Lexus UX

The first Lexus EV is here and adapted from the current UX small SUV. Tt over $70K making the value equation work is a tall order.

Both Mazda and Lexus were late starters to the electric vehicle race, but which of the two represents the better small luxury electric SUV?

The UX compact SUV is the most affordable way to get a Lexus, but it’s still loaded with features, as Glenn Butler discovers.

We compare two $70,000 vehicles that push the boundaries for what constitutes an SUV and for petrol-electric hybrid motoring.

The 2023 Lexus UX300e has been updated, with a much larger battery providing greater range, priced below $80,000.

A new Lexus UX special edition adds more features and F Sport styling to the cheapest hybrid model, for a $4300 premium.

Tesla continued its dominance of Australia's electric-vehicle market in 2022, but there were some big surprises from little-known brands.

Lexus is developing a manual transmission for its future electric cars, debuting the tech on a UX300e.

We've ranked all the electric cars currently available in Australia for 2022 from longest range to shortest range.

Purchase Purchased in Sept 2019 and have done 8,000kms. My UX200 is the base model with options of metallic paint & enhancement pack 1 (power tailgate, wireless charging, cornering lamps, headlight washers, metal scuff plates and privacy glass). Although it is a base model it is absolutely loaded to the gills with equipment. Drive away price was around $53,000. I bought the UX200 mainly for comfort and refinement. Other deciding factors were high standard of equipment & technology and solid after sales service. The fit and finish of the UX200 is much better than other cars I’ve owned, both European and Japanese. Build Quality / Interior My UX200 has cream seats and a light headliner, as I dislike completely black interiors. Other interior colours get a black headliner making the interior a bit gloomy. Keeping the light interior clean has not been a problem. The doors close with a reassuringly solid thump, the interior is well laid out with all controls falling easily to hand. The instruments have a clear 7” digital display, which offers 2 different speedo/tacho configurations. This display and the centre screen allow you to customise the numerous features of the car. For example you can choose from 5 different default heights for power tailgate opening to suit your garage height. Set and forget items like the default height are accessed in the centre display, while more commonly used settings like deactivating it to go through a car wash, are accessed in the instrument display. This is just one of a seemingly endless list of customisations possible. The dealer has access to customise even more settings to suit your preferences, and everything is detailed in the owner’s manual in a quick reference section. The seats are electrically powered (but with no memory) and very comfortable. They have seat heating which can operate automatically. I hate the cold, so love this feature. Another neat touch is that the centre console storage lid can be opened either towards the passenger or towards the driver. I like that the air conditioning has its own display and controls separate from the central display screen. All air con controls are also accessible and adjustable in the central display as well if you prefer, with some additional features available there. The air conditioning effectively cools the car on 40+ degree days, and even at maximum fan speed is very quiet. Rear seat passenger’s air vents are automatic and only operate when you put passengers, pets or groceries in the back seat. Neat. Infotainment System The 10” centre screen is high resolution, but isn’t a touch screen and can only be controlled by the touch controller on the transmission tunnel. The best you can say about the controller is that you get used to it, but it never becomes natural to operate. Luckily there are shortcut keys for the infotainment system scattered around the touch controller. The large centre screen display can be split to show different combinations of information for map, climate control, fuel consumption, or media. The reversing camera has a high resolution, but doesn’t use the full centre display screen width, so you end up with only a 7” reversing display on a 10” screen. I expect this is because more expensive models use this dead space for the surround view camera display. There are 2 USB ports in the centre console, so both your phone and iPod can be connected to the infotainment system at once, and 2 higher powered USBs in the rear of the centre console for quicker charging. Android auto was an extra cost option and integrates well, although Waze is not available even if activated. Sound quality from the DAB equipped infotainment system is very good, and Lexus include a DVD player for some bizarre reason. Safety Standard safety equipment includes adaptive cruise, blind spot monitoring, autonomous emergency braking, lane centering, lane departure warning with steering assist, rear cross traffic alert, speed sign recognition (linked to cruise control) and front and rear parking sensors. The active cruise control only uses the brakes to slow for cars ahead, so it won’t use the brakes to slow the car going downhill if the speed exceeds the cruise speed set. It can bring the car to a complete stop in traffic and back up to speed again but is a bit rough at lower speeds. The automatic lane centering tends to bounce the car between the white lines rather than tracking the lane centre, so I don’t use it. The LED headlights are fantastic, but the auto high beam is best left off. Lexus service can customise the auto high beam to only operate above 80 kph if you want. Driving / Fuel Economy The UX200 handles well and the 17” wheel/tyre combination gives a comfortable ride. Road and wind noise are well contained. The engine is smooth and near silent up to 2,000rpm, but refinement drops above 3,000rpm. Power is adequate, but not impressive. The CVT transmission uses a conventional 1st gear, but is occasionally rough when handing over to the CVT. This launch gear also doesn’t eliminate engine flaring common to most CVTs. The transmission seems to work best in ECO mode, which keeps the engine operating at its smoothest & quietest without sacrificing performance. The engine revs at an unbelievably low 1,400rpm at 100kph but the CVT unobtrusively increases revs as required. The UX200 runs on standard fuel and I have been often able to beat the manufacturer’s average claim of 5.8 l/100km on a regular half hour suburban run with light traffic, as reported by the on board trip computer. It is amazing that it can even do this with the air conditioning running and 35 degrees outside. My average to date is 6.4 l/100km calculated using actual values of kms travelled and litres purchased since new. The engine has a stop start system which is mostly unobtrusive. It requires a firm shove on the brake pedal to activate, so is easy to disable by using a little less pedal pressure when stopped. The warning message to remind you to press harder to activate the stop start system can be disabled in the instruments settings menu. While there is a dedicated off button, it has to be pressed every time you get in the car to disable the stop start system. Styling The styling is mostly positive but I find it a little retrained compared to the Toyota C-HR it replaced. There is a nifty LED taillight across the full width of the rear of the car. Interior ambient lighting subtly lights up the cabin in a soft glow at night, but is not customisable. All buttons and switches are backlit. While the UX200 has electrically folding mirrors, they don’t fold automatically on the base model. My much cheaper C-HR had this handy feature. Convenience Standard convenience items include keyless entry & start, auto lights & wipers, auto door locking/unlocking while driving, soft close front windows, electric auto retracting steering column, plush floor mats and roadside assist for the 4 year warranty period. The door bottoms are recessed into the body work, so wet and muddy sills are never transferred to the owner’s legs. The power tailgate controls can either just close the hatch, or both close the hatch & lock the car. Very handy after retrieving your shopping bags from the boot. Being an SUV, access to the interior is easy for less able owners. Rear seat room is only average and the boot is relatively small, which is not a problem for me. While the UX200 has wireless charging, it is so slow it is virtually useless and only adds 3% charge to my phone in half an hour. The $25 wireless charger in my kitchen changes the same phone 10 times faster. Both require removal of the phone case to work. Servicing Lexus will deliver a loan car to your home and collect your car at service time, but Toyotas with the same engine/transmission are a lot cheaper to service. However my past experience with a previous Lexus is that their after sales support is stellar, so I think it is worth the extra coin. 2020 models offer capped price servicing for 3 years only, but miss out on the free service at 12 months (15,000kms) that my 2019 model gets. The Wrap Up The only real negative was the purchase process was less than smooth.But that one problem doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for the UX200 and any negatives I have mentioned I consider inconsequential. I would definitely buy another Lexus UX or recommend it to anyone looking for a well built, well equipped small SUV.