Overview & Reviews

The Lexus RX 350 is a vehicle that's comfortable in its own metal. And why wouldn't it be? This midsize luxury crossover SUV has long been a consumer favorite thanks to its plush ride, spacious interior, strong reliability record and appealing high-tech features. While the RX 350 doesn't promise much in the way of driving passion, its combination of comfort and convenience is hard to top in a five-passenger luxury crossover. It also commands lofty resale values due to that sterling Lexus reputation.

Offering either front- or all-wheel drive, the RX 350 dates back to 2007, when it was introduced as a continuation of the RX 330. It has received significant upgrades in cabin technology over the years, but a generous standard features list and excellent build quality are a given with any Lexus RX 350. Unless you need the versatility of a third-row seat, this Lexus is likely to be a compelling proposition.

User Reviews:

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  RX 350 RIP - 2017 Lexus RX 350
  By AdamB - June 1 - 2:59 pm

  This is a rant from a frustrated 2007 owner. Sorry!.....I rented the 2017 RX350 for a couple of days while my 2007 RX 350 was in the shop. Ugh, I did try to maintain a positive attitude about this vehicle, but there was very little I liked about it. Yes, the outside styling is ugly, period, (I was embarrassed to be seen in it) but this time I got a good hands-on look at the interior. Where do I start? I totally dislike the huge cumbersome floor console between the front seats. My 2007 has space there. I can reach to the floor of the passenger side if I need to. The analog clock is annoying. Why put a shiny reflective rim around it, light up the hatch marks in the dark, but the hands remain unlit. You cant see the time during the day if the outside light is wrong for the clock, and at night, the hatch marks, although lit up, ...everyone knows where 1,2,3 is on a clock, but its the HANDS you need to see for the time and they are not luminescent. They are of shiny plastic. The things I see clearly in my older version are what are important to me - temperature (I am a farmer) and time. In this thing, I cannot read the displays behind the steering wheel unless I put on glasses that I cannot wear while driving! The trims are transformer-like and gaudy. Shiny silver plastic on some, dull grey plastic on others. And it looks like it was a kit assembled. The steering wheel has multiple parts that look cheap and has a dry cheap feel. My older version, aaaahhhh, so comfortable to the touch, clean, elegant yet sporty, rosewood and wonderful stitched leather that you find in a car twice the price. Perfect Japanese efficient elegance. The interior of this new version looks like a cheap Nissan, or an older american car when they used to add this and that, this gaudiness and that gaudiness, thinking it was "luxury" when it was only cheap looking gew gaw. This new version is noiser than my 2007. When stopped to make a turn across traffic, Id keep thinking there was a window cracked open when a car whizzed by. Perhaps its the added little window sections by the rear view mirrors? Then there is that huge thing sticking up in the center of the dash. Ugly. You cant get rid of it. It makes for a nice map if you need that (but, who doesnt use Google Maps now?) but otherwise, if you use the radio, that pay radio station is there in big text whether you want it or not and you have to take the attention off the road to cycle past it. And again, the metallic trim does not help, only clutters an already cluttered looking interior. Trying to use the mouse to get around that menu is horrible. Skips around and it takes many tries to land on the desired icon. Visibility in my 2007 is not great. Visibility in this 2017 is noticeably worse. Why havent they put in a double visor? Its been years and years now, and still no double visor? And, my coffee holder, to the left of the steering wheel, is GONE. The radio and air buttons below the dash are tiny and unreadable. I would have to memorize them in order to utilize them while driving.The style of this console looks like that of an old car of the 70s, cluttered, hard to read. Whether its old or young eyes looking at the console information, it should be VERY easy to read. For safety sake, for heavens sake. Shiny plastic, dull plastic, too many parts piled upon one another. Such an added expense IMO yet such a loss of elegance and style. The engine is probably more powerful than mine, yet, it has the exact same choke/dead zones when changing gears. We also have a Toyota Tundra that accelerates beautifully and does not have those annoying swallows when you want to accelerate. And, BTW, the dash is totally readable. I think its a 2011. I could go on and on but for what? The car I had once wanted to drive for the rest of my life is gone. RIP RX 350. My 2007 is near 250000 miles, costing my plenty of money now for repairs, as I still havent found a decent replacement. That perfect Japanese efficient elegance, is it gone forever?

