Mike Hagerty
Jan 122 min
The all-new NX 350h was, in my view, the payoff to the original 1990 Lexus slogan: The relentless pursuit of perfection.
Except for the infotainment system. It was new for '22, too, and while it was welcome in that it banished the reviled trackpad controls to the Island of Misfit Tech, it was glitchy and overwrought---refusing to allow access to fairly basic controls without an account and a phone app.
I actually had a face-to-face conversation with my Lexus rep at Western Automotive Journalists' Media Days the day that review posted and the response was a reasurring "We know. We're on it."
They did, they were and the system works fine now. Which leaves us with---my site, my review, my opinion---perfection.
240 horsepower total output from a 2.5-liter four-cylinder mated to an electric motor with a continously variable transmission and all wheel drive. Zero to 60 in seven seconds and an EPA-estimated 39 mpg combined city/highway.
The base price of the 2024 Lexus NX 350h Luxury is $49,945 including destination. That's only $360 higher than it was in 2022. The standard equipment list continues to verge on overwhelming---18-inch alloy wheels, Bi-LED headlamps and LED taillamps, LED foglamps, dual-zone climate control, leather-trimmed steering wheel, a cargo cover, Lexus' comprehensive active safety suite, a 14-inch touchscreen with nav, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android auto, a power moonroof, power rear door with kick sensor, rain-sensing wipers, a power-adjustable steering column, driver's seat memory, intuitive parking assist, leather-trimmed heated and ventilated power front seats, ambient lighting , a head-up display and black open-pore wood trim.
Lexus can play the extra-cost option game as well as any manufacturer this side of Porsche and BMW, though, and our tester was carrying just under $6,500 worth---$200 for a digital rearview mirror, $1,310 for 20-inch alloy wheels, $1,030 for power folding heated rear seats, $1,020 for a Mark Levinson premium audio system.
The Cloudburst Gray paint was $500, a panoramic view monitor with lane change assist and front cross-traffic alert added $1,070, advanced parking assist was another $480, a wireless phone charger and digital key was $450, and then there was $140 for a carpeted cargo mat, $155 for door edge guards and $130 for a rear bumper protector.
Bottom line on the window sticker: $56,430.
If it were me? There are a couple of paint shades I like better, and the only other real must on that option list is the Mark Levinson audio system, so mine would ring in at $50,965.
Still.
This is as good as the Lexus crossover, NX or RX, has ever gotten. The one to have.