Back in 2017, Toyota Motor Corporation CEO Akio Toyoda made a bold promise – “no more boring cars.” 2025 Lexus LBX Morizo RR review It was considered bold because that’s exactly what the brand was renowned for, cars that were reliable, practical, and well-build… but ultimately uninspiring. Skip forward to 2025, and Toyota has fulfilled that promise. Since launching the Gazoo Racing sub-brand, the Japanese manufacturer has launched not just one but several performance models, and even the mainstream stuff is a little more interesting. But what about Lexus? Why should Toyota get to have all the fun? Especially when its upmarket sibling has a strong track record of producing critically acclaimed go-fast cars of its own. Take the LFA. Built between 2010 and 2012, the V10 supercar is still considered one of the best sounding cars of all time. Then there’s the IS F, a sports sedan that took the fight up to BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi during the same period. The F brand still exists today, but the Lexus lineup has been missing something a little more special. It seems that Toyoda-san realised this. Because, seemingly out of nowhere, Lexus launched this – the LBX Morizo RR – a new nameplate reserved for models that Toyoda-san deems worthy of a spot his personal garage. Morizo is the pseudonym used by Toyoda-san on the racetrack, while RR stands for Rookie Racing, the name of his racing team. And as you can probably tell, this is no ordinary LBX. Based on the unassuming city runabout, the LBX Morizo RR has received a heart transplant, gaining the 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder powertrain from the Toyota GR Corolla and Yaris. It sits 10mm lower and 15mm wider than the core trim levels, with a meaner face and bigger 19-inch alloy wheels. Inside there are black leather-accented sports front seats, as well as a leather-accented shift knob, dimpled steering wheel with contrast red stitching, and suede trim throughout the cabin. Lexus has confirmed that the LBX Morizo RR will be a limited-run model, and less than 100 will make it to Australia over the next 12 months, priced from $76,490 before on-road costs. That makes it dearer than rivals including the Cupra Formentor, Volkswagen T-Roc R, and Mini Countryman JCW. So, is it worth spending up for exclusivity and Akio Toyoda’s ultimate seal of approval? There’s only one way to find out. How much does the Lexus LBX Morizo RR cost? Priced from $76,490 before on-roads, the Morizo RR is $19,500 more expensive than the Sports Luxury AWD. It’s also among the most expensive sporty compact SUVs going around, with only Mercedes-AMG and BMW asking more for their pint-size performances heroes – both the Mercedes-AMG GLA 35 and BMW X2 M35i xDrive ask more than $90,000 before on-roads. Below them sits the Lexus and then a plethora of options between $60,000-$75,000 including the Volkswagen T-Roc R, Cupra Formentor, Mini Countryman JCW, and Audi SQ2. Comparisons will also be made between the LBX Morizo and the Toyota models that share its heart. The Lexus is $13,500 more expensive than the Toyota GR Yaris GTS automatic, and $6000 more than the Toyota GR Corolla GTS automatic. What is the Lexus LBX Morizo RR like on the inside? If you were hoping for track-ready bucket seats or wall-to-wall carbon fibre, look away now, as the Morizo RR isn’t that kind of performance car. Rather, the sporty enhancements are subtle, and many elements of the cabin remain untouched. For the most part, that’s no bad thing, as the base car impressed me with its premium selection of materials and slick technology suite. Here, the smooth leather and orange stitching of the Sports Luxury has been swapped out for perforated black leather with ruby red contrast stitching. See what I mean, subtle. The steering wheel has been re-trimmed with spirited driving in mind, now presenting with perforated sides. It remains heated, and features the same sculpted shift paddles found in other variants. Suede features prominently in both vehicles, but the material used in the Morizo RR is a deeper black rather than the charcoal finish you get in the Sports Luxury. Other high traffic areas are finished in soft plastic, and you have to go searching for hard, scratchy stuff. All in all, the Morizo RR is well screwed together. The cabin is a comfortable place to spend your time too, thanks in part to the inclusion of body-hugging sport seats trimmed in perforated leather. They look like the pews out of higher-end Lexus models, likely because they are, which lifts the interior of this ‘entry-level’ Lexus considerably. Full electric adjustment ensures that drivers of all shapes and sizes can find their optimal driving position, as does a wide range of steering wheel tilt and reach adjustment. In keeping with the premium positioning of the LBX, the Morizo RR features heating for both the front seats and steering wheel as standard. Lexus hasn’t messed with the technology suite for the new range flagship. