High Mileage and Maintenance Lexus RX 300

[pthorpe]

Much talk about these vehicles, transmissions, cost to maintain etc.
Here is the deal...have a 2004 model, just standard drive, with 207, 000 miles.
I drive a lot, both city and freeway, hills, stop-n-go and 75mph EVERYDAY in hot southern California weather.
But I have done regular oil and transmission service and no major issues (yet!).

A timing belt at 120K and at 205K, and waterpump at second belt. Battery, brakes, tires of course.
The seals and/or gaskets will likely go first, and drip oil.
If you can do it yourself, of course, all the better because the ridiculous high price to change the valve cover gaskets which is not technical, just a pain because, these cars are not easy to access as the engine is in 'sideways'.

The auto-door locks will then go and are very expensive to replace. (I decided I can lock my own door because I was quoted $250 with aftermarket or $500. with OEM at a non-dealer shop.

That's it...as someone mentioned, these vehicles will last longer than most, but all vehicles will need MORE repair and be MORE costly as they get older, no way around it.

Oh, and most importantly for me because of a lower back injury...great seat and lumbar auto-fill in the driver's seat. There might be better out there, but this is the best I have experienced.

You can drive this car with ease. I've had Mercedes, BMW, Chevrolet, Cadillac and Dodge (I won't buy Ford).

Nothing comes close overall.

Hope this helps.

[Stonepa]

We've got a 2007 RX400h for one son, a 2008 RX400h for the other. Both well north of 200k miles. Other than normal maintenance, timing belts, brakes, water pumps, tires, etc, the only issue we have ever had was a sticky melted rubber external rear hatch release, a leaking o-ring on the gas cap (giving the VSC, emergency brake, and ABS error lights issue), and one dead fog lamp bulb. That's it. Properly maintained, I think these will run forever.

[masonreynolds]

Originally Posted by pthorpe

Much talk about these vehicles, transmissions, cost to maintain etc.
Here is the deal...have a 2004 model, just standard drive, with 207, 000 miles.
I drive a lot, both city and freeway, hills, stop-n-go and 75mph EVERYDAY in hot southern California weather.
But I have done regular oil and transmission service and no major issues (yet!).

A timing belt at 120K and at 205K, and waterpump at second belt. Battery, brakes, tires of course.
The seals and/or gaskets will likely go first, and drip oil.
If you can do it yourself, of course, all the better because the ridiculous high price to change the valve cover gaskets which is not technical, just a pain because, these cars are not easy to access as the engine is in 'sideways'.

The auto-door locks will then go and are very expensive to replace. (I decided I can lock my own door because I was quoted $250 with aftermarket or $500. with OEM at a non-dealer shop.

That's it...as someone mentioned, these vehicles will last longer than most, but all vehicles will need MORE repair and be MORE costly as they get older, no way around it.

Oh, and most importantly for me because of a lower back injury...great seat and lumbar auto-fill in the driver's seat. There might be better out there, but this is the best I have experienced.

You can drive this car with ease. I've had Mercedes, BMW, Chevrolet, Cadillac and Dodge (I won't buy Ford).

Nothing comes close overall.

Hope this helps.

My RX 300 has 175,000 miles. The transmission had to be replaced at 170,000 miles. I had other work done on the car at the time with a total bill of $5,000. It was a hard decision. Now the heater no longer works. Air blows but is cold. A mechanic who is very good with Lexus looked at it and thinks the dashboard needs to be removed to get to the valve that is not opening and suggested I take it to the dealer. The mechanic estimated the cost would be $1,500. I believe I made the wrong decision to keep this car.