The Lexus NX has been one of Lexus’ most popular models, but there is a massive wait on the hybrid. So should you go for the more cost effective non-hybrid version, which is in stock at the moment?
Hardness tester, noise and lane keeping results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 01:02
Interior: 03:17
Infotainment: 04:49
Safety Tech: 06:10
Practicality: 06:47
On the Road: 10:08
Driver aids: 16:54
Performance: 18:20
Verdict: 21:15
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
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Hardness tester, noise and lane keeping results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE
Skip Ahead:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior: 01:02
Interior: 03:17
Infotainment: 04:49
Safety Tech: 06:10
Practicality: 06:47
On the Road: 10:08
Driver aids: 16:54
Performance: 18:20
Verdict: 21:15
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
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Paul Maric:
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 G'day I'm Paul. So Lexus, they have had a runaway success with this car. It's called the NX, the hybrid.
00:06 They're actually not even taking orders on it anymore. So you might be asking why are we bothering reviewing it?
00:11 Well, this is actually the entry-level version, the non-hybrid. Today
00:15 I want to see whether this is as good as the hybrid if you remove the drivetrain option because
00:20 obviously people want SUVs at the moment and you want ones that are in stock and there are stacks of these in stock and
00:25 I'll run you through why very shortly. Now this compares with things like the BMW X3, the Mercedes-Benz
00:31 GLC, the Audi Q5. It's in that segment, that size of vehicle. Pricing is actually not too bad when you consider what you're getting. This kicks
00:40 off from just over
00:42 $62,000 and this is the entry-level. It's called the NX 250. Today we're going to do a detailed review of this car
00:47 so if you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this review you can use the time codes that are on the screen
00:51 or if you're on YouTube you can scroll down and use the chapters below and if you haven't done so already subscribe to our channel and
00:57 press the bell icon so you can find out every single time we review a Lexus SUV.
01:01 Okay, so let's talk about the exterior design. You've got a number of colors to pick from. I quite like this color.
01:09 It's sort of nice and dark and it blends in nicely with the color scheme
01:14 they have going on here. Enormous grille, which seems to be, you know, a Lexus thing.
01:19 They just make them bigger and bigger as they go, but I think it kind of suits the front end of this car.
01:23 It sort of just makes it look different in traffic to everything else.
01:26 This actually shares a platform with the Toyota RAV4, which is why you have a lot of those hybrid issues.
01:32 Toyota currently has a massive weight on RAV4 and all of their hybrid products
01:35 and it's the same story here if you opt for the hybrid version of the NX,
01:39 whereas you don't have those stock issues with the entry-level variants.
01:43 But it is actually pretty well equipped even if you don't go for those higher level specs.
01:48 You get full LED adaptive headlights, headlight washer there as well.
01:52 And then if we whip around to the side here, got a set of 18-inch alloy wheels.
01:56 The wheel design is a machined finish on the outside and a graphite finish on the inside there.
02:00 Pretty chubby profile there on the wheels as well.
02:03 So it should actually mean that this rides well. A little bit of wheel arch cladding there too.
02:07 This is no off-roader. The entry-level here is front-wheel drive only and it only has just under 200 mm of ground clearance.
02:14 So you're not really going to be doing any off-road courses in one of these.
02:17 It is perfectly built for the city and touring and that kind of thing.
02:20 Up the top here on the wing mirror you have chrome finish there on the side and then an indicator built into there.
02:26 This actually has an option package you can get called the Enhancement Pack.
02:29 That comes with a sunroof, wireless phone charger and then a sort of kick tailgate for the rear
02:35 and that's $3,000 and that's fitted to our test car here.
02:38 Come around to the back with me.
02:40 Now around the back here, full LED taillights. You'll be able to spot these in traffic because that all lights up along the back there.
02:46 It looks pretty cool. Individual lettering here for Lexus and then the model designation down the bottom here.
02:52 You've got a shark fin aerial up the top there and then brake light built into this cluster up the top here as well.
02:56 So let me know what you reckon about the design in the comments section below. Do you think it looks good?
03:01 I think the fact that this shares a platform with the RAV4 but looks totally different
03:06 really just gives you the differentiation you need between buying a Toyota and buying a Lexus
03:10 and all the fun sort of customer service stuff that comes with this instead.
03:14 So let me know what you reckon in the comments section below.
03:16 So we are inside the NX. Let's start off with the key. Here it is. You've got lock, unlock, boot, panic
03:25 and then the Lexus logo on the back. It's a proximity sensing key so you can leave that in your pocket.
