What I can’t stand about my GX - Part Deux

1) You know what. I REALLY hate the "engine start" button staring me in the face. Who dreamed up that location? It would have been cleaner dash if they put it down below where they always have been.

2) I'm hearing complaints of poor range on the car. What's the average everyone is getting?

3) Too many plastic parts breaking?

This is going to be the death of me

When do these pop up?

I like the start button location. I'm getting about 16.5 to 17mpg with mixed city and highway. I haven't had any plastic stuff break yet but I did see that post about the second row seat lever, so that's concerning. Here's my list:

- A/C control "shuts off" every time the vehicle is started, even though it seems to still cool. Then if you turn it on the light comes on, and if you touch it again it actually turns it off. Just not super intuitive.
- The A/C fan will not turn off if you have the cool box on, but it's hard to know why until I figured that out.
The back seats don't slide back and forth so leg room is limited, but I'm about 6' 5" and I let my wife drive and sat in the backseat and it was really not bad as long as the person in front of me was not also my height.
- The factory Dashcam is a little bit in the way on the driver's side, but it was removed for tinting and I was able to remove the cover from the rear view mirror and move the Dashcam to the passenger side tucked right up tight to the mirror housing and now I can't even see it from the driver's seat.
- The hood vibrates slightly, doesn't bother me, I only realized it because people talk about it on forums, but I did see it a lot when going through carwash dryer blowing straight down on it.
- The steps are not great for me, I can get in and out without them and they just make me have to get out over them, but they are good protection from gravel or small sticks kicking up and hitting the side.
- A/C does not cool the whole vehicle well on a really hot day, especially in the back, so I had to get windows tinted with nano ceramic to reduce heat transfer and now it is MUCH better.
- Premium fuel only costs more.
- S-flow keeps turning on when the car is restarted, but apparently the Lexus dealer can change default to off. Need to ask about it at 5k service.
- Rear locker is only available in low range.

SethGX said:

I like the start button location. I'm getting about 16.5 to 17mpg with mixed city and highway. I haven't had any plastic stuff break yet but I did see that post about the second row seat lever, so that's concerning. Here's my list:

- A/C control "shuts off" every time the vehicle is started, even though it seems to still cool. Then if you turn it on the light comes on, and if you touch it again it actually turns it off. Just not super intuitive.
- The A/C fan will not turn off if you have the cool box on, but it's hard to know why until I figured that out.
The back seats don't slide back and forth so leg room is limited, but I'm about 6' 5" and I let my wife drive and sat in the backseat and it was really not bad as long as the person in front of me was not also my height.
- The factory Dashcam is a little bit in the way on the driver's side, but it was removed for tinting and I was able to remove the cover from the rear view mirror and move the Dashcam to the passenger side tucked right up tight to the mirror housing and now I can't even see it from the driver's seat.
- The hood vibrates slightly, doesn't bother me, I only realized it because people talk about it on forums, but I did see it a lot when going through carwash dryer blowing straight down on it.
- The steps are not great for me, I can get in and out without them and they just make me have to get out over them, but they are good protection from gravel or small sticks kicking up and hitting the side.
- A/C does not cool the whole vehicle well on a really hot day, especially in the back, so I had to get windows tinted with nano ceramic to reduce heat transfer and now it is MUCH better.
- Premium fuel only costs more.
- S-flow keeps turning on when the car is restarted, but apparently the Lexus dealer can change default to off. Need to ask about it at 5k service.
- Rear locker is only available in low range.

Click to expand...

How much of a job was it to move the dashcam to the other side? That has been talked about a bunch and if not tough, might be something a bunch of people try.

Never had a vehicle in 40 + years of driving 4 wheel drive vehicles, that would let you lock the differential in anything other than low range. Including atv's.

Thanks for all these. Great insight!

SethGX said:

I like the start button location. I'm getting about 16.5 to 17mpg with mixed city and highway. I haven't had any plastic stuff break yet but I did see that post about the second row seat lever, so that's concerning. Here's my list:

- A/C control "shuts off" every time the vehicle is started, even though it seems to still cool. Then if you turn it on the light comes on, and if you touch it again it actually turns it off. Just not super intuitive.
- The A/C fan will not turn off if you have the cool box on, but it's hard to know why until I figured that out.
The back seats don't slide back and forth so leg room is limited, but I'm about 6' 5" and I let my wife drive and sat in the backseat and it was really not bad as long as the person in front of me was not also my height.
- The factory Dashcam is a little bit in the way on the driver's side, but it was removed for tinting and I was able to remove the cover from the rear view mirror and move the Dashcam to the passenger side tucked right up tight to the mirror housing and now I can't even see it from the driver's seat.
- The hood vibrates slightly, doesn't bother me, I only realized it because people talk about it on forums, but I did see it a lot when going through carwash dryer blowing straight down on it.
- The steps are not great for me, I can get in and out without them and they just make me have to get out over them, but they are good protection from gravel or small sticks kicking up and hitting the side.
- A/C does not cool the whole vehicle well on a really hot day, especially in the back, so I had to get windows tinted with nano ceramic to reduce heat transfer and now it is MUCH better.
- Premium fuel only costs more.
- S-flow keeps turning on when the car is restarted, but apparently the Lexus dealer can change default to off. Need to ask about it at 5k service.
- Rear locker is only available in low range.

