Find Reviews by Make:
Officially this is just a concept, but the Lexus LF-NX is supposed to preview an upcoming competitor to the BMW X1 and Audi Q3. Using the familiar 2.5L 4-cylinder hybrid powertrain, the LF-NX will be available in FWD or AWD variants, though specific figures like power output have yet to be announced.
93 Comments on “Lexus Launches A Compact Crossover...”
Read all comments
Looks hideous.
When will the crossover disease go into remission??
Crossovers are here to stay. The “big SUV” is never coming back and the only other option for mass storage is either a crossover or a hatchback.
I think it’s safe to assume – after the success of the Model S and A7 – that there are gonna be a LOT of full-sized hatchbacks in the future.
I agree with you on hatchbacks, I think that will be the next big trend, everything will be one. These CUV things will lose their luster as gas prices increase and or they start blowing up (too much weight with too little power).
I think the opposite will happen.
Think about it – if you have $30k to spend, you can either get a well equipped mid sized card, an entry level full sizer or a crossover of varying sizes. The crossover will get around the same mileage as the full-sized vehicle, if not better, for the same price while being much more usable to many more people. Even my fuel INefficient Chevy Equinox gets 25% better gas mileage than my girlfriend’s 10 year old mid-sized car, while offering so much more vehicle.
That’s a good point, and in the case of the smaller models this “more car for same/better mileage” may hold true. However the heavier examples such as Explorer and Enclave are in V8 SUV mileage without any of the benefits of an SUV. Evidently the police spec Explorer drinks gas at 12-13mpg from what my brother told me. The beat down 3900 W Impalas in their fleet average 16-17.
True.
I’m hoping a genuine refresh of the powertrain on GM’s three row crossover platforms will help out mileage. The Acura MDX refresh boost highway mileage to 27 MPG, something that seems genuinely attainable from what I’ve read, and is very close to full sized card MPG.
The GM crossovers, by comparison, weigh so much that the power the 3.6 DI engine makes barely feels adequate, from everything I’d heard.
I’d be curious to learn how Honda was able to do it despite the weight and size of the MDX. I was reading a post here yesterday about the folly of turbo-everything, and the author explained how Honda and Toyota chose to maximize efficiency in their pfi ICEs rather than rush head first into unproven CVTs or turbo their offerings, perhaps this is what happened with the MDX.
I’ve heard similar things about the GM CUVs being woefully underpowered. I read some time ago the purpose of the Traverse was to replace the U body minivans after they chose to exit that market, not to replace the capable GMT-360 platforms as is usually believed (envoy, trailblazer etc).
The Lambdas in their current form can’t fit a 90-degree engine.
GM could stroke the 3.6L, but fat chance seeing a company actually increase displacement on any vehicle in the next decade.
That pretty much leaves the turbo 3.6L, which ain’t cheap, so would probably be reserved only for the top-level trims.
I tend to agree, the General will ride the cash cow Lambda as long as it can with minimal real changes, fuel economy or fuel economy be damned.
I liked the equinox I rented better then the last gen Rav4. Its not exactly fun to drive but its roomy at least – and had a good base stereo and a backup camera.
But gas mileage – I got to call your bluff on that. I drove an Impala from NYC to Boston and then did the reverse trip with a Equinox. The Impala owned the crap out of the equinox at the pump. I got barely 22MPG with the equinox – and well over thirty with the Impala.
Crossovers because they are so heavy and have such poor aerodynamics just get awful gas mileage if you drive at highway speeds.
For most drivers there is basically nothing a crossover does better then a wagon or hatchback..
Crossovers are a mystery to me. They are not good (optimized) at anything. They have the worst features from each a car, truck, and minivan. It is almost like you can’t decide between these different vehicles so you settled for one that has features of all of them. You end up with a vehicle that can’t tow like a truck, it is smaller and hauls less people and cargo than a minivan, and it is not small and efficient like a (similar size) car.
Don’t tell me… it’s called the “Lexus LF-NX Origami”
… oh, beat me to it!
I see Lexus continues to pursue BMW’s worst examples of fugly.
Looks like a Decepticon tried to learn origami…
I thought it looked like iron filings on a magnet.
+1
Isn’t that a police car from one of those Schwarzenegger movies?
I think it’s a post-crash test photo. Nice crumple zones!
Looks like it has as much outward visibility as that MRAP from yesterday.
There’s just so much wrong with that I don’t even know where to begin.
I thought the new Jeep Cherokee was bad. It’s Miss Universe compared to this…thing.
Just the thing for soccer moms and Junior Leaguers to terrorize the parking decks at the malls. No one will dare cut them off for a parking space if they are driving this.
A harried soccer mom with kids in the car on a hot day fears nothing. The Hummer H2 looked mean, but if you look at the accident photos, it had crumple zones like everything else on the road. The advantage to this design is, you can’t tell if it’s been in an accident or not – which is why it won’t intimidate anybody.
I agree. I thought the Jeep was awful, but this is simply… strange and hideous.
Does this mean that the RX will finally get the third row of seats it needs to compete with the MDX and Infiniti JX (and that platform mate Highlander already has)? Doing so would fill a big gap in the Lexus lineup.
I never quite understood the desire for third row seating when the third row is hardly accessible without a sliding side door.
It’s where you put the least favorite child(ren). Think of it as a 21st century politically correct rumble seat.
Ah.
That looks like Darth Vader’s electric travel razor.
[] [] [] [] []
5 Fridges and the Win.
“Lexus, I am your father!”
The more I look at this picture, the more I think the impossible has been achieved. Lexus may be the first automaker to out-ugly the Pontiac Aztek.
*golf clap*
Seriously, I loaded the page and thought that I was reading “Junkyard Finds”.
Spot on.
In a world of Alien vs Predator, we all lose.
Ugly!
UGLY! is right
Hideous.
I really wish Toyota would get away from the ugly bus school of design, NONE of their designs are good looking to me anymore.
Wait a darn second. Are those unpainted black plastic wheel arches?!?! a la Mini, CX-5 and other budget vehicles?
I think it’s suppose to be entry level
That’s what makes it rugged. ;)
Yeah, rugged… it’s brutal fighting the other rugged CUVs vying for a premo parking space at the Back-to-Nature Survivalist Mall of America
At least this one might scare those Honda CRVs away
I feel like this is the perfect example of TTAC’s version of Playa Hater’s Ball. Awesome.
PHB is a classic.
So in addition to rear windows, driving visibility, normal size wheels, general decorum, and any sort of style in our automobiles… did we lose bumpers too?
Both this and the “Jaguar” seem to be missing them in the front.
bumpers make a “point” out of the front….which apparently causes too much damage to pedestrians.
so, instead of teaching walkers to stay out of the road, and drivers to stay off the sidewalks, we get brick-like front ends.
Not a physics major but by raising the car up so much and making the front end nearly flat, wont that actually increase the chances of killing a pedestrian vs a sloped car lower to the ground where one might literally roll over the hood in the same scenario (not to mention increase wind resistance and decrease fuel economy)?
No. More surface area on the front of the car spreads the same impact force over a larger area. Same basic principle as falling flat onto a padded mat vs. diving head-first onto it.
And wind resistance is… complicated.
Thx for the clarification.
*scratches head*
Won’t make any difference in Australia after a steel roo bar is fitted.
P.S. This is so ugly I thought it was a Mitsubishi.
Won’t matter. Anyone seeing that bearing down on them will die of disgust long before it makes contact.
How long until Lexus gets Tricia Helfer to become their pitchma…pitchwom…pitchbot?
I for one welcome our new Cylon overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted TTAC contributor, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground automobile plants.
Would they be UAW?
Encore! Encore! Encore!
This vehicle may actually improve in appearance after the NHTSA crash testing is completed.
+1! LOL.
That’s it!
The next theme for our Lemons car. Pretty sure I can replicate that with the plasma cutter and hand-bent scrap aluminum signs.
Well, the BMW X1 is no beauty, either. And I own one. But it’s a great drive. Maybe Lexus will get that part right. They seem to be winning friends in that department, lately.
Crinkly.
… and creasy
That thing up there reminds me of the creature in Alien.
That is patently FUGLY.
BUT……..
Some desperate housewife will think it’s exactly what she needs. Especially since it has a Lexus badge on it.
Oh does Lexus still make cars? I was under the impression the “L” badge indicated an “L” trim Toyota.
I am sure for the production model they will tone down the design but somehow manage to retain all the ugly.
Agreed. It will somehow be boring and hideous at the same time. Paste that malformed spindle onto a RAV4…
You can really tell it’s on the RAV platform if you look at the shapes at the rear/lamps.
The one good thing about this car is that if someone hits you, you won’t even notice, it will just look like another crease, indentation, nook or cranny.
Is this the Darth Vader model? Maybe this is Toyota’s version of the Empire Strikes Back. Makes you want to hug a Pontiac Aztec.
If the production car looks anything like this concept good luck in case of a minor knock to the body. The whole panel will need to be replaced because sharp creases are a nightmare to reform, even with liberal use of filler.
That said I’ve always liked the original Lexus IS250 and am thinking of getting one. It was so unapologetically Japanese and original. The LF-NS concept has the same design vocabulary and looks awesome! I could see an FRS buyer moving up this to this as his lifestage changes.
Oh wait just noticed “will be available in FWD and AWD variants”. So this isn’t off the RWD platform, FX style? Why the hell did they refer to it as an X1 competitor? That’s what threw me.
No thanks.
Lexus has finally achieved the impossible-they have built an automobile that is more ugly(much more ugly!)than a Pontiac Aztek!
It looks like a Cylon from the original Battlestar Galactica.
Here:
http://www.legionxxiv.org/cylon124/
It’s a face only its mother (Lexus engineers) could love. Guess they’re the last to know.
Where is the team that designed this travesty? Walter White will not be trading his black Chrysler 300 for one of these if he starts to reminisce about his Aztec and regret not keeping it.
This car does look familiar, was it in Animal House as one of the parade floats in the parade scene with a sign that said “Eat Me”. No that was the Lincoln Continental that was trashed and made into a float, but maybe the design team saw that movie and combined it with Star Wars and one of Terminator movies.
I guess if it sells that is all that matters. It is unique.
Is this some leftover from the Transformers movies or the official vehicle of Kabuki theater? Or the drawings on a 6th graders spiral notebook.
Based on the comments, it seems many of you have lost the fact that this is a concept car. It’s no more outrageous than any other automaker’s concepts.
Obi Wan: That’s no CUV…that’s a Cylon!
(Three nerds were put into intensive care by that sentence)
What happened to this Outlander Sport? Oh… I see…
It looks like they took a normal looking vehicle and then changed the aspect ratio on the lower half of the car to make it taller. Using a photo editor I digitally sectioned the body by about 4″ and it doesn’t look bad. Well, other than the Predator grille.
Lexus was successful in part because of their inoffensive styling. This concept is not inoffensive.
To be honest, looking at the newish Camry, the new Corolla, and Lexus’ new face with that spindled and mutilated grille, Toyota’s got some weird styling ideas these days.
How you Americans get your sizes wrong. This is x3 and q5 competitor, ps!q5 is also fwd based.
The 2014 Corolla is not bad, but it is more like the Hyundai Elantra which is a good design but it is Toyota’s take on a Hyundai Elantra. Still a copy of a good design that does not alienate the consumer is better than one that does. Hyundai and Kia have been a lot more innovative on their designs which are appealing and not offensive. Even though this is a concept it still shows Toyota is going in the wrong direction in design. Hopefully they change this design to where it is less Transformer like. Toyota needs to delay the introduction of this new model and go back to the drawing board. If they at least copied the Encore or the Sorento that would be better than this concept.
Seeing so many negative comments here, I am now certain it will be a sales success.
“Lexus Launches…Whatever The &%#@! That Thing Is Supposed To Be”
Fixed the title for you.
Cookies to the next CUV that betrays my expectations and DOESN’T share the same front end as other cars in the given companies line-up.
Perhaps the nuclear fall-out from the tsunami of a few yrs ago has finally begun to affect the mind of Lexus designers.
How do you not fire someone for wasting company time, then actually bringing it to someone with a straight face?
someone.
I dont think the fact that this bears more than a passing resemblance to the DOA Lambo SUV concept is an accident. That corporate face is HIDEOUS.
I am a huuuuge fan of Lexus’s previous L-finesse and now their new design language. BUT this is honestly a very ugly vehicle. I just can’t see any beauty in this design. I almost think it is more of a shock & awe approach that will be significantly toned down on the concept.
Ahhh, Batman’s Boy Wonder’s vehicle.
I didn’t know Leepu was working for the Lexus design studio now!
If you look at the back area above the wheel, the RAV4 underpinnings are a little more clear.
This is just a design mess. I don’t think we’re moving forward here with design, even though this is a concept.
Think about what the original RX concept looked like!
http://testdrivejunkie.com/wp-content/uploads/1997-lexus-slv2.jpg
That’s interesting that the RX hardly changed at all from concept to production, which means this is pretty close to the final deal… It’s got to look better in real world
I really hope it doesn’t look like this. And consider how that design will age. Any car with an overwrought design never ages well.
Springs to mind the later Solara coupe. First generation Tiburon. 05 Impreza hatch.