Easily, my favorite car magazine feature is the long-term test, where the magazines various writers and editors spend twelve months behind the wheel of a car then share the results.

Well, not satisfied with a single year, Car & Driver enjoyed a two year-long visit with the RX 400h. The magazine’s staff managed to put 40,000 miles on the SUV in that time, which gave them plenty of road to find out all of the vehicle’s low points:

To many drivers the transition from purely electric to gas and electric power wasn’t always smooth, and the amount of added power delivered was unpredictable. Many also felt a lurch and heard a clunking sound when the gas engine kicked in when the vehicle was at a complete stop. Most drivers thought that a $50,000 Lexus should behave more smoothly.

The regenerative braking system got gripes, too. The transition from regenerative to hydraulic braking was often disconcerting because a small increase in pressure on the brake pedal might produce a huge increase in deceleration. Drivers complained that when they began to press lightly on the brake pedal, the RX seemed to surge a bit, causing the knee-jerk reaction of applying more braking than intended. This was especially apparent in city driving at moderate to low speeds. All the Lexus service guys could do was tell us, “That’s just the way they work.”

These issues, along with the rather obligatory cost breakdown of a hybrid versus its traditional engine counterpart (it would take 91,000 miles before the 400h would justify its $3,800 premium over the RX 350), doesn’t really build a strong case for the hybrid. Unless you’re feeling incredibly guilty about your carbon output, stick with the RX 350.

The transport of vehicles worldwide is not without its casualties, as this RX had to learn the hard way:

You can see more photos of the destruction over at English Russia, if you’re feeling particularly sadistic.

Update:

The full story has appeared in English Russia’s comments section:

Ten new Toyota vehicles with a value of over 165,000 euros were destroyed by the Federal Customs Service. The reason for the destruction was lodged in the Central Excise office of company Toyota Motor, which indicated a significant mechanical damage the vehicles caused by car accidents, in which they were transported. By the standards of vehicles not subject to rehabilitation, and the producer felt economically viable state regime destruction. The destruction, the regime under which foreign goods are destroyed under Customs control without paying customs duties and taxes and applying any prohibitions and restrictions economic established in accordance with Russian legislation on regulation.

Basically, it was cheaper to destroy the car than fix it.

It should be common knowledge that the Lexus RX 350 and the Hyundai Veracruz Limited are in different classes, bought by different people for different reasons, but that didn’t stop Motortrend from comparing the two vehicles in their latest issue.

Let me save you the farce, the Veracruz is declared the winner of the two, simply by placing inordinate weight on a questionable concept of value.

Compared, the Hyundai rings in at $10,000 less than the Lexus, yet it lacks a navigation system, a backup camera, adaptive HID headlights, to speak nothing of the lower interior quality. These are not small differences: the Navigation feature alone would add $1500-2000 to the price of the Vercruz — that is, if it was even available as an option.

Perhaps the strangest part of the comparison was the criticism of the RX 350’s safety features:

Is the Hyundai chassis that much superior? No. It’s the RX’s insistence in keeping you overly safe that electronically inhibited its performance. It sensed that our max-handling performance testing was impending accident doom and lit up the stability controls at anything more than the slightest provocation. Beepers beeped, brakes braked, and the throttle was dialed out until the RX 350 knew we weren’t going to crash. This also was the case on our mountain road loop, even during moderate cornering. The Lexus computer wizards need to dial the electronannies back a notch or two.

Makes absolutely no sense to me, this vehicle isn’t a sports car, it’s a people mover. Wouldn’t the additional safeguards be considered a plus rather than a minus?

Really, dragging the RX 350 into a comparison with what is essentially a cheaper knockoff, then basing the final verdict strictly on “value”, seems inappropriate for a major car magazine. How would the Veracruz compare to the BMW X3, I wonder?

Another study was released today, this one by San-Diego-based research firm Strategic Vision. Their Total Quality Index, or TQI, is considered the premier measure of new vehicle owner satisfaction, as it asks buyers to rate every aspect of the owner experience.

Lexus made a decent showing, with the RX 350 placing first in the Near Luxury SUV category, and the LS 430 coming in second in Luxury Cars. Other models didn’t fare so well in their segments: The GS 350/430 placed sixth in Luxury Cars, the IS 250/350 placed fifth and the ES 350 ninth in Near Luxury Cars. The remaining models didn’t even figure into the rankings, as their sample size was too small to be included.

The bigger news from this study was the lack of any Toyota-branded vehicles taking top spot in their respective segments, and more importantly, Hyundai coming away with three first place finishes. Hyundai has developed into a real threat for their competitors, and the results from this study add some serious credibility to the Korean manufacturer.

[Source: Strategic Vision]
[Via: Carscoop]

Both of Lexus’ current RX models ranked in the top four of Consumer Reports latest SUV rankings, with the RX400h coming in second and the RX350 tying the Acura MDX for third.

Considering that the Highlander Hybrid took the number one spot, Toyota practically swept the Consumer Reports rankings. Not a bad result, though they did have the unfair advantage of two incredibly similar vehicles in the race.

[Source: The Auto Channel]