The Lexus RX mid-size crossover is the mainstay of Toyota’s luxurious model within the U.S. and the model’s longtime bestseller. It was the primary Lexus to get a hybrid powertrain—manner again in 2005—and every era has advanced to protect its virtues and preserve it acceptable to upscale consumers and their households.
The new 2023 Lexus RX is the fifth era of the posh SUV, with deliveries to start out late this yr. It will launch with standard and hybrid powertrains—together with a performance-oriented RX 500h mannequin with a brand new Direct4 hybrid system. But even past that, an additional mannequin will be a part of the lineup someday subsequent yr: the plug-in hybrid RX.
Coming at ‘a later date’
The Lexus RX 450h+, because the plug-in model is understood, might be provided “at a later date,” the corporate stated. It might be provided first in different markets with extra aggressive emission limits, for which learn Europe. While Lexus’ U.S. web site nonetheless calls it a 2023, no mannequin yr for the U.S. model was offered at a media preview of the brand new RX lineup held exterior Santa Barbara, California. So on this supply-chain-constrained actuality, it is likely to be a 2024 if it launches later subsequent yr.
It would be the second plug-in hybrid for Lexus, following the smaller Lexus NX 450h+ that launched for 2022. The two fashions share not solely a 2.5-liter inline-4 engine however the identical 18.1-kwh lithium-ion battery pack. That makes the plug-in RX the one one to forgo Toyota’s tried-and-true nickel-metal hydride cells, utilized in all RX hybrid variations and not using a plug.
2023 Lexus RX 450+ plug-in hybrid (Euro-spec)
In addition to the engine and the two-motor hybrid system powering the entrance wheels, the RX 450+ makes use of the 40-kw “E-Four” motor present in its AWD hybrids to offer full-time all-wheel drive. Lexus declined to share energy outputs or efficiency specs, saying that data too would come at later. The NX 450h+ plug-in hybrid, its quickest mannequin, is rated at a mixed 302 horsepower.
I drove a pre-production European-market model of the plug-in RX 450h+. Lexus burdened the automotive wasn’t to U.S. specs, saying its elements and a few of its software program didn’t mirror U.S. manufacturing variations. (Indeed, the show display screen quickly froze on one show till we power-cycled the automotive; European-style door mirrors and shows in kilometers underscored the purpose.)
The firm requested reporters to restrict themselves to quick drive loops, so everybody might have an opportunity within the single plug-in hybrid. We suspect that would have been as a result of its European cost receptacle meant the automotive couldn’t be charged at U.S. charging stations. Accordingly, the one approach to cost the battery to show electrical mode was to run the automotive in its recharging mode, utilizing the gasoline engine as a generator—workable, however hardly environment friendly.
Pricey, peppy, easy, quiet
Over roughly 15 miles within the automotive, I got here away with some early impressions of what the primary plug-in RX must be like when it arrives within the U.S. It’s prone to are available on the excessive finish of the vary—as does the $55,000 plug-in hybrid. Our European RX take a look at automotive included wooden steering-wheel trim and a video rear-view mirror, options absent from the U.S. fashions we drove.
2023 Lexus RX 450+ plug-in hybrid (Euro-spec)
On the street, not surprisingly, the RX 450h+ drives very very similar to a bigger, much less agile model of the plug-in hybrid NX. It begins out as an electric-only automobile, and switches into hybrid mode solely when the battery is depleted or, beneath sure circumstances, if the motive force flooring the accelerator to offer most energy. Drive modes embody “EV” (to the bounds of the battery), “HV,” which blends hybrid and electrical, and “Hold Charge,” which retains the battery cost.
Acceleration in electrical mode was good, and solely after I switched to hybrid mode did I understand how very quiet the cabin was when operating solely on battery energy. The regenerative braking wasn’t all that sturdy in its default setting, although the steering-wheel paddles might enhance (left) or lower (proper) the extent of regen. Annoyingly, nonetheless, it reset to the default degree after each cease.
2023 Lexus RX 450h+
2023 Lexus RX 450+ plug-in hybrid (Euro-spec)
2023 Lexus RX 450h+
The smaller NX 450h+ is EPA-rated at 37 miles of electrical vary (versus 42 miles for the Toyota RAV4 on which it’s based mostly). With the battery displaying three-quarters full, our Euro RX plug-in confirmed 31 km (19 mi) of electrical vary remaining. So we’d guesstimate the EPA vary score of the larger RX plug-in with the identical pack will find yourself between 25 and 30 miles.
Is it value it? The probably decrease vary makes a plug-in hybrid RX much less helpful than the smaller NX—or the sought-after Toyota RAV4 Prime—nevertheless it’s a much more standard automobile within the Lexus lineup. It would be the first mid-size plug-in hybrid from Lexus, competing in opposition to comparable fashions from Audi, Hyundai, Kia, and Volvo. We’d anticipate a sticker value of $60,000 or extra. You be the choose of whether or not that value for that vary is sensible—or whether or not a 300-mile battery-electric mid-size crossover would be the higher guess.
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Lexus offered airfare, lodging, and meals to allow Green Car Reports to convey you this first-person drive report.
Source: www.greencarreports.com