In 2008 we purchased a new 2008 RX-350 from a Portland area Lexus. Prior to purchasing the vehicle we spent months researching the Lexus brand, reliability and customer satisfaction. We are over 3 hours away from the closest Lexus dealer. Having heard and read mostly good reviews we opted to purchase the vehicle described. We have taken excellent care of the vehicle and all of our maintenance has been maintained current by our only local Lexus family Toyota dealership in our area. The vehicle has never been in an accident.

Seven years later we have had several unexpected repairs required to keep the vehicle running. First was the NOC sensor (slightly under $1000). Second was the rack and pinion (slightly over $1000). And the latest was a transmission replacement. The vehicle is just outside the power train warranty. The total costs of these repairs has been over $7200. Even the local Toyota service representative said this should not happen with this car.

I have contacted the Lexus goodwill assistance number and they agreed to pay for the parts for the latest repair. While that is good of them, it is my opinion that the loyalty of Lexus belongs to their company rather than their customers and they certainly choose not to stand behind their luxury product. It is disappointing Lexus does not show the same loyalty to its customers when excessive repairs are required to what should have been a more reliable vehicle.

I would like others to be aware of the Lexus quality of service and loyalty and recommend that you buy a car from Honda/Acura whom we have had excellent service from and been shown truly good loyalty and certainly stand behind their product.

Another common problem for the RX350 is shift lag or otherwise known as ASL (Agressive Shift Logic). From further reading online the RX350 shares the same transmission as the Toyota Avalon which sufered the same problems and had this issue taken care of. but for whatever reason Lexus either can't figure out what to do with this problem or decided not to acknowledge it. Sent our vehicle off to the Chandler Lexus dealership for diagnosis and after 3 days they could not explain the odd behavior and said there was no problem with the transmission that they could find.