The Lexus RX outsells nearly every other luxury vehicle on the market. So the new one isn't trying to shake things up.
Consistency of character is an often-overlooked virtue. It’s an even more often-overlooked trap. The new 2023 Lexus RX is in an existential hammock between virtuous ideal and the hardening amber of what it has always been. And it’s lost its V6.
Introduced as the 1999 RX 300, the RX created a new market segment: the luxury, car-based, crossover. Essentially a gussied-up version of the Japanese-market Harrier, the RX instantly sold startlingly well to those buyers who trusted Toyota quality, appreciated restrained styling, needed the utility of a tall wagon, and gave not a shite about speed or driving dynamics. It’s such a winning formula that it’s been copied by nearly every other manufacturer with absolute fidelity. And the RX is still the backbone of Lexus’ sales success, with the division moving 115,320 of them during 2021. That’s the most ever.
First off, the new 2023 edition of the RX is instantly recognizable as an RX. The profile has been tweaked with a 2.4-inch longer wheelbase and a tail that’s been bobbed, but from its goofy “spindle” grille to its full-width taillights, it’s so very RX. Built to instantly fit into every upscale mall parking lot from Redondo Beach to Manhasset. Plenty of people will slide from their lease on a 2020 model over to a 2023 and hardly notice the change in the fourth bay of their garage.
Inside, the RX has undergone the inevitable digital makeover. The main display in front of the driver is easily read, straightforward in its design, and otherwise… yet another digital display in an era of all things now digital. The standard secondary, center-dash display in base RX 350 models–if Lexus actually sells any base RX 350s–is a 9.8-inch unit of utter adequacy. Most RXs will be delivered with the premium 14.0-inch display because every human being’s life is better if being constantly irradiated by thousands of illuminated pixels.
Lexus has ditched the dopey touchpad it had used in favor of touchscreen tech that seems to be the settled standard today. Remember to keep a supply of little screen cleaners handy as the finger smudges accumulate. The software powering all the screens is intuitive enough, the graphics are brilliant enough, and as with most all modern digital interfaces, it’s all good enough. And yes, there is a volume knob.
Current luxury vehicles are all about drama. Enter a modern Mercedes, and there’s mood lighting, a riot of different upholstery and trim textures, a digi-dash that practically dances with joy that the driver has arrived, and a branded sound system that will split atoms at full volume. Same with BMW, Audi, Lincoln, Cadillac, Infiniti, and, yes, Lexus. But at least there’s some restraint in the RX’s cabin; a sense that the designers had some idea of when enough is enough. Not that it isn’t over-the-top in some ways, only it’s not as relentlessly over-the-top as much of the competition.
Like most other Toyota/Lexus products, the essential building block of the new RX is the TNGA platform. In this case, it’s the TNGA-K variation that’s also used in the Toyota Highlander, Venza, and Camry and Lexus’s ES sedan and slightly smaller NX crossover, So, there’s nothing startling about the new RX’s substance. The nose is lofted skyward on a pair of McPherson struts while the aft is supported by a multi-link system. There are discs all around for brakes, the steering is electronically assisted rack-and-pinion and there’s a rear-steering system to aid in nimbleness.
What’s gone is the Lexus’ beloved 3.5-liter V6. In its place in the base RX 350 is a 2.4-liter turbocharged four rated at 275 horsepower. That’s down 20 horsies from the old V6, but the turbo four is rated at 317 lb-ft of peak torque from 1700 to 3600 rpm. That’s up 49-grunt units from the 2022 edition’s 268 lb-ft of peak torque at 4700 rpm. In the RX 350, the new transversely mounted engine is lashed to an eight-speed automatic transaxle driving the front wheels in standard trim or all four wheels as most owners will configure their vehicle.
This is a typical 21stcentury turbo four that’s been tuned to deliver satisfying-enough thrust at low RPM when attached to a transmission programmed to keep those RPMs low. There’s nothing high-strung or eager about this engine; it wants to operate all the way from crawl-to-light trot. It doesn’t want to romp.
That in mind, the overall driving experience is easygoing. It’s a Johnny Mathis and Dionne Warwick duet of an engine; all comfortably within sight of the groove, but not quite in the groove. Mellow, but not Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald great. And if anyone reading this doesn’t know who Johnny Mathis and Dionne Warwick are, they’re too young for this Boomer Trawler anyhow. The shifts can only be detected with advanced echo-location equipment, and all efforts at building excitement with the paddle shifters were politely rebuffed.
The farming collective at Car and Driver estimates the front-drive RX 350 accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds with the all-wheel-drive version performing that feat in 6.9 seconds. Academic numbers. Because in the real world, this is a half-throttle machine that will head up past its direct-drive sixth gear and into overdrive seventh and eighth as soon as mechanically possible. Its true talents lie in efficiently lugging home stuff from Nordstrom and covering states at a slightly beyond stately pace. It will be awesome at those things.
On the RX model hierarchy, one step beyond the RX 350 is the RX 350h hybrid which mixes a 185-horsepower, 2.5-liter Atkinson-cycle engine (no turbo) with Toyota’s renowned hybrid system backed by a nickel-metal hydride battery pack. Combined, the engine and electric motors (one in front, one in back) in the 350h are good for a claimed 246 horsepower. Using a continuously variable transmission, the 350h should return, Lexus claims, 34 mpg on the highway and 37 mpg in the city. Short exposure also indicates it’s like driving a cumulus cloud that’s chuffed some Dramamine.
More intriguing is the RX 500h that mixes the regular 350’s turbo engine with the hybrid system and a six-speed automatic transaxle. If not strictly eager, this 366-hp version at least is eager-adjacent. And with 406 lb-ft of torque between 2000 and 3000 it practically flies over even the tallest speed bumps the most diabolical homeowner’s association in Arizona dare to install. In F-Sport trim, it actually has some sharpness to its handling; like the best butter knife ever.
The F-Sport wheels.
Lexus
Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but expect the prices to start at just under $50,000 for the base RX 350 and rise to approach $60,000 for a loaded RX 500h F-Sport. No three-row “L” version has been announced, and it’s likely that another vehicle will claim that position in the Lexus lineup within the next year.Of course, the new RX is good at being what it is. For an R&T obsessive, it’s likely to be encountered as the choice of a non-enthusiast spouse, parent, or grandparent. It will be the choice for family road trips whether that be cross-country or cross-the-parking-lot to Chili’s for rib night. And that’s both this machine’s greatest advantage and biggest challenge.
The RX buyers are aging. And the actuarial tables aren’t working in this vehicle’s favor. The new RX will satisfy those who already like it, but is there anything about this new one to excite newcomers to the brand? Huh? Well, is there?
John Pearley Huffman Senior Editor John Pearley Huffman has been writing about cars since 1990 and is getting okay at it.
Keyword: The New Lexus RX Is the Same As It Ever Was