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  My Favorite Lexus - 2007 Lexus RX 350
  By antann55 - May 31 - 2:06 pm

  I have owned my RX 350 for almost one month and just returned from a 1600 mile trip with my wife. We love the smooth and quiet riding and audio sound from the 6 disc mp3 cd changer. The voice command navigation is a plus and very helpful. Gas mileage is slightly below 24 mile/gallon on highway. Passing power is weak for a 270 horsepower vehicle but it is OK for me.

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  Horrible service, unreliable, bad AC - 2015 Lexus RX 350
  By joe K - May 30 - 9:30 pm

  I wanted a lexus because my entire family has been driving lexus vehicles for 25+ years. Between myself and my extended family, weve owned around three dozen lexus vehicles over the years. My vehicle is the last Lexus anyone in my family or circle of friends will ever buy again. Its not worth the money or the time. When I first bought it, they promised me it would be ready for pickup the next day. The next day came, followed by three entire weeks of them calling me every other day telling me "it will be here tomorrow". I drove around in a rental for three weeks while they figured out where my car, which I already paid for, was located. Finally I get it, with around 10 miles on the odometer. A week later, not 100 miles later, I start getting a moldy stink from the AC. I take it back to the dealer, they claim they cant smell anything (despite it being so pervasive it sticks to my clothes and earns comments from co-workers), but spray the AC system anyway, and it clears up the smell....for about a week. I took it back another couple times to get cleaned out, again same story "we dont smell anything, but well clean it anyway". It smells bad for the first 15 minutes of driving, and anytime i try to turn down or turn off the AC. As long as its on blast, the smell seems to be dilute enough to not be noticeable. So fast forward six months, Im driving across the country on a sunday, in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania when I get a flat. I call lexus support/roadside assistance. They said they cant do anything for me. Its a sunday night and its about to snow, so they cant send anyone over until the next day. The closest lexus dealership is approximately 200 miles away in bad weather. So I put on the spare, and started calling every tire shop within a 20 mile radius. No one has the tire I need. The lexuss standard 19in tires are so specific, only dealers and a handful of places around the country have them. To add insult to injury, there are huge swaths of country where the closest lexus dealer is hundreds of miles away. Anyway, I expand my search radius and find a costco 140 miles away that carries a compatible tire (after sitting in a hotel calling tire shops for two days straight). Except since its AWD and the tires are not completely identical, it means I had to replace all four tires (about $1,500) because I got ONE flat. A little while later I moved into a new house in a new state, and took it to the dealer again to see what they can do for the AC. They said they use a different, new chemical cleaner (but even though they dont smell it - a bold faced lie) they will still clean it for me. After that treatment, every single day my lexus has smelled like someone poured fresh vinegar into the AC ducts. Its a smell almost identical to sticking your head into a bag of salt&vinegar potato chips. Again, the dealer is refusing to do anymore service. They said to examine whats really going wrong, they need to take the entire dashboard apart. They refuse to do so without payment, refuse to acknowledge any of my warranties or service plans, and refuse to give me a loaner vehicle in the meantime unless I pay for it. My insurance has a $1000 deductible, so Im not going to pay for that service. I tried complaining to their managers, who refuse to call me back. To make things even worse, any service at any lexus dealer has generally resulted in a 5-6 hour wait. Even oil changes. Meanwhile, when I take it to any other shop, its a 20 minute wait to get an oil change at a quarter of the price. I complained to lexus corporate about the smell issue, and they are requiring me to jump through a dozen hoops and fill out binders of paperwork to get anything done. The lemon law is complicated too by the fact that I bought the car in CA and moved to NY shortly thereafter, and Id need to go to california court to get the dealer to buy back the car. You may be wondering, WHY DOES MY CAR SMELL? Well....here is why: Lexus/toyota is currently (since 2009) a defendant in a class action lawsuit regarding this very issue. A certain percentage of their vehicles have defective condenser coils on their AC. They have an anti acid and anti mold coating - Aluminum Hydroxide - which corrodes and flakes off on some vehicles, and gets blown into the passenger compartment as a fine grey dust akin to cigarette ash. This chemical is used in anti-acid pills, so its not dangerous when swallowed. But it sure is dangerous when inhaled! Once the coating flakes off, the condenser coil becomes a petri dish and starts to smell like mold or mildew first, then like vinegar, depending on what kind of mold/yeast/bacteria has been growing inside. Dont expect any explanations from lexus, they play stupid about it because if they lose this suit, they could loose an incredible amount of money. Its best for them to keep their customers in the dark about it. Anyway, I wont tolerate that anymore, and neither will anyone I know.