03:30 Once you're inside you've got a push button start up the top here.
03:33 Now let's talk about the interior. I think unless you were told this shares a platform with the RAV4
03:37 it'd be really hard to tell because a lot of this just looks like it's been
03:40 customized by Lexus and designed by Lexus from scratch.
03:44 Not a huge fan of the piano black so that's all down here, here and on these side sections as well.
03:50 So I think I could definitely take or leave that but the rest of it is actually really nicely done.
03:55 And that's the thing with Lexus, even if you do just buy the base model it doesn't actually feel like you've
04:00 only bought the base model. They've actually done a good job in making this all feel nice and premium.
04:04 So all of this stuff is soft to the touch. So center there and on the door as well.
04:10 How soft is it? Well we've got our durometer. We've tested the main surfaces in this cabin.
04:14 And if you do want to see how this car compares to others that we've tested before have a look at the link in the description below.
04:19 Now build quality. What's it like?
04:20 Tiny bit sort of wonky there in the center but the rest is pretty good.
04:26 And this is what the door sounds like.
04:30 I'm going to tell you just a little secret here. Have a look at this.
04:34 So instead of having an actual door handle you just have these buttons that you press and it's got an
04:39 electronic release on it. So you just give that a light push and it opens and then if it ever runs
04:43 out of battery you can actually manually release that door as well which I think is a pretty cool feature.
04:49 Now let's talk infotainment. You've got two different versions of the infotainment system
04:54 here in the Lexus NX. You've got this smaller version for the entry-level model. Then as you
04:58 spend more money you get a bigger screen here that actually goes pretty much all the way to the sides here.
05:02 So I'll run you through the features this actually has. So you have AM/FM, DAB digital radio and
05:08 it's plumbed through a 10 speaker sound system. In addition to that you're also going to find part of
05:13 your climate controls down here as well. So there are manual controls so temperature controls off
05:17 to the side along with your auto and sync button but then you can actually adjust fan speeds and
05:22 other climate settings here on the actual touch screen itself. In addition to that you've got
05:26 smartphone mirroring in the form of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Apple CarPlay is wireless. This is
05:31 what that looks like. So it takes up the whole screen. Looks very nice and quick there as well.
05:37 And this is what Android Auto looks like which is wired. So full screen map there and then it also
05:44 goes to a split screen view as well if required. So yeah good setup there. Now screen ahead of the
05:52 driver you've got a smaller digital display that has the tacho and a couple of car settings and
05:57 then over to the other side you also have a small LCD display with your fuel and temperature for the
06:03 engine as well. So pretty comprehensive setup and all very straightforward to use either with
06:07 the controls here or the controls on the steering wheel. So let's talk safety. You've got autonomous
06:11 emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection. You have an auto dimming rear vision
06:17 mirror. You've got a blind spot monitor built into the wing mirror. You have radar cruise control with
06:21 a semi-autonomous steering function. We'll test that a little bit later on. You've got front and
06:25 rear parking sensors, rear cross traffic alert and a reverse view camera. Now I'm going to flick the
06:31 car on so I can show you what that looks like. Pop that into reverse. Quality of that is excellent.
06:37 Very impressed with that. Nice. Now you can change the view there as well. So really high
06:42 quality camera. Kill that and this is what the horn sounds like. Let's chat about practicality
06:49 and we'll start off with your connectivity. Down here you've got one USB C port, one USB A port
06:54 and in addition to that you've also got a wireless phone charger. Love this system too. So you whack
06:58 your phone on there and then you push this all the way forward so it doesn't slide around. So
07:02 I think that is a really clever setup. Down here you have a 12 volt outlet as well which is good.
07:08 Where are you going to store your phone? Well it can actually live kind of anywhere. They've
07:11 really done a great job with storage here. I don't know what lives in there but you've got
07:15 plenty of room to put things. Now what about your coffee cup? If you've got a small cup like mine
07:19 it's going to get de-lidded in there so you're going to prop that up a little bit but you do get
07:23 teeth in there to hold your bigger bottle in place which is good. Then you've also got bottle
07:29 storage inside the door. I'll try a big bottle in there as well. Doesn't quite fit in there.
