Of all the lovely things in this RX, perhaps the most appealing was the small touches that made you feel special. At night, the Lexus name on the doorstep plate lights up and the door panel storage areas have covers that pull out making it easy to get the smallest of items. The only item I found out of place was a gas warning light that was way too small to spot, especially at night.
Dad's view: Lexus claims the RX 330 can get to 60 mph in 7.7 seconds from the 230 horsepower, 242 foot pounds of torque, 3.3 liter V6. Whatever, it is still a fairly fast vehicle for its class while still getting over 22 mpg on premium during highway cruising, The engine should be good for over 200,000 miles if the past record is any indication.
Basically, I am not a huge fan of SUVs because of their handling, gas hoggish nature, and limited side and back visibility. I am proud to say that the RX 330 has none of these traits. In fact, it rides as well as some luxury sedans over highways. Be warned, though, that this is not a nimble vehicle and the steering can feel slow to react when the road requires your frequent corrections. Visibility to the side is excellent with the best mirrors in the SUV business. The rear view is okay, but the small window hinders your vision immediately in back of the Lexus. It is clear that the Lexus engineers designed this for more cruising than bruising.
Braking is quite impressive with very little front dip, but we would strongly recommend you don't overestimate the stopping distance because this is a two-ton vehicle when loaded. The RX we own gets about 20,000 miles between brake pad replacements due to the freewheeling nature of the transmission. We anticipate the new model to get close to that figure, although the new five speed automatic let us feel like we had more control over the RX 300.
College going male: Finally got a part-time job. I am working in public relations building up a client list for a famous brand of women's wear. Sure beats pushing audio books for $6.50 an hour. Anyway, I really liked this Lexus. It rode very well and my only complaint was the noise level when you put the rear windows down at speed. It boomed and so the only way to cool the cab was by opening the huge optional large moon roof or turning on the air conditioning.