New Lexus RX: Better than the Germans?

this is the new Lexus RX and it's a little bit like a grand Seiko watch because it's Japanese alternative to some classic European luxury now in this video I'm going to talk around the exterior the interior let's see how practical it is try on its technology and of course take it for a drive I'm also going to launch it see how quick it is from north 60 miles an hour because I'm at Watson and you're watching Carl wow Buy sell car wow let's start this video with the design of the new RX Lexus like everyone else is now writing their name on the back of the cards rather than going for a classic badge it's just all the rage nowadays so too oh fake vents look still fake vents look I've got the car wow sticklet of Truth to illustrate those are indeed fake but at least there's no fake exhaust pipes like you might have on a Mercedes or an Audi anyhow at the back I like the design the full length light bar moving down the side you have allo World style at 19s rising to 21s which is what this car has because it's the range topping takumi model now you can go for an F Sport and then you have different colored alloy wheels you also have like black trim around here and different bumpers at the front and the back I do like the design of this quite it's distinctive I like the creases are the way this flows there with the chromey bits very very nice moving to the front what's less nice once again I'm gonna get the stickler to truth out fake fans but the rest of it I do love and I love lexus's new grill but it's a distinctive looking car doesn't look generic and it's got plenty of personality and it looks expensive because it is expensive so look I'm just going on the car my website here you'll see that it starts from around 60 000 pounds rising to 80 000 pounds for this range-topping version however you can save an average of around 1300 pounds of a Lexus RX through cargo so if you're thinking about changing your car head over to Caraway you can just do that now by click on the pop-out band up there I'll find the link in the description below not only can you like research your cars see what savings are available from dealers you can also sell your current car through car wash uploads of photos give a brief description of it then dealers all across the country will bid on your car yes car wow is the easiest way to change your car if you want to do all that a later date just simply Google help me car wow and we will help you change your car just like the exterior design the interior of this new Lexus RX is really nice so I like the design of it with a different layers the dash we've got the soft squidgy materials in fact the quality is very good in here I think it's better than his German counterparts to tell you the truth so the anti-level car gets a fake leather As you move up to the range you get leather materials however this range topping takumi has analine leather which means super soft and it's glow also like the extra like swedey bits you get on the door with the takumi in fact all the materials in here feel very very expensive the takumi also has like bamboo or this ash wood here or here on the dash and as for the build quality yes it's all solid as you'd expect from Alexis and also as you'd expect with Alexis the infotainment system is a bit hit and miss so I think the screen is really nice and big and bright it's quite responsive as well however the menus are a little bit confusing so you press this icon here and then you expect to be able to control the infotainment system in this area but actually the icons then come up down this side for you to like swipe through the different menus so it's a bit tricky to do when you're driving now most people are just going to like connect their phone and you can do Apple carplay and Android auto now one thing to note though is the climate control half of it is done to the screen like the band speed but the important bit the temperature like is done through these knobs here which are very very quick and easy to operate when you're driving speaking of driving it's very easy to get your Ideal Driving position I always think it's good in Lexus IS maybe it's because you know it's Japanese manufacturer so it's used to building cars that are right hand drive plenty of movement in the seat as well regardless of how big or tall you are you should be fine in this car one thing I'm not so sure about though is this little nubbing of a gear selector seems a bit old-fashionedly doesn't it they could just have some buttons that'd be better the other driving buttons down here are much more modern looking the digital drivers display is only okay it's not quite as big as I'd expected based on the size of the instrument binnacle a lot of the space is just taken up by the fuel gauge and the battery meter and the warning lights which are probably never going to see because it's Alexis obviously you can scroll through different menus but once again they just take up a small part of the screen I think Lexus could have done better in that area let's move on to practicality here in the front so I like this feature to get into this storage underneath the armrest you can open it that way or you can open it that way obviously can't open it that way but it's a nice big space like that you've got two cup holders there and actually this is a test of quality in a car see how damped the sliders and covers are look so there's some more storage down there and you've got your wireless charging and your USB connector there and another USBC charger there but look it's nicely