07:36 You have another little storage slot here just next to the driver's knee for keys and coins and
07:40 other sort of bits and pieces. Centre console here, look at this, opens two ways. Nice and deep in
07:46 there as well. You've got a glove box over here and then last but not least you've got a Sunny's
07:51 holder up the top. Okay now comfort. You have dual zone automatic climate control, headed seats here
07:58 for the front row which is all good to see. Passenger and driver seat is electrically adjustable.
08:04 You can go forwards, backwards, your backrest can go forwards, backwards. You can lift the front of
08:10 the seat, the back of the seat. You have lumbar adjustment as well. Seats are actually pretty
08:15 comfy so if you are doing a longer distance drive they're great to sit in, hug you in nicely.
08:19 Steering offers both tilts and reach adjustment that's fully electric and on our reach test,
08:24 although this stuff is easy to reach while you're driving. Okay, second row. So knee room is pretty
08:29 good, toe room is good, headroom is really good as well. In terms of creature comforts, you've got
08:35 two matte pockets, air vents here. You have two USB-C outlets down the bottom there plus a 12-volt
08:42 outlet. Centre armrest here with a couple of cup holders. That fits the bottom in nicely with some
08:48 teeth there as well. Bottle fits inside the door too. You've got ISOFIX points on the two outboard
08:54 seats with three top tether points and then on our window test, it's auto up and down.
08:59 Look at that, goes all the way down. Very nice. Let's talk cargo space. So you've got a powered
09:06 tailgate. God, it's windy today. In addition to that, you've got just over 500 litres of cargo
09:12 space available here. It is kind of a high load floor, so you do need to load stuff in over that
09:17 lip to get it in, but once it's in there, it is actually a pretty decent space. The best part is
09:22 you actually have a stack of storage under here as well. So the hybrid system robs you of a bit
09:26 of space here, especially when you do have an electric motor for the rear axle, but here you
09:31 actually have a decent amount of storage space. There is no spare tyre or tyre repair kit because
09:36 these are run-flat tyres, which means you can drive on them when they are deflated for a short
09:40 period of time at a lower speed to get it fixed. You've got storage off to the side here, a 12-volt
09:45 outlet here, plus some hooks as well. I'll show you what it looks like with our bags in there. So
09:50 there's the suitcase there and then laptop in there. So you've got space in there and then
09:57 you can also expand this if you do want more room by dropping your second row out of the way.
10:04 That expands the space to a little over a thousand litres.
10:07 Okay, so we've just hit the road and it's started raining, so it is unfortunately going to be a wet
10:17 drive and some of the footage isn't going to match up either because part of the road was dry when we
10:22 filmed earlier and it's wet now. So anyway, so the 250, so it's the entry level to the NX range and
10:29 it means that it misses out on all-wheel drive and also hybrid technology. Instead, it just uses a
10:33 naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine. So it's a 2.5 litre and it produces 152 kilowatts
10:40 of power and 243 newton meters of torque and that's all sent through the front wheels because
10:46 this is front-wheel drive and it's made into an eight-speed automatic transmission as opposed to
10:51 a continuously variable transmission which is what you'll find in the hybrid variants.
10:56 Now how does all that feel behind the wheel? Because it doesn't sound like a huge amount of
11:00 power but the big advantage it has when you do sort of step on it is that it's significantly
11:07 lighter than the hybrid models. You don't have a battery system, you don't have an additional
11:11 electric motor, you don't have all of that complexity that also adds weight and as a result
11:16 of that you're getting more boot space and you're getting a lighter vehicle which means it should in
11:20 theory use less fuel. So on all those fronts it is actually a win-win if you don't want to spend
11:26 that extra money on the hybrid variant. Now what does all that mean in terms of fuel economy? So
11:32 Lexus claims a combined average of around 7 litres per 100 kms. We're currently sitting on 10.2 but
11:38 it is worth noting we had to shoot all of our driving footage earlier in the day and that means
11:42 that the fuel use has crept up. We were actually seeing a figure closer to 9 litres per 100 kms on
11:49 the drive here which was predominantly highway driving. So it isn't going to be as efficient as
11:54 the hybrid variants but to me it's actually still a pretty reasonable figure for a vehicle this size
11:59 that has enough punch behind the wheel and doesn't feel underpowered which is really important for an
12:03 SUV if you're going to be lugging around the family and that kind of thing. Now what's the
12:09 ride like? This is probably the thing that's impressed me the most. They are some really high
12:13 profile tyres which means you have a lot of rubber there and even though it's a run flat, typically
12:18 run flats make the ride quite firm, this actually has the opposite feel to it. The ride is really
12:23 nice and soft and doesn't have that sort of firmness to it which you do find with run flat
12:29 tyres. So they really have programmed the suspension to give you that comfort in and
12:33 around the city. So potholes, cobblestones, that kind of thing, they're going to feel really nice.
