Those of you with checkered shirts in yer closet and a few pogs still kicking around may recall it was the original Lexus RX from the late ‘90s which arguably kicked off the “tall wagon” car-based luxury crossover craze. Sure, the first Ford Explorer put us all on a path to what we see in suburban driveways today, but it was the RX which placed them in the hands of moneyed types.
Lexus introduced a new RX yesterday near its home base in Texas, expanding the number of powertrains and (finally) dumping the ill-advised three-row model. And, oh yeah – we need to have a conversation about that grille.
Your author is not sure if Lexus took all the criticism about its so-called spindle grille to heart or if someone at the company simply tripped near the new model while holding a pot of white paint. The general shape of the old spindle grille remains, but the upper 25 per cent is now generally covered up and slathered with color-keyed paint. It’s like the time your spouse asked you to paint the living room walls and you accidentally painted right over a couple of electrical outlets, leaving a pair of vertical lines sticking out through the paint as if a porcine creature was trying to push its way through from the next room.
The lower portion of the grille – south of the pinched part of the spindle – remains black and features a textured design not unlike what’s on the schnoz of every Lexus in series production today. We’ll reserve judgement until we see it in person but this writer will say he is not adverse to color-matching trim on his vehicles (witness every pickup truck he’s ever owned for proof). And anyway, it’s not like Lexus cares what TTAC minions think; all that matters is the opinions of customer who vote with their wallets. In other words, we don’t think this new take on the spindle grille will hurt sales.
Built on a new GA-K platform, the RX has a 2.36-inch longer wheelbase and a rear overhang trimmed by exactly the same amount. Overall length does not change. The rear section of the platform features an all-new multi-link suspension design, attached to a rigid high-torsion rear body frame, plus a few other tricks which apparently increase rear-seat legroom. Note we didn’t say ‘second-row’ because Lexus has wisely ditched the RX’s optional third row in favor of an all-new three-row rig called the TX which will likely appear sooner rather than later.
There will be a choice of powertrains: A gasoline-powered 275 horsepower, 2.4-liter turbocharged four banger; a hybrid with a 246-horse, 2.5L inline-four making 33 mpg; plus a plug-in hybrid of undescribed size. They will be known as the 350, 350h, and 450h+ respectively. If one is looking for clues about the plug-in variant, we strongly suggest investigating what’s under the hood of the 302 hp NX 450h+ for clues. Topping the range will be a 500h F Sport, an all-wheel drive turbocharged hybrid which adds an ‘eAxle’ rear unit integrating an electric motor, inverter, and reduction gearbox with the other hybrid gubbins up front. It’s good for 367 horses and 406 lb-ft of torque.
Inside one will find the typical Lexus trappings, taking many cues from the comfortable and well-appointed NX. The largest infotainment screen will be 14 inches across and its user interface will surely be better than the Coleco-grade experience in today’s RX. We’ve sampled the new infotainment platform in a couple of Toyota/Lexus vehicles to date and can declare it light-years ahead of the old system. It can’t make its way across the lineup soon enough.
The 2023 RX is expected to go on sale at the end of 2022.
[Images: Lexus]
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If you want a Toyota/Lexus with a V6, and you don’t want a BOF vehicle or have $100k to spend, you probably need to buy it in the next 24 months.
Right. At this point (with the Avalon marked for cancelation), the last one is the ES 350, and I’m sure it is on borrowed time. It will likely adopt the same 2.4T as the 2023 RX and Highlander. Although, knowing Toyota, they will wait until the ES is due for a redesign (circa 2024/2025) to replace the V6.
The upcoming three-row crossover, to be called the TX, will surely also use that 2.4T.
As for the other vehicles, it is a foregone conclusion that the next GX will ditch its 4.6-liter V8 in favor of a twin-turbo V6, like the LS and LX.
I’m sure the IS 500 F Sport, LC 500 (which get the 5.0-liter V8) are also not going to be around much longer.
The Camry and IS still use the V6 as well. I think both of those are due for a refresh/next gen in 2024 and I highly expect those will be 4-cylinder only.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a turbo-4 went into the Tacoma and 4Runner by 2025 either.
Oh, you’re right. I forgot about those.
The 3.5-liter in the Tacoma is anything but charming. It was actually better with the 4.0-liter, which the 4Runner still has. Hell, the Tacoma itself is neither charming nor worthy of the praise it gets, as a car to live with and own. For my money in the midsize pickup segment, it would probably be the new Frontier.
Back to the 4Runner and Tacoma, don’t doubt that a turbo-4 will end up in both of those when they’re redesigned.
Even Toyota ultimately has to turbo-4 all the things! :-( It’ll be interesting indeed to see what goes in the Camry this next time.
After three years of ownership, my least favorite part of my 2019 Accord Touring 2.0T is the fact that unless I drive like the most scared grandma that ever attempted to pilot a motor vehicle, the gas mileage sucks! Even normal cut-and-thrust commuting, with variations in engine speed due to having to speed up and slow down at what wouldn’t be considered abnormal rates drops the mileage precipitously! The few times that traffic actually flows well without a bunch of lane-cloggers, the mileage actually hits around the high 20s.
