ADVERTISEMENT Menu Car Reviews Lexus NX Overview Driving Interior Buying Specs & Prices CAR REVIEW Lexus NX £ 35,475 - £ 59,245 6 10 Top Gear Team Published: 18 Nov 2021 1 / 10 “A decent enough all-rounder that'll keep Lexus fans happy ” GOOD STUFF Price, looks, interior quality, it's something a bit different BAD STUFF It's not sporty, if you want that. Engine can get noisy OVERVIEW WHAT IS IT? This is the second generation of Lexus’s midsize NX family SUV. It’s the Japanese luxury carmaker’s bestselling model across Europe no less, so it’s important to get a replacement model right. It ticks all the boxes at first glance though – the styling has been sharpened up, but everything else is as expected, a “smooth evolution", as Lexus puts it. SO WHAT HAS SMOOTHLY EVOLVED ON THE NEW NX? Well, the hybrid option remains, but now there’s a fancy plug-in version of the car available – Lexus’s first – that will get you up to 45 miles on a charge, although Lexus says that this will increase to around 55 miles if you stick to the city. All very smooth. ADVERTISEMENT - PAGE CONTINUES BELOW The new NX is 20mm longer (with an extra 30mm in the wheelbase to the benefit of passenger space) and the car is 20mm wider. The full-width light bar at the back of the car is set to be a new Lexus signature styling touch, and its old signature styling touch, the fishhook-DRL at the front of the car, has been neatly integrated into the headlight. WHAT’S THE NX LIKE INSIDE? The Lexus’s interior is decently plush, if spec sensitive. We wouldn’t want the red upholstery ourselves, but each to their own. There’s a giant screen available, naturally, but the screen surround on the dashboard is the same whether you’ve got the 14in or the 9.8in screen fitted to your car. Bigger is definitely better in this case. The NX’s real party piece is the new electronic door opening system, though – the handle has essentially been replaced with an electronic latch that springs the door open if you squeeze in the right place. So far so whatever – the really clever bit is that Lexus has integrated this opening system with its blindspot warning set-up and the car will stop you from opening the door if there happens to be a cyclist, pedestrian, large bus or somesuch missile about to fill the space where your door is headed. Every car needs a party piece you can show off to your passengers, doesn’t it? ADVERTISEMENT - PAGE CONTINUES BELOW HOW DOES IT DRIVE? The NX does a solid job of being a sensible, middle of the road drive (though not literally, the lane keep assist will see to that), which isn’t such a bad thing. It’s billed as a luxury drive, not a sporty one. It’s actually a very comfortable car, matching up well with the zero emission capable powertrain. FIND NEW AND USED CARS WITH Recently Added Search Used Cars £28,000 £31,822 £29,650 £29,650 £24,675 PREV NEXT WHAT'S THE VERDICT? “Lexus presents a suave alternative to the standard German fare” This car is a solid cash cow for Lexus, so it’s going to be more of the same from a brand-new version. Hence the smooth evolution. And it’s a successful one, too – the car provides a suave alternative to the usual German fare and helps Lexus to stop haemorrhaging company car sales to other carmakers offering bigger batteried plug-ins. It’s still an SUV, though, so forgive us if we don’t get too excited. NEXT: DRIVING Variants we have tested FIRST DRIVE First Drive: Lexus NX 300h 2.5 SE 5dr CVT £ 32,940 when new COMPARE CAR FINANCE Powered by MORE ON THIS CAR TAKE ONE FOR A SPIN OR ORDER A BROCHURE ORDER A BROCHURE BOOK A TEST DRIVE Powered by SUBSCRIBE TO THE TOP GEAR NEWSLETTER Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. 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