12:37 Shortly we'll do our sine wave which actually tells us what it's like at higher speeds because
12:42 when the speed picks up, softer suspension typically tends to not be as good when you hit
12:47 constant undulations but we'll see how that goes shortly.
12:49 Okay so we've got our sine waves coming up, this is where we test what the body control is like.
12:58 We do this at 130 k's an hour and the reason we do that is it's the maximum speed limit in
13:04 Australia and this is also representative of the type of road condition you're going to get in
13:09 parts of Australia where the road hasn't been very well maintained. So I'll jack this up to
13:14 130 k's an hour. Yeah okay so the ride is pretty soft and as a result of that it does sit quite
13:22 high when you hit those constant undulations. It's not the end of the world, it just means that if
13:27 you are driving in the country that you do want to mind your speed when you're doing things like
13:31 overtaking and you're hitting those undulations because it's going to feel like the car is
13:36 very floaty at that top end but conversely the benefit is in and around the city you're
13:41 getting that better ride. It is bumpy road time so we tack this at 90 k's an hour. It is
13:48 a shockingly bad corrugated country road. We'll see how it feels especially here over our condensed
13:58 sine wave which really sort of flexes the car to its maximum pace here. So let's see how this goes.
14:08 Actually feels surprisingly good even on this really dodgy stretch here where we've got
14:13 cobblestones and potholes it's actually doing a remarkably good job of just being comfortable
14:17 inside the cabin. So I wouldn't be too scared of buying this if I lived
14:21 in the country and wanted to do some driving on some dodgy roads.
14:25 Okay let's talk about drive modes. So you've got a little selector here that lets you go from
14:33 eco to sport and to normal. I'm going to pop it into sport mode and go for a faster lap around
14:39 our track. Unfortunately because it is so wet this road isn't very good and doesn't have much
14:44 traction so I'm gonna have to be a little gentle here but we'll see what it feels like. I had a
14:49 chance to go a little faster this morning and I was actually pretty impressed with how it was
14:55 performing. It's actually quite a punchy little engine that's the thing that surprises me. You
15:05 don't think that a naturally aspirated four-cylinder is really going to belt you back in the seat as
15:11 much as this does but it's actually doing a really nice job and that gearbox is great too. It's nice
15:16 and responsive. You've got paddle shifters here on the steering wheel if you need them but the
15:20 sport mode actually does a pretty good job of handling gear selections on its own. Steering
15:25 has a nice amount of feel to it. I mean look with that soft suspension the ride is pretty
15:31 floaty but that's a good thing because it means it's predictable and when you're sort of diving
15:37 into some of these corners you actually know exactly what's going on with the car and there's
15:41 no sort of surprises there either which is great. It's actually really impressive so yeah for a
15:51 front-wheel drive SUV like this I think it's actually doing a pretty commendable job. It's
15:55 no sports car, it's not going to rip your face off but it does give you confidence behind the
15:59 wheel to have a bit of fun if you want to. Now what about your road noise? So it's actually
16:06 really nice and quiet. What they've managed to do with the platform that they've inherited from the
16:10 RAV4 is just give it all the quietness that it needs and it means that when you are driving on a
16:16 coarse chip road at highway speeds you're not getting a massive amount of noise inside the
16:20 cabin. These are the results that we got with our calibrated sound meter. It is worth keeping in
16:23 mind that it was quite wet outside so they are higher than what they would be if it was a dry
16:28 road. If you do want to see how this car compares to others that we've tested before in terms of
16:32 noise inside the cabin you can follow the link in the description below. Now although you're
16:35 not going to be doing any towing this does have a 1000 kilo brake towing capacity. Let's talk
16:41 visibility. So I can see clearly down the front of the car there the wing mirrors are huge. Visibility
16:46 out the back is pretty good as well and you've got excellent camera coverage too so it means when it
16:50 comes to parking it's a pretty sort of straightforward process. Okay so now's the time we
16:55 test some of the autonomous driving features. We're going to use the three outer lanes here
16:59 at the proving ground on the bowl to see how well the car will hold its lane. The whole concept is
17:05 as we go further out and the banking increases the car's going to have to apply more torque to
17:09 the steering wheel to keep it within its lane and it's a good representation of how willing it is
17:14 to do the same out on a public road as well. So we'll set this up. Okay so you can see the steering
17:21 wheel has gone green there. It looks so far so good in the first lane it's keeping us pretty
17:26 much dead center which is great to see. Jump over to the next lane we'll see what it's like up here.