damped so glove box well that's nicely damped and lined with felt look nicely damped feeling premium what else can we try oh I know this oh that's nicely dumped as well all feels expensive got another couple of Cubbies this one here the secret one even that's dumped they're not normally damped and it's lined stops your coins rattling about it's obviously the coin holder and finally the one here for your glasses once again lined and nicely damped yeah it all feels lovely hmm anyhow enough of that let's continue with the practicality door bins big and even the plastic on the door bins is soft and yielding I do like the inside of this car it's gorgeous but is it as gorgeous for those in the back now before moving to the background of this I'm going to open the sun blind you have panoramic roof on the top two trim levels of car I think you're going to want to fit it looks good with a big glass roof first test then knee room that's good second test Headroom that's only okay for an SUV I don't think having the glass roof helps it does it into headspace which is a downside to having it fitted however there is a solution you see if you're really tall you can just recline the back seats like give you a bit more Headroom actually these seats are absolutely blooming lovely very comfortable lots of under thigh support because the seat base is really deep now it's handy if you're carrying three people in the bucket once you see you've got a flat floor and that deep seat base with a nice soft middle cushion means it's quite comfy however Headroom does get a bit more of an issue here shoulder room's okay because the car's reasonably wide although the roof does slope in at the side so the two amp passengers will then have their heads rather close to the roof lining when it comes to fit in a child seat there's plenty of room to maneuver even a big bulk you see here in the back and the icefix anchor points are quite easy to get to so it's not too much trouble locking the seat in place and even a big rear facing seat there's enough room for one of those now I do think it's a pretty practical car though a BMW X5 does have more space overall in the back and if you want to see my full in-depth video review of that car then click on the pop-up brand up there I'll follow the link in the description below however this still feels like a real premium car and if there's a TV back here really lovely to sit in so all the quality extends back here and the tsukumi model gets a mark Levinson stereo with 21 speakers which sounds brilliant the takumi also has these little blinds for the back windows like that plus heated and cooled rear seats there's usbc's back here two of them and you've got a three pin socket there for charging bigger items like your laptop you've got some folders on the seat backs for storing stuff large door bins good what's also good is this look you have some cup holders there which are hidden until you need them once again nicely damped however this is where Lexus does drop the ball a little with their damping so watch this there's storage under there but and this hasn't damped itself look just flops down let's just try the actual middle panel did they run out of money when it came to damping when it came to the back seats here what shame anyway you've got some through loading so you can carry longer items and two people in the back at once and that brings you onto the boot and how much luggage you can carry in this new RX and now we come to one of the biggest problems with the Lexus RX so price wise it's halfway between the BMW X3 and an X5 but in terms of boot capacity it's just the same as the next three so you've got 460 liters of space which is about the same as the hybrid X3 however the hybrid X5 has 650 liters of space so it's about half as big again as what you have here it's not all bad though look you have no load lip so it's easy to slide things in and out and the boot itself is a nice square shape you also have electrically folding rear seats though they do take so long that I should be able to explain the rest of the boot in the time they take to fall down so look you've got a 12 volt socket there and a little hook which can hand things off up to four kilograms because it says it on there some tie down points as well oh lovely still waiting for them to do that I think now once they're all folded down they don't go completely flat but there's not really a gap in between the base and the seat back so you can slide things to the front like that there there we go anyhow that does bring on to five or nine things about the new Lexus RX while you have climate control in the back and you can alter temperature you can't change the fan speed it's all dictated by what it is in the front yes you can open and close the vents a little bit but if they've got the fan on low in the front and you want it on full blast there ain't nothing you can do from back here like you can in some other premium SUVs some car manufacturers have complained about the fact that when I find out that their cars local but won't fit underneath the boot floor like it went on this Lexus I then eat the cover and therefore damage it so we've had to come up with an alternative solution so that I don't actually damage the Low cover so here we go eat yeah I'll learn it by the way no low covers were harmed in the making of this segment changing the car's driving mode appears to be a two-step process so you have to touch that car icon first which is quite small and a bit tricky to hit when you're driving but and then you can change the driving mode once