2004 RX 330 is THE 21st Century SUV. $40,000 of fun for four or fewer.
Written: Jun 28 '03 (Updated Jan 16 '04)
Product Rating:
Reliability:
Seat Comfort:
Build Quality
Handling And Control:
Pros: Latest technology, luxurious, comfortable and safe.
Cons: Inflexible option packaging makes users choose between ultra-high end audio and performance packages.
The Bottom Line: The RX 330 sets the new standard for mid-size Luxury SUVs with an incredible combination of luxury, performance, comfort, convenience, and safety features. It's worth the money.
Our RX330 is the $35,600 front wheel drive version (an all-wheel drive version is available for an extra $2000) with Performance Package ($5,455), DVD Navigation with Rear Camera ($2,350), and Dynamic Laser Cruise Control ($600). It ended up at about $45,000 list and there was some limited room to negotiate on price (your experience may vary).
My wife and I have now owned our 2004 RX330 for six months and we've driven around 7,500 miles including one long drive. I am still very happy with this purchase -- it's fun to drive and seems very well built. I might have configured the vehicle differently given my comments in the updated pros and cons below, but maybe I'll try again with the hybrid gas/electric version that's scheduled for next year. Here are my updated impressions.
Here are our early impressions. Let me preface my comments by saying that I am not affiliated with Toyota or Lexus and I have never owned a Lexus previously. In shopping for this car, we compared it to the Acura MDX and BMW X5 primarily, though we looked at other small luxury SUVs as well.
PROS:
* Laser-assisted cruise control works as promised and is awesome! It's actually designed to slow down the car if someone pulls in behind you suddenly, but I find myself just setting my desired speed and going with the flow of traffic. The net result is that I go as close to the target speed as possible given the existing traffic conditions. It's terrific on long drives!
* DVD Navigation package with rear back-up camera is great! The navigation system does an excellent job of getting you where you want to go, and the ability to add your own locations (new restaurants, for example) means that I won't need to update my DVD very soon. One idiosyncracy is that short route can sometimes give crazy results (it will take you off an exit ramp and right back on the entry ramp if the ramps turn out to be shorter/straighter than the highway itself. As for the backup camera, I still turn around to check for traffic the old fashioned way, but the camera is a great way of making sure I haven't missed something.
* Automatic headlights and wipers are nice, but the wipers occasionally experience glitches. It's been a little tricky getting used to never touching the lights/wipers (years of conditioning makes me want to turn knobs when I get out of the car). The automatic lights work excellently; the rain-sensing wipers are very good, but they do get fooled occasionally and don't turn on in light rain.
* Power rear door is very useful. It's nice to be able to remotely open and close the rear hatch from the key chain. I like the added security (no need to fumble with keys as I arrive at the car) and it saves time when loading the car in the rain.
* Color choices. We went with Millennium Silver, and are VERY happy with this choice -- it looks good and hides dirt especially well.
CONS
* Adjustable suspension is OK, but not that big a deal. One of the things that excited me about this option was the car lowering itself when the vehicle stops to make entry/exit easier. The fact is that the 1.2" really doesn't make much of a difference, so I'm not sure I would spend the money on this again. The ability to choose high/medium/low suspension does function properly, but since I'm neither an off-roader or a racer, again I'm not sure that it makes enough difference to justify the cost difference.
* Adaptive front lighting system is very cool (the headlights swivel every time you start up the car), but I'm not completely convinced that they make enough of a difference to justify the cost. Of course, I haven't driven a lot on poorly-lit highways, so maybe that would change my mind.
* Holder for fuel filler cap is totally misdesigned/useless and aggravating. Every time I fill up the gas tank, I have to leave the gas cap hanging because the holder on the fuel door doesn't actually fit the gas cap. This is the one design foul-up on an otherwise very well-designed car.
* Height of the vehicle (this probably applies equally to all of competitive vehicles as well) makes it impossible to hand wash the car completely. I'm 5'10", but I need a ladder to reach the top of the vehicle, and standing on a ladder in a wet driveway seems a little dangerous for me. Set aside the money for carwashes.
FEATURE SUMMARY
POWER REAR DOOR
The RX 330 has a power rear door that can be activated by remote control. You can have the door open and waiting for you when you get your packages to the car. The power door even lowers/closes the door automatically so you never have to slam the rear door closed. The removable rear cargo cover also retracts automatically when the rear door is opened/closed. While I'm on the subject of the remote control, it can also automatically lower all the windows in the vehicle to cool the car off on hot days.