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. You still get the same hardware – a 9.8-inch infotainment touchscreen and 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster – although the latter now offers a dedicated sport display mode thanks to software tweaks. Sport mode brings a horizontal rev counter and improved visibility of important driving data e.g. temperatures and boost pressure. Moving across, most functions are accessed through a large central touchscreen that’s close to the driver, responsive, easy to navigate, and crisp in appearance. The system supports satellite navigation, connected services, wireless smartphone mirroring, and DAB+ digital radio, joining standard bluetooth, AM, and FM media options. All climate settings are pinned to an icon bar at the bottom of the screen, while a series of shortcuts are also pinned to the right side of the screen. I would usually welcome shortcuts to commonly used functions, but in this case the layout is too busy, which makes the screen appear smaller than it really is. It seems particularly unnecessary when you consider that physical controls, many of which are housed directly underneath the screen, also remain in strong supply. Fiddly, poorly-labelled steering wheel controls add to the sense of overwhelm – surely Lexus could’ve simplified the setup a little bit, even if that meant upsizing the centre screen. In terms of storage, the front row is more practical than it has any right to be, given the meagre dimensions of the LBX. Both the glovebox and centre console are deep, the latter including a removable cupholder, while Lexus has built a storage tray into the central tunnel assembly. Keys fit nicely next to the middle cupholder, and each door card will swallow a full-size drink bottle. A wireless charging pad is situated under the centre stack, angled downward to prevent your phone from turning into a projectile during enthusiastic driving. Additional connectivity solutions include a pair of USB-C outlets under the infotainment screen, plus USB-C and 12V connections in the lower storage tray. However, any illusion of spaciousness is erased when you twist your head to confront the second row. Leg-, head, and toe room are in short supply back there – even petite individuals will struggle to get comfortable on longer journeys. At least the seat backs are soft, so you won’t bruise your knees. But it’s really a space best suited to small children or luggage, which is a shame considering the seats themselves are soft and inviting. Second-row storage is also compromised. You do get small door bins and a pair of USB-C outlets, but there’s no centre armrest or cupholders. It’s a stuffy space, with dark upholstery and a lack of rear air vents. Don’t get me wrong, the LBX isn’t masquerading as a family car, but rivals like the Cupra Formentor and Volkswagen T-Roc R can at least claim to seat four people in relative comfort. Moving further back to the boot, the diminutive proportions of the LBX are again on display. Standard versions of the LBX already had a small cargo area, but the Morizo RR loses a further 49L of space compared to the Sports Luxury. With just 266L of usable capacity, the LBX Morizo RR fails to meet segment practicality standards. More luggage capacity is available in the LBX if you take advantage of the 60/40-split folding rear bench, although the same can be said for competitors. Not all rivals come with a standard power tailgate, however – a small win for Lexus. What’s under the bonnet? The LBX Morizo RR is powered by the same 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine found in the Toyota GR Corolla and GR Yaris, although outputs are down by 15kW and 10Nm due to the inclusion of an emissions-friendly gasoline particulate filter (GPF). The three-cylinder engine is mated exclusively to an eight-speed torque-converter automatic transmission, with drive sent to through an all-wheel drive system. A six-speed manual transmission is offered in other markets, but won’t be made available in Australia. While the Morizo RR doesn’t have quite as much grunt as its Toyota cousins, it will still match most rivals in a straight line, sprinting from 0-100km/h in 5.2 seconds. All that extra performance has come at the cost of fuel economy, as the LBX Morizo RR is one the least efficient vehicles in the compact performance car segment. Most rivals claim to consume between 7-8L/100km, while the Morizo RR chugs 9.2L/100km. How does the Lexus LBX Morizo RR drive? The Lexus LBX platform and GR three-cylinder engine are quite simply a match made in heaven. Not only because each is excellent in its own right, but because the process of marrying the two has made them both better. The standard LBX is agile and smooth around town, but the hybrid powertrain ran out of puff when pushed, undermining its luxury credentials. On the other hand, while the G16E-GTS engine delivers all the performance you could possibly hope for from a 1.6-litre three-cylinder, it can be coarse and unrefined. However, the engineers in Japan have seemingly solved both problems – the LBX now has a Lexus-worthy lump under the bonnet, and that very lump exhibits newfound maturity in this