Comments: 1-15, 16-17
Rear Rotor, front strut, rear noise
Nice looking vehicle. Smooth engine/transmission. Good gas mileage for a 6 cylinder. However, this "SUV" almost got me killed on a snow day. I have driven many cars on snow before but nothing worse than RX300 AWD. I was on a skiing trip to VT one day. It was snowing (about 2" snow on the ground). This car was skidding more than 20 times on the highway. I was only doing 45-50 mph and it was on the AWD snow mode. At one time, the car skidded from one lane to another. The car also did a 180 degrees on a turn. Lucky there was no cars near by. Traction control does kick in when the car skids but it does not help much.
I have driven Jaguar XJS, Nissan Max, Mitsh Eclipse, VW GTI on snow and I never had a single skid that was severe as my RX300. I usually drove 50-65 mph on a light snow day. I took my RX300 to the Dealer and they told me the tires are fine and it is normal for any suv/car to skid. I was totally disappointed! Sure… it can handle 20”of snow doing 25 mph but it is not good enough. A good SUV should be able to do 50 mph on a light snow road without skidding…
Has anyone experienced the same problem? Can your RX300 do 50mph on snow without skidding? Please let me know -Thanks
When you compare your SUV to the sports cars that you mentioned, it's no wonder you are surprised. All higher riding SUVs, vans and trucks have a higher center of gravity. Meaning that they are more likely to loose balance on roads, or skid. The only suggestions that I have are: Get used to driving it or buy a lower car because there is nothing that you can do, unless you lower it.
It has a high center of gravity. It's going to skid and slide.
As you said, it will go through deep snow fine, but the high center of gravity detracts from it's handling.
I used to own a Pathfinder that could climb snow banks, but you had to drive it very carefully in even the lightest of snows.
All I can say is when the roads are slippery, drive accordingly and slow down to a safe speed for your vehicle.
A truck is a truck and nothing can defy the laws of physics.
Try imagine a slippery road (let alone snow...) and figure out how you'd drive in a, say, Audi quattro and in your truck. If you want to do 50 mph then you have to drive something which was designed to do this (the Audi or other mainstream CAR which has 4wd)
To the person who slid over 20 times going 45-50 mph, don't you think after sliding the first couple times, something would tell you to slow down a little?? Even though it's only a couple inches of snow, it's still a dangerous driving situation, and just like driving in rain, you need to slow down.
I had a 1999 and it was the best car ever in snow.
I am a proud owner of a 2001 RX 300. I was shocked to see the "bad on snow" comment. It seems obvious the person was driving irresponsibly and may need to check the tread on his tires. I have owned my Lexus for 3 winters and live in the Midwest. I have driven it in lite snow and ice as well as deep snow. It performed perfectly in all. I also own a truck and there is no comparison. The Lexus has over 140,000 miles and is still perfect. The only problem it ever had was an air sensor $200.00.
First off, driving 50mph in the snow is extremely dangerous. If you have driven that speed in the past while driving other vehicles, count yourself very lucky. While you can bring many vehicles up to that speed in the snow, it is a completely different story when it comes to stopping. All cars have 4 wheel braking, and no car will be able to stop as if it were on dry pavement.
I have seen many accidents caused by people driving too fast in the snow. It usually happens when someone cruises in the passing lane driving at a high rate of speed (50mph), while cars in the other lanes are driving at a much slower safer speed (25-30), which they should be. All that needs to happen is for just one of those cars to decide they want to go a little faster and pull into the passing lane. They assume the headlights of the SUV way behind them are driving at the same speed, yet in reality that person is travelling twice as fast. Needless to say the SUV cannot possibly stop or slow down in time and hits the slower moving car sending both of them into the guardrail or other traffic.
Please slow down!
With that said, the RX 300 handles excellent in the snow with the proper tires and proper driver. If you plan on doing any sort of winter driving, change the factory Bridgestone Duelers with either a dedicated snow tire or a better all season tire. The factory tires are not meant for medium or heavy snow use. They will handle light snow at best. For an all season tire the Michelin Cross Terrains are highly recommended for the RX300.
I was the orginal writter. I found out what the problem was. A control arm for my rear passinger wheel was not original and it was not the right one, therefore, the alignment was all messed up. The previous owner must have had it serviced at an unqualified shop and installed the wrong part. My Lexus dealer replaced the part and did the alignment. I haven't have a chance to test it on snow, but I am pretty sure that was the cause. Now I know bad alignment also contributes to bad handling.. I also replaced the tires..
I think it should handle snow better now..
I was glad to come across this information. I to have a 2001lexus rx300,bought it used from a dealer. the worst on the snow I have ever seen.Even at 15 or 20 miles an hour,slides everywhere. I am going to have the control arm checked.thanks.
If you can't figure out to slow down in snow (especially) after sliding 20 times than you should stay of the road.
If you want to drive like a maniac in the snow you had better ditch that real wheel assist (aka AWD) overpriced Camry and get a real 4WD.
Our lexus is a dream, but I do feel having good driveing skills helps also.
I think a car advertised as 4x4 should perform as a 4x4, without 'buts', and in my experience, AWD is way worse than clean 4x4 (not even counting cars, only SUVs). In hard conditions, hand brake helps and also if it's not manual transmission, driver ability to control it like one. With good 4x4 and decent driving skills, 40mph should be no problem in hard conditions (I'm from 6mnths winter/year).
I have owned my RX300 2001 for last 7 years other than an air filter, it has cost me nothing except the oil changes. I have driven it in mud, sand, snow, ice, through windy storms and heavy rain. In fact on wet roads the car feels tight and very much in control. I have not felt safer in any other car before this.
The following is a quote from the original review:
"A good SUV should be able to do 50 mph on a light snow road without skidding".
Well, thinking like that explains the fact that during every New England snow, there always seems to be at least one SUV overturned on the side of a highway, creating huge traffic jams for the other commuters to deal with, and causing serious injuries (or worse) for the driver & passengers of the overturned SUV.