again on the screen a simple toggle button down here on the steering wheel will be much better the tank capacity of the Lexus RX isn't that good maximum is 2 000 kilograms it's the same for all models compare that to a BMW X5 hybrid which can tow 2 700 kilos and if you go for a non-hybrid X5 that can tow 3500 kilos just saying it's a bit of a disappointment that on a premium car such as this the rear view camera doesn't have a little integrated washer system means that when you're driving and it's grimy you have to occasionally get out and give it a bit of a wipe so you can use the camera properly I had to do it earlier but I chose to lick it clean a bit salty however it's not all bad that brings on to five cool things about this Lexus RX you see the 360 degree camera can actually paint in what it's seen ahead of you so it's effectively like being able to look underneath the car which is really handy if you're trying to drive off-road and avoid obstacles so have a look at this you'll see it just painting now look oh and then when you continue driving around you're seeing underneath the car which is perfect to make sure that you don't go over some nasty rocks then there's this other feature if you've got some tall cameraman in the back seat and you can't see past their big stupid head flip that switch and then you have a live camera feed at the rear as well now you can see behind you the depth of the cup holders are perfect for coffee cups however not so much for bottles of water could do with being deeper we can actually increase the depth of this cup although press it down like that and if you want to put it back up again just press this button and it rises up be a coffee cup to open the doors you just press this button here look see now this is not a new feature however you do have to have a fail safe in case the car's battery goes dead that wasn't what you see and usually you'll have another handle elsewhere to open the door whereas on this it's just the same device okay just pull that out like that any good oh did I mention the rear windows also go all the way down you can control the front passenger seat using these buttons here so you can move it backwards or forwards to give yourself more leg room and alter the angle at the backrest as well so you can move it out of the way to really really oh stretch out make it like a limousine can be a bit of a problem though someone decides they want to sit there because you'd think that then they will get priority the best center in the seat you know to like just override these buttons but actually they do still work so if he just starts to like move his chair back I can like not control it but just interrupt and make it just a little bit painful for him yeah that's a bit annoying isn't it yeah yeah just an end up in a bit of a fight and I can imagine this happening with parents and their children the kids just wind them up once they've got a little bit bored of whatever they're watching on their iPads the motors for the electric windows on this car are just so quiet have a listen to this that's so luxury okay engine choices so there's two self-charging hybrids you know old school hybrids like the Prius so the edge level car has a 2.5 liter natural spray petrol engine made to an electric motor drives the front wheels where I see VT automatic gearbox and on the rear axle you have another electric motor the combined power output is 250 horsepower then in the esport model you get a 2.4 liter turbocharged petrol engine once again mated to an electric motor driver to the front wheels only this time via a six-speed automatic gearbox once again on the rear axle there's another electric motor so four wheel drive combined power output of the esport 371 horsepower then we come to this car it is the plug-in hybrid so it uses the 2.5 liter natural aspirated petrol engine mated to a CVT automatic gearbox want to get an electric remote on the front axle and they're on the rear axle that produces 309 horsepower it's a little bit confusing anyway what I've done it's just configured my favorite Lexus RX using the car wire configurator now if you want to find out what the car is in the saving on it three car wow click on the pop-out band up there or follow the link in the description below I'm going to start off by seeing what the Lexus rx's like to drive in town so I've got the system in like Auto EV hybrid mode so it's just going to decide how it operates its Motors and its engine and so on and so forth but when you're traveling around town most of the time it's just going to have you an EV only mode so it's really really quiet and peaceful feels also peaceful the suspension it's good over bumps it's not like the softest or the squidgiest but it feels compliant and comfy get a good view out as well so Dash is quite low which helps you forward visibility and This Little Light there that little window just reduces the blind spot created by the a-pillar and the view at the back's good as well slight issue is a turning Circle it's 12.6 meters which is not the best it's yeah it's similar to BMW X5 and Audi Q7 but it's been like a Volvo XC90 has a better Circle I have to deploy the cameras and they did their job so I had more room than I thought at the front there I'm ready to make it around here that's good steering's nice and light as well which makes those kind of Maneuvers quite easy what's less good brakes but they don't work they just seem a little bit overly sensitive a bit like me when I read the YouTube coins when I got a hangover you know I'll be looking at the people going