Video: 2023 Lexus RX: Review

And along with it is coming language of athleticism and sporty driving. And there's a new performance model and there's even footage of an RX on a race track. So going into this first drive I was just really curious to know did we lose another comfort option in the class? The previous RX wasn't short on space when it had two rows and five seats there was the available RXL that had a third row and room for seven, but that stretched the car too thin. So it's actually not available anymore. When the RX launches it's only in five occupant configuration and they have added more leg room by extending the wheel base. So the wheels get closer to the front and rear of the vehicle, which means there's more room in here and back seat is comfy. As far as leg room the front seat is really nice too, the new design though. Looking at it, it looks lower. It looks longer, and it is lower. Overall height is down by about a half an inch. So I was a little concerned about backseat headroom and that played out when the car was equipped with the panoramic moon roof. There just wasn't enough headroom in the back for me, I'm six feet tall. I have kind of a short torso, a longer legs and I needed to actually recline the back seat to get the headroom that I needed when it was fully upright. My head hit the top of the ceiling for adults in the back. If you need maximum headroom you can't get the panoramic moon roof. You can get a more traditional size moon roof though. And that would be my pick. If I had to ride in the back the previous touch screen was actually in a really good place. I liked it while using apple CarPlay because CarPlay could stretch the full width of the screen. And in 2020, they made it a touchscreen replacing a non-touch screen that was controlled by a goofy touchpad controller, for 2023 the touchpad controller is gone, woohoo and replaced by either a 9.8 inch standard touch screen or a 14 inch optional touch screen. And that 9.8 inch screen is nice but it definitely looks like the budget option compared to the behemoth that is this screen. And there are some cool features tied to the system including the under car camera. So I'm gonna take this from my four year old daughter who identified this in the LX 600. It looks like the car is camouflage and it's actually really useful, especially when when you're parking and you can see the lines and you can see where to stop. I think this under car camera while it might be designed as like an off road feature, it's an awesome just urban parking feature too. I love it. Also there's wireless apple car play and wireless Android auto. Those were two features that you didn't get in the previous RX. We can't talk about a new luxury car without talking about it's interior quality and the RX is improved over the previous version. The previous version had some highlights but it was inconsistent. It had some really nice areas like the stitch edge pad then it had some not so nice areas like the center dashboard, the 2023 is much more consistent. The highlights include on some trim levels. There's this really intricate kind of padding on the door panel. And I appreciate its placement on the door panel because you're almost always looking at it either out of your periphery or when you're getting in and out of the car. It's the first and last thing you see and it does make it feel more luxurious. I really like the V6 in the old RX. It was smooth. It was quiet. It was refined. It had linear power delivery and the new engine is a turbocharged 2.4 liter that makes around 275 horsepower. And to be honest, I missed the old V6. Lexus actually brought a previous version for us to drive. And I do miss that V6. And it's not just in the RX, it's kind of across the board. The turbocharged engine is torquey and it has more grunt down low, but it's noisy. It has a course sounding soundtrack and the the power it builds up soon but then it dissipates and overall, you know, yes it's more efficient and there's more torque. But the biggest thing to know is that Lexus recommends premium octane gasoline in the new turbo four cylinder. And in the old RX, the V6 got its maximum power on regular octane, the fuel economy savings. Aren't significant only two mile per gallon better in combine ratings. And that map is not favorable to the new four cylinder being cheaper to own. It'll actually cost more based on current fuel prices. So the base four cylinder engine can't say I'm totally sold on it, but if you're coming from another luxury brand, you're not gonna bat an eye because this is just a norm throughout the whole class. But if you are a previous RX owner you're gonna miss your V6, the base four cylinder though. Isn't the only new engine for 2023. The sport performance hybrid has 366 horsepower which is up about 90 horsepower compared with the regular gas engine. And it is a performance hybrid. So this is specifically geared toward performance. Look at this more as the six cylinder counterpart that doesn't exist. This is the up level engine option except it's done with the base four cylinder but with an 80 kilowatt rear motor which is interestingly also the power spec on the Toyota BZ four X electric cars motor. All right, it's got more power. Is it a throw you back in your seat? Holy smokes kind of ride? No, not really. What was interesting though, is the stability and traction control light was flashing at me. So somewhere from some end, either the front or the back there was a wheel slippage, which I thought was interesting. Zero to 60 is much faster claimed than the base model. I'd say that it's not really a thrill ride at least a zero to 40 or zero to 50. But where I think the just right option is the 350 H hybrid. Now the nomenclature is new, but this is the hybrid RX. It was previously the 40 H, the 450 H will now be a plugin, but we don't have any details on it. It's not going on sale along with the other cars. So not a lot to say about that car yet. The hybrid though, really impressive. I think this is the one to go after because it has 12 more combined miles per gallon than the base engine. The hybrid power fills in the gaps that the turbo engine has. And overall, it's a really good experience. The acceleration is responsive. Lexus says it's only two tenths of a second slower than an all-wheel drive four cylinder. So you're not losing performance. You're getting a whole lot more miles per gallon. It has an ECVT transmission, they've really tuned up well Toyota and Lexus. They know hybrids and that's what's done especially well in the new RX. That's the one to get the biggest question of the day to answer though, is has the ride quality gone to hell? No, it hasn't. This is still a comfortable riding RX. Those great qualities of soft suspension tuning are here but they're paired with a tightness and composure that the old SUV didn't have, Lexus like I said, with the engine they brought out the old generation, we got to drive it. And it was really enlightening as far as how far they've come with this new chassis. It has the soft suspension tuning but not the sloppiness of the old car. Yes, the old car was soft but there was a lot of movement in the wheels. It felt like there was a lot of suspension deflection. It just felt a little sloppy. That's not the case at all. If the old RX drove like a minivan, which it kind of did this new one drives like a luxury sedan. And I am a big fan of how it drives. There's less road noise. There's less wind noise overall. It's really well done. Value has always been the RXs strong point but it's honestly something we can pinpoint right now without pricing. What is here though? Won't completely abandon RX loyalists and there's something for new buyers too. Lexus is aiming more upscale vehicles. So think BMW X5 or Volvo XC 90. And I don't think that's a stretch here but you might see increased pricing because $47,000 starting price of the 2022 might be tough to hit with the new componentry under the hood. And some of the trick stuff does, but we'll see. They could surprise me. Some of the things that a new buyer may find interesting about the RX is it's styling. You know, we don't talk a lot about styling because you can look at a picture and determine for yourself if you like it or not. But this really is a striking looking vehicle. And the new color palette is just fun and vibrant especially this copper color. I really think the sweet spot in how the RX drives is with that 350H model the hybrid with all wheel drive, not the performance one, and while it would be great to do a cost analysis on fuel savings and extra cost. We just don't have that information right now but we will have pricing closer to when the RX goes on sale later in 2022. So stay tuned to cars.com for more information.