Thanks China!
Hmm..wonder if this or the bronze-wheeled RAV-4 will be next to grace each! And! Every! Page! Access! On! This! Site!
The Tacoma is Number 1 because of its past reputation and high resale value. It is still a good truck but it is outdated. Almost considered getting one for myself but the gas mileage is not that great for a midsize truck and it is not as comfortable as the competition. I ordered a Maverick hybrid instead and I am very happy with it. The Frontier is a very good truck and Nissan did a great job on the redesign.
I expect our next family car will be European, because that is how the wife is leaning, but I won’t lie: when I read this news on another site last night, I did a quick scan of the local Lexus dealers to see what RX450h examples they had in inventory, with the idea of keeping one a while. The V6 will be missed and the hybrid variant especially so.
You sound like my girlfriend’s parents from way back in the day when cars were moving from 8 cylinders to 6 (and the Japanese had 4 to begin with).
“Why, 6 cylinders! Not worth anything! How will you get over the mountains? When you put people in it, it won’t work!”
Well at least it doesn’t have those black plastic wheel well trim pieces. Otherwise it’s just an expensive Toyota SUV.
Looks like a great evolutionary update though the only thing I’ll have to get used to is the beluga bulge above the grille that seems to be a new trend (e.g. Camry XSE/SE and Civic). I didn’t hate the spindle as much as others on some executions and think it would’ve smoothed things out here.
Good lord, that front end is bad…
Just think someone was actually hired ahead of other applicants and was actually paid to design this. Someone was paid to do this. It’s unbelievable.
A sizeable part of the design requirements for a Lexus, is simply to clearly highlight how they are able to hold tolerances tighter than anyone else. Precise, even if frivolous, creases and bends crossing panels, sharp points exactly lined up etc. Less on account of consideration for aesthetics, but rather because others can’t easily copy such designs without flaws being obvious.
“Tolerances” like that hood gap that your whole pinky would probably fit in?
Seriously, Toyota is VASTLY overrated quality-wise.
“Seriously, Toyota is VASTLY overrated quality-wise.”
Seriously, you’re not being serious. Just say you don’t like them, but suggesting Lexus products aren’t built to exacting tolerances is… vastly exaggerated.
Vast, personal multi-generational experience differs. Our experiences have been no less then stellar compared to everything else we’ve owned. Perfect, no, but head and shoulders above everyone else. Sorry it didn’t work as well for you.
““Tolerances” like that hood gap that your whole pinky would probably fit in?”
As long as the gap is the same along the whole edge. And the same from car to car. And remains that way 15 years from now.
It’s not a contest to see who can scrunch panels the closest together. But rather, who can reliably repeat a process over and over with minimal variation.
For the most part, Toyota has spent decades engineering “tolerance-tolerant” designs. In order to make them maximally replicatable across the world, with differing workforces and different suppliers. With results which even they will admit is no objectively “worse” than a Lexus as far as being functional cars are concerned. It’s not like it makes a darned difference in practice, nor that a Corolla is somehow lacking.
But, being the “luxury” offering, targeted to people who can afford a bit more frivolousness, the idea there is instead to do things which explicitly showcases the quality of Toyota’s processes and workforces. Which others cannot reliably replicate.
Anyone can boost the pressure of some turbo, mount bigger rims and sell “40 more hp” and a “sport package” for a fortune. But, at least in Toyotaland, it’s instead the quality of the production processes themselves, which are the important focus. The exact cars they happen to at any time enable, being more just fleeting windows allowing glimpses into the pride-and-joy processes and workforces which are the real crown jewels they are proud of.
Wow, that was quite the Toyota fandom statement.
But getting back to my point…as far as I’m concerned, a hood that looks like it’s slightly open isn’t a good thing on any car, much less one that costs upwards of sixty large.
But your argument is…that the s**tty hood gap is perfectly fine because every RX made has the same s**tty-looking gap?
Okey dokey.
I don’t dislike Toyota vehicles at all. But it I were considering plunking down sixty large for this car, why should I be happy with a hood that looks like it’s open? That’s poor design, plain and simple. And it’s happening on lots of Toyota vehicles – I saw two current-gen RAV4s last night that had the same thing going on. Heck, my girlfriend, who is absolutely NOT into cars, saw the same thing, and asked whether the hood was open a crack.
But remember…those hood gaps were consistently s**tty on both cars, so Toyota’s doin’ it right…
“But your argument is…that the s**tty hood gap is perfectly fine because every RX made has the same s**tty-looking gap? ”
The important measure of whether someone is a good shot, is how tight his groups are. Not whether he happens to be aiming at the exact target you feel he should be aiming at…..