NAVIGATION SYSTEM/REAR CAMERA
This GPS/DVD-based navigation system provides street-level and points-of-interest (POI) information for a wide range of US metropolitan areas (http://www.lexus.com/home/contact_lexus.html#8). It is useful and great fun. No more getting lost -- just type in an address (the system is smart enough to keep your typing to a minimum), or choose a POI, and you get turn-by-turn directions with or without audio cues. When driving, you can choose to show all POIs nearby, so you can see what your nearby restaurant, grocery, gas, or banking choices are (the system even provides phone numbers, so you can call ahead for take-out). You can enter up to 100 of your own POIs (new businesses or friends' houses) and store five of them and your home address for "speed-dial"-like access. You don't have to be a realtor to benefit from this -- if you travel long distances or if you travel to friends' houses for the first time, this is great! For the gung-ho (that includes my wife), it even has a calendar where you can enter appointments and the system prompts you when you start up the car with your appointments for the day.
DYNAMIC LASER CRUISE CONTROL
Take a very nice cruise control and add a laser that measures the distance between you and the car in front of you. If the car in front of you decelerates or if a car pulls out in front of you, the laser system slows your car down (and alerts you if you may need to brake). Then, if the area clears out, the system automatically returns to your previous cruise control setting. Three different distance sensitivities can be set based on your speed and the traffic conditions.
ADAPTIVE FRONT LIGHTING SYSTEM
The Lexus is the first car in America to have headlights that move appropriately when you turn. When you turn left, your left headlight turns up to 15 degrees to the left to better illuminate your turn. When you turn right, the right headlight turns 5 degrees to the right. Combining this with the High-Intensity Discharge (HID) headlights gives great visibility when driving at night.
AUDIO
I wanted to get the Mark Levinson (11 speaker, 270 watt) super low distortion audio system, but this $1100 option sold only as part of a $6770 package with the Navigation system and other amenities cannot be ordered with the Performance Package (as I learned through unfortunate personal experience). I did get a chance to drive a car with this system for a weekend (while I was waiting for my car to arrive), and while the Levinson system was very nice, it didn't blow me away. Of course, the standard audio system is no slouch with 8 speakers, and 132 watts of low distortion audio with six-disc in-dash CD player and
AM/FM/cassette. It doesn't come with thumping bass, but it cranks pretty nice so the 30-40 something audience will be pleased. All the essential audio controls are also placed on the steering wheel for safe and convenient access.
AIR SUSPENSION WITH ACCESS MODE
The air suspension has three settings (low, medium, and high) that can be adjusted to fit your driving needs/style. In normal mode, the air suspension also automatically lowers the RX 330 by 7 mm when you are cruising above 62 MPH. High mode raises the SUV by 30 mm from normal for slow travel over bumpy roads. Low mode drops the RX 330 by 15 mm from normal for sportier driving. There's even an easy access mode that lowers the SUV by 30 mm (1.2") when the ignition key is removed so that it's a little easier to get in and out of the car.
RAIN SENSING WIPERS
No more having my wife reach over and turn the windshield wipers on or off during those intermittent rain showers. The RX 330 features an optical sensor that turns the wipers on and off and sets their intensity based on the amount of rain on the windshield. The Lexus also features daytime running lamps and photo-sensitive headlight controls, so you never have to turn on the headlights either (very cool, but it's a little strange getting used to all of this automation).
AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
The performance package also comes with the multi-mode (Tiptronic-like) transmission that allows the automatic transmission to be driven like a clutchless manual transmission using a paddle that lets the driver control upshifts and downshifts. This might be nice on when passing on a two-lane highway or a hill, but for this 40-something guy it doesn't seem like something I'll use a lot.
GET UP AND GO (AND STOP AGAIN)
The 24-valve, 230 horsepower V6 provides plenty of acceleration, and the smooth, quiet ride makes it easy to drive faster than you might wish to (that's where the laser cruise control comes in handy to help slow down and avoid speeding tickets). The anti-lock brakes (with automated modulation in emergency braking) bring the car to a quick stop, though,as an SUV novice, it takes a little getting used to stopping a larger vehicle. The handling is excellent, even for an every-day sports car driver like myself. It's especially sporty when you set the air suspension to low. All RX 330s also feature skid control and traction control to try and keep you out of trouble.
CARGO SPACE
The RX-330 has plentiful cargo space for a small SUV. Its 84.7 cu. ft. with the rear seats folded down is slightly more than the Acura MDX (82 cu. ft.) even though the RX 330 is 2 inches shorter and 5 inches narrower. The rear seats are a 40-20-40 split, and can be folded down independently to get maximum cargo space. The cargo cover can also be removed and stored away beneath the cargo floor.
APPEARANCE
We went with the Millenium Silver exterior and Black leather interior with dark wood accents. The silver is already proving to be excellent at masking dirt and looking great. The leather interior has a luxurious feel -- much softer than the leather in the BMW, Mercedes, or Acura (we tried them all). The dark wood accents look very nice (the inserts are manufactured by Yamaha Piano Corporation).