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  Major upgrades everywhere - 2010 Lexus RX 350
  By Carachi - May 30 - 9:40 am

  I replaced my 2004 RX330 with the 2010 RX350. My first impressions are everything about the interior of this car is perfect. Looks great, things are where I expect them, and the feature set smokes anything else on the road. The new 6 speed transmission paired with the 350cc engine is a definite improvement on the 330/350 from the 2nd gen and the new rear suspension makes the ride much more responsive. Exterior-wise the design hasnt changed as much as I expected, but it still looks good. I feel there are a few angles where it has a worse look to it, but most angles and lines were improved.

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  The paint color is off too much. - 2015 Lexus RX 350
  By Carolyn Chang - May 22 - 11:43 am

  I bought a new Lexus 350 RX in 2015 with the color of Pearl White. My teacher colleagues and I noticed later that the rear bumper color is different from the body. It is kind of yellowish. I understand that the bumper is plastic, the color is always a little different from its body. I accepted this little difference. But my bumpers color, in brief, is off too much. My relative told me the bumper looked like repainted after the car crash. I have been contacting Lexus Dealer since then. They repainted the bumper but its color is still off too much. They refused to paint it again. Everybody who sees my car told me the rear bumper color is off too much, which makes people think this car once had a crash, the bumper was repainted. I was told by the Consumer Authority person that I could bring this matter to the small court. I already have a court day. I would like to give my advice to anyone who wants to buy Lexus cars, which is: look carefully at every parts of your new car before you drive your new car home. In addition, my GPS failed in taking to the restaurant where I was invited to. My tire pressure warning light is on many days of the year even if the tires pressures have no problems at all. I am a good driver for 23 years and have no accident at all. My experience tells me Lexus is not a good car.

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  Not a pretty face ! - 2017 Lexus RX 350
  By Robert Sarchet - May 21 - 10:01 pm

  I do not like the looks of the grill but you can not see it from the driving seats.

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  If only it was great - 2016 Lexus RX 350
  By H. T. Joseph - May 18 - 3:12 am

  The car is quiet and smooth. Seats are comfortable. Storage space is adequate; not great, but okay. The exterior of the car is , in a word, ugly. Its hard to understand how Lexus could bring such an unattractive car to the market (although the NX is bad too). Even though I "need" a new RX sized vehicle now, I will wait for the 2017 model of the RX in hopes for some makeover or modification of the exterior. Im driving a 2010 RX450h now, my 6th Lexus, and I dont want to buy anything other than a Lexus. But I will if they dont "fix" the appearance.

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  The Best Yet - 2010 Lexus RX 350
  By Mark Andrews - May 13 - 3:03 pm

  I am thrilled with the new 2010 RX. Previously I was really sold on the Acura until I actually drove the RX. It has to be the most smooth and yet sporty ride ever. I appreciate the crisp handling and the quiet cabin. The space is great and I love the style. It was the easiest for me just getting in and out. It was the quietest and I have to say my service experience has cost me around the same as my old Toyota which is "peanuts" I love my new Lexus and would highly recommend one to anyone in the market for a five passenger SUV. "love it"

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  Sweet 2016 Lexus RX 350 - 2016 Lexus RX 350
  By jim goodson - May 12 - 7:11 pm

  Get as many "bells and whistles" as you can afford. They are worth it!

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  Nav System + Cup Holder + Heated Seats - 2010 Lexus RX 350
  By barry - May 5 - 5:46 pm

  NAV System volume is too low even on loudest setting. Dealer agrees but doesnt know how to fix it. The left side cup holder is useless. It is positioned too close to the drivers door so you cannot grab a cup unless you grab from the top. The heated seats do not get very warm. The 2007 electric heated seats were far superior to the hot air heated seats of the 2010. Overall, not very satisfied yet.