► Fifth-generation version of the longest-serving Lexus SUV
► Now with plug-in power
► One long trip on petrol power and the mpg plummets
I’ve a soft spot for Lexus, which started over two decades ago when my grandad began a five-year flirtation with buying the first-generation IS saloon. Each year we’d go to a dealer, take a test drive, take home all the sales literature – and then nothing would happen. Until, at last, with the upstart 3-series rival about to be replaced, he ordered one of the final cars.
We finally sold it for him last year, as at the age of 97 he’d decided it was time to stop driving. The bodywork wasn’t perfect anymore but it had an uninterrupted 17-year Lexus service history, the rear seats were immaculate, and even the protective plastic film around the tape deck was still in place.
In the years between the purchase and sale, I’ve driven a Lexus LFA and run an IS of my own, a long-term test of the third-gen model. The latter had its faults, in the form of a woeful entertainment system and a hybrid powertrain that offered no discernible advantage over pure petrol or diesel, yet it steered sweetly and the fit, finish and design of the interior were all class-leading. As for the LFA, it might be the best thing I’ve driven during 15 years of writing about cars.
Look across the Lexus range today and it’s a hotchpotch. Without a tape measure you can’t tell which is the UX, NX or RX, and the electric RZ only stands out as it looks how you’d badly draw the others. There’s the ES saloon too, which replaces the IS and GS, and that’s the most interesting thing about it.
At the same time, you can buy the wonderful RC F Coupe (which we rated as better than the last BMW M4) or the spellbindingly beautiful LC grand tourer. No one does, granted, and I’m not sure anyone will take the plunge on the new LM either – but after life with a VW Multivan I’m hot for this £90k MPV with a bad name and a big front grille, as the ultimate in ostentatious family transport.
Anyway, among this muddle there’s a new RX. The first one appeared in the late, late ’90s when BMW and Mercedes were leading the headlong rush into the SUV segment – but it carved out its own little niche when it went hybrid, first with the 400h in 2005 and then the 450h in 2009. Since then, it’s rather been Lexus’s heartland, and the car I’d most consistently associate with the Japanese brand given the big LS luxury saloon has faded to insignificance after its game-changing introduction over 30 years ago.
This latest RX has arrived in a tough year, though. The BMW X5, Merc GLE, Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg have all been facelifted in 2023, and there’s a new Range Rover Sport too. Still, it looks nice, it’s not German, and all the line-up is hybrid…
You can have your new RX in three flavours, the first being the £62k 350h. In Lexus marketing speak it’s a ‘self-charging’ hybrid, which just means it’s a regular hybrid you can’t plug in. It pairs a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with a nickel- metal hydride battery for 247bhp, 0-62mph in 7.9 seconds and fuel consumption in the low 40s.
At the other end of the scale is the £77k 500h, Lexus’s first performance-focused RX. That gets a turbo’d 2.4, the same Ni-MH battery as the 350h, and front and rear e-motors for a system total of 366bhp. Zero to 62mph takes 6.2 seconds, but even Lexus doesn’t think you’ll better 35mpg.
Between them is the £67k 450h+ we’re running, which looks to be the sweet spot and the model Lexus reckons will take the largest share of sales. It’s the first plug-in RX, with the powertrain that initially appeared in the NX SUV. That means the 2.5-litre four-pot, different front and rear electric motors from the 500h, and a 18.1kWh lithium battery, for 304bhp. It’s apparently only three tenths slower to 62mph than the 500h, but (at least officially) offers emissions below 26g/km and fuel economy of more than 235mpg.
The homologated EV range is 42 miles, with electric driving possible at speeds up to 80mph. Spec-wise you can pick from Premium, Premium Plus, a just-announced F Sport trim (think BMW’s M Sport) and the top-rung £81,600 Takumi. Takumi gives you everything, including a 21-speaker Mark Levinson audio, panoramic roof, heated and powered rear seats, adaptive suspension, remote parking, and the thing I always associate with early- generation RXs: a part-wood steering wheel. We’ve gone Premium Plus.
First impressions are good. It steers nicely, handles tidily, rides well enough, always get over 40 miles from the battery and is very quiet. The sort of quiet that makes a good music system sound great and encourages you to drive more slowly so as to enjoy the peace and tranquillity for longer. Not what I’d do in an LFA, but so far, I rather like it.
Read month 2 here
Read month 3 here
Read month 4 here
Read month 5 here
Logbook: Lexus RX 450h+ Premium Plus Pack (Month 1)
Price £73,100 (£73,350 as tested)
Performance 18.1kWh battery plus 2487cc four-cylinder, PHEV, 304bhp, 6.5sec 0-62mph,124mph
Efficiency 256.8mpg (official), 103.8mpg (tested), 26g/km CO2
Energy cost 8.1p per mile
Miles this month 480
Total miles 4746