Bought a 2009 RX 350 in March w/ 117,000 miles for $11,000. 5 days after purchase the alternator goes out. Then driving a 3 hour trip it blows a transmission cooler hose. Should I be scared of this car now or am I just having bad luck? I know Toyota makes great stuff but heck I’m thinking of selling this lexus and buying a Mazda CX series SUV. HELP!
Sounds like bad luck to me but who knows what kind of rough house in the previous owner did to it
Man if you were still in Texas I’d think about driving it down to you for a look. I’m in Tulsa so it wouldn’t be that far of a drive.
Scotty had a review of the 2009 RX350 and praised it: https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/postid/96998/
That was also the last year of that generation and there were no standouts in terms of issues for that year. Also, do you know the previous history of that vehicle when you bought it? Even a vehicle like Lexus can have issues if it was not well taken care of. Did a mechanic thoroughly check it out before you bought it? I wouldn’t write off the vehicle just on those 2 issues.
I was actually a little backwards on having a mechanic check it. When the alternator went out I had a mechanic go over it and he said he would take it to California and back with no worries, we live in Oklahoma. So that made me feel better. Yesterday when the hose blew the mechanic said basically the same thing. It just makes me nervous with 2 issues back to back. The car fax was clean on it so there are no major accidents. Heck I’ve had a 1998 Chevy Blazer take me from Tulsa to The Rocky Mountains 3 summers in a row and it never had an issue. I know Toyota smokes Chevy in quality.
Alternators are consumable parts. If it's original, then I would say 117k miles is spectacular.
The transmission cooler hose is an unusual one. That has never happened to me. Maybe the owner had it "flushed" and the hose wasn't put back on correctly.
nah rx350 are tanks you prob got it off a bad 1st owner. take it in inspect whats wrong and fix it up. lexus is way better than mazda
Sounds like bad luck.
