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FIRST DRIVE 2015 Lexus NX 200t
to do the same. Then there’s the little matter
of reliability, an area where Lexus has long
enjoyed a hard-won reputation in the luxury
category for not breaking. It claims the 2.0-liter
turbo’s output has been optimized for precisely
that. Yes, the Lexus folks told me the engine
is capable of making more power -- stay
tuned. Third is fuel economy, where Lexus is
estimating 22/28/24 for the FWD 200t, and
21/28/24 for the AWD model. How does that
stack up to the competition? The less powerful
Audi is rated at 20/28/23 and the more
powerful cars are worse. While there’s no diesel
model (a move I say thwarts the brand’s global
ambitions), the hybrid 300h should return EPA
numbers to the tune of 35/31/33 for FWD and
33/30/32 with AWD -- impressive from a green
perspective, no doubt. My big takeaway is
that the NX 200t feels plenty powerful, though
even in F Sport guise, an X3-rivaling sports car
it’s decidedly not. Could Lexus shoehorn in its
venerable 306 hp, 3.5-liter V-6? Probably, but I
doubt NX customers will demand it.
My gut tells me that people interested
in the NX will be signing up because of the
design and the technology. Let’s get the design
portion of the conversation covered. I asked
some pretty high-ranking Lexus bigwigs if they
like the Predator-faced look of the new cars,
starting with the polarizing (to put it mildly) IS.
To a man their reaction was, “I personally don’t
care for it, but we can’t stop selling ‘em!” I feel
that the non-F Sport NX looks like a catfish with
an overbite. However, and especially in white,
the F Sport models snuck up on me. They look
pretty groovy, as weird as it feels to write that.
Maybe I’m getting soft? The rear three-quarter
view is particularly well-wrought. Inside, the NX
carries on the design direction first seen in the
high-flying LFA’s cockpit that has shown up in
the GS and IS. Not only does the NX cabin look
premium and sporty, it feels the part, too.
As for tech, gone is the teensy, emasculating
joystick controller seen in other late-model
Lexi. Yay! It’s been replaced with a functional
and high-tech-feeling touchpad. You’ll need to
spend about three minutes learning how the
snap-to control of the icons work, but once
you do you’ll realize it’s a slick solution. Most
importantly for Lexus’s global aspirations, the
touchpad allows for Chinese and Japanese
character entry. Sadly the map still looks like
it comes from a decade ago. As I told many
Lexus people, Tesla exists, and if you’re coming
to market with a nav screen less good than
what’s in the Model S, you’re not launching at
the top of the market. Remember, everyone’s
phone has great maps built in. Audi uses
Google Maps for a reason.
Like some recent BMWs, the NX comes with a digital sound
composer that plays car noises through a speaker (interestingly, it’s a
separate speaker and not part of the stereo). Personal feelings about
that piece of tech aside, one unique feature is a volume control knob
for the piped-in sound, located below and to the right of the steering
wheel. It allows you to control the amount of vroom, vroom coming
into the cabin. After a few minutes of playing with it, I just turned it off.
Much better, says me. There’s also a built-in wireless phone charger,
to which I say amen.
Lexus is planning on selling about 3000 NX units per month when
the car goes on sale in November of this year. After spending a day with
various models, I think 36,000 units for a year seems low. Remember
that the big luxury growth segment is compact CUVs, and Lexus is
showing up to the party with a very competitive product. Key point:
Dealers have been howling for this thing. The NX is good-looking in F
Sport guise, luxurious and high-tech enough, handles and rides well,
and might be priced to fly off lots. The hybrid 300h is pretty forgettable
and has weird-feeling re-gen brakes, but as stated earlier it will only
account (maybe) for a tenth of overall sales. Getting back to the 3000
units per month, Lexus also feels that NX sales will not interfere with
sales of its cash cow, the almost 9000 RXs sold nationally. Truth be told,
Lexus is creating two product channels at the moment. The drowsier,
old-folk people-movers RX and ES, and the much more exciting, greatto-drive
GS, IS, and now NX. Crucially, Lexus expects that half of the NX
customers will be new to the brand. Especially if they see the newest
luxury CUV as this season’s must-have bauble. This is just one man’s
opinion, but I think Lexus has an upcoming hit on its hands.
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