Like someone said above, it’s all about compromise. You want great driving dynamics, go European and be prepared to pay those high maintenance costs.

lexus isn’t luxury or quick. If you want those look at mercedes.

The new Highlander drives horribly too. It went from the top of my list to not even a contender after the test drive.

It's unfortunate because it would be nice to have more competition, but the asian car manufacturers simply have not kept up with R&D on engines and driving mechanics and have fallen way behind BMW, Audi, Mercedes. Infiniti was nipping at the heels of those companies in the mid to late 2000s, producing cars that could go one on one 0-60 and around curves. But those days are gone. Every next iteration of the european cars has shaved 0.2-0.3 seconds off the 0-60 times whereas the asian brands have mostly been stagnant

OP, you should drive the hybrid version, the Lexus RX450h. It's not a track star by any means, but the hybrid gives it a bit more pep and a better driving feel than the RX350.

We have an RX350. I absolutely love it. So comfortable, roomy, great features, etc.

But it is not zippy. You’re buying safety and reliability. If you want to speed and zip, you need something different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We love our RX 350 but its not what we'd call a peppy or sporty car to drive. If I could force it to stay on "sport" mode all the time I would. This is why my brother said he opted for the Audi Q5. But for most people just looking for luxury transportation the RX 350 probably has plenty of acceleration.

Lol @ Lexus being considered "luxury"

You must be a total snob and someone I would hate to know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We love our RX 350 but its not what we'd call a peppy or sporty car to drive. If I could force it to stay on "sport" mode all the time I would. This is why my brother said he opted for the Audi Q5. But for most people just looking for luxury transportation the RX 350 probably has plenty of acceleration.

Lol @ Lexus being considered "luxury"

Lexus is a lot more luxurious on the inside than the Q5. Q5 has hard plastic from VW everywhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We love our RX 350 but its not what we'd call a peppy or sporty car to drive. If I could force it to stay on "sport" mode all the time I would. This is why my brother said he opted for the Audi Q5. But for most people just looking for luxury transportation the RX 350 probably has plenty of acceleration.

Lol @ Lexus being considered "luxury"

Anonymous wrote:We love our RX 350 but its not what we'd call a peppy or sporty car to drive. If I could force it to stay on "sport" mode all the time I would. This is why my brother said he opted for the Audi Q5. But for most people just looking for luxury transportation the RX 350 probably has plenty of acceleration.

Lol @ Lexus being considered "luxury"

Most manufacturers in the mid size luxury SUV have gone forced induction ie turbocharging. Lexus/Toyota still uses their naturally aspirated v6 which is reliable but lacks the acceleration of its competitors. The sales numbers suggest people don’t care about that as they sell 100k vehicles a year. I don’t care much for ours in the driving department as we got it to haul kids and she likes the seating position. People who buy Lexus vehicles aren’t are not looking for a fun driving experience. You will have to see what your priority is for selecting an SUV. Look at the Porsche Macan or Cayenne if you want a lot more driving dynamics.

lexuses have come a long way in terms of driving dynamics, but they're still what you buy for luxury, reliability, and good resale rather than driving enjoyment.

they are objectively slower than most comparable cars. RX350 0-60 is 6.9, Q5 is 5.9.

we love our RX. the only con is that it doesn't quite have as much cargo carrying capacity as one might expect for a vehicle of this size. it's safe, reliable, luxurious, will probably last us 15 years. life is trade-offs. for some that extra second to 60 (and lack of sportiness) might be worth the reliability/resale. for others it may not be.

We love our RX 350 but its not what we'd call a peppy or sporty car to drive. If I could force it to stay on "sport" mode all the time I would. This is why my brother said he opted for the Audi Q5. But for most people just looking for luxury transportation the RX 350 probably has plenty of acceleration.

Lexus' are ridiculously heavy. Like driving an armored vehicle.

So I'm pretty disappointed. I was looking forward to test driving the RX 350. But I noticed immediately that the acceleration felt slow. This car has a V6- - so I'm very suprised. I've had V6 engines in the past - and they've felt much quicker than this car.

he more I drove it around, the more it felt like the engine was trying to rev up- like it never stopped trying to get to the next gear. I put the sport mode on which to be honest, wasn't that impressive.

For comparison purposes, I drove the Volvo VC60 a few weeks ago and despite having a 4 cylinder engine (though they do say its a "turbo" engine) it was remarkably quicker and much more nimble than the RX 350. I think the RX is bigger overall and heavier than the Volvo, so perhaps that has something to do with it.

I've always liked Lexus - it has great reliability ratings, and have always felt I would get one sooner or later, but I just dont see how I could go with the RX when it feels so slow. Maybe I need to give it another shot.

I was wondering if anyone drives one of these and notices the same thing? What do you like or dislike about this car?