application. There’s none of the rattling, booming, and constant vibration I’ve found to be synonymous with the GR Corolla and Yaris. Rather, the Morizo RR is a grown up performance car, one that’s quiet on startup and easy to drive at low speeds. The exhaust has a deep, sophisticated tone, and offers adequate volume without attracting the wrong sort of attention. I won’t pretend to understand all the science behind it, but the Morizo RR just sounds better than other models that share this engine, it’s that simple. And, after carving up the Reefton Spur and Warburton-Woods Point roads over a period of several hours, I can confidently say that you hardly notice the difference in performance between this and the GR products. Sure, the Morizo RR is down 15kW and 10Nm, but it doesn’t feel significantly slower. Lexus claims that the 0-100km/h sprint takes 5.2 seconds, and that seems about right. In addition to matching its GR twins under the skin, the Morizo is more than quick enough to keep up with SUV rivals. From behind the wheel, the Morizo RR overcomes initial turbo lag to pull hard from 3000rpm to redline. There’s a sense of theatre every time you exercise your right foot, accentuated by symphony of engine noise, exhaust, and a busy turbo blow-off valve. Two core drive modes are available – ‘normal’ and ‘sport’. The latter sharpens up throttle response. The transmission is an eight-speed torque converter automatic, which offers quick, smooth shifts most of the time. With that said, the gearbox responds best to manual inputs – it can get confused if you accelerate and then lift off, and there’s sometimes a delay when using the paddles in automatic mode. In manual mode, shifts are instantaneous. The sculpted paddles behind the wheel are a pleasure to interact with, too – left for downshifts, right for upshifts. Fancy dual-clutch transmissions are mostly better suited to this sort of vehicle, but the auto in the Morizo RR isn’t a dealbreaker. It’d be nice to have the option of a manual transmission, but I know as well as any that the demand isn’t there. Engine and gearbox are two key pillars of the performance car formula, but how does the go-fast LBX handle? Better than I could’ve possibly imagined. The Morizo RR sits 10mm lower than the standard car, and you immediately notice that it feels more connected to the road surface. What’s more, it’s incredibly light on its feet, weighing in at just 1485kg. That’s comfortably leaner than other vehicles in the segment, by up to 200kg in some cases. Lexus has stiffened up the chassis by adding extra welds and torsion bars, while the Morizo RR also features full-time all-wheel drive, 19-inch wheels with sticky Continental Sportcontact 7 tyres, and a limited-slip differential (LSD). In combination, those elements have turned the already agile LBX into a certified corner carver. It’s almost impossible to throw the Morizo RR off balance, and believe me I tried. Even when linking several high speed corners, this spicy SUV remains planted and glued to the road. There’s a bit of lean through tighter turns, but the LSD helps pull you around and out the other side without losing speed. The upgraded brakes can also be relied upon. With four-piston calipers at the front and floating single-piston calipers at the rear, the Morizo RR has plenty of stopping power and a brake pedal that’s short and predictable. It’s always been easy to place the LBX thanks to its small stature and lightweight nature, but the direct, well-weighted steering calibration of the Morizo RR improves that sense of manoeuvrability. So far, what we’ve got here is a fun, fast and capable small SUV… not necessarily a Lexus, because the Lexus brand stands for luxury, and it stands for comfort. That means that the brand’s performance models still need to demonstrate road manners conducive to daily driving. And the Morizo RR, well it definitely does. This not-so-hardcore LBX is super compliant, even over rough roads like those in our test route. We hit a few nasty potholes, and each resulted in little more than a light shudder through the chassis. The Morizo RR definitely feels stiffer than the base LBX, but that’s a very soft and comfortable baseline. On well-maintained urban roads, I can only imagine that the new flagship would be silky smooth—perfectly suited to the cut and thrust of city commuting. We didn’t get the chance to test how the Morizo RR fares on the highway, but it’s got all the attributes of a relaxing cruiser. Among the standard equipment is a semi-autonomous adaptive cruise control system with active lane centring, and the LBX benefits from ample sound deadening. With that said, our countryside adventure was littered with periods of elevated road noise, likely a product of the larger wheel and tyre package fitted to the Morizo RR. A small blemish on an otherwise impressive scorecard. Indeed, it appears that Lexus has nailed the balance of this new offering, from engine and transmission tuning to the suspension setup. It’s a well-rounded hot hatch cross sporty SUV that you can drive every single day. The Morizo RR gives you no reason to fear peak-hour traffic, and every reason to look forward to the next Sunday drive. What do you get? The Morizo RR joins the Luxury and Sports Luxury as part of a three-variant range in Australia. The Lexus LBX Luxury includes: 18-inch alloy wheelsTorsion beam rear suspensionTyre repair kitAutomatic LED headlightsAdaptive high-beamLED tail-lightsLED front fog lights and cornering lightsRain-sensing wipersE-Latch door handlesAuto-dimming driver’s side mirrorShark fin antennaRear spoilerFront and rear air spatsRear privacy glassPower tailgate12.3-inch digital instrument cluster9.8-inch touchscreen infotainment systemWireless Apple CarPlay and Android AutoConnected satellite navigation‘Hey Lexus’ natural voice recognitionDAB+ digital radioSix-speaker Panasonic sound systemFive USB-C portsTwo 12V socketsWireless chargerDual-zone climate controlProximity entry and push-button startNuLuxe leatherette-wrapped steering wheelNuLuxe leatherette-wrapped shift-by-wire gear knob, door trim & ornamentation‘Tsuyasumi’ centre console ornamentationSingle-colour ambient interior lightingAuto-dimming rear-view mirrorFront and rear carpet floor matsBlack NuLuxe leatherette upholstery with red highlightsHeated front seatsEight-way power driver’s seat with two-way lumbar and memory The Sports Luxury adds: Black 18-inch alloy wheels with 10 twin-spoke designRear pillar film ornamentationColour head-up displayActive Noise ControlEngine sound enhancement13-speaker Mark Levinson premium sound systemMulti-colour ambient interior lightingGenuine leather-accented shift knobGenuine leather-accented steering wheelPaddle shiftersHeated steering wheelHaptic touch-sensitive controlsUltrasuede door trim and ornamentationCombination leather-accented and Ultrasuede upholstery with contrast orange stitchingDouble wishbone trailing arm rear suspension (AWD only) The LBX Morizo RR adds: 19-inch alloy wheelsTorsen limited-slip rear differential10mm lower ride heightFour-piston front brake calipersUnique front and rear bumpersBlack leather-accented sports front seatsLeather-accented shift knobRed contrast stitchingPaddle shifters Is the Lexus LBX Morizo RR safe? The Lexus LBX was awarded a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2024. The following safety equipment is standard across the range: Eight airbagsAutonomous emergency braking (AEB)Day/night pedestrian detectionDay/night cyclist detectionDay motorcycle detectionJunction assistRear AEBBlind-spot monitoringRear cross-traffic alertSafe exit assistDriver monitor cameraAdaptive cruise controlTraffic sign recognitionFront and rear parking sensorsSurround-view cameraTyre pressure monitoring The LBX Sports Luxury adds a semi-autonomous parking assist. All Lexus LBX variants also receive a three-year complimentary subscription to Lexus Connected Services. It offers customers real-time vehicle information, remote functionality, and emergency calling. How much does the Lexus LBX Morizo RR cost to run? Lots. Lexus recently confirmed that the LBX Morizo RR is subject to the same six-month/10,000-kilometre service intervals as the GR Corolla and Yaris, but you’ll pay more than twice as much per visit. All up, five years of capped-price servicing will set you back $6950, or nearly $1400 per year. By contrast, three years of maintenance for a GR Corolla costs just $1860. Other key rivals are also significantly cheaper to run. Service packs for the Cupra Formentor start from $990 for three years, while Mini’s basic five-year service package comes in at $2250. Mercedes-AMG charges $6575 to service a GLA 35 for five years. CarExpert’s Take on the Lexus LBX Morizo RR It’s rare to say that a Lexus is a heart over head purchase, but that’s the case with the LBX Morizo RR. Just look at the ratings attached to this review – the Morizo RR is too small, too expensive, and costs far too much to run. As a result, it doesn’t achieve the high marks of rivals. Despite that, if it were my money, I’d buy the Lexus every day of the week. The LBX Morizo RR fulfils Akio Toyoda’s promise to not be boring by offering grown up performance to a new generation of Lexus customers. It also smooths out the rough edges of the related GR Corolla and Yaris, without detracting from the driving experience. All the while, the Morizo RR remains a premium product with a quintessentially Lexus interior and comfortable ride. And sure, it’ll cost you a pretty penny up front and over the course of your ownership journey. But I’d wager that the the Morizo RR won’t depreciate anywhere near as quickly as rivals, given its connections to Toyoda-san and limited production volume. Those factors could also make the Morizo RR a prime target for collectors looking to get their hands on a Lexus that’s likely to go down in the history books as a classic. That’s not a reason to buy one per se, but it illustrates that this is a special vehicle, warts and all. The Morizo RR is greater than the sum of its parts, and those parts were great to begin with. Click the images for the full gallery
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