2006 Lexus RX 400h consumer reviews

Our Lexus Rx400h is on the frequent towing program, has stopped dead in the middle of a freeway, frequently does not start, and has had the standard battery replaced several times. Fortunately we kept an older much less expensive car for the kids so we have a backup vehicle on those many days when the Lexus Rx400h doesn't start. When the car does run, it is a comfortable, quiet ride with good handling.

I got my 2006 RX400h in July 2006. I'm taking it in for its 10K check/service in 3 days. The car has an incredible amount of power. Excellent acceleration! As others have written, it's very quiet, and just about silent when operating on the electric power alone. It's got a great navigation system; I use this alot and it's much better than the nav. in my wife's 2007 Mercedes E-350. Did you know I can just enter the phone number of a restaurant, and the Lexus RX400h will show me how to get there? No address needed in this case! The Mercedes nav. won't do that, in fact, you can't even call up your nearest Target store on the Mercedes nav., the store is not even listed!!! Back to the Lexus, drive it gently (60-65 mph) and you'll see 28-29 mpg in warm weather (65 degrees and up). Excellent fuel economy. If I "punch it" a lot, the mileage goes down to something like 25-26 mpg, combined city/highway. Still much better mpg than any other vehicle with this size and power! And that's using regular. The camera in the back (comes on when you are in reverse) is helpful, but I still wish the car had fewer blind spots in the rear, both sides. For this reason I rated "handling" at only 4 stars. That's probably my only (minor) complaint. The bluetooth phone system is really nice, you can talk on the phone through a speaker, handsfee, no more holding the phone up to my ear, it's great!!!

I researched this vehicle thoroughly before I bought it, and I knew going in that I was never going to get anywhere near the EPA fuel ratings. As an aside, the concept of "performance hybrids" especially for an SUV like this never made much sense to me. I'm sure they could have gotten higher mileage out of the car by not trying to make it as fast as an ML500. However, because I got one of the last few '06 models, I was able to negotiate the price down a little, so I felt that it would still be worth it. I started out at around 25 mpg, but that quickly fell to 22 during the summer, and I have never been able to get much higher. In comparison, I drove an '07 RX 350 as a loaner and got it up to 23.5 mpg, so there really doesn't seem to be an advantage to owning the hybrid version except for lower emissions. However, the biggest problem I have had with the car has to do with service issues. At around 8,000 miles, the car began to shake occaisionally and the brakes started making grinding noises every time I stopped. The car was in the shop for about a month between two dealers who could not figure out the problem. It seemed that neither of the dealers (the only ones in my area) had any technicians who knew much of anything about working on hybrids, and they did not have any parts in stock. Therefore, every time they tried to fix the car, they had to call a technician several hundred miles away, wait on his schedule, (it seems like he's the only one in the region), and then have parts shipped in. So, what might be a 2 hour repair would take a week to finish. If you're looking at buying one of these, make sure that your service department can actually work on the vehicle! One other minor complaint: The cargo area is small and oddly shaped, even though the volume is competitive with the class, it's not nearly as usable.

I bought my RX400h in July 05, the thing was so tight it took 20,000 mile to start seeing the milage really improve. City milage has gone from a disapointing 24 MPG to no about 30 city MPG. The car is really fun to sneek up on people in the supermarket parking lot, I call it stelth mode. I wish Lexus would sell / or authorize a plug-in upgrade so I could plut it in at night and use just the electric to go 7 miles to workor the store.

my mom bought the lexus 400h in june. they charged us 55k. the gas mileage is not very good. we have gone 1k miles so far. we are avergeing 21mpg. thats what my dads 2500 diesel gets. one thing i do like is the intereior. the leather is very soft. one thing i dont like is that there is no signal that you are low on gas. you have to look at the guage frequently. all in all its not a good gas mileage car.

I purchased this vehicle in April. I love it, smooth riding, great GPS display, ease of use is awesome. Seats are very comfortable, feels like you are sitting in your living room. I do miss the size of my Landcruiser, but don't miss living at the pumps. Hybrid is the way to go.. My car is a classy black RX-this automobile exudes class & luxury!

Had the Lexus for three months now...can't say enough good things about the vehicle. The headlights (swivel into corners) to the 25mpg average over the first 4500 miles (probably 50/50 city/hwy) to the incredible acceleration provided by the combination of the electric and gas engines. Smooth & worth every penny!

I borrowed my friend?s Lexus Hybrid for a week while he was on vacation. It is a sharp looking SUV and the eco-friendly design excited me. While driving, my wife kept telling me to stop tapping on the acceleration. I couldn?t figure out what the slight shaking was coming from?it was quite annoying. I learned later from my friend that the odd movement comes from the shifting between the gas and battery systems.