Sharpens the appearance even more and aligns with the current look (Photo: Keinan Cohen)
Price:
NIS 350,000 (base), NIS 365,000 (test)
We liked:
cabin quality, noise insulation, multimedia system, electric range, accessories, power unit
We didn't like:
gearbox, comfort on bumpy roads
Score:
8.5/10
How A spinning wheel is a very true phrase for the automotive industry, not only because of these round things on which the cars drive, but mainly due to the fact that it is a different company each time that is sometimes up and sometimes down.
You don't have to go back to the beginning of the 20th century to talk about luxury brands that have completely disappeared, just look at Cadillac - once the splendor of the automobile industry, and in recent decades repeatedly trying to make a comeback.
And look at Lexus, which was born in 1989 as an underdog that came to beat all the old companies in the field (and was quite successful), but in recent years it has already been challenged by the Korean Genesis that came to do to it what it did to the Germans, and these and those are in the sights of the Chinese manufacturers.
Oh, oh, how a wheel turns for him.
The way out in quite a few cases is to make use of the technological assets of each manufacturer in order to differentiate it in the market, make it stand out and attract customers.
In the current round of the Lexus NX, it does this with an emphasis on the finish and quality that Lexus is known for combined with the hybrid technology it claims to receive from parent company Toyota.
Well built and very high quality (Photo: Keinan Cohen)
Design:
Even in the banal white of the test car, the new NX manages to highlight the sharp lines of the current generation.
The look as a whole is an evolution of the outgoing generation which was unusual at the time against the background of the rounded look of the other models of the manufacturer, today it "sits" more correctly in the entire offer.
Cabin:
Both front and rear, the cabin continues the story of Lexus' obsession with finish, quality and assembly with a level of thoroughness that is hard to find.
Every fold of leather, every seam, every bend or plastic panel is right next to the one next to it.
From the roughness of the climate control dials (and thanks for using physical ones) to the pattern on the door panel.
But the highlight is the transition from multimedia operation via the touch panel to the touch screen.
Not only was that panel a disaster and a shame and disgrace, the new screen is fast, easy to use and an excellent example of performance and the bonus is in the form of a little more storage space.
But exemption without anything is impossible, so there is the strange Lexus door opening mechanism - a kind of tiny, electric handle that replaces the normal door opening handles.
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Road test: Lexus NX450h (photo: Kenan Cohen)
Although it is shorter than its direct competitors due to the same Lexus dimensions problem, which puts it between the worlds (for the sake of it - much smaller than the Q5 and larger than the Q3 for example) the space in the back is quite good, the level of finish and the quality of the materials is maintained here as well and the extra 3 cm to the wheelbase is not very noticeable , but the situation is overall fine. The trunk, which has increased to 549 liters (an increase of about 70 liters), has storage solutions, but not a spare wheel.
Equipment:
the list of comfort equipment is long and very impressive, similar and sometimes superior to those of its more expensive competitors in NIS 100-200 thousand. Full electrification for the front seats with leather upholstery, heating for all seats and the steering wheel and front ventilation. Driving mode selector, peripheral cameras, electric steering wheel direction, sunroof and much more. The safety systems include lane departure control, automatic braking, adaptive cruise control, Vehicle warning in a "dead zone", speed sign recognition, warning of forgetting a child in the car and more.
Big, useful, but without a spare wheel (Photo: Keinan Cohen)
Performance:
In this version, with the plug-in hybrid power unit, a 2.5-liter gasoline engine and two electric motors, front and rear, are used.
The combined power of 309 hp therefore drives all the wheels through a continuous gearbox. The
latter sabotages what could have been a very impressive power unit. Drive it like a car with half the horses and you won't feel a particular problem, drive it like a car with its power, at the price his, and you will discover a box that is very unflattering to him and drags the engine to a high and noisy RPM.
The performance is in any case good with 6.3 seconds to 100 and a very good responsiveness of the vehicle to pressing the pedal.
A large and comfortable touch screen has replaced the horrible touch pad (photo: Keinan Cohen)
Fuel consumption:
As a plug-in version with 18.1 kWh batteries, it offers a pure electric range under real conditions of 70 km 4 less than the declared one and still a very nice figure.
At the end of the test days and after about 500 km, it stabilized at 20.6 km per liter.
It should be noted that these were very rainy days that did not allow for the usual dynamic driving episodes.
On the other hand, the fuel consumption of a plug-in hybrid car will never be difficult to test in a test due to the nature of the vehicle's use (and its regular charging) which is much more significant than spot driving.
The basis is the Rab4, but the axle spacing is wider, the center of gravity is lower and the road behavior is improved by this (photo: Keinan Cohen)
Comfort and handling:
The use of Toyota's GA-K platform, like that of the Rab 4, proves to be better than its popular sibling.
Probably due to the changes in the axle spacers and the center of gravity of the Lexus as well as the calibration of the shock absorbers.
The road behavior is good and again, as far as it was possible to be impressed on the rainy days, it definitely marks a leap forward from its predecessor.
The problem is again the continuously variable transmission which makes sure that the power always arrives half a second to a second after the moment you wanted it.
The ride comfort here does not show the softness that we usually know from Lexus, partly due to the desire to offer better dynamic capabilities, partly to support the considerable weight that touches 2 tons.
This is manifested mainly on bumpy and broken roads where the brakes have to work quickly and in a short range of action.
The noise isolation is very good in any situation.
Will win to the conservatives, but will he bring new customers? (Photo: Keinan Cohen)
The bottom line:
even in its new generation Lexus NX offers customers of this manufacturer the combination of the luxurious positioning, the equipment, the passenger cabin and this time lays another layer of very good electrical usability and performance.
The improvement in the level of the passenger cabin here is exactly what it needed and although there is still room to strive for, it is definitely in a very good place.
Its second advantage is in relation to its competitors, if we are referring to the Audi Q5, Volvo XC60 in plug-in versions, it is at a healthy gap of several tens of thousands of shekels from the Swede and 100 thousand shekels from the German (it is impossible to compare to Mercedes who lost it completely with 550 thousand shekels in the GLC at all).
On the other hand, the DS7 Plug-in, which is slightly cheaper than it, and the Genesis GV70, which does not offer a plug-in version, but for a similar price, offers an equally good cabin and excellent road behavior.
So in the bottom line, the NX is an improvement on the outgoing generation, but not a significant move by Lexus within its field.
Not up, not down.
Customers looking for more of the same promise of reliability, durability and solid prestige have an answer, new customers will be a little hard to hunt for him.
The strongest and most advanced of the NX versions (Photo: Keinan Cohen)
On the technical side: Lexus NX450 plug-in
Engine, drive:
gasoline, electric, plug-in charging, double
power/torque:
23.1/309 (the torque refers to that of the gasoline engine only, Lexus Lat publishes a full figure)
Gearbox:
continuous automatic
Dimensions:
Length (m):
4.7
Width (m) '):
1.9
Height (m):
1.7
Wheelbase (cm):
269
Trunk (liters):
549
Performance:
Acceleration 0-100 (seconds):
6.3
Maximum speed (km/h):
200
Fuel consumption ( test):
20.6 km per liter
Safety:
European crash test score:
5 stars
Active safety:
Automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, correction of lane deviation, detection of a vehicle in a "dead zone", detection of cross-traffic from the rear and automatic braking in reverse, cross-traffic warning at an intersection, sign recognition, a system to prevent children from forgetting
air pollution:
group 1 of 15
warranty :
Three years
Competitors:
Audi Q5, Volvo XC60, DS7 Crossback, Genesis GV70
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Vehicle tests
Tags
Lexus
Plug in
Lex Motors
Crossover