3.5 SE-L

Supremely Comfortable

Bought this to replace a C-class Mercedes which, much though I liked it, was not particularly comfortable on a long journey.

The RX was incredibly smooth, quiet and comfortable : one of those rare steeds you felt you could drive all day without stopping if it wasn’t for the need to refuel. Enormous grunt from the battery-assisted 3.5 litre V6 and very reasonable economy given the size of the beast : I averaged 35-37 mpg over three years of ownership (although N.B. gentle driving style) and saw as much as 60 during frustrating periods of stop/start motoring in heavy traffic - just what a hybrid is designed for.

Had it serviced at the local Lexus dealer, which was not too expensive under their ‘Essential Care’ pricing for older cars out of warranty. I would concur with the opinions I’ve heard about a Lexus being very expensive to fix when it goes wrong, but not to worry because they almost never do. New battery (not the hybrid one) was pricey and the spark plug change it was coming up for when I sold it was going to cost £350 on it’s own, but other than that the maintenance costs weren’t particularly cringeworthy for a large, premium SUV.

Spacious enough inside, although the load lip is very high - eventually changed it for something (RAV4) it was easier to get our dog into.

On the down side, not much. The infotainment and switchgear are, frankly, ridiculously over-complicated and the one thing that would stop me buying another one - there is simply no reason for a system to be so non-intuitive in use, if someone told me that Lexus had instructed their engineers to design the most confusing and off-putting system they possibly could, I think I would believe them.

Report as offensive