17:32 All right it's gone green. It's actually really quick and sharp there when it comes to locking
17:37 into the lane. That's awesome. Okay so lane two excellent job. We'll jump over to our outermost
17:45 lane yet again steering wheel's gone green. I'll just let go of this see how willing it is to stay
17:52 in that lane. It's creeping its way back up there. We'll see if it'll hold the lane once it's up there.
18:01 It's starting to come back and straddle that line but it is actually doing not a bad job. It's just
18:08 trying to get itself settled in there. So yeah look it's definitely a pass in lane one and two
18:13 and it's a bit sort of hesitant there in lane three but I think with a bit of calibration this
18:16 actually would be one of the better systems we've tested before. Okay it's time to do a little bit
18:21 of performance testing. Before we do I just wanted to mention Help Me Car Expert inspired by our
18:27 friends at CarWow. CarExpert's a big company. We've got a stack of employees but we also have
18:33 a bunch of dealers that are vetted by us to get you the best deal on cars that are in stock like
18:38 this one right here. So if you do want to find out more about our site and how we can help you when
18:42 you're buying a new car just google Help Me Car Expert and it'll take you through the whole process
18:47 and explain exactly what we do and who we are. Now Lexus claims that this will go from zero to 100
18:52 in around nine seconds. It is very wet outside unfortunately so we'll have to see how we go but
18:59 we're going to go all the way from zero to 120 k's an hour and the reason for that is I want to
19:03 see what the overtaking speed is like between 80 and 120 and then we'll come back and do a break
19:08 as well from 100 which again is going to be hard work because it is completely wet at the moment
19:12 but we will see how we go. So dial up some revs and this is shiny here we go. A little bit of
19:19 wheel slip off the line not too bad all right actually getting along nicely there's 100
19:28 and there's 120. All righty we'll come to a stop.
19:34 Eventually there it is. Okay so let's have a look. So zero to 100 took 8.98 seconds which is
19:45 almost exactly what the claim is and given it is so wet here at the moment I think that's
19:49 actually a pretty impressive number and then 80 to 125.79 seconds so again that's actually not a
19:55 bad number as well. It just shows you that given this doesn't have the complexity of the weight of
20:00 all the hybrid components that you can get in a vehicle like this it actually makes it nice and
20:05 quick from an acceleration point of view. Okey dokey let's do a stop from 100 k's an hour.
20:11 Crank the speed up a bit here keeping in mind it is very wet at the moment.
20:17 There we go it stopped eventually. Okay so the stopping time from 100 k's an hour was 3.69
20:29 seconds and 52.21 meters. Again keep in mind it is wet at the moment so obviously caveat that
20:35 result but if you do want to see how this compares to other cars that we've tested before there is a
20:40 link in the description below. When we get the NX in again we'll try and actually do another stop
20:44 from 100 k's and if it dries out today actually we'll try and do another stop from 100 k's just
20:48 so we can populate that table but that is the number that we have at the moment and if you do
20:52 want to find out more about the app that we're using for performance testing I've left a link
20:56 in the description below. And now time for our reverse acceleration test. Let's see how quickly
21:02 it goes in reverse. Oh there it is 32 kilometers an hour. So the NX 250 what do we think? Look I
21:18 was really impressed with the hybrid version of this but if you can't order one today and you
21:22 can't wait like two years for one cross it off your list. If you still like the vehicle itself
21:28 and what it stands for this is actually a really good option. So yes it is front wheel drive. I
21:33 don't think a lot of people actually need all-wheel drive. Front wheel drive is just going to do the
21:37 job. The engine is punchy enough as well because you don't have all of the extra weight of the
21:40 hybrid component so it is a win-win from that front and it is pretty affordable too when you
21:44 look at how much the rest of the range costs. So I actually think it's a pretty good package. Let me
21:49 know in the comments section below have you bought one of these or are you waiting for the hybrid?
21:53 I know a lot of people are. I'm keen for your feedback let me know down there. If you did enjoy
21:57 this video please make sure you like it and you share it with your mates and if you haven't done
22:01 so already subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon as well but till next time take it easy.