HOMELINK REMOTE CONTROL
The RX 330 will learn your garage remote (actually it can learn up to three different ones). It will even learn from "rolling" remote controls, so you can probably leave your garage door opener and its finicky batteries at home.
AIR BAGS, AIR BAGS, AIR BAGS...
Multistage driver's airbag (varies based on crash severity and seat position), two stage passenger airbag (automatically deactivating if a child is in the front seat), front side curtain airbags, and front and rear side airbags. I hope I never need all of these, but it's nice to know they're there. The airbags along with the anti-theft devices do a great job of keeping your insurance below. My insurance agent was shocked when he realized that trading in my $3000 used sedan for this brand-new RX 330 raised my insurance only about $50 every six months!
WARRANTY
The RX 330 comes with a 48 month/50,000 mile zero-deductible basic warranty, 72 month/70,000 mile warranty on the powertrain and restraint systems, and a 72 month unlimited mileage warranty for corrosion perforation. This is essentially the same as the warranties for the Acura MDX and BMW X5. Lexus also picks up the cost of the first two service visits at 1,000 and 7,500 miles. BMW is the maintenance winner with their 4 yr/50,000 mile Full Maintenance program that pays for all adjustments and replacement items (including non-warranty items) that wear out ahead of schedule.
NICE TOUCHES
Electrochromic rear-view mirror automatically dims when bright headlights come up from behind. Separate temperature settings for driver and passenger avoid marital spats over air conditioning. Lighted vanity mirrors for both driver and passenger. Sunglasses storage built in above the rear-view mirror. Easily adjustable center console moves forward and backward so that a driver with a handbag can choose to store it in front of the console. More power outlets than I know what to do with (I currently have a powered Igloo cooler in the back that keeps frozen food frozen -- $50 at Sam's Club). Flat spare key that can be stored in a wallet for safe-keeping. Tire pressure sensors notify you when tires are low/flat.
DRIVER'S POSITION/MEMORY SETTINGS
The RX-330's driver's seat can be adjusted for position, height, cushion angle, seatback angle, and lumbar support. And, you'll almost certainly receive a tilt/telescoping steering wheel (all multi-option packages include this). My 4'10" wife and I (5'10") both were able to find a position that was comfortable and provided good visibility. The driver and passenger seats both have armrests, but these can be moved out of the way for drivers who might find them constraining or uncomfortable.
The seat and steering wheel settings (along with the outside mirrors) are all electronically controlled and can be stored in memory for two different drivers. The memory system is nice, but not as well-designed as the rest of the car. There are no distinct keys/remotes that would allow the system to identify who is unlocking the car and adjust the driver's position automatically. Also, the driver's position can only be adjusted when the ignition is started and the car is in park/P or within 30 seconds of opening the door but only when the key is NOT in the ignition (when you activate the system without the key in the ignition, the steering wheel does not automatically readjust).
OTHER MINOR GRIPES
It's annoying to have to click on the navigation system every time you use it to acknowledge the legalese (not Lexus' fault -- the curse of our litigious society). There's no coin holder. The air conditioning is powerful, but the thermostat seems inaccurate (set the temperature to 70 and get out your parka as the air conditioning creates frost on your glasses).
ECO-ISSUES
The RX 330 is an Ultra-low emissions vehicle and it gets 20 city/26 highway (the mileage figures for the AWD version are both two miles lower per gallon). This is significantly better than the BMW X5 (15/20) or the Volvo XC90 (18-24) or Acura MDX (17-23). The Lexus also has the greatest cruising range (499 miles) of those four SUVs. The only thing that's missing is a hybrid (gas/electric) fuel version (Lexus is working on it).
OTHER OPTIONS WE DIDN'T GET (BUT YOU MIGHT WANT)
Lexus Link ($1215 plus $215 per year after the first year, and an additional $198 for concierge service). This is an OnStar-like service that provides safety and security assistance and the option of buying additional concierge services. Heated seats ($540) weren't really necessary in the south. Towing package ($160) -- we have nothing to tow. Rear-Seat DVD Entertainment System ($1,840) -- pretty cool with wireless headphones, but a) we don't have kids and b) at that price it might be cheaper to buy two portable DVD players and run them off the numerous power outlets.
EXTRAS
There are transparent floor mat covers (similar to the mats you place under office chairs to protect the carpeting below) that are custom made for the RX 330 and available online for about $70. We bought these to protect the floor mats from dirt (my wife's idea) and high heel attacks (my idea).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 43,000
Condition: New Model Year: 2004 Model and Options: FWD with Performance package, DVD Navigation, Laser cruise control
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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