Overview & Reviews

Lexus has earned a well-deserved reputation for turning out utterly refined luxury vehicles. The hallmarks of this brand are a quiet, well-crafted cabin, a plush ride and commendable performance from powerful, nearly silent engines.

Lexus began out of a desire by parent company Toyota to create a world-class luxury car brand. Groundwork for Lexus was laid in the mid-1980s, when the company began tapping U.S. focus groups in an attempt to define design concepts best suited for American consumers. Hundreds of prototypes were built and tested on Germany's autobahn and on U.S. roads.

In early 1989, the company unveiled its first two models (which would debut for the 1990 model year) -- the entry-level ES 250 sedan and the flagship LS 400 sedan. The LS 400 was lauded by both journalists and consumers alike for offering a stellar luxury-car experience, with a remarkably silent cabin, superb build quality and a refined V8 engine. At the same time, the LS was priced considerably lower than smaller, lesser-equipped, six-cylinder European rival luxury sedans.

By the early 1990s, the Lexus brand was expanded to other markets, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. More models were added to the lineup, including the SC 300 and SC 400 coupes and the brand's first luxury performance sedan, the GS 300. By decade's end, the company had added SUVs (in the form of the LX 450/LX 470 and RX 300) and had sold more than a million vehicles in the U.S.

The first decade of the 2000s saw Lexus proving itself a trend setter with the launch of many hybrid-powered versions of its vehicles such as the RX 400h and the GS 450h. And by 2011, Lexus even introduced a world-class supercar, the LFA.

In the years since its inception, the Lexus brand has distinguished itself time and again in quality and reliability surveys. The brand's vehicles may not offer as much passion as some Teutonic rivals, but for drivers interested in vehicles that emphasize quality, dependability and comfort, the Lexus marque is hard to beat.

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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  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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  DO NOT BUY 2004 RX330 - 2004 Lexus RX 330
  By edev31 - May 16 - 2:00 am

  HUGE disappointment and waste of $44k. Taken back to dealer 4 times since July for rattles they cant fix (ripped out dash twice) jerky transmission that "clunks" when you come to a stop, loud wind/road noise-it sounds like a window is open. Loud,ticking noise from engine. Lexus says this is "normal" although their ES330 with the same engine does not have this noise. DO NOT BUY THIS VEHICLE.Dealer admits there are many problems with the new RX330. Many others are having the same problems.I would hope that Lexus would adhere to their bogus "Passionate Pursuit of Perfection" and stop production until they can produce a quality vehicle.

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  Never Again - 2010 Lexus RX 350
  By Never Again - February 19 - 1:20 am

  Cant stand this car. Had a 2002 before and loved it. The car sounds like a diesel pickup truck when cold. Dealership and Lexus have refused to do anything about it. Wind noise at high speeds is terrible. It sounds like the windows are open just a little bit, but they are not. I like my Ford Edge 100% more, and it cost 25% less. Very loose handling and visibility. I will never buy a Lexus again.

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  Lexus IS 300 or is it a Toyota? - 2005 Lexus IS 300
  By jeffb - November 15 - 9:50 pm

  This car is a total let down. It has no interior room or space for anything. The back seat is a joke if anyone up front is near 6ft. The trim inside is cheap. Not at all what I expected from a "Lexus" - I really feel this car is a Toyota with a face-lift. You even feel the bumps of the road and you can hear the outside. I would not buy this car again.

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  Over Rated Toyota - 2002 Lexus SC 430
  By Don Hollywood - November 6 - 2:00 am

  I have never been so disappointed in a vehicle!!! My 2003 Lincoln LS V8 out performs the Lexus, hands down. As far as luxury features are concerned, there are non, other than a great navigation system. The seats are hard, the accelaration is fair, at best. The styling is unique but, you cant see the front, much less the rear, of the car from the drivers seat making parking a nightmare. I was considering a Vette but, went for the Lexus SC for a better ride, boy was I wrong! Handling and ride are both far less than my Lincoln. Overall, I find the car to be a real ripoff and Im about to loss $10,000.00 + just to get rid of it!

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  Lexus should be ashamed - 2015 Lexus RX 350
  By germancarlife - October 17 - 11:54 pm

  I just bought a 2015 F sport to replace my 05 BMW X5 4.4i. All I can say is that this car is complete garbage. Ive never felt so much body roll and front end weight in my life. This thing under steers like no other in a corner. Its a bad feeling when the wheels turn but the car doesnt. My ten year old X5 pulled so much harder and handled much much better even with it being a lot heavier than the RX. I felt safe in the X5 performing high speed maneuvers while I dont even trust the RX to take a 15mph corner. The engine in the RX is garbage as well. All this thing is is a glorified Toyota rav 4. Im going back to the Lexus dealer to get my BMW back for me and my families safety.

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  DROWNING NOISE THEY SAY!!!!!!! - 2016 Lexus RX 350
  By NOT HAPPY - September 26 - 10:38 am

  Purchased a 2016 RX 350 March 2016. Love the new look and the new changes that were made to this SUV. This is my 4th RX I have owned. I love the way they look and handle. Except this one has a noise when I excelerate, know mater what speed. It sounds like a vibration coming from underneath like the transmission. Lexus calls it a drowning sound. All I can say is it drives me nuts. Totally unexceptable.Lexus claims there is no fix at this time. Be ware and be sure to test drive at length. Not happy ......

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  Not a great car. - 2005 Lexus SC 430
  By Tom Nault - September 22 - 6:53 am

  Ive owned one for a year and Ive nothing but annoying problems. Most are loud rattles and squeaks that the dealer cant seem to fix even though they hear them. The passenger seat shudders with every bump if unloaded. The car has been a complete nightmare and I dont recommend it to anyone unless you dont mind constant loud squeaks and other unwelcome noises. The car had more minor problems than most Ive owned. As an example, the left headlight washer didnt retract, grease kept smearing along the passenger side window, and the carpet had to be replaces just because of missing ring for the rug anchor. Im very disappointed in Lexus for their failure to find a solution.

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  lexus rx 350 2008 - 2008 Lexus RX 350
  By fish34 - July 4 - 7:49 am

  I bought this car at Lexus of Las Vegas ( original owner ) The vehicle drive smooth but the tranmision 2nd & 3rd jerking really bad i bring it back to the dealer they tell me tranmision went out. Estimated $5000.00 to replace. At 74600 miles the tranny give up That is not reliable . According to service man he see a lot tramision problem some are newer.I have 3 boys i drive like an old man i never thought this could happened. Very disappointed