Excellent used vehicle for $23000+

I've had this car for four months now and I have only high remarks for this vehicle. I bought it from a friend whose lease was expiring, so the price was right. It had 43000 miles on it.

The model I have is the AWD version, with leather heated seats, moonroof, spoiler, etc. It's pretty much loaded with all the options except for the upgraded stereo system. I won't go into any more specification details (Engine, horsepower, torque, etc.) about the vehicle since you can get that from Lexus.com direct or other reviews. I'll just go into what I think about the vehicle.

Exterior and Lights:

The exterior design of the vehicle, like most vehicles, is subjective of course, but I like the design. It's a fairly aerodynamic design and wind noise is minimal. Most of the noise can be attributed to the large, a fairly flat, exterior mirrors. There is also some noise attributed to the rear spoiler at high speeds.

The headlights on this vehicle are BRIGHT. They're not Xenon lights, but they illuminate like them, minus the blue hue. The high beams almost never have to be used. I believe all models have daytime running lights. The lights can be set to automatically come on when it's dark outside.

The fit and finish on the vehicle is excellent. The tolerance level between exterior panels is quite small, but I do notice a fairly large gap between the hood and the side fender panels. It's large enough that you can actually see into the engine bay from certain angles. I'm not sure if this is necessarily good or bad, but it takes away from the overall clean look of the exterior.

The '00 model and newer had it, but the initial '99 model did not. This SUV does not have the black plastic bumper protector, so you will have to be careful when loading things not to scratch the top of the bumper. This can be corrected of course by buying the bumper protector from your dealer The SUV I had happened to have two minor scratches on the bumper, so when I bought the protector, it covered the spots just right. I bought the Lexus original protector from an online site (www.irontoad.com) for $65+. The dealer was charging $80+ for the same thing.

Interior and Electronics:

The ergonomics of the vehicle are excellent. All the buttons are where they're suppose to, and expected to be, plus they're quite intuitive. The radio is integrated in with the AC unit, with both well within reach. I'm not sure how this integration will work in the long run if your radio breaks because they're one unit and you can't just change the radio.

The power window buttons are located on the doors. All the buttons are one touch up AND down. For the driver, he/she has control of all four with same one touch up and down feature.

I don't think all models have this, but the vehicle I have has the nighttime auto dimming exterior mirrors and interior rearview mirror. The switch to turn this on and off is located on the review mirror. It's set to on once you start the engine, so I find myself always turning it off since it dims the mirrors too much during regular night time driving.

I've read some reviews about the heated seat button being all or nothing on this vehicle, meaning that you can either have the driver seat only, or both passenger and driver. I'm not sure if the leather seat package has anything to do with this, but on my vehicle I have two unique buttons, one operates the driver's, the other the passenger's seat. I don't have to have both on.

Performance:

Lexus claims 0-60 mph of about 8 seconds or so and that's about right. This vehicle merges very impressively for its size. I haven't timed it, but this vehicle goes from a dead stop to 75 in no time. I actually find it alarming that a vehicle this heavy (it's almost two tons) accelerates this quick because I'm sure if it had to stop quick, it wouldn't as well as a car. With that said, the braking on this car is actually quite well. I've had to make a few panic stops already and the anti-lock breaks stop the vehicle fairly well on dry and snow roads. Still though, I wouldn't recommend testing the full limits of a vehicle like this.

I'm averaging actually higher than the manufacturer spec of 18 city and 22 highway. I'm getting about 23 highway and 18.8 city. There is a trip computer on the center console unit which displays avg. MPG, current MPG, trip time, avg. MPH, and my avg. MPG usually reads around 21.9. Not great considering my other vehicles get me 27 ('95 Civic) and 32 ('92 Integra GSR) MPG, but for a SUV, this is actually on the high end.

Cons:

I find the rear lift gate does not open high enough. There is fairly thick interior cladding on the rear lift gate and I've bumped my head on the gate two times already and I'm only 5'9" tall.

The eyeglass storage bin on the overhead console is fairly cheap in design and quality. It's a simple press lever that releases the door, but then you have to pull the storage bin down. I use to own a '90 Chrysler minivan that had the overhead eyeglass bin and I found that design much better. You pressed up again the bin and it slowly released open. To close you just flip up and click the bin. This con is of course minor, but given that this is a luxury automobile, it could have been better.

My friend's dealer and the dealer I went to have both said this is normal. Under hard acceleration (i.e. short highway merges) there is a noise that comes from the engine bay which sounds like blow-by noise. It seems to come from behind the center console where the A/C unit is and it sounds as if the air is boosted to high and there are leaves rattling in there. Doesn't sound right, but the dealer says it's normal.

There is a small bin under the dash/steering wheel on the left side that can be used as a coin bin, but it's so deep that coins on the bottom are hard to reach. I would have liked to have a coin holder integrated into the car somewhere. I ended up buying an after-market coin holder and sticking it onto the top bin of the lower center bins.

Maintenance:

I like to do most of the regular maintenance items and needless to say, the parts are expensive on this car, but you can get most of the same parts at a Toyota dealership instead and save about 15-20% or more. Oil change can still be done, but the filter is located in a very tight spot between the engine and an exhaust manifold, so unless you have a wrench or thin arms, you won't be able to remove it.