yeah you look like Jeffrey darling those new glasses Matt it upsets me and other people going that you're looking a bit old you know you've got some wrinkles and stuff like that normally I'll be like oh I don't care of course I've got old you know I've been doing this for over 10 years now you've got old in the past 10 years it's it's called being alive you get older but after I hung over I do take it to heart and these products definitely take the slightest touch to Heart they could do with being a little less enthusiastic however let's find out what this car is like when you're going a little bit faster at speed okay so I'm in hybrid mode now I'm going to floor it engine kicks in pretty quickly and we're off the pickup's really good so the initial bit of electric power just does the job while the petrol motor kicks in and then it dries pretty quickly while candies actually put it back in EV mode because this thing can actually drive at up to 80 miles an hour in electric only mode it'll do 40 miles in electrically mode as well but obviously not at 70 or 80 miles an hour but what I like is that I can floor it in electric only mode and it won't kick in the petrol motor if I've got it locked in EV mode some cars don't do that this one does though to be fair if you're going quickly in just an electric only mode in your floor not much happened look there you go go from 40. this is electric only mode now you'll compare the difference in the acceleration [Music] there we go and then after a while it was like oh my God you clearly want to go much quicker than this it did finally kick the petrol engine in there you probably noticed you might have noticed the noise a little bit as well so it's got a CVT gearbox which means that when you floor it holds the revs high they can make the car sound quite noises it just holds the engine going ah High revs that you don't notice it so much in this because it's so well insulated in fact there's not much wind noise or road noise either it's very relaxing to travel in and the seats really help with that as well they're so so comfy but there is the issue of the economy so this plug-in hybrid is supposed to do like 234 miles that's if you use it properly you can charge regularly this one in my hands 36 miles per gallon to be fair I've been driving it quite quickly to assess it but um yeah not quite the economy you want speaking of driving it quickly I'm now going to put it into sport mode if I can without crushing come on where's the blooming button where's the button where's that I've got to go now what's going on drive mode the sport okay sharpen the throttle response a bit suspension feels the same really doesn't make any difference to it well not that I can notice maybe it's not supposed to I can't tell any difference I'm in Eva mode that's silly let's go into hybrid mode as well so we get some acceleration in fact I'm gonna put the gearbox into sport mode I could change gears myself using the pedals you might be thinking wait a minute you're just talking about it being a CVT gearbox it doesn't have step gears well it artificially simulates them but in not a very good way at all so look at this accelerate change gear it just just doesn't feel right it makes you feel like the slowest automatic box ever I'm going to change down into second fake second just didn't feel like anything changed I'm going to change up into third it doesn't really feel like anything's happening what is the point a bit of a shame because actually this car handles surprisingly well way better than I thought it would really grips well in the bends the steering is accurate a bit of lean but not bad it's very very composed it's more fun on a twisty road than I ever imagined it would be and yet you still got really comfy suspension while still being in sports mode brilliant obviously it's not a sporty to drive as something like a Porsche KN and if you want to see my final video review of that car click on the pop-out band they'll follow the link in the description below Lexus says this plug-in hybrid version of the RX can do not 60 in 6.5 seconds let's find out the reality I'm gonna launch it here we go oh right away it's changing through gears but without it actually doing any like gear changing how weird good time though 6.1 seconds that's so weird though with the gears there's one it's two it's three no mate you're not kidding me the red just went [Music] so then what's my final verdict on the new Lexus RX should you avoid it should you consider it should you shortlist it or should it just go right ahead and buy it well I reckon you should shortlist the RX it might not be quite as practical as its key competitors but it is a lovely SUV I hope you'll enjoyed the video if you did give it a like let me know if you agree with my verdict in the comments below click on those windows there for some more videos on that box there to get a car wow to silly car the easy way just load some photos give a brief description then dealers all across the country will bid on your car

Channel: carwow

Views: 1,288,709

Keywords: carwow, mat watson, car review, new car review, car review 2023, new car 2023, lexus, lexus rx, lexus rx review, lexus rx 450h, lexus rx 450h review, lexus rx 300h review, lexus rx 300h hybrid, lexus rx 450h hybrid, lexus rx 500h review, lexus review, lexus suv review, newest lexus rx review, lexus rx 450h review 2023, lexus rx review 2023, lexus rx 2023, most expensive lexus suv, best lexus suv

Id: WsXk9b737po

Length: 21min 28sec (1288 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 24 2023