Click to expand...

S-flow??

Mainelexus said:

How much of a job was it to move the dashcam to the other side? That has been talked about a bunch and if not tough, might be something a bunch of people try.

Never had a vehicle in 40 + years of driving 4 wheel drive vehicles, that would let you lock the differential in anything other than low range. Including atv's.

Click to expand...

Moving the Dashcam was so easy. The window tinting guys removed it from the windshield, so I didn't have to do that part. They just left it hanging. But getting it shifted to the passenger side was easy. I'll try to put a post about that in the tech tips thread.

JustHere4Research said:

S-flow??

Click to expand...

S-flow is a feature that identifies which seats are occupied and only blows A/C toward those seats. The problem is that doesn't cool the vehicle well so it just stays hot longer. Also, it doesn't always accurately identify occupied seats. Turning it off just makes it blow at all vents.

SethGX said:

S-flow is a feature that identifies which seats are occupied and only blows A/C toward those seats. The problem is that doesn't cool the vehicle well so it just stays hot longer. Also, it doesn't always accurately identify occupied seats. Turning it off just makes it blow at all vents.

Click to expand...

Another great item for the Tech Tips and Tricks, even if it has to be done by the dealer.

robschafer said:

When do these pop up?

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These pop up when you turn those features off.

The parking support brake is a hugggee deal to me. That’s when the car does a sudden stop (that feels like you crashed) when it detects something behind you.

I’m capable enough to use the alert system + camera to determine what’s behind me. I don’t need the vehicle stopping for me.

Kind of the same for the cross traffic alerts, I really don’t need to be told that I’m coming to a cross traffic area. It confuses me why this would be a feature you have to turn off everytime you start the car.

SethGX said:

Moving the Dashcam was so easy. The window tinting guys removed it from the windshield, so I didn't have to do that part. They just left it hanging. But getting it shifted to the passenger side was easy. I'll try to put a post about that in the tech tips thread.

Click to expand...

I test drove one that had the DASHCAM and I noticed it sitting there kinda in the way. I think moving it up the other side makes sense. The one I have coming in has one too.

SethGX said:

S-flow is a feature that identifies which seats are occupied and only blows A/C toward those seats. The problem is that doesn't cool the vehicle well so it just stays hot longer. Also, it doesn't always accurately identify occupied seats. Turning it off just makes it blow at all vents.

Click to expand...

Gotcha- that one I toggled off and it’s stayed off. Confirmed it today several times.

JustHere4Research said:

Gotcha- that one I toggled off and it’s stayed off. Confirmed it today several times.

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Yeah, it's weird, mine kept coming back on, probably 8 to 10 times, and now it seems like the last few days it has stayed off. I think there may be something else that triggers it or something that keeps it off, but I haven't figured it out yet.

Let’s Gooo! said:

These pop up when you turn those features off.

The parking support brake is a hugggee deal to me. That’s when the car does a sudden stop (that feels like you crashed) when it detects something behind you.

I’m capable enough to use the alert system + camera to determine what’s behind me. I don’t need the vehicle stopping for me.

Kind of the same for the cross traffic alerts, I really don’t need to be told that I’m coming to a cross traffic area. It confuses me why this would be a feature you have to turn off everytime you start the car.

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Thanks. Logically you think if you turn the features off, you were a person about not getting notifications as well.

Let’s Gooo! said:

This is going to be the death of me
View attachment 2036
View attachment 2037

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Did you find the little button, farthest left below the steering wheel? It turns it off and on. Leave it ON unless you are towing, then turn it off.

Zoom650 said:

Did you find the little button, farthest left below the steering wheel? It turns it off and on. Leave it ON unless you are towing, then turn it off.

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Why would you ever want it on if you know how to drive?

Zoom650 said:

Did you find the little button, farthest left below the steering wheel? It turns it off and on. Leave it ON unless you are towing, then turn it off.

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The problem isn’t turning it off, I did that, it’s the constant alert telling me it’s off every time I turn the car on.

I wasn’t able to go to the dealership last week but this week I have an appt on Thursday. Hopefully the techs can turn off the alert and help me from having to press the little back arrow every day.

So far my biggest issue is with storage up front. Far too few cubbies. And with cool box no center console - where do you put stuff that normally goes in there? We put it in the cool box.

No eyeglass holder?!?

Poor glovebox, things keep falling out of it when we open it.

Too hard to get to the massage feature.

I was hoping the Climate and More (or whatever it is called) center tabs on touch screen were configurable but I can't see that they are and the things they chose to put on them are useless. Really, how often do you change what view you have on your heads up display!

Mainelexus said:

How much of a job was it to move the dashcam to the other side? That has been talked about a bunch and if not tough, might be something a bunch of people try.

Never had a vehicle in 40 + years of driving 4 wheel drive vehicles, that would let you lock the differential in anything other than low range. Including atv's.

Click to expand...

Our three 4Runners (2021, 2020 and 2020) let you lock in 2wd, 4high or 4low.