LEXUS NX NOT A GREAT SPORT, AND ALL THE BETTER FOR IT

SETTLING INTO the driver’s seat of the new NX350h is to arrive at the current core of the Lexus universe. This petrol-electric-powered medium SUV is the brand’s most important model.

- JOHN CAREY

The NX accounts for one-third of Lexus sales in both Europe and Australia, somewhat less in massive markets like North America and China. And increasingly, pretty much everywhere, Lexus buyers are more frequently choosing hybrid power. In the emissions- and efficiency conscious nations of Western Europe, for example, more than 90 percent of Lexus sales are petrol-electric.

Scheduled to arrive in Australia in January, the slightly larger second-generation NX will replace the original launched way back in 2014. While the best-seller in the current range is the 300 variant with a turbo four, Lexus Australia expects the 350h hybrid to be the most popular in the new line-up.

Its fourth-generation hybrid tech, again built around a 2.5-litre Atkinson-cycle four, brings big increases in power and performance along with improved fuel efficiency. The NX350h will be sold in three equipment grades – Luxury, F Sports, Sports Luxury – and in both front- and all-wheel drive forms.

PLUS

Interior quality; ride comfort; powertrain smoothness and efficiency; equipment

MINUS

Clumsy cornering; remote steering; powertrain responsiveness; bulky exterior style; tyre noise

The effective replacement for the existing NX300, the new NX350 packs a brand-new turbo 2.4-litre four under its bonnet teamed with an eight-speed auto. It’s a little more powerful than the hybrid, but consumes much more fuel. The NX350 will be sold only in F Sport trim and with all-wheel drive.

Beneath these two versions will sit the NX250. It will have an atmo 2.5-litre four, the same eight-speed auto as the NX350, but will come only as a front-driver with the basic Luxury equipment grade.