Category: Lexus

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NEW PAL PLUGS INTO HIGH-BORN HYBRID SUV

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Twenty years ago, Lexus lit up the luxury vehicle segment in Australia with battery- assisted hybrid performance powertrains across a range of vehicles to take the lead in pioneering battery-electric hybrid technology, which carries on to this day. With the present surge in EV sales the company is in good shape to add to its petrol/electric luxury SUV line-up with a new plug-in hybrid offering, the RX 450h+ AWD. The SUV comes only in Sports Luxury grade, tucking in just under the RX500h Sport Performance in price, $123,500, as opposed… Read more

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LEXUS LBX – MORE THAN A LITTLE LUXURY

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Yaris by Lexus: an automotive oxymoron? Nothing could be further from the truth. The new Lexus LBX luxury compact is built on the Toyota Yaris Cross platform (GA-B). The LBX is the smallest model in the Lexus range and the brand’s first B-segment SUV. Enter the progeny of the Yaris Cross. Imbued with the Lexus philosophy of Kaizen (continuous improvement) across all its brands. Now it is bringing this to the small SUV segment with the LBX. Lexus sees the need for the LBX to meet the demand for signature… Read more

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LEXUS LETS LOOSE WITH HYBRID SUVS

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At the turn of the last century, Toyota, with the full electric auto era fast approaching, made a commitment to go with hybrid petrol/electric vehicles, rather than full electric product. The result was the Prius. The second modern hybrid vehicle to be sold in Australia, following on from the original Honda Insight released six months previously. While the Insight fell by the wayside, the ubiquitous Prius went on to conquer the world. Since then, the hybrid technology has been taken up by mainstream Toyotas such as the Camry, Corolla RAV4… Read more

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LEXUS UX 300H REVIEW

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The Lexus UX range of compact SUVs has been on sale in Australia since 2019, originally as the UX 250 with the choice of petrol or hybrid powertrains. A fully electric variant was added in 2021 with the current UX 300 replacing the UX 250 and dropping the petrol option. The UX 300e was discontinued earlier this year. We’re told the name stands for Urban Explorer which, sort of, identifies its target audience. A compact SUV, the UX 300 sist on the same platform as the Toyota Corolla hatch, Corolla… Read more

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LEXUS GX 550 . . . BUILT FOR THE BUSH, TARTED UP FOR TOWN

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If you look carefully, you can just make out the Toyota Prado that lurks under the skin of the Lexus GX 550. It’s more evident if you look at the car in profile, with its rising rear belt line, courtesy of the 1971 Holden HG Belmont wagon. Lexus has done a very good job disguising the Prado and the styling looks as though it has not strayed fast from the concept, especially the bold face with its spindle grille. The result is an arguably better-looking car than the donor, or… Read more

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LUXURY UP; AND DOWN THE LEXUS LBX LINE

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The boss said, ‘give me the best car in the world’. It was 1983 when Toyota president, Eiji Toyoda, challenged a crack team of 4000 highly talented staff to do his command. That’s how Lexus, a brand worth $US10.2 billion today, was born, with a luxury sedan, the LS400, generally accepted as a segment superstar, shading the best that Europe could make, including the best from Benz. It was a big day when the car came Down Under in the early ’90s. I was there. Since then, Lexus has pretty… Read more

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LEXUS GX 550 OVERTRAIL TAKES TO HIGH GROUND

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  Simplicity is the keynote of good design: ask any mechanical engineer or industrial designer worth his or her salt. Cue the Lexus GX 550, which, the maker says, is designed to act as an extension of the driver’s hands. Simple! The new Lexus GX 550 Overtrail controls have no supersensitive touch pad or buttons and switches of New Age automobiles, just knobs and levers of days of yore. At first glance, the iconoclastic off-roader with the looks of a bare-fisted bush basher, on the bitumen, behaves like a silver… Read more

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ISUZU MU-X MAKES LIGHT OF IMPROVEMENTS

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The selling of grocery items and automobiles grows ever closer, especially in these days of ‘shrinkflation’, where products are reduced in size without equivalent price reductions. I’m not suggesting that Isuzu is taking buyers for a ride with the addition of its smaller engine MU-X SUV but claims this brings added appeal (read sales) to the family friendly seven-seater. Prices start at $47,400 for the MU-X LS-M 1.9L 4×2, plus on-road costs, and top out at $67,990, drive away, for the MU-X LS-T 3.0L 4×4. Price increases are limited to… Read more

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NO LEAVING ICE AGE FOR LEXUS

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In typical attention to detail, Lexus (read Toyota) has updated its popular RX lineup with a hybrid or two. The fifth-generation family-size SUV introduces the RX 350h hybrid at entry-level and RX 500h F Sport Performance the flagship. Not that Lexus has turned its back totally on full fossil fuel power. Customers can also choose from the RX 350 F Sport with turbocharged performance internal combustion engine with electronically controlled all-wheel drive. Prices start at $90,060 for the RX 350h Luxury FWD, plus on-road costs, and top out at $127,434… Read more

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LEXUS LM 350H AWD SPORTS LUXURY

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Back in the old days people thought the world was flat. They thought that if you sailed far enough you would eventually fall off the edge. Lexus engineers seem to think the same thing, because the front doors of its new LM people mover won’t stay open on a slope. Then there’s the heavy, power-operated, second-row seats which won’t move forward and stay forward to access to the third row when the vehicle is also parked on a slope. For a luxury vehicle with a price tag to match, it’s… Read more