On the open road, the 240 BHP powertrain makes sure that the NX 350h offers very good performance. Press the accelerator and you’ll soon be doing triple digit speeds.
Driving the Lexus NX 350h Petrol-Hybrid Automatic
The NX 350h AWD features a 4th Generation Lexus Hybrid Drive system. It is powered by a 2.5L, 4-cylinder, naturally aspirated petrol engine paired with hybrid transaxle and a rear electric motor. This setup produces 240 BHP, which is an increase of 45 BHP over the outgoing model. The car has a claimed 0–100 km/h time of 7.7 seconds and a top speed of 200 km/h. The car is expected to return a fuel-economy of 16.9 km/l. The NX 350h features a new lithium-ion hybrid battery vs a Nickel-metal hydride battery of the outgoing car. The engine is mated to an electric motor and power is transmitted to the wheels via a CVT.
Since there is no starter motor, there are no vibrations felt or start-up or shut down. The car will start in electric mode and based on the demand, the petrol engine will come on. There are also two electric motors that get power from the batteries. E-Four, which is the Lexus term for this setup, uses the motor to drive the rear wheels when starting off or driving on slippery surfaces. The front-rear power distribution is precisely controlled in ratios between 100:0 and 20:80 when starting off and aiding cornering stability. During normal driving, the rear axle is disengaged from the powertrain to maximise efficiency. Once 60% of engine power has been delivered, the rear axle starts contributing to the acceleration. Depending upon the surface, up to 80% of engine power can be sent to the rear wheels.
To start the car, put your foot on the brake pedal and press the starter button. Take your foot off the brake pedal and the vehicle starts crawling. This means you can drive the car with just the brake pedal in stop & go traffic (no need to press the accelerator).
The CVT provides a seamless experience in the city. As there aren’t any actual gearshifts taking place, the drive feels butter-smooth. Forget AMTs, even torque converter & dual-clutch ATs cannot touch a CVT for smoothness. Throttle response is very good and the infamous rubber-band effect is superbly controlled, which is very unlike the previous generation car. Even when you get aggressive, the engine and transmission respond well compared to other CVTs. The light controls and smooth transmission make the NX 350h an easy car to drive in city traffic.
On the open road, the 240 BHP powertrain makes sure that the NX 350h offers very good performance. Press the accelerator and you’ll soon be doing triple digit speeds. Only when one drives very aggressively that he can notice the rubber-band effect if he concentrates hard. That said, it is nowhere as bad as we have seen in cars in the past. In fact, most users will not notice it at all. Open-road performance is very satisfactory and owners will be pleased. The car can maintain triple digit speeds all day long on the expressway.
Apart from the Normal driving mode, the NX 350h F Sport gets 3 preset selectable driving modes:
Eco Mode – Engage ‘Eco’ mode to take the engine into its most fuel-efficient mode. Frankly, because of the powerful engine, this mode is also very usable. It’s not dull or dead at all, like in some other cars. Eco is the smoothest of all to use. The response time of the engine and gearbox is slower, but it’s still practical & driveable. On the open road, this mode can be used while cruising on the expressway.
Sport Mode – Engaging Sport makes the car noticeably more responsive to throttle inputs. The difference is immediately felt! It also gives you the best steering weight for highway driving. Enthusiasts will love this mode & use it whenever they’re in the mood for some fun. On the flip side, we found Sport to be too sharp for city traffic. It can make things jerky at times. The Eco and Normal modes are noticeably smoother.
Sport+ Mode – This mode sharpens the car’s responses even further.
Suspension
The NX 350h comes with MacPherson strut suspension at the front and a double wishbone suspension at the rear. The F Sport variant gets fully adaptive shock absorbers, as well as chassis performance dampers. These are fitted to the far front and rear of the chassis.
High speed stability is of a high order. During our short drive, at triple digit speeds, the car was well-planted with no signs of nervousness at all.
Despite running on 20″ wheels, the ride quality is outstanding. Small bumps and potholes are not felt inside the cabin. Even medium sized ones were absorbed well. As the speed increases, the ride gets even better. The rear passengers too, were comfortable and had nothing to complain about.
Coming to handling, body roll is well contained. We drove the car enthusiastically through twisty roads and never did it feel uneasy. The 235/50 section Bridgestone Alenza tyres on our test car provided good grip and never complained when pushed hard.
Also, a new steering system has been introduced. Instead of the electric motor being attached to the steering column, it is now located below the car, attached to the rack itself. This results in a quiet operation and much more direct steering feel. This shows in the way the car drives, it’s more like a car than an SUV.
As expected in this segment, the NX 350h gets discs all-round. The brake pedal is well calibrated and feels sharp to use. The braking is powerful and very confidence-inspiring.
To sum it up, the suspension and the drive-train are well sorted, making the NX 350h engaging to drive. It’s not to BMW levels, but I can safely say better than Volvo XC60.
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Keyword: New Lexus NX 350h 2022: Our observations after a day of driving