AC on/off. I am forced to go through the menu using the mouse thing which is time consuming and demands attention on the screen instead of looking at the road. This is a terrible design, and I much prefer the Toyota or most other brands' interface.

As you can guess, I am unhappy with my purchase. A $50k car from Lexus should not have these issues. I doubt that I would buy another Lexus.

GSFRX350

1. I don't believe this issue is on every vehicle - plenty of people on here don't have it and I know mine does not have the issue at all. I've tried feeling/listening for it using different driving situations and it just isn't a problem. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you don't have the issue just saying not all cars are affected.

2. One off problem unfortunately for you.

3. Was the "Intrusion Alarm" on or off - this alarm is very sensitive and can be activated by an insect moving in the vehicle. Maybe an insect set it off, the same when you went to the dealer and now it's died and the alarm is no longer triggering.

4. I regularly get 30 mpg on highway travel with 22 in the metro areas. Yes a big, heavy car that takes power to get going.

5. There's a button on the control panel with a picture of a fan and the word "Off" - this switches A/C off, next this is the "Auto" button, this switches the A/C on.

nextcar

3. Not an insect problem. It would have to be a very big insect to set the alarm off. Problem was replicated multiple times without any insects or movement of car.
5. If you press "off", it turns the fan off, so that you can't get warm air or any ventilation.

GSFRX350

The alarm went off for me one night at around 2.00am and noticed there was a fly in the car. The manual actually mentions insects can set the alarm off.

To get warm air don't you have the A/C on - I guess I rarely turn the A/C off, I always have it on and let the climate control do it's thing. We have 30 deg winters/105 deg summers and the car temperature is always great.

Sorry you're not impressed with your car, I love mine....

chunktwo

iTrader: (2)

Do you also have a FWD.... i consistently get 16.5 to 17 mpg... i have AWD and its contact 0-45 back to 0 because the timing of the lights stink..
on my longest highway drives of 30 miles i get upward of 23..

i chalked this up to being normal.. but seeing you get 30 - makes me wonder..

but to the TS topic - other than minor nuisances due to my personal preferences - i couldn't be more happy with the RX..

it seems like its a series on unfortunate things that when all together annoy you.. but any single thing wouldnt have been too bad..

with the thought in mind that a $XX car should be perfect... one of the earlier generations of the BMW x5 comes to mind - there was some valve stem issue that was costing owners a lot of money to repair. when i was looking into it for my mother in law, i recall thinking this was a design issue and that a $70k car shouldn't have issues like this..

JSracer

is the intrusion alarm standard ?? is there settings for it somewhere ??

as far as climate, i have it set to say 70 and never touch it, no need except defrost.

mikemu30

The beauty of auto climate control.

guxu

As OP said, most people are not sensitive to this or not bothered by it. Some people may not have a smoother vehicle to compare with. I did not notice this issue in my test drive (the roads around the dealership are flat). But felt in not long after I purchased it (I live in a hilly neighborhood too). From this message board, I learned there is no fix. So I never complained about it to dealer. But I did try another RX350 when I was there for service. It had the same issue. When they were fixing the sunroof leaking, I got a loaner. It had the same issue too. So it may not be every vehicle, but it is safe to say there must be a lot.

After about a year of ownership, I am getting used to that behavior and it does not bother me any more.

GSFRX350

Intrusion alarm standard? - couldn't say, I have a switch in the roof console which turns off the ultrasonic sensor part of the alarm for when you leave the sunroof tilted open or maybe leave a window down slightly. Sensors any movement in the vehicle.

nextcar

I completely agree with your assessment. With regard to vibration/drone, I think the RX 350 falls into these categories:

1. some cars truly don't have the problem
2. car has problem, but owner is not sensitive enough to notice it. My wife and others I know fall into this category.
3. car has problem, owner senses it, but is not bothered by it
4. car has problem, and owner is bothered by it

JDR76

Sorry to hear you are unhappy with your RX. I've had a few new ones as loaners and have been impressed with them, but no doubt some will be better than others.

Hope you can find a way out of it and into something you'll be happier with.

Marqevans

The only way I would get 30 mpg with AWD is if I let it roll down a hill and had it towed back up and let it roll down again. LOL

nextcar

I do have a solution. I have my wife driving it most of the time, as she is not sensitive to it.
I'm driving a Mercedes E350 now.

Nail34

I don't have any problem with anything the OP has to say and his right to say it, however an impression is "an idea, feeling, or opinion about something or someone, especially one formed without conscious thought or on the basis of little evidence." Impressions can be both good and bad.
I would say that the title should be the first 5000 complaints.

nextcar

You're right. I should point out some positives, to be more balanced. I'm just so surprised by the problems I've experienced. Our Lexus ES in the past never had problems.

Onto the positives:

1. The ride is fairly quiet, whether on the freeway or city streets.
2. The ride is comfortable despite having 20 inch wheels. I would have preferred 18 inch wheels but those are hard to find, as you would need to find a very base model without options.
3. The interior and exterior design looks good.
4. Adaptive cruise control is standard on every RX. I usually switch it on when driving on the freeway, and it does a good job of braking when the car ahead slows down. The only time I step on the brake is when the car ahead decelerates very quickly, in which case I don't know if I can trust the car to brake hard. Has anyone let the car brake on its own in such situation?