I never did come stumbling down from some Mountain in Sinai with the ideal-for-all-ages hoodgap engraved on a stone tablet. So, for all I know, you just may be better at determining that than the guys at Toyota. But as far as production processes go, if they keep building the same gap consistently, the reason it is what it is, is because that’s how they want to build it. They’re not somehow strangely able to consistently deliver a 14+-1mm gap, but not a 9+-1mm one.
(just making up numbers…. I doubt even Lexus can hold +-1mm. But Lexus’ are, in almost all areas, in my experience, more consistent than most.)
> But it I were considering plunking down sixty large for this car, why should I be happy with a hood that looks like it’s open?
You shouldn’t it’s not for you. I did plunk down that much. Hood looks closed to me. This isn’t a car you buy to impress anyone. It’s comfortable and works every time. Get’s great gas mileage for something this big.
Toyota’s quality is mildly better than Honda, but miles ahead of the Germans (after a few years they will need unscheduled maintenance at least once a year) or Americans (I’ve had interior bits literally fall of in a 7 year old Pontiac).
> But it I were considering plunking down sixty large for this car, why should I be happy with a hood that looks like it’s open?
You shouldn’t it’s not for you. I did plunk down that much. Hood looks closed to me. This isn’t a car you buy to impress anyone. It’s comfortable and works every time. Get’s great gas mileage for something this big.
Toyota’s quality is mildly better than Honda, but miles ahead of the Germans (after a few years they will need unscheduled maintenance at least once a year) or Americans (I’ve had interior bits literally fall of in a 7 year old Pontiac).
Looks like the spindle/hour glass grille is on the way out.
The front and side detailing reminds me of an early 2000’s Korean design with all the overwrought detailing.
The body color portion of the grill looks molded in (I realize it’s not molded in) cheapening an already ugly design.
The grille is a bit “better” but the nose it’s attached to is more protruding and worse. I think they’ll start backing off the grille now, and this is the first step. Remember when Audi blacked out the center of their bumpers before going full big grille? It’s this technique in reverse.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/licensed-image?q=tbn:ANd9GcSliD975dv3rXneRhsbX6eifVNY3oub1-rqqNBJmBwZ-NmBIq8wiPRjtUwa6EnhUF_jlqr6ygnp&s=19
I’m fine with the heckblende and general styling of the rear.
Customers won’t notice any of it, nor will they care that the reliable V6 goes away.
RIP to the truly excellent V6/PSD hybrid powertrain, which was incredibly underrated because all but a few of the vehicles in which it was installed were mushy, heavy CUVs. It’s very hard for me to imagine that a hybrid powertrain involving both a four and a conventional automatic can possibly offer as nice an experience in a cruiser car (and, yes, the RX 500h will be a cruiser just like every other RX ever).
What do you think they’re going to do for the LS? I4+Hybrid in that too?
Probably keep what they’re already doing for the moment, which is a bizarre Frankenstein’s monster of a V6, a PSD, and a four-speed automatic. I haven’t driven one but it’s hard for me to imagine how you improve a PSD by sticking a four-speed automatic behind it.
The sedan that had the pure V6/PSD powertrain was the dearly departed GS 450h.
@dal20402: “It’s very hard for me to imagine that a hybrid powertrain involving both a four and a conventional automatic can possibly offer as nice an experience in a cruiser car”
That sums up the reports on the new Sienna.
Shockingly, when we went to drive all 4 minivans last year, the Sienna came in last place. By a bunch. And I was shocked.
The Sienna has a PSD (as will the RX 350h, with the same powertrain) – but apparently the RX 500h will replace it with a conventional six-speed automatic. I expect the RX 500h powertrain will work similarly to the 3.4TT hybrid powertrain in the big trucks, just with less oomph.
Someone help that poor thing, a bee must have flown up its nose
Wow, just when you think Lexus couldn’t make their vehicles any uglier along comes this turd.
I believe that Toyota quality is the best in the industry, and I’d love a Lexus…EXCEPT…please, Toyota fire ALL of your stylists. Behind your backs, their motto is, “How can we make these cars FUGLY!!”
A “stylist” must have escaped from Munich! Or a Toyota/Lexus designer defected to BMW!
You fuddy-duddies have no sense of style. Life is short – live a little!
The successful real estate agent’s vehicle. And now with less ground clearance because there are no tufted-grass-in-the-middle rural gravel driveways where this beast plies its trade. Only mansions. An honest-to-goodness fat hatchback is what this thing is, no more, no less. The Lexus name overcometh all objections on style among the jumped-up money class.
I bought the last generation 450h in 2021 as a 2022 model. I like the styling and the new one too, a modest improvement. 3 zone climate control, better power trains, better screen layout, wireless carplay. Interior looks nicer as well. Many nice modest improvements.
For some reason no massage seats still, would have made it an easy upgrade for me. Every other manufacturer has these. My Mercedes from 2012 had these(it was also in the shop all the time, which is why I have a Lexus now). I remember when Toyota used to be reliable and technically advanced, e.g. (hybrids, 3.5v6 at time of introduction, etc).
The RX is proof that bad design doesn’t